On the Web: Dont You Forget About Me

Friend Us and Profit
Perhaps most important of all, I don't fully understand how these things work. That's where you come in. Teach me. Train me. Sell me on how worthwhile it is to check out your tweets or Facebook postings. Bait me. I have a couple bucks I'd be willing to spend; give me a reason to spend it through the social media initiative you just invested in.

Commercially, all the attention in social media has gone to exploring ways to adapt it to connect with the audiences already there. But are any companies training their customers on just how to use it?

I probably sound like I'm 49 going on 89. But it would be very easy for any marketer to add a link right beside the Twitter and Facebook logos on its site that says, "New to Twitter? New to Facebook? Click here for simple instructions." I guarantee you'll pull in a lot more prospects if you try that. Take it to the bank.

End note: Yes, I stole the headline of this column from that 1984 classic, which the English band Simple Minds recorded for the Gen X movie "The Breakfast Club." Most of the cast members are now in their 40s as well. They may not be too keen on social media either, so you better train them, too.

The former editor-in-chief of All About ROI and Catalog Success magazines, Paul Miller is vice president and deputy director of the American Catalog Mailers Association (pmiller@catalogmailers.org). Larry Kavanagh will return to this column in next month's issue.