(Please note: This article was originally written and posted last year by Vicky Czarniecki but has been reviewed and updated to reflect new insights)
Why do we at Collective Intellect get so excited about social media and think it’s worth your while to understand from a corporate standpoint?
Social media is a cultural tool. It plays so many roles. Social Media is a community, a sounding board, an educator, a recommender, direction giver, exploration tool, news/weather and alert giver. Think of all the cool, new things you’ve found organically as a result of social media. If you are active on Twitter, you know what I mean. All of these uses facilitate connection. You share with a friend, they share with a friend, and the list goes on and on. By sharing what we find it becomes ingrained in our society, effecting and growing our cultural mindset.
To lend some credibility to that point, here are a couple of examples of the social media effect on pop culture: Think about how many spoofs you saw after the dancing wedding party hit YouTube. How many weddings have you been to that played off the same idea? People wondered why Justin Bieber trended for so long on Twitter. It’s easy – think of it as TRL fans that no longer need to stand outside MTV studios in Times Square holding up posters and screaming for their favorite celebrity. They can go online and customize their Twitter page to reflect their adoration, change their handle to profess their love, and “talk” directly to him.
This isn’t limited to just our society; culture from across the globe can now easily mix with others. With the advancement of social media, people have been given the opportunity to express themselves, their ideas, their art and creativity. The fact that you can look at something posted from miles away signals a shift in how regional and world culture is spread. We don’t live in bubbles as much as we might think.
Keeping your eye on what society is saying about you online can give you a great indication of where your brand is going and how it is perceived. It is human nature to talk about ourselves and social media lets us indulge. In many cases, the information you get from these public proclamations are more raw and truthful than anything you could get from a traditional survey or focus group.
By following social media, you get the opportunity to see how your brand fits into the cultural landscape. Where do you fall versus where you want to be? The great thing is, you can modify your brand message and potentially watch it move into the spot where you want to be. Analytic tools like the ones we offer allow you to report pertinent metrics to solidify online efforts and validate your campaigns.
New networks and applications enter the market every day, so it is important to have a wide view of social media and recognize where you are being most talked about. As the market changes and expands, we look forward to new opportunities to connect.
The author, Vicky Czarniecki (@vickying), is a Project Manager and Senior Social Media Analyst; employed at Collective Intellect since May 2008. She is driven by her interest in digital anthropology and social media’s impact on societies, snowboarding and enjoying what Colorado has to offer.
