I am asked frequently why I do what I do in the social networks. I take this question to mean why I am online so much and having conversations with people. I know to many business people who are sold on old methods of marketing may find it strange to see another business person online a few hours each day carrying on with people in social conversations. To me..It’s All About Social..and here is why.
If you were to ask everyone in your social space why they are online doing what they are doing they will all give you a different grouping of words that once all boiled down mean they are here to gain exposure to who they are, what they do or to something they are interested in sharing. How they go about doing this is where the rub begins on what is working and what is not. What is NOT working is being in the social space and not being social.
Over the past 8 years I have tried everything and been everyone in an attempt to prove to others what works and what does not as far as gaining exposure to to anything online. What I have found to work the most effectively and affordably breaks down to being Social. For many who are normally not social..for whatever reason..this fact is hard for them to swallow so they disavowal it as being ineffective for a large number of reasons they feel are important.
Corporate Koolaide
I hear all of the time that being social does not work for large businesses or for corporations. In some cases I have to agree with them since many of them do not know how to be social or don’t want to be social. Large businesses also see being social as too risky or too expensive. As I have proven a few times, the businesses who say this usually have something bad to hide in their business. Being social for them could expose their problem.
However, used correctly, being social online has some huge benefits. For the small business being social online is a must and needs to be done frequently. For the large businesses they naturally have to have a spokesperson or two to represent them daily in the social space. The reward for being social is loyalty and trust. Consumers today are the most leery they have ever been and now that they have the power of Social Search (able to search the search engines for reviews on people, places and things). They also have control of most of the economy.
Bottomline:
If a business is not in an online social space that benefits their rankings in the search engines they will soon find their lack of conducting effective social networking as being a negative. Providing content on the who, what and where of a business so it can be found easily is why It Is All About Social.
