Digital and Social Media Strategist, Sree Sreenivasan said success of an individual or entity is based on how social media tools are used to promotes one’s ideas or products.
Visiting Sri Lanka this week he conducted several workshops for business, media and civil society activists to enhance their knowledge on how to use social media better as a tool.
According to him Social Media plays a role in every field of work. “We are all in the business of convincing” he says. Whether its an idea or a product Sreenivasan points out that the main aim is always to convince our customers or audience to buy in to it. “Therefore we are all marketers and salesman at some point despite the field we work in” he says adding that success can be obtained by using the social media tools to promote these ideas and products.
In today’s modern Social Media age he says the effective Social Media can be tough. “ Right engagement in Social media is hard” he claims. According to him while users may think their posts or articles online are seen by many however this is not the reality. “You presume people will see the link to your post or article and click on it, but this is far from the truth” he says adding due to an overload of information available today for effective use of social media as a tool one must become a student of their own social media. “We must explore to see what works and what doesn’t”. He says social media as a tool can only work if a concerted effort is made.
Sreenivasan also stressed that social media users should understand that reaching out to communities in person are important as creating and reaching out to online communities.
“Reaching out in person and digitally is the future of any business” he stressed. According to him the entity that has best understood this is the Government of China. Presenting an example Sreenivasan recalled how during the Arab spring revolution and start of trouble in China as well the government moved to quash it by taking on anything that would hint at the revolution. “It was also called the Jasmine revolution so the Chinese government disabled the search or communication of the word Jasmine on its messaging and social media platforms” he said also pointing out that the government also cleared Jasmine plants from its main cities. “They understood the digital as well as physical impact it may have” Sreenivasan said adding that they have truly understood power of social media.
Sreenivasan says another common mistake is that users create content mainly on their laptops. “Consumers and audiences are mainly on their phones so content should be created in the same platform” he says. According to Sreenivasan content creators must live where audiences live and today this has become their mobile phones.
“Therefore the mobile phone must be a central part of your outreach efforts” he stressed in his speech.
Sharing his experience on how he was fired from his position as the Digital officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art he says he was able to use social media to tell his own story regarding it.
“Connect with people and storytelling does matter” he explains. But according to him what is most important is the strategy and impact one’s social media use can create.
“ Talk about ideas and expertise than day to day things” he said adding that people today must learn to use social media getting better and smarter. - MB