Pretty Good Practices in Social Media Part 1

Tired of everybody claiming to have the hot hand on Social Media "Best" Practices? Me too. Too many talkers and too few doers with bankable, measurable success on behalf of a real company or client.

At the risk of sounding unprofessional, I'm going to start a thread on Pretty Good Practices in Social Media because in all honesty, that's pretty much where we are in today's nascent and wacky world of Social Media. I'm jazzed about the implications of Social Media/New Media, but it's my opinion that most people claiming to be experts are just blowing smoke.

For example, it's utter folly to assume that you should abandon the classic components of your traditional marketing mix and throw all your resources into Social Media. With Social Media, you need to be asking very rigorous questions as to your purpose and goals. There are so many new web-based marketing methods that I've seen companies get unnecessarily sidetracked by the new toys, losing sight of what they should always be about: increasing customer reach, revenue, and ROI.

It’s also the case that with some segments of your customer base, you shouldn’t even bother with Social Media. Many people consider Social Media an inordinate waste of their time, a frivolous time sink with little payoff. They’ll laugh your cute little Youtube video right off the screen.

As in writing and public speaking, the first rule of Social Media is “Consider Your Audience.”