The Internet, great disruptor that it is, has levelled the playing field when it comes to doing business. It’s brought people, together with new relationships services and products in a way that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago.
If not for the Internet, long before social media was a thought in anyone’s mind, my husband and I (London girl and Toronto boy) would never have met, let alone got married. With the Internet, everything changed.
If the Internet is disruptive, Social Media, whether it be social media marketing or social media networking is explosive. Suddenly, all bets are off. Whether it’s connection, learning, business, leisure, engaging or finding new underserved markets to serve, no longer do you need a huge corporate machine to thrive.
In fact, it’s the huge corporate machines that are finding themselves caught rather like proverbial rabbits in the social media train headlights, while nimbler, savvier – and smaller – companies embrace social media and run with it.
While many traditional companies still dismiss social media, they do so at their peril. Whether we want to accept it or not, social media has changed the landscape forever. It’s a question of Figure it out and find out how it can work for you or get run over. Figure it out. Mobile resources. Or become irrelevant. Fast.
The Big Social Media Myth
With the proliferation of all things social media marketing, social media networking, social media strategy – and all of us at varying stages of “getting it,” something else has crept into the mix. The myth of “instant.” As in:
“Get it now…” …
”Get lots and lots of (fill in the blank).
“Get 1,000’s of followers”.
“Make money overnight!”
“Get 900 followers in … time frame.
And let’s not forget the “Get Rich Quick” scam merchants, who will make you into millionaires overnight.
Perhaps because we can set up a social media networking site in less than 5 minutes, or a blog in about 3 minutes, or bookmark a blog post and get thousands of short visits in the space of an hour, we’ve forgotten one of the basic tenets of business. They haven’t disappeared with social media. Even our need for everything bite size (because we internet readers have the attention span of a gnat) –
5 quick tips for getting leads…
3 tips for building sales…
10 relationship building tips…
7 Social Media Strategy tips…
Social media success one day a week…etc has lulled us into a false sense of “instant results gratification.”
So when we set up our blogs, we expect overnight to have an eager community of readers. When we set up our social networks we instantly want people to “buy our stuff now.” When we set up a site we expect instant sales without having built some kind of relationship. We want social media to deliver leads…now – and on demand, please.
Social networking doesn’t work that way
Business is about building relationships. It always has been and it always will be. Social Media is a tool and not a magic bullet. If anything it takes things one step further – to engagement in order to build those relationships. Social media marketing requires businesses to have a whole new mindset – and THEN a whole new approach. Marketing must become more “Web 2.0.”
Networks are for engagement first, promotion down the line and selling when the trust has been built. At that point you probably don’t have to sell at all.
That means one thing… it’s going to take time. You need a long term view and a long term plan.
Engagement takes effort (a lot of it) and trust takes time to develop (even more of it). They do pay off, but only over time – if you really care about your customers and their problems and want to help solve them. This is where social media networking offers companies such a huge opportunity. They can now reach out using custom social media networks to tap into real customer insights.
Not only can they provide valuable content that actually helps their customers and prospects they can engage with those customers and prospects and have them create content that’s then shared with other customers and prospects.
They can do this by setting up a focused social network based on the needs of their audience, customers and potential prospects.
A new kind of Business Social Network?
Yes, there is Facebook, Twitter and Linked in. There is no shortage of social networks. When it comes to business, however, not all of them suit. Engagement requires authenticity but not everyone necessarily wants to be personal “friends” with their clients on a social network.
A little while back I posted on different social networks for engagement. Since then I’ve been experimenting with a few of them. Frankly, I’ve not found it at all easy. I’ve decided it isn’t enough to simply post articles.
Yesterday I stumbled across a social community building network platform that, unlike most popular networking platforms not only helps you build community but can also help you make money. Yes, making money is still important. It’s just not the first or even the second thing you want to be doing. Your focus shouldn’t be on short term money gain but long term engagement. However I digress, more on that another time.
I’m checking it out (setting up my own community), but this looks like a first and so far I am impressed with what I see. I’m not that easily impressed. I thought Ning was the bees knees… this could give Ning a good run for their money. You can’t make money on Ning.
The social network is called SocialSam. It’s targeted at businesses and is based on all the principles of Web 2.0, Social Media and engagement. The big difference is… monetization. The Holy Grail, no less. I’ll write more on how it’s done as I find out more, but so far – impressive.
If you are looking to build a social network to grow your community, check it out and see what you think. My search for an all in one social network just might have come to an end. Time will tell and meanwhile I may find it hard to justify the $11 I currently spend on Biznik.
Did I mention SocialSam is free to set up? 
As I continue to find social networks of interest I intend to blog my thoughts about them here I sign up and pay the fee to check them out to see if they’re useful or not. So, as always watch this space.
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What more on Social Sam do you have for us, Nicky?
@Jayme – more. Quite a bit more in fact. I will be writing and sharing the skinny here… and it will be from my own experience/findings. I think it has very interesting potential for businesses but only if approached in the “web 2.0″ mindset. OK, I’ve been cryptic enough. More later.