Recently I presented on the importance of remembering the people involved in social media – who you are engaging and what they want from you. When brands struggle on Facebook or Twitter it is usually because they haven’t thought through what is in it for the people they are engaging. It is easy as a brand to decide how you want to use social media, and what you want people to do. It is less easy, but more important, to consider what the people you are engaging want to do.
I decided to show this through a simple story – that of Mary (a mum) and Jack (who works in marketing for a large FMCG firm). Jack wants to sell a new breakfast cereal to Mary and thinks that social media isn’t the answer. But he has made a big mistake…
The story is simple but it is one many brands can learn from – understand the motivations, needs and interests of the people you are looking to engage. If you don’t they probably won’t want to follow or Like you.
Engaging with people in social media
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Filed under Internet Marketing by on Sep 17th, 2011. 
You know that scene in Broadcast News where everyone starts yelling out their windows, “I’m mad as hell and I just can’t take it anymore?”
Well, after watching all of the goings-on on Google+ this week, and after doing my best to give it a reasonably fair shot, that’s kind of what I want to yell out to the online world.
Here’s the thing. When news first came out about Google+, I thought, “Hmm, ok, so another platform that may go away as quickly as Wave and Buzz did.” Then I saw all of the action Google+ was getting from the males in the online world, and what some of those males were saying, and I thought, “Hmm, sounds like maybe women will have a rough time making it over there.”
When I finally got in to Google Plus, I thought, “Well, at least I’m coming into this with a fair amount of Social Media experience under my belt. I’ve established myself as a credible blogger and a credible tweeter. I have a chance of getting to do some neat things early on in this new Google+ world.”
“It’ll be just like starting over”
One of the last songs John Lennon wrote (for the album Double Fantasy) was a song called (It’ll be) Just like Starting Over.” The song is particularly poignant because, of course, he passed away before he and Yoko could really start over like he wanted, but the song starts off with these two line:
Our life together is so precious together
We have grown, we have grown
Not to demean the song or get too mushy, but this is kind of how I felt about Google+. I was excited at the prospect of getting to talk to people who maybe I’ve only tweeted with. The idea of getting to converse in unlimited characters was rather interesting .
What I have found though, and what I think others are finding as well, is that Google+ is simply recreating the world of Twitter. People who had already made it big on Twitter or on Facebook already have thousands of contacts. People are gravitating towards the big names because the word got out that those folks were “accessible.” Meanwhile, folks like me, well, we’re chopped liver. It’s like starting over, but it’s not a pleasant kind of starting over. I’m finding instead that I’m in a position of proving on yet another social platform that I’m worth talking to.
That’s kind of frustrating.
I’m not asking for fame or celebrity or even equal treatment. I just want a chance.
To me, it feels like Google+ really should have been left to people who are so inundated with people on other platforms that they need a place where they can talk to each other and sort people out. There seems to be very little interest in really getting to know new people. The masses of people entering are looking for the big names, forgetting everything that engagement on other Social Media platforms has taught them (namely, chasing after big names will not really get you anywhere in the end). People who have thousands of contacts are getting so many responses to everything they post that it is already impossible for them to engage with people in any kind of new way.
I already know I can’t compete with those folks. I don’t really want to start all over again proving that I’m a nice third or fourth or tenth-place prize though.
My concern for you
If Google+ is your first dabble into social media, I worry that you are going to feel a little dazed and confused and discouraged, just like I did when I started out on Twitter. Folks with a lot of contacts on the platform are talking about how it’s a great place for conversation, how it’s increasing their blog traffic exponentially…and I don’t doubt that for an instant. But that isn’t happening for everyone. If it doesn’t happen for you, I don’t want you to quit or think, “Gosh, what am I doing wrong?”
You’re not doing anything wrong. It’s not about you. It’s about the way the platform was started and the way the masses are using it. Just like on Twitter, folks who want to stick around will have to find a way to get a voice in there, a new voice right for a new crowd.
What can you do about it?
Sharing posts by the big names, commenting on every one of their posts, and getting in their literal circle won’t be the best way to get where you will probably want to end up, but I know that the temptation is huge right now. Engaging with folks who are starting out just like you – that’s where the long-term gold is. Promoting others more than yourself – that’s still super important. Helping people out who are newer than you is how you can begin to differentiate yourself.
That’s all the stuff I’m going to try to do, at any rate. But I am a little surprised at how little credibility carries over from platform to platform when you’re a little guy. I wasn’t expecting that. Were you?
Or has your experience been totally different?
Image by pop catalin. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/catalin82
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jul 19th, 2011.
It seems as if Facebook has developed something of a shoot first ask questions later kind of mentality. You may recall last week when Roger Ebert’s Facebook page was removed after complaints about him (following controversial comments made about the …
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jun 29th, 2011.
Are you a fan of Lord of the Rings? I’m quite a fan. Read all the books, even The Silmarillion (which I need to read again, to be honest). I loved the movies even though a lot of Tolkien purists had problems with them. I love the story, the different types of figures and characters that take part in the story. I just think it’s all fabulous. So, when it occurred to me that Social Media is like the ring of power, you can imagine how thrilled I was and how excited I was to write this post!
Oh, you want me to explain this a bit more. Fair enough.
Potential for good that can also create great evil
One thing you hear a lot about the ring of power is that it seems to offer the opportunity to change the world in great ways. Wise and good-hearted leaders like Gandalf and Galadriel are tempted to use the ring because they want to use it for good. However, both realize that the sheer power of the ring could easily corrupt them and could make them very dangerous.
Social Media also offers us the great opportunity to improve our world, but what happens as soon as you start getting involved? Oh, you get followers. And fans. And subscribers. And likes. And retweets – which, let’s face it, is just people repeating what you said. Can this power corrupt people? *cough* Weiner *cough*
Different Locations, Different Relations
When Lord Sauron decided to distribute the various rings of power, he gave some to men, some to Dwarves, and some to the Elves. The Elves were an ancient race so they didn’t get too hung up on the whole power issue. Men, of course, were total power-hungry jerks and ended up killing themselves off, essentially. The Dwarves always wanted more and more power, so they kept mining until, essentially, they released wild and ancient hell demons.
Social Media also gives power to different kinds of people in different platforms. On Twitter, for example, you have people who, like men, desire nothing more than power. They’ll enchant you, entangle you, ensnare you, and otherwise en-you until you are under their power. On Facebook, you have the Dwarves who collect friends like there is no tomorrow, and who post so many status updates that all of their fans soon become, well, kind of like ancient hell-demons.
We’ll say LinkedIn is the land of the elves. It’s pretty safe and quiet over there.
Those who are least involved have to undo the big mess
The ring of power can’t just be crushed up by a Dwarf axe or an Elven bow. It needs to be walked all the way to Mount Doom and cast back into the fire from whence it came (otherwise there wouldn’t have been much of a story). It ended up that a hobbit, a member of a race who really had nothing to do with the ring of power, had to be the one to get this job done. The hobbits were the smallest race, perhaps the most isolated from the rest of the world, but they had to clean up the big mess.
Such I fear is also going to be the case with Social Media. Who could destroy Facebook at this point other than Mark Zuckerberg? And no, I’m in no way insinuating that Mark is similar to Lord Sauron. I would never.
If you look at what Social Media is becoming though, it’s hard not to see that it’s kind of getting to be a big mess. We have politicians exposing themselves, cyber-bullying, hacking, and all kinds of icky stuff. Who is going to clean it up? It will very likely have to be a group that is separated from the main push of Social Media – a party objective enough (dare we say pure of heart?) to be able to do what needs to be done to make everyone happy and safe.
How will that all work out? I have no idea.
We hates it and we loves it, preshus
One of the most memorable characters from the Lord of the Rings trilogy is Gollum, who holds the ring for centuries. The ring overpowers Gollum’s mind. He worships it but also hates it. He can’t stand it but can’t let it go.
How many times, just today, have you seen people using their blogs, Twitter, Facebook, or some other Social Media platform to talk about how much they hate a particular facet of Social Media? We’re kind of crazy that way, aren’t we? We hate Twitter and it’s so stupid but holy cow don’t take our phones away! We hate what a burden blogging can be but we get kind of sweaty when we don’t post for awhile.
Some of us have even taken to eating raw fish.
What do you think?
So there you have it. Those are some of the reasons why Social Media reminds me of the ring of power. But what do YOU think? Are there other similarities? Am I totally off my rocker? I mean, about this? Let’s talk about it!
Image by Bethany Carlson. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/bewinca
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jun 24th, 2011.
Why You Add a Comment, Why You Click Like
This sentiment from Yahoo chief scientist Marc Davis to New York Times contributing writer Clive Thompson is as relevant today as in 2008 when Facebook updates were the rage.
Inane updates remain the rage, as the above screen shot of some of my friends depicts. Just because I am not inspired to add a comment and converse doesn’t mean someone else won’t comment.
Clive elaborates:
Ever wonder why some people choose to comment when others don’t, why some people opt to share website content with their social networks when others don’t, and why some people don’t care when others do?
Pertaining to social sharing buttons that many bloggers employ somewhere adjacent to every article they write, Mitch Mitchell muses why few people click to share this article with Facebook or that article with Digg. He suggests the placement of the buttons is partially to blame for why few click.
But placement isn’t everything.
Some bloggers don’t care if you socially share their articles on your Facebook wall, your Twitter feed, or your Google circles. They don’t care if you email it to your colleagues or print it for your refrigerator.
They write what they write because they want to write, not because of some external action that may or may not occur.
Marcus Sheridan elaborates why 6 bloggers don’t care if you like them.
The reason you choose to socially share is your reason alone, no different than why you might comment on a blog article or a Facebook update when your best friend will not. We are individuals at the end of the day and, cliche or not, we do what we do because we choose to do it.
This may not be the conclusion you were hoping to read, which is why you are encouraged to share your thoughts below.
Thank you for reading! If you are inspired to add a comment with your thoughts, please visit Why You Add a Comment, Why You Click Like in your browser.
Business 2 Community » Social Media
Tags: Click, Comment, Like.
Filed under Internet Marketing by admin on Jul 20th, 2011.