The vuvuzela social media strategy: are you doing it?
If there is one topic that is guaranteed to unite the whole nation, if not the whole world, at the moment is the dislike of those darn vuvuzelas at the World Cup Matches. My OH, like so many other football fans, is watching the matches on mute as he can’t stand the sound of those droning horns.
So why is it that so many small business owners adopt this same approach to their social media?
The vuvuzela social media strategy comes in a couple of forms.
- Broadcast mode – visit someone’s twitter stream and all you see is automatic RSS updates. Great if you are a publishing or news business, such as http://twitter.com/mashsocialmedia who have thousands of followers who follow because they want to receive the latest article posts. But for most small business owners who adopt this approach, automatic broadcasting creates noise. There is no engagement & although people may still “follow” you, they don’t really “listen” – you go on mute!
- Multiple postings – Yes, I know it’s easy to automate your updates so that the same update can be posted on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and any other social networking profile you have. But just because it’s easy, doesn’t mean it works. LinkedIn is used very differently to Twitter, so 20 daily tweets on Twitter is perfectly acceptable whereas 20 status updates on LinkedIn is noisy and clutters up your newsfeed. People may still stay connected with you but they will hide your updates in their news feed – you go on mute!
The vuvuzela social media strategy is easy to set up but use it at your peril. I love using automotive tools in business and simple set-ups such as adding your blog feed in to your social networking updates so that your new blog posts get automatically fed out is essential. You just wouldn’t have time to post your blog post each and every day on all your profiles.
But go on automatic pilot for everything, all of the time and you will end up just like a World Cup football match: followed but put on mute.
Other articles you may be interested in:
- Social Media: What’s the worst thing you can do?
- Doesn’t blogging & social media take up so much time?
- Social Media Success: How Do You Make It Work?
11 Responses to “The vuvuzela social media strategy: are you doing it?”
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I like the ‘kick-boxing’ KISS posts on this blog. I’m enamoured of the phrase ‘vuvuzela strategy’. The real vexation is that some the vuvuzela exponents are marketing folk and irritate the life out of me with their ‘oh, look at me, aren’t I wonderful’ broadcasting. The pity is is some of these tweeps are otherwise sensible folk, but they engage in this vuvuzela business and my word for them ‘propagandists’.
Could someone please remind folk that it’s called social for a reason :: engage and interact. That’s me, rant over!
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Karen Skidmore Reply:
August 5th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
Thanks for a great rant Ade ;0)
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Great post and example of creating relatable content! While social media is “free,” the time it takes to really do it well adds up!
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Hi Karen,
Love the analogy. Social media is still a difficult idea to get your head around if you are a small business desperate to make sales. Yet viewing it as a cheap sales channel first and foremost will almost certainly make it slide into vuvuzela’s muted status.
If those vuvuzelas listened to each other and played together, I’m sure a tune could be derived from the ensembled noise: it might even be called music and enjoyed. Social networking is no different.
Gail
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Karen Skidmore Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
I did hear on the radio a couple of weeks ago of a SA chap who was trying to get the vuvuzelas to toot in a tuneful unison. They can apparently sound lovely when played like this – but obviously he’s not had much impact so far!!
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Hi Karen,
Think you’ve coined a new phrase the ‘vuvuzela social media strategy’
Definitely in line with my viewing frustration see my recent status update & the resulting comments: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=664452268
BUT a very important message you have in there! Use this type of strategy at your own PERIL!
Conrad
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Karen Skidmore Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Just had a look Conrad at your vuvuzela thread on your profile – great comments. And the poor mum whose child cried because of a loud toot in the ear! Oh dear
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Hi Karen
Great post! As I don’t watch football, thankfully I haven’t heard the dreaded vuvuzelas. But I do see plenty of people who broadcast repeatedly from RSS feeds and misuse the automated tools. Just today I unfollowed someone on Google Buzz because they were sharing every single tweet and as a result being too noisy.
Just because we have so many different ways to communicate online doesn’t mean we have to use them all
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Karen Skidmore Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
It’s one of the reasons I have not got in to Google Buzz as so many people seemed to be just on auto-tweet for everything! But must give that Buzz another go [mental note to self!!]
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Hello Karen,
I really agree with this post. I love engaging with people on social media and do find it irritating when someone only has business posts and no personal interaction. We are all using it as a business tool but ‘people buy people’ so very important to have a persona behind the business.
I haven’t yet put my volume on mute and hoping that the vuvuzelas will merge into a background noise within my mind
Bindi
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Karen Skidmore Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 10:57 am
The more you try to ignore those vuvuzelas, the more you hear them don’t you! Thanks for stopping by Bindi.
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