Web & Social

The Soul of Social Media and Business

“You’ve got to be very cognizant of the correlation between social media links and business because they don’t always correlate as highly as people would like.”

— Mark Cuban

When the World Wide Web debuted, opening up the Internet to marketers, there was a sense of euphoria. Back then, marketing one-to-one, directly to consumers, was a pipe dream. However, the technology of the Internet made it possible, and many marketing executives thought it would open up new markets and allow them to target individuals in ways never before thought possible. They thought it would be a bonanza.

Yeah, well, not so much.

Marketers discovered that the Internet is the ultimate expression of anarchy — people saying and doing what they wanted without censorship. Meanwhile, the practice of marketing was about corralling all those people and motivating them to buy stuff. Internet users soundly rejected those early attempts at Internet marketing.

The same phenomenon happened when Social Media was born. Marketers again thought that it opened the door to marketing directly to consumers with no middlemen. They believed that MySpace, followed by Facebook and Twitter, would allow them to put their marketing messages in front of consumers more directly.

And again, not so much. The disconnect lies within the soul of social media, which is the ultimate expression of an individual’s personal freedom. Users control their feeds — not corporations — and marketers should not be so blind as to ignore the truth of social media. It was not created for marketers to sell their wares. It was created for the purpose of people sharing their lives, connecting with friends and finding others with common values and goals. It was not created so we could sell more stuff.

But that doesn’t mean marketers are locked out of social media successes. It simply means we have to be smart enough to realize that using social media as a marketing tool is essentially cheating — usurping a social tool for a commercial purpose. The key to getting people’s attention online is to craft a social media marketing presence that is consistent with the experience desired by its users.

According to Edison Research, only 33 percent of Americans have ever followed a brand in social media. That means roughly two-thirds of Americans using social networks have never followed a brand.

However, news plays a huge role in the lives of social media users. According to the Pew Institute for Media Research, many Americans use social media as a primary news source.

News Consumption Varies Widely Across Social Networking Sites

So, if marketers were to alter their methods to produce content that is informative, entertaining and presented as articles instead of advertisements, users will respond to it and consume it the same way they consume news and information from other sources. We are experts at crafting this content, and can show you how to proliferate it across multiple platforms.

Call us today to find out how we can turn your social media marketing into content that will drive interest, eyeballs and sales.