Social Engagement Isn’t What You Think It Is.

As the world has embraced social media in its many forms, we have seen a massive explosion in both the amount of social content you can find online and the volume of advice coming from various pundits insisting that social engagement is the new panacea for successful online marketing.

The Internet is practically cluttered with guides and infographics that tell you how to write a better blog post or schedule your tweets. Each of them promises to help you find the best return on investment for your time and resources.

The problem here is that all of these social media advocates have one thing in common: a vested interest in seeing us buy into the idea that social activity will drive sales for our businesses.

Now, that’s not to say that social engagement can’t bring sales. It can. And there’s nothing wrong with selling on social media per se. But chances are that the way in which it does bring them may not be quite the way you expect. And as we all know, expectation is the mother of all disappointment.

In other words, much of what you read about social media amounts to hype or sales copy. In a (possibly misguided) attempt to cut through that layer of fluff, the authors of this short guide have come together to share some of their insights into the reality of using social media for business. The result is the document you’re reading now.

For various reasons, this book probably isn’t like others that you’ve read. For one thing, it’s been put together by several different people, each with his or her own voice, who are approaching the topic of social engagement from a different angle. We are authors, marketers, business owners, and designers. Some of us are outspoken, while others are more comfortable with quiet contemplation. We all think creatively, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to agree.

Adding to the sense of mild chaos is that this book hasn’t been arranged into discrete chapters that flow in a straight line from one to the next. The ideas are related, of course, and we think we’ve ordered them in a way that will appeal to the average reader. But you can feel free to start reading in the middle, jump around from one topic to the next, or just focus on what interests you – there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it.

And really, that could sum up our philosophy in a nutshell. In the coming sections you’re going to find advice on social engagement from men and women who use it every day, and in some cases depend on it.

To make the most of it, though, you’re going to have to decide which strategies and ideas resonate most with you. Find out what works and what doesn’t. Consider what you find to be genuinely good advice and what seems like marketing fluff.

Do that, and you’ll end up with the questions that really matter: Can you make social work for you? Should you make social work for you? And how?

Join us as we bring some positive disruption to social engagement to help you make the most out of social, and think in terms of positive disruption instead of just following the masses.