Mental Floss » social marketing http://navinharish.org/mentalfloss ALl of this and some of that Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:10:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 What do you prefer, a one night stand or a long term relationship? http://navinharish.org/mentalfloss/2010/02/what-do-you-prefer-a-one-night-stand-or-a-long-term-relationship/ http://navinharish.org/mentalfloss/2010/02/what-do-you-prefer-a-one-night-stand-or-a-long-term-relationship/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:20:17 +0000 Navin Harish http://navinharish.org/mentalfloss/?p=34 What do you prefer, a one night stand or a long term relationship? In the 90s people believed that you get an idea, you take it to a Venture Capitalist, get funding and start an online enterprise and then somehow the money would just shower. This assumption proved to be wrong for most people. For [...]]]> What do you prefer, a one night stand or a long term relationship?
In the 90s people believed that you get an idea, you take it to a Venture Capitalist, get funding and start an online enterprise and then somehow the money would just shower. This assumption proved to be wrong for most people. For a minority it worked, a minority that had a sound strategy and a strong revenue model. You see, to make the sales register go “kaching”, you need to put in a lot of thought.

You have to remember there is a difference between broadcasting and holding a conversation and while you are broadcasting in other media, online you have to engage people in a conversation if you want them to listen to you.

We don’t learn from our history even if the history in only 15 years old. A lot of companies have the same assumption about social media, you make a page on Facebook and a profile on Twitter and you are done. Now just wait for the entire online community talking about you. But guess what, the online community doesn’t give a fuck about you. Sorry, but that’s how it is.

This problem is made worse by professionals (though it would be wrong to call them professionals) who are interested in a one night stand. There are plenty of those around you who will offer to make a social presence for you for chicken feed. They don’t see beyond the immediate assignment.

Just like 15 years ago when you needed a revenue model for you online enterprise to succeed, you now need a communication strategy behind your social marketing effort.

Before you plunge into any social activity on the net for your company, pause and think why and how you use the social media yourself. Once you look for those answers, you will realize the chances of your twitter feed with products updates are roughly the same as a snowflake in hell. The people (not many of them anyway) are not interested in changes in the interest rates of your investment plans. However they will be interested in product neutral advise and insights.

The first requires very little effort if any but the second requires a fair amount or research and time.

You have to remember there is a difference between broadcasting and holding a conversation and while you are broadcasting in other media, online you have to engage people in a conversation if you want them to listen to you.

You are not a radio, you are a human being.

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