The power of social media in one word is synergy. Creating new, greater value, from the sum of shared information value. (@alook_t) or in other words: it's leveraging the crowd to create something that wouldn't have been created by a single person or company (@PolkGulchHaiku)
By now, a large number of online marketers get what social media is about, but it’s still hard to provide a quick explanation of the power of social media to other people.
Last week, I sent out two tweets asking ”How do you explain Social Media and its power in 140 characters or less?” Some of the responses I received were:
- “social media is defined as "20 minutes into the future..." @ct1904
- “by restricting ourselves to 140 words we have actually time to reach out and meet many more people “@SmartDataCo
- “it's all about the conversation and speaking WITH not AT people” @PolkGulchHaiku
- “A fun way of globally connecting people and ideas” @carolw
In a recent survey I conducted with my Marketing Research project team at the University of Berkeley, we asked “what is the best definition for social media”. 61% of the respondents said Social Media is a two-way communication approach aimed at sharing information and creating discussion.
I asked “How do you describe social media power in one word?”
- “1 word is tricky: I keep thinking of compounds such as groupthink, crowdsourcing, ideavector”@hacool
- “Social Media in one word: Conversation” @PolkGulchHaiku
- “its like a KILLER…what i mean is highly effective / powerful / severe .... to bring up our thoughts, share”@saravananr
Synergy for businesses and their communities
This is what we like to call a “win win” situation. Every individual has their own set of needs and information. When forming into a group, individuals contribute to each other’s knowledge and build an even greater knowledge base.
Communities then gain enough power to challenge existing business services, products or policies. So the group has more knowledge and more power together than that of the sum of all individuals. Consequently, businesses have much more information and insights with the community, than they have without it. Finally, groups have more resources and influence with the business, than without it.
The power of social media for businesses and their communities in one word is synergy. Creating new, greater value, that was not there before.
From a business standpoint, I'd also say that social media helps us meet our customers in their own space. For years we've been working on tactics to drive visitors to our sites, but I think marketers are learning that we can't make everyone come to us. Sometimes we need to go to them.
ReplyDeleteBy monitoring social media we can see where the conversations about our products/services/brands are happening and join the discussion where it's already happening.
Awhile back I asked a question on Twitter about a problem I was having with Firefox. Soon after I got a response - from @firefox_answers who I wasn't even following. I knew I'd get a useful answer from the crowd, but the fact that it came from the organization itself, who was monitoring discussions of it's product, was helpful. 1) I knew the information would be accurate. 2)Such pro-active customer service is impressive. It really shows a commitment to their customers.
I thought this was a great example of the synergy you describe. Whether we're using Twitter or Facebook to get answers/share ideas with the crowd, or getting direct feedback from a business, social media helps us leverage the knowledge of one another instead of just trying to find answers via search.
Thank you. I think firefox response to you is amazing (Im going to follow them now :).
ReplyDeleteI agree, companies today must really listen to the customers if they want to keep improving their business and stay on top of the game. Social Media is a great place to listen at.
totally agree with u that it can get tough explaning social media to people.. and thnx for putting up this blog so i can simply send it there way now.. lol
ReplyDeleteAnyways.. for me its been a paradigm Shift.. i somehow bumped into Social Traffic INC on facebook 4 months back.. i went from a novice to pro soon.. understood that its not about quantity.. but rather quality.. Crdibility based marketing.. Conversation Marketing..
totally enjoying the ride now.. Now i have a mission in life.. spread social media to everyone asap..
Cheers and Regards
Owais Iqbal
Thanks Owais! Yes I agree its hard to explain social media to others. Moreover, even some marketers dont get that the real power of it is learning from others.
ReplyDeleteGood to meet you in the social media cloud.
- Hadara