Social Media Strategies

I am already WAY past information overload. I am anxious for relevance filtering that is personal and siutational. I don't want to see EVERYONE's opinions, just those that I choose to see. I am not necessarily interested in the Mass Market popularity. I may just want to know what conservative Christians, or white women, or mothers have to say about a particular movie. Just because Kill Bill is the latest movie sensation doesn't mean that I will like it.

As so often there is an opportunity for us to help our audience sort through the information and find the valuable pieces. If we can manage to select these information gems and share them with our friends and followers, we will quickly be seen as the authority in our niche. We may be able (depending on the niche) to reach this status without ever writing any content ourselves.

Having said that, it will obviously help to provide some of our own content. If nothing else, simply commenting on the information out there and sharing why some content is valuable and others is not, will help you audience.

Participating in the relevant communities will give you even more exposure and help you understand what content is trustworthy and what content is not. What would we do without social media?

Well said. However, would I apply this to every business? In part, yes! I would argue that the quantity has to be there in order for quality to shine through. The focus now is and in the future will be on developing our ability to sift through countless amounts of information. Those that make the cut will be trusted and achieve a following. People value tried and tested solutions. For a good, relevant example just look at the way we are booking hotels nowadays.

I personally think that it is important for more transparency to exist for a more healthy vibrant community. Social media does seem to get us there substantially better than previous vehicles have allowed. It is importatn to investigate as you said who exactly we want to "socailize" with but for sure companies need to wake up and start listening to their customer base.
From my experience some of the fasted growing companies today are doing just that. Take a look at Zappos or Peak Potentials. They are in consatnt communication with their niche and create exceptional products just for them so they keep coming back.

Bruce, I can see where you are coming from and it's true to say that for many companies the idea that they will look for community validation through transparency with their stakeholders or customers is difficult to believe. Cost and policy will sometimes dictate otherwise but you cannot deny the power of social media marketing for the vast majority of business models and community validation has to be at the forefront of any successful marketing strategy if online marketing is to form a part of the campaign.

I read a recent article about a Ryanair member of staff posting on a company blog a rather poor response to a customer query along the lines of - read the form before complaining about it - at the time causing uproar in the web 2.0 world.

What many commentators failed to understand or chose not to comment on is that behind the post sits a company who consistently use negative marketing campaign strategies to attract adverse publicity which ultimately does not affect the customers view of what product the company sells - i.e. cheap airline seats!

The point is this - even by using social media in this way - arguably badly - the airline has recognised the power of social media marketing and the viral marketing potential of a hot news story.

RT @SimonFord: http://www.eventslisted.com/socialmediastrategi...

I have spent the last three years reading information, buying ebooks, etc... With no real way to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Most of the information on the internet for businesses is just a bunch of garbage!!! I love to read quality content that you can put into action.
Like I said, I have spent three years reading garbage! Now that I have found Simon, the world has changed. I now have the pieces of the puzzle and can put them together. Simon does not leave anything out. It is all laid out on the table with specific instructions on how to get results. Simon has made me a believer that some people do care about the content they sell. That it is a complete system if implemented. I am behind you all the way; raving, posting, commenting, rating everywhere I can. We need to drown out the garbage and bring the creme to the top.

Interesting article. Information overload is a serious problem for a lot of people online. Social media has reduced this problem. No doubt about it. The web has come alive and that has helped prevent people from becoming completely lost.
Having said this, we do need to realize that it is only now that the social media are becoming of a magnitude that might cause a renewed feeling of being lost. It is going to take a very strong plan to not get overwhelmed again by the size and speed of the internet highway.

In the past, I have never really spent the time looking for and researching information. I was just the casual internet surfer, getting recipes, reading tabloid information, etc.
Now that I have become an internet entreprenuer, I have searched for some information and I cant figure out the good information from the bad. Sites like digg and technorati really make the difference in reputable information. I am thankful I did not start doing this before the social bookmarking sites came along.

Whether it's the internet or a library filled with books there is too much information to absorb. I find one of the best filters is trusted sources sharing information with you.

Information overload? I'm not really sure there IS such a thing beyond the term's sound byte worthiness. Certainly there is more information readily available to the masses than ever before. But this only means we must exercise discretion; we have to deliberately do whatever to separate the wheat from the chaff. In this, the additional energy required, may lie the complaint people are really moaning about. Most are not willing to go that extra mile. Many just don't want to think or do any work beyond what they already do.

In my mother's day -- the 50's there was NOT a lot of choice. The one town newspaper, (and what?) three TV channels. All the information they received was as captive audiences who were fed messaged info, skewed, if you will.

Today we have choice, and I for one, rejoice in that fact. And, yes, I welcome the additional work involved in making selections. In that, I am truly grateful for the idea of having discussions among like-minded people. We can decide together as well as individually what we will give our loyalties to.

Peace and Love to All,
DeeJay

These articles really speak truth, unlike everyone else out there, which would say get out there and do it on your own! Doing this on your own is very difficult, unless you collect a bunch of the MASSES and I don't know if you have ever heard this in the music industry they say the MASSES are A$$es. What I see here is like a specially trained platoon of 15 or so versus a 1000 untrained civilians just handed a weapon with out training and expected to be successful. I want to be in the platoon.

Too Much Infromation mmmmmmmmmm. I've been thinking about this and of course there is a lot of it! in as much detail as you want.

Does this mean there is too Much? I think its more accurate for me when I take personal Responsibility. !

What I find, is that I get distracted and waste endless hours seeing something of interest of going off on a tangent. This is my problem.

So for me its not that there is too much but rather a lack of discipline or ability to focus. For me this is what I am having to work on.

And thank you to all the contributors for all the information.

I know there is some discussion here and I find it most interesting but yet validating in a way.
I believe you must create trust with your audience. A conversation can do this, but showing how you feel on a certain topic. Not everyone will agree, this is a given. Whats more interesting to me is to see the statistics. I have done it both ways. I have better conversations and better business contacts from changing a way of marketing. Keeping it natural has always been true to me. It has also made my experience more fulfulling, we are all so visible online.

(I choose my bank based on many thoughts and actions, Service, getting the loan, providing for my needs. If my bank keeps me happy they keep my business, its simple.)


I check up on everything, I am sure most do with us all having the internet at our fingertips. I do however question at times persons where they get their information and wish to have it backed up. At the end of the day if you don't check it out you only have yourself to blame.

Community based validations? Are you kidding? I think you've written too many articles where people are more intent on agreeing with you than evaluating the quality of what you say. (Made you sit up, didn't I?)

Let's get to the crux of the matter. You need to evaluate your marketplace especially in today's economically distressed environment. You need to know your competitors, demand and price sensitivity. To state that communities will provide this information is akin to saying the banks will self-regulate themselves. It's not true, self-serving, and just won't happen.

Bruce,

Interesting choice of examples to articulate your point considering the economic mess these (regulated) banks have lead our population into.

Maybe if the population were privy to the information banking executives have at their disposal and afforded this knowledge freely to it's customers,...maybe if the banks provided community forums where customers could freely communicate with each other and the banks used this dialogue to establish community based validations of their policies and actions,.... the world would not be in the financial mess it's in right now.

The banking sector spent the past 5 years lending non sophisticated people 55 trillion dollars. People who don't fully understand the risks of borrowing let alone them knowing if they have the capacity to fund the cost of borrowing money.

It's a perfect example of the greedy few who have the advantage of education, who are well informed taking advantage of the vulnerable, less educated and ill informed.

Most of the people borrowing this money know a fraction of what their lenders do in terms of global financial / interest markets. Most of them went into these loans blindly, conditioned to think that borrowing money they cannot afford is a good thing.

In your example you nominate the banking sector. In your argument you point out a need to evaluate your own market place and of knowing your competitors demand and price sensitivity. If only the banks did so with honest and transparent community based validations??

If you give customers a voice and you listen to them it serves as a measured way to validate your business plans / efforts. I rest my case by pointing out the global banking sector that you have used in your argument just wrote off 55 trillion dollars in unpaid loans because their customers were not given an educated voice from which the banks could validate their actions.

Your argument confuses the need for knowledge by the company versus knowledge for the customer.

First of all, no bank - or any company for that matter - is going to spend an inordinate amount of time, energy or money explaining the nuances of banking or their specific industry areas to any customers or constituents. William Buffet doesn't do that and certainly Google doesn't either. These companies study the market and determine what they think it needs and what will sell. That's it. They accomplish this research by any number of means. To seek community based validation is usually self serving.

Customers for the most part could care less about bank regulations, rules or certainly, the nuances of banking. All they care about is receiving their mortgage and loans.

Let's take this one step further. You have done an absolutely outstanding job of organizing Social Traffic. You've put together some informative and wonderful instructional videos and pursuaded a lot of people to make numerous comments. Have you look carefully at most of the comments? What is the percentage that are merely "I didn't know this" or "Thank you for pointing this out to me"? It's rather high. Can you realistically say that these responses are honest and transparent community based validations?

The global banking sector is attempting to write off trillions of dollars in bad loans and debt not because of uneducated customers but because of their greed.

Bruce, my understanding is this: I live and play in the paintball world, in fact, a very specific niche called scenario paintball. Now I realize that it can't translate to all markets, but in this case, Simon's comments hold absolutely true. In our case, we not only have a blog and a forum where we elicit comments, concerns, complaints, and compliments, we also invite our participants to engage in creating a video of their testimonials and then right after offer them to comment on any suggestions they have for improvement and then address them personally or in forum. By engaging in this type of open and transparent "community based validation" we have created a loyal and growing following. We DO spend an inordinate amount of time energy and money explaining the nuances of scenario paintball--it's what grows our business.

With that said, I am aware that this model might not translate to all businesses, but it does to mine and that is why I am here--to take our business to the next level using social marketing as our medium because what Simon and Social Traffic teaches is already aligned with how we do business to begin with.

If what he has to teach is not aligned with where you are, the internet is a big place and I have full confidence that you will easily find what you are looking for.

For both of you, regarding the banking industry...while this is really completely off-topic from the blog article, I would like to point out that while the banks were greedy, most of the people who took those loans were ignorant. I realize those are harsh words, but people forget that most of those that took out those loans where making the biggest purchase of their lives (or at least one of the biggest purchases). Why is it that no one seems to be taking responsibility for the fact that they did not educate themselves before making such a big purchase?

Before I incite a flurry of backlash for speaking against the status quo, please know that I am aware that there are always exceptions, but keep in mind: I rent my home because I educated myself and realized that buying house was not the smartest choice given the market conditions--and now I have to pay for all of those that did not take the time to educate themselves.

I cannot write a campaign that draws thousands of people into a sales funnel towards my products or services without audience validation. Although I map out campaigns months in advance the validation from audience participation is what defines the success of any campaign. If the storyline is not guided by audience participation / validation then the audience has no emotional attachment. The end result is the audience shrinks to nothing as apposed to it growing should I had responded quickly enough.

I am not writing to an audience who I expect will know a great deal about what I have to say. If I did, I would not sell anything. I would spend all day debating other peoples opinions. No money in that? This is the information trade Bruce. I am here to build an audience who are learn as they follow my campaign. If other people see them enjoying value it's reason for them to join the conversation too.

Customer / prospect validation not only determines my campaign direction but my ability to read it determine it's success. Remember, I am in the business of making money from information I have to offer. Prospects need validation this information is valuable before they will buy it.

Customer validation is my barometer that the information I am giving away is pertinent and valuable. The social proof enjoyed through customer validation determines how many prospects invest into it.

What's executed in business that isn't self serving the organization executing it?

The collective wisdom of a community is probably like democracy - messy and imperfect but better than the alternatives. For example, half-baked negative comments in an online community could easily do unwarranted harm to a merchant's business. On the other hand, a wise merchant would join the conversation to not only set the record straight but to build relationships with prospective customers. Interesting times ahead.

I agree, web 2.0 is changing the way we do business online. Cheap, over hyped products sold by the bucketfull will be dead in the water within the next couple of years as more and more people choose to ignore email marketing campaigns and the like and become even more disillusioned with interruption marketing.

There are a two things to consider here which the online marketer may not have needed to think about before;

1. What is your product? Does it have any real Value? If it doesn't then find a new product fast.
2. Who is your market? Where are they and how do you get to them? If you don't know find out fast.

When you have a product of real value and you know who is looking for it and how to find them, you don't need to sell it, you just need to develop the right relationships with the people around you who will chose to become your customer when the time is right for them.

We still want to buy after all and the internet is our shop of choice. We just want to feel in control of the shopping experience and the point of sale.

"So, the way to deal with this information overload problem is to look for community based validations. Choose your online friends wisely." That's where "services" like google friend connect and friendfeed are coming to help, I think.

I agree wholeheartedly Simon with one small exception. To say there is too much information on the internet is like saying there is too much information in all of the libraries of the world. With the earth being populated by billions of people, each with several independent informational needs, there must be trillions of bits of information to answer everyone's questions. The trick (in my mind) is to find which section of the world's library (the internet) I am most comfortable with and have a need to be in...
By the way sir...I haven't progressed far enough in the program yet to get my ebdb signature (tag).

I have experienced this problem.. 411 overload...
Thanks for setting me straight and getting me the right info I needed for social marketing.

Tom Varga
TAV.EDBD

Hello Simon..
I agree it's in the quality not quantity. Getting to know people with a common interest. Setting the tone of the friendship with integrity and respect. Being authentic and allowing the relationship to develop naturally.
It's better to speak to one who listens than millions who don't.

Thank you for sharing Simon

Sending Smiles:)
Margie D
mdc.edbd

Great advice on how to avoid the info overload..
Thanks Simon !!!

Sian Lindemann
sl.edbd