Do you remember that old campy saying, Go big, or go home? Of course you do. It's usually tossed around when the last few seconds are waning away from the clock and the score is tied. "It's either go, big or go home," someone will say. Well, that same logic applies to Web 2.0. You either go all out to make it work or it's not worth doing.
The successful social media campaign is similar to raising a lion cub. If you don't put forth the time and finesse, it will grow up to maul you in your sleep. But if you make all the right moves, you're left with a loyal marketing tool that that, instead, ravages your competition.
So why do you need a presence in social media? Well, let me explain…
As you may have guessed, social media is not a large carnivorous cat. It may harbor some similar qualities, but I believe it is much more approachable.
Social media gives you a voice. A website will always remain the face of your brand on the web, but this is Web 2.0, the current state of the internet, and that is simply not enough. To reach your target demographic, you have to be willing to step beyond your existing level of interaction. This means becoming an active voice of authority in your respective community, rebuilding your reputation, and sharing, sharing, sharing.
Succeeding on today's web is sharing on the web; broadcasting information across the various medias. If you aren't sharing something, you're losing relevance and cred.
Social media is also about making and maintaining connections. Blogs, social networks, and, yes, even media sharing are all ripe for monetizing and reciprocating traffic. And the brilliance behind it, what is truly unique, is that a successful campaign does not necessarily depend on a linking scheme. It's about who you know and what you know. If you're influential in your field, people will link to you, traffic will pump through your channels; all of this without offering any incentive other than valuable information.
Do these concepts sound vague to the level of daunting? That's because, in reality, they are, and they require a carefully planed and executed strategy to make them work.
But what about viral media? Well, media won't go viral if it's not contagious.
The fact is, unless you are serious about social media and tapping into this demographic-cornucopia, then you need not bother with it. You have to be intent on rising to its forefront. It's either go big, or go home.
