Social Media Marketing

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c h a p t e r

10

: SOCIAL O

BJECTS

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Building around an existing social object provides immediate benefits, but at the

same time presents a distinct challenge: On the plus side, those who find relevance in a

specific social object will naturally congregate around it and talk about it. That’s great,

because it means you don’t have to build that community—it already exists. Your first

action—which you can accomplish with an effective listening program—is therefore to

create an inventory of the communities and community activities that already exist, and

around which your customers or constituents are already gathering. Also, because the

social object has been established by the community members, the social object itself,

along with the community around it, has a life if its own. This means that you don’t

have to keep it going, saving you the cost of maintaining the underlying interest in the

com mu n it y.

Of course, with an existing community or online interest group built around,

for example, a lifestyle, passion, or cause-related social object comes a challenge:

That challenge is connecting it to your brand, product, or service and building a vis-

ible, durable link between that object and your business or organization. It also raises

the bar, so to speak, in terms of your obligation to remain relevant to the actions,

interests, and standards of conduct of the preexisting community. Again, this means

looking very specifically at the way in which whatever it is that you do or offer makes

your customers’ participation around the existing social object better, from their

perspective.

This kind of reflection and planning leads right into successfully building a

business presence around a social object: You (meaning, your professional self, your

business, or your organization) become an actual, identifiable participant that is valued

because of the enhanced experience your presence brings to the party. You may accom-

plish this through branded participation, or you may empower specific people, via your

internal social media usage and conduct policies. However you participate, as you do

you will come to be seen as a trusted resource and a part of the community, and you

will have put in place a durable and relevant link to your customers, through the social

object that you have collectively built around.

Build a Presence

Building a presence around an existing social object is a straightforward—but not nec-

essarily simple—process. The following steps define the process: Each is explained in

more detail.

1. Identify a suitable social object.


2. Create and plan your business connection alongside it.


3. Become a part of that community: give back, enrich other participants’ lives,
   and build the community further.