I keep seeing articles prognosticating the “death” or waning of Social Media… puhleeeeease! The problem lies in us calling it “Social Media” instead of recognizing it as an evolution in communication and relationships. We are only scratching the surface here of the potential! And even if your audience does abandon a platform “en masse”… so what? And even if some tire of their usage, they will find themselves either coming back or finding a new place to communicate, share, engage, and interact. Scalable social platforms are not going away, migrations will happen — they always do eventually — but if it is not Facebook or Twitter it will be somewhere else you can still reach out, engage your audience, and interact with them.
So we need to keep in mind that, going forward, long-term brand success will not be dependent on a specific social media tool; it will be relative to the depth and breadth of the relationships built using the tools available and where the people find themselves communing. Building relationships and interacting with consumers is where the commerce of the future is heading. Yes, real relationships = brand interest & loyalty = success (money).
Remember, though, that social media is a facilitator of relationships, but it is not the relationship itself. Whatever way you choose to communicate, share and engage… it “is” social.
Once you find what works for your audience, drive a truck through that opening. It’s not enough to drive that truck through and keep on going. You need to park that truck, and get out to interact with your audience. “Listen” to your market and you will be able to relate to and engage your customers, evolving with them as they evolve and change. Remember… relationships are never static, so your brand must be able to move along with the relationship or be left behind.
Bottom line: the more responsive you are to your audience, the more responsive they will be to you wherever that engagement is taking place. Don’t wait for them to make the first move.
Stand out by “Liking” them before they “Like” you and Look them in the Eye Digitally.
Great post Ted! I love engaging and networking with people. You are so right in saying that we have just scratched the surface. I like to refer to “social media” as more of a “social community”.
As usual, I couldn’t agree with you more, Ted. The death of Social Media? Gimme a break. It will change, some platforms will come and some will go, but for many of us it’s as much a part of our lives as is/was the telephone and television both of which our esteemed president quoted recently (inaccurately) were once thought to be passing fads.
Whether Social Media is the right term or not will be determined, but the Internet and its various communication tools are HERE TO SAY and I thank G*d for the blessings they’ve brought into my life!
OH, you mean I have to listen to may audience and not just promote my brand? Glad you cleared that up for me Ted! :0
I told you Social Media wasn’t dead! 🙂
Absolutely, Ted. It is an evolution and we need to stop separating it out. Three or four years ago, it still made sense, but it’s long since stopped being an appropriate way of talking about it.
Completely. Just a few years ago, we’d be considering Myspace to be the forefront of social media. Another few years from now, Facebook will be just another memory. We just need to continue to adjust with the times.
Great post -as usual. It’s true that new platforms will come and some will go. One day the “experts” that are saying that social media is dying will say that “it’s coming back.” yeah… ok. just like the jeans from the 80s in the closet… they never really went away.
relationships, relationships, relationships. Regardless of what ‘social’ medium we use to interact with our ‘friends’ if we’ve nurtured the relationship over time, it will still be there.