The term “social media” is one of those things that is both mystical and well-understood. When the context of the “social media” discussion is in common terms amongst conversational banter, then the term is fairly well defined and understood by most people. When the context is in business, sales, and marketing, however, it immediately takes on an ambiguous, hard-to-pinpoint overtone of near-reverence (or frustration, depending on the speaker).
The difference between the two connotations is the subject of vast amounts of online discussion (often on said social media). Yet it’s plainly obvious to anyone who objectively considers the question. In the first case, social media is the tool that is being used to communicate – it’s utilitarian, in that sense. In the second case, social media is the weird, hard-to-harness sales format the business is attempting to use to try to make money.
The only difference is the perception that adding in money puts on things. Much like the way friendships change when they become business partnerships, so does social media change when the user moves from socialite to marketer. Yet this change is entirely in perception, not in the tools themselves.
Think about it. When we use social media to engage on a personal level, we use “social utility” to communicate with and otherwise interact with our contacts in a helpful way. When we use it to in sales, we use it to communicate and interact with our contacts, but often leave out the “social utility” part and thus aren’t nearly as helpful because our focus becomes on “me” rather than “you.”
Consider this: if you approach a sales prospect on the street, your pitch will be all about how much THEY will benefit from the product you’re offering. It’s all about appealing to them and their sense of need or desire. On social media, the same approach works. Focus on THEM and they’ll come to you wanting to buy.
In other words, keep the social utility included in your social media marketing efforts. Be helpful, entertaining, and useful to others and they’ll naturally be attracted to your efforts as an individual sales person or a corporate brand.
The most engaging use of social marketing is in treating it like a (reasonable) personal social media interaction with plenty of social utility. Help other people when you can, even if it gives no direct or obvious benefit to you to do so. Those people (and the others watching) will appreciate you for it and will therefore see you or your company (or both) in a positive light. This adds that ambiguous, but very real “social value” that companies (especially smaller ones) strive so hard for.