Today I'm leaving the Groundswell behind and embracing a new text! One of the most well-known social media gurus, Brian Solis gives great advice in his book "Engage!" You should check it out or buy it here: Buy Me!
The first two chapters of the book describe what Solis calls the "Social Media Manifesto" and goes on to discuss his "Case for socializing media, by the numbers."
In the first chapter, Solis makes some great points (these are just a few of them):
-the socialization of media is years in the making
-the future of communications and service is already here
-conversations happen with or without you
-build a bridge between you and your customers
One that I'd like to run with is that conversations happen with or without you. I entirely agree. This is a point that really needs to be emphasized, because I think some people believe that if they don't blog, no one else will. That is a far cry from the truth. The world of social media is expanding, and no matter how much you try to "stay out of it," the truth is that people will still talk--you just won't know it. Taking classes in social media and PR has taught me this. Therefore, I choose to be informed, and participate fully in Twitter, Facebook, and social bookmarking.
In the Second chapter, Solis gives many statistics. I know numbers are dry, but I'll just choose a few I think are key. Of the 7 billion people on Earth, 1.6 billion are Internet users. This may seem low, but is actually quite a large number. One of Solis' main points, however is that 2/3 of global Internet users access social networking sites. That's his point--social media is HUGE. He talks about how everyone and everything is being redirected to social media these days, and how it's making the world a smaller place. I can relate. Of all the things I do online, about 90% involve social media. Here's just some of my main hangouts: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Diigo...and my e-mail. But that last one's just for school news, mainly. I literally hardly ever do anything else.
All in all, Brian Solis makes great points, applicable to our lives (mine, yours, etc). I love and embrace social media, do you?
-V
Thank you for a solid review. The one challenge I have for you is how would you approach social media differently than how some of the top company's out there are executing today? Knowing what you know now and as you read this book, I think you might have the opportunity to rival their strategy...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the comment! I will definitely give that some thought, and possibly dedicate another post to the subject. Over this weekend, I plan on reviewing further chapters of "Engage" as well.
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