Social Media Workshop Review

Last week I attended the Social Media workshop put on by Twin Cities Business Startup Meetup. The presenters were:

- SMC Pros: smcpros.com
- Bizzyweb: bizzyweb.com
- ITR Group: itrgroupinc.com


The presenters all did a fine job, but like many social media workshops I have attended in the past eyes began to glaze over as the presentations became more technical and new lingo was tossed out. Social media can quickly appear overwhelming to those new business owners who are just taking their first steps in this new world of marketing.

Of all the presenters the ITR Group did an excellent job of giving fresh and relevant business perspective to social media. ITR talked about the history of different marketing techniques from radio to TV to print and gave some background on how those tools have changed. For example…….

TV advertisement used to cast the widest net in terms of reaching people, but now with technology like TEVO and DVR people simply fast forward past commercials/advertisements making them less effective. Clearly, technology continues to change our behaviors and thus the marketing game has to change.

I was also nice to be validated in the past blogs I have written on "The Field of Dreams" thinking about social media. That is to say....."if you build it they will come." A very unfortunate behavior from the .com era of the 1990’s. ITR pointed out that social media is simply a marketing tool (one of many) and not necessarily the tool for everyone and every situation. For example….. the direct mail campaign may remain a effective tool for your most valued customers, but to reach new customers a social media strategy might be a more effective way to go.

The net of the presentation was to make sure you had a clear and targeted marketing plan when considering social media as a marketing tool. Also, to look at social media as one "tool" in the marketing toolbox and not as a "savior." Like most things in life nothing is as easy as it appears and requires that the effort you put is in direct proportion to the benefits you receive.