Oliver Fritsch´s MarketingBlog

You know a new trend hits the mainstream, when Fortune 500 companies like SAP (NYSE: SAP) start adding social media bookmarks to their corporate Blog pages.The big question for marketers though is this: Does anybody care? It is easy to add links to social media services such as Delicious, Digg and to any of the other 120 book marking sites out there. But don’t be disappointed if nobody actually uses them. After all: In the Web 2.0 world it’s content that counts. Only if you provide valuable information for your customers, they will:

• Bookmark your site for themselves, and

• Share it with others on a social media pages like Digg.com or Del.icio.us

“Valuable” is information that helps your customers get something done easier or faster or content that “blows their mind”, such as a good eBook, a “how-to” presentation, or a useful online tool.

Need an even better idea? Easy, just look at how a decade-old TV show survives these times. Take a page from the playbook of NBC´s (NYSE: GE) “Today” show. What’s the secret formula that makes it so addictive? Here is what they do:

1) They confirm every morning that – yes, even though big things have happened in the last 24 hours, planet earth is still spinning and you will see another day.

2) They focus on content that directly affects their viewers’ financials, health or emotional well-being, i.e. information, that:

• Helps them to save money or make more money

• Impacts their health positively or negatively

• Enables them to have better relationships and avoid hardships.

It can be that simple!