What’s the difference between social media and inbound marketing?
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.
Survival of the fattest?
How do you like that statement? It may be true. The emerging reality, it seems, is that these tools are leading us, and we are leading them, and together we’re finding out what this global society is all about.
For a while it seemed that social media sites would continue to proliferate, blooping up everywhere while we drown in confusion. But now it seems the few and the proud are coming out on top, swallowing the competition. What’s social media? Everyone knows: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. (I speak of the US, only, as I don’t know how it is overseas.)
I still hear from the Plaxos and Naymz, the Linknamis and the Xings now and again, but I ignore the messages. There’s no need for them. How much can one person intake, much less output?
We satisfy the id on Facebook, the ego on Twitter, and the superego on LinkedIn – just as my esteemed colleague maintains in the quote above. It’s a formidable triumvirate, the foundational tripod, the shape that our internet enthusiasm has modeled thus far.
Social media formula
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.
Social Media Manners
Gentleness. What makes me subconsciously connect gentleness with on-target online etiquette and marketing success?
The persona of many an internet star is far from gentle. The daring, the extreme, the fringe, and the mainline all share an in-your-face character that’s often more evocative than gentle.
Nonetheless, the new marketing, an approach that emphasizes giving and sharing, evidences a gentility that is key to its popularity.
(I read today that a poll recently showed that most Americans abhor increased mudslinging amongst politicians.)
I have one son, and when he was little, I found myself repeatedly asking him to be gentle. Boys tend to the violent, relatively speaking, so I (coming from a family of girls) often wanted to modify his aggression.
A LinkedIn discussion this afternoon provoked comments from several respectful thinkers, and then one guy jumped in with two scornful, vitriolic posts, decrying the subject, author, and commentors at once. His voice brayed loudly above the otherwise friendly dialog, effectively silencing everyone.
This is the opposite of social media.
Amongst the web’s long list of ironic contradictions: though it is mindblowing technologically, the internet returns us to traditional social graces, and an unaccustomed gentleness is the order of the day.
LinkedIn Love
The social media tool that most indisputably gets it right is LinkedIn, IMO. From your profile setup to the groups you join, every step on LinkedIn has power and meaning.
Your Connections on the network are in a class by themselves. On other sites, you may be associated with many people you like, even love, but don’t necessarily respect all that much. LinkedIn is for your heroes, your esteemed colleagues, the admired few.
Joining groups and participating in discussions is a hugely powerful connector. I get emails each afternoon with my groups’ lists of topics. Dialog with like-minded people is a daily satisfaction. What’s more, sometimes the interactions lead to work inquiries.
LinkedIn’s Answers feature is another foundational tool that works with beautiful simplicity. Both questioner and respondent gain by participating in this professional open forum.
The network was incorporated in 2003, but it seems more mature than a mere 7-year-old. Last year, it reached 40 million members. Maybe not much compared to the inimitable Facebook, but a powerful force, nonetheless.
It’s true that LinkedIn isn’t for everybody. Its culture is specific to some people, in some situations. It doesn’t even try to be otherwise. It’s just cool like that.
