MackCollier.com

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A big secret to social media success that most companies miss

If you think about it, a lot of the ‘best practices’ for using social media can seem completely counterintuitive to companies that are new to these tools.  Take linking, for example.  On the surface, the process sounds absurd: I’m spending time every day as a social media consultant purposely promoting what OTHER people are writing, doing and saying about social media.  And what’s worse, I’m using this as a strategy to increase my OWN exposure!

How many companies would balk if you suggested that they promote their competitors, and as a way to promote YOUR company?

But funnily enough, it works amazingly well.  Here’s why:

1 – As I am sharing valuable links, more people will start paying attention to me, and even following me as a result.  They share my links with THEIR networks as well, which means more exposure and followers for me.

2 – This means more people will want to find out more about me, and will check out my site.  This means more traffic for me, and more exposure for me.  BTW it also means that when I share a link to one of MY posts, that it will get more traffic and exposure!

3 – The people that I am linking to see that I am sending all these RTs and traffic to their site, and they are grateful.  That in turn makes them more likely to promote ME in return.  Which means more followers and more traffic and more exposure for me.

4 – By sharing valuable content, I can become a TRUSTED source of information.  This makes people more likely to promote me to their networks.  Which means even more followers and traffic and exposure for me.

And now that you’ve gotten to the end, I can give you my REAL reason for adopting this strategy: I want to create value for others.  That’s the TOP goal, because I know if I am creating value for others by pointing them toward writings by other people that HELP them with their own social media efforts, I win.  Creating value is the DIRECT goal, because I know if I will do that, I will benefit INdirectly.  And it works beautifully.

More people will follow me because I am sharing valuable links.

More people will trust me because I am sharing valuable content that OTHER people are creating.

More people will be grateful for those links, and be more likely to link TO ME.

More people will be grateful for those links, and want to check out my site.

So in the end by promoting OTHER people, even competitors, I get more followers, more links, more traffic, and more exposure.

Whole process sounds completely insane, doesn’t it? 😉

PS: I will have data to back up the effectiveness of this strategy in a post on Sunday, be watching for it!

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About Mack Collier

My name is Mack Collier and I am a digital marketing and content strategist located in Alabama. Since 2006 I've helped companies of all sizes from startups to global brands such as Adobe, Dell and Ingersoll-Rand, create customer-centric programs, content and experiences. A long-time internet geek, I've been online since 1988 and began using social networking sites in 1991 when I joined Prodigy. Today, I help companies understand how new technologies like web3, crypto and artificial intelligence can integrate with existing marketing strategies to lead to exceptional customer experiences.

Comments

    • Mack Collier says

      And just for that your vlogging post is the first one I’m linking to on Monday 😉

  2. David Alden says

    Social media has already proved that helping others, even if it means referring the competition, is the best way for promoting your brand.

    Why companies don’t get it I have no idea. That’s insane!

    Once again, great insights Mack.

    Thanks.

    @dalden

  3. cynthia bailey md says

    Mack,
    I agree that there is value in embracing the competition-you never know what positive adventure might result. I used to make it a point to sit next to the person who had the most opposing political position to mine at meetings when I was active in medical politics. I always found it broke down any negative feelings I had towards them and opened up a relationship that occasionally held pleasant surprises. It’s very similar to promoting/embracing competitors. You just never know….
    .-= cynthia bailey md´s last blog ..Use Self-Tanners Like A Pro =-.

    • Mack Collier says

      Barry it’s kinda like bodybuilding, you have to do it continuously to see the best results.

  5. Mike P says

    Mark,

    Great post. After reading the 4 points, I was thinking, wow, it is all about “Mark” isn’t it. You make 4 great points, but most people stop there and do not understand the holistic picture. Adding Value and providing direction to those in need are key points. Thanks for sharing your REAL REASON! Let’s hope that others follow!

    Mike P | @mikepascucci
    .-= Mike P´s last blog ..The Power of Social Media =-.

  6. Srinivas Rao says

    Mack,

    When I decided to start a podcast where all I do is interview bloggers, this thought was the foundation behind the entire business model. In fact my end goal was to get to the point where I could bring people into the limelight and make them famous by interviewing them. What’s great is you’re bringing good into the world and there’s a karmic debt that somehow gets repaid on its own. Good stuff.
    .-= Srinivas Rao´s last blog ..Thursday Bram on Freelance Writing, Ebooks and The Benefits of Staff Blogging =-.

  7. Mark Burhop says

    Great post Mack,

    I retweet competitors too and even explained my view of the competition in a post back in September 2009 (The Competition, War or Football? – http://virtualvector.com/?p=358 )

    What was great is that a couple more forward thinking competitors even replied back. Plus, It forces us all to raise the level of our game which benefits everyone.

    Mark
    .-= Mark Burhop´s last blog ..Where Is My Paper? – An Exercise in Customer Service and Social Media =-.

    • Mack Collier says

      An check this post from my results after Monday:

      https://mackcollier.com/my-one-day-twitter-engagement-experiment/

      What I am noticing this week is that the hours where I am sharing links (to OTHER people’s content) and interacting with others on Twitter, sends more traffic HERE than hours when I don’t. That suggests to me that sharing content & interacting on Twitter actually drives traffic back here.

      I want to keep testing this, I think next week I will pick a couple of days where I don’t link to my posts at all during the day. Then at the same time, I will link to OTHER sites and interact on Twitter, and see what traffic looks like. That might give a better indicator of the influence sharing/interacting has on traffic here.

  9. Mack Collier says

    FYI, I am checking out these posts that you guys are sharing via Comment Luv. Giving me new links to share for next week.

    Just saying 😉

  10. Judy Helfand says

    I think what most of us forget (or are too young to remember) is that social media/marketing is not new. Only the tools we use are new. A few weeks back Chris Brogan talked about “Helping Everyone Around You.” At the time I was reminded of when my husband and I bought out first business in 1986, a country inn in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. New Hampshire is pretty famous for its country inns. What you are discussing today is really not new, but the means to accomplish the goal is new or evolving. Businesses are often more successful if they “associate” with each other forming groups-chambers, professional associations, etc. For example, as innkeepers we joined an organization called “hearths and hillsides.” It was a group of country inns in the White Mountains, now http://www.countryinnsinthewhitemountains.com. But its formation was prior to the internet and someone thought the name “hearths and hillsides” was clever. I always thought it was useless, because it did not quickly tell who or what we were. When they first formed it was all about getting together for coffee, but my husband told them he didn’t really have a lot of free time for coffee…however, he did want to form a group purchasing coop. So he put out to bid – heating oil, firewood, propane, credit card processing fees for 20 inns, as opposed to each buying from their own vendors. So you see not only did we support each other, we saved a tremendous amount of money for the innkeepers. Taking it a step further we sponsored events that would entice people to visit the White Mountains. We started a reservation service, taking turns answering the phone. My husband always told the other innkeepers competition is what make us better individually and what will bring more people to the valley. If the other hotels fill up, they will need to refer to us. But they won’t refer to you if they don’t know you! Just tonight I was thinking of a Mt. Cranmore Tennis Tournament event that Hearths and Hillsides became involved in. You might get a kick out of reading this old newspaper article http://bit.ly/coDP79.
    Working together as social groups is not always easy, a lot of personalities and everyone has a private life and agendas that influence their level of cooperation. But you won’t know how and if it works unless you try.

    If you want to read about my memories of social media marketing from the 1950s and 60s…you can go here. http://blog.webconsuls.com/2007/08/smo-old-fashioned-way.html

  15. Paul Merrill says

    You hit on the beauty of social media – and why it’s so cool compared to old marketing paradigms – we help others, and through that, we get helped!

  17. Vincent Parker says

    Sharing links to valuable content is very smart. And it’s something that I, personally, do not do enough of. So thank you for the kick. 🙂

    But I think that the core to this is when you mention the word VALUE. That’s the REAL reason you do what you do. The money is just a nice side effect. Too many times people concentrate on the what’s in it for me side of things without thinking of others first.

    What Zig Ziglar said is so, so true. You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want. You are definitely a shining example of that.

    And some great comments here too! Two of my favorites are by Judy and Todd. Judy is right, this is not new at all. The tools may be, but the concept is not. I’m going to read the articles she pointed to right after this comment.

    And what Todd Schnick said I just love. “Serve your competition and you won’t have any…” Love it!

    Thank you for the great post. 🙂