Social Business: Where is Your Focus?

Posted by Analisa, Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 6:26 pm, under Social Marketing.

“Platforms are the means. People are the focus.”

This quote is taken from a presentation by VP of Social Media at Razorfish (a digital marketing agency) Shiv Singh, on Social Influence Marketing.

He points out an important distinction here. A business existing on social networks should be putting effort into listening, engaging and contributing…not into building a flashy profile. The people on social networks are what give social media value, not the networks themselves!

Think of Facebook, for example, as a house, where millions of people live. A business with a presence on Facebook needs to focus on interacting with its fellow inhabitants (fans), not on renovating, decorating and pimping out its room in the  house (a fan Page).

Singh also modifies a quote (originally from Peter Drucker) that makes an interesting point:

“The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.”

Replace “business” with “social influence marketing” and you almost have yourself an excellent definition. However, I don’t think that social media is about creating customers. That’s what your website is for — selling your product. But your social networks are about making fans out of your customers. This is what we firmly believe should be every business’ approach to the Social Web. You are here to create brand ambassadors, not necessarily customers.

See the context in this slide show:

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