In Social Media, Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail - Social Media Marketing Strategy for Business

FastCompany's expert blogger Brian Solis reports that in social media, failing to plan is planning to fail.
Some key points

• eMarketer report documents an increase in social media spend:"Social Media in the Marketing Mix: Budgeting for 2011"
• social media strategy must gain attention from the very top of the organization be integrated across relevant business teams
• Companies are now actively investing in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networks for all the wrong reasons.
• EMarketer's Debra Aho Williamson says "many companies are expanding budgets for social media marketing not because they have been successful at it, but because they are relying on gut instinct--the feeling that 'this is something important so I'm going to do it even if I don't know why.' Or worse, they have watched their competitors earn accolades in the press for their work in social media, and they are afraid of losing any more ground."
• Effective business social media strategy must address business dynamics and it takes much more than a Facebook and Twitter presence - it must include and be integrated into marketing, communications, sales, CRM/sCRM, product development/R&D, HR, finance, legal, et al.
  

via fastcompany.com</div>

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Posted via email from Social Persuasion - The Social Media Marketing Agency Blog

IKEA introduces social media to its marketing catalogue - Next campaign: "Swede Yourself" in-store ? :)

IKEA Canada has launched an advertising campaign and contest that encourage consumers to share their favourite images from the home furnishing retailer's latest catalogue.

The campaign includes television, print, online and out-of-home creative touting the arrival of IKEA's 2011 catalogue. Each execution also alerts readers to IKEA's "Capture the Page" contest, an online initiative that invites consumers to upload pictures of their favourite images from the catalogue to a microsite,

via marketingmag.ca

So when you're reading through the Ikea catalogue and it asks you to take a picture of a page and then email it to win 10k will you take the time to do it? Maybe they should encourage the same thing in their Ikea stores -- take a picture of yourself with the thing you see that you like in the store and email it to enter to win that item. Instead of "Capture the Page" maybe Ikea can get permission to use "Swede Yourself" from Be Kind Rewind fame. Do you think a whole Sweded version of the Ikea website would draw any viral or grassroots attention? I'd visit it and watch submitted videos of people swede'ing non-ikea-purchased furniture or things in their life (whatever that might mean).

Posted via email from Vancouver Internet Marketing Social Media Marketing Consultant Canada