Social Media that Actually Makes Sense

Lately I've been getting comments on this blog from people who are offering to help get our website to the top of Google and Yahoo searches using their brilliant SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. That would be slightly intriguing if the purpose of our website was to be at the top of searches. Even a quick read through of what we do would make that clear. Those comments get deleted.I've said this before (and before, and before, and before, and before, and before); social media is not the future, it is right now and the way you and your organization are currently using it is a significant part of the story you are telling. If your online presence is only an aged website with no venue for interaction you have surrendered the opportunity to engage a large proportion of your current and potential community. Unless you've made that decision for some obscure but highly strategic reason you are demonstrating that your future is a rapid path to irrelevance.At the same time, social media is a complex and still emerging reality and there are few reliable sources for finding your way around. If you don't have committed and trusted young people in your organization who are innate to it (or you are too afraid to let them lead you) it is terribly confusing to figure out where to start.Start here.Watch this presentation from Scott Stratten (@unmarketing for those on twitter), take notes, make it required viewing for all your leaders, overlook the mild PG-13 language in a couple spots, and then make someone personally responsible and frequently responsible to make it happen.Even if you're already familiar with the web world this is worthwhile viewing. Scott offers one of the few practical and sensible strategies I've come across for building a meaningful presence online and constantly reminds us that:1. it's still all about relationships between real people2. you still have to bee offering something that matters