The first rule of Social Media is that you do not talk about Social Media. Yeah, you heard that right!
Social media is kinda like a technical infrastructure with all the wires, links, triggers, and capacity of a distribution channel. In addition, social media is an extraordinary distribution channel with an exponential adoption rate and an embedded feedback loop. Even so, it’s just a channel. And at the end of the day, it’s just technology.
With all the hype, a lot has been said about social media throughout the years and it remains to be one of the most popular topics in the marketing world but up to this time companies have been struggling with the phenomenon and still trying to find a way to leverage and monetize it.
To be clear, even though social media is exceptionally impactful it shouldn’t be the key focus of your marketing efforts. There are other issues to talk about first.
First, how is your company integrating, executing and performing in the most financially rewarding marketing tactics such as Customer Acquisition (Search Engine Marketing), Customer Retention (Email Marketing) and Database and Sales Development (Loyalty Program)? What is the company’s ability to execute this?
Secondly, how is the company communicating with the customers through off-line and online (multi-channel) distribution systems. Is the company becoming a publisher of its own to reach and maintain the relationship with customers? Does it know what to say to its customers to engage them through a range of channels depending on what the customer is doing (working, shopping, relaxing, etc.) and where the customer is (working, shopping, relaxing, planning, etc.)?
If the answer is “no” to any of the above, then the focus is on planning and executing, and social media is a topic among others. What’s more, a channel for distributing content and interacting with customers.
If the answer is “yes” to all the above, then the company already has an understanding of social media management. And so we don’t talk about social media. Unless we’re required to innovate or push the envelope, which is a totally different conversation.
Do you agree on the first rule of social media?