I hear from some people that they’ve “made a lot of friends” using social media. Then, I also find people that haven’t gotten one comment on their LinkedIn discussions, one RT (that’s retweet) or response on their Twitter tweets, one comment or like on their Facebook posts, or one comment or reaction on their blog posts. So, why do so many people have such diverse attitudes and experiences towards social media?
Well, maybe it’s because the word “friends” has a different definition these days. I think the older crowd considers a friend someone that you have for life and someone that you consider to be a very close acquaintance that you can share your most intimate life stories with. But, the younger generation just “hangs out” with all sorts of people, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, and so on. So, their social mentality is totally different from the traditional social aspects of the 40+ crowd.
So,why are you using social media? To make friends? To promote your business? Because your boss tells you “you have to” to keep up with the youthful customers you want to attract? For whatever reason it is, you’ve probably missed the point of social media. It’s not really about being sociable. For the Internet marketers, it’s about making money. For celebrities it’s about their status. For someone else it’s a contest about getting the most followers or following the most number of people (can you say publicity stunt?). For authors, it’s about selling more books, tapes, seminars or whatever.
But don’t misunderstand me and think I’m bashing social media. I’m not. All I’m trying to say is that if you are using it for business purposes, use it just as you would any other marketing technique, tool, or tactic. Make it a line item in your marketing plan. Set some objectives and goals to reach using social media. And then track the results, as well.
Social media is not the end all to be all. Use it wisely. Use it as another tool in your arsenal of marketing techniques but also respect its powerful nature to make or break a company in seconds.
