Hughes blog post: Social media - your NY resolution?

Is 2011 the year your business begins using social media?

There’s been speculation that 2010 was the year business continued to experiment with social media and that next year, business will get serious about a social media strategy.

In November this year, Nucleas Digital Strategy released its Digital State of the Nation report, following “82 candid interviews with senior Australian marketers”.

It was reported that “overwhelmingly senior marketers have ‘digital marketing strategy’ on their agenda for this financial year (2010-11)”.

Smedia claims that “2011 will provide a defining moment for the mass-scale adoption of social media and social analytics (aka socialytics) in the business world”.

And eMarketer has predicted there will be a significant uptake next year, saying “four in five US businesses with at least 100 employees will take part in social media marketing” .

Here in South Australia, more businesses are using social media to support their communication programs.

At Hughes Public Relations, we’ve helped Beerenberg continue its wide use of social media; we’ve assisted Crowne Plaza Adelaide to grow a healthy engagement with the Adelaide marketplace; we’ve helped Cool Rules delve into the social media world which included its highly popular YouTube video; and Omni Sparkling has built a vibrant Facebook community.

Behind the scenes, we’ve advised many other clients on social media strategies and now include social media as a component of clients’ communications plans.

We've also made social media presentations to audiences in their hundreds.

And at Hughes PR, we do have our own digital strategy. For some time, we’ve also been using social media across a variety of platforms – Twitter, YouTube, FlickR and now this blog. Internally, we’ve used Yammer and also have a private Facebook group. (Of course, digital consultants Michelle Prak and Jenny Clift test and use a myriad of different platforms every day).

Our social media profiles all have a different objective. But, as an Adelaide PR agency, our overriding purpose is to ensure we know how these platforms work, we understand these online communities, and we’re able to provide some sound advice to clients.

Are you interested in using social media? Is it your New Year’s resolution? Ask us how to begin…

- Michelle Prak