I love Mack Collier’s “Social Media Ain’t About One-Night Stands, It’s About Relationships” post on The Viral Garden. It’s short and sweet, with a couple of good examples to underscore his point. I love it, though, because of the key point he drives home: social media is about communicating.
As many of you may notice, communication is a common theme in my posts. I love communication (studied it in school, actually), and doing it effectively is the key ingredient to business success — and doing it effectively all starts with knowing your audience and really listening to them.
A few key points from Mack’s post:
- Social media isn’t about generating buzz, it’s about connecting. It isn’t about campaigns, it’s about movements. “What to use Twitter as a way to generate buzz for your product launch? Fine. Now what’s your plan for leveraging that buzz and using Twitter as a channel to connect with your customers that are now paying attention to you?
- Social media tools are just tools. “Many companies miss the mark when it comes to implementing social media because they focus too heavily on the tools as opposed to the communication and potential relationships that are enabled by them.
Avery thank you for mentioning my post! I still think too many companies are too worried about the tools and pushing out messages. Don’t focus on the tools, focus on the connections that the tools help facilitate.
My pleasure! Thanks for writing the post! And I couldn’t agree more. Tools are just tools. Connections are what matter, so focus on what allows you to develope those connections best–which won’t be the same for every audience.