The inspiration for this article is found in a fantastic slideshow I saw recently. Over 74 slides, one is hit with fascinating facts, initially about the reach and penetration of social media, and then how to converse with audiences. It’s really inspiring stuff.
Wikipedia broadly defines social media as the use of electronic tools and the Internet for the purpose of sharing and discussing information and experiences with other human beings. Kagan sums it up nicely by saying that “social media is people having conversations online.”
The mechanisms for these conversations include various media: some are communicative, others collaborative, and still others include multimedia or a combination of all three. Social media can take many forms, but one element that consistently distinguishes all its incarnations from “traditional” media is that it is produced to be shared.
There is more to social media than social networking sites. While they’re extremely popular (Time magazine wrote in October 2007 that social networking sites are officially more popular than porn), they’re not the only way people connect online. Other media include wikis, microblogging (like twitter), blogs, social bookmarking (like del.icio.us and StumbleUpon), photo sharing (like Flickr), video sharing (like YouTube), podcasts, and many others.
How big is this phenomenon really?
There are more than two and a half million articles in English on Wikipedia. 75% of Americans watch at least one online video a month. YouTube alone has hundreds of millions of videos viewed daily. There are more than 200 million blogs on the Internet. Just under 60% of people online have joined a social network.
And these are just a few of the staggering numbers being thrown around. This just goes to show how powerful and wide the reach of social media is.
What is the difference between social media and traditional media?
The main difference is that social networks are not a monologue. It is a dialogue that the brand sometimes does not conduct. People are talking online right now, and this is one aspect of social media marketing.
Research has shown that 90% of people who can skip TV commercials do just that.
A 2007 Nielsen report titled “Trust in Advertising” showed that people implicitly trust referrals from their friends and other customers far more than they trust one-way company messages. Basically, people don’t care what a company or brand thinks, they care what their friends think.
So how do you take advantage of this?
The short answer is: subtly. You can’t always lead the conversations, and you have to be honest. Don’t bombard the audience with noise and marketing messages; they’ll just go out or you’ll be lost in the din; They are not optimal situations either.
Create people and communicate. You must allow your customers to feel ownership of the brand. You need to enable, engage and inspire people. A flat, one-sided message won’t get anyone excited about a brand or product, and this is the way to build excitement.
There is no real “trick” to social media marketing. Basically, it’s all about listening to your customers and engaging with them.
