Anti-Social Media: a rant

Social Media is not…!

Why do they call it social media? It is anything but social. It is anti-social.

What social media does can be really damaging to a business. Under the mistaken idea that they are ‘doing business’, business owners and sales/marketing people get preoccupied with social media and replace the basic, traditional forms of sales and marketing with counting clicks, likes and followers.

The bare facts are that ‘doing business’ is about understanding who your customers are, what their problems and hurts are and engaging with them in a way that they buy from you when they are ready.

Social media may be part of the recipe but it is not the recipe.

Too many people confuse talking business with doing business. They become social media-obsessed and confuse their social media interactions with their original purpose. In effect, they become busy fools.

Most businesses spend

• 75% of their time arguing over communications channels (LinkedIn or FaceBook or Instagram etc...)
• 20% of their time discussing marketing, and
• 5% of the time discussing whether they have the right product for the specific target customers needs.

This is all so wrong. So upside-down...

You need to turn this pyramid on its head and spend:

• 75% of the time discussing whether you have the right product for the specific target customers needs
• 20% of your time discussing marketing, and
• 5% of the time of your time arguing over communications channels (LinkedIn or FaceBook or Instagram etc...).

Obviously, social media done well is another matter.

image link: http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/24dash-media/image/2008/05/08/3866/380_Image_antisocial_graffiti.jpg