The Power of Social Media: No Longer Just Each One, Reach One

1 year 2 months, the amount of time my LinkedIn profile says I’ve spent as a full-time professional in the Public Relations industry. Not a great deal of time, but I’ve seen, heard, said and learned a lot. There will be more posts in the coming weeks which relate more closely to my daily dealings, but for now, I’d like to weigh my professional experience against something else, my social media experience. 

1 year 2 months, the time I’ve spent working as a Public Relations professional

vs

2 years 3 months, the amount of time I’ve spent experiencing social media

I am not an expert and don’t claim to be. (The first point in Dave Knox’s post on the Cult of the Amateur  definitely made me think about that for a bit.) However, I’ve experienced enough to know a little about social media’s reach and power. When thinking about it, a few words and phrases come to mind: crazy, interesting, shocking, massive. 

I won’t be so bold to say that everyone participates in social media, but I believe that a good percentage of the people who do participate or benefit from it don’t even realize. David Meerman Scott’s post Why “do you use social media?” is the wrong question for marketers to ask really led me to think about that. 

I really think Scott is right when he says: 

“Practically everyone uses Google and other search engines regularly and the search results frequently include blog posts or YouTube videos or other social media content high in the search results. So even though people may report ‘no’ when asked if they use social media, nearly everyone has been to a blog or other social media content through search.”

Scott’s final point in the post was that we should “use social media data with caution” and not let our bosses diminish the hidden value of social media. I can recall several arguments discussions at work when the power/weight/reach of social media has come into question, and it’s not always the bosses either. There are a few naysayers in the younger ranks as well. The battle conversation normally is focused on one thing: 

blog audience vs. media impression/circulation

If we just look at the base data, we are missing the point. People who read blogs are generally very engaged and want to know more about the topic they’re checking out. They may blog, have facebook accounts, network on LinkedIn, read wikis, and share content through email too. They’re engaged. Many of them do it without even thinking about it.

I’ve heard the phrase “Each One Reach One, Each One Teach One” used at several workshops and conferences. When I think about the power of social media, I think about the power it gives each one to reach five or ten or fifteen really engaged people who share what they’ve learned with 15 or 20 more really engaged people and on and on. In the end, isn’t that we want? Just a thought…