For Immediate Release...

Social Media is Flawed, Imperfect and Unique

Sherwood Park, AB - August 20, 2008 - Walter Schwabe, fusedlogic inc's Chief Evolution Officer, is helping Canadian businesses understand social media and how to leverage it to better understand and communicate with customers.

Schwabe admits that "social media is flawed, imperfect and unique, just like all of us. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work." He goes on to explain that this is the reason why businesses need to understand social media and develop a social media strategy to generate a return on their investment and avoid common pitfalls.

The McKinsey Quarterly reports in the results from a recent survey that “the Companies that are deriving business value from these tools are now shifting from using them experimentally to adopting them as part of a broader business practice.”

Most social media strategies consist of launching blogs, wikis, flickr photo streams, Facebook groups, MySpace profiles, LinkedIn profiles and the like. Unfortunately, social media is not an exact science, and many companies are struggling with their respective strategies. The great thing however, is that a growing amount of research that fusedlogic inc. continues to accumulate suggests that with the right plan, businesses can generate a return on their social media efforts. However, the return may not be what one would commonly expect.

What businesses are finding out, however, is that social media success is, first, not that simple and second, they’re not sure “what” social media success looks like. At least not consistently enough to say there’s one secret formula. Reality is, there isn’t “one” secret formula. Rather, there is a set of engaging elements that should be a part of your strategy. Key elements, such as the ability to share content, communicate with others, scrutinize the content or brand openly, a way for the participants to take ownership of the brand, are just a few. Schwabe adds, “Scrutiny, as well as brand ownership, is what often-times has organizations running scared. Taking left hooks online or giving up control of their brand typically isn’t in their DNA. But being brave is a necessity for success.”

In addition to his social media strategy work, Walter Schwabe is a Technology Columnist for the just launched today, Propel Magazine and Troy Media Corporation. Watch for his four article series on social media including excerpts from personal interviews with thought leaders Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki.

About fusedlogic: fusedlogic inc., one of Canada’s leading social media strategy firms, was incorporated in 2000. fusedlogic matches Web 2.0 and social media strategies with client dreams to SHIFT markets. They accomplish this by educating organizations on how to effectively engage the online community.

For more information, please contact:

Jen Schaefer
fusedlogic inc.
780-640-2331
jen[at]fusedlogic.com
www.fusedlogic.com