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There's An "I" In Social Media, But...
May 24, 2011
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Sammy Simpson believes the "I's" have it.
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"I want you to"... is a common theme for just about every person and every brand today.
Social media pages, advertising and so on is littered with some form of this expression:
"I want you to like me on Facebook."
"I want you to re-tweet my message."
"I want you to design my advertising."
"I want you to follow me on Twitter."
"I want you to share this (link/picture/story/etc) with your friends."
"I want you to check-in at my location."
However, the "I" in social media continues to get confused with old rules and outdated thinking.
Most companies are still approaching the "ask" from their point of view by thinking, "if I ask people to do something and put it in enough places, they'll simply do it."
This approach couldn't be more wrong.
Just last week, Abode UK tweeted this thought from Brian Solis, a prominent thought leader in new media.
The 5 I's of social marketing: intelligence, insight, ideation, interaction and influence. @briansolis
It sent me on a search for Brian Solis, where I discovered this great blog he wrote titled, "Why I don't like you."
As you'll discover, he did an experiment where he vowed to "Like" every brand that asked him to for one week.
What Brian uncovered was, "For an industry that focuses endlessly on providing consumers with "benefits" and "reasons to believe," there was a lot of marketing asking people to take an action -- without telling them what they stood to gain from it."
In fact, only 1 of the 16 brands provided an incentive!
It reminded me of launching e-mail database programs in the mid-to-late '90s when you could simply ask people to "sign up" and that was enough (it was cool to be getting e-mails then) ... but that was 12 to 15 years ago!
Today, the "I want you to approach" immediately triggers a response of "I want to know why?"
So all of us have to go beyond covering what's on the surface of these requests and add some real depth to the strategy.
The "I" in social media has to be about them and it has to tell a story from the "I" in their point of view.
"I can become more intelligent."
"I am an insider."
"I like to ignite my imagination."
"I will not be ignored."
"I get instant gratification."
"I become inspired."
You get the idea.
There is also five additional "I's of social marketing" that Brian failed to mention and I will be happy to send them to you.
Just ping me at sammy@eventr.net and start to improve your social influence immediately.
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