Every time communicators talk about social media, they tend to talk about social media. In reality, we are really talking about one portion of a communication plan. The reason is simple enough. Social media still seems new and that is where people want to focus. Keep that in mind when you read these five fresh picks. If you do, you'll have a better understanding of why Malcolm Gladwell was right, why public relations professionals ought to have been clipping content beyond client mentions all along, why mass data collection never seems to match a single customer, and why you are only pretending that B2B and B2C are different. When it comes to people, people are people.
Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of October 25
• Gladwell Is Right. The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted.
While there were plenty of people who took exception to Malcolm Gladwell's comment that the revolution will not be "Tweeted," Jason Falls takes the time to point out why he might be right. Falls says the primary reason is that the argument was meant to add some reality to the over-inflated sense of importance we give social networks. And, in this case, he is right. Social media does not happen in a vacuum. Unless your communication takes a physical or tangible form, it just doesn't matter.
• Curating Information as Content Strategy.
"Content, which is anything that informs, educates, or entertains online, is your business digital body language," writes Valeria Maltoni. And the importance could not be underscored enough. In a related study, we recently found that that 46 percent of the time, people are looking for topics of specific interest, 39 percent of the time for information, and 37 percent for multimedia, and 55 percent for news. Content consumption IS the primary activity online, despite why people join a social network. Think about that. And then find out from Maltoni why curation is important.
• Marketers, It’s Time To Rethink Target Market Segmentation.
Beth Harte tackles the various graphics — demographics, firmograhics, pyschographics, sociographics, and enthnographics — that marketers look at every day. When you add CRM systems and social media monitoring tools, there is a ton of data that can be pulled and pooled and analyzed. But instead of relying on that data alone, she suggests that marketers pay more attention to audience research analysis. And she is right. The best way to understand your audience is to connect with them and engage them on a regular basis. Besides, sometimes when you ask two questions, you discover different answers.
• The Pre-Holiday Internet Marketing Checklist.
Ian Lurie shares 20 things you could be doing right now, before the holidays, that you probably are not. He touches on almost every aspect of online marketing: scrubbing the house e-mail, fixing the Facebook page, improving site performance, doing SEO homework, fixing broken links, and so on and so forth. It's stuff many content creators never think about (guilty here, but not for clients). But even more importantly than running the list, Lurie specifies some of the stuff that people neglect and makes you want to get busy with it.
• Destroying the 7 Myths of B2B Social Media.
Jay Baer pinpoints some of the myths of B2B marketing in a slideshare presentation that makes sense. Among them: he includes the idea that B2B customers do not use social media, that it's not worth the trouble, and that it seems like a B2C world. Although not included in his slides, almost 90 percent of B2B decision makers are already interacting with personal and professional connections. The question B2B companies might ask themselves is if their prospects are not talking to them online, then who are they taking to?
