Social media marketing | Liz Hover's Diary of a Web Gal

Thanks to the excellent Social Media Guide I just came across this. Sound advice from Twitter users.

I’m not the first person to say this and I won’t be the last but I’m getting a bit bored of reading that social media is all about Twitter (or maybe I’m getting bored of reading about Twitter?)

It isn’t. And it never will be.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter. Most of the time.

And most of the time, it loves me back.

But people – there is a world outside Twitter.

I worry about the marketers who think as long as they have a Twitter account they have their social media bases covered.

No. You. Don’t.

I should be thankful that there’s so much interest in Twitter – most of the popular posts on my site from the past 12 months are about Twitter.

This all goes back to what I’ve said before: social media is a silly term. Misleading in fact.

There are many tools ‘out there’ that allow you and me and many others to talk to each other online including Facebook, Twitter et al. Many (most?) websites let you communicate through comments or using sharing tools.

In fact, the internet in general lets us all communicate with each other and have ongoing dialogue. That’s why it’s called ‘the social web.’

So to focus on one website (Twitter) is a mistake. It’s also foolish for websites dedicated to social media to largely be trumpeting Twitter.

There is so much more out there.

And if we’re to teach communication professionals (and anyone else willing to listen) about the benefits of the social web we’re not doing those folks any favours by remaining so narrow-minded.

This isn’t a case of me listing for you all the sites, in addition to Twitter, that make up the collective we call ‘social media tools.’

I’m talking about the entire internet. This blog. Your comments and so much more.

The internet has given us a way to talk to each other. To listen to each other. To share. To create. To manipulate content.

If you’re a communications professional, for the love of God, don’t let Twitter cloud your vision of what social media really is.

Something occurred to me yesterday after writing about why you should be using social media.

The phrase ‘social media’ is a redundant term. We should really be referring to the ‘social web.’

Most of us think of ‘social media’ as a thing. Something for marketers to learn maybe. Something to add to our ‘marketing mix.’ A collective term to describe a number of websites.

But social media is not media at all in the traditional or marketing sense.

It’s an online behaviour.

Because the internet has changed so much in the last few years, the way we use it has also changed. What we publish to the internet is no longer a one-way street.

What social media really is is a more open method of communication across the internet.

Social media is commenting on a blog post or news item on your local news website, sharing photos with your friends and family on Flickr, connecting with folks on Facebook, sharing video on YouTube, microblogging on Twitter. The list goes on and on and on.

It’s a way of behaving on the internet that’s active not passive.

Social media is anything on the internet that involves two way (or many way) communication.

If you really want to ‘get into social media’ you need to change the way you interact on the web.

Don’t just be a consumer of information. Be a creator. Be a commentator. Be a sharer. That’s what social media is really about.

I just found a website made for me: One Degree.

They offer the inside scoop on digital marketing and social media for, get this, Canadian marketers. I am in website heaven.

[Update: May 14, 2009 - I now tweet for One Degree on Twitter.]