Is Social Media Influence an Oxymoron? Someone Asked Me that on Twitter. Here’s MY Answer!

I was tagged with something on Twitter about Social Media Influence Being an Oxymoron.

I got directed to a UK blog to reply to this post asking if Social Media Influence is an Oxymoron. I see it’s gotten lots of attention but I can post MORE when not limited to 140 characters. Jonathan L Davey hit me on twitter to get me here.

If you look back (and I mean more than 15 years– ) to the early emergence of www (wild wild web) and the beginnings of BBS and forums that are so rudimentary compared to what we have now that they are archaic. However there was that social collective being established– an oeuvre if you will (SP?) of a like-minded (0r not- given the problems with people who were not used to connecting online) people on specific topics that generated out to other topics within those arenas.

Social media influence is when that began. The development of why macs were better than linux.. or why pcs were cheaper but more problematic.. all there too.

I was there in those times. I was generating new ideas, platforms, events and presentations during those pre dot com crash days. So if you are post dot com crash.. this might be *yawn* time.. or you might have to do a bit of homework.
However that said, post dot com crash, some thought the web would never come back. I was clearly not one of those people. Heavily involved in re-inventing the web, I was involved in launching sites, creating new kinds of content and getting in on the ground floor of lots of things- some that worked and others that didn’t. Fast forward to iPhone times and more current situations– pre FB era–but myspace existed and I was all over the web.

Am now more so– as I changed from writer to editor to contributor to editor in chief to all kinds of positions in various spots on the web. What I was doing was testing out things that involved social media influence and how by stretching sectors and content, one could influence what was being read and how many people would be drawn to new kinds of content, products and presentations.

Social media influencers = oxymoron? Not hardly– we have barely scratched the surface of that influence. While many think it’s about prestige products and stuff, it means a whole lot more to me to launch UK musician James Morrison 2 days before he was on the Today Show or Jay Leno– that’s influence. The ability to tag Andrew Davies, Edgar Wright, Timothy Spall, Nick Frost and Claire Foy –all UK actors, writers and directors– for interviews photography, video and audio)– that’s influential. Give me an opportunity to talk to anyone– and I will find out what makes them tick– not by asking a lot of questions but by allowing them to tell me about their own lives, projects and branding themselves in the processs.

ROI is not the focus for me. ROR (return on relationship) is the key to influencing people (Thank you Ted Rubin for writing that book).

Social media is the world’s largest cocktail party with all the influential people you could want.
If you attend a cocktail party, and only talk about yourself or your business, who’s going to talk to you longer than 3-5 mins? (not many). You might as well be talking to the wall. Long before the cocktail party is over, you will be in a corner wondering why no one is talking to you.

If you ask someone else about THEM and their business or passion, how long will you talk to them– at least 20 minutes and within that time you have established a relationship of some sort on which you can follow-up and build upon. That again is social media influence. Hence the accent on relationship which will eventually give you a return on the investment in that relationship.. with partners, clients and consumers as well as your bottom line.

So the process of social media influence is going to evolve and revolve around different things. And in case you are wondering if all I do is blog– the answer is no. Having been tagged as a “social media bad ass“, I work on social media and digital marketing projects to launch all kinds of products, brands, companies and platforms. Give me something new and I will find a way to launch it and push it to a bleeding edge presentation — one that people will go “ooh ahh” and wonder for 5 mins about it and then keep reading.

That’s when I know I did my job right. If in the process I can get you to read more, buy something or go see a movie or musician, try a cocktail or recipe for something interesting or even read a BOOK.. then I have done my job properly. (FYI– this will be a blog post on my blog www.la-story.com.)

Thanks for letting me shoot my mouth off.

Jonathan Daveys, I use twitter to promote other posts, other people other stuff — lots more than my own.
You can see it on
twitter,
pinterest some,
Facebook,
Instagram
and LinkedIn but influence isn’t looking in the mirror- -it’s about sharing. That’s what I do best– I share. I am the influencer who tells you that what you have; what you know; what’s coming out soon is hot, cool, about to be changed– whatever.

As Brian Garrido commented on LinkedIn regarding a Biznology post: An important commentary on Social Media/Public relations. Blogger outreach is more PR than social media

I comnmented back:

it’s so true isn’t it Brian? Blogger outreach is just that– outreach.. what comes out of that outreach will determine if it’s just PR or actually turns into social media. Because anyone can reach out to me since I blog– but if I don’t write about it; if I don’t do anything that influences others (positive or negative) about something there is nothing social about outreach is more PR than social media; he makes a serious point.

(The comments went on a bit longer – and I left it that I had to write a negative review on a company/brand/product and I REALLY will.)

Bottom line: Social Media Influence is not an oxymoron, it’s the basis for what’s coming as web 3.0.. connecting with your audience.

PS. All those social media platforms I mentioned up above are hyperlinked! Please come follow me on twitter, pinterest, instagram, facebook (*my blog fan page) and if you are smart enough to follow me on all of those PLUS see this post , then I send me a DM and we can connect on Linkedin.com — or if you know how to find out my contact information on Linkedin.com, please connect to me directly. I have been so busy building up everyone else’s stuff on those platforms– though my personal Facebook page has lots of connections, I could use a spot of relationship building for the blog. So help me out here please!

Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com

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