One of the side benefits of businesses using social media is that it requires some maintenance by actual human beings. For every business, this presents an opportunity. Whomever is managing your company’s social media efforts could become the face of your brand or company online.
The above screen grab is of Scott Monty’s Twitter account. Scott is the head of social media engagement for Ford Motor Company. Other than CEO Allan Mullaly, Scott is the the most recognizable “face” of Ford, because that’s how Ford positioned him to be.
Corporations and brands tend to be faceless organizations: The only humans that customers interact with are the ones they meet in brick-and-mortar locations, or via customer service. Social media presents an opportunity for companies and brands to humanize themselves. It goes towards perception, trust and ultimately, comfort.
Earlier this week Kevin Rose, founder and CEO of Digg.com posted a tweet announcing the launch of his friends’ new site, fflick.com. This site was utterly new to me. I hadn’t heard any chatter, or read any analysis. Sometimes that’s the best way to come across interesting sites — on your own, without preconceptions.
The page loaded and almost immediately, I knew what it was and how potentially great it could be.
Using the tag line “Instant movie reviews from you and your friends. Is that $12 movie ticket worth it? Find out!”, fflick.com capitalizes on the fact that Twitter has become the go-to place where people give their 140-character reviews and reactions to movies they just saw, plan on seeing or just have a general opinion about.
Now that businesses are taking notice of social media and using it to engage with customers, there exists a need to look forward and understand what the next level looks like. The above image is taken from the 1991 book “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey A. Moore.
In a fascinating blog post, Axel Schultze, CEO of Xeesm, founder of the Social Media Academy writes in CustomerThink that social business is about to cross “The Chasm” as illustrated above:
When writing a social media strategy, the main focus is often on Twitter, Facebook and a blog. For the widest reach, it’s a good idea to focus a large amount of your time and resources there.
But those are not the only platforms that you should plan for. There are may other second-tier, niche social platforms that are worth considering when devising a social media strategy, whether for your agency or for a client. I recently wrote about one, called Take Me Fishing, meant for outdoors and fishing enthusiasts.
Here are a few more that are worth considering:
For some companies, the rise of social media has brought with it some hard truths, namely that their brand or company risks being left behind because it doesn’t lend itself well to traditional commercial uses of social media.
There is a hint of truth to that — not every brand has social built into their DNA. But with a little help, most unsocial brands can be made at least a little social by using targeted strategies.
The key is not to take a defeatist attitude. Just because it isn’t obvious, does not mean it’s impossible. Check out what your competitors are doing in social media, if they are using it, and determine how to make something work.
