Yesterday I talked about “what is social media.” Obviously you need to know what something is before you can decide if it’s right for you. But the next most important question is why are you there?

And no, because some blogger said that “everyone must have a Facebook page” is not a good reason.

There are lots of good reasons to be there. And your reason is going to influence what social media channel(s) you use.

Here are a list of reasons people engage in social media:

1. To keep up with far-flung family and friends
2. To make loyal customers more loyal
3. To find new customers
4. To stalk…I mean keep up with…celebrities and their antics
5. To keep up with the news
6. To be known as an expert in some field
7. To market a book or a product from their website
8. To extend the geographic reach and recognition of their brand
9. To offer a better customer service experience
10. To attract customers from certain age groups

And the list goes on. Your reason might be one of the above, or it might be something entirely different.

Certain social media channels are better than others for accomplishing your goals. Facebook is a better channel to keep up with family and friends than Twitter. Twitter is a great way to spread your message widely and to build relationships in other parts of the country, or the world. A blog is just about required to be seen as a thought leader in a particular field.

It’s not enough to just sign up for a Twitter account. If you don’t know why you have that account, odds are you won’t do anything with it. Or you may be doing good things with it that don’t meet your goals.

Example. A couple of weeks ago, I met with a prospect. Their goal with social media was to extend their reach. When they get a client, that client stays very loyal because their product is that awesome. So they need more clients. Lots more clients. What social media channel are they using? A personal Facebook page. Which is great for keeping in touch with family and terrible for extending their reach. Not to mention in violation of Facebook’s terms of service (you can’t use a personal page for commercial gain).

See why knowing your goal is so important? Their page is active. And their loyal customers friend them and interact with them. But that’s not their ultimate goal. If someone had asked them why they are using social media before they set up a page, they could have found a more effective channel. Like Twitter. Or Foursquare. And since they are a specialty shop, a Yahoo! Group might be effective as well.

If you are already engaged in social media, stop and ask the question. Why am I here? Make sure your channels are the right ones. If you are thinking about social media, ask the same question. The answer may guide you in a totally unexpected direction.

Tags: blogging, Relationship building, social media

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 11:26 am and is filed under social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.