5 Distinct Characteristics of Social Media
Mar 16, 2007 Michael BritoJust recently, there has been some discussion between well known bloggers/marketers about the definition of social media, and whether or not it should be called something different. Regardless of the agreed definition or the term itself, I am just trying to figure out how to participate and engage my target audience. I do believe, however, that there are five distinct characteristics which seem to be consistent in the way social media is being used today. They are:
- Participation
- Openness, transparency and disclosure
- Conversation
- Community Driven
- Facilitation (facilitating conversations that are already happening online)
Participation
It’s an undisputed fact that consumers today already participate in social media. One statistic that blows my mind is the Youtube growth rate from 2005 to 2006; where it grew a whopping 2,000% and now boast 25.5M unique visitors a month. There are a ton of other examples of sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, and Stumbleupon that are also exponentially growing in usage and traffic.
Clearly, consumers are not afraid to join communities, generate content and engage in conversations about topics that interest them. The question that marketers need to consider is whether or not they want to participate in these conversations that are already happening. Do they want a seat at the table or not? If they do, they need carefully consider the next four characteristics.
Openness, transparency and disclosure
The question isn’t “if marketers engage with social media?”, it’s “when marketers engage with social media”, they must be open with their audience, transparent and disclose that they are in fact employees of the company. History tells us that when you claim to be someone you aren’t, and get caught, your brand will suffer negative consequences in social media and even the main stream media…can you say Wal-Mart?
Being open in a conversation and disclosing who you are is the first step in building trust with your audience. It’s the same dynamic when building relationships offline with friends, acquaintances and significant others. If you are deceitful, you can severely crush the perception that others have of you, and of course the brand image of your company.
Conversations
Social media is all about conversations. They are happening all over the place in blogs, wikis, forums, discussion and news groups, etc. These conversations are real time with real people. Consumers today no longer want to be marketed to; but would rather be communicated with through these conversations. They expect to be heard and guess what? They now have a channel to express their thoughts, opinions, recommendations and complaints.
Now, market research and focus groups are important and serve their purpose; but isn’t there value in engaging in these real time “market conversations” with your target consumer group? It’s a perfect opportunity to hear these complaints, concerns, recommendations and praise; and take that specific feedback back to your product management teams? Dell is already doing this. They launched a Wiki a few weeks back that asks their users to make specific product recommendations; and also allows for other users to vote (think Digg) on the importance/relevance of each recommendation. The idea with the highest votes appears at the top of the page.
Community Driven
It takes a community to build a brand – well, that and about $25 million. Think about it…PTA groups, church organizations, political organizations, sports leagues, mommy groups and the list goes on. These are small micro-communities of people with word-of-mouth behavior that share opinions, experiences, advice, recommendations and commentary about products, services and companies usually based on personal experience. And, we haven’t started talking about the online communities either. Every form of social media has a community component to it.
Note to self and others: Build the relationships and community first. Then figure out a way to monetize those conversations; and don’t be so obvious about it either.
Facilitation
Guess what? Consumers are in control, but not total control because marketers can participate; and facilitate these conversations. The fact is that consumers are already talking about your products and services. Not facilitating those conversations is like not hiring a lawyer when you are on trial. Your voice and expertise about your products and services will NEVER be heard if you don’t facilitate the conversations that are already happening.
I am sure there is a similar list floating around somewhere in someone else’s blog but after about an hour searching, I gave up.
Technorati Tags: social media, social media strategy
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March 16th, 2007 at 11:45 am
[...] britopian marketing blog: 5 Distinct Characteristics of Social Media “They are: [...]
March 18th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Could I also add one more characteristic? And that is "viral element"
For social media to catch on quickly and gain the popular status that they enjoy, they have to be viral and easily spread. The mechanism for telling your friends and your friends telling their friends must very compelling and quick.
Having this viral element means it must be buzz-worthy and get people talking about it. And I feel the one thing supporting the viral growth is the "user contributed content" element.
In this sense, the medium never stops growing. It burgeons exponentially.
My 2 cents!
Dylan
March 18th, 2007 at 1:40 am
Dylan - you are exactly right; although I am not sure if I would consider it a characteristic or a result; I guess I'd have to think about it some more. Nonetheless, the "viral element" is something to think about when taking that step into social media because it could be good news or bad news for a company depending on what the content is. I would also add (and this is extremely tactical) that marketers must make it convenient for their content to travel across the Internet, one characteristic defined by Rohit Bhargava when he first wrote about Social Media Optimization.
Thanks for your comment. I appreciate it.
March 20th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
So, then what would be the difference between "facilitation" and "participation". They seem to be the same to me.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:27 am
[...] Of course, these 5 C’s make total sense to me not only as a marketer, but as a consumer as well. We all know that viral marketing in the social media space is all about communities. In fact, I would argue that communities play a larger role than most people think, both online and offline. They can build a brand, kill a brand, make a career, break a career, influence elections, etc. Think about it; from an offline perspective, life is community driven through PTA organizations, church groups, sports leagues, stay-at-home mommy groups, and various school organizations (sororities, fraternities) to name a few. And of course online, you have Myspace, Facebook, Linkedin, Digg, Stumbledupon and hundreds of other social media sites jumping in the scene daily. Within each of these online/offline communities consumers are talking and having conversations with each other. And, they are sharing opinions, experiences, advice, recommendations and commentary about products, services and companies usually based on real personal experience. This is viral marketing. [...]
March 24th, 2007 at 4:52 am
I see it like this. Facilitation is essentially hosting a conversation and chiming in when need be (i.e. for correction and guidance). Participation is reaching externally and having those conversations elsewhere.
April 6th, 2007 at 10:31 am
[...] I especially like this commentary on the distinct characteristics of Social Media, as some may be confused by the term and its proper definition. In short, social media would consist of five main characteristics, namely participation, openness and transparency, conversation, community-driven and facilitation of the conversations that are already in progress. In short, this blog is certainly a must-visit for those who would like to know more about online marketing and how it plays a major part in our lives today. [...]
April 6th, 2007 at 10:36 am
[...] Buzzers, in the new era of web2.0 or web3.0, one of the most exciting parts is social network. As we know, the success of Youtube has driven a concept named Social Media . [...]
April 6th, 2007 at 11:23 am
[...] Social Media [...]
April 12th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
GREAT analysis...thank you brito!
April 27th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
shouldn't SMO be a characteristic or am I way confused?
May 7th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Social media is gowing at a such a rate that domains, websites and blogsites will increase in value due to the increased demand for webspace. The social aspect is driving the net into new territory and expands exponentially because of its viral nature. It is the marketing of ideas, opinions, experiences and communities, commercial marketing is a natural fit to this and just as it is in the real world it is about approach, attitude and integrity.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Martin - nice insight. Thank you for sharing.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Great insights; but i agree with Mary that participation and facilitation are basically the same thing.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Melissa - nice name.
Okay, here is the way I look at it. Participation is what happens in a community space or application not hosted by the company (i.e. I am HP and have a presence on Myspace). Facilitation happens in a community driven environment that I host (i.e. I am HP and conversing on an HP sponsored blog).
May 18th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
It's all about interaction. Allowing people to have their say. This builds relationships, gets people involved, and moves the masses. If it's about them, they'll participate. That's the social aspect of this whole business.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:18 am
nice analysis and thanks for sharing!
July 6th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Yes, sites such as Youtube have definitely impacted the way advertisers are reaching the public. It truly has been mind-blowing, and as a result, the advertiser must actively engage the user in order to create a brand impression. It is becoming more and more difficult to hold a user's attention. Video ads have the ability to create an emotional connection with a user, similar to the feeling a viewer experiences when watching TV. It will be interesting to see how creative advertisers will be when utilizing social media as means of reaching the public.
July 27th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Hello ,your article is so informative and show the strategies to marketing online using the social media and characteristics keep doing the good job ,Thank you.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Good Article!
And rightly said that product/service will never be known if not facilitated like this, here the more important thing is not to think like a marketer but a consumer so that those points can be highlighted which consumer has in his mind!
Regards,