Comundia

Recently, I participated in a TeleSummit on “Tech Marketing in a Recession” organized by Women Who Tech. I’d like to share with you the insights given on why and how companies should consider integrating “cost effective” Web2.0 into their marketing campaigns especially when the economy struggles.

Fact is that in current times the PR/Marketing budgets are the first to be cut. How can organizations create or maintain a healthy marketing campaign on an already squeezed budget?

How to use Twitter for your business?
Many discussions are going on these days around Twitter and if it really makes sense for a brand to create a profile there. The value of Twitter lies in the fact that you can create relationships with your customers and that you can get a feeling of what people are saying about your brand. In order to see what users are saying about your brand or yourself just type your name into the Twitter search field. Further, you can also subscribe to an RSS feed for the term, which alerts you any time the term is mentioned.

Who to follow?
Check out Twellow . It’s a useful tool to find interesting people to follow. It’s a search directory of people by area of expertise, profession or other attributes listed in their personal profiles. Twitter itself does not offer such a service at this stage. If you’re interested in other Twitter search engines have a look at this list .

How to get a presence and followers?

• If you’re a brand and on Twitter, make sure your Twitter Profile is on your website. Make sure that people can actually find you.
• Do not only talk about yourself or your brand. Provide value and interesting content for your followers.
• Make sure you respond to people. It’s not about you or your brand – it’s about relationships. You can either respond directly or you can also re-tweet what other people are saying (e.g. RT @themodcom) which establishes you as a human being and not only as a company.

If you would like to learn more on how to use Twitter check out the Twitter FAQ: RT, HT, OH, ETC.

Facebook Fan Page
Facebook Fan Pages let you import notes, you can upload videos and photos and be face to face with your customers. It’s the same as creating a personal profile – people can become friends/fans of your brand and you can enter into a direct dialogue with them. It’s an inexpensive way to promote your page. Make sure you promote your fan page well enough so people can actually see it. The first step is to invite your network to become a fan. Here you find more explanations why you should create a Facebook Fan Page.

Blog
A business blog is an informal, easily maintained way to regularly communicate with your customers and employees. A business blog offers a more approachable, informal way in which customers can enter into contact with your company and get to know you better. They learn about you, your products and your achievements & innovations. If you blog you can represent your company in a positive light – for free!

Delicious
Is a social bookmarking site. Delicious enables you to find information later which you’ve saved, or information that other people have seen. It’s always interesting to see what people tag your website as. You can do your own searches (try your company name or product name) to find out what others think of it. Tie this into your web marketing efforts:, the keywords that users are tagging information with should also extend to your Search Engine Optimization. After all, this is how the end user or consumer is thinking about your webpage. Even though delicious users are only a small segment of web users, the fact that they’ve taken time out to tag your content deserves some credit; at least take the time to understand how they’re tagging your content (or your competition).

Digg
Is a social news site. It’s a library of articles weighted by importance by users. Users submit articles and others vote on them. If your brand is mentioned, make sure that you digg it. If your submission rocks and receives enough Diggs, it gets promoted to the front page. Learn how to digg your article here.

Even though times are tough “You cannot be silent – you need to be visible”. You need to be out there even though budgets are hard and the economy is difficult. The presented tools are worth integrating as a complimentary part to your marketing campaign. They are “cheap tools in hard times”.

For sure you need to invest time at the beginning to find out the best ways to use these tools. Once you’ve figured out how to use them properly however, they can turn into a successful and important element in your overall marketing campaign. I strongly believe that social media represents a new set of marketing tools. By integrating social media technologies into a marketing plan, you strengthen the overall plan to drive business. Always keep in mind: What value do you bring to your costumer? What makes you different from your competitors? Focus on your strengths during the hard times!