My Summer reading list didn't include the typical who-done-it, blockbuster exposé or inspiring self-improvement bestseller. I got plenty of drama, shocking revelations and inspiration just by hanging out on the social networking platforms. The characters were pulled from followers and those I follow. The plot was murky and full of twists and turns. After all I've read about Social Networking strategy, I was surprised to learn most of it is a work of fiction.
Like many business professionals my definition of social networking did not include the word value. Two events early in the Summer started me down a path to illumination The first was the Gmail.com decision to filter messages into a tabbed inbox. All of my inbound messages relating to social networking ended up in one box. The second revelation appeared when I adopted Nimble.com as my CRM solution.
All of a sudden I acquired a social focus. Patterns emerged, assumptions were challenged, clarity ensued. Throughout the Summer I used my social networking profiles to conduct digital lab experiments. The single most important revelation was that when it comes to business development, Social Networking as become more important than email marketing, blogging and even SEO. Not because of technical innovation, but because of audience migration. The people you are trying to attract have moved to social networking. My advice to you? It's time for you to join them. Here's a few tips on what to avoid:
- Stop discounting Social Networking. There has been a fundamental shift from search to social.
- Social is not about sales or even marketing, it's about PR. You can't sell a luxury car on Twitter.
- Although a multi-platform social presence is important, not all platforms are created equal. Just because you can pile a lot of food on a buffet plate doesn't mean you should.
- We are past visibility, it's time to focus on engagement. Just because you can post every two minutes doesn't mean I'm going to read your stuff every two minutes.
- Stop driving people away from your landing pages. There was a time to feature those cute cryptic social icon on your website. That was then, this is now.