Changing the Paradigm for Spreading the Message

For a while now, most content creators have been relatively easy  to identify.  You know or can find out who writes news stories about things that you are interested in.  There are plenty of tools out there to help brands identify press sources and PR professionals who will write favorable content with respect to what you and your company are currently looking to launch.  But as our clients look to really engage across social media, sometimes it is hard to tell if a few key influencers who may or may not have a large following are worth investing the time and energy to engage.

What we are finding is that there is a real leap of faith and practice to make here.  For some brands, especially those with a technology focus or a passionate base of customers, it’s pretty simple to pinpoint the indivudals in a large bucket of content creators who can help push along the message.  But for most brands or even niche campaigns launched by larger brands, it can often feel like there isn’t enough out there to warrant the investment.

As marketers in a digital world, we need to start looking at this in a different way.  Whether you are a large behemoth of an organization or a much smaller one, the line between the NY Times and a blogger is quickly being blurred.  Everyone who tweets, blogs, etc. is putting up a sign post about your company or product that can be found through a search engine.  It’s a permanent record that is not going anywhere, and for every post or influencer that goes up, there are many more who are paying attention than those who are writing.

This is why a strong social media strategy is so important.  Set real goals everyday that have pointed achievable results over the long run.  Don’t waste too much time sifting through the chatter, but take a few minutes out of each day looking at what is being said about your company.  You don’t have to contribute a novel to each post, but thank people for good feedback and work to correct anything that may not be on point.  If you have planned out what you think is important, and how you will respond, I think that the often monumental task of engaging on social media can be a lot more manageable.