This was a comment made by a social media colleague over dinner last night. The more I thought about it, the more this made sense. Remember when you started getting fax spam? Many thought it was a cheap way to advertise their products and services with little consideration to the costs and inconvenience on the other end. While we are pondering this, we could also add that Facebook is not your fax machine and neither is ScubaBoard.
My biggest concern with social media today is that most people see it as a new avenue to advertise/spam their product and consequently they miss the beauty and subtlety of social media marketing. If this perplexes you, then you need to consider the following.
Social media is about engaging an audience. It's interactive, meaning you should do twice as much listening as you do talking. If you want/need to advertise: pay for it! People will respect you more than if you use social media inappropriately. The very best social media gurus exercise Huckleberry Finn methodology: they get others to paint their fence for them. In other words, social media is all about recruiting and developing advocates for your products and services. If YOU are the most strident voice for your product, you're doing it wrong.
(Reposted from a thread I started on Linkedin)
My biggest concern with social media today is that most people see it as a new avenue to advertise/spam their product and consequently they miss the beauty and subtlety of social media marketing. If this perplexes you, then you need to consider the following.
Social media is about engaging an audience. It's interactive, meaning you should do twice as much listening as you do talking. If you want/need to advertise: pay for it! People will respect you more than if you use social media inappropriately. The very best social media gurus exercise Huckleberry Finn methodology: they get others to paint their fence for them. In other words, social media is all about recruiting and developing advocates for your products and services. If YOU are the most strident voice for your product, you're doing it wrong.
(Reposted from a thread I started on Linkedin)
