“Social Media Change” Is Superfluous

I’m regularly sent articles announcing new Social Media changes and I’m beginning to think that the very use of the words Social Media Change is superfluous.  Like any redundant expression: absolutely essential, join together or unexpected surprise, Social Media Change is redundant.  Social Media is synonymous with change.  It’s always changing and it changes everything. There is no other way to think about it.

So how do we engage with something that is forever changing?  How do you step onto a moving walkway for the first time? You watch, wait, experiment, try it and learn what works or not.  It’s the same approach with Social Media only I wouldn’t advise waiting too long.

Social Media is something you need to experience to understand how it works.  I recommend experimenting first with the media and channel that feels most comfortable to you. A good place to start is by studying The CMO’s Guide To The Social Media Landscape at www.cmo.com.  If you’re unfamiliar with CMO, it is a informational website sponsored by Adobe aimed at Chief Marketing Officers. 

The beauty of their guide is how it identifies the most important considerations you need to make when evaluating the right social media sites to use.  The guide looks at four key attributes: 1) customer communications, 2) brand exposure, 3) Traffic to your site and 4) SEO (Search Engine Optimization capability) for the nine most used sites for 2011.  In addition, it ranks each site on how effectively it delivers the four key attributes. There is also a PDF version of this useful guide that you can download from the site.

It is absolutely essential, at the risk of sounding superfluous, that you that you make it a top priority to educate yourself and experiment with Social Media while it’s still a moving walkway so you’ll be ready for the speedramps.

Sharon Aby
Beyond Ideas