Now that I’ve made it through the pre-vacation frenzy, vacation, and the post-vacation pile-up, I can return to some meanderings about one of my favorite topics. †
While on vacation, my wife and I attended an outdoor jam session of several jazz musicians. †It was a beautiful evening and the musicians were talented if not perfect, but overall it was a relaxing and enjoyable experience. During a break, someone asked one of the musicians how he would define jazz. †His response was, “Jazz is basically following other music and playing between the notes.” It was an interesting definition and could also be applied to social media.
Many clients are hesitant to embark on a social media initiative due to their uncertainty of the dynamics, scope of topics, time requirements, lack of control, etc. †Perhaps a good first step is to consider social media as the jazz portion of a marketing campaign – play with it between the other strategies and listen to the sounds it creates. †Jazz musicians are skilled at adapting to changes, interpreting new patterns, anticipating the next shift and improvising on the spot. †Social media professionals need many of the same skills, we just play in a different venue. Listening to clients, adapting to their perceptions, identifying new opportunities, anticipating shifts in the marketplace based on early client input, and improvising to meet clients’ interests are all byproducts of an effective social media campaign. †Once clients see the value created by such a campaign, they’ll be likely to trumpet its success.
Yes, it’s a bad pun but hey, I’m just back from vacation.
Mike
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As they’d say on friendfeed, “Miles Davis likes this.”
Based on the age of some of the musicians, Miles might have been there.