Those who know me well know that I have been intimately involved in the Internet in Hawai’i since the earliest days of public availability in the early ’90s. I built some of the earliest websites in Hawai’i and racked up so many Hawai’i “firsts” that my resumé is RIDICULOUS with incredible feats of digital wizardry and wonder (www.zztype.com/resume.pdf).
I had to go look, just now: I have over 1,000 Facebook friends (facebook.com/zztype). I have over 1,000 Twitter followers. (@zztype). I have “500+” connections on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/zztype).
I inhabited online forums and internet Usegroups/Newsgroups from the late 1980s and into the 1990s. I was a MySpace user in the 90s. I was a user and promoter of Twitter in Nov., 2006! (http://firstfivefollowers.com/?mode=&user=zztype). I first deemed Facebook “worthy” in 2008. I’ve tried just about every new social media “toy” as soon as I discovered it.
Social Media Marketing
One of the things I just cannot stand about the social media revolution on the Internet is the phrase “social media marketing.” I LOATHE THIS PHRASE! “Social media marketing” runs completely counter to the very thing that made social media work: real people saying real things.
If you are “marketing” something via social media, likely you have taken a class from an “expert” who told you to make an account and “friend everybody,” get as many followers as possible, then post your business information relentlessly, every day, to your thousands of followers. BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF!
FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!!!
What they don’t understand is that what makes social media work is real people saying real things about other real people on the Internet. It is people saying things which have no ulterior motive other than to relate the truth. Real social media is telling the truth, not “spinning,” or selling. It is as simple as that. You don’t have to concoct some major artificial presence to succeed in social media. You just have to be there, interact with the real people on the Internet who reach out to you via social media tools. Let them know there is a real person on the other end of the social media account, who really is listening and who really cares. WIN, WIN, WIN!!!
Social Media Done Right
What many don’t realize is that they don’t have to do ANYTHING superficial on the Internet to be successful in social media circles. All they need do is have a basic presence, and that they do real, honest, incredible things in the real world. Their customers will go to no ends to make sure that everyone else knows about this cool person or that cool business which they just interacted with.
In a nutshell, be real and don’t try too hard, and you will be just fine.