Pages 21-39 of Secrets of Social
Media Marketing, by Paul Gillin, discuss the types of social media tools
that are available to help businesses reach their goals. Gillin explains that
individuals should begin by defining their business goals, and then pick the
most appropriate tool for their desired outcomes. Many times, individuals do the
exact opposite; they pick a tool and work backwards. In this section, Gillin
also explains that there are some functions to which social media is poorly
suited. Such functions include branding, channel relations, direct marketing,
business-to-business, demographic targeting, and high-ticket items.
Gillin goes on to further describe the context of social media. By
definition, social media markets are small. Marketers can embrace these small
markets and engage with people according to their specific interests. According
to the book, it is also important to understand that social media markets are
conversations. This means that people have the opportunity to immediately express
their opinions on a variety of issues. Because of this, businesses must remain
in tune with the opinions expressed by customers. Businesses should listen and
embrace this interactive content in order to improve their products and
services.
Pages 95-117 describe the various types of social networks available.
These social networks can be grouped into categories such as the following:
general purpose, vertical networks, social bookmarking, recommendation engines,
social shopping, horizontal networks, photo/video sharing, virtual worlds,
mobile, and international. Common characteristics of the various types of
social networks include open enrollment, personal profiles, and individual
connections. This section ends by describing why different people use these
networks. Gillin demonstrates that both youth and adults see social networks as
an efficient way to sustain a large network of acquaintances.
While Secrets of Social Media
Marketing contains a great deal of useful information, a weakness of the
publication is that it was published in 2009. Because social media are
developing at such a fast pace, it is appropriate to say that some of the
material is outdate.
Pages 1-27 of Design to Thrive
introduce the concept of “RIBS” (Remuneration, Influence, Belonging, and
Significance). This section also explains the difference between social
networks and online communities. The main difference is that social networks
focus on an individual’s one-to-one relationship. In other words, the
individual user is at the heart of the network. Online communities, on the
other hand, have a structure that is centered on a shared purpose instead of
one-to-one relationships. Because of this, online communities have stronger
secondary connections between members than social networks. For example, a user
of Facebook (a social network) may have many friends that do not share her
common interests. That same user, however, can join Project Single Moms, an online
community specifically created for providing support to single mothers. Because
of the commonality between members of this community, the user can create
strong secondary relationships with other single mothers with similar purposes.
I agree with these assessments, particularly your take on the fleeting nature of the current state of social media. I find it incredibly frustrating that the rapidity with which things change and develop along these lines hinders people from fully grasping context. It would also seem to be detrimental and counterintuitive to the educational process, especially for people with little exposure to social media to begin with.
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