The social media story – beyond the tech

On revisiting the video interview from SES it strikes me that social search is a complex issue that goes beyond the technology.

It is much more than key words, phrases. Much more than Google +1; Bing and Facebook integration; or even trying to work around the new Panda algorithms. It is, as we frequently tell clients, about storytelling.

But there is a problem with storytelling. It is not a natural fit for companies. Brands are engineered to communicate via promotion and broadcast.

Storytelling needs companies to dig deeper into their brand values. Often weaving and creating a story that isn’t just centred on marketing and PR. For example a tech company might look for subject matter expertise amongst its engineers, or a retailer might look for insights and nuggets from its packing and delivery divisions.

Storytelling requires cross company integration, a clear understanding of audience behaviours and motivations (not just a summary of the chatter) and a common objective that you are in social media for the long haul.

Ultimately the effort is worth this investment: because stories told well will be shared. And social search is all about sharing.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2011 at 3:28 pm by Katy and is filed under Seminars, SEO, Social Media, social media agency, social search, with tags social search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.