Is it Social Media or Peer Pressure Media?
February 16th, 2012 8:00am by Nick Sweeney
In our last post, we talked about the shear abundance of social media networks. It's a bit ridiculous.
Of course, your business doesn't have to be on every one (and, unless you have a hundred-man social media team, it shouldn't), but when selecting which social media network they should be present on, a lot of companies just seem to follow the herd mentality.
Because social media is social by nature (duh), it's bound to succumb to the power of peer pressure.
This can play great for your business, especially when it comes to viral marketing messages. But if you feel like you have to be on every network just because everyone else is, you may be suffering from Peer Pressure Media.
Peer Pressure Media, of course, is social media gone bad, and it can suck the life out of your social media strategy, by spreading your brand or business too thin.
Pinterest is the hot new social media club in town, but if your business isn't that visual, do you really need to be on it?
Google Plus is looking more and more promising, but if 90% of your target market is on Twitter, do you need a presence there?
Or what about those social media "wastelands"? It's not a wasteland if your target market is there. MySpace is still a great social media platform for bands, so it makes sense for them.
The point is, what should be guiding your social media marketing is the same thing that should be guiding all of your marketing. It's less "this is where all the cool kids are", and more "this is where our target market is".
So, whenever the Next Big Thing arrives, take a look at it, evaluate if it fits, or even ask your customers if they've joined. But don't go diving in until you can answer this question: What will joining this network do or my brand or business?