We’re Just Not That Into You: 5 Reasons Creating Content Isn’t A Social Media Strategy

Ask anyone about Social Media – what they are doing and what their strategy is and you will get a dissertation on all the places they have to create content. Twitter, Blog, Facebook Fan Pages, Newsletters, Yelp…

Give me a break.

Creating tons of content isn’t a social media strategy. It is just blasting your (usually not very interesting) message out into the world. Predictably the next set of questions that get asked are: How do I get more followers/fans; how can I get more people to read my blog; why don’t people like me?

So let me help you out by resetting your expectations. We just aren’t that into you… and here are 5 reasons why.

1) Content is king – just not your content.

Remember, this is Social Media – not Broadcast Media. It is participatory – you are not in charge. People will go to the content they like. So instead of trying to wedge your way in there find the content that already exists about your product, service or brand and promote it. Odds are it is much better and more honest than what you’ll create. After all, you are trying to sell me something, right?

2) You are not Gary Vaynerchuk

It would be great if you were. It’d be great if by replicating Gary’s tactics you could replicate his success – but you can’t. Gary is Gary – what he does works for him because he is a freakish ball of personality, boundless energy, and (lest we forget) an actual business.

3) We only care about what you DO…

I use your product/service because it makes my life better in some way. So how about you skip the 30 posts a day about your interoffice ping pong tournament and go make your product better? I know I’d appreciate it, especially if you are actually listening to your market and evolving your product to better meet our needs.

4) What is in it for me?

Seriously, what do I get from following you on Twitter, being a fan on Facebook and reading your blog every day? How are you making my experience doing business with you better? Geeezzzz… this is like a first date and all you’ve done is yammer on endlessly while swilling an entire bottle of wine and wolfing down the “market price” surf and turf. Date #2 is looking very unlikely.

5) Have you heard a freaking word I’ve said?

I’ve used every imaginable way to communicate to you that you do things that piss me off. I’ve called customer service, I’ve Tweeted my dissatisfaction, I’ve blogged about how annoying what you do is… and you keep right on doing it.

This is a conversation, not a monologue – yet you approach it as if I were at home yearning for you to say something so I could anxiously gobble it up. I hate to break it to you, but we just aren’t that in to you. Especially since your entire strategy is to talk at us without any real effort put in to listening and acting on what we say.