So we’ve gone from wondering if social media was just a passing fad to a general acceptance of its existence and usefulness. At least most people who haven’t closed their minds to reality have. So, let’s just say your company or organization is in the acceptance mode. What’s the future hold? What do you do next? Many of you don’t have a blog, Twitter account or Facebook page but you’re about to. Aren’t you?

First of all I highly recommend working with someone who not only says they understand social media but is actively engaged with it. Do they have a Twitter account themselves? I’ve seen some “experts” out doing presentations and consultation with inactive social networking of their own. That should be considered a reason to go with someone else (Like oh, let me see. Me!). Okay. Enough of that.

As your online social media consultant, let me point you to a new article on eMarketer about the future. The first paragraph says a lot.

In the few short years that social media has been a marketing vehicle, it has already had an enormous effect on the way companies do business. In the coming years there will be even more changes, as social media marketing extends from the marketing department to nearly every aspect of a company’s business.

That’s right. It’s not just for marketing purposes although social media is a fantastic tool to be using to connect with and engage your customers and members now. Let’s look at one example of how a company is integrating social media into their marketing campaign now. This is from a USA Today story about the Olympics and social media/advertising. They picked four companies to highlight how they’re moving to more social media.

Visa. About 40% of its Olympic marketing funds will go to digital, four times the past share, marketing chief Antonio Lucio says. It created a YouTube channel where its six Olympic spots can be seen before they air on TV. Folks can pick their favorite and enter to have their name appear in the ad.

Have you thought about how you’re going to integrate social media into your marketing campaign? Are you afraid of it? What’s your major concern? Is it the production of the content? If so, there are companies like ours you can turn to for help with everything from writing to audio and video production for the web. I dare say the costs will be significantly less than a major national advertising campaign using traditional media tools. In fact, if your company or organization doesn’t have a big budget this could be your opportunity to make a big impact without breaking the bank.

So, looking into the future I only see more and more applications and growth for social media. I think it’s all about creating information your customer wants and engaging with them where they are. That’s online and on their phone and includes farmers as well as consumers. New technology like the iPad and increased broadband capability will continue to drive a move towards communications that we’ve never seen before. Because what the technology is allowing us to do is communicate like we want to and that’s conversationally as opposed to being forced to see or listen to information on another person’s schedule. That’s why this is growing and not a fad.