Web 2.0 Rule #5: Work to be momentous in your social media program, not a "me-too!" brand scattered across a million platforms.

Note: This post is part of a current series for both B2Bs and B2Cs that explores 10 (essential!) Rules That No Marketer Should Pass The "Web 2.0 Go" Without. All posts in the series are archived here. In this post we illuminate:  

Web 2.0 Rule #5: Work to be momentous in your social media program, not a "me-too!" brand scattered across a million platforms.

Marketing is a profession comprised of equal parts art and science, a craft that necessitates competencies located on both the left and right sides of the brain.  But focus is a discipline. It’s not a talent or an aptitude that we are born with, it's a skill that we must learn and forever work to hone.  

Focus has always been a challenge for marketers. It’s why positioning around one word and pinpointing one value proposition is such a difficult process of choice and commitment. It’s also why growing one’s brand to tap new opportunities--while being careful not to dilute a brand’s "reason-for-being"--is a best practice, and a mighty big balancing act.

But now marketers face the ultimate test of focus. Because now they are faced with navigating through the social media morass: a veritable Web 2.0 bonanza of blogs, microblogs, wikis, podcasts, videos, Facebook fan groups, MySpace pages, image networks, vertically focused social networks, online communities, link sharing networks, lifestreaming technologies and many more... with many more applications and platforms debuting every day.

Phew!

There’s tremendous pressure on marketers to launch efforts across all these platforms. But there’s also the *stark* reality that once they do, they need to keep blogging, commenting, tweeting, following, friending, facebooking and podcasting. After all, unlike tradeshows and advertising campaigns with finite start and end dates, these efforts keep going (and going).

Is it any wonder that it’s so noisy in here? Is it any stretch of the imagination to understand why the Social Web is littered with so many abandoned blogs, inactive twitter accounts, fan-less fan pages and RSS feeds that, instead of being fed with juicy new content, go hungry for weeks on end?

As with all your marketing initiatives, you want to be meaningful, memorable and momentous. Not a "me-too!" brand scattered across too many platforms. You’re striving to stand OUT. Not blend in. You’re looking to provide your markets with strong signal. Not more noise. And you want to be remembered (and recommended!). Not forgotten. 

So you can’t merely stake a flag across various platforms and move on. Conversely, you need to plant seeds, carefully tend to your efforts and cultivate a community and an avid following around them. Let’s look at some Web 2.0 success stories and what they have in common:

Blendco's "Will it Blend" is memorable through their series of online videos. Dooce is memorable through her witty blog. AMEX is memorable through their set of business-centric message forums. Zappos is memorable through their employees fervent use of twitter to communicate with and reach out to customers. AllTop is momentous due to aggregating “all the top” RSS feeds by a myriad of topics. The CDC is memorable through their informative widgets that spread information in the best interests of the public's health and well-being.

These brands have created momentous social media programs because they’ve done especially well at focusing on the impact that they can create around one very strong program and one very solid value proposition using one tool. They may use other tools, but what makes them successful... and what makes their social media programs momentous... is doing very well at one special thing, not doing a mediocre, "me-too!" job at a zillion things.

That’s how you’ll be momentous, too. That’s how you’ll create signal (not noise) and how you'll attract, grow and evolve customer relationships, build thriving communities and facilitate favorable WOM that leads to Brand ROI.

Unlike the Web 2.0 wasteland of fan pages, twitter accounts and blogs that are launched with a big push only to grow lifeless and stale a few months later because the marketing department realized that there is no way, given their budgets and bandwidth, they can maintain a dynamic presence across so many online properties.

Oops!

Now, let me be clear: I am not advising that marketers don’t take advantage of the many tools and platforms available to boost their marketing efforts. These tools provide rich new opportunities and companies must remain relevant among their audiences and against their competitors.

But I am absolutely, positively advising that, as a key part of their social media strategic planning, the marketing team take an honest, objective look at (#1) pinpointing how and where, given all the available tools and technologies, their brand can make the biggest impact and provide the highest level of value to their target audiences and, equally important, (#2) ensuring that they have the resources that they'll need to support their social media programs--all of their programs. Remember, as I said above, social media programs don't end. They need constant love, care and commitment.

This is especially important given that companies which have dedicated resources for social media are still the exception not the rule, so the majority of businesses are using their existing resources to manage their social media efforts. And since these professionals are wading into social media waters for the first time their learning curves are at an all-time high.

Once you have made sure that you are delivering on these fronts, you can always add more to your social media marketing mix. Just be careful to walk before you run—but walk strong and your market will take the journey with you. Follow this rule and you’ll thank me for it... more important, your markets will thank you for it.

More posts providing insight and direction stemming from this rule:

• A comprehensive checklist of questions to help in your social media strategic planning is located here.
• In Web 2.0, we "market from scratch," learn more here.
• Both your brand AND your social media programs must provide value to your audiences, learn why here.

Rule #6 comes your way next....

(Psst! all posts in this series are archived here)

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