How can you get the most for your sustainable business out of using online social networks? Actually, let me rephrase that. How can you get the most for your sustainable business out of participating and engaging in social networks?
Before you do anything, shift your thinking from the social-network-as-tool mindset to the social-network-as-ecosystem one, which considers social networks as dynamic systems of interrelated and interacting pieces. Everything in social networks is connected (that’s why they’re called networks) and your social networks must be connected to your overall marketing. So, integrate your social networking strategy into your overall marketing strategy! That’s your first step. What is it you want to accomplish? Who is your community (target group)? What’s your position amongst the competition? In order for your social networking strategy to be viable and sustainable, your marketing strategy must center around cultivating community around your brand (that’s community building as a marketing strategy).
Next, decide where to have a presence. Listen what’s being said about you, by whom, and where, and then start participating in those conversations. In other words, go where your customers are (to their “watering hole”). Remember that social networking goes beyond social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, or Orkut. It comprises an interconnected universe of websites with social features, allowing users to connect and interact with others and form (micro)communities: blogs/microblogs (Twitter), forums, groups (Google, Yahoo!), wikis (SocialText), bookmarking (Delicious), news (Digg), multimedia sharing (YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare), events (Upcoming, Meetup)… It’s likely your customers commune in more than one place, so you’ll have to cross-pollinate.
Then it’s time to create and cultivate your online identity, the centerpiece of your social network participation and engagement. Before you get to the elements of your social network identity, consider that identity is “the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity” or “the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known”. You may be your company’s owner, principal, president, or manager, and you will be participating and engaging in social networks on behalf of your business, but you must participate and engage in social networks as an individual, first and foremost. Be a human, not a corporate machine. In addition, your online identity must be consistent with your offline identity. Think of online and offline as two sides of the same coin, or as mirror images. Resist the temptation to create an online identity that’s different from the real you.
The principal elements of your social network identity are your profile, your connections, your activity, and your purpose.
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Building a sustainable identity online: Social networks, pt. 2
Building a sustainable identity online: Social networks, pt. 3
Image credit: dsevilla
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