Social media: The new powerful branding tool. Companies are running out to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like trying to harness their influence. Some have ideas of how to use it, many don’t. I think where many marketers and brands get confused is where they think the power comes from.
Social media power lies in dependence.
This means your audience must be dependent on you/your brand/your online messaging. Is your content alluring? New? Original?
Like The Crack Of The Whip
Your content has to be smart. Sharp. Quick. It has to have the power to make us snap our heads around and click that link. There are a few things you can do that will ensure this happens:
- Provide us with valuable information
- Solve our problems (as they pertain to your brand/services/products)
- Please us with original visual elements
- Make us laugh; entertain us
- Provoke thoughts, feelings and opinions – aka: reasons for us to comment and share
- Use a CTA (call to action) with every piece of content you publish
Quality (I’m Fresh)
Clearly it’s going to take quality content to make people feel the need to keep coming back. This is why I loathe memes and quotes. While Robert Frost is a beautiful (and my favorite) poet, sharing his quote meme for the umpteenth time isn’t valuable, doesn’t solve the B2 community’s problems, isn’t genuine, and therefore cannot be considered “quality”.
Yes, funny memes and inspirational quotes might provoke those thoughts and feelings you’re looking for, but at what cost? Do you really feel that your community will become dependent on your social sites based on this level of posting? Or better yet, that they’ll convert to paying customers because you’re “funny”?
Your best bet is to use mass shared memes sparingly. Here’s a clue: Create your own, brand centric memes. If you’re a lyrical Jesse James (killing it – as SNAP touts), coin your own quotes and use those.
Bottom line, be ORIGINAL.
Copy Written Lyrics
We’ve written about plagiarism before, but it seems to be something that some people can’t get through their thick heads. I repeat:
If you didn’t write it; if it’s not a thought from your head; if you didn’t create it (as in the visual, picture or video); you need to cite your sources.
Not doing so makes you a THIEF. A stealer. A very bad, no good person. Yes, even copying and pasting is plagiarism – and you should STOP IT NOW! Yes, even going out to Google Images and finding the perfect picture for your post may be considered copyright infringement, so instead try using sites like:
It’s Getting’ Kinda Hectic
As more companies, brands and marketing and sales messages hit social media feeds the noise will become deafening. The only way you will continue to be able to harness the power of social media is to ensure your online communities depend on your messaging.
Creating that perfect mix of messaging is up to you. You’ll either work hard to figure it out, or you’ll end up using social media as watered down medium that returns no tangible results. Boo.
GO GET THE POWER!
See you in the social sphere!
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4 Comments. Leave new
Great post, Brooke. A wonderful addition to the challenge.
I’d like to highlight a certain point. While it might be “legal” to repost an entire article with a text “linkback” at the bottom of the page – that does NOT make it right. And I will continue to demand that anyone take down a copy/paste repost if they have not asked for and received my permission.
Hope you have a great weekend!
I’m not sure why any savvy and good-natured person would WANT to copy and paste an entire article, or take something that’s not theirs and try to pass it off as their own. That certainly lends to some serious character flaws in my mind.
Thanks for reading and commenting! The challenge has been lots of fun.
Great final quote “If you didn’t write it…” It’s disheartening to see the increase in plagiarism in articles and posts. Giving credit where credit is due is vital right down to the shares of FB posts from one business to another business or group.
Thanks, Nancy. I had a smaller paragraph added in, but in light of the latest SSC drama I decided to add more info and link back to the SSC article about copy and paste plagiarism. It’s gotten pretty bad.