In the wake of all the buzz surrounding Quora, which is an old concept (online Q&A) wrapped in a nice social skin, one thing has become apparent: the novelty of social media is pretty much over.
The major players and platforms are established – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, WordPress – and most people have heard about them or using them. It was only a couple of years ago that social media was something shiny and new; now it’s becoming just another part of the communications landscape.
So, now what?
For starters, social media is losing its lustre as a competitive differentiator. It’s no longer good enough to be first or among the first to leverage a social media service. Being on Facebook and Twitter is now table stakes. Blogs are boring (and that’s not a bad thing), while LinkedIn is no longer a mystery (although getting a lot of out it is still somewhat of a mystery).
Using social media just means you’re in the game. Now, the key is making sure that you play the game well, which all about really leveraging the tools and services as much as you can.
The most important part of the “game” is content because this is where creativity, engagement, energy and smarts can be effectively and powerfully layered on top of social media services. Content is what will separate the wheat from the chaff.
Companies that can create high-quality content will rise above the crowd because creating great content is a lot more challenging than simply starting a Twitter or Facebook account.
All the attention now being showered on Quora illustrates how social media is no longer new or unique. Quora is interesting but it’s not a show-stopper or likely not something that will go mainstream. But Quora is one of the few new-ish social media services around so it’s the talk of the town – sort of the new kid at school who becomes less interesting within a few days.
If you’re a company looking to do well at social media, you’ll need a strategic and tactical plan but, increasingly, success will be determined by the quality of your content – be it blog posts, videos, photos, contests, polls or interesting tweets and updates.
Tags: content, facebook, Social Media, twitter
As you say, consistent quality content is the key, and it’s where so many fail. Working primarily with small businesses, I still see so many who enter the game thinking that if they have a Facebook presence, they are “doing” Social Media.
I think the challenge for marketing consultants like me will now be getting them to make that leap to creating good content regularly. Business owner’s eyes glaze over when I talk about this because they see it as time consuming. And it can be, but doesn’t have to be. A lot of the success comes from perspective: particularly understanding that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that the time they put into it can be well worth it in terms of the dividends down the line.
“If you’re a company looking to do well at social media, you’ll need a strategic and tactical plan but, increasingly, success will be determined by the quality of your content – be it blog posts, videos, photos, contests, polls or interesting tweets and updates.”
…as well as your ability to effectively communicate and aid your customers with the service your provide.
You’re right – companies need to be patient and look at social media as a game of inches rather than miles. Too many companies look for overnight success but don’t realize these kind of stories are blips.
Thanks for the comment. Mark
I love the analogy of Quora being the new kid at school – you’re completely right. I do think though that actually to a lot of brands and businesses, social media is still completely new. To those of us that drink the Koolaid pretty hard and maybe have been blogging for a few years or have been on Twitter for a while, this is old hat. But believe it or not I still think there is a huge opportunity *still* for helping out with the Twitter on-boarding process, explaining Facebook pages to clients, etc. Social media isn’t a novelty to us, no. To them, though, it’s still a mystery that needs to be figured out and needs to be tied to business goals.
Personally I could not be happier about it that social media is not a novelty. It was fun while we early adopters had our Twitter Summer of Love but now it feels like celebrating that we’re on social media is like celebrating that we have a phone in our house. I like Janet’s comment above mine about how clients still need help with social media, but it’s long past time to find out who has got what to say instead of just how much noise we can make.
I like the phone analogy!
cheers, Mark
[...] thing, the real test is being able to create compelling and engaging content. As Mark Evans from Sysomos said, “content is what will separate the wheat from the chaff. Companies that can create [...]
[...] a post yesterday, Mark Evans discussed the fact that social media is no longer a novelty: It was only a couple of years ago that social media was something shiny and new; now it’s [...]