Is Your Social Media Productive?

When people are looking for something they simply want to find it with the least amount of effort and  time.  Time and effort are elements of productivity.

In the market of global conversations value is created when suppliers help consumers save time and be more productive.  When a supplier steals time and limits productivity it is a clear indication that they do not think about what customers value. In other words they are anti-social.

Time To ReThink?

How many times have you encountered the following?

• Landing on a web page only to find a pop up ad or an attempt to try and force you to register.
• Gone to a retail store and not being able to find where the product your looking for is displayed
• Calling customer service only to hear a recording that tells you to wait until someone can get to you
• Finding great content to share with your audience only to find that your blocked from sharing

The examples abound which are indicative of a market that thinks less about the consumer and does things that clearly indicate that they themselves don’t think.   We’ve written numerous articles demonstrating examples of major media firms, retail stores and yes even those sites claiming to use “social media” only to find that they steal the consumers time and make people less productive.

Unproductive Content

Content represents communications. Communications is the fiber of any economy. Today it is the economy. Content, good content, perpetuates knowledge. Knowledge ignites creativity. Creativity ignites innovation.  If your content is “constrained” from access then you are limiting ones ability to share knowledge, ignite creativity and create innovation.

If you think your content is proprietary, valuable and worthy of “constraint” then that attitude also reflects limited thinking and a scarcity mentality.  Content becomes valuable only when it can be propagated. Without propagation of content there is limited market awareness.  Without market awareness there is little room for propagation.  Unless your content is being propagated your not getting attention, attraction, affinity to an audience who is likely to create “action” from or with your work.

You ask “what kind of action?“  The more people are aware of your work, engaged in your thinking and sharing your thoughts with others the greater chance you have of increasing your audience.  An audience will “act” on value. Promote your work, position your thinking and bring  traffic, people to you.  Traffic is the reason “highways are built“. A highway enables more people to get to a destination faster.  A destination is a place where people conduct commerce, exchange currency and congregate.

If your content is the destination what “actions” are people likely to take?  People are likely to learn from your content and share it with others.  In the world filled with information the value of “conversational currency” is what ultimately creates economic value.  You get value from free when free is turned into an audience that appreciates the value and shares it.  Appreciation converts to revenue when the actions of an audience validates the value received.  Unless an audience validates the value you offer there is no worthy or valuable action to follow.

Taking peoples time and stealing their productivity adds no value. Get it?

What say you?

About Jay: Jay Deragon’s professional career includes providing strategic management consulting services to Fortune 500 companies as well as local small businesses. He has consulted with numerous industries spanning over 25 years of professional experience globally. His current professional endeavors are all centric to the disruptive nature of the social web. He writes at Relationship Economy and provides social media strategic services to businesses large and small. Jay Deragon is an avid student of the emerging landscape of all things social and the subsequent impact on business dynamics. Since 2004 Mr. Deragon has been actively studying, sharing and learning how business as unusual is changing business methods, models and relationships. Life is a journey and the experiences along the way provides learning that furthers the experiences if we know how and what to learn. for more info go here http://www.relationship-economy.com/?page_id=2

Tagged as: Anti-Social Media, brand marketing, business disruption, business exchange, business transformation, Conversational Currency, conversational marketing, social business, social commerce, Social Media, social media productivity, social media roi, Socialutions, twitter, Value of Free