The Fast Track To Social Media Success is....

Social Media is becoming more and more popular as companies look for new ways to engage their potential customers.

The challenge is that many companies either do not understand how to use Social Media or they just don't have the time. More and more Social Media marketing agencies are coming out of the woodwork and they are wooing many businesses and capturing their marketing dollars by doing all of the social media grunt work for them.

This may be a great way to get started - but once you are "in the game" then what? You still need to gather a following, and for most consumers, what is the benefit of following a mattress company, or jewelery store, or tire company etc - let's face it, it's just not sexy. Furthermore, how do you grow your following? Option 1 is time.....wait it out just like eveyone else. Not everyone can be Ashton Kutcher or Justin Bieber.

Your company could do it the old fashion way and just follow every Tom, Dick and Harry out there - but if your company relies mainly on local customers - this just isn't going to be the key to your success. There are even some tricks out there that can allow you to follow certain people on Twitter just by keywords that they are posting, however it still lacks local appeal.

If you really want to get on the fast track with your Social Media and dominate your local market, align with a local media outlet that has a built in "following". The most similar medium to Social Media is Radio. Radio appeals to people on a very personal level. People relate to radio through their favorite music or their favorite talk show host. For example, if your best friend tells you about an amazing experience they just had at a fantastic new restaurant, the likelyhood of you trying that restaurant in the next week would be very high. If they tweeted it or posted it on Facebook or Yelp - again, the likelyhood of you trying that restaurant would be pretty high. Why? Because you know them, you trust them and you believe them.

If someone you follow on Twitter (most likely someone you dont even know) says something positive or negative about any company - you will probably take it with a grain of salt. On the other hand, if your favorite radio personality tells you about their favorite restaurant the chances of you trying out that restaurant is also relatively high. Why? Because you believe this person, you trust them, in most cases you feel like you know them since you have listened to them for years. It also may depend on the format of station they are on. Talk radio personalities tend to have an even stronger impact on their listeners or "followers". We see this every day in the radio business and personality live reads or endorsements are one of the most powerful messages on the radio.

Now, how do you use this information to put your Social Media marketing campaign on the fast track??? Add a radio componant - it's that simple :-). If you can stand the test of time, then by all means - wait it out on Twitter and Facebook. But if you want to put together a really effective campaign get radio on your side - tap into the hundreds of thousands of followers that tune in every day and convert them to your followers. Just like the restaurant example, if one of my radio personalities started asking their listeners to follow your company on Twitter or join your Facebook page because of the benefits of doing so - chances are pretty high that they will and you will be on the fast track to social media success.

Now, if every time a radio personality opened his or her mouth and said follow this company on Twitter and that company on Facebook the concept will begin to lose its appeal and effectiveness. So the early adopters of this concept will reap the benefits......so who is in?