Even if you haven’t jumped on the Social Media bandwagon, somebody somewhere is claiming the webspace that should belong to your company, organization or cause.
Minnesota Business last month offered a “primer” on social media, with this paragraph that caught my eye:
Consumers are getting harder and harder to target. They are bombarded with advertising messages every waking hour and are skeptical of advertising more than ever before. Social media breaks down this barrier and allows you to join the conversation with your target market.
Consumers don’t want “to get sold.” They want advice, they want recommendations, and they want to be heard. Consumers want their brands to listen to their opinions. They want to know that you care about them. So don’t be the fly on the wall anymore. Engage, enhance and involve your audience.
Yes, that’s right. Consumers don’t want to “get sold”. We don’t want to hear your sales pitch. We want You to listen to learn, as they say, then we’ll hear what you have to say about solutions that fit our needs.
Social media is not a trend or a fad, but a permanent state of business and customer relationships. You can choose to participate or not but, unlike traditional media, your customers have already chosen. [Andrew Eklund @aeklund]
The magazine put together a virtual panel of social media users for the article. As usual, their idea of “Minnesota” is limited to the Twin Cities, but they offer some practical impressions of how real (business) leaders are getting the most of the Twitterverse. Even if you personally aren’t focused on the ROI in social media or your “C-Suite” is a spare bedroom, it’s an interesting snapshot of our Social Media neighborhood.
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STrib
The Economist
Inc Magazine online has some comments from Biz Stone, one of the founders of Twitter:
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100901/social-media-grows-up.html
“You just have to start slowly and react to what people are already saying about your company. You might try to offer a coupon or post pictures of your offices or give a sneak peek of a new product. You don’t need a million followers to be successful. If you have 3,000 people who really care about your company and are interested in what you have to say, they’ll share it with their followers, and you’ll gain a much bigger audience.”