Social Media video

Social Media: Distraction or Marketing Essence - Amanda Watlington (5:20) Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Web Marketing Today - Dec 8, 2009

In this video interview, Internet marketing specialist Amanda Waltington notes that social media marketing has brought a fundamental change in Internet marketing. Such media can help us listen to our customers, gauge our customers, and create fans -- among other things.

However, she says, technologists tend to become enamoured of "shiny objects," rather than to consider their strategic value to the business. Instead, Watlington recommends developing marketing strategies from "goals down," not from "applications up." Ask: What does this tool accomplish for my business. Proceed in a "planful," strategic manner.

Amanda Watlington, our social media expert columnist, is the principal of Searching for Profit (www.searchingforprofit.com), Charleston, Massachusetts, a marketing consultancy which focuses on developing business results for clients adopting new marketing strategies.