Twenty years ago, if someone told you about this new contraption called the "world wide web" and that your business needed a website, chances are, you would have thought that person crazy and sent them packing. Today, we all know that if a business does NOT have a website, they are anything from bogus to out of touch to secretive...all recipes for disaster in creating a successful business model.
Add the term "social media" today, and you probably get the same looks. I can't tell you how many people I discuss blogging and Twitter, among others, with business owners in this area, and they are shocked that they need to add yet another layer of marketing/communications to their business model. There, in and of itself, lays many paradoxes in a successful business.
A business can create a Facebook "Fan" Page, which essentially gets followers, yet the number of followers one has doesn't necessarily mean that "quantity" is better than "quality." If you create a fan page and have a huge hoopla behind it, then neglect it, chances are your clients or "fans" will lose interest and go someplace else for their info. Same could be said for Twitter or other social media layers in promoting one's business or self.
But then comes the Catch-22 of business. I mean, at the end of day, all businesses are trying to promote ourselves and our business and what other products/services we are trying to sell. But how do you try to sound like you're not trying to do all that?
Several blogs I know and follow are guilty of the shameless self-promotion. I have a friend, as an example, whom I adore but his Twitter antics are legendary. Generally, when he publishes a blog post, everyone and their brother/cousin/uncle gets a link to it. It's legendary in that I find if I get notice that it's published, I tend to read it before he can "spam" with it. Yet, it's something I think about -- we tend to do the same things for self-promotion just to get "page views." But at the end of the day, is it really just a glorified pissing contest? "I get more page views than you do." Kind of silly, especially when we are not truly selling a product.
But then apply that to business. I am on an email distribution for a social media "university" of sorts, and I decided to sign up for a webinar. The course was scheduled for an hour and a half, and the first half hour I guess was the real "meat" of the deal. However, they blew through the first half hour, then spent the next half hour promoting what THEY could do to help you.
Granted, I didn't pay for it, it was a free webinar. So one could argue that you get what you pay for. On the flip side, they just literally came off telling us that a tool like Twitter could be used for certain things, but not for "spamming" either links to the site, or sounding like a press release. Which is exactly what they did after telling their listening audience NOT to!
No wonder so many people/business owners are reluctant to do a social media layer. They wonder what's in it for them!
It's not that I didn't take anything away from it. I mean, at the end of the day, we use social media for different purposes. This could be for education, or following our favorite actors and actresses, getting updates from our favorite media outlets, and to converse with friends and family about common interests. I often tell business people that you get what you put into Twitter, as an example. If you find that Twitter isn't useful and that you're wasting time on it, chances are...you are! But it's obviously the next layer of marketing that is essential in survival in business.
Yet, building your own buzz is a Catch-22 in social media. You have to follow several people, and make your mark by being accessible while answering and asking several questions in the field you are promoting yourselves in. Learning and staying abreast of the newest technologies. At the same time, you can't overtly "self-promote" like my friend can do. Although the people he is respected in the community take it with a grain of salt, there are others who think that self-promoting is a turn-off.
So which is it? Can it be both ways? If you're in social media for whatever reason, chances are you've hit the Catch-22 of self-promotion too. It's a pain in the ass, but a necessary evil in today's technology. Which is in and of itself, a Catch-22.
Oy.
Interesting metaphor. I find that the basics of promotion and selling are still the same; the Catch-22 you present was true in the days before the web as well. The key continues to be simple (to me): promote outwardly, not inwardly. What I mean by that is to promote what you can do for someone, not what they can buy from you. That approach can work whether you're promoting words, games, books or services. If you have something form them, they'll come back to find out more about it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that quantity in terms of FB likes and tweets is essentially meaningless and I'm still working on how to make the transition to "quality."
ReplyDeleteThere are so many networking groups out there and I'm still trying to figure out which ones are the best ones for me and my objectives. Thanks for your post and I'll be back!
Hi Michael - I think you are right, but in the world of social media, the whole self-promotion thing is more amplified than ever. I also find that the people who don't give you the "hard sell" every six seconds (like an Amway person) are the best sellers and promoters of their services if that makes any sense. I became friends with a woman after networking with her for the better part of a year. And then I started buying her product as a result. It goes in with the trust and learning about the product.
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra, I know some people who put the number of followers and "likes" as the gospel. The reality is page views is what you should concentrate on but even so that can be distorted, especially using blogspot (like we do here) which helps google searches more than it helps the bloggers at times!
ReplyDeleteI am just starting out with my blog and I can see where you are coming from with the Catch 22. I have stayed away from Twitter because I didn't want to get into that mess. Now I am reading that I should set an account up for my blog. I currently work full time so I have my hands full just trying to make regular posts to my blog. Now I also need to keep track of serveral social networks at the same time. Its enough to drive a girl batty.
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