Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web

Chapter 11. The New Media University: Social Media 402

Collectively, we contribute to the wisdom or irrelevance of the crowds and citizen journalists that rule the Social Web. The brilliance of social media is that at any point in time, we can gauge the sentiments and impressions, perceive the states of affairs and potential or existing hot spots, glean insights, and trendcast opportunities to diagnose, discover, and determine the fate of our brand. This real-time digital sampling is infinite in its benefits and promise.

• Let it guide you.

• Be thoughtful.

• Make me care.

• Inspire me to follow you.

• Help me learn.

• Earn my respect and trust.

ESTABLISHING A SYNDICATION NETWORK

The fundamentals and associated benefits of a syndication network serve as the mechanics of SMO. In addition, a well-established and thoughtfully constructed syndication network can not only improve SEO and SMO, but also enhance the consumption diets of those who choose to follow your activities. Similar to the social dashboard we discuss in Chapter 6, a syndication network operates on the premise that people don't find and follow objects and the individuals who interest them in the same ways. It's our job to serve as a bridge between the interesting content we create and those who are seeking it-in the networks where they're actively searching for meaningful content.

While directly participating in the social networks of significance (a topic we discuss further in our review of "The Conversation Prism" in Chapter 18), the ...