As one historic rocker said, "The Times They Are a Changing." In the book "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man," published in 1964, author Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase "The Medium is the Message." He said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself.
Welcome to today's world! 2.5 BILLION - Number of visits Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn together received in one month alone.
But unless your communication is relevant and interesting to followers, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, etc., are just tools. Nothing more.
Here's an example:
I advised the Girl Scouts of Western Washington to think carefully about who followed them on Facebook and why. I held it was primarily mothers raising daughters. With that in mind I told them to post only 20% about Girl Scout events and post 80% about helpful articles for mothers raising daughters; stories like how to deal with youth peer pressure, drug pressures, bullying, etc., and then to ask at the end of each story, "What have you tried that has worked for you?"
The outcome? "Likes" went up considerably but more important, engagement posts by followers went up dramatically.
The morale of this story:
1. The medium isn't the message.
2. The content is the message and it must be RELEVANT to the lives of your customers/followers.
3. You can't just post a Facebook logo and expect people to follow your business or nonprofit organization. Give them a reason; give them a benefit.
(c) Joseph Barnes, www.DIGITAL3000.net
