I’m a huge fan of Ben Settle. I think he’s one of the best direct response copywriters out there today, and he has a unique take on things in a way you don’t see very often.
But, even though we’re all somehow part of this whole “marketing” thing – there are many, many different “schools of thought”. Most of us clearly live in completely different worlds.
Recently in his post “Market Like It’s 1999” he said this:
“… a lot of highly successful online marketers still market like it’s the 1990′s. By that I mean, still using pop ups, still using plain text emails, still not encouraging people to subscribe to a blog feed (and instead insist on capturing emails in an auto-responder) and still refusing to drink the social media kool-aid.”
I agree with all of that… except for the last bit.
Social media isn’t a fad.
I agree it’s overhyped – but that’s only because people don’t understand what it is or what you should do with it.
Most people approach it like another opportunity to shove yourself down people’s throats.
But that’s not what it is.
What it is… is an unprecedented opportunity to connect with people and build 1-to-1 relationships with your market.
Most of the time, marketing is a one-way monolog. “Here’s what I have to say and you better listen!”
Social media has turned it into a two-way dialog where you can INTERACT with your users.
Social media allows you to tell your story on a 1-to-1 basis with real people. Even if they are on the other side of the world.
No other tool has allowed us to do that before.
(please note: I am in no way dissing email, email capture and traditional copy in any sense… I just think you can do all of it and form a much more integrated picture)
Here’s a video from Gary Vaynerchuk, which he did on his blog a while back. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
