A social media lifestyle part 2.

You are not in control, get over it.

My first post in this series focused on looking past social media as a one stop solution for deeper engagement with consumers. This post focuses on why social networking requires constant engagement.

It’s all still so fluid.

All social networking sites are constantly adding and removing features attempting to do the same as you, engage better with their audience. As well as the networks changing, users reactions to the networks are changing. In the same way as you engage your target audience the tools they use and react to will change over time and message.

This is a huge shift from web 1.0 where a website was published and updated by the publisher when there was new product or announcements. Compared to web 2.o web 1.0 is very static and is controlled by the the publisher. The joy and frustration of using web 2.0 to engage consumers is that it’s always changing. What worked for a message last week will probably, but not necessarily work this week. In other words it’s not static and you don’t control it.

Social media requires a total shift in perspective of how marketers should view their target market. In the past most of your target market read a few select publications and attended a few select events. They were easy to find, define and track. They were also easy to engage. Now they are spread and not where you left them. Like toddlers they are off exploring the new world (there’s an analogy that’s going to get me into trouble).

Successful adoption of social media requires keeping your finger on the pulse of the media itself and your target at all times. Thankfully this is not difficult, just time consuming. There are many, useful tools and avenues for obtaining and cataloging this information.

Remember, with social media you are not in control, get over it.