Seems everyone is trying to figure out how they can make money from social media (SM). Like search engine optimization (SEO) before it, everyone and her brother is claiming to be a social media 'expert' - whatever that means.
I'm not ready to call myself a social media expert, but I am moving in the space. And I'm convinced that the question, "How can I make money from social media?" is misguided. A better question might be, "How can I use social media to accomplish my goals?" Those goals can vary widely: build brand awareness, find friends, and yes - make money. To determine how best to leverage social media, you first need to determine your goal. Without this step, you'll never be able to measure your progress toward success - you'll only know that you've put a lot of effort into something that has shown perhaps dubious results.
That social media can work for business has been shown already. I'm not a big fan of Burger King's food, but I love their understanding of social media and viral uptake. From the
subservient chicken to
dropping Facebook friends for a free Whopper, BK has been successful at creating campaigns that not only create buzz in the SM community, but also get play in conventional media. When your PR stunts are deemed newsworthy in their own right, you've done something special and achieved several turns from your marketing dollars.
But must you be a multi-billion dollar company with a marketing budget to match to accomplish such feats? Again, it depends upon your goals. I've recently witnessed a very effective use of free social media tools by a photography school here in Montana that shows you don't have to have a huge budget to successfully execute a social media campaign.
The
Rocky Mountain School of Photography is located in Missoula, Montana. Their instructors travel throughout the United States conducting weekend workshops and longer photography field trips. They also offer an intense photography program conducted on their home campus in Missoula. RMSP currently leverages the web to offer online descriptions of their programs and online event registration. Recently, they have also branched into social media.
I'll confess that I'm a big fan of RMSP - as a photography hobbyist, I have attended one of RMSP's Photo Weekends in the past and am quick to recommend their programs to others. So when I heard that RMSP plans to offer a Photo Weekend here in Bozeman later this spring, I enthusiastically began to tell my friends in the office about the event. My reason for evangelizing is not entirely altruistic: I'm interested in assembling a group of at least five attendees before I register so we can get a small discount on our registration fees.
As I was updating my Facebook page last night, I decided to see if RMSP had a Facebook presence. Lo and behold, not only did they have a Group Page, they also had Facebook Events for each and every Photo Weekend planned for this spring. Thanks to the event infrastructure in place on Facebook, I was able to easily send a notice of the event to targeted friends who I believed would be interested in the Weekend. I was also able to quickly post the event to my Facebook wall where all my friends would see that RMSP is coming to Bozeman. With just a few clicks, I was able to pass the word along to a select group of individuals I believed would actually welcome hearing about the event. Would I have taken the time to compose and send e-mails to these same folks if I'd had to do it manually? Would I have written and proofed a blog post about the event? I doubt it.
Think about what happened here: with no compensation from RMSP, I put my credibility on the line and handpicked a group of potential customers to receive a notice from me - not RMSP. I also posted a notice of the event on my wall for my friends to see. RMSP paid nothing for this: no endorsement fee, no radio buy, no newspaper buy, no billboard buy, no banner ad buy, no adwords bid. Just a guy who likes their product telling his friends about something he thinks they might find interesting.
Was RMSP successful in their use of social media? Since last night, I've already identified two friends who have definitely committed to attend. If RMSP's goal was to increase the number of paying attendees at their Photography Weekends, then I would say the answer to that question is yes. And because both of these new customers learned about RMSP via social media, they are potential SM vectors like me if they are equally delighted with their RMSP experience. They may tell their Facebook friends about RMSP, post RMSP events on their profiles, tweet about RMSP, blog about RMSP.
And that, my friends, is viral marketing at its best.
