Chris Brogan posted this past week about marketing in online communities (and he said kind words about me in the post, which is typical of his generosity). Are we just marketing to each other on social networks like Twitter and Facebook? Is that OK? Are there rules?
Since I use social networks in part for my day job as a PR person, I have thoughts on the issue:
Who is marketing?
First off, I agree with Chris’ principle that “marketing” or promotion can be as simple as putting a link to a personal blog post on Twitter or bringing attention to an accomplishment. It can also mean talking about your company, your products, or your clients in a way that is meant to bring attention. On Twitter at least, attention is gold.
So, do we market to each other? Indeed we do. Some marketing is subtler than others, but virtually everyone on social networks is doing some form of it, aware or not.
How do we market?
Here I mean, is there an etiquette to marketing in social networks? Of course there is! People whose only message is “come see my site” get ignored. People who gain trust (see next section) and disclose what they are talking about can be successful.
the other part of etiquette is keeping it relevant. Is the audience you have the right one for that message? That can be tough, as I don’t always know everything about everyone in my groups, though I try.
Don’t just drop your message out of the sky, either. Craft some context– or better yet, use existing context to make your message/product/client interesting.
Building your network, building trust, and mixing personal and professional
This is the most important part. Again, not every message on Twitter or Facebook entreaty can be an in-your-face pitch, even if you do disclose (and you had better). Build relationships by participating in other groups, clicking on the links other people send, commenting and conversing.
Show your personality. Show them how clever or smart you are, what you like, what you don’t like, even how you are feeling (I personally don’t want to know what you had for lunch however). follow conversation off the network and onto the members’ blogs and podcasts. the more you do that, the more people will join your audience, and the more they will trust you– and consider thew PR/marketing messages that you throw in among the rest of your discourse.
This means, inevitably, that you mix personal and professional. This is where social networking is headed. The people who lament the mix on Facebook need to get over it, and embrace the mix. Who you are is very important to the work you do.
I hold stuff back online– it’s a wise move. Draw your lines, and stick to them, and you’ll be fine.
To Market, to Market…
So, marketing and PR is fair game in social networks. As in any communications, just craft the right message delivered at the right time in the right way to the right people (that’s a bit of a twist on an old duke Ellington quote by the way).
Would you expect any other conclusion from a PR Flak?
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