Marketers can probably agree that the "cost" of using or producing social media is nearly free, in terms of "placement." What is demonstrably not free are all the other tasks that go into creating and sustaining a social media initiative.
Designing and building a Foursquare application costs money. Beyond that, it takes time to promote, interact with and manage a social media effort.
The typical pattern is that a company gets into social media in some way using volunteer effort. Then it becomes clear that everybody has a "real" job with real tasks, and that the effort diminishes over time. That leads to adding new people, with dedicated responsibilities, to the effort. It might not take lots of out-of-pocket money on the operating expense front. It will take people, and that will mean money.
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