Social media a love hate relationship for many

Social media, the much acclaimed marketing solution for companies, is turning out to be more of a bane than a blessing. Its results are contradictory with frustrated marketers often failing to grasp the subtleties of social media.
Reflecting on the intricacies of social media, the Managing Director of Namedia, Natasja Beyleveld said “The power of social mediaw is that we must start to realise that our audiences seek their own thought and thinking. Their own ‘being’. Let’s remember that thinking starts on the inside. Social thinking is beginning to reshape the way we communicate, and the way we market.”
“If we start assessing and understanding the DNA of ‘the conversation’, and what’s driving people to talk about stuff in social media, then why shouldn’t that inform the content we develop. Check online; The Guardian was able to increase its volume of mobile users among the 18-24 year old bracket by 18%, saw online mentions of its publication rise by over 645%, and tracked over 30,000 shared links from theguardian.com by doing just this” she advised.
“When writing to your clients or audience, keep in mind that no form of information is primarily informative or purely effective. Telling consumers to save, will not necessarily impact their behaviour. Our words only transform others, when they change their way of though and action. I remember well the day I excitedly told our First Lady about how my daughter and I gave food packages to the men on the side of the road. She was not entirely impressed, because she had a bigger vision that ultimately changed my thinking and doing” she said adding that she was advised to bring about structural change. “Alleviate poverty by taking somebody out of the cycle of poverty” was the sage advice Beyleveld received.On the practicalities, she said “You want to cultivate a media presence that reaches your core audience. We’re small enough a community to link brands with people, and preferably so. Let’s remember that corporate speak is kind of dead; and we should aim to be human in the emotions we evoke too; love, kindness, generosity, humour, gratitude to name a few. If your brand has the ability to become both authentic and generous – you are on the right track. Generous does not have to mean giving more than you can, but giving best you can whilst truly being interested in the person and the project.”
“The perspective of the person receiving your message determines the way you can better frame the message, and tell the story. Psychologist Natalie Meehan (read Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion) says that content is made sociably shareable because of the concept in psychology of emotional contagion.”