If you are a sports person familiar with the difference of a shotgun and a rifle then this blog will make a lot of sense to you.  If you are not one who knows their difference then stay tuned, you will learn why using a Social Media Shotgun is better than using a rifle.

In my training of Social Media I refer to my Wheel of Influence.  Now I have the Social Media Shotgun.

Social Media Shotgun

In this failed economy each business is battling staunch competition in their markets.  Long range marketing campaigns developed for product launches years from today to a market that is over the horizon just are not practical anymore.  Today’s economy has produce a gorilla form of battle of the competition and is based on who can hit the market quick and fast.

The cost of advertising and marketing has also gotten out of reach for the majority of small businesses forcing them to do their own social media.  This is creating a large force of business owners forced into battle their competition themselves.  Some of these business people are not the most skillful in their marketing so they look for a weapon that can be easily used, hit their target market with enough impact to make a difference and hit it NOW!

Thus, the Social Media Shotgun is how I describe the social media weapon businesses need to use to combat the competition.

OK, metaphorically the different between a shotgun and rifle in Social Media is:

A Rifle is generally a very accurate high powered weapon that delivers a single projectile or bullet, to a specific target over a great distance at a rapid rate of speed.  A rifle is a Single Shot weapon with only a single barrel.

The accuracy of the delivery of the projectile, or bullet, to the target improves with the length of the barrel. The longer the barrel means the bullet will travel in a truer line straighter to the target.  The only variance to in its direction once fired the rifle from the rifle is the wind.

The impact of a rifle can be very effective if the person shooting the rifle is very skillful marksman.  The usefulness of the rifle is based on how well it is aimed.  If it is off a fraction the bullet could miss the target.

A rifle method of social media would be a marketing campaign that incorporates only one form of social networking.  That places the entire social media strategy at risk to a miss.

Usually a skillful marketing campaign that is designed to use a Rifle method of Social Media to get to a specific market is very expensive due to the skill level the person, or company, has to have to deliver the product or service to a distant targeted market accurately and quickly.  Unless the person is very skillful this method of marketing a product can be very risky.  Yet, many companies will only use one form of social networking in an effort to control their shot to the target.  This is why Rifle Social Media is not used very often and is not recommended.

A Shotgun is a weapon of varying power that can deliver either a very large projectile, or slug, or a varying number of very small projectiles, or shot, to a specific or multiple targets at a lesser distance with reduced speed compared to a rifle. Depending on the projectile used the shotgun produces greater knockdown power than the rifle. 

When the larger number of shots are fired from a shotgun the individual projectiles are delivered with the same knockdown impact as a single slug but spread over a greater area insuring that several of the shots will hit the target even if the aim towards the target was off.

The shorter the barrel the greater the spread of the shot thus the wider coverage of the target is hit.

Since the target for a shotgun is at closer range the wind usually will not deviate the accuracy of the shot to its target.

A shotgun can be a single barrel or a multiple barrel weapon that can be fired separately or together.  The multiple barrel shot requires greater strength from the shooter but provides a much larger coverage of the target with double the knockdown power.

If there were several targets near each other the shorter barrel shotgun with the large number of shot would cover both or several targets.

The skill level needed for using a Shotgun is lower.

The Shotgun method of social media would be a marketing campaign for a product or service that needs to combat competition immediately and if the market is widespread.  Each projectile would represent a different form of social networking.  The social networking that hits the targets directly would produce the return while those methods of social networking that missed the targets could hit another target or a related target that over time also would produce a return.  The use of multiple social networking platforms validates the product or service more completely.

In a market campaign catered to small business, or an entrepreneurial effort, where the target markets are many, the Shotgun style of social media would become the weapon of choice.  Since the Shotgun method of social media does not require high levels of skillful targeting or shooting, it is also would be the weapon most small business people who use self administered marketing would use.

Both the Rifle and Shotgun methods of social media produce an impact and can battle the competition equally.  The main difference is in the accuracy, the distance and the projectiles used.

The Shotgun Method of Social Media is the method most business choose by joining large numbers of social networking groups.  This method can work if the efforts in all social networks, or channels of influence, are focused in one direction.  A Shotgun and a Rifle only fire in one direction..it should be the same way in your social networking efforts.

Which weapon suits your needs?  Yaw, the Shotgun sounds like more fun…it does work.  Let me know how I can help.