The term Social Media and is typically used in communication environments, marketing, market research, sociology and many other fields of study. The halo of attractiveness of this term and the implication is now as bright as the 4 P's proposed by Kotler few decades ago.
And yet, many practitioners avoid anything related to information technologies, arguing uncertainty and low security of the media web, the ease with which a campaign is sabotaged, or lack of professionalism involving tools DIY (Do It Yoursefl) low or no cost. This stance against background is given in a single, full and simple reason: they have not been this attractive working properly. Come spend marching season after campaigning on Social Media flights resulting in failure. And see with horror that the entities involved to make mistakes again, precisely because of how cheap it is - functionally speaking - err on the Internet, without considering the stratospheric price of spot the name of an institution built years of effort.
There is a reality that I hold since I started studying the Internet as a communication and research: is so easy to market and communicate on the web, which will surely go wrong at first. is a problem because the applications are developed for common use, global, social, and precisely the bipartisan nature makes the game changed severely.
Here is a list of all professional errors committed in his immersion into the digital world, who have begun laying the foundation for new books related to the proper way to manage Internet for business:
believe a blog, let's a fan group on Facebook, then Twitter about it. This is a typical posture of someone who falls in love at first sight of the new gadgets Social Media, and is just the first error, the most serious. It is assumed that these means will work, because "it is about today, everybody uses it and will surely reach the right message if you have an attractive design."
Social Media has a very low cost compared to any other media, but like any medium, must be handled and mixed the right way to fruition. Using Social Media should follow a careful strategy, measured from all angles and launched in harmony - just like any other campaign media.
Matt Dickman has 7 "bad words" that should be censored for any strategic planning meeting: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, LinkedIn, Flickr and Ning. What they said unless the idea is to get the vocabulary any application related to Social Media. The emergence of these words makes people skip straight to the tactics, before establishing key elements such as the brand essence, message, audience, etc.
Once you have strategy in hand, they have built the foundation of the project, then they can think of the media, and decide whether Social Media is appropriate, how and what are the appropriate channels to achieve business goals. There is no science behind media management.
The etiquette of social media. Consider the dynamic present at cocktail parties, conventions and other public relations events. Imagine a large room, full of interesting people. There are many conversations at once developed. People listen and talk, exchange perspectives, and finally found a common ground under which develops otherwise lovely conversation. A personal relationship, professional, has been formed.
This bond is the result of a conversation in avoiding centralizing the focus on yourself. For when the subject is unipolar, when I speak and just dedicate myself to talk about me, it is likely that the other person to finish looking for the exit as soon as possible.
Which brings us to another common mistake in managing Social Media , which is maintain traditional patterns of one-way communication in media designed for two-way . This type of unilateral interactions, in which only the communicator has an opinion, not operates at a cocktail party or on Twitter, Facebook, blog or other digital media.
Social Media is not a place to sell or to send messages one way, and yet abound Internet applications that just announced, only sell. Social Media is a place to listen for feedback and return answers about your brand. A place for public relations.
The long tail below zero. Seth Godin explains in simple terms: 0% a very large number is still 0 . Media applied in the same way as it applies in the relations supply - demand, supply scenarios in which diversifies while the market share spreads to smaller brands that have no interest.
The concept of long tail (long tail) was coined in the same year that Social Media saw its heyday, by providing tools that can be used by anyone. Long tail is generated when a message is delivered through a lot of media instead of concentrating in a few mainstream media like television, and take Reach per half minute. Together, they achieve a greater amount of attention by disseminating by mass media.
The problem with adopting this model without managing it correctly is that, given time, a long line leads to lack of control in the media, the neglect of the message and eventually the failure of the campaign. Manage campaigns across more resources which can be controlled, especially when these media themselves are not able to complement the top of the tail, is designed to Reach insufficient to enable the message to be heard .
Consider that when there is too much variety of means, most will never be seen. Social Media choose regardless of the true Reach you can get, is a waste of time very cool, in, without meaning.
Social Media is Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is 1.000 million possibilities. could say that only by understanding the three points mentioned above is a guarantee of success in business initiatives through Social Media , but fortunately not so easy.
I say fortunately, because we face a new, very large and juicy variety of possibilities to deliver our message, so great to take some time to finish setting the rules of the game. The buyer himself, the reader, audience or whatever the modality of target network in our initiative has a specific gravity so important that it should be among the factors to consider in the marketing mix of the new business school, and not just relegated to character goal to achieve.
Consumers in itself is a means, that finds its voice in the Social Media . Social Media is what the consumer gives, offers, features and discarded. This is the essence, the premise of the four pillars of Web 2.0: whole, society, ubiquitous and free .
The next time you consider venturing to the web as a means to achieve business objectives, it is better to consider what it really is: billion voices screaming in all directions.