Social Media – It’s so much more than marketing.

Social Media has so many applications in a business context. Make sure your Social Media partner understands them. To twintangibles Social Media has the potential to transform the way that we do business because of the way the technologies and sensibilities that underpin it radically alter the dynamic of communication and collaboration.

So why is so much of the buzz about Social Media focused solely on Marketing?

Just the other day I had a discussion with someone who was endeavouring to re invent “Social Media” as “Social Media Marketing” – that is to say adding an extra word to create a new phrase that encompassed all Social Media related activity under the banner of marketing. Hmmm?!!!

Well, marketing is an important aspect of the application of Social Media in the work place but consider the graphic below to reflect just a few of the other applications for Social Media – each of which is a key component in value generation for businesses.

A few of the many uses of Social Media

To ignore these opportunities you would be missing a trick. It’s a bit like having a Swiss Army knife and only using the screwdriver because it’s the only tool you can use!

Consider as well how these technologies and techniques can be applied both inwardly and outwardly facing for organisations and you begin to grasp the breadth of opportunity on offer here.

If you are looking for partners in any of your ventures into the realm of Social Media make sure they are capable of addressing the specific needs of the application you are considering, or if you are inviting partners to help you understand the value of Social Media to your business make sure that they do truly understand these applications and are not just marketeers.

To investigate these areas in a bit more depth and to give you the opportunity to test the credentials of your potential partners we will look at the role of Social Media in a number of these areas in the coming blog posts. Stay tuned and follow our twitter @twintangibles feed to keep in touch.