What Social Media Does Best

July 8, 2008 · Comments

office workers If you’re still looking for the best ways to explain to senior management or your team or your coworkers or your spouse what it is that social media does, why it’s different than the old way people used to use computers and the web, why people are giving two hoots about it, here are some thoughts to start out the conversation. I look at this mostly from a business perspective, but I suspect you’ll find these apply to nonprofits and other organizations as well. Further, as I’m fond of saying, social media isn’t relegated to the marketing and PR teams. It’s a bunch of tools that can be used throughout businesses, in different forms. Think on this.


What Social Media Does Best

  • Blogs allow chronological organization of thoughts, status, ideas. This means more permanence than emails.
  • Podcasts (video and audio) encourage different types of learning, and in portable formats.
  • Social networks encourage collaboration, can replace intranets and corporate directories, and can promote non-email conversation channels.
  • Social networks can amass like-minded people around shared interests with little external force, no organizational center, and a group sense of what is important and what comes next.
  • Social bookmarking means that entire groups can learn of new articles, tools, and other Web properties, instead of leaving them all on one machine, one browser, for one human.
  • Blogs and wikis encourage conversations, sharing, creation.
  • Social software, like Flickr and Last.fm and even Amazon.com, promote human-mediated information sharing. Similar mechanisms inside of larger organizations would be just as effective.
  • Social news sites show the popularity of certain information, at least within certain demographics. Would roll-your-own voting within the company be useful?
  • Social networks are full of prospecting and lead generation information for sales and marketing.
  • Social networks make for great ways to understand the mindset of the online consumer, should that be of value to you.
  • Online versions of your materials and media, especially in formats that let you share, mean that you’re equipping others to run with your message, should that be important (like if you’re a marketer).
  • Online versions of your materials and media are searchable, and help Google help you find new visitors / customers / employees.
  • Social networks contain lots of information about your prospective new hires, your customers, your competitors.
  • Blogs allow you to speak your mind, and let the rest of the world know your thought processes and mindsets.
  • Podcasts are a way to build intimacy with information.
  • Podcasts reach people who are trying out new gadgets, like iPhones, iPods, Apple TVs, Zunes, and more.
  • Tagging and sharing and all the other activities common on the social Web mean that information gets passed around much faster.
  • Human aggregation and mediation improves the quality of data you find, and gives you more “exactly what I was looking for” help. (See also, Mahalo).
  • Innovation works much faster in a social software environment, open source or otherwise.
  • Conversations spread around, adding metadata and further potential business value.
  • People feel heard.


And that’s a great place to ask you what I’ve missed. What else does social media do best, in your estimation?

—

The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.

Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.

Photo credit, Boston Public Library

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Tagged as: , , , ,

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Thesis Theme for WordPress

Thesis WordPress theme

Thesis is the search engine optimized WordPress theme of choice for serious online publishers. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks.

With so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. The theme is robust and flexible enough not only to accommodate a site like ChrisBrogan.com, but also to enable the site to run far more efficiently than it ever has before.

  • Chris,
    Boil it down to this fundamental and broad reaching statement.

    "Social Media Technologies fundamentally changes the way that people discover information, communicate, and connect. If you think your business does not need these technologies; imagine running your business without a telephone. That is the level of importance that social media technologies will take on to businesses in 5-10 years."

    Cheers!
    Rodney Rumford
  • Chris, as ever, you've hit the nail on the head. I wish I could figure out how you find so much time to generate all the valuable material you do...

    Oh, and still getting smiles from the memories of the Tweetup last month. A 52-hour travel time trip to visit Boston for everything I did there was worth every hour.
  • And don't forget the all important search engine optimisation. Put some of these activities on your web site and you have the added bonus of more people finding you!
  • Chris,

    Very valuable resource you've just posted. In the graduate program I am in (finish in Dec) most of the graduates end up taking account manager positions (well paid mind you) and do some market research, branding, etc., but I would really like to do something different and possibly create my own position as a social media specialist/consultant.

    This post will definitely help enable me to start formulating and putting together some potential documents and/or talking points with respect to social media.

    Here's a slide show from Marta Kagan that I feel like would be a good additional resource to this post:
    http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-s...

    Best wishes.

    Ryan Stephens
  • Chris,

    As usual you have great stuff here, the social aspect of all your points, specially in large corporations adds a "missing" tier of group sense, because (I know first hand) large corporations employees hardly know each other, even working on same departments.

    I also really like the idea of improving, via tagging or bookmarking, the quality of the information. In the end it reaches a more specific target.

    Thanks for sharing this list.

    Josep
  • Chris, your last point (People feel heard) is so vital. When the employees, especially on the front line, believe that their contributions have value nearly every aspect of the company's performance improves.
  • Great points!

    One thing that I think is great about the effect of Social Media is interaction with people outside your RL world: you can experience different cultures, mindsets and gain valuable insights to how other think and what makes them tick.
  • Thanks Chris for yet another valuable blog! For me social media makes the world a much smaller place. When you realize thru global collaboration that individuals on the other side of the globe think and feel as you do, it's hard not to realize how we are all in this world together!
  • Lynn Eastep
    Great list, Chris. Social media is all about self-expression, personalization and community. It's all about people connecting with people, people connecting with brands... Technology isn’t a barrier to connection; rather, technology has changed the nature of relationships. Consumers are changing how products are being marketed because they are now becoming a part of the brand DNA.

    Brands/marketers have an opportunity to listen in at the virtual water cooler and then become a part of the conversation. Social media becomes a virtual focus group in which marketers can glean valuable psychographic information to help shape products/services/brands.
  • Excellent points and great insight!
  • redjudy
    I like the nitty gritty-ness of the list. It's more arrows in the persuasion quiver. However, for me the challenge is behavior change. A cerebral understanding of a tool's pros and cons is great. Now I need to get employees to disrupt their very comfortable ways of sharing, exchanging, teaming, etc.to make use of the advantages the tools offer.
    But thank you again for the list. I'll actually plan to use some of you points in a meeting on a changing function within our company.
  • Not only are social networks a great way for people to feel heard, they are a great way to listen to people.
  • This is very helpful to our clients... thanks Chris.

    DW
  • I want to put the emphasis on global communication and weaving relationships all over the world. June was my first month on twitter, and I talked to persons from Scotland, States, England, Australia. I not only talked but also read a lot of their blog-posts which widened my horizon immensely.
  • Great post, Chris. Excellent, valuable information.
    I think another thing social media does well is create a sense of community. Now the Internet is not simply a tool to gather information tool but a place to find friendship.
    Thanks for the great insight.
    Steve DeVane
  • Thorsten Linz
    Great post. Excellent read! :-)
  • Chris,
    A valuable timely post.
  • Great post, Chris. Thanks.

    You've covered the main points pretty thoroughly. Just to elaborate on the theme: social media allows the realization of the original vision of viral marketing. This marketing technique was popularized in the mid-1990s before the Internet had become pervasive. In the early days of the Internet, marketing existed as vertical silos, the traditional top down methodologies transferred to the Web. Social media happened, breaking down the barriers, allowing horizontal (viral) transmission of information about products, companies, personnel, etc. In this way, viral marketing outgrew its rather seedy antecedents (such as pyramid schemes) to become an essential tool for corporate communicators.

    Just thought you might appreciate the historical perspective.
  • The social media phenomena is best exemplified as the continuing education of the masses by some really, really smart and generous people like yourself.

    It is the sharing of one's knowledge and talent for the betterment of others via the converyance of information in a much faster and accesible manner.
  • Nonie
    Social media can be used in health promotion...giving a forum or place where people can provide "peer-to-peer" support and information about how to best play the hand they've been dealt whether it is diabetes, arthritis, CF etc.
  • Chris - Thanks for this post, I sent it to our internal social media breakfast club at my firm. I am working on a case to launch an enterprise social media platform, this helps with some concise bullets to back it up.
    Best,
    Adam
  • Thanks for this list. The one item I might add is that social media creates a space for someone to create the news they wish they were seeing in the newspaper - from a PR perspective, that is a real client pleaser.
  • Chris, great thoughts. Additionally, I'd say that social media allows you to evaluate and track the effectiveness of your tactics quickly and easily and make real-time adjustments if necessary. The downside is developing new metrics for measurement as many of the old evaluation methods are irrelevant for social media engagement.

    Along those lines, do you have any social media evaluation/measurement tips/metrics to share? That is consistently the number one question asked at any type of presentation I give on the topic.

    Thanks!
    Todd
  • Good list...We needed to implement these when we are doing online marketing.

    Thanks
    http://www.toputop.com
  • It's great to start off my morning with some good, thought-provoking reading. How'd you get so damn smart, Chris?

    I was just discussing this topic with a friend yesterday. She was using social media for herself and her clients without realizing its full potential, and now she's taking it to the next step. I'm sending her here to read this.
  • The interesting thing is that many of these methods of expression - blogs, wikis and podcasts etc - are relatively new, at least to the masses. It reminds you how sudden this explosion in communication has been, and what a great impact it's had.

    Joe - www.anewbandaday.com
  • Brilliant list Chris!

    I think it also helps make "marketing" truly Marketing; Peter Drucker said a business must do 2 things: Innovate and Market.

    Social Media, the Web as a whole now means a company or organization can Market itself fully and very cost effectively.
  • Jill
    Love it! While it seems like people feel computers and less face-to-face communication is creating barriers to personal relationships, social media brings back the 'human element' to conversation. Not only am I able to share 'business' perspectives and learnings, I'm also able to 'meet' the person and get some understanding of who they are socially. How cool!
  • Chris -- perfect timing! I am discussing social media with my public speaking class on Thursday, and I'll definitely include many of your analogies and examples.

    Barbara
  • Jen Harris
    Chris-
    For the past two and a have years I have been telling clients/my boss' to think of New Media/Social Media as "Marketing like it was done before Mass Media". Where you learn from your peers that the best steak house is not the one on the corner, but the one off the beaten path.
  • Phil Baumann
    Chris, excellent list.

    In fact, this topic would be a great daily (or weekly) tip. Maybe a scheduled email with a single tip.

    >>>

    Maybe even set up a simple website with a running list of these tips that would be tagged & searchable (sort of like State of the Web). I'm sure there are remarkable designers who would love to set that up.

    Also: sell the list as a huge poster for employees and other stakeholders to hang up. I know old-school, but then again, it takes a bridge...

    Phil
  • >>Phil Baumann - that is a great idea. Or, rather, two great ideas...
  • Wonderful list, Chris!

    I agree with you on all of them but this one definitely stuck out to me: :"Social networks are full of prospecting and lead generation information for sales and marketing." I had no idea that social networks were a powerful tool for marketing until I started to utilize them for business at Salesconx.

    I used to just use them as ways to keep in touch, but now that I use them to market Salesconx, I cannot imagine why other small companies don't. We have gained tons of traffic and users just by staying active on a handful of networks where our audience hangs out...It's amazing!

    Marketing via social media/networks is definitely the way to go right now. Granted there is no one way to use it (making it difficult to explain and track), but it's definitely an effective way to reach the masses when it's done right!

    -Gina
    Marketing Manager
    Salesconx
    www.salesconx.com
  • Let's sift out the how from the what, know the difference between goals and exercises, and focus on the highest value purposes.

    Practiced properly, social media:

    * relieves pain
    * solves problems
    * improves images and brands
    * converts negative/non-existent perceptions into positives
    * fosters permanent, mutually beneficially relationships in ways that product advertising can never pretend to approach.

    =Rich Reader
    =Social Media Consultant
  • Social media invites/supports the personification of your brand. Conveys a sense of place and presence; brings the brand culture to life.
  • Your post is very informative. I'm very glad to see people actively engaging in Web 2.0. Web 2.0 offers some very intuitive and powerful tools/sites, that keep us all connected. This connection is not only limited to personal but can be used in a business/organization as well.

    Justin
    - Check Us Out ...
    http://koinoniasolutions.com
  • WOW, another great post!! Lots of insightful and accurate information...Blogging Rules!!!!
  • RocSearch, the UK-based research & analytics firm has recently released a research study on ‘Leveraging Social Media for Brands’. The study showcases the social media eco-system, its drivers & imperatives while detailing cases of brand successes and failures attempting to harness the power of this medium. For a complementary copy of the study, visit http://www.rocsearch.com/social-media.asp.
  • Chris,

    Thank you so much for sharing! I'm so glad I found your website. Your site is so informative and easy to understand.

    Thanks!

    Chetz Yusof
    http://www.ChetzTV.com
    - Win The Battle -
  • A very good post with a fairly exhausted lost of the value of social media though don't entirely agree with your last point about making people feel heard.

    This is because there are so many blogs and profiles out there that get lost in the clutter and are never read. Though this probably forces people to raise their game with better quality writing and marketing.
    Check out http://facevaluebook.blogspot.com/ for more posts on social networks and blogs
  • Really great tips for social media.
    http://1000mountainpictures.com
  • Thats one of the advantages of web 2, every thing should be social on this world. look a t guple.com, thats a good example how they interpreted what social is.
  • Today, internet users want personal interactions with those they do business with before they make a buying decision. Social media marketing, which taps into a familiar concept called attraction marketing, lets you build that relationship and attract prospects who are interested in your offer. Social media sites such as FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter and Digg are helpful in getting qualified fresh MLM leads and paid signups MLM for your network marketing online business, thus exploding your downline growth.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: