My new friend, a terrific thought-leader and the proximate cause of www.askMANDO.com, Barry Brown, was kind enough to critique my recent apologetic for social media, or SoMe. (See my April 23, 2009 post, "5 Reasons to Participate in Social Media.")
His first impression was that I was talking to a reader that has little or no knowledge of SoMe. Indeed, that was my aim, but I also found the exercise of noodling about this global phenomenon to be refreshing and clarifying. PR and marketing professionals using SoMe often feel they have affixed their passions like votive candles in paper boats amidst a channel of eddying currents. Sometimes we just need a slack tide, for a time.
Barry observes, “There is a good parallel between word-of-mouth and the viral effects of the web, which is the same by a different name. It may be short in scope however, because it stops at “telling two friends”. Think of the chain as trust, then loyalty, and then advocacy (scale). The true power of web market reach is scalability. If you influence the right person, they may have an audience of influence in the hundreds, thousands or even millions. When these individuals become advocates, they extend your reach to many.”
Barry took some umbrage at my upbraiding the recalcitrant – those too intimidated (or is it lazy?) to even take the splash into this bold, new ocean. But he makes a great point that I had missed: The buzz has begun and it’s broiling into one heck of a whirlpool:
“To me the most compelling reason to get into social media is that your customers are already talking about you and your industry online now,” adds Barry. “Maybe something around “the conversation has already started without you” would be a better #1.”
Well said, Barry!
Barry kindly adds, “The blog feels like you, and this is important when you meet later with a reader. ‘Authentic’ counts and I think you hit it.”
Aw, thanks. --Sharon Drechsler, Group 221
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