Social Business vs. Social Marketing: Understanding the fight over “content”. The BrandBuilder Blog.
Moving beyond “social media marketing” – A short list of business functions in social media that do not require content to create value and yield results:
We have seen how Marketing, advertising and PR all tend to focus on content in and out of social channels and why. (And again, there is nothing wrong with that.) Now, let us briefly look at a few other functions that can find a profitable home in the social space that require zero content creation, publication or curation.
Digital Customer Service
Business Intelligence
Digital market research
Consumer Insights Management
Online Reputation Management
Digital keyword and sentiment monitoring
Digital campaign or program measurement
Digital crisis management
Community management
Digital technical support
Digital concierge services
There are more, but you get the idea. None of these are particularly “content” driven functions, are they. Yet… “content” is supposed to be at the core of social media programs, right?
An emphasis on “content” in social media and social communications is simply code for “we think of social media primarily as a marketing channel.” It clearly needs to be treated as far more than that.
Organizations whose executives come to believe that “content” is key or central to social media success, equity or potential are making a grave mistake: Content doesn’t in fact drive engagement, traction or success in social media. “Content” drivesmarketing andresponses to marketing in social media. As important as that is, we all have to be realistic about the limits of this kind of approach.
Realistically, content doesn’t drive customer service, crisis management, reputation management or market research in social media, nor does it driveconversations about customer service, crisis management, reputation, market research or even shopping experiences about a brand in social media. Since these and other key business function are principal building blocks of every successful social media program (for business), you see how an emphasis on content can hobble an organization’s social media program right from the start if its importance is mistakenly overstated.
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