Page 295 - Social Media Marketing

The other part of the answer is a combination of issues common to any use of 273
social media: When you talk about your products and services in a marketing context
on the Social Web, there is an immediate credibility and trust issue. Compounding ■ CREATE NEW SOCIAL OBJECTS
that, if you present your program in a social context without having made a provision
for genuine social participation, the natural “multiplier effect” of the Social Web is sty-
mied. So, your social strategy needs to establish the social role of your brand, product,
or service, and it needs to provide a framework and purpose for real participation and
collaboration.

Using Social Objects in Business

Glenn Assheton-Smith offers his views—well worth reading—on the use of social objects in
business. You can follow Glenn on Twitter (@GlennAssh), and you’ll find his posts on social tech-
nology and social objects here:

http://glennas.wordpress.com/tag/social-object/

Build Around Your Own Social Object

When building a social activity around your brand or other direct aspect of your
business, the initial consideration is to think through how you will connect your audi-
ence to it. The key to a successful, branded community is ensuring that the connec-
tion between your audience and the community is very strong and easily understood
by potential participants. You thinking that your own product is talkworthy is not
enough: Your brand (or product, service, or organization) should not sit at the center
but rather should act as a facilitation or expression related to the participant experi-
ence. If you are placing your interests at the center—and in particular if you find your-
self in a conversation around “getting the creative” just right, so that it echoes your
traditional media and static online presence, take this as a warning that you are head-
ing into your social media program from a “we’ll talk, you’ll listen” perspective. In
contrast to placing participants at the center, around an activity they find meaning in,
an overly brand-centric approach rarely turns out well.

Here are the basic steps to follow:

1. Identify a talkworthy element: Select a starting point to build around, perhaps a
unique aspect of your brand, product or service, for example, and set this as the
social object.

2. Identify a social need or talking point from the perspective of your participants
that is met by or through this aspect of your chosen social object.

3. Create a connection to these participants, and reinforce their place as the “cen-
ter” of the activities that ensue.