I have never seen so many people in the social networking space that have no interest in being social. What I have found from the few I have been able to corner is they obviously are not fully clear on what social media is or understanding how social media works. So what is it going to take to get these people they are going to have to be social?
I Don’t Have Time
Over the past few years I have been reaching out to large numbers of these lost souls of the internet who see social networking as a form of Billboard Advertising. A few of them will respond but on the most part 85% of the people who just post a few links a day to the social spaces and provide no insight into why they expect someone to read the content have cut off any notification of them getting any responses to their post. This means they never see ..and probably don’t care to see..my nor your comment to their posts.
However there are a few who will eventually get around to seeing the comments which comes only from their near daily efforts to change their profile photos from the picture of their cat to a graphic of their business logo. Out of those who do respond around 90% will remark with some classic snipes ranging from telling me to mind my own business to the even more classic response..I don’t have the time to comment to the thousands of posts I make a week.
Fortunately, around 10% do respond to me by questioning me on why I feel they are not being social. From these misguided souls efforts to explain the reasons they do what they do I find most are doing what they do because some digital strategy group or PR firm..or Marketing conglomerate has provided them with thousands of 8 1/2 x 11 full color graphics filled with indexes and data showing the most productive way to gather large followings to their Facebook Page, Twitter account and..the list goes on.. They are further advised of their need to focus only in placing large volumes of content in the form of links to other articles into the stream several times a day. Those report also show all kinds of data on how responding to comments adds no value to their goal of making enough money to buy Facebook.
All About Me
I have spoken previously on the What’s in it for me personalities who fill the social space with worthless content in hopes it leads to greater exposure to what they do for a living. To them the internet as a whole has to be changed to it being all about them. Unfortunately, many of the sheep of the internet will never understand social media and see the opportunities they are missing to becoming more productive in the long haul. Eventually these people who use the Arms Length Marketing Plans will be ignored which will just fan their fire to produce even more lame content.
Gotta Get Social
So what is it going to take to get these businesses and the businesses who consult businesses to understand that with the launch of Google’s social space, Google Plus, the beginning of Social Search began and the age of spamming by the All About Me deviants finally ended. As more and more 8 1/2 x 11 full color graphics of data invalidate the reports that being unsocial is the path to take to prosperity online the more ridiculous those who see the social spaces as a billboard will continually look.
The fog is finally lifting on how social networking and internet marketing can effectively be used. The the question so many chieftains of business demand be answered on Where’s the ROI?… can now be answered without hesitation. The ROI is in the level of Social you allow you business to be.
Google Leads the Way
It is All About Social now and thank goodness Google has broken the ineffective models of social marketing so many have struggled to make work..and then attempt to try to convince themselves and others it was working. Now as the sun starts to shine on the path of social search hopefully more businesses will understand the importance of responding to their social spaces and start to be more socially proactive by reaching out to others to socialize their business needs.
I now am finding it rather refreshing to know that what I felt was wrong five years ago is now starting to be proven was wrong and what I was beaten down by so many in ridicule in my thinking then is now being confirmed by Google. Every minute of each day Google+ proves consumers are demanding trust from the businesses they do commerce.
Consumers who use Google+ are finding it exciting their comments on a business are now showcased on the first page of Google’s Search Engine. Their comments are also playing a huge part in influencing billons of shoppers on what is good or not good to buy..who is trustworthy and who is not.
Game Change
The game has finally changed. The move millions made to build a house of cards out of ten’s of thousands of strangers on Facebook is starting to tumble to the ground. The feeling of shouting from the rooftop to what looked like millions of people on Twitter is effective marketing is now being proven it is falling on the deaf ears of people who have been beaten down by years of spam.
The play to effective social networking on either a personal level or for professionally driven motive is thru being social.
So what is it going to take for you to be social?
Let me know how I can help!
Terence Burns says
WOW! Now that is the absolute truth what you have written here. I’m still in the learning process having completed 2 online courses that I still share with others today. It seems like many others are just spamming others to make a quick sale or get a prospect. Thanks for sharing Mr Scot Duke!
Terence
Scot Duke says
Thanks Terence. I would hope that more people will just take a moment and think how illogical it is to post content in a social space and not be responsive to what it produces socially. Glad to see the house of cards many of the social networks have built with encouraging people to gather millions of strangers just to appear popular. It is getting back to word of mouth marketing.