Are you a social animal?
Luke Abbott raises some points about the relevance to marketers of the various social networks

Is social media right for you is a question every brand manager has asked at one stage or another. Some have said yes it is, while others remain undecided. There's a lot of myths out there about social media. A few of these should be set straight and hopefully I'll provide some insights for anyone who is undecided if social media is right for them.

It's for teenagers
One of the biggest misconceptions about social media is that it's for teenagers. Did you know the average age of a Facebook user in Ireland is 30? Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube don't release stats for Ireland, but figures from the US (where the average Facebook user is 38) showed only MySpace users were younger, at 31 years of age on average.

It's a fad, remember Bebo?
You and I will remember Bebo but very few people outside of Ireland and the UK will remember Bebo. At its peak in mid 2007, Bebo was only attracting 18 million visitors worldwide, and had little more than one per cent of all social network traffic in the US. It was little more than an Ireland and UK phenomenon, losing its dominance because it was not the best product around. As for social media being a fad, it is hard to call anything that upwards of one million Irish people a day engage a fad. The first social networks were the dating websites of the late 1990's, it's moved on from niche to mainstream.

Clutter breakthrough
We ignore 95 per cent of the traditional marketing communications with which we come in contact. Research suggests we subconsciously avoid these messages because there's too many cluttering up our lives. Consumers are sceptical of marketing practices and sometimes the marketing lacks creativity. Research also points to a solution; to have consumers interact with and become part of the marketing message. It makes sense, if a customer interacts with the communication it means it has triumphed over the three problems of clutter, scepticism and lack of creativity. Social media facilitates interactive marketing at home, at work and on the move, but the creativity is down to you.

Would you jump off a cliff too?
The worst reason to get involved in social media is to keep pace with your competitors. It's the old saying: “If he jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” Just doing it with no clear objective is pointless. Never start by setting up a Facebook page, start by finding out where customers are talking about you and what they are saying. Knowing the good and the bad helps to build consumer views of your brand and provides a platform for action. Monitoring allows you learn what customers think about your brand.

Brands as people
Developing a community around inanimate products and intangible services takes time. Brands used to speak to consumers through ads. Now brands speak to consumers as people, not as a sales pitch. Finding the right tone takes time, preparation and research.

Not a level playing field
Social media is not a level playing field. It revolves around creating content that your customers want to read. For some brands this will be a very easy task, consider a music venue with different acts playing every night of the week, to a security firm, for example. Compare creating social media content to a magazine producing content for its readers. This magazine is all about marketing and media. See the various types of content – news, interviews, insights, opinion pieces, features, reviews, case studies, Q&As, pictures, graphs, charts, text and cartoons. There's plenty to get your teeth into no matter what kind of brand you have. With social, you also have video, audio, games and apps too.

TAKE YOUR PICK Some marketers find using Facebook offers their brand big benefits while others prefer Twitter or LinkedIn. Others again, see using a selection of social media works best.

Customer focus
You have to understand the when, where, what, why and how of the customer. When do you post in terms of frequency and timing. Too many could be an annoyance, but too few and customers may wonder where you are. Do you post updates Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm, because your online, or because your audience are online?

Where should you be posting? Remember, it's not all about Facebook. What do you post, in terms of content and why are you posting it? Does it benefit the consumer in some way? How does it fit into the long-term strategy for your brand?

Now that I have outlined the ups and downs to getting involved with social media, are you any closer to deciding which side of the fence you are on? One final aspect to consider is your customer and their use of social media. After all, if people are talking your brand online you should be there helping, moderating or monitoring the discussion?

Luke Abbott (luke@neworld.com) is a social media strategist with Neworld Associates.