"I need a blog, Facebook and Twitter!" Have you said that or thought it? Isn't that we what we need to do to market our companies these days?

I wish I had a dollar (iTunes credits will be fine) for every time I heard that in the last couple of years. The marketing world is using buzz words like Web 2.0, connecting with customers, building communities and "tribes" etc. [Seth Godin's book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us  is compulsory reading for anyone in business, marketing or working with people in any way. You can get a free version of the audiobook from Audible.com ]

Let me say, I use and recommend social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc, however today's post is a word of caution.

The thing to remember is that social media tools are just that - tools. They can be extremely effective tools in building communities and enabling tribes to connect, but they won't magically create these communities. So before you launch head first into the world of social media, ask yourself who is the tribe that you're trying to connect?

The first step is to make sure that there is a tribe (or people willing to be in the tribe). Then develop your social media plan for them and what they want and need. These have to be real people with names and faces, not mysterious, unknown cyber-creatures who don't really exist. 

Stay tuned. Over the coming weeks I want to share how some businesses are using these tools to great effect. 

PC

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Posted in: General, Strategy