social media examples

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In this short article regarding social media examples, we'll take a look at several businesses that have heeded the calling of the social media phenomena and have been successful at using its influence to drive demand for their products. We'll look at Ford, Dell, and Zappos as a few from the social media examples that have been successful.

The Social Media phenomenon like it or not is here to stay. Social networking through the Internet has become so much a part of our lives that to go without it for even a day would send some hard-core participants into withdrawal. Furthermore, this is true if you're a student, a business professional, or even a housewife. But for the sake of this article, we'll focus mainly on social media examples within the business world.

Social media describes a shift in how people discover, assimilate, and forward news,

information and content. Social media examples of success can take a variety of forms

and these different forms increase every day. It allows it to be easier to create and distribute content and discuss the things we care most about. This phenomenon, when used effectively, can also improve a company's relationship with their customers, provide better customer loyalty, and increase sales.

Social Media Examples: Ford

According to CEO and founder of Wiredset, Mark Ghuneim, Ford is winning on the Social Web, by using social networking sites like Twitter. In fact "Ford had a formidable 4,915 Twitter posts on April 24 when the corporation posted a first quarter loss of $1.4. billion. You might be saying that this social media example may not sound too savvy and losing 1.4 billion in one quarter really doesn't seem to be raking in the dough for Ford. Then again, the mere fact that Ford thought enough of using Twitter for brand marketing is astonishing. Who knows, they might get their strategy right next time and actually post a profit by using an online social media network. (UPDATE: According to Scot Monty, Ford’s digital communications guru, Ford Motor Company posted a 2.1 billion profit in their first quarter of 2010). Looks like social media marketing may be working for them. GOOD JOB FORD!

Social Media Examples: Zappos

Zappos is a case of a modern business embracing the whole social media thing entirely. Thus, they've received a lot of attention. According to ReadWriteWeb, "Online shoe retailer Zappos does shoes and social media remarkably well. Scores of bloggers, lots of video blogging and 198 employees on Twitter help keep the company's profile high and humanize the folks behind the shoe sales."

Social Media Examples: Dell

Dell's use was not that radical, rather a new twist on a classic approach to direct marketing. Dell simply used Twitter to provide customers a discount. By using a coupon code setup on their site, Dell was able to make over $2 million in computer sales. Now that's innovative! On the other hand, some observers have pointed out that Paul Dunay (Buzz Marketing for Technogy) used Dell's social media example as an

opportunity to reprimand marketers who are worried over the perceived immeasurability of social media: "But they did it with a coupon code!" Who cares, right? It worked and it shows good business sense.

Perhaps the best showcase for social media examples would be the Being Peter Kim blog, where ex-Forrester analyst and social media beacon Peter Kim has collected and posted more than 1,000 social media marketing examples. The examples are sorted into categories, with the four biggest categories being blogging, social networking, microblogging, and online video. Widgets is fifth.

While Kim's examples show the creativity being applied to social media, they also reinforce the view of many marketers that social media goals and solutions are spotty at best, and that there are no one-rule-fits-all methodologies for using social media in business. As Shel Holtz (Holtz Communication and Technology) says:

"Depending on your line of business, certain social networks will work better for you than others. It's all about aligning business strategy to the use of each tool. Otherwise, you're wasting time and not reaching the right audience with the right message on the right network."

In the end, as more companies work with social media, examples are emerging that show the effectiveness of social media for PR and sales. However, as the experts point out, there are no standard methods for deploying and measuring social media for PR or selling, rather the variety of companies, goals, and applications, coupled with the nature of social media, defies attempts to uncover across-the-board methods.

Social Media Examples

Amazon.com Widgets