Social Media- The New Weapon to Target Intelligent Users

Earlier, the interaction moved in only one direction. The consumers used the old paradigms where they only tend to follow what the marketeers wanted them to. But with the introduction of Internet and Internet marketing at its peak, it has given birth to an Intelligent user and the interaction has become more and more easy and readily available. No longer is the customer a fool, and the vendor a smart jack. The customer is now intelligent enough and knows how to deal with the current market where each and everyone is taking part in this cat-and-dog’s race.

Out of the ample of new weapons and strategic plans to lure customers, social media is hitting the bars. Social media, lets say your Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, MySpace that claims the diminishing effect of the traditional mediums of advertising like print. Its the latest buzz hitting the streets. We can’t even afford to miss Barack Obama’s example wherein he used Twitter during the presidential elections.

“Social media is all about becoming, being, and improving.”

It would be apt to give you an apt definition of social media because this is actually like a wildfire, because people tend to share more words and ideas, pictures, video, and audio at unprecedented rates. To define it in a broader sense, Social Media is an umbrella term to the set of technologies and channels targeted at forming and enabling a potential massive community of participants to collaborate productively and integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures. The new phenomenon takes its shape with the help of a social media and takes a stand amongst the rest.
Taking the others into consideration, one tends to improve itself.

“Social Media puts the “public” into PR and the “market” into marketing.”
- By Chris Brogan

With the outbreak of so much information and communication unencumbered by time, geography or borders, and the techniques to the filtration and organisation of the massive amounts of content and social interactions, social media has become the web to social web ecosystem and has become a part of the everyday lexicon of business. It actually corresponds to putting life into anything. It gives a new dimension to the credibility allocated and unquestioningly to just about anything that is read online.

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”
- By Seth Godin

So, everything in this world has its implications. Since social media is a multi-functional two-way communication system, made up of millions of Intelligent users, and in addition to it, its not just a digital paper. For every one, be it— the intelligent user or the web service provider or a developer, it would have its own implications.

First of all, we would cover its implications on the so called Intelligent Users:

• Its an Asset: Its an investment turned asset, that gives more if you put more. It all depends on your experience and you willingness to put more and more (keeping in consideration the quality of the matter).

• Accept Changes: Try and first use that product before you pass on any judgment. Since, the social media is basically a weapon loaded with the bullets of interaction, therefore, your one wrong comment on a particular product or service can ruin its rapport.

• Constructive Criticism: As mentioned above, comments and suggestions are always welcomed. But the most righteous way of doing it, is to give them constructive criticism. It will help in improvising the industry and won’t hamper any one’s ideas and innovations.

Second of all, the developers are the next target of this blog.

• Your Intelligent User is the priority: Be patient and try and empathise with the suggestions of your users. Ultimately, they are the one who bring in business and generate sales. Negative feedback tends to play a key role in a successful marketing. Don’t let them feel alien to your technological prowess.

• Innovation: “The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It gives them space to be creative, productive and make them learn new things, which they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.” Just be ready to change and try and accept the innovations they demand. Innovation is the key to distinguish between a leader and a follower.

• Don't be afraid of failure: “Well, when you’re trying to create things that are new, you have to be prepared to be on the edge of risk.” You would be certainly knocked down by failures. The only way is to recognise it and it does not matter how many times you fall.

Social media in 2010, is likely to become a part of the everyday lexicon of business. The technology will begin to fade into the background so that the people can actually focus on the relationships that are created because of the technologies, not the technologies themselves. Big companies will allocate big bucks to social. “Twitter will become finally the pace maker for application interfaces. Unlike the thousands of gadgets on Facebook, the more than 2,000 applications for Twitter are actually integrated applications —more than twice as many as for Salesforce.com in just 2 years.”

Social media is a vision that is, perhaps our greatest strength. It has kept us alive to the power and continuity of thought for centuries. It allows us to peep into the future, and lends a shape to the idea.