WIIFM and Social Media

The 3i blog looks at the classic What’s in it for me? stance and marketing via social media channels:

With the new age of social media, any type of outreach efforts must answer two questions to be relevant and impactful: “What’s in it for me?” & “How will it provide value to my network?”. … You must recognize that any type of outreach effort using these tools, or to people who use them, means you are asking that individual to SPEND their social capital by participating with you and spreading your message to their network of friends. That’s a lot to ask if what you are offering is only of value to the person you are asking. … There will come a time when the pure promotional use of social media will lead to a backlash against both the brands and the people participating if there is no REAL value for the network = information, customer service, input, etc. If you aren’t answering the second question you may end up being burnt when the tipping point comes.

via “What’s In It For Me?” is not the question in social media.

Kapil Apshankar July 21, 2010 at 9:03 pm

Success in (and with) social media is a long term effort, Andy.

We need to be in it for the long haul, if we want it to work.

I was talking about The Law of the Farm – and how it applies to social media – on my blog, Social Media Notebook a few days ago.

The WIIFM question is akin to providing our network with fish – the other value question is all about teaching them to fish (and making us dispensable).

Their sequence cannot be interchanged, though. WIIFM does come first and needs to be addressed – failing which all other efforts seem be be counterproductive.