Social Media Leadership vs Traditional Leadership

 Social Media Leadership vs Traditional Leadership

Social Media is a game changer when it comes to advertising and promoting your business, most business professionals are aware of this change but are unable to fully grasp the concept of it. They know that in order for them to maintain and grow their business they will need to become part of this culture but lack the knowledge and understanding on how to implement such practices. The following quote is a good example on how social media must be used in a strategic way or else it is seemingly useless.

“Would you pick up a phone and randomly dial 10-digits? Unless you’re prank calling, probably not. The phone is a tool for communication, just like social media is a tool. Before making a phone call, sending a tweet or launching a blog, strategy is essential. It will guide the decisions you make, the platforms you use and how you interact.” (Quote by Sarah Evans)

Half the battle when it comes to social media strategies is finding your market of consumers. Social media comes in all shapes and forms from Face book and Twitter to Blogs and Social forums. Finding where most of your audience is coming from and actively communicating with them is where the real challenge lies. The best way to find your audience initially is by doing a trial and error process; first by creating several different social media applications and then tracking your progress and internet traffic on a site such as google analytics. Then from there you can see where your marketing has proven must successful and focus your attention on that site and audience.

Leadership is more difficult in social media because your audience is unknown at first, and they are global. It is also more difficult to monitor the behavior of your employees, because they may have personal social media accounts that can affect your business. As employees of your company they are constantly representing your product and business, so your company’s reputation is constantly at stake. As compared to traditional type businesses where leadership skills come in at a more direct level and you have a more direct control on employee behaviors.

Some people argue that social media doesn’t even have a strategy linked to it yet because it is still too new for people to fully understand its capabilities.

“Social-media strategy” is over-rated if not a downright oxymoron. The goal is to do more business. Social-media is a means to that end. Maybe you’ll use it to establish warm and fuzzy communal feelings. Maybe you’ll sell excess inventory. Don’t focus on some kind of high-level strategy because no one really knows how to use social media yet. Focus on tactics: Get more followers, make them happy, promote your stuff to them every once in a while. That’s all you need to know about strategy right now.” (Quote by Guy Kawasaki) 

http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/04/strategy-tactics-social-media/ (Link to blog in which i used for information)