My Social Media Mantra For 2010: Empowerment
Jan
2009 was a brilliant year for Sulmoz and me. Different clients had entirely different requirements out of their social media marketing efforts. I enjoyed waking up to a new day of creating and learning. That’s 365 great days. As we roll into 2010, I want to quickly write about what I intend to do in this space:
I plan to empower more and more brands.
Why?
In its true essence social media is meant to bring brands and consumers closer to each other. Through real listening and real engagement. I’ve learnt that the fewer middle-men (women!) in the process, the better. I’ve met a lot of “agencies”, “experts” and the rest in the last year to understand that social media is being spun into this big, elusive, magical thing to brands who would rather have someone else deal with it. I don’t want to be that someone else. Unlike advertising campaigns which can actually be outsourced to agencies, a large chunk of social media marketing is being real and genuine. And who is better prepared for that role that the brand representatives themselves?
So this year, I’m going to put in a lot of time, energy and effort into taking this knowledge about social media to brands. My intention is to equip them with the understanding and tools to take this on themselves with my role a merely supporting one – providing guidance, input and insight as and when required. So as the Chinese proverb goes:
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
In two words, I am: deeply excited.
Image Courtesy: cproppe, Flickr
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Hey Puja,
I am not so very sure about this phrase “Social Media Marketing”. I am more in favor of community building and using Internet as your Feedback 2.0 channel.I would like to see “Indian Social Media” firms diving deeper into Internet Analytic and community building stuff.
Arkid Mitra´s last blog ..THE MOBILE WEB
Hi Arkid, thanks for writing in. Its interesting you say that because a lot of what happens in this space is not marketing really. Its about community building, engagement and relationships. However, for all utilitarian purposes (the same reasons we’re accorded names I suppose) an umbrella term exists to make communication about concepts and ideas revolving around it easier. I’m happy to go along with that.
@Arkid I’m not sure what you are referring to but SMM is all over and has dominated 2009. And the post is not a debate about SMM it is about training brands to use these new tools. I think Puja is on the right track and I wish her all the luck with this.
Ah Jake, thanks for the encouragement – greatly appreciated!
@Arkid I’m not sure what you are referring to but SMM is all over and has dominated 2009. And the post is not a debate about SMM it is about training brands to use these new tools. I think Puja is on the right track and I wish her all the luck with this.