Social Media Marketing

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c h a p t e r

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: SOCIAL O

BJECTS

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with their parents’ interest around all-things-baby, sits at the core. Pampers, as a prod-

uct, is clearly relevant and connected but is otherwise removed from the central focus,

as it should be. The focus is parenting and the social activities that happen around

parenting.

Figure 10.1 The Pampers Community

Identify Existing Social Objects

What is it about the Social Web and social media that engages people, and why do

they congregate around specific activities or sites? There are actually two answers to

this: First, people have in general—and now at least in some manner in most parts of

the world—adopted social technologies as a means of keeping in touch. To be sure, it

is only a minority of the global population that is involved, for a variety of reasons,

but it is also steadily increasing. Sooner or later, the conversations in your markets

will flow onto the Social Web. More likely, given that you are reading this, your mar-

ket is already involved, whether through basic mobile services like SMS or always-on,

always-with-you, broadband social applications.

Second, and especially in the United States and throughout the Americas and

Europe along with many parts of India, China, and Russia, the relationships created

via the Social Web have become real for the participants involved. This includes aspects