Starting a Facebook, Twitter or Blog is just the beginning

After speaking on the topic of social media and viewing many different organization’s social media sites, I must dispel the common misconception that simply starting a social media site is all an organization needs to do to reach online users. The reasoning behind this line of thinking is that solely having a Facebook gets you an online following. That is like saying if I go to a party and stand silent in the corner of the room I will meet a ton of people and expand my social influence. In reality, starting a social media site is more like  the invitation to the party. What you do with your site makes all the difference as to who you will meet and what social influence you will develop.

Many believe that social media is just another fad that will eventually slowly fade away. It is unfortunate that they have not realized that this form of communication represents a substantial shift in the way people interact. Starting a social media site is not just something a company should check off their “to do” list. I am not saying that social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube will always be popular; however, there will always be social media sites that fulfill this new need for online users to share, gather and collaborate.

Back to my initial point, it is not so important that an organization, or person for that matter, owns a social media site. It is important how one communicates on that site. Over the years communication has taken on many forms as technology has evolved.  With the invention of the printing press in the mid 15th century, print based media overtook traditional oral communication as the primary means of relaying a message.  The advent of the television in the early 20th century drastically changed communication to relay heavily on visually based media. Within the past couple of decades, the internet has formed hyperlinks between all forms of oral, print and visual communication.

How are you using your social media site? Who is running your social media site? Are they taking advantage of all forms of communication, or are you relaying to much on any one form?

I will use a fictitious character to exemplify my point. Let us say Bob has a biography he wants others to read about him. Which of the following biographies to you think online users will want to read?

Example #1

I (Bob) grew up in Castlewood, Colorado. Living near a ski lodge, I quickly picked up snowboarding as a kid. I love the outdoors and hiking through scenic trials, such as the Castlewood Canyon State park, that run throughout the Rocky Mountains. I recently have taken up  base jumping as my favorite pastime.

Example #2

I (Bob) grew up in Castlewood, Colorado. Living near a ski lodge, I quickly picked up snowboarding as a kid. I love the outdoors and hiking through scenic trials, such as the Castlewood Canyon State park, that run throughout the Rocky Mountains. I recently have taken up  base jumping as my favorite pastime.

Although Bob is a made up character and a bit more extreme than most of us, I hope I got my point across. As I am sure you noticed, each biography reads the same; however, they each tell Bob’s story in an entirely different way. Let me encourage you to think of what audience you are trying to connect with online. What media tools and services does your target audience utilize on a regular basis? What kind of content do they like to read? Finally, what forms of communication will you use to make your information interactive, interesting and appealing to them?