Forsman & Bodenfors came up with another innovative digital campaign for Ikea by turning one of Facebook’s basic functions into a promotional tool, to promote the opening of the brand’s Malmo outpost, its most modern store to date. Armed with little media budget, the agency came up with an unconventional Facebook campaign that started with a profile of the store’s manager, Gordon Gustavsson. Gustavsson uploaded pictures of the store’s showrooms to his photo album and any “friends” who tagged the products with their names then won those items.

From Creativity Online

While it may not seem old-fashioned at face value, technology through the use of social media allows you to do both if used correctly.  Social media is an online marketing tool that can reach a mass audience in a targeted manner.  It helps your customer to understand the core of your business values.  Social media is a unique marketing platform in that it also provides you insight into what your customer wants and allows you to respond to your customers immediately and in a personalized manner.

It’s important to understand that when harnessing the power of social media you must be real.  No PR spins.  No one-sided positioning.  No in your face, buy-it-now messaging.  Instead, share your story.  Encourage feedback (good and bad) and respond in a manner that tells your customer that you are listening and that they are valued.  While you may not be able to physically reach out and shake a hand, your customer will still feel as if they know you personally, will be left with a positive impression about your business and will likely refer their friends.

Are you ready to tell the story of your business?

One area in which we have already seen exponential growth is social media and blogging. As unemployment rises, the number of subscriber sign ups on business networking sites such as LinkedIn has grown by as much as 25% in a single month, reflecting nearly 28 Million users (September 2008). Businesses and organizations are running to join the social media movement, allowing them to reach broad audiences of like-minded people at virtually no cost. Frequently this is in lieu of using traditional media or even formerly inexpensive online tactics such as SEM. While Google is cutting anywhere from 200 employees to 1% of their workforce, depending on what you believe in the media, it’s reflective of a movement away from SEM toward the strategic use of social media and tactical blogging. This strategy may prove to be equally or perhaps even more effective for substantially less cost.

It’s time to overcome the misconception that businesses don’t spend money during an economic downturn and embrace the fact that the American entreprenurial spirit fights for survival by spending money prudently. Every organization and company must improve their ability to communicate with more relevance and frequency to their defined target.

Social media provides the opportunity to leverage brand, build loyalty, maintain relevance, and reach new customers by leveraging relationships with existing customers.

While it’s a microcosm of the movement to create efficiency through the use of technology, social media has seen more growth during this economic challenge than any other business sector. There is substance behind it. If your organization has not investigated how to more efficiently communicate with new and existing customers, I strongly suggest you do your due diligence.

Read the Report: Global Information Technology Report: 2009