AMA Seminar: It’s Not Web 2.0. It’s Not Web 3.0. It’s Simply LIFE!

A few employees from Thorp & Company recently attended a seminar about social media titled: It’s Not Web 2.0. It’s Not Web 3.0. It’s Simply LIFE! The seminar was hosted by the American Marketing Association South Florida, Gold Coast PR, Social Media Club of South Florida and Women in Communications. Peter Shankman, CEO/Founder of The Geek Factory and founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO) was the guest speaker.

Yaneisy Blanco, an employee who attended the event, thought the seminar was helpful in deciphering the basics of what social media is and how people and businesses can start using it.

Shankman discussed several topics concerning social media as a tool, including social networking, viral marketing and ways to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. for your business and goals.

He emphasized four points that can help professionals ride the wave of social media:

1. Transparency – Basically, companies need to be truthful.

• “If the CEO is on Facebook or Twitter – it better be the CEO or president of the company,” he said.
• Also, if the firm or company is on Twitter or Facebook, it should be clear that the messages are coming from the firm’s voice.

2. Relevance – Ask customers, clients and employees how they like to get their information and news, whether it be through e-mail, browsing Web sites, online newsletters, webcasts, TV, radio or traditional print news.

• The best way to do this is by picking up the phone and having a conversation – not through a survey online or in an e-mail.
• Customers want personalized interaction, and if you give them information and news the way they want it, they will appreciate it and remember you.

3. Brevity – How long do you have to get a client/customer/reporter’s attention?

• You used to have 3 minutes because the audience you were trying to reach was from the MTV era when short video clips that grabbed our attention were 3 minutes long, said Shankman.
• The current generation, on the other hand, that will be writing our news and running our companies, has the attention span of 140 characters (the Twitter era), and you typically have 2.7 seconds to get someone’s attention if you don’t already have a relationship with him/her; this includes reporters reading a pitch.
• The idea is to be relevant and brief.

4. Top of Mind – Create a top of mind presence to be the first person or company that comes to a person’s mind when they need a service or product.

• The simple way of getting to this point is to treat the customer 1% above well, said Shankman. We live in a society where everyone expects to be treated average with slow or delayed service, but if you treat someone just one step above average and give them a little more attention, then they’ll remember you and you’ll be at top of mind.
• We are moving toward a one-network society, meaning everyone is in everyone else’s network someway or another, which will have a serious impact on the both personal and professional lives.

The overall point of Shankman’s discussion was that social media is just another set of communications tools. If you don’t understand them or have a plan to use the tools, then they are useless. First, listen and understand how your audience is using these tools before engaging. Don’t just jump in and waste your time and money. In order to get full exposure and to use the tools to their full power – learn the basics first.