RELAX. That’s the advice Paul Gillin of AdAge has for marketers panicked by the prospect of managing social media. It’s true that blogger reception has infected the mainstream media, but there is no need to panic.

There's nothing new about bottom-up publicity. Toyota achieved its reputation for quality three decades ago not because it said its cars were good but because thousands of customers told Consumer Reports its cars were good. The only difference today is that we don't need mediators or researchers. People can speak for themselves, and the conversations that result are richer and more diverse than anything you can find in a survey.

I encourage you to read an interesting study from Fox Interactive Media that was released yesterday examining both the growth and marketing power of online social networks.

Some key stats:

1. More than 70% of Americans 15-34 are actively using social networks online, and the research showed social networking sites taking a strong foothold in the primetime hours.
2. 31% of online users claim they spend more time on the Web in general after starting to use a social network.
3. Brands such as adidas and Electronic Arts attributed more than 70% of their marketing return on investment to the ‘Momentum Effect’ that is created by social networks.

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If you’re in marketing or public relations and are still not convinced there’s anything to this social media thing, I urge you to view this 67-slide show entitled I AM THE MEDIA by Alain Thys. It will change your mind; it may change the course of your career.  

Basically, I believe great PR started out on some level as great storytelling. I think it evolved into corporate one-way broadcasted jive. Now I think social media is bringing the storytelling quality back to life for our profession’s best practitioners… if they have what it takes.

Moreover, this slide show should prove to you that the old ways don’t work. Consider for example this one stat on slide 16 that comes from the global marketing officer of P&G:

In 1965, 80% of 18 - 49 year olds in the U.S. could be reached with three 60-second TV spots. In 2002, it required 117 prime time commercials to do the same.

Alain Thys, by his own account, is a founding partner of Futurelab, a management innovation boutique helping companies identify new profit opportunities in an ever more complex world. More on him is available here and here.

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