Social Media is the Modern Version of the Telephone

Social media is not a way to spread your people thinner. Your people are already spread so thin that I bet they're not getting all they need done.

It's not a low-budget sales force, or a way one person can do the job of three. In other words, it's not the answer to all your prayers. If you're at the point of praying, then the business model is the one needing help.

Social media is a tool, just like the telephone is. It's not even marketing -- in the traditional sense, marketing is dead.

What social media does is simply allow you to do one thing: communicate. That's it. Social media is not the conversation. It's the room in which you hold the conversation. It still comes down to saying, doing, or producing something valuable for your customer. Companies which forget this will simply throw money down the social media hole. Companies that get it will find social media a valuable tool -- if they they are prepared to stick it out and learn how it works.

Who says business has changed? It has not. Fundamentally, business is still all about people, products and services.

Comments

[Albert Maruggi]

Valeria - I think your picture is appropriate for your commentary. In that era of telephone networks, party lines were common, where numerous people can converse at the same time or in sequence. In that context, I agree with your analogy.

Most, not all, but most social media is group not 1-to-1. So business has changed to the extent that others can contribute to the conversation when companies fully participate in social media.

You make an excellent point in the podcast on Blubrry about companies being willing to listen which will leverage social media to its fullest.

[Mike Sansone]

So early in the year, and this is becoming a mantra of mine - and now I can share a clear succinct voice.

I don't know which should concern us more, the companies that ignore the possibilities of social media - or those throwing money down the drain.

But what a great toolset we have during this time, yeah? Thanks for your conversation and clarity.

[Chris Baskind]

Most of what passes for conversation about social media is complete bullshit, and most social media "gurus" are the web's biggest bullshitters (second only to SEO guys with zero pagerank sites). It's just a tool, as you point out, Valeria. Thanks for saying it.

[Ann Handley]

Love this line, Valeria: "...it's not the answer to all your prayers. If you're at the point of praying, then the business model is the one needing help." LOL. Great comment.

[Kat French]

Precisely put, and I totally agree with Albert's "party line" analogy.

That said, I don't get as frustrated with those "throwing money away" on experimenting in social media, because more and more I think that you have to get to the kinds of insights that Valeria has written about here experientially, by using the different services and platforms and participating in the different communities.

Yeah, there are lots of companies failing to properly use the tool that is social media, but at least they're in there trying to figure out how to use it, as opposed to pretending it's going to go away.

[Nick Huhn]

Right on, Valeria. I keep reminding folks that social media is not some magical pixie dust or "paradigm shift" - it is simply the same conversations we have in the elevator and in the cafeteria. Social media, however, makes these conversations more open, commutable and enduring.

[Tim Brunelle]

Brilliant, Valeria. Thanks for another great quote: "Social media is not the conversation. It's the room in which you hold the conversation." That one's going into my collection.

Tim

[Richard Becker]

Darn it Valeria,

Now I have to take back back what I said about you.

"Valeria Maltoni (Conversation Agent) because sometimes she is overly enamored with social media, but recognizes the value of strategic communication."

That's what I said when asked who I think offers more social media/communication edu value. Now it needs to read:

"Valeria Maltoni (Conversation Agent) recognizes the value of strategic communication and understands that social media is just a tool ... a good one, but a tool none the less."

Best, :)

Rich

[Carolyn Ann]

Nicely put, and Well said! Valeria. :-)

Carolyn Ann

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Albert -- so glad you joined this conversation. Many to many is still one to one where many are listening in. So the message is shaped and carried forth by conversation.

@Mike -- it is easy to throw a new tool at an old problem, too. I have heard blanket recommendations made by agencies to solve any problem. That's not how it works. The organization needs to be ready and willing to make the commitment. Having said that, Kat brings up a great point, which is let's not stop experimenting.

@Chris -- Offshoot of my thinking during the research for the post "If i were an agency today".

@Ann -- it seems to me that desperation is not a good strategy.

@Kat -- I am totally with you on experimenting and being willing to give it a try. I recommend doing it in house to see what it feels like, who's best at it, find a voice, etc. first. Or go out open and humble. In my experience companies seldom do humble well, though ;-)

@Nick -- good analogies. I meet new colleagues every day in the kitchen as I get coffee. And we have quality conversations. The tool amplifies and provides visibility.

@Tim -- thank you!

@Rich -- does that change the edu value? You are a welcome voice here any time.

@Carolyn Ann -- thank you.

[Chris Baskind]

> @Chris -- Offshoot of my thinking during the research for the post "If i were an agency today"

Yeah, I can be kind of derivative, as you know. ;-)

[Scott McWilliams]

Valeria:

Neat post. One thing I've noticed is that this tool is new enough that not everyone has found a use for it, such as in B2B applications. In an old line engineering industry it's not used much - fear of security, fear of bad publicity, and the average age of engineers in the US (Many are in their late forties to early sixties, at least where I'm at) means that few of them use any type of social media. A use remains to be found...

Scott

[Valeria Maltoni]

Scott:

In an earlier post I had some statistics that indicated that B2B companies are actually investing more on social media than B2C. A blog can be a perfect tool to give a human voice (and face) to an organization considered stodgy, for example. It can also be outlet to show expertise and provide the opportunity for dialogue. It's much better than a focus group as people are not behind a one way glass munching on M&Ms, they are in the room with you ;-)

[Lewis Green]

Valeria,

Thank you. Like the telephone, social media is a tool, not the conversation but as you put it so well, a room in which to hold that conversation. Communications tools don't solve anything; they facilitate solutions.

[Jon Burg]

Wouldn't you say that speech is an early form of social media?

And the telephone was the social interaction evolution of the 20th century.

And Facebook is another platform for social interaction.

Social media is as old as community itself. Tools are no longer necessarily platforms in their own right, rather they are facilitators of interactions as old as humanity itself.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Well, I am not really impressed with Facebook so far. Too much noise, too little signal, lots of vanity stuff in there to really interact.

Tools as facilitators? I'll have to think about that one. A room/space is a room. The facilitation occurs by human means... or doesn't it?