Social media is as natural as mother's milk 29 July, 2009 By Liam Lahey

Ask Alicia Whalen, e-strategist and principal of Mississauga, Ont.-based A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing, and she'll agree social media should be as natural to us all as mother's milk. Simply put, these are modern communications vehicles that are based on the same tried and true marketing principles that have guided business since the dawn of commerce.

So what's with the all the confusion surrounding social media?

"Sometimes, even the CEOs of the world, or those in high level management making decisions on very large spends, or people in charge of IT or marketing departments . . . for them this is all very intimidating," she said. "Even some people actively engaging in websites such as Facebook still give me the sense they don't understand how to use it as a marketing vehicle.

"And the younger generation that have been actively using MSN Messenger and are texting often, sometimes they don't understand the complexities of the traditional marketing mix and what it takes to reach customers and audiences . . . people are overwhelmed due to all of the talk surrounding online marketing."

Founded in 2005 by Whalen and her business partner Patricia Brusha, A Couple of Chicks specializes in helping other organizations drive traffic to their websites and to more effectively communicate with their customers using social media tactics. The women have built a business that earned more than $1.2 million in 2008, and despite the recession, theirs is one small business that is weathering the economic climate quite nicely, thank you.

"We've been having a better time of it because we're established in the space," she said. "Now, with companies being more conscious with their dollars . . . they want a better bang for their buck reaching their customers."

So how should an organization with no current social media strategy or methodology in place begin the process? Appointing one employee to serve as a social media specialist and producing a clearly defined social media strategy with executable expectations, embraced company-wide, would seem to be a logical starting point.

"It depends on the company and its' target audience," she remarked. "We always caution before jumping into any social media marketing . . . ensure your cash register is in place first . . . the website needs to be strong, optimized, and capable of closing the deal."

Typically, websites need to be fixed before any social media engineering takes place, Whalen has found.

"You need to make sure your website is optimized to be found in search, that's the most important thing you need to do. Number two, not testing out online channels, distributing online through paid search marketing at all and jumping right into social media first doesn't make sense," she said. "In essence, this is all just a change to the traditional marketing mix."

Before you dive headlong into the social media pool, Whalen also advised:

*Install a web monitoring program like Google Analytics; a free program that monitors traffic on your website.

*Personalize. When creating a Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or MySpace page for your company, make sure your user name is a real name of an employee. That page should feel like a conversation and followers need to feel as if they are talking to a real person.

*Follow others. Following is one of the most important aspects of Twitter and other social networks. A fast and easy way to find potential customers is to visit a competitor's page and follow their followers.

*Make sure your tweets and messages are not entirely sales or company related. Talk about things happening in the media, post links to interesting stories related to your industry.

*Q & A: It is important to pose questions to your followers and also answer their questions directly. Asking questions can help you find out the strengths and weaknesses of your business in a fast and easy way. This gives your company more personality and people will feel directly engaged with your brand.

A Couple of Chicks has over 70 active clients including Marriott International, Nova Scotia Tourism, Niagara Falls Tourism, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, and Yahoo! Canada. The duo has also managed online marketing campaigns and search engine optimization programs for clients such as Travel Alberta, Vancouver Coast and Mountains Tourism, The Sports Museum of America (NYC), Niagara Economic and Tourism Co., and the Shaw Festival Theatre.

And the company has also produced a book, "Online Marketing Revealed", that Whalen said is a handy read for those who've yet to experience that "a-ha!" moment as it pertains to social media and marketing.

For more information, log on to: www.acoupleofchicks.com.