Real-Time social networking matters

Hello Friends,

I have decided that for the remainder of the semester I am going to post about my PR readings first. This is not the most exciting topic to blog about, nor is it the most to read about. I should also try and get it out of the way at the beginning of the week and save the topics I enjoy blogging about for the end of the week. Something to look forward to I suppose.

We are still reading Real-Time Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott. So far, I have actually enjoyed reading this book and I feel that it does have valuable information in it (probably the reason why my professor chose the book).

This week we discussed how company websites are transforming into real-time marketing and sales machines. David Meerman Scott lists in the book elements of a technology infrastructure that are crucial to support a real-time business.

1.Real-time news and commentary: Data feeds from external sources including mainstream media, analysts and information databases.
2. Real-time social web: Real-time blogs posts, tweets, online video and other social networking content.
3. Real-time web site traffic: Information on your company's web sites updated in real time as people interact.
4. Customer database: Includes all existing customers and their purchasing history, plus records of who has contacted them, when and about what.

I believe that all of these elements are important not only for customers, but for employees of a company. A solid technological infrastructure allows a company to stay informed about its target market and gives them the ability to respond in real-time to the needs of all their customers. As a consumer, I appreciate a company that has product information that is easily accessible for customers.

TOPSHOP is a retail clothing store that utilizes real-time social web extremely well. They cover all of the major social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs and Pintrest. Customers can use all of these different mediums to search for information about products, new trends, events, designers and other topics related to the business. I feel that companies that include social media networking content do a much better job at reaching their customers than those companies that don't.

Some people may think having more than one social networking site for a business is excessive, but you have more of a chance to reach your target audience. I love that I can follow TOPSHOP on Pintrest, Twitter and Facebook because I really like their clothes and they always have really interesting up-to-date content on their sites.

Do you have a company that you follow that utilizes real-time social networking?

Until next time,

Katie