Social media: Not a business strategy. Not an option

I get about 12 mailings and emails today that talk about social media as a "business strategy" or offering to provide training for those thinking of implementing social media programs. This kind of thing totally misses the point.

Social media isn't a business strategy and it isn't an option.

Seth Godin had a great post earlier this week in which he wrote

"[The Net] wasn't invented by business people, and it doesn't exist to help your company make money."

Social media has a life of its own and will exist and proliferate based on user interest, not institutional priority. Just building a social networking community or having a presence in Facebook doesn't mean that you're engaging people -- in fact, it can actually diminish your efforts if people take the time to sign on or register and realize that no value has been added.

We need to remember that we don't control social media. That's why it's called social. At most, you can create the platform, seed it with good tools, topics and the right kind of people, and then support it as the conversation happens.

Comments

[Morgan]

This is one of the first posts I've read on Social Media that has made sense... most just talk about it in abstract buzzwords without ever really addressing how, practically, you go from social media to profit:

1) Your Company
2) Social Media
3) ???
4) PROFIT!

Cheerleaders for the latest hyped media form get tiresome.

[melicharlie]

Morgan -

Thanks for the comment -- it's great to see you on here. I just picked you blog back up again. I know you were on hiatus for a while, so it's great to have you back.

As for this post, it's something that really bugs me. I was reading another blog recently that went on about social media strategy and then talked about using posed shots for admission publications. Blargh!

I think there's still a need for folks to not only shift the tactics from traditional to social media, but to really embrace what it means to DO social media (step 1: no posed shots).

[Morgan]

I think I just get touchy about buzz words when they're used to cover a fundamental lack of understanding. On the other hand, I would *love* to actually DO social media in my job. In fact, I intend to once the whole OpenSocial and Facebook Connect stuff shakes out...

[Michael Staton]

Ah.... I was wondering why you'd unsubscribe. I can see here now.

But, I think that people whose jobs fundamentally rely on them constant thinking of advancing institutional priorities will consistently try to frame the new ways of using the web with their operational paradigm. So, having them participate because it's part of their strategy is okay. They will realize though that its much more human than that as they work through it.

Or what if you were doing this all along and now suddenly it is part of your strategy? Does that make you a Social Media poser like the ones that are only using it to advance themselves?