14 Aug Does Your Content Fall Under Help or Hype?

Does your company understand the importance of being useful in the age of information overload?

It used to be that you had to pay a large amount to get your message out en masse and reach the audience most important to your business. Of course technology and the social web has changed things significantly, giving businesses a genuine opportunity to engage in a running dialogue with the communities most relevant to them.

According to Convince and Convert (and we see it, too), the old mentality of sell first is still the most prevalent message for most businesses.

Those who do seem to try and ride the social wave spin their wheels trying to create and deliver viral campaigns using HYPE or BUZZ. But they’re missing the big picture: adding to a solid foundation, which comes from the consistent delivery of content that adds genuine value.

Like it or not, this is where social media (and the world) is going, as access to information increases and standing out from the crowd proves to be more difficult. The best way to stand out is not to yell your message the loudest; it is developing genuine relationships, which doesn’t happen overnight.

Why aren’t they getting it?

While social media has opened up a new way of business communication, it hasn’t triggered a new way of business behavior. We see so many businesses trying to “do” social media as an add-on to their traditional marketing activities. Yes, you should have an overall consistency and strategy, but there is no short cut to social media success, especially since is not measured in numbers.

Again, help takes patience, hype is more immediate. If you want success, be prepared to give up perceived moments of instant gratification in exchange for benefiting from a long-term and ever evolving goal.