If someone threw a party for your customers and prospects, wouldn’t you want to be there?
Social media can help you do just that.
You may have heard about social media and if so, I suspect you’ve wondered what it is and why you should care.
If you’re more aware of social media, you may have scratched your head and wondered how it could possibly be of productive use for a business.
So let’s define it. What IS social media?
Note that last word in the phrase: Media. Really, that’s all it is.
It’s a media made up of communities of people with similar interests. But it’s important to understand is that it isn’t about the site itself, it’s really about the people there.
Without the people, the site is just so much html (in other words, web programming). Largely worthless, similar to how newsprint has little value until something compelling is printed on it.
What’s critical to understand is that it is a very different kind of media than businesses are used to dealing with.
It’s interactive and independent. It’s not controlled by a major media company.
That could change if they start buying large social media sites. If they do, they’d be wise to recognize that the real value is in the community itself.
The mainstream media currently participates begrudgingly in social media, mostly out of necessity. It’s as if they feel the media is theirs to control – which is one of many reasons why many big newspapers across the country struggle mightily.
Accepting that media is a democratic form of communication chills them to the bone (think “music industry”). For example, if you want to hang out and discuss music with 100,000 fans of your favorite band, you don’t have to go through a music industry gatekeeper to do so.
Social media enables those 100,000 people to find each other.
I Leica cameras
Let’s say that I happen to have a long-time love affair with Leica cameras. If I want to have a conversation with someone about them or learn more about them here in the Flathead, I’ve got a problem.
How do I find others who are into Leica camera gear? You can call a local camera store to ask. You can visit a local Flathead area photography club. Keep an eye on FlatheadEvents.net. Visit a photography exhibition and ask someone there. Or Google Kalispell photography club.
Even after doing all that, you may find that there is a small number of people here who are interested in Leicas. On a photography social media site, it’s a different story.
Now imagine that your business specializes in Leicas in some way. Wouldn’t you want to take part in those discussions – or at least listen in on them and get your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the community of folks that are really interested in the items you sell?
Seems to me that you’d want to be right in the middle of it.
One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish
There are hundreds of social media sites out there, how do you know which ones to use?
I have limited room here (that old media box – the print edition – still controls content length), so I’ve split this article into two parts, this one covering the Why, the next covering the Who and How, so we’ll get down to specifics next week.
Wrapping it all up
Social media is a great research tool.
It provides an efficient way to keep an eye on what people are saying about your products, business, industry and competitors.
It allows you to easily reach out to your customers and prospects and improve your relationship with them. The more responsive you can be to your customers, the more likely you are to keep them.
Social media allows you one more way (and one more place) to demonstrate your expertise to people who need it. People want to do business with the expert.
Next week, we’ll talk about specific social media sites and how you can use them to reach out to people, while avoiding the common mistakes that new-to-social-media folks often make. At the least, we’ll be talking about Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.