Nobody wants to be spammed when they’re kicking back enjoying some social time. And really, it’s all about the social time, isn’t it?
The term “marketing” developed from an original meaning, which referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or services. The vast majority of people still have this definition attached to the word. It’s dirty. It’s obsolete. If you’re marketing to me—you’re trying to sell me something—even if you try to disguise it by giving it a fancy name like, “conversation.” It’s spam-eting. Only the marketers, themselves, will try to convince you that marketing has evolved into something new—something grandiose and powerfully necessary in the social arena. And hey, I’m all for evolution and re-inventing yourself, but let’s call a spade a spade. The truth is, if these marketers can hang on to the word, then they get to woo and wow you with a lifetime of experience in the field—even if the majority of it was spent “going to market to buy or sell some goods or services,” and it all happened long before Mark Zuckerberg was wiping his own backside. Don’t fall for it.
Being authentic is the complete underlying message in a successful social strategy. Stop listening to marketers telling you to market your brand. Stop marketing.
Start engaging.
Be your authentic awesome self/brand. Become educated in the ways of social communities and their various channels and platforms. Respectfully seduce the distinct and recognizable personality of all things social media. Speak the language. Show your awesomeness. Shout your awesomeness from the mountaintops—without actually having to shout your awesomeness at all. Engagement offers your brand organic growth—grassroots style.
“When you do awesome things, it makes people want to share the awesome.” That’s what un-marketing guru, Scott Stratten says. And, he’s right. Awesome is catchy.
It’s a completely new concept—well, within the age of social media—and actually, it’s really just a new spin on old-school word-of-mouth advertising. Don’t fall victim to marketers pitching a blind social media campaign based on tired and dried-out analytics from some other brand/industry—on over-written PowerPoint slides to boot. Find the influencers, the strategists, the ENGAGERS. These are the people to help you position your platform. THEY are the ones that will draw out your awesomeness and bridge you to your audience—to your untapped social community potential.
Do you want to know how it works? Below is the link to the awesomeness example of a brand (Magnum Ice Cream) who went with an influencer (blogger, Scott Stratten) for the Canadian launch of their product. Through a relationship built without expectations—the brand showed their awesome, allowing Scott’s excitement to leak from his fingertips to his hungry and unsuspecting audience. The subtleties of authentic promotion in social media are far more reaching then some questionable sponsored post—especially when coupled with the awesomeness of the relations of the brand. How do I know?
Last week I’d never even heard of Magnum Ice Cream. And today, well, today, I put them in your pocket. That’s organic reach for you. Scott was right. Well played Magnum, well played indeed.
Check out Scott’s story here.
Once upon a time, professional networking happened after hours while sipping an aperitif or while swinging your golf clubs at a charity event. Putting together your professional image in the privacy of your personal space before shaking hands with prospects or clients will soon be a thing of the past. Image used to be everything. But now, with the explosion of Facebook, they’ve all seen you in a messy tube top holding both ends of a beer bong.
On paper, having a billboard dynamically updated via twitter seems like a good idea. In practice, you can accidentally make your news anchors look like rapists. #socialstrategyfail
that starts an international movement—there are people studying the religion of Priddlism all over the world—right as I type. 
You might think that the Irish Leprechaun of lore is a withered old man who chases rainbows in gnarly buckled shoes—and you might be right. But, let me tell you a little something about the Advertising Leprechaun—she has GREAT shoes and a healthy amount of Bieber-fever.
Christopher Reilley has grabbed my full attention of awe—mostly because he graduated from the Ringling Brothers Clown College in 1984—but also because he has a vividly wide repertoire of writing that is boundless, and also because he reads the encyclopaedia for fun. In his writing, Reilley has something for everyone. He’s eclectic, entertaining, family-oriented and refreshingly honest. He doesn’t give “a big fat hairy damn about an awful lot of things,” especially your Facebook farm, fish, park or mafia. Refreshing, right?
I tried to find such photos as proof on Candace Bowen Early’s FB page, but there were none to be had. If glam and glitz go hand-in-hand with romance writing, Candace is hiding it from the world. What I did find was a down-to-earth woman plucked from the streets of Chicago who wipes noses, attends monster jams and plans to live forever—or at least until the Cubs take a World Series. 
I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about all 2,400+ of my FB friends—on my personal page. Most of us know that “Facebook” friendship is not the same as “personal” friendships—although there may be a few that have come to believe that I should babysit their kids or loan them fifty bucks. We live in a “digital” space more than a “people” space now, so it’s possible the lines are blurring—but just to be clear—I’m still not lending you fifty bucks.
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