I always find it humorous when webmasters speak endearingly about Google or even Facebook as if to kiss up to them. Like that public show of affection will get them brownie points.
It at one time even seeped out to the net that if you link to Google it will help you.
How does such disinformation get propagated across the web?
Information is flying at record speed. As a species it seems we are actually getting less done and less accomplished. Often taking in our information in Twitter or Facebook sized headlines.
Now as a smart marketer you can use this "need to focus" as an advantage by you yourself focusing your marketing. And how do you focus? Have a strategy.
The Godfather of Blogging and Social Media
Not sure if anyone has called Paul Chaney that but I am now ;-) On Facebook today Paul Chaney author of Realty Blogging: Build Your Brand and Out-Smart Your Competition
This is my full text from the answer to his question:
Time=money. The net has always been a trash bin for ill conceived efforts. But social media will go down as one of the greatest wastes of time and of course money for many businesses. Simply because of its many trappings of the latest greatest.
By its nature it demands interactivity. Of which businesses cannot find much scale in manual work.Unless they go in with a strategy. In other words how does this all fit together?
First clue they are on the fast track to doom? Labels like social media strategist. There is no social media. There is the web. And the web has platforms by which people can communicate.
Its the same as when blogging was the flavor of the day.(what happened to that by the way?). People labeled themselves bloggers etc. If you go in not knowing how the website, the blog, the external publishing all fits. Might as well burn that marketing money.
Piggybacking to Buzz
By the way I noticed Paul piggybacked off my answer by piggy backing it into posts about strategy. As I am piggybacking off of his with this post. Brilliant.
So I find the challenge is that most folks have not a clue how to create buzz. Most do not realize that the television, the news, the Government news is for the most part placed and staged. In other words, it is not real . Or not as real as we might think.
I harken back to Charlie Sheen. So as everyone talks about what a druggy he is. The boy has been earning some dollars perpetuating his rock star persona.
In fact, he is going on tour with Live Nation for 28 days earning a cool $250,000 to $275,000 per show. Publicity works folks. Could it be that maybe ole Charlie was going to quit the TV show anyway, so he decided to get fired and turn it into a publicity machine?
All I am saying is perhaps Charlie has a strategy. And whether or not he is a big mess is irrelevant. We are talking about business here right?
But the sheeple go brrr and take sides and Charlie broke records as he rocketed in his popularity in brand new channels. His conversation he created, about himself roars on. Do you think there is a lesson here for marketers and social media?
When I Coach my kids in youth football, I usually exaggerate what I want them to do. If they do 3/4 of it I know they will have done their job. I was once in a TV Show as a young man. Not really an actor just a glorified extra. So I was in this scene and this cool actor told me how to behave. And he told me to exaggerate what I thought was too far. Very likely I would not be going too far. But I would be right where I needed to be.
I think this serves as a great metaphor for your own marketing. You do not know how far you have gone in promoting yourself until you do it. And more than likely, you cannot go too far.
Mike Ferry and Matthew Ferrara in a Live Demonstration of Polarization
Have a strategy. Most of your competitors do not. Most think of strategy when they are really tactics. Most vendors sell tactics. Strategy hurts peoples heads.
A few days ago two real estate trainers were pitted against each other in a point counterpoint format. at the Coldwell Banker Convention. Sometimes it helps not to get seeped into all the content and to pay attention to the persona and meta messages. Mike Ferry takes a contrarian approach. A pragmatic approach than the common thinking. This is often provocative and is so unique that it causes a stir.
So much so that Lani Rosales of Agent Genius skewered Ferry for his antiquated methodologies. Called Mike Ferry slams social media, reveals total web ignorance
Those who are web heads concurred and high fived Lani. The others agreed with Mike Ferry. Those are the only ones Mike cared about. Marketing polarization at its finest. By the way look who got the headline. And remember we usually one read the headlines.
