How to Find Your Social Business Stage

“The good thing about social media is that it gives everyone a voice. The bad thing is… it gives everyone a voice.” – Katie Couric

Katie Couric wrote this in her foreword for Brian Solis’ new book, ‘The End of Business As Usual’ where he dissects what it means to be a social consumer (and marketer) in our revolutionary, digital age.

What Couric says couldn’t be more relevant for the analysis of how social media has manifested within our global society. The World Wide Web and prevalence of blogs has allowed anyone to have a voice, enlightening far-reaching communities of atrocities, victories and events from personal and uncensored perspectives. Under the same principles, these outlets have produced an endless amount of nonsense. 

I read the foreword in the hope of gaining tips for my own social media work, however, it inspired a whole new train of thought that was, in a way, political. Maybe it was the twinge of homesickness an expat sometimes feels, but Katie’s words led me to think about social and political independence from an American perspective.

Americans list Freedom of Speech rights among the most important of civil liberties. The First Amendment is a corner stone of democratic rule: in order to maintain equal representation, everyone’s voice must have the same right to be heard. Yet what the Founding Fathers failed to predict was that someday, there would be a tool to put this liberty into action.

Now not only those in democratic states, but anyone with access to the Internet can actualize this freedom. Insightful content has indeed reached mass audiences, but many are beginning to ask, ‘Do we actually want to hear what everyone has to say?’

The Dissent

Renowned entrepreneur, Jason Calacanis, is blunt in his interpretation of what web 2.0 has and should become: “There are a lot of stupid people out there… and stupid people shouldn’t write. There needs to be a better system for tuning down the stupid people and turning up the smart people.” Calacanis anticipates a backlash to this excess content, which he calls, ‘The Age of Expertise.’

“People and blogs will continue, but I think that experts will inherit the space,” says Calacanis.

Despite criticism for his analysis, this evolution in social media – specifically with content sharing - may have already begun.

The Emerging Criterion

Anyone can create a blog URL. But just like anyone in a democratically elected society can in theory run for political office, there is a certain criterion that must be fulfilled in order to gain credibility, exposure and influence. (No, I am not just talking about net worth. Although this does, in any case, help.)

This criterion within social media, from a marketing perspective, is the ability to communicate superiority. You must not only demonstrate expertise, but illustrate knowledge in an engaging and memorable way. Thought leaders within today’s social media are not just writers; they are creative producers focusing on topics in which they have pronounced expertise.

So what does this mean for social media and the blogosphere?

Social Media and the Blogosphere

Most would argue the relevance of blogging is not going anywhere. Many who have spent the last several years building a powerful reputation through strong content production, optimization, backlinks and a regimented plan have achieved and maintained the level of exposure they hope for. But what about all of those people who are exemplary content producers – with viable work experience and creative know-how who have tried ­to increase referrals, conversions and revenue with a corporate blog and still had little or no success?  What about the ones who are starting now, who are stuck in between?

What I see are the same creative blogs being posted and re-filtered, everyday. There are experts - creative masterminds who travel in the same rings of inspiring and intelligent people, influencing and reinforcing each other’s careers.

These people come at a sharp contrast to the mindless ranters, who dilute the same networks where the exemplary producers can be found. 

This discrepancy presents two problems:

    There is no reliable system in place that can rate the effectiveness of these blogs or aggregate sites (sorry, Klout). We rely on word of mouth (thank you, Twitter) and our ability to conduct a strong, accurate Google search.
    With such a large gap between the leaders and losers, it is difficult to discover newcomers who may inspire us as much, if not more, than our existing influencers.

Challenges of the Flooded System

Imagine a flat room impacted with people, where everyone is shouting about his or her new ideas. Several in the room will be able to collect a meaningful following - interacting with other intelligent and convincing people (networking) and using the same key words among various circles, having others easily identify their mission (SEO).

Enter: You.

You are a latecomer in the group and are having a hard time being heard. The keywords that most closely relate to your ideas are already associated with other people. Circles that are relevant to your ideas and plans are already bursting with “leaders.” You remain one of the masses.

What can you do?

    Troll: You could troll your way around cliques and insert yourself in an aggressive way. While this may garner attention, it likely will leave you with social scarring and little dignity in tact.
    Spam: You could handout endless promotional pieces in the hope that someone will remember and respond to your plead. 

Actual Ways to Combat the Flooded System

You can also find a way to leverage yourself amongst the crowd, to become elevated above the noise of the widespread community. You find a small group of people who have built a stage – a stage meant to project ideas and command attention… you hop on stage, and to your surprise, are heard.

This is a very literal analogy, however the point remains: in the flat world of Web 2.0, we must find ways to leverage our ideas and content without being overbearing.

Leveraging Techniques:

    Communicating with already established social media leaders via Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Quora and commenting on their blog posts is a way to start.
    Guest posting on relevant blogs is another.
    Perhaps the leveraging tool with the most autonomous power (other than the blog itself) is the ability to create a profile and compose content on a publishing platform. With an active community already in place, the leveraging begins before you even publish your first words. It breads the opportunity to be heard amongst relevant people and to discover new avenues simple by your chosen method of sharing. 

Reconciliation

Clearly, I have been influenced by my experience at exploreB2B as I promote this approach to filtering, discovering and leveraging ideas. However, I feel it’s my duty to share the knowledge I have learned by working in this position. The concept of social leveraging isn’t about exploreB2B (well, I guess it is maybe a little). It is about confronting the reality that there are ways to supplement blogging and enhance your content marketing strategy.

Maybe the way to reconcile the concern of Katie Couric and frustration of Jason Calacanis is to create an environment where there is equal opportunity to be heard - but where leaders are determined by their relevance and where there is an amplifying system in place that increases your chances of first being heard.

Welcome to your stage.

 Culled from: https://exploreb2b.com