October 31, 2007
Social Networks
This is a great post about social networks and really points out the control and choice that people have when it comes to consuming information and forming relationships. For me, it also points out fundamental problems with so many company’s social marketing strategies. The idea that you can simply create a blog and people will come and read it, push out a podcast and throngs of individuals will come clamoring to listen to it, or upload a video to YouTube and expect thousands to come watch it is mistaken. It is more of a conversation than that. People interact with people, not faceless businesses. It requires active participation, and you must add value in some way. From an ROI perspective, it may not behoove you to participate. The question of whether it should be a part of your marketing budget really depends on your product and service offerings, what you are trying to achieve, and who your audience is.
However, from a personal and professional development standpoint, especially if you are in marketing, advertising, or pr, it is extremely important. What do you see when you Google yourself? Not much? That probably doesn’t help you in a business climate that increasingly relies on the web. Social networks offer the ability to dramatically improve your personal scalability. In addition, you will get to meet people you might not have otherwise met, and have the chance to learn more than you would have ever expected. You will grow your personal brand and while doing it, guess what, you might also find the right opportunity to introduce the brand that cuts you your paycheck.
October 31st, 2007 at 9:58 am
I think the interesting about that post is the personal aspect of Social Networks. It’s less about channels and options than it is about on-demand interaction.
We’re not out here thinking about brand-identity, Google juice and all that other mumbo jumbo. We’re just doing our thing and finding out what we want to know. If a company has something I want to know about and can create a forum for info exchange, then that’s where I’ll go…
Example: I searched the other day for “porteur bags†and saw that number 3 was a Flickr photo for Zugster Bags. Clicked on it, could post a comment, fave it, blog it, del.icio.us it and use the profile to get back to the product website where I could order one. But no blog or interactivity @ the website… So I don’t know if they’re ever going to produce the bag I want.
Email is the new telephone, so I’ll post a comment on Flickr and see what I get.
-M
October 31st, 2007 at 10:32 am
If you are strictly speaking in terms of a customer looking for a product when you say, “we” then sure. But this post isn’t just about customers. Also, I would disagree about channels and options. Twitter, for example, is really cool and unique because it blends mobile, web, and community together. You could use email, phone, or other web applications to interact pretty quickly, but the difference is Twitter has the ability to expose you to new voices and new people in a new medium. Same with Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Mashable, etc. Also, I suspect that you do care about your personal brand, and the company’s brand that you work for. Otherwise, yes - interaction and information/education.
October 31st, 2007 at 11:24 am
I sure do!
But that comes naturally. (wait, did I just use an emoticon!!!!)
Like you said, “People interact with people, not faceless businesses.” And people occasionally contradict themselves and go out of character, have good/bad days, laugh, cry, belch…
Can businesses do the same?
-M
October 31st, 2007 at 11:54 am
Generally speaking, contradictions and belching are not good for business. Sorry.
October 31st, 2007 at 2:31 pm
I’d argue that they’re great for business. Now that social media and the like have forced businesses to be more real if they want to interact with their audience, I’d say never belching is much worse than the occasional hearty burp.
Take blogs- as soon as a reader sees that a blog has the over-polished voice of a PR guy they lose interest. If that same writer would toss in a burp or contradict himself in the name of adopting others’ opinions (or arguing their own) then he’ll gain more return readers.
That being said, I have no idea what you two are talking about. I just wanted to add something.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:16 am
I agree, contradictions and belching are not good for business! It’s better to invest in horses