Social Media for Dummies.

Wa hello there !

If you care to know this blog’s perspective and take on Social Media, please refer to it’s Mission Statement  here. There, I outlined what is gonna be all about and how it will deliver. Most posts will have no formal introductions, they’ll get right into what’s important.  Below are some common social media buzz words and phrases that while they’re taken for granted by some,  are still “chinese” to non-chinese.  So it will be used quite often to demystify common social media jargon. Here we go !

● What do they mean by “going social” ?

They mean “start going visible online by creating profiles at social sites to dialogue, share, participate and engage others with similar interests”.

● What is social media, anyway?

They are places (sites) where you “go social”. And of course those places are equiped with tools and services to function.

● I keep hearing “you can’t hide on the internet or social media anymore”, what does that mean?

It means “you cannot abstain from sharing and participating on the internet at the expense of giving in your privacy.”

Social media are virtual offices that hold a digital record of your real(offline) life details (shared voluntarily by you). Just as government offices hold records of your offline identity, social media also hold equivalent records of your digital identity and online activity footprints. The only difference is that virtual records contain just as much information as you shared (which can be more or less but enough to tell who you are).

● Ok, If they can only hold a record of me if I share it, then that’s fine coz I won’t.

Or will you?

Now why would you voluntarily want (or need) to deposit a virtual record of who you are?

Well, for the same reason you deposited your personal records at goverment agencies and companies – you wanted benefits.

You wanted the benefits of a health card, a driver license, a credit card, a job, etc. Just as potential employers require a work reference record from your ex or current employer for a new job, employers can also pull a virtual record from LinkedIn and Monster.com.

Wouldn’t you wanna deposit your resume online in exchange for a job? And if so, wouldn’t you provide as much convincing and accurate details on LinkedIn and Monster.com?

If you do or did, then your digital job record and online purchase record will be nearly as accurate as the offline one.

Want more examples?

Ok here we go !

Havent you used paypal before? How about that fleece deal you bought for christmas on Ebay two years ago ? Or the vampire book you purchased on Amazon.com? Havent you once entered your real email on a form before? Or probably had your phone on your website for clients to call you ? Or submitted your mobile number on a form in exchange for a free pdf report ?

The least of it, your ip address was captured when your last commented or even simply browsed the web.

All these practices are pointers (fingerprints) of your digital identity.

That’s what they mean when you hear them talking about “you can’t hide on the internet”. And that’s what Frank Kern meant by “Don’t be a Bin Laden – you saw what happened to him” in one of his webinars encouraging marketers to stop hiding/procrastinating and go out and do stuff.

● Well,I dont want a job, so I wont share anything.

How about family, friends and work colleagues ? dont you want to connect with them? At least to track what they’re doing and saying? Woud you resist to upload a cool picture of you or your hedgy?

Sharing is not limited to your personal details. It’s sharing of anything cool or beneficial sometimes as a “giving back” to your online community.

Ever heard of file sharing sites ? Why do you think are still around, even thriving ?
It’s because they call upon the “social animal” in human beings – an effective technique.

● What ? Are you saying file-sharing sites are social media(sites),too?

Well, it may not seem obvious to you at first , but they meet not one but both of criterion of social media – sharing and engaging(participating). They even inspire a third social dimension – Giving back to the community.

Yep, even those that dont like to pay for software dont just always grab stuff for free. They upload and share, too(giving back to the commuity 

● Isn’t social media just for kids?

Statistics refute that. The fastest growing segments on Facebook are over the ages of 30 to 55-plus. Only 11% on Twitter are kids.

● Got it. Now why would a business “go social”?

Simple, they too want “benefits”.

● Can they sell by “going social” ?

They can sell by “going commercial”. But they can indirectly help and pave the way to selling by “going social”.

● Helping? Like what ? You know they’re not a charity,right ?

In a nutshell, here’s how it works:
First, let me reverse this question to you. Say you want to hire a plumber, how would you usually go about it?
Let me guess, you ask someone if they know and can refer a good plumber, right? Or may be go online and look for reviews and recommendations. With social media, a business owner can eliminate or assume the referrer’s role.

By sharing your knowledge and helping people with your industry’s insights, tips and tricks, you will be positioning yourself as an expert (or one that can get the job done). Therefore, giving potential prospects an idea of your expertise. They then know of a good “plumber” and can refer you, hire you, write reviews and recommendations.

More importantly, these social platforms enable you to coat your expertise with a personal touch. It even makes for a better overall image if people gets to know your character, opinions, likes, dislikes and jokes. Nobody would want to hire an obnoxious weirdo with great trade skills.

To my understanding, this is how social marketing should work (on facebook and twitter, in particular). It’s a bit different from traditional marketing. But the good news is it still includes the word “marketing“.

Of course, you can still sell your services or products on a facebook fan page. And you can back up your expertise with testimonials. But that’s still not the best way to give potential prospect a “taste” of your expertise. A happy customer that provided a postive testimonial has already experienced the value. Potential clients have not yet. These days, not many people fall for testimonials anyways.

That being said, not allow media sites are equal. It is just as important to know what type of social site is geared for what type of usage. Knowing this will enable you to target the right audience on the right type of social places.

I say this because there are other media sites out there where you can literally “sell yourself” without using the previous method. LinkedIn is one those. Google places and facebook places are specifically meant for direct online marketing but they are not considered social sites.

What needs to be remembered is that social media is a lot about relationship building than anything else.

● How to select and pick up a social media consultant? Should you go with a guru ? or that popular expert?

If you’re a small business owner, you don’t need a social media philantropist, you just need some dude who can set up your initial social media presence and get you started. By some dude, I, by no means, mean any blue joe who’s got a forgotten skyrock page and Myspace or Facebook account to muck around on with his buddies.

● Social Media Campaign – How to go about it?

Social Media involvement is time-consuming, you better off outsourcing someone to keep it running, even on a part-time basis. You can also hire a freelance social media manager to manage and run your social media compaigns for any short period you like. These are indenpendent contractors you don’t pay social benefits and employee taxes on. You still need to get involved yourself and get your feet wet though, espeially during the initial stage.

Whoever is helping you must be able to explain to you the concept of social media and how it will work for your business. They must be able to present you with the blueprint of steps to follow and offer you the opportunity to watch on their shoulders while doing it.

You hire a social media consultant or strategist if you want consulting on social marketing. These should explain and devise a social media strategy for you tailored to your business. For launching a social media campaign for your company (the practical side), you’d need a social media manager. These are two different roles unless either one is qualified to do both.

● How many social sites are out there? should I use all of them ?

Your time is valuable and squandering it chasing any social site out there is not worth it. I’d recommend sticking with the big four Facebook,Twitter,Youtube and LinkedIn. Blogs are also social media – they’re platforms for knowledge publication and opinion sharing.

And use them when they’re still big buzz aroun them – Time is Crucial. Despite Facebook’s buzz, online history has shown that trends come and go. Those who’ve been into the online interaction sphere remember when the web was dominated by these players: Friendster, FriendFeed, Bebo, Orkut, Boompa, Typepad, Delicious, Technorati. Even the popular Yahoo Answers’audience is moving on. The “social media” itself is an evolvement from the shortly-lived and now outdated term Web 2.0.

Am not implying that social media is a fad, but trends do change, so get your act together and jump in if you’re still on the fence.

● Will it be a good strategy to transfer my existing face to face b2b relationships onto the social media platform?

Social media should not serve as a replacement for your established offline b2b relationship. Rather, use social media to strengthen your current face to face relationship.
Social media platforms will allow you to be in touch more often with your most important b2b and b2c clients alike.

Before I forget,i’d like to share you that social marketing should be just one of your promotional strategies. It’s more effective when deployed as a subset of your overallmarketing activities, complementing traditional
online advertising campaigns like emailnewsletters,ppc,cpa,affiliate marketing and other online promotional strategies.

If your business does not have a Facebook page, it could be implied that you are over conservative or you still need to work on your insolence.

With the success rate of businesses using Facebook as a supplementary or primary platform to drive the businesses to sales, it goes to show that social media has placed a significant role in modern days’ lives.

it’s a direct line of communication with your prospects and also a place where your prospects can share what you have to say or offer with their family or friends

Before i forget,i’d like to share you that social marketing should be just one of your promotional strategies.
It’s more effective when deployed as a sub­set of your mar­ket­ing activ­i­ties, com­ple­ment­ing tra­di­tional online pro­mo­tional strate­gies like email newslet­ters and online adver­tis­ing cam­paigns

And that there are other uses for social media other than marketing such as a focus group(for market research),reputation/brand manangement and damage control.” .

Many social media savvy companies are using it internally to broadcast their our own training material to their employees.
Some studies have shown that Social media improves staff retention. Just for a thought.