In his recent blog, Marketing and How Social Software Aligns, Chris Brogan argues that it’s one thing to understand the tools of social media, but that it’s more important to understand the concepts behind social media and its tools. He offers this partial list:
- From bullhorn to phone – Your message is no longer to be shouted, but to be socialized.
- From exclusion to “one of us†– Your customers (b2b or otherwise) want to be included in the whole experience, not just to buy.
- From campaign to community – You’re in it for the long haul. Build awareness, reputation, and trust by being there.
- From millions, to the right 10,000 – Mass never worked well. It just did well enough. Find relationships that yield.
- From theater on the stage to theater in the round – Marketing is human again. Don’t stay “on message.†Stay connected to people.
If you know me, you’ll know that there is one word that I always use to sum this up: community.
Marketing today is built on relationships. This isn’t new. We just lost site of it for a few decades. Social media brings us back to the days when we shopped and conducted all of our business within our own community. But now the community is just larger, and digital. But it is still very real. And there is an incredible amount of power when your real life local community intersects with your online community.
I especially like the part where Brogan says “Don’t stay ‘on message.’ Stay connected to people.” This is a key concept of the book Trust Agents that he co-wrote with Julien Smith.
As marketers in a social media world, we need to build relationships and community. Our message, no matter how good it is, is worthless unless we have the trust of those around us. Trust is contingent on relationships. Relationships are the building blocks of community.
If you haven’t read Trust Agents yet, go out and get a copy. I’m almost through it and will be reviewing it in the near future. A good read with great ideas.
