Photo by Madame Li

With all the people constantly yapping about social media and its benefits, about how you need to be on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many other social networks, it’s easy to fall under the impression that everyone already knows all there is to know about social media. Well, hold your horses, because not only there’s a lot of people and companies who have no idea what social media is, but there’s also a lot of people that want to know what it is and still don’t. If you are involved in social media, that’s a great opportunity for you!

Earlier this week, an article on TechCrunch caught my attention. The article is called “Study Finds Marketers Embracing Social Media Marketing In A Big Way” and talks about social media marketing adoption by more than a thousand companies and their goals and strategies for 2010. While many companies are understanding the importance of social media and how it can help and better their businesses (66 percent of respondents will be investing in social media marketing in 2010. Of those, 40 percent would be shifting more than a fifth of their traditional direct marketing budget towards social media marketing), there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement.

The article begins optimistically but then explains that nearly half of respondents (42 percent) don’t currently incorporate clickstream and web analytics data into their customer and e-mail database. That means that for many players of the game, there’s a lot to learn and embrace still. That’s where you come in.

What can you do to take advantage of this opportunity?

Realize it

This is crucial, and something that I see people overlooking all the time. Before you can work with these companies that aren’t playing the game yet, you have to realize that there are A LOT of them! When you spend a lot of time in social media, you may get the wrong impression that everyone knows the basic stuff, that everyone thinks about how to implement it on their own strategy. Well, that’s not the case.

Step outside

Start meeting with people that are not in your usual circles, go to other conferences and events, network with different groups. By stepping outside of your comfort network, you’ll connect with all the other people that are not familiar with social media, and in doing so you’ll get the chance to teach them. Look for those interested in what you can offer them, don’t waste your efforts with the stubborn ones for now, they’ll come to you once they see others succeed with it.

Adapt

These people are not familiar with social media language. In order to make them feel interested, you’ll have to adapt your pitch to make it sound appealing to them, and also easy to comprehend. Take it to the basics, talk about stories of success make them feel like they are falling behind. Again, don’t assume everyone knows! Talking to them in their own terms is the best way to make the transition easier.

Carlos Miceli. Argentinian. Questioner of things. OwlSparks’ blogger. Freelance writer. Entrepreneur. Every day philosopher. Skill learner.

Tags: Advertising, Blogging, community, Social Media, social networking, Strategy, the right way, Twitter