Can companies really “engage” with consumers in a meaningful way?

However, it’s not always easy to find interesting things to say. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reading about social media. The buzz word these days is “engagement” but can companies really “engage” with consumers in a meaningful way?

Why do they follow you on social media?

According to Razorfish’s (Razorfish specializes in digital marketing) FEED report,

44% of consumers who follow a brand on Twitter do so for deals and,

37% of consumers who “friended” a brand on Facebook and/or MySpace do it for deals.

So if you thought they did it because they love you, then perhaps you need to recognize the truth. They do it for your deals.

An idea for your business – create your own version of Cyber Monday

Here’s an idea for your business. Is there a day in the week when traffic is slow and sales low? Perhaps you could create your own version of Cyber Monday (or Tuesday, or Wednesday) and let your Twitter and Facebook followers know that on that day there will be a special, perhaps a printable coupon, an extra discount, a two-for-one or something else that is exclusive to your social media followers.

They may not love you but they still want to know that they are special to you.

If you want to see the whole Razorfish presentation, I’ve included it below.

…Naked Pizza in New Orleans, which serves pizza with 100 percent natural ingredients. As you can tell from the tweets, Naked Pizza uses Twitter to send followers special offers. The company also tweets to converse with customers in a way that mixes humor with social and health consciousness–qualities that reflect Naked Pizza’s brand identity.

So far, Naked Pizza’s social media efforts are paying off, big time. At this moment, just one Naked Pizza exists. By summer 2010, as many as 50 franchises should be open throughout North America, according to cofounder Jeff Leach. He credits Twitter with playing a significant role in the company’s growth.

Martin describes how successful users of social media are benefiting.

• Reduced ad spending
• Enhanced customer service and customer relations
• Valuable market research

I encourage you to read the entire article.

The conference begins Monday night and I hope to do some live blogging from the sessions. It’s a first for me and live blogging sounds fairly challenging but, at a minimum, you can expect a daily report on the latest news in Search and Social Media.

The conference has seven simultaneously streams.

• SEO: Organic Search
• SEM: Search Marketing
• Twitter: Social Media
• Affiliates
• The WebmasterWorld
• Interactive Site Reviews
• Emerging Media

I hope to attend at least one session in each stream but my focus will be SEO, SEM and Social Media. Representatives of Google, Yahoo, and Bing will be there as well as other leading lights in the industry. If you have any questions you’d like me to ask, let me know via a comment on this blog.

While you’re waiting for all this fresh information, I’d like to recommend an article entitled, “Eight Reasons to Stop Ignoring Twitter.”

— Webinars and podcasts are top social media resources for business professionals, used by 69% of those who turn to social media channels for business information.
— Facebook is the dominant social network on which consumer-focused companies maintain one or more profiles, cited by 83% of respondents versus 45% for Twitter. Business-to-business (B2B) companies, however, maintain a presence on both platforms with 77% maintaining a profile on Facebook and 73% on Twitter.

Read the full news report here.