The short answer is yes

Here are some examples of companies that have been successful in implementing various forms of Social Media into their marketing mix with success.

Effective Twitter Use

Curtis Kimball is an owner of a crème brulee cart in San Francisco that has had great success growing his customer base with Twitter.  He currently has over 5,400 followers and every day he uses Twitter to post where he will be that day.  This allows him to be mobile and for all of his customers to find him.

See the complete story

Umi, a San Francisco sushi restaurant sometimes will get 5 new customers a night after learning about the restaurant on twitter.

Umi’s Twitter Profile

Umi’s Website

Effective Complete Social Media Usage

One local Steak House,  Caminito Argentinian Steakhouse, has done a very good job of incorporating several Social Media components into their marketing strategy to grow their business.

They have incorporated the following with great success:

• A Blog, Prime Cuts , which focuses on providing cooking and kitchen tips and tricks along with some recipes
• YouTube with Prime Cuts TV which expands the Prime Cuts Blog
• A Facebook Fan Page http://www.facebook.com/caminitosteakhouse

Before implementing Social Media strategies the restaurant was averaging a 5 – 10% decrease in sales each month.  Now they are seeing on average a 20% increase in sales each month over the previous year.

ProBest Pest Management is another example of a small business that is embracing Social Media and using it in their marketing mix.

ProBest Pest Management maintains a blog that helps educate the public on bugs.  This blog can be seen here: http://probestblog.wordpress.com/

They have also just embraced Facebook and have a Fan page set up so that you can connect with them and learn more. ProBest Pest Management Fan Page

ProBest Pest Management can also be found on Twitter @ProBestPest

The above businesses are just a few examples of businesses that are harnessing Social Media in their marketing and increasing profits and decreasing costs by doing so.

We will profile several other businesses over the next couple of months.

Social Networking and Social Media is a very hot topic right now and one that you really can’t ignore, but is it being embraced?

Many smaller businesses and organizations often question if it is really something they need to add to their marketing mix and communication streams.  When this question comes up they will often ask something like, “Are companies really using this?” and typically when this is asked they also want to know who and how.

There are several companies that are using Social Media and Social Networking in their marketing mix and communication streams.  Some big names are Dell, Southwest Airlines, Comcast and several others.

But how many really are using Social Media and Social Networking

I think you will be surprised when you realize just how many businesses are.  To give you an idea here are three thinks that provide you with over 1100 examples of Social Media being used by companies:

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/page-2

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/master-list-3

You won’t find 1100 companies, but you will find examples of what companies are doing.  These examples contain some of the following methods:

• Twitter
• FaceBook Fan Pages
• Blogs
• Photo Sharing
• Podcasting
• Video Sharing
• Content Aggregation
• Widgets
• Complete Social Networks

Here are a few fun examples of what companies have done:

Fidelity created this mashup for users to play with: http://personal.fidelity.com/misc/buffers/labs/index.shtml

Ford is Sponsoring this Wiki: http://wherearethejoneses.wikidot.com/set:home

Rubbermaid Has a pretty neat YouTube Chanel: http://www.youtube.com/user/RubbermaidOnline

Rubbermaid is also building a nice FaceBook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/RUBBERMAID

Toys R Us ( A favorite of my kids) has a sharp looking Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/toysrus?ref=nf

Newspapers are learning they need to generate content from readers – The Wall Street Journal has over 40 content blogs available: http://blogs.wsj.com/

Wells Fargo has launched Stage Coach Island that is an interactive online virtual world: http://blog.wellsfargo.com/StagecoachIsland/

This is just a handful of examples of companies using and embracing Social Media and Social Networking tools.  To see more great examples take the time to look at the three lists and see what others are doing.

One key item that I see on these lists and I always tell people is that a Blog MUST be part of your mix.  This is where you communicate and share and this helps generate regular content.

When we investigate why a business hasn’t taken the plunge yet we often find it is because they don’t see or understand what impact or ROI that using Social Media and Social Networking will have on their business.  Here are some case studies that have been pointing to in order to show the positive effect and ROI to business.

Case Study 1: Naked Pizza

Naked Pizza has embraced the Social Media Tool Twitter and has been using it to build and drive business.  One day in April (April 23rd) Naked Pizza tested out the value of using Twitter and posted a special on Twitter.  This post or Tweet on Twitter brought in 15% of the business for that day.  This had a positive impact on the business and showed the power of a Social Media/Social Networking tool.

Case Study 2: Dell Computers

Dell Computers has jumped into Social Media and Social Networking full force and is one company that is able to give hard numbers of the increase in dollars that are directly related to using Twitter.  Dell has over 65 corporate Twitter accounts and one in particular is credited for bringing in over $3 million in sales – @delloutlet .  Dell has well over 400,000 followers currently on Twitter between all accounts.

Case Study 3: Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines has done a wonderful job embracing Social Media and Networking tools.  On Twitter they currently have over 574,000 followers.  In addition to being on Twitter Southwest is also on Facebook, flickr, Linkedin and YouTube as well as they have a company blog at www.blogsouthwest.com .

Southwest Airlines does a wonderful job of communicating with their current customers and followers and has also embraced user generated content.  Here is a YouTub Video showcasing the rapping flight attendant that created quite a viral following for Southwest Airlines.

Case Study 4: CoffeeGroundz a Coffee House in Houston Texas

J.R. Cohen the Operations Manager for CoffeeGroundz was intrigued by Twitter when he heard about it.  He jumped on board though and began to follow local Tweeters of Houston.  Shortly after getting on board he was able to amass a following of over 1,000.  J.R. Cohen did a great job of networking and building his following.

Over time @CoffeGroundz has continued to use Twitter to build a following and has even taken an order through Twitter as well as hosted a Tweetup that produced many new customers as well as brought in a lot of business.

As of today (September 2, 2009) @CoffeGroundz now has over 7,800 followes on Twitter.

Case Study 5: City of Arvada Colorado

The City of Arvada in Colorado has jumped into Social Media and Social Networking tools and have embraced them 100%.   They currently are blogging (Inside the Center ), Micoblogging with Twitter (Twitter account), are using video (YouTube account) as well as sharing photos (Flickr photostream) and have a fan page set up on Facebook (Facebook fan page) .

Imbracing Social Media and Social Networking has allowed the City of Arvada to increase the ways it communicates with current residents as well as future residents.  This also helps build the citie’s image and reputation.

As you can see from the case studies above Social Media and Social Networking is being embraced by both large and small businesses as well as cities and is having a postitive impact.