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With over 350 million users of Facebook, businesses are looking for ways to leverage social media communication.  The positive impact social media has made in fund raising for Haiti relief efforts is an excellent case study on how to best communicate your business agenda.

For example, an article I read on www.usatoday.com stated that texting has contributed to over $25 Million in fund raising through various non-profit relief funds.  Although the article was implying that texting was the method of choice for fund raising efforts, what I find equally as impressive is how the nation discovered so quickly that they could text a donation.  Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter largely deserve this credit.

Other than the obvious tragedy, why did communication spread so efficiently and get a response, yet communicating our business interests through social media often yields little results?

When communicating about Haiti it is virtually impossible to be anything but unfiltered, emotional and real. Generally, other than the occasional scams, the online community has had no hidden sales agenda and has been heartfelt.  It is hard for society to not pay attention to such emotion.  So, what does all this have to do with your businesses social media efforts?  Everything, in my opinion!

The power in leveraging social media for business lies in your ability to walk the fine line between communicating your business sales agenda in tandem with soliciting a raw and unfiltered dialogue.

Traditional media sources like newspapers and magazines have known this balance for years. Typically, they will attempt to maintain a 60% to 40% split in editorial content versus advertorial content.  This is a good rule of thumb for your new media efforts as well.  As you write your blog, tweet or post to facebook keep a weekly record of your content.  Make sure you are providing your followers at least 60% of unfiltered content.  This can be in the form of re-purposing (re-tweeting) someone else’s content that you feel is of quality, or sourcing another article to make your point.

In closing, I sincerely hope this post helps you with your social media efforts but lets not forget the tragedy in Haiti and do our part - Text HABITAT to 25383 to donate $10 to Habitat for Humanity