I hope the title caught your eye, because social media seems to be the talk of the town by businesses both big and small. The problem is that social media users don’t necessarily welcome businesses invading on their turf. Think about it: Facebook Fan Pages, which were created for fans of music stars and Hollywood actresses, are now being utilized by companies. Businesses are tweeting as if they were people. Companies, sometimes their executives, are now writing blogs that were once thought to be exclusive domain for individuals. What’s going on here?
Just as the Internet was never created for commercial use, social media is now going through a similar growing pain as we enter a new decade. The reason why we are experiencing this now is simple: how we communicate with each other and where we go for information is now one and the same: social media. Our dependence on social media, especially for younger generations, has made it essential that businesses who have potential business to lose (and small businesses that have new business to win) somehow gain some presence in this new paradigm. Although more and more companies are starting to get social media, there are still many who see it as merely a new broadcast channel and another opportunity to sell at consumers. I do not believe that these companies will be successful.
How can a company be successful in a medium where users are trying to tune out advertisements and communicate with friends as well as find information from trusted sources? In order to play in a domain controlled by consumers, businesses need to learn to do what others are doing: sharing. Think about it: social media sites are all about users sharing profile or other information. People are uploading entertaining videos to YouTube, photos to Flickr, answering questions on LinkedIn Answers, writing blog posts with lots of information, commenting or tweeting those same blog postspeople are creating and commenting on their own content, and everyone can now equally utilize this information.
What can businesses share? LOTS! I am certain that whatever product or service that you sell, there is some information of value that you can share with people or other businesses without necessarily having to be marketing your product on social channels. Can’t think of anything to share? Get creative! Whitepapers, discounts, events, giveaways, and informational videoscome on, if you think about it there are lots of things to share that allow you to indirectly market your presence in a savvy way.
As you create and implement social media marketing strategies, it is vital that you remember this golden rule of sharing and not broadcasting in social media. It could mean the difference between success and failure.
About the author: Neal Schaffer is Founder and President of Windmills Marketing, a Social Media Marketing Consultancy. Neal is an internationally recognized social networking expert helping companies and individuals embrace social media for personal and business applications. His social media blog, Windmill Networking, contains a plethora of informative resources for both professionals and businesses. From his experience blogging he published his first book, Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn, in September of 2009 and is now a sought-after speaker in a wide variety of social media-related topics. His development of social media expertise parallels two decades of success in sales and business development in the technology sector, concentrating on the Asia-Pacific region.
About The Author
Lisa Olinda is the principal of Olinda Services she is a talented administrative professional demonstrating a high degree of skill and a love for technology. This talent and love merged to create Olinda Services in 1996. With over 26 years of experience serving the corporate, non-profit and small business sectors, she has proved the success of this merger.
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You are so right Neal. It is difficult to get away from this in- your -face type of marketing. It is a real turn off. And these selling techniques come from all age groups and at times feel quite invasive. For instance when I give out my email address, I do not want to get inundated with marketing plugs.
To me this is just common courtesy and a matter of common sense.
Thanks for sharing.
Lynn Fishman