© 2009 The 60 Second Marketer

Please allow several seconds for your 60 Second Marketer video to load completely.

If you want, you can forward this video to a friend. Just wait for the video to load, then select the little bullet-point icon on the right side just below the screen. That'll bring up an envelope icon, which is the "forward to a friend" button. Yeah, it's a little complex, but it's still easier than doing your taxes.

Don't forget to tell your friends all sorts of wonderful things about The 60 Second Marketer -- like how smart we are, how funny we are ... stuff our moms would be proud of.

Transcript:

How Starbucks and Ernst & Young use social media to connect with their community.

More changes have happened in marketing over the past 10 years than happened over the previous 100.

The biggest change is that marketing has gone from a monologue to a dialogue.

Two companies that understand this are Starbucks and Ernst & Young.

In an effort to create a dialogue with its customers, Starbucks created the My Starbucks Idea website.

On the site, customers can share, vote, discuss and see ideas that they’ve suggested to Starbucks.

Visitors can see the most recent ideas and can even vote for the question of the day.

In similar fashion, Ernst & Young decided to create a Facebook Group for prospective employees to find out more about their company.

Visitors can scroll videos, vote in polls, check prior polls and generally engage in what makes Ernst & Young special.

When considering a social media strategy for your company, keep these things in mind:

1. Social media is not traditional media, so don’t think of it that way.

2. Social media is measurable, but you won’t immediately see a positive ROI

3. Focus on one social media tool at a time before you expand into a second or third tool

The 60 Second Marketer is an online video magazine sponsored by BKV interactive and direct response.