Having a strong online presence is no longer an option. It's a business necessity.

Why do companies start blogging, send tweets or create Facebook pages? To build a buzz? To participate in online conversations? To accumulate friends, fans and followers?

Yes. And no.

The companies most frequently cited as “social media success stories” are the ones that align online participation with business goals. Just like any other PR or marketing initiative, social media should strengthen the bottom line, enhance the product-development process, improve customer service, generate new business leads, enhance a company’s reputation and educate stakeholders.

---

Social Media = Better Product Development

Social media offer an alternative ROI: return on insight. By asking customers for input, and actually listening to their responses, companies can enhance the product-development process to give customers what they actually need, not just what a product manager thinks they need.

Dell does this with IdeaStorm. People are invited to make suggestions, and anyone can vote ideas “up” or “down” — helping the Dell team understand what its customers deem valuable. Likewise, My Starbucks Idea invites customers to share feedback, respond to other people’s suggestions and discuss ways to improve Starbucks.

The opportunity to gain these valuable insights isn’t limited to large companies. Spingpad, a startup offering free online organizing tools, recently engaged its Twitter followers in a one-hour online focus group. The Springpad moderator asked four questions, mainly focusing on service use and product interface. Springpad users offered their input, and the moderator asked follow-up questions, making the session much like a typical focus group. While the results aren’t scientific, Springpad incorporated the feedback into its products.

---

Social Media = Improved Customer Service

First Mariner Bank, a regional bank in Baltimore, demonstrated its commitment to customer service via Twitter. One of the bank’s customers tweeted his frustration with its drive-through hours and threatened to close his account. Shortly, he received a private message via Twitter from a bank representative, who worked with him over the next few days to resolve his issues. That customer then proceeded to praise the bank on his popular blog (Technosailor) for going above and beyond. As he wrote, “If we, as customers, feel valued, then we are going to value you even more.”

Along the same lines, larger companies, such as Comcast and JetBlue, use various social media outlets as customer service tools, communicating important information to customers and answering questions as needed. What’s the lesson? Whether you’re a large national brand or a local company, social media can help you serve customers better. And that translates to a healthier bottom line.

---

Social Media = Good for Business

These are just two examples of business use of social media. There are many others. Social media are also valuable for less quantifiable goals, such as providing thought leadership, building loyalty and generating awareness. For example, a recent study found that 75 percent of journalists now start researching stories on social networks. Companies that want traditional media coverage should connect with journalists online.

In a world where 77 percent of Internet users read blogs, 250 million people are active on Facebook and social networking is more popular than e-mail, having a strong online presence is no longer an option — it’s a business necessity.

Heather Whaling is the director of public relations for Costa DeVault, a full-service marketing, public relations and interactive agency based in Winter Park. She can be reached at heatherwhaling@costadevault.com.

---

6 Tips on Social Media

OK, so social media is transforming the small-business marketing landscape. Your own company’s garden, though, is barren. And you’re not quite certain how the plant the seeds.

To get moving the right direction, consider these tips compiled from various sources on the Web — where else?

1. Shift marketing costs to social media. After learning how social networking operates, use social media to free up traditional marketing dollars for your small business by putting it online. You can quickly learn which of your Facebook or Twitter "friends" or online "group" members received and responded to your message.

2. Learn about the competition. If they’re tapping into social networking, find out about them. Start by researching the competition in the major search engines, Google and Yahoo.

3. Take social-network marketing to the next level. Do this by creating and posting richer content about what your customers would expect from someone in your business. Don't view social media sites as a place to simply hype your wares. It's a place for conversation. Social media is about earning attention.

4. Use blogging to drive search results and help new customers find you. Blogging has gained greater attention lately with the advent of "microblogging" on Twitter. Yet, consider the time commitment and strategy before launching an account. Even with the spread of microblogging, traditional blogs might be the way to go because they’re lengthier and show up on Web sites. In general, no matter which form the blog takes, it should be consistent over time.

5. Change your brand/companies message to fit the social network you are on. You might post “@software is here to help with all your computer needs” on Twitter. Well, that might not fly on another site. Make sure you know the basic ins and outs of the site you are on. Think of it as, when you travel to a different country, there are different customs you should follow.

6. Don’t treat your social media activity as something separate from your other marketing initiatives. Feature links to your social media profiles in your e-mail signature, on your business cards, in your ads and as a standard block of copy in your weekly HTML email newsletter. In addition, make sure that links to your educational content are featured prominently in your social media profiles and that Facebook fan page visitors and blog subscribers are offered the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter and attend your online and offline events. Also, make your social media profiles a part of your address copy block.