How to Promote your Business on Social Networks

The Jim MacMillan, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Story

Over the past 2 years Jim MacMillan, a Pulitzer Prize Winning photojournalist, has gained quite a following by blogging, sharing his photos, and using social networks such as Twitter.  In that short amount of time, he has gained over 14,000 followers on Twitter and stays connected with almost 500 people on Facebook.

This type of marketing is amazing considering the organic nature of what Jim has done compared with how much money businesses are spending on social networks.  For instance,

MediaPost reported that businesses spent $2.2 billion on social-networking in 2008, nearly twice as much as they did in 2007, primarily through advertising on popular sites like MySpace and Facebook.

The reason for the shift in organic marketing is probably due to:

…entertainment used to be watching TV or buying movie tickets…That shift is a desire to connect with the artist and to support [him or her] directly.

By being connected with the brand personally, consumers often become evangilists for the brand, just like friends and family members support each other.  With over 200 million users on a social network, the numbers add up quickly and reciprocation can be amazing.

Read Jim’s Full Story at Knowledge@Wharton