Unless you literally run your business with your ears plugged and your eyes covered, you are aware of the importance of social media and its impact on both brand and bottom line. However, while social media is the topic du jour in mainstream news, on blogs, in books, at conferences and at your local Starbucks, we may still underestimate its overall promise and potential.
In part three of a series of conversations discussing the state and future of social media with Chris Beck, founder of 26dottwo (@26dottwo), we review media consumption and usage and how in social networks, individuals are in control of defining their own experiences. As such, organizations are now required to study the cultures of each community in order to learn how to best establish a presence to equalize the dynamics of engagement.
In part two of a series of conversations discussing the state and future of social media with Chris Beck, founder of 26dottwo (@26dottwo), we review the viability of Facebook as an advertising platform. The discussion brings up elements introduced in my recent post introducing the concept of The Last Mile and how everything begins with the First Mile. We also review the ever-thinning attention span (Media A.D.D.) and ideas introduced in Part Two of the Hybrid Theory Manifesto.
Social networks and blogs are changing how consumers find places and services, how and where they share their experiences, and eventually, where they will spend their time and money. Without an understanding of, and participation in, social networks, you can miss shaping and contributing to the decision-making process of those who define the success of your business.
What follows is a modified excerpt from Engage!, the complete guide for businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the new Web.
Chapter 17
Social Media is reinventing marketing, communications, and the dissemination of information. For many businesses and organizations, social networks represent hallowed grounds, bringing together customers, prospects and the people who influence their decisions in a shared, balanced, and interactive medium. While businesses now have access to these rich channels, the true promise of social media however, lies in the direct connections that are forged between people who represent companies and the people who define markets of interest.
Every now and then, I’m asked to answer questions for other blogs and media outlets – more so lately due in part to the recent release of Engage!
The conversations that always trigger new insights, ideas, or perspectives and sometimes, I believe that the discussion is worth sharing with you, here. This is one such discussion hosted by my friend in Belgium, Jean-Paul De Clerck.
#Engage!
Hugh MacLeod is not only a friend, but also someone whose work I admire, follow, and respect. When he asked me to contribute a post for his evocative “Remember Who You Are” series, I responded posthaste.
Throughout life, we’re introduced to so many important lessons and proverbs and most of the time, we’ll listen, but not really hear and embrace their message and purpose. Every now and then however, we’re introduced to something so profound that it changes our outlook and redirects our current course, rewriting our future with every step we take forward.
Following is an abbreviated excerpt from Engage, a new book that helps businesses build, cultivate, and measure success in social media.
Last year, Forbes magazine assembled a visual list for its Top 21 Twitter Tips to showcase business examples on how to use Twitter for marketing, service, sales, and ideation. The original compilation served as inspiration for a new list, one that helps businesses of all shapes, sizes, and focus embrace not only Twitter, but all social networks of relevance.
While many of the examples and quotes remain the same, the list is modified based on my observations and personal experiences.
As social media moves from the edge to the center of adoption and practice, the future of marketing hinges on the ability for brands to evolve from the broadcasting of one-to-many sales and marketing messages to an authentic media company that creates and publishes meaningful and timely content. In Part 1, we examined the idea that every company is a media company: EC=MC, the various forms of pervasive media in the social Web, the need for editorial calendars, and how through the creation and proliferation of social objects, businesses could earn awareness and presence.
I recently called for businesses to broaden their perspective of Social Media from an experimental stage of acting and reacting, to one of learning and leading through intelligence, participation, and also publishing. Creating social profiles and broadcasting tweets and status updates is elementary, whereas creating a meaningful presence through the development and dissemination of remarkable content is judicious.
Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm. Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture. His current book, Engage, is regarded as the industry reference guide for businesses to build and measure success in the social web.
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