How to Reach Most People Using Social Media
If you’re like most people, you don’t know the difference between an iPhone and an Android-based phone.
That’s according to Marco Arment, who recently wrote an interesting piece on why Android-based phone manufacturers are making a mistake by rapidly producing newer, fancier phones instead of creating a single product—like the iPhone—that just works for most people. His summary up Android’s problem:
Most people don’t read gadget blogs or even know what Android is.
Read Marco’s post if you’re interested in more discussion about smart phones, but I want to talk about “most people,” who they are and why they’re important.
Marco is right. Most people don’t read gadget blogs. Most people don’t read marketing blogs either.
People who work with social media feel the need to stay up-to-date on the latest Facebook and Twitter news, while the rest of the world (e.g. most people) happily stays behind. Because of this, social media experts immerse themselves in marketing and technology blogs and risk losing touch with the rest of the world. There’s a common term for this breed of tail-chasing social media expert, but I won’t write it here because most people would find it offensive.
Know this: most people don’t want to join a conversation with you. They don’t know what a hashtag is. They don’t use their phones to check in everywhere they go.
Most people want to stay up-to-date on the people and things they care about. Facebook and Twitter help them do this, so most people know what Facebook and Twitter are, but most people don’t know what “social media” is.
It’s important to understand how social media can help get your message out, but make sure most people care about what you have to say. Also, make sure they can understand it.
My cheat sheet for remembering what most people want is this David Ogilvy quote from Ogilvy on Advertising:
Consumers still buy products whose advertising promises them value for money, beauty, nutrition, relief from suffering, social status and so on. All over the world. In saying this, I run the risk of being denounced by the idiots who hold that any advertising technique which has been in use for more than two years is ipso facto obsolete.
Social media isn’t advertising, but the point of the quote still stands: most people are looking for a few basic things. If you want most people to listen to you, show them how you help with the basics.
Comments