If you can survive the first five chapters of Engage!, by PR superstar Brian Solis, I highly recommend the book as a tool for understanding and using social media to drive sales and profits.
Yesterday, Solis published an article on based on a study he jointly conducted with Vocus, which surveyed the opinions of roughly 700 marketing types on the issue of “influence.”
You can read his article by clicking HERE and download a copy of the study by clicking HERE.
The two take-aways for me are that publishing quality content is the number one way to build an audience, and that quality content that begets a measurable action (in order: purchase/registration/download/vote, page views, (re)tweets and click-throughs) is the greatest measure of influence.
My opinion may be simplistic, but if you believe the study, the saying “if you build it, [they] will come” may be true after all.
If that’s the case, your brand message is now more important than ever. More important than having tons of friends, followers and fans. More important than being famous. And more important than posting frequency.
Do you have something new, different and/or interesting to say? Are you hammering your core messages consistently?
If so, there’s a good chance you will build an audience.
Then, assuming you’ve housed your message within social and traditional media apparatuses that enable your audience to engage in a measurable way, you’ll wield the influence you need to grow your business and promote long-term customer loyalty and profitability.
Good night. And good luck.
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch is written by Bill Patterson, president of Kansas City, Mo.-based Nation Ranch, a strategic consulting firm specializing in brand management, public relations and crisis communications.
