Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue

Chapter 40. Can I Use Social Media to Make Money?

So how can you use social media to get attention and then produce revenue? Did you notice I said, "get attention" first, then "produce revenue?" I usually get a blank stare when I ask people how they're currently using social media. Small businesses don't get it, heck, most people don't get it, and rightfully so. It's all so new. However, it does work and you can get onboard. It's still early, and the opportunities are endless. What social media brings to you is the ability to create awareness for your business or your brand. It's not something you should expect to use to drive direct revenue, although that is possible.

One of the earliest uses of social media was as a customer support tool. Probably the most famous story is the one about the Comcast cable employee who fell asleep on a customer's couch. The customer videotaped the man sleeping and uploaded it to YouTube for the world to see, generating a firestorm of viral video views with the ensuing blog posts and word of mouth. Ouch, that's a brand hit. However, Comcast made everything better by being one of the first to get onboard and use social media, Twitter in this case. Frank Eliason is easily the most famous customer service manager in the world these days because he came up with the idea of using Twitter to interact with customers.

Twitter helps companies quickly and cheaply answer questions and respond to customer complaints. Its use as a customer service tool has enhanced ...