The purpose of social media is to increase your level of engagement with your audience. It’s to move people from some state of general unawareness to another state of admiration, loyalty and advocacy.
You do this so you can achieve some higher level business goal. Such as selling goods, hiring staff, increasing student enrollment, building goodwill etc.
But before you can achieve that goal you need to remember that the first step in social media (I would argue anywhere) is getting people to like you.
Rock stars and politicians understand this.
A politician without a following is just a guy standing alone at the podium talking. A rockstar without fans is just singing to an empty stadium.
It’s a popularity contest. And, the one who has the most engaged friends/fans/followers wins.
Notice I said engaged fans.
A politician with many followers doesn’t matter if the followers don’t vote. A rock star who has fans that won’t pay for mp3s or go to concerts can’t make a living.
So, if you need a check on whether your social media plans are on the right track I would offer these two questions (the answers will guide your actions):
1. Will my actions make people like me? If not, I would reconsider your plans/posts/tweets etc
2. Will my actions make the people who already like me, like me more?
What are your thoughts? Do you agree/disagree? What is the key to getting people to like you?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I think both #1 and #2 are useless questions. You can't predict or control the actions of others. You have to develop a strong vision about who you are and where you are going. The answers from those questions will guide your actions with a lot more truth and responsibility.
The point of my post was to highlight that it is important for social media practitioners (actually, all marketers in general) to focus on 'adding value' to their friends/fans/followers/readers/listeners/voters etc. And the questions serve as a filter to ensure you are continuously adding value.
I agree that it's important to have a strong vision of who you are and where you are going. And, certainly if people agree with that vision they may choose to come along for the ride so to speak.
Christina, Thanks for the comment!
I almost forgot, I don't think it's about predicting or controlling the actions of others. That sounds really evil. Rather, I think it's about helping others by adding value. By doing so you build social capital (good will) and a resulting platform.
Great blog, Mike! I agree with your earlier tweet – it's not about about controlling peeps. Rather, it's more like influencing them once the relationship of trust has been established.
You also touch on a topic that can be easily overlooked in social media: metrics and evaluation. Like with any other communication strategy, social media measurement should be determined first before execution and interpretation of results.
I agree, it's important not to lose sight of the fact that it's about achieving some outcome. Not, just activity for the sake of activity.
Interesting post, Mike.
I somewhat disagree that the first step in social media is to get people to like you. I would argue that the first step is to get people interested. Perhaps this is a matter of semantics, and we're talking about the same thing. Some of the most successful celebrities and high-profile business people are also some of the most hated. Like them or not, we're interested.
Actually, if I am to be completely honest, I really think that the first step is to get people to be aware of you. Before I can get people interested or have them form an opinion of me, they first have to know that I even exist.
However, I absolutely agree that it is crucial not only to measure your social media efforts, but first to have a clear objective, that is measurable from the beginning.
Awareness and interest are definitely important. And you are right they are higher order objectives. This applies in both on and offline media. But, I think you build advocacy simultaneously while building awareness/generating interest.
Every action, whether you are generating awareness etc has the ability to influence your audience's affinity toward you.
However, I'm not sure that hated celebrities or business people do well in the social media space. It would seem they wouldn't be received very warmly. Do you have any examples of a celeb who does well in social media who is truly hated?