Social Media and You

My son, who’s twenty-something and somewhat impulsive, recently ditched his Facebook account, saying he “wasn’t doing anything with it.”

In the short time I was connected to him there, I doted on his updates, of course. Pictures of my grandson,  recommended TED lectures, reports of outings and parties, comments to his posts from other family members.

He never updated much, but it was enough.

I miss him already.

Now, he’s my son, and our closeness has nothing to do with Facebook. I am using this situation as an example, however. He doesn’t know it, but seeing my son’s infrequent appearances on my News Page would make my day.

The moral of this story is that it’s advisable to think of your social media activities as objectively as possible. What you get out of online relationships is important, but always the primary reason for participating in social media is to increase trust – in you, or your business, or your ideas, or whatever. Trust is oxygen in cyberspace.

Other people come to depend on you being there. The quantity of your updates doesn’t matter at all, really, as long as we know you’re consistently there. If you go away, you disappear.

A solid definition of your ideal client is essential to online business success. But creating that definition is no slide.  Nonetheless, lately I’ve been on the brink of progress in that department.

Identifying your niche market, recognizing the sort of person who most relates to you and your business can be tricky. You might think your market is busy moms or people with dogs or investment bankers. But to be actually useful in marketing, your definition has to be far more specific.

And not just predictably specific. It’s not busy moms who live in Peoria and are under the age of 30. That stuff’s important, but not the key. The key is that your busy moms need a shoulder to cry on, or they need affordable diapers, or they need care for their aging parents.

Who they are is of interest, but what they need is bankable.

For me, the ideal client picture has been fuzzy. When I started in this biz, I thought it was okay to focus on ‘small businesses.’  So it’s been a long road from there. You get closer, over time, to a good working definition.

But it’s what you learn about yourself that’s mind blowing.

The two are so closely related that it’s hard to distinguish between them, sometimes. But actually, they differ in important ways. Important, that is, if you’re wondering how to sell your products / services online.

Social media is a sub-set of inbound marketing. It’s much easier to understand and manipulate than inbound marketing. Social media is to inbound marketing what a rowboat is to an ocean vessel.

It’s like writing a letter, versus developing an entire postal service.

What you consider to be social media may range from a narrow perspective, in which only the networks of Twitter-Facebook-LinkedIn and such are included, to a broad definition inclusive of almost anything about your business that exists on the internet.

Perhaps social media goes even further than that, extending to in-person meet-ups and Foursquare events.

Social media is a set of tools.

Inbound marketing is a state of mind.

Inbound marketing is about moving beyond a competitive economy to a branded one, where value is derived from observed behaviors and relationships that are relatively personal.

(Traditional business values subliminal seduction through mass communications.)

Social media’s easy. Inbound marketing’s hard.  It’s tough to teach: it begs intuitive understanding.

More to come on this.

You may have heard the observation that the web’s divided between content-producers, commenters, and lurkers. Relatively few people want to spend any of their time producing content; not many are willing even to compose a comment.

Therefore, although inbound marketing and social media are key strategies for every business, it is not to be assumed that the business owner is the Voice of their online presence.

If you run a business but don’t wish to be a content producer for the internet, what are your choices? I’ll offer just a few basic solutions here.

1. Get a digital voice recorder and talk into it. Let your virtual assistant transcribe and upload.
2. Identify someone in your company who can be trusted to take on the role.
3. Organize your company so that all workers share in the demands of online responsiveness.
4. Work with a social media assistant who can help you devise the best solutions for your specific situation.

Generous sharing of knowledge is what you are doing online, demonstrating sufficient personal investment to win your visitors’ trust.

Your internet Voice has to be real and honest, but it does not have to be your own Voice or nothing.

Social media gurus make a big deal about being authentic, as the best way to create your most effective online presence.

There’s a general consensus that you should be as You as possible, liberally sharing your personality. Gary Vaynerchuk-style.  Or Hugh MacLeod.

Many stand firmly behind the notion that all updates must be your own expressions, that anything ghost- or staff-written on the internet is bogus.

The relative raw immediacy of social media may be one reason why people want online exchanges to be transparent.  Relationships formed online are vulnerable to suspicion and mistrust. You have to overdo it in the transparency department if you’re going to be believed.

But if we relegate the web only to those who are capable of regularly expressing themselves there, it won’t be of much use. The internet is truly for everyone; businesses of all kinds have to be able to use it profitably. It’s not just for coaches and authors and marketers: it’s not only for language-oriented types.

So the voice of your business online becomes a critical question. If it is not to be your voice, whose voice can it authentically, transparently, and powerfully be? Next post, we’ll look at some possibilities.

There are a few people who speak like prophets about the internet, and Brian Solis is one. Along with Clay Shirkey, Mitch Joel, Seth Godin (+ others), Solis establishes the lingo, defines operative principles.

Solis writes about Social Media Best Practices for Business and drives home in just a few strokes the essentials of the new culture that the web has created. He uses words like dedicate, conquer your fears, listen. He teaches that we need to be not only attractive, but expansive.

“The ability to showcase your products and services to attract customers and spark conversation is arguably greater on social networking sites than your own website.”

This sentence presents a formidable thought.

I asked some other supposed ‘gurus’ about the future of websites: they replied with indignation that individual websites are and always will be paramount online.

Shirkey more clearly understands the realities: social media (read, your Facebook Page, your Twitter presence, your LinkedIn activities and profile) is now almost as important as your website.

Note that this doesn’t mean you should use Facebook as your home base and bypass the need for a website. Rather, it suggests that both website and social media are required, working together.

What can the web profit you? Only your hairdresser knows for sure!

Yes, this is a cute reference to an ancient tv ad that conferred new sophistication on American women. Are you old enough to remember? Women were offered a hair coloring so true-to-life as to fool your best friend.

This was power!

What web plan is so efficient that even your best friend thinks you do it by magic? Who has the ultimate formula for online success?

I’ve written elsewhere about the growing ties between business and art. A company’s web plan is as much a work of art as it is a roadmap.

What an audacious statement. How can art and roadmaps intersect?

Yes.

That’s the challenge. No use tiptoeing around. Inbound marketing and social media combine opposites in a new way. Personal and professional. Service and sales. Giving and getting. Sharing and listening. Art and roadmaps.

Anyhow, the thing about art is that it exists in its specificity, not its generality. So; business + art means commerce that thrives on eccentricity rather than generality. Because the market is that diverse, the long tail works, provided communications are global.

Simply, the web is what you make it.

What is required if you want to take full advantage of marketing opportunities for your company on the web?

Not many businesses have figured this out. Most have no idea where to start, and so can’t begin to plan. Those with enough staff may send them to seminars on internet or social media marketing. The company’s web presence accumulates haphazardly, with new bits and pieces patched in as the learning curve steepens.

Executives are beginning to understand that the internet is not going away, and that they must take it seriously. Their efforts so far are certainly not wasted. But creating a comprehensive strategy remains problematic. No one proven guideline exists that will equally satisfy everyone’s questions:

• What can we appropriately expect from internet branding?
• What elements need to be included in our internet marketing plan?
• How do we measure progress?
• How will internet strategies affect other aspects of our operations?
• Should we hire a staffer?
• Should we outsource?
• What is the range of appropriate cost for internet branding?

There’s no one method for online participation: all strategies are customized.

What can the web profit you? Only your hairdresser knows for sure! *

* To Be Continued

The great question of the age: who to follow on Twitter? Everyone has their own style of following. Some automate the whole process. Some collect followers as if they’re amassing armies. Some avidly seek out certain types, while others just follow their friends. The range, I’m sure, is enormous.

You might even characterize Twitter as comparable to life itself, the panorama parading by, the bewildering, teeming Garden of Earthly Delights. In such a place, there can be no rules about “best practices.” There can be no ‘right’ way to build your community. Everyone’s path is their own.

Still, it’s a good question: how do you decide who to follow on Twitter? It’s a good question because your answer indicates your brand in a big way. How do you decide who will be your friends? How do you know what you want and who you like?

Some are choosy, some not at all. Some like the stars, others the critics. Some look for laughs, some look for looks. Me, I refuse to follow anyone who doesn’t say where they’re from or what they do. Nor anyone who promises internet riches, because they’re fanatics. I like twitterers with a wider view. You?