Everyone and their
mother is jumping on the social media bandwagon.
Some
are successful; they are immersed
in it on a daily basis
and thus in themidst of the
actionwhilethesocialmedia
landscapechangesevery few
months.
Some, however, just don’t
quite get it.Dabbling in social
media once every so often,
reading about the trends six
months after they’ve happened,
and not grasping the
nonstructural, nonlinear nature
of the medium are all
characteristics of this latter
camp.
The online landscape
changes dramatically and
quickly, and you’d better be
pretty web-fit to keep up with
the latest social networks,
tools and viral campaigns.
Suddenly,MySpace is an
outdated form and Google
Buzz is slated to be the new
craze.
Hi5 fizzled as quickly as it
started, and, despite ‘experts’
prophesying that Twitter
would be just another fad, like
it or not, life in 140 characters
or less is here to stay.
Old-school ways of marketing
and structured guidelines
don’t apply in the social
media sphere. This is definitely
a challenge in the corporate
world, where senior
marketing folks’ knowledge
of social media typically
doesn’t extend further than
reading articles about it and
seeing their kids use it.
Also, they’re uncomfortable with the lack
of structure
and planning that comes with
the sociall media beast. Blog articles
often don’t have a clear
beginning or ending. They are
written more like a casual conversation and are likely violating
every scholastic and technical
rule out there. It is a
medium that defies most classical rules of writing and communication.
Are grammatical
errors and run-on sentences
blasphemous or unprofessional?
Perhaps, if you’re writing
for Harper’s or the New
Yorker, but in social media, it’s
the norm.
Has the reader changed or
the media platform? I’d say
they go hand in hand.
Today, our generation sets
up dates via text, RSVPs for
parties via Facebook invitations,
and gets news clips via
Twitter feeds. We are bombarded by brands,
logos, marketing messages,
and companies
who claim they
understand us. Everyone’s a
publisher, and there is an endless mountain of information
and news to sift through in
less time. We want our information in
bites, with imagery
to make it easier and more effective
for us to process and
comprehend. If a headline is
over 140 characters, it is
deemed long-winded.
In the marketing and business world,
there are a few issues.
Many marketing execs
who have the authority to
make decisions on social
media strategy, resourcing,
and direction are in the don’t quite-
get-it camp. Want to
know if you’re one of them?
Unless you’re a blogger yourself—
and successful at it—
and participate in social
media on a regular basis, you
likely don’t get it. Thus, you
should enable the ones who do
get it to make those decisions.
At the other extreme,
there is an emergence of social
media ‘experts’ who
claim they have the next social
media solution that can
save the day.
Reality check. Social
media is one form of engaging,
participating in the dialogue,
and building a community
and following. It is
one part of the marketing
pie, and how big that slice is
depends on the nature
of your business and your
objectives.
In conclusion, if you’re a
company that’s riding on the
social media bandwagon,
make sure you have the people
in place who have the creativity,
the understanding of
new media, and a voice and
tone that is relatable and
inviting to a broad audience.
If you’re an individual trying
to gain a following, make
sure you have a personality
behind your brand. That
brand must be personable
and relatable, and there
should be value that youprovide
to your audience.
Even though publishing a
message to the world is as
simple as the click of a button,
always ask yourself if what
you’re about to publish will
give value to your audience or
if it’s just polluting the digital
universe.
