A Social Media

Late last week, Apple pulled the plug on its Ping service. It never really became a community  as they intended. One of the reasons thrown about was it was not integrated with one of the existing social media networks. That's probably part of it. Ping was very specialized and was something new to check so unless your life revolved around music, you probably didn't perceive any great benefit. In the end it was a tool to market music but in our current online existence, you can't go it alone.

However, not going it alone doesn't mean your entire marketing campaign is set up a Facebook page and a Twitter feed and wait for it to go viral.

Social media marketing is a tool to get the word out. However, that's all it is, a tool. If you don't have substance to deliver to your customers and if they can't easily get to your product or service when they need or want it then you can have all the likes and re-tweets you want, it won't turn into dollars. There are a lot of platforms for content. Those seem to be easy to make. I write this on Blogger. I am on Twitter (@BACook76) if you want to follow me. I use Facebook. There are a lot of upsides to the tools online but in reality, a lot of the content isn't very good. I know a lot of what I write will ever be considered brilliant, insightful, or great. That being said, if I keep writing, occasionally I put a good one together, and that's all I want. I don't make my living writing this blog. (To be honest, I still have not earned enough add revenue for Google to actually send me a cheque.) I just feel some things need to be said, so I say them.

So, how does this vast digital world of poorly targeted or under-supported marketing and mediocre content get turned into revenue streams?

About the same time I started this blog, I realized social media was not going away. It really moved some conversations from the coffee shop or the pub to the internet and has kept a very accurate record of what has ben said. People are not saying anything new, they are simply saying it in a different medium. This can be very powerful and useful. It can give the company an opportunity to be part of the conversation. This is the same conversation that has always been happening. Organizations that shy away from the conversation are going to lose out. Organizations that participate in the conversation with formal policy documents and stiff sanitized answers are going to lose out. Remember, this is the conversation that has been happening in the barber chair or the taxi cab.

So where does all this rambling leave us.

Social media marketing is a conversation and should be treated as such. You should try to guide the conversation to where you came from or where you want to go. You should be answering the why question. Who, what, when, and where can come from your webpage, your brick and mortar store, your glossy brochure, or your broadcast commercials. Why are you doing this can come from your social media. Why did you remove that feature from the new model? Why is there a 3 week waiting list? Why does it work? It all has to sound like you are sharing a jug of beer in your favourite sports bar while the game is on. 

People don't consume social media to find out what you have, they want to know why you think its an upgrade. Your traditional promotional tools should keep doing what they are doing and you should say why you made that decision in the web of social media.