The business world is buzzing with questions about Social Media Marketing these days.  Whether they’re trying to figure out what do to now that they’re on LinkedIn or Facebook, or what exactly is Twitter and how would I use it for my business or ‘how do you find time to do all this Social Media stuff?’, there’s a lot of talking going on.

I was lucky enough to present last week at the Central Exchange to a sold out room on How to Use Social Media for your Business.  We only had an hour, so it was basically just scratching the surface but the discussions I’ve been hearing and having about the topic over the last couple of months have been fascinating.

Opinions are a lot like…well let’s just say that everyone has one.  What’s great about Social Media is that a lot of people feel very strongly about it, in both directions!  Everything from “It’s the best thing ever!”  to “What a waste of time – who cares what I had for breakfast!”.  The reality is somewhere in the middle – used the right way, Social Media Marketing can be a big benefit to small business owners, a great cost-effective way to generate leads, drive traffic to your website and make your customers happy.

Anyway, I thought I would share a list of 9 things about Social Media and Business that I’ve heard recently that are just bogus – let me know what you think.

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picture by NCinDC 

I’m a big fan of models or metaphors as a way to discuss complicated ideas.  Anytime you can give someone a visual representation for a complex idea you’re a lot more likely to get your point across.

One model that I stole ran across recently is called the 8 Pillars of a Profitable Enterprise.  As a business coach, I’m always trying to figure out ways to focus (and get my clients to focus) on what the real constraints to their business are.  “We don’t have enough customers.” might be a true statement and could be a problem, but as a business owner you don’t have control over your customers.  You have control over your marketing message, how you deliver your product, how you handle your customers during their transactions – all of which could lead to a result of not having enough customers.

Enter the 8 Pillars model.

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It would be easy to dismiss Seth Godin’s latest book as a way for him to cash in on his (hard earned) reputation as the Marketing Genius of our time.

For those that don’t know him – Seth Godin (you can read his frequent updates at Seth’s blog) is an author of many books, including Permission Marketing, Purple Cow and Meatball Sundae.  Not only is he a compelling writer, but he also has a history of illuminating (perhaps leading) changes in the marketplace that we’ve been seeing the last 10 years.

At first glance, Tribes appears to be more of the same – written in a stream of consciousness style almost as a collection of blog posts (which is likely where they started).

However the real value of Tribes is the ideas that get sparked from the conversation it feels like you’re having with Mr. Godin.  Here are a few that came to me when I read it:

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I’m a big proponent of Social Media – to me it’s pretty clear that it is the wave of the future that will eventually knock down old-school sales and marketing techniques.  In a world of active Social Media, you can’t hide from your customers or prospects – people will say what they think and the best way to generate positive feedback is to deliver quality and value (and isn’t that really the point anyway).

Blogs, professional social media sites and Youtube all have a fairly clear place in an online marketing and Social Media strategy.

However I will admit that to this point I’ve been stumped on how to really view the value of Twitter. 

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  photo by luckyrob

If you’re looking for success stories of social media, then you should check out Queensland Tourism board’s latest marketing idea.

It’s a contest called The Best Job in the World – basically it’s an open video audition for the newly created ‘Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef’.  This is a 6 month contract (with a salary of $105K Australian plus expenses) and the responsibilities are to share your experience with the world via blog, video and interviews.

The process is closed now, but they received 34,684 applications and they’ve now narrowed it down to the top 50 finalists.  They will interview the final 11 applicants, with the top vote-getter being automatically selected in addition to the 10 finalists they choose.

Check out some of the amazing entries below:

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