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What is Social Media?

crowdvictoriapeckhamI had an interesting conversation recently about social media.  It seems that a lot of business owners kind of know what it means.  If you ask them about it they’ll say “oh is that like facebook or something?” or “it’s media that’s social”.  But if you try to dig deeper into what that actually means you’ll get a mixture of answers.

Social media is media that is social.  But it goes beyond Facebook or MySpace.  Social media is any type of media in which there is, at least, a two-way conversation – usually a multi-way conversation.  Social media is about engaging the audience and having them respond to you and to each other.

Social media is also about a philosophy of listening (instead of shouting).  Just using media that is social does not make it that way.  If you have a blog but never reach out to your readers and never respond to what they are saying, you’re not being very social.  Even if you don’t have a blog, you can listen to what your customers are saying on their blogs and respond to their concerns.

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. – Wikipedia – Social Media

Let me highlight the most important aspect of this definition:

“building” of shared meaning among communities

Social media is not just about your story or your company’s story.  It’s about the shared meaning you create with your customers as you interact with them and they with each other.

What story are you building with your customers?

(photo by victoriapeckham @ Flickr CC)

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Your customers want your brand as a friend

conversationsbdsolisCone, Omnicom Group’s strategy arm, released some data from a recent survey measuring brand trust.  This research claims that 93% of the 1092 Americans surveyed thought that companies should have a corporate presence on social media. It went further, citing 85% of those surveyed being open to interaction with companies within social media.  The demographic breakdown favored young males and weathly individuals, which can be a sweetspot for some marketed brands.

While networks like Facebook and Myspace may be old news for well polished marketing firms representing highly branded labels, this study is suggesting that the time may be right for more conservative consumer industries to follow suit.  If your company is consumer driven, tending towards younger male Americans or the affluent population, Cone is recommending you look at social media for your next marketing campaign.

It should be said that the study is a bit self serving, as Cone is a ‘strategy and communications agency’ with a presumed stake in the growth on online Brand Marketing.  That doesn’t make the results any less intriguing.  One of the best pull quotes I saw was this response from the surveyor to the question of what should Companies be doing in social networks:

Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)

People, it can be really simple.  Find out what the top ten customer questions are for sales, the top ten service calls for your product, wrap them up and build them into an interactive Facebook app.  Don’t just spit out one line information or a support number either, if the solution could be automated for the customer, take the added steps to do it.

Your customers don’t want you to be their Best Friend Forever.  But even one answer to a ‘Hey, can you help me with this’ will make you 10x more valuable than a crate of flying sheep.

photo attributed to b_d_solis @ Flickr CC

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Using Social Media for Long-Term Results

If you’ve had any success with using social media to increase the traffic to your website, you may have noticed that you usually get a spike in traffic which often goes back to original levels.  While getting a spike in traffic might be nice (or not nice if it crashes your website), if your traffic goes back to the original levels, you’ve lost an opportunity to convert some of those people to long-term visitors.  Traffikd has a good article with some ways to try to convert traffic spikes from social media into long-term visitors – Social Media Marketing: Getting Long-Term Results.  A summary of things to consider from the post:

  • Subject of your posts
  • Tone of your Posts
  • Targeted Social Media
  • Timing
  • Potential Impact
  • The Needs that are Met by the Post

While Traffikd’s post focuses mostly on blogs, these techniques can also be used on your business website.  It is important to maintain a customer-centric design by keeping the needs of your customers in mind with your content (and your design, layout, etc.).  The customers who visit your website are who provide the return on investment (ROI) for your website.

What’s worked for your business website in terms of social media?  Please share in the comments below.