11 December 2012

Social media in 2013: nothing will change

blah blah blah
It's mid-December, so it's time for "5 things your company needs to do in social media next year," "what to watch for in social media in 2013" and the rest of the thought leadership posts from the social media ninjas/gurus/rockstars.  They've all been optimized for your googling pleasure.  I tend to ignore them.

Here's all the advice you need to know about social media in 2013 and beyond.

Know who your stakeholders are, go to them, ask them what they want, and give it to them. 

That's it.

Don't believe anyone who tries to sell you a "Twitter strategy" or a "Pinterest utilization model" or anything that measures success in "likes."

Invest heavily in strategies that learn as much as possible about the most important stakeholders you have.  If they're on, say, Facebook, then be on Facebook.  If they're not, then don't worry about Facebook. Just go where they go, listen to what they discuss, and be relentless about serving their needs and being relevant to their interests.

Measure your success in people. As in, "We built a list of 250 people we think are important, and we built relationships with 230 of them."  Define an influential person as someone who can get others to act simply by asking them.  Define degrees of influence by the number and types of people this person can motivate to act. Define a relationship in terms that make sense for the situation - they see you as a resource, or they'll act when you ask them to, etc.  Be very specific in what you want people to do and how you build relationships.

Build relationships with as diverse a group of influential and strategically relevant people as possible.  Don't build relationships with only a collection of people who are very similar - You won't be able to do much with that. Prioritize relationships with people who have influence in more than one community.

If you're looking for thousands and thousands of people to instantly take an action or be informed or directed in some way, create and place a compelling ad.

This is how I've approached online social media since I started doing it in 2006.  It's really all I've ever done.  I've learned new tools along the way because the stakeholders I care about use them.  But it's not about the tools - it's never been about the tools, and it never will be.

Social media has always been about people, influence, and relationships.  It will be in 2013 and beyond.

3 comments:

Brad Levinson said...

It appears as though we're still on the same wavelength. Blah blah blah, indeed.

Sage Aumick said...

"We built a list of 250 people we think are important, and we built relationships with 230 of them." -- I think you got the main idea of what social media is for. Most people use social media and create promotions asking people to like or share their page. But, are they sure that after those people have done that, they are going to avail your service or product? Marketing strategy isn't solely about social media.

Kristofer Mcginty said...

When it comes to getting a brand or a business across, it's always about being able to present something that gets people to be interested and remain interested. Whether it involves exploring different niches or using different tools, I believe getting a loyal following is greatly dependent on how well you can connect what your offering with what the people want, and how you can adapt to the changes as they come.