What is Social media? A lot of folks are asking, and answered that question. A very informative dissertation by Patrick James Cavanaugh starts by answering this question. As the paper continued, it inspired me to explore the question from the client-engagement perspective - How might different stakeholders answer the question? Here, I reference a few base answers, and then present a basic conversation slide to help an unengaged client think about what social media is. I'd love to hear from others who used a similar or different approach.
The most basic definition of social media comes from Wikipedia. Given the nature of the subject, most consider Wikipedia a primary source for this definition. There are many different flavors of this definition; I really liked this one from Jim Cuene:
I'm going to rip off Dan Zane's definition of folk music: Social media is media for social people. Or, a slightly more complicated version: Social media is the online content left by people as a by-product of being social online. It's the media that results when folks write, review, share, trade, connect, etc. online.
Marta Kagen has put a wonderful presentation together on what social media is and why anyone should care. You must flip through this. . . it's truly eye-opening!
Given the proliferation and breadth of answers, I want to crystallize an understanding for my client conversations. I propose a quick and easy communication piece to bring focus to what social media means-AND to make it more meaningful- to the audience, a potential client. Below is a slide that drafts a stakeholder* grid of social media benefits, challenges, and next steps:
*These are just 4 that I thought through; there are certainly others one should consider (e.g., HR, production)
This could be a great back-pocket communication piece if you happen to be involved in a conversation solely on social media. Even better, this will be built into my proposal decks for service platform optimization projects – social media is a key element for that, and relatively new and foreign for my clients. A simple slide like this, matched with conversation on what my clients' personal experiences have been seems like a great way to break any fear barriers.
I'll be interested to know if others have used a similar communication tool to start a conversation with a potential client.
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