Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media

25. Give Up Control and Drop the Ego

Traditional media agencies have typically controlled the marketing messages and their dissemination to the public, so it’s difficult for them to embrace that marketing in social media is a totally different ballgame. Comparing traditional marketing to social media marketing is akin to comparing golf to rugby. Golf involves little or no contact (unless you get whacked with a golf ball). Rugby, on the other hand, involves full contact with opponents who can smash your face into the grass. Think of social media marketing as a game of rugby, without the striped shirts and sweaty jocks.

The idea of control in social media is a fallacy because you can’t control what other people think, hear, see, or say. How they ...