PRO Article
Social Media's 'Gee-Whiz Factor' Must Die: Time to Get Down to Business
Social media is cool! Blogging and podcasts are cool! We're so cutting edge! Twitter is like the future here today, and no one knows about it!
Yeah, whatever.
The people looking at social media long and hard fall into a few camps, and I'm writing this for those who are scrunching their noses up and asking, "how exactly does this improve my business?"
For the rest of you who like to connect, who love the conversations, who've found their next water cooler... awesome. Keep doing that. I do. But I'm here to talk to those business-minded folks who have to explain to their bosses how blogging is going to sell more sandwiches.
Truth Is, It Won't
Blogging and social media and all these whiz-bang tools don't sell things. People sell things. People who know how to sell things sell things. This social media stuff is great, but it's a set of tools, so you've gotta pull out of the "yippee! hooray!" cloud for a bit and look at basic selling mechanisms.
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Chris Brogan is president of New Marketing Labs, LLC, a new-media marketing agency and events company. He makes media of all kinds at chrisbrogan.com, a blog in the Top 10 of Advertising Age's Power150 and a top 100 blog according to Technorati. Connect directly by emailing blog at chrisbrogan dot com.
Comments
I think this is a great outline for social media and actually for any media - they are all tools of communications. They don't do the actual selling or building of the brand.
I agree. Social media for businesses is a bit of a misnomer. Frankly, I don’t think businesses will last long if they measure their success on the number of “friends” they have on a social media site. As you have described, it’s the tools, or capabilities of social media, that can be a boon to businesses. Executive blogs, forums, and topic driven dialogues can be used to connect customers with company leadership and vice versa.
Great post, Chris. And the truths here, while potentially hard for some social media gurus to hear, are important. If everyone "on Twitter" is just happy to be on that edge, in the know, whatever your cliche... but the majority aren't moving the needle day to day in their business, it's a fad. One that will die, or become increasingly irrelevant to business. Thanks for great tips on moving the needle in social media, and for reminding us all not to be out there talking to and about ourselves. :)
Tweeting and blogging at 30,000 ft.? Now THAT'S dedication!
I don't interpret your comments, as Craig did, that "Social media for businesses is a bit of a misnomer." However, I do agree that the point is not to gather the biggest list, but to know going in what you are going to try and achieve with that following. The most wonderous part of SM for business is its ability to smash down the wall between businesses and markets, opening the door for relationships and growing trust... before the point of sale. It's powerful groundwork that gives all other brand executions relevance and power. When, in the history of marketing, has this been so realistically achievable? The key though, as you stress, is to have a conversion plan.
Thank you Chris - we need more sage, sober business reality checks to balance the heady breathless obsession with SM. SM is an exciting phenomenon and fascinating to watch but, just like 1999, if business and marketing thought leadership suddenly thinks basic principles don't apply, it will be at our peril. SM is changing the world but there is a lag to business and this is reality especially in 2009.
Very nice post Chris, full of very useful information. I feel that while putting all your eggs into the social media basket to help or save your business is a mistake, I don't believe it is a fad or misnomer. Communication and community is changing, and the smart businesses are paying attention. The trick is to not ignore the traditional sales and marketing techniques that work, while phasing out the outdated "we're great, because we said so" tactics.
Minimally, businesses should be listening, even if they are not actively participating in social media. This way, they can be at the table ( I know, that's an old analogy) when their brand is discussed. We have saved a couple customer service issues simply by listening via Twitter and responding promptly (which is what businesses should do anyway, right?) These were issues that could have been left out there for the next Google search to find. No huge paradigm shifts, just adjustments to the changing environment.
Chris, in this article you reminded me of Gary Vaynerchuk's keynote at the MPDM in October when Gary said that the economic slowdown (I don't think it was formally a recession quite yet) was a fantastic opportunity for him, as it would compell a lot of businesses wait another year or two to get into social media, which would only allow him to get that much further ahead in the space.
By the way, I was the guy that chatted with you for maybe 20 minutes after Gary's speech, and I have to admit that between Gary, you and the rest of the great people at the mixer, I came away convinced that we needed to get in the 'pool', which we did and it's been great!