In the past two months I’ve seen an anxeity at both technical and marketing conferences. Many attendees share a similar affliction – Social Media Anxiety. People fear that they are behind the social media curve. They fear their competitors are ahead of them and that they are in “catch up” mode. Conference dinner discussions continue to center on, “what is your social media strategy?”Â
While we may be at different levels of social media awareness, no one has a lock on “what to do” – things are moving too fast. Social media continues to morph and we’re all in catch up mode – always. New technology keeps popping up and we continue to evaluate and make go/no-go decisions. For example, how many people have figured out how to leverage Foursquare/Gowalla/Yelp for their brand?
Don’t freak. Don’t fear. Do…
- Define your social media goals focusing on listening and message
- Put together your social media team
- Define your strategy
- Try, test and measure
- Keep adapting
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I do have to say, Foursquare Day in our area was extremely attractive to local businesses who offered discounts and freebies to foursquare-ers. I spoke with one business owner that could validate on a rainy, cool, Friday night the coverage of Foursquare Day definitely increased his foot traffic.
It appears B2C will benefit more than B2B, but with social technology doesn’t that seem to be the case?
One final note: I wish Marketers would stop trying to control and make the rules. Social means social, not constrained or restrictive. Writing about the “right and wrong” isn’t doing anyone much good.
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Thanks for the comment and smart thinking Christine. Regarding the “right and wrong”, I think we’re seeing some of the same FUD factor that we say back in the ’90s when the web was new and weird. Remember when web access was only available to a select few out of risk concerns? We’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends!
Reff,
Very topical indeed. I feel that the process begins with #’s 4 and 5, which encourage the development of #’s 3 and 2. In my opinion, Chris Brogan has the best perspective on social media utility:
” Social Media Tools Aren’t The Revolution
A phone can be used to talk to Mom, talk to the grocery store, talk to customer service at your bank, and a phone can be used to give a teleseminar, to dial for dollars, to market a new product or service. This is the same with all these tools like blogging, podcasting, social networks and the like. The tools themselves are just different (better?) ways to communicate. ”
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/social-media-tools-are-like-phones/
Thanks for the comment and smart thinking Christine. Regarding the “right and wrong”, I think we’re seeing some of the same FUD factor that we say back in the ’90s when the web was new and weird. Remember when web access was only available to a select few out of risk concerns? We’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends!