I have recently received newsletters from fellow marketing and branding professionals suggesting our businesses, and perhaps our lives, would be better if we all stayed away from social media. One newsletter that I recently received stated that sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tagged are overwhelmed and chaotic, and we should simply disconnect. Another suggests there are two types of people, “innies and outies.”  Those that are inner directed are deemed somehow better, and those that are outwardly directed, who use social media to build their business, are only filling a need for approval.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Building a brand and awareness around that brand can be handled in two very different ways.  It used to be widely perceived that interruption based marketing was the only way to reach your target audience. What is interruption based marketing? Think about the “direct mail marketing” you find in your mailbox that usually goes “direct” to your recycle bin. Or the TV commercials you can now fast forward through, or the pop-up and pop-under windows that turn you off to a brand faster than you can double-click.  This form of marketing is increasingly ineffective.

Today’s search and social media tools are a great way to get your target audience’s attention when they are looking for you. We are now more sophisticated buyers, and we prefer not to be inundated with meaningless advertising. When we want something, we want to be in control. This is why the Peridot team are big fans of social media for marketing purposes. Inbound marketing is when your ideal client finds you at the time they need your service or product. Through the use of social media tools, it becomes easier for your consumers to find your message, learn more about you, become a fan, and eventually, a customer.

Your online voice speaks volumes to those who are actively seeking your business.  We will not call you an approval seeker, rather, a smart business person more intimately connected to today’s smarter consumer.  So go ahead, be outgoing!

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.