That I have 'social' + 'media' in my bio seems to attract a steady flow to follow my Twitter account. In that respect Twitter has surfaced the volume of people in this game to me.
I was not looking for Linda... (for Pat Kane fans).
It strikes me as more than a little odd that Internet Marketing is regarded as a specialism - a career even.
I appreciate you can become adept in the mechanics of some tools.
But EVERYONE is an expert Internet marketer. It's a peer to peer realm. My peers are those best placed and equipped to market most effectively to me. That's true for you, and everyone else, too.
Perhaps ALL our Twitter bios and Linkedin profiles should read: Internet marketer, web publisher, online advertising expert, distribution doyen.
And as we understand the power we have wrested from traditional media, we'll add new areas of 'expertise':
Team building (as leader and participant), R&D, new product and service development, self organiser etc
Perhaps, instead, we should start telling people the more specific value we all add?
Update: After discussion below perhaps that question can be couched as "What can you do better than my friend?"
Internet marketers are going to have to become much clearer about what they can do that all of us can't. And fast.
Update: They aren't alone - any mediator faces the same challenge.
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David, I see a parallel with "business development" experts.
ReplyDeleteSurely anyone in business has to find new clients / customers and therefore is a biz dev expert.
I know my point of difference but does this make us all 'experts'?
Rebecca
For me where we operate in peer to peer realms the person most expert to pass something on to me most effectively is someone who knows me (my peer). When I tweeted the terms internet and marketer I got auto-followed by a load of em - which suggests they actually do this stuff worse than most of us :-)
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is the expert it ain't the person using auto-follow
Not sure if this is entirely accurate. After all, everyone can be an armchair football manager, but that doesn't guarantee they'll be any good at it.
ReplyDeleteI think I just think of it differently to your perception of marketing.
Marketing now isn't about putting yourself in the peer-2-peer marketing space and sending out spam. It's about being involved in the creation of projects which allow social tools and peer-2-peer to utilise them...
Which is definitely not something a lot of projects manage, let along a lot of marketing people.
It's easy to say that everyone is equal, but a lot harder to find an example of that happening anywhere :)
(Glad I'm a Digital Marketing Manager now, rather than an Internet Marketer....)
My point is that 'internet marketers' in fact anyone - has to be able to differentiate what they can contribute above and beyond the advertising/marketing/publishing/distribution thing that now is in the expert hands of peers. No one is more effective at recommendation than your peers. Some people may be expert in data analytics and response strategies. Some people in working with crowds to create things they will willingly share. These are value adds - and often contributions which help people do the media bit for and with each other.
ReplyDeleteI remain convinced no one can market better to me than my friend.
So what can you do better than my friend?
That's the question really - and the one an awful lot of mediators have got to address be they in marketing, publishing, advertising or whatever.
Reading the 2009 Edelman trust report just now.
ReplyDeleteIn ref to 'information about products and/or companys' Edelman claim trust in peer to peer has actually declined by 11% yoy from 58% to 47%. Interestingly, the only category that has grown is trust in academics/3rd party experts. up to 59% from 56%.
yeah I've seen that. But those we trust we trust - and that's it innit? That stands at 100%. If we don't then they ain't in a position to recommend to us. They aren't part of the community of purpose we are operating within when making decision x, y or z. It's definitions of peer here isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYou appear to be confusing marketing with recommendations.
ReplyDeleteMarketing can be about developing a product to be remarkable, interesting and shareable - not just sending you a tweet to get you to visit a site or buy something.
And not everyone is necessarily good at building a remarkable product.
And back to the original point dude - we have to show what we are remarkable at. Internet marketers of the kind I have described (and yes, I am clear on the difference between Seth marketing and 'internet marketing')say they are remarkable at the very thing we can all do (the recommendation, the getting peoeple to buy). And they regularly prove (via the likes of autofollow) that we do this bit better with each other than they can ever do to us.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Internet Marketing Info seems very versatile and can be applied and used by interested businesses, the fundamentals of business still remains in effect and it means that different online business or solid businesses that have an online presence needs an specific approach towards complying with their online marketing demands. So, in all aspects, Internet Marketing is not a general method that anybody can use and achieve positive, profitable results.
ReplyDeleteRick, I think you just kind of made my point for me.
ReplyDelete