The Corporate Storyteller

If you're still wondering whether social media are an important part of your marketing communications mix, the numbers recently reported by Forrester Research should remove any doubt. Forrester estimates that $716 million was spent on social media marketing last year and expects spending to quadruple to $3.1 billion in 2014.

One of the key uses for social media in the corporate world: recruitment. No less than 80% of companies report using social media to find job candidates.

So to be competitive, you've got to be there. As with any medium, strategic positioning will be key. Eric Qualman, the author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, sums up the issue this way: "The question isn't whethert you should participate in social media; the question is how well you do it."