Social media rewired

Abstract

Harnessing social influence has for ages been marketing's key secret. This well-kept secret has become public knowledge due to the rise of online social networks. While many companies are finally engaging in social media, returns are not necessarily matching expectations. This paper proposes a model of social media as a social marketplace — the key for social media return is (a) harnessing both the supply and demand of social media, and (b) targeting social media at specific audiences. This marketplace effectiveness can be approached via a checklist of ten questions — companies doing well on these questions are those reaping the benefit of social media.