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Posted on June 24, 2008
Ask Not What Social Media Can Do For You
BY JAMES CLARK
......as an organization full of bright and competent people Ask What You Can Do For Social Media.
What knowledge does your organization have that can add value to the conversation?
What assets can you produce that are exciting and engaging to the groups gathering around a subject?
Approaching Social Media with a traditional online marketing mindset which is drive toward some conversion can be dangerous.
Too many companies look at the power and leverage of social media and start asking what can they get out of it, rather than considering what they can do to add value to it.
Finding The Right Approach
The idea is find the common interest threads that run through your audiences and then create content that appeals more on an emotional level then a product or service level.
What does this mean? It means losing the marketing speak about features, benefits and services and going to the places where the consumers have passion and providing support and input on those passions. I wrote a recent article on the theory of engaging in consumer "passion threads" and believe tremendously in the idea of getting out of the market segmentation business and getting into the passion business.
This is essentially taking the idea of sponsorship and social causes and creating an authentic social media conversation around the passions your potential consumers are pursuing.
To create a viral campaign, one needs to understand the emotional triggers, cool factor and belief behind a project or program.
Make The Assumption That All Employees Are Involved In Social Media
Now ask yourself, would the company's employees voluntarily reach out to their own networks to promote a cause, campaign or event the company has put marketing efforts behind? If not, then you need to ask yourself: Why not? Even better ask your employees why not. Find out what could the company do to motivate them to tell their friends, share an application, attend an event or promote a cause?
Be Creative
Consumers want original, authentic and entertaining content to engage with. By understanding what their passions are you will be more likely to create content that inspires and invokes action. This means you might be producing content that is not only about your product or services, but connects with your customers on an emotional level.
It could be as simple as a great Facebook application, a podcast series, man-on-the-street videos, or sponsorship of local ride naked events. Be careful with that last idea.
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