First, let it be known that I hold no claim to be the originator of this term – I had first heard it used in a discussion about effective landing page design and unique value propositions. However, since then I’ve mentioned it a few times when discussing the importance of content over other strategic considerations of social media – it effectively conveys what it is that most of us hope to accomplish via social in an intuitive and succinct way – attention in exchange for ideas.
I think it can be stated very simplistically as this … if your content lacks appeal to the intended audience, then everything else is mute. After all it is the content, or experience which is likely still largely based on content, that is the reason people ultimately “connect” with a community and perform all of those desired behaviors; sharing, commenting, recommending, and returning.
Remember this? I do, and for me it ranks right up there with mini trucks and gangsta-style saggy pants as some of the most annoying and ridiculous social fads I’ve ever witnessed.
I think we’d all agree that mean people in-fact do suck, but especially when they show up in digital communities! As we all know mean people can take a numbers of forms online; from know-it-all techno jerks and all-hating forum trolls, to F-Bomb dropping youtube potty mouths and smarter-than-you elitists. I think the point here is that they exist, will continue to exist, and perhaps more fundamentally that they will invariably find a place for their brand of negativity whatever that might be. My thoughts … ?
Regarding “Social Media Experts” from Aaron Lewis on Vimeo.
Not sure if you’ve noticed but Twitter is jam packed with myriad forms of “Social Media Experts” and other digital marketing prodigies. With over 400 “Social Media Experts” out there ready to share their e-books, digital marketing dept.’s can rest easy knowing that an army of self-proclaimed pros is ready to be tapped.
Ok enough with the sarcasm. Here are my thoughts on the “Social Media Expert” (or Pro, Guru, Ninja etc … ) phenomenon and its potential implications on authenticity and personal branding.
Technorati Tags: social media personal branding
It looks like the beginnings of it! I know it just seems incongruous with the profession – after all social media isn’t too often associated with being a highly quantitative business – at least not as of yet.
We’d all agree that a tanking economy sucks but one bright spot in an otherwise really really dark economic time may be the new-found uses of popular SNS properties to share opportunities and connect hiring managers with prospective talent. How many tweets have we seen from staffing departments in the last year asking to retweet if we know anyone who may qualify for X?
But the use of social media as a job sourcing tool may just be the beginning. In the March 6 – 7th 2010 issue of the Wall Street Journal (Pg. A4) I read how Google is now being leveraged as a predictive engine by economists. Hal Varian, a former professor with UC Berkeley, was recently snapped-up by none other than Google to explore the feasibility of Google as a economic forecasting tool.
I just wrapped-up a post on what social media is NOT in which I attempted to highlight a very simple truth; that effective social media, certainly in corporate terms, is really not about the tools we use but rather the overall philosophy we have and associated strategies we put into place. I thought it might be a good way to extend that discussion by looking at a couple examples of sucky execution, particularly with regard to Twitter.
Sometimes, understanding what things are not can be a good start in the process of understanding what they are. * Doyle said “… when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”. So all we need to do is eliminate the impossible right?
Ok, so it’s a bit of a stretch to try and apply his logic here … eliminate the impossible? It’s entirely possible for someone to misunderstand what social media is and in the process apply flawed strategies.
That said I write this within the purview of my own social media philosophy. It is the peoples’ right to falsely believe otherwise, and to their peril. So what is social media NOT? I can tell you with some degree of certainty that effective social media is not …
The once cold irreverence for social media and all of its absurd assumptions of value now thawing? Over the last few months I’ve had the privilege of speaking to a number of groups regarding the impetus for social media and the practical approaches to it. First I have to say that I absolutely love these events because aside from meeting new and interesting people, it keeps me honest in terms of understanding where we are in the belief gap – it’s very easy to become so entrenched in the daily routines and “in-crowd” happenings of social media that one can forget about the many who are still yet to be sold on its real value.
A lack of understanding surrounding concepts of new media remains, however to the theme of this post, I do see that people are more willing to look deeper these days – what once appeared as an empirical waist of time and money, particularly to the SMBs, has morphed into a willingness to reassess. That said I wanted to share some take-aways based on the reactions and comments from some of these recent engagements …
Somewhat naked is the social media blog that omits some kind of formally structured post related to effective social media strategies. Who am I to leave you staring at my blog in all it’s naked boldness with nary a mention on the subject?
I wanted to share my early thoughts on this but let me preface this discussion by sharing some back-story. A little over a year ago I sat down with a cup of high octane coffee, a pencil and some paper, and started thinking about the essential concepts of social media from my experiences working with enterprise customers. I wanted to build something that was concise in detailing the essential components of a successful program, and something that would effectively address the real-world concerns and of an enterprise audience.
So if for no other reason than posterity, here it is …
I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to hear from brands that I value! I’m not alone either, we learn from a 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study (registration required) that 85% of us want to see brands online, and perhaps more interestingly, want to engage with them. I can proudly say that I’m one of those 85 percent(ers)!
I’m a big fan of Hobee’s Restaurants and their Sunnyvale’s Favorite Quesadilla w/ coffee and country fried potatoes (among other menu items) but, now I’m an even bigger(er) fan …
Welcome to my shiny new blog! It is with a profound sense of excitement that I kick this thing off – it’s been a long time coming! While I’ll most certainly blog about other things related to the world of online marketing, it is the new media phenomenon which has truly captured my professional (and my iPhone would say personal) interest. The challenge of creating vibrant and engaging community experiences, of evolving traditional direct marketing approaches and thought processes into conversational ones, of effectively leveraging social tech for service and support, and of having truly authentic interactions is what it’s all about for me.
