The team at Overdrive Interactive put together a new Social Media Map for Social Media Marketing. This map provides a great overview of many of the key web properties in the social media landscape today. They did a nice job in pulling this resource together, but I do take issue with the subtitle that ultimately serves as the premise for the map: "The Stuff We Think You Should Care About."
The issue is, you need not care about every social media site under the sun. Many of these sites are popular, but not all the sites will be important to your business. Nor, will these sites always be the best avenue to connect with your customers.
If you really cared about all these social media sites, you would never have time to focus on reaching your customers - and if you tried to use all of these sites - no matter how big your internal team or agency is - you will not succeed in forming true relationships. Let's look at it this way:
Let's say, you had a list of all the parties that are happening in Orange County this weekend. You are invited to attend each of these events, but there is no possible way you can attend them all, and you wouldn't want to. Just as you are faced with the decision on which party you will attend, so are the other guests. So, you -and them, want to go to the parties that are going to bring you the most value. Likely, this where your friends (existing customers) or the people you would like to be friends with (prospective customers) are going to be. So, you pick your parties, get dressed and head out. You arrive and secure your key spot at the party, maybe it is a primo table, the center of the dance floor or a seat at the bar - wherever you think the best spot is to engage with others. Then you welcome the conversation with the other party guests. You will look to talk with your existing friends, and hope to connect with new friends. You will probably exchange a few business cards or phone numbers in an effort to continue your conversations / relationships beyond the party. Congrats, you are an Orange County social media success!
The same goes for social media - you can't, nor should you care about every social media site. What you should care about, are the social media destinations in which your customers and prospective customers are spending their time. They, like you, are not on every one of these sites. They, like you, benefit from spending their time using the social media sites and tools that will bring them the biggest benefit. Your task is to identify which of the sites are bringing your customers and prospects the greatest benefit and establish your presence in the same places.
I can almost guarantee, that most businesses who look at this map - are instantly overwhelmed, if not skeptical about the promise these social media site can offer to grow a business. It is very easy to blow the social media opportunities out of proportion. However, it should also be easy to understand, that social media is something you should care about. There are so many social media sites, because there are so many people using these sites. A business, your business, cannot afford to sit on the sidelines - or merely just set up a profile on Facebook. You need to make social media an important channel in your marketing mix.
Confused about social media? MarketingOC Studios and Brian Fluhr can help.
