Using Social Media to Guide Social Media

Option 3: Steal Borrow Ideas

It often amazes me how little time many CMOs, communications managers, and social media strategists spend on social media. It’s as if pushing forward with ideas takes up so much time that they (we) can’t take the time to see what’s working for others.

Every day, original ideas have a chance of popping up. These chances go up 100-fold when you actually start using social media to do your research. You can ask gurus, read blog posts, download white papers, and none of it will have as dramatic of an effect as simply going to the sites and checking on others.

Is It All Worth It?

If done right, the answer is a resounding “YES!”

Option 4, which is to do a combination of the three previous options, works best for most.

One thing is of the utmost importance here: human nature. When people who like your page express an opinion and help to guide your business or your social media presence, they are empowered. When they see that your actions were affected by the opinions of the crowd, they know that you listen (even if it wasn’t their idea that you ended up using).

While we are big fans of not spending too much time on social media, it’s important to spend the right amount of time. If you are expressive on your pages with content that is relevant and interesting to your fans/followers, you will have the best opportunity to have breakthroughs. You’ll be opened to creative or innovative approaches and be able to start molding your pages’ personalities to fit their audience.

Social media is often used more as a broadcasting tool and less as a listening tool. Sure, many companies are monitoring their names for mentions in social media and they’re probably looking for a return on investment through reporting and metrics, but very few are truly listening.

Those who take the time to listen and learn will have a leg-up on their competition.

* * *

Read more on this Social Media Blog.

Pages: 1 2