The media landscape has been changing since the emergence of social media as a highly influential platform. Everyone has a soapbox and everyone wants to be heard. Some voices are louder than others reaching further and riding that digital wave. Not every brand out there understands how to effectively become part of that conversation and if there is any one thing that people tell me when I talk to them about how social media is instrumental for businesses today, it's that there is so much fragmentation that it makes their eyes cross. They often wonder, where do I begin? Which social media tools are the most effective? Do I have to be on every single social media site out there for it to have any impact on my business?
First and foremost, all businesses need to understand that social media isn't just another advertising alternative. It isn't a place where you can just log on and shout "Look at all of the great things our company is doing!" Because when you make it all about you and less about "them" that sets you up for failure from the get go.
That said, I use this analogy for this new media landscape--social media is similar to parenting. When you become a parent, you instantaneously learn how to multi-task. How many moms reading have loaded laundry while holding a toddler on your hip while talking on the phone? Social Media is the same way, especially when used in combination with RSS. It simplifies by syndicating your content across multiple social media profiles. It simply accomplishes many tasks at once.
As you have more children or as your child gets older, you begin to know "what works" and "what doesn't" when it comes to your parenting skills. The same holds true for social media tools. The longer you "work" in this space, the better you know which tools are right for you and which ones may not be a good fit (for example, I adore Twitter.) There are brand spanking new social media tools just about every day, and honestly, it is hard to keep up. I live and breathe social media and even I get overwhelmed by everything that is out there, I can hardly imagine what that looks like to a company only beginning to delve into the space. My advice is to prioritize: start with a handful of the ones you feel are most important, leverage those and go from there. Do not hop onto every new social media tool that launches, that will only dilute the experience.
When your children are younger, you need to tend to them every single day to mold and grow them, but as they age they get to a point where they don't need you overseeing them every moment of the day. Again, this is entirely relevant to social media profiles and tools, especially when using RSS. In the beginning, you blogged 5x a week, but a year or so into it with a well established audience, you don't need to. RSS will help update your widgets on your various profiles and social bookmarking sites like Diigo, del.icio.us and StumbleUpon can be added to your toolbar to make updating your profile as simple as clicking a button when you come upon a story you want to share with those connected to you. Now, I'm not saying you put less effort in, but what I do mean is that you will not lose your audience if you don't have time to tend to it everyday.
The point is when you become a new parent you are overwhelmed with everyone's advice and all of the possibilities that exist for your child. In social media, your "child" is your brand and your brand image. Just as you raise a child, you invest your time and energy into raising them right. Short cuts are not an option. The same holds true for social media.
I'd love to hear which social media sites and tools you use and why they have been beneficial to your company.
Posted by Shannon Nelson on October 29, 2008 12:07 PM
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Comments (7)
As a mother of four children and a grandmother of two, I really connected with your comparison of social media to parenting. My favorite social media site is twitter. As busy women, it forces us to make a quick and concise post, prioritizing the information that we are sharing. I like to think of twitter as the center of my social media experience with my blog, facebook and all others branching out from there. I have developed some really incredible relationships on twitter and then taken them into business or social settings too! (http://twitter.com/nancymk) Thanks for the great post that can be appreciated by not only the twitterbabies but the twadults as well:)
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Nancy Sutherland |
October 29, 2008 3:19 PM
Posted on October 29, 2008 15:19
I feel I owe the success of Blissfully Domestic to Twitter. I found most of the talented women there. Women I had befriended and communicated with often I recruited to join the BD team. Twitter and Stumbleupon, for me, are the be-all end-all. Love them.
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Allison Worthington |
October 30, 2008 8:40 AM
Posted on October 30, 2008 08:40
I think the most important thing to consider when choosing social media tools to use is strategy. You or your company must ask: Is this reaching my key audiences, and am I getting results? You can't just hop onto every social media bandwagon if it's not going to work for you. You should put your time and effort to a few tools that you know will work for you. Because in the end, if you're getting nothing out of it then what's the point?
As a college student, my favorite social media tool is Facebook, but I'm slowly getting into Twitter - but it's hard when no one you know uses it!
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Katelyn Luysterborg |
November 3, 2008 10:00 AM
Posted on November 3, 2008 10:00
Katelyn,
That's the best part of Twitter--building new relationships with people who are in the same industry as you, have the same interests as you or those you could benefit from networking with. Don't be shy to do a search in Twitter based on keywords, people are bound to show up that will interest you.
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Shannon Nelson |
November 3, 2008 11:44 AM
Posted on November 3, 2008 11:44
Shannon,
Love your advice about prioritizing. I keep getting all these frenzied phone calls from clients who shriek: "OMG, I'm not on Facebook yet!" Somebody's told them they've gotta be on FB or else. I keep saying that social media is not 'One Size Fits All.' As you so wisely said --they don't need to hop on every new social networking site out there. Thanks for your common sense post.
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Sarah Browne |
November 3, 2008 7:03 PM
Posted on November 3, 2008 19:03
Community sites play a great role in everybodiy's life to keep in touch with friends and relative worldwide and get to know about people with similar tastes. I am a member of myspace and facebook. Its rocking...
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Gisselle |
November 19, 2008 2:04 AM
Posted on November 19, 2008 02:04
This post was great! The comparison of social media to parenting is so true. It's about multi-tasking and nurturing. As a mother & a business owner, I find that balancing & prioritizing everything is the best way for me to go in parenting & business. Like many comments here, I have found that Twitter is one of my best social media tools for leverage (besides my blog).
I have also realized that as a mom, I have to put my child's needs before mine for the most part. This is also true in social media, I believe. When connecting with others on sites like Twitter, it's all about developing & cultivating trusting relationships and putting THEIR needs before mine. My thoughts are, 'How can I help them?' as opposed to: 'What's in it for me?'
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PRIIA Cosmetics |
December 14, 2008 6:20 AM
Posted on December 14, 2008 06:20