The reason for my fauxpas was that I was writing this blog post right here at the same time about truth in the Web 3.0. And my little glitch turned out to be pretty inspiring. Because trust and truth are not aliens to each other, but siblings in spirit.
An important condition for the rise of the Web 3.0 - a web in that everyone becomes a media entrepreneur through user-generated business technologies - is in an increased effectiveness of Social Media connectivity. To suceed as a knowledge producer or creative author online, you need to get the right audience, and build a lasting bond between you, other content creators of your kind, and your audience.
Social Media is the key.
Yet, after conducting a lot of research, analysis and thinking for my next project, "Social Media Magic", an interesting point becomes clear: success in Social Media does not so much depend on the right use of technology. Actually, it's pretty hard to misuse the current, very simple technologies. It is much more about doing the right things with it in regards of content. If you tweet, tweet the right things. If you blog, blog the right things. If you create and manage your group, create the right group and manage it in the right way. Forget about finding the best technology (just use what's there), and working on design. Do the right things.
Which finally brings us to the decisive question: what is the right thing to do in the Social Web? Here, Chris and Julien hit the right button:
it is all about trust.
You need to do things that increase trust. And In a world in that everyone can talk to everyone else, and millions of marketers try to sell something to anyone they can get, you need to earn your trust.
From your perspective - the perspective of someone who wants to attract and keep the right people -
the most important component for building trust is to become truthful.
If you tweet, don't just tweet to send out a link to your product. If you blog, don't just blog to sell. People do not read blogs to buy anything in the first place - they trust you to write something that is of value for them. The central point of the Social Web is that people trust each other to deliver content that has an inherent value, and serves the primary purpose of delivering this value. Not to sell. Not to get leads.
What has this to do with truth? Well, if someone views your content, you obviously implicitly promised something he or she found intriguing. And if you did so, you need to deliver on this promise - otherwise, you didn't tell the truth. If I promise an article "Truth and Trust in the Web 3.0" and then just write: truth and trust are very important - buy my book and you will get the big picture", I implicitly lied to you.
Of course, the concept of truth reaches further than that.
It is also about your products.
The amazing thing is that the Social Web reduces the distance between people in an unprecendented way - which not only means you can talk to much more people directly, but also that you cannot escape if you do something wrong. If you screw up a product, people will know you. They will stay in your networks. And they will know you suck. On the opposite, with increased closeness, delivering value is being much more rewarded than in an offline consumer world. Your fans, partners and customers will spread the word about your product. They will praise you, your truthful approach, and the quality you deliver.
Yes, I believe in 2010 the world has become a better place.
Because today, human networks become larger and yet more effective. I always viewed the old behavioral patterns in marketing and sales as slightly desperate, as something driven by people who naturally experience constant rejection by strangers, and who in return decided to trick their way into a short-term win of trust - only to see that the abuse of trust leads to the termination of the relationship. In the new world of Social Media, I believe that the classic from of marketing where you pitch something in 30 seconds to strangers is over, and everything connected to it is, too. Success in the Web 3.0 is about focusing on quality products, delivering quality content with intrinsic editorial value around them, and talking the truth about both.
This means: if you are a small business, or author, or creative, don't try to convince people all the time. Focus on making your product as high-value as possible, get it out, create content around what you really care about, and start building a Social Media publishing outlet.
If you are big, radically shift your marketing budgets into creating high-quality, customer-centric products, including consumer insight research and innovation, and build high-quality editorial online power in the topics of strategic brand value.
Building Truth and Trust in the Web 3.0 means to
re-assign your marketing dollars and -efforts into product value improvements, and producing the highest possible content value
in your Social Media outlet.
It's a radical concept. But radical is also the change the world of marketing and media is undergoing right now. Rather than being scared, all of us should be excited about it.
Because in the end, we will have more truth and more trust between all of us.