Comments on: How are we wasting time on social media?

By: Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:36:24 +0000

Like many people reading this I'm an enthusiast for social media and networking. I've also had a couple of decades in business and latterly my career is in a higher education business school. It never ceases to suprise me how a significant number of marketing professionals fail to stop and ask what the organisational purpose of something is. The technologocal detereminists seem to assume that just because technology facilitates something it is therefore necessarily good for business. That said how the use of social media is 'conceived of' in the first place must determine its role and purpose, and the role and purpose must be specific to the operating context of the organisation. Social media is a 'para' phenomenon it paralells the tangible world it doesn't replace it or do anything necessarily 'different'. Basic questions like are we 'selling' via this medium? are we creating 'social influence' ? are we 'researching' ? are we enhancing 'relationships and service'? need to be asked at the top and not abdicated to the enthusiasms of marketing and technology functionaries alone. How its thought of is how it becomes. My recent post Gravatar-Powered Profiles

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:49:24 +0000

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By: david wells

david wells — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:38:23 +0000

Great Post Paul,

Everyone does seem to be jumping on the bandwagon. They can get enough of twitter and facebook! They want to be there but don't know why and they aren't really sure how either.

Getting into social media requires that you first take a step back a listen to where your prospective customers are interacting and then learning how to communicate within these channels without marketing speak.

Then companies can get a sense of where they need to be and start planning a strategy around how to do this. It's not all about facebook, twitter, and linkedIn. There are numerous niche social media communities and forums that are filled with people who are passionate about whatever vertical you work in.

Stay away from the shiny objects and start thinking about why you are ANYwhere in the first place.
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