Social Media Truths
Posted: November 6, 2008 • Filed under: Social Media MarketingIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to get the latest posts, Thanks for visiting! If you want to link to me or this post please read how to link to me
This is a follow up to my post on “Social Media Myths” and the topic was recommended by one of readers, “grossidn (her disqus user name).” I thought “social media truths” was an excellent topic and so here we go:
Social Media can be Used for Many Different Things
True. You don’t just have use social media as a pr tool or as a marketing tool. You don’t just have to create a twitter profile or a facebook account. You can use social media for: product development by listening to what your consumer want, for creating buzz around a specific product or service, customer relationship building, for public relations, for marketing, for customer service, internal communication, etc. As I say, you have to “be clever and be creative,” social media can be used for many different things, but you have to know what you want and why you want it.
Social Media is Scalable
True. You betcha is scalable. Companies like Dell have been using social media as a worldwide communication platform and Comcast has been using services like twitter to handle customer complaints and issues. So YES, it’s definitely scalable. As the relationships grow so do the social media efforts that build those relationships.
There are Metrics You Can Use to Measure Success
True. Now be careful here, looking at metrics and measuring overall ROI can be very different. There are certain things you can track via a social media campaign such as page views, leads, conversations, comments, negative vs positive feedback, etc. HOWEVER, you must understand that the purpose of getting involved in social media is ultimately to create conversations, and conversations do not have a quantifiable value. So there are certain things you can track, but understanding the overall ROI is not possible since you cannot quantify a conversation. For example, if you are using the amount of comments as a metric for success but you only receive one comment, is that failure? What if that one comment greatly impacted the way you do business, is it still a failure?
Treat People Online the Way You do Offline
True. Here is where a lot of people go wrong. You have to remember that it doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with people online or offline you have to treat them the same. What do I mean by the same? I mean that you have to respect them, show them that you care and that you value their opinion, provide them with some sort of value, reward them, interact with them, and don’t ignore or neglect them!
Social Media is Here to Stay
True. If you are one of those people who still thinks that social media is a fad that is going to blow over, well then I hope you aren’t in charge of marketing, because your company (or you) is going to be in some serious trouble. Let’s put this rumor to bed, social media is not a fad or some sort of fluke. Social media is a way of life and it’s how new businesses and relationships are forming. When you see companies like Dell, Businessweek, and Comcast creating twitter accounts you should know this is not a fad. When you begin to see politicians and celebrities live stream and blog then you know this not a fad. When you are able to see a company like HP increase their sales for a product by 84% then you know this is not a fad. When you read a blog like this you should know that THIS IS NOT A FAD.
Social Media is a Great Way to Build a Brand
True. Without a doubt it is not only a great way but the best way to build a brand. When you want information or when you want to buy a product or service, where do you go? The internet, and if you aren’t on it, then nobody is going to find you. This blog started from 0 “Jacob Morgan” was just another name. Sure I had a lot to offer but nobody knew about me. This blog is around 8 months, I now rank #1 in all search engines for “jacob morgan.” I have received numerous leads, business opportunities, partnerships, and friendships. I am now syndicated and contribute to some of the most known sources on social media and online marketing. I have built my name and it’s only going to be growing. Take a look at folks like Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library TV who was able to build a multi million organization largely with the help of social media. Yes my friends, social media is a great way to build a brand.
Social Media is Used by Everyone
True. Now when I say everyone I don’t literally mean everyone on Earth, I mean various age groups, races, demographics, etc. are all on social media platforms. My mom has a facebook account my little brother has a website. It doesn’t matter where you go or who you ask, people all over the world are using social media to connect and build relationships.
Social Media is Still Growing
True. While we have seen a strong push towards the social media space, both from organization and individuals, we are still in the early stages “you ain’t seen nothing yet.” Imagine a time when most organizations will have a blog, when most senior level exectuvies will be using twitter, when companies will be using internal wiki pages, it’s coming. The earlier you start the better. The space is still new, we are still the early adopters. Now is the time to make your mark and build your brand before everyone else starts doing it.
Social Media Marketing is Not Easy
True. Social media marketing is probably one of the most difficult things a company can do because there are a lot of internal hurdles that need to be overcome from virtually every department, legal is usually the biggest one. Once you get past the internal hurdles though social media marketing is still a challenge and that’s because humans and relationships are a challenge. They are very dynamic. People can love you one day and hate you the next. You have to be able to balance, interact, and listen to every voice that wants to talk to you, and you have to be able to act! Social media is a very powerful medium but your users can say negative things about you just as easily as they can say positive things about you. It takes time, creativity, cleverness, dedication, personality, and a willingness to learn and connect with other people. Remember, you can’t just flip a switch, once it’s on, it’s on for good.
Be Real and Be Yourself
True. It’s very important that you be yourself when you build relationships and interact with people. If you deceive people then it will come back at you 10 fold. There is no point in starting a relationship or connecting with other people if it’s only going to a facade. How would you like it if you dated someone who you found out was lying to you, you’d probably be a little upset right? Be honest about your intentions, your affiliations, and your ideas. If you lie or pretend to be someone you are not, you will exposed. There are no secrets anymore.
As with the social media myths post, I can think of a few other “truths” but I would really like to hear from all of you. What are some other “social media truths” you can think of? Please share them in the comments.
Thanks for reading
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