<img style=”float: left” src=”http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k452/OMMBlog/JaysonGehri.jpg” alt=”" width=”81″ height=”104″ />So I’ve been back from the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) for a while now, and have somewhat had a chance to catch up and breathe.  I want to provide some information about the lessons I learned and the topics that were discussed, especially those topics that affect us in software marketing.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – if you haven’t attended OMS and you’re working in the online marketing world – I highly suggest you attend.  I know it’s hard in the current economy, but those educational dollars will go far and the networking opportunities are invaluable.<!–more–>

A main theme at the conference this year was the fact that everyone is dealing with a tough economy, marketers are being asked more than ever to prove ROI on their programs and many are being asked to do more with less.  A lot of the presentations focused on how we as marketers can measure our results, market in a recession, wring more value out of what we are already doing and how to make sure that marketing is still relevant when the finance people start looking for cuts.  As a professional in the world of software marketing, I can attest to the pain and the topics definitely resonated with me.

A major topic at this year’s conference is Social Media.  When marketers are looking for ways to advertise, create a community or engage their audience, social media seems to fit.  Most social media efforts are free and really only take the time needed to set up profiles, fan pages, and keep them updated with content.  However, social media isn’t as direct a channel as say – emails or PPC.

Another interesting change from last year to this year really struck me.  Social media was a big topic at OMS 2008.  But the discussions centered more around “should we be in social media?” or “should we be blogging?” and “how does social media make sense for my business?”  Now social media is a foregone conclusion, whether you are a B2B or B2C company, it seems to be widely accepted that you can make social media work for you.  Blogging also seems to have become a marketing standard – an easy way for you to create fresh content, establish thought leadership, create a community and engage your customers.  Now the conversations center around “why aren’t you in social media” or “what’s the url of your blog” and “<a href=”http://twitter.com/JaysonAG” target=”_blank”>what’s your name on Twitter?</a>”

This was a bit of shock for me – our company has experimented with Social Media in the last 8 months, and have obviously started the software marketing blog, and gotten involved in a few social sites.  The reason we wanted to begin building a community is that we noticed there is no association, conference, blog or community especially for software marketing.  It’s definitely a niche within a niche, but we felt that the needs of those marketing professionals in the software industry were unique enough that it deserved attention.

But we, like most companies, are still trying to find the best way for social media to benefit our business.  And most of all – how do we measure its success?  It seems that the measurability aspect is still a question on everyone’s mind – everyone is confident they need to be in social media but not confident in the best way to measure its results.  However, we were taught that social media should be used to augment your main marketing channels and not measured as a standalone channel.

Here are a few tips I got from a session entitled “Is Your Company Social?”  presented by Michael Weisfeld, Sr. Social Media Strategist at BusinessOnline.
<ol>
<li>First review your business goals and your CRM initiatives – what do you want to accomplish?</li>
<li>What are the metrics you want to measure? Followers, comments, fans, etc?</li>
<li>Come up with a strategy first, then look at the tactics.  Determine your costs and manpower investments, see if you have the resources and if it makes sense for you.</li>
<li>If you don’t know where your audience is – try conducting a survey to find out where they are.</li>
<li>Find the influential people in your space and engage them – find common terms and topics.</li>
<li>What is your competition doing?  If your competition is on <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/pages/Software-Marketing-Technology/28636131755″ target=”_blank”>Facebook</a>, or<a href=”http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=159786″ target=”_blank”> LinkedIn</a> or participating in a particular blog, chances are you should be too.</li>
<li>Find topics to talk about – that excite or educate your audience.  Look everywhere, your company news, other blogs, current events, etc.  The more effort you make to engage your audience the more successful you will be, though getting that initial involvement may be a challenge.</li>
<li>When engaging in social media you need a lively, passionate tactful personality who will be able to connect to the audience.  This could be your CEO, product manager or even communications person. (Though most people can tell “normal” writing styles from those of us marketing types, so unless you are trying to talk to marketers it’s probably a good idea not to have your marketing people author your blog.)</li>
<li>Participate externally – the more you participate in other blogs, profiles, etc, the more you will be driving traffic to your own social media efforts.  Once you establish a connection with another blogger, or an advocate in your market the more likely they will be to participate in your own social media efforts and engender participation from others.</li>
</ol>
Whether you are participating in social media or thinking about dipping your toe into the raging waters, I hope these tips will help you figure out how best to pursue your options.  But as I learned, its not “Should I be in social media?” it’s “<a href=”http://www.runaware.com/software-marketing.jsp” target=”_blank”>Why aren’t you in social media?</a>”

Do you have any good or bad experiences with social media?  Thoughts on what should be considered when adding social media to your marketing mix?