Shakespeare

What can Shakespeare teach us about social marketing? Gold, Silver and Lead Marketing The Princes of Morocco Remember, he chose the gold coffin.After all, it was gold. But, as Shakespeare teaches us, the prince exploited the opportunity to win the hand of the fair maiden. The same is true of social media sites like Plurk, Brightkite,Twitter and other short messaging services, or SMSs. The Princes of Morocco exploit social media for their own benefit, constantly hyping their service or product offerings. These marketers spam Facebook with ads for their products or hype their services. They, like Shakespeare’s Prince of Morocco, use social media for their own gain, launching spam blasts and recruiting paid followers to increase their on-line presence, while ignoring the intrinsic value of conversational marketing. These Princes of Morocco take a narrow view of social media, much like Shakespeare’s hapless suitor. Social media isn’t about you, your products or business. It’s about seeing beyond the surface (gold) and tapping into these resources by providing useful information and exchange of ideas to build a following. In these cases, The Princes of Morocco don’t look under the surface. In the realm of social media and networking sites, it’s simple: “all that glitters is not gold.” Listen up, all you Princes of Morocco. The name Arragon was chosen for its resemblance to “arrogant” and these marketers think they have it all figured out.Their insight? Social media is not a mass market numbers game as the Princes of Morocco would believe, but an influence game. They suppose if they can influence the influencers, they win over their networks as well, so linkage on social sites is the number one objective.These posers believe that by tweeting, posting, pinging, burning feeds and using all the tools available to social marketers, they’ll get their sales pitch out to millions. The trouble is, there are so many of these social marketers that their messages get lost in the tech-babble of the social web. All you have to do is watch your Twitter connections. Everybody is selling something, but no one is buying. Ah, but then there are the Bassanios of social marketing on line. On social sites, the Bassanios provide good, useful information, something to make the lives of followers better. Their actions are driven by passion for open dialogue and exchange, a commitment to real engagement. The Princes of Arragon In Shakespeare’s masterpiece, the Prince of Arragon, reading the inscription on the silver casket, figures he’ll get all that’s coming to him, which is a lot – at least in his mind.Well, again, that’s not what social media marketing and networking are about. These “Princes” feel that they’re tech-savvy and sharp marketers, employing the resources of others for their own benefit. Post to Facebook and you use that resource for your gain.  www.digitaldaya.com