Social Media is on fire, it lately caught the attention of world's hearts and minds (not the usual eyeballs and ears). Millions of active internet users have signed up accounts in Social Media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr etc. Following the users, businesses and corporates have started experimenting with Social Media. Few companies are trying to use it as a tool for Customer support, while few companies use it for fortifying their brand name, few companies use it to spread a word about their new products.

But this process of using Social Media by businesses is not yet standardized, it's still evolving. No company is sure about how this trend would go about in 2010. And not all companies have embraced this trend yet, as some of them think that Social Media is a passing cloud, or they think that Social Media is not worth the hype or that Social Media is not in a shape where companies can start picking it up and using it.

Kodak, being one of the early birds that embraced Social Media, has come up with a highly impressive Social Media Policy Guide for businesses. Kodak claims that this Guide is based on their experience of using Social Media.

This guide, a slideshare presentation, starts with a letter from Jeff Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer, Vice President of Eastman Kodak Company. Jeff says "In today's media landscape, it's vitally important to be where our customers are. The exciting thing about Social Media is it offers the opportunity to engage in two-way conversation with customers."

"What better you know how to best serve customers than to hear directly from them?", an excited Jeff asked.

Kodak as of date has 3 blogs, 7 official Twitter accounts, 2 Facebook pages, a Youtube account and a Flickr account.

As of date, Kodak's youtube channel has 690+ subscribers with over 134,543+ channel views. Kodak's facebook page has 44,488+ fans. Kodak's main twitter profile has 13,063+ followers. And this is just a beginning, Youtube has 375 million users in 2009, Facebook has more than 250 million active users, Twitter has 44 million users.

Just imagine, if Kodak could tap the ocean of people actively engaged in the social media, it could reach millions of users with least expenditure from its pocket.

Kodak believes that blogs are the heart of Social Media. Kodak uses it's blog, A Thousand Words, to notify about latest events, endorse products, share related stories, tips and techniques with its readers.

Kodak uses its Twitter profile to engage in conversation with customers, take feedback, promote its products and share interesting pictures with its followers. Kodak uses its Youtube channel to post video interviews, photo galleries, product review videos. Kodak uses its facebook page to collect feedback on events, news and products from its fans.


Hasn't your business framed a Social Media Policy yet? Do you have any tips that worked for you? Comment below.