Hey, what's all the rage today?
Social Media.
It's like saying the word "Alchemist" in the first Millennia, or "Wizard" in the Middle Ages, or "Freemason" in the 1800's, or Web 2.0 in the early 2000's. It invokes visions of the secret, dark arts. It gives one the stamp of "I know the real state of the world". It attempts to connotate that all previous attempts at web marketing are useless now and there is a new paradigm dimension one must enter.
You know, it's funny, though, that I see whenever many of these "paradigms" pop up (unless they are a truly new technological discovery), the common theme among them all really is "Common Sense".
Unfortunately, we have all lost our common sense here and are being made to believe that Social Media Marketing & Networking is some new technological discovery that obsoletes all before it and if you are not on the bandwagon, then, well, you must be over the age of 25 or senile!
It's how to apply Social Media to your business that makes the difference and makes it effective - or not.
My good friend and one of the foremost Social Media Architecture & Marketing experts I know today, Alex Romanovich, founded a Think Tank called "Social2B" - of which I'm honored to be a participant in.
Alex publicly asked the question on LinkedIn
What role do you think that Social Media Marketing 'Architecture' will play in the success of a company?"
My answer is very simple - and it's Common Sense!
Like all Information Technology Architectures, the Social Media Architecture is no different.
A company must first define who are their Customers/Constituents, the desired results (Sales, Loyalty, etc.), the Product/Line/Service mix, the Marketplace into which they are selling, the data associated with the Customer/Product/Service/Market, the Business Processes, corporate goals, etc.
Once that is mapped, then a Social Media Marketing Map is created that identifies where the Customers, Suppliers, Service Providers, etc., are located. This is obviously created based on the intersects between where they are and data from Step 1. Then both data architectures (e.g., the results of the analysis) are mapped to each other - and then an Architecture with a Social Media Marketing Strategy & Social Media Marketing Campaigns emerge.
Jumping into Blogging, or Social Communities or Facebook, etc., without conducting the preliminary analysis and Strategic mapping is like driving to a meeting while hoping that on the way, the people you are meeting with will give you the address.
Think, Then Do!
Measure Twice - Cut Once!!
Ytzik Aranov
>> See Alex's question and a number of answers here.
