Are you getting invitations to a new social network every week? Are you reading Techcrunch and Mashable and freaking out about all the new social technologies that you need to master?
Ignore all of it. It doesn’t matter.
Do not run off chasing the next shiny object — and don’t let your boss or agency convince you that you’re desperately missing something.
Your job is not to pioneer the next hot technology. You job is not to bring your customers into some new platform. Your job is to sell stuff.
The correct social network for your company is where your prospects and customers are.
You don’t want to be a leader. You don’t even want to be a fast follower. Wait until your fans and customers start talking about you somewhere, then follow them into that community.
Share This Post
Thanks for the word of mouth! Your message has been sent!
Please enter a valid email.
Your email failed. Try again later.
PepsiCo: Recruiting talent with social media
Radian6: An exclusive chat with CEO Marcel LeBrun
BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 5 comments }
HAHA – I couldn’t agree more Andy.
I love it when I see people either joining or “pushing” others to join some ponzi scheme looking platform. The same holds true for this: don’t try and build your own social network (eh-hem – businessweek http://bit.ly/YLM9k and so many others… #FAIL).
You can’t build a community – they already exist — your efforts should be focused on tapping into the ones that are relevant for your business!
Entering the NBT as your brand or business, you should definitely wait until your community is there. However, ignoring it entirely? I don’t know. Devoting a little bit of time to research is never a bad thing, especially when you can watch it from the ground up (or down, in most cases).
I couldn’t agree more with Nathan – if the community already exists, why build your own?! I have only heard a handful of cases in which it made sense for a company to build its own social network.
I’ve been telling my customers this all along. It’s great to have a presence if you like the place, but if it’s for business reasons, someone or something of potential value should be there. Of course, you then need a strategy to attract and convert them, but that’s another story.
I agree that “The correct social network for your company is where your prospects and customers are.”
But as someone who works with customers to find the right communities & platforms, I owe it to them to join as many as possible so I know what’s out there. Many, perhaps even most, will fizzle out, but a few good ones will make it, and I’ll understand them enough to recommend them one way or another.
Comments on this entry are closed.