Evaluating the value of social media

By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Over the past several years, companies have increasingly spent their advertising and marketing dollars on search engines such as Google or Yahoo and social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

But how much business do they actually bring into a company? And how can companies improve their online presence to generate more sales?

Those questions have dominated the Online Marketing Summit, a four-day conference concluding today at Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay.

“What’s working in social media is that it’s a great way to engage your customers and have a real dialogue with them,” said Thad Kahlow, chief executive of Business OnLine, a San Diego firm concentrating on Web-based marketing. “What’s not working is the drive to know how much return they’re getting on their investment.” Read on!

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After seeing Guy Kawasaki (pictured above) speak at two different events in the past few months (San Diego Venture Group and 140| The Twitter Conference LA), I came away pondering what seems to be a rather polarizing question in the Twitter world.  Kawasaki believes that re-broadcasting tweets multiple times throughout the day is the best way to effectively reach your audience.  He definitely has some gutsy philosophies on Twitter and perhaps this approach works for his goals.  I personally don’t agree that this is wise advice for any individual or organization working to achieve a meaningful conversation with followers on Twitter.  But if your goal is quantity over quality, Guy Kawasaki is definitely onto something, as evidenced by his nearly 200,000 followers.  I recently posed this question to the PRSA group on LinkedIn and thought that the ensuing discussion was interesting and worthwhile to share:

Traditionally, college students are early adopters of social media platforms. Twitter is one notable exception to the rule. Only sixteen percent of Twitter users are under age 25. However, those students who ARE on Twitter may have an advantage over their non-tweeting peers.

Over 30 percent of college professors use Twitter regularly. They use Twitter to post and answer questions from students, effectively expanding the definition of “office hours.” Professors host Twitter study groups that allow students to participate in active and continuous academic discussions from anywhere. Students can also collaborate on group projects via Twitter.

Everyone knows that no matter what you choose to do in life, networking is the way to get there. Twitter is a great networking tool for college students. They can follow professionals in their chosen field and keep up with relevant trends. Starting a conversation with a pro can open doors for the future. On that note, Twitter can be a useful tool for job searching. The ability to respond directly to a job inquiry might give Twitter users the upper hand.

Even though college students are reluctant to join Twitter, I think many will soon realize the benefits. Instant access to news, professors and job opportunities are crucial to every college student’s life.

The first thing I noticed upon entering 140|The Twitter Conference LA was the over-abundance of laptops and mobile devices and the amount of people looking down at their computers while a speaker was in the midst of a presentation — and not just any speaker, but THE Biz Stone (@biz), co-founder of Twitter.  Of course, his feelings weren’t hurt because everyone was furiously posting tweets via his brainchild, Twitter, that were fed into the live stream of information in 140-character bursts being followed around the world through the hashtag #140tc.  To the left-hand side of the stage stood a projector screen with a live feed of the Twitter posts tagged with #140tc, demonstrating the diverse thoughts, opinions and comments happening in the moment all on the same topic, and visually displaying the incredibly fast-moving and immediate nature of Twitter.