social media » LunaWeb

Step Zero: A (once) unwritten rule

Posted by lunaweb on May 14, 2010 2 Responses »

May 142010

With a social media expert or guru at every turn these days, we’re bombarded with rules and best practices and top tips to be the kings or queens of social business. Do this, don’t do that, always say this, never say that. But in the muck and mire of all these bullet points, we seem to forget the fundamental rule.

We’re calling that rule Step Zero.

Step Zero: If businesses become operative within social media without regard to their community, they become irresponsible and oppressive.

"Laptop Megaphone" by jj_pappas423 on Flickr

We’re aware of these boundaries in the real world: an overzealous sales associate who stalks each new customer with nonstop pleas for service: “May I help you?” “Would you like to try that on?” “What are you looking for today?” A customer is likely to walk out of the store every time. But in terms of the web, it takes a different form: countless fan page requests, despite denial time and time again. And then there’s the megaphone effect, when businesses use social profiles as a megaphone to broadcast their message, without actually participating in the community.

All other subsequent “laws” hinge upon this idea. We often forget that real world rules and courtesies apply within the web. Bombarding social profiles with requests and suggestions is no way to earn business. Once this intangible, invisible line is crossed, marketing efforts become oppressive.

People are generous to extend some level of accepting interruptions. By connecting with businesses online, customers are granting permission for marketing purposes, but don’t take advantage of this generosity. If business exceeds this level, the community will regard it as being socially irresponsible and insulting.

In case you haven’t heard, Google is currently hosting a nation wide competition to give a few lucky communities around the country super-fast fiber optic broadband networks – and Memphis is vying for one of those spots. This is an incredibly competitive initiative. Don’t believe us? Just check out what some cities are doing to get Google’s attention.

Google Fiber promises Internet speed up to a one gigabit per second – that’s three hundred times faster than typical home broadband service. The real coup of winning a bid for Fiber, though, would be that Google plans to take this service to every home and business in the chosen communities, regardless of the neighborhood’s commercial potential. An investment of that magnitude could transform an entire city.

So where do you come in? If Memphis wants to be a real contender, then Google needs to hear from members of our community. Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton wrote in his blog ways that we, as Memphians, can help the cause. The first step and one of the easiest (but most important) things you can do is to fill out Google’s web questionnaire for community members, stating your support for Memphis, Tennessee.

Filing the questionnaire is simple. If you don’t have a Google account, then just click here to sign up. If you do, then go ahead and Nominate Your Community. When you are finished, press “submit.”

And if you’re looking to get more involved, there are other ways to help. The city is gathering video testimonials, written letters of support, web content and links to Memphis supporters’ Web sites this week only. You can help by making a one to two minute video of you or your friends talking about why you believe Memphis is the best city for Google Fiber. It doesn’t have to be anything over the top or expensive — even a cell phones video stating the case would make a difference.

E-mail the video file once it’s done and it will be posted to the city’s YouTube channel for Google to review.

Let’s not let this opportunity pass us by, Memphis — we want Google Fiber and we can be the ones to help make it happen.

This week Google began rolling out its latest brainchild: real-time search. How cool! I can see Twitter updates about an interstate traffic accident and Facebook posts about ski conditions on a mountain! At least that’s what their tutorial video tells me.

And sure, there are plenty of benefits to real-time search. It’s got lots of sparkle and shine to it – the idea that you can search literally everything that’s being said about a given topic on the web right at this instant. It’s a fascinating innovation, but it comes with huge risk factors.

"Annoying Noises Prohibitted (sic)" by BarelyFitz on Flickr

As businesses become aware that their Facebook page – which may only have a hundred or so fans – is being indexed by Google, the temptation will be great to deck out updates with SEO-friendly terms and inundate the stream to grab that coveted top spot in the search. With search results automatically updating in real time, one post a day isn’t going to cut it. If you update about tomato soup in the morning and someone searches for tomato soup in the afternoon, your update likely won’t appear – it will have been pushed down by all the other people who’ve raved about tomato soup since 9 a.m.

Ultimately, while businesses can benefit greatly from being involved in social media, these platforms were not created for businesses. They were created for individual users. Still, very often a business’s presence on Facebook is a good thing for those individual users – as fans, they get benefits like exclusive deals and discounts and they can keep up with events at their favorite local venues. But Google is dangling a pretty tasty looking carrot in front of businesses with real-time search; if they bite, the utilities of social sites for individuals may soon be overshadowed by superfluous, constant updates that are a huge turn-off for most every user.

It’s certainly not surprising that a business would go to great lengths to nab the No. 1 spot in a Google search. Before now, that might have involved expensive SEO consulting and tedious copy writing to try to get in good with the algorithm. Real-time search is like a secret passageway, letting them bypass the algorithm entirely simply by having a social media presence.

But for those of us hanging out on Facebook, and not on the Google results page? As the Grinch himself once said, all the noise, noise, noise, noise, noise! We’re going to see much more of it on Facebook and Twitter. We may soon find businesses posting anything and everything to up their search rankings. But is that ranking more important than genuine fans or followers who are interested in your message or your product/service? If it’s the Google ranking, eventually those fans may go by the wayside, either by removing your page entirely or hiding your updates from their feeds.

There’s a fine line to walk. It would be foolish to ignore the possibilities of real-time search. You shouldn’t completely throw SEO principles out the window. But this does inject one more artificial aspect into the conversation that may push people away if not handled correctly. If it weren’t for the people using these networks, they wouldn’t have any value. If businesses turn up the noise too much those users are going to retreat. The back channel will have truly gone mainstream, and the value for the individual will wane quickly.

As for Google’s motives with this, we can’t help but feel like we’ve run into another snake-oil salesman. Hey, Facebook and Twitter and MySpace! We’ll give your sites lots of search love by listing real-time web updates in our search results. Sound good?

On the surface, it does. But if this results in increased noise, it may eventually be a detriment to these social sites. The habits of traditional marketing are hard to kick, and it won’t take long before businesses start picking up their megaphones. Our word to businesses? Be careful. Be smart and be savvy — you don’t want to get left in the dust — but be careful.

You can doodle and paint. You can figure out the name of that mystery song on the radio. You can even auto-tune yourself, all with the click of an iPhone app. Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, “there’s an app for that” has become the buzz phrase for just about any functionality you can dream up in a mobile device — and now, there’s an app for arts in Memphis.

As of Sept. 24, iPhone users can access comprehensive calendars to find arts events in the city, Google Map the destination, get tickets and post a review of the event all with the newly launched ArtsMemphis app. And if you can’t get out to see the real thing, you can watch ArtsMemphis TV for a helping of local culture from pretty much anywhere.

Lucky for us (and hopefully you), Lindsey Coates, ArtsMemphis manager of marketing and communications, will be the featured speaker at our upcoming breakfast. She’ll be able to fill us in on the development process for the app — on which ArtsMemphis worked with local developers ResoluteGames — and also how ArtsMemphis is using its new iPhone connections plus Twitter and other web 2.0 functions to reach arts lovers in and outside of Memphis in a totally new way. Plus, as a non-profit, ArtsMemphis faces its own unique challenges when it comes to web marketing and social media. Coates will address those challenges and how they’ve been working through them during ArtsMemphis’ 18-month process of establishing a social media presence.

As usual, we’ll be at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, with breakfast and casual conversation before the presentation and core conversations afterward. Please RSVP at the Social Media Expedition Meetup page, and do so quickly; we do have a limited number of seats available.

@LunaWeb

The Social Expedition Podcast

The Social Expedition Blog

Step Zero: A (once) unwritten rule

Memphis wants Google Fiber ... and the City needs your help!

Google's real-time search could turn up the noise on social sites

Social Expedition October Breakfast: No need to starve like an artist

@LunaWeb

The Social Expedition Podcast

The Social Expedition Blog

Tags