Some New Wrinkles on Social Media at Leading Age Session

Lori Bitter, President/CEO at Continuum Crew - Engaging Consumers >40, shared new research and insights for social media to a social-media craving audience at Leading Age last month.

Some of the research highlights:

• boomer online use is up 62%, mimicking national statistics
• boomers are willing to give up most anything except their cell phone and Internet
• older boomers behaving like "Ike's" (as in Eisenhower) and younger boomers behave like Gen X'ers
  Translation - some of us are like our parents when it comes to social media; some of us are like our kids.
• older boomers still use traditional media including local newspapers

The bottom line is that Internet and social media use is growing among boomers.

As we shared, social media's value is in the speed of sharing so Bitter urged us to create things that people want to share. And integrate don't eliminate other traditional marketing methods in your plan. They all complement one another.

At the end of the day, social media is an enabler of word of mouth marketing. And you can't be afraid of the transparency it creates. Yes you may suffer some bad reviews but they are opportunities for dialogue.

Ready to start? Here was her get ready checklist:

1. Listen online.
   Before you enter the conversation understand what is being talked about online, the style of communication and the interaction.


2. Establish clear goals.
   Pretty self-explanatory - what are your objectives? - engaging a community in a dialogue, traffic to your website? Get clear on what you want to accomplish.


3. Have the people power to execute.
   This is time intensive make no mistake. You can do it yourself or hire someone but you need to commit resources. Here is some perspective.


4. You must have a content plan engagement strategy.
   Just like a newspaper you must develop an editorial calendar. What are you going to write about? What point of view do you want to convey over time? What actions do you want to spur from your writing, articles, blogs? Let that guide you. This is not about Twittering what you had for breakfast.


5. Know what your prospects are doing online.
   This is part of listening above but also about understanding what your prospects are searching for and reading online and what venues they are using. For that you might just have to ask them.


6. Your web site or blog must be ready attention.
   As you engage people on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, they may want to check you out. So you better look good when they get to your web. It reflects on you and completes the online perception for those checking you out.

She shared some others but you get the idea. You need to be involved in social media. But don't go there if you don't do it right.

Learn more ~ or join the conversation!

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