Last Saturday we launched a Facebook page for “our” peer-to-peer social media marketing community, Social Marketing Forum. We now have way over 300 fans (oops, over 400 now).
However, it’s not really our virtue, it’s that of the fans, the followers, the community. I have to admit I don’t like the word ‘fans’ very much. It brings up the image of a ‘rock star’’ and all the fans that are cheering him or her. I guess it’s not a coincidence that there is such a thing as a ‘blogger rock star’.
I believe that people can only achieve things by collaborating and connecting. I believe in people and I believe in peer-to-peer.
Today I posted a text in the Social Marketing Forum and on the Facebook page. I would like to post a part of it here also. It was, in fact, a post to share the views of the people that “launched” the Social Marketing Forum but also a ‘thank you’ to, well, let’s call them ‘our fans’. But it also says something about what I believe social networking is all about.
So here I go.
The whole nerve wrecking, exhausting, yet inspiring adventure in chasing our dream of building a peer-to-peer social marketing forum showed us what the true power of social media is.
Social networking is about people
It’s not about the media themselves. It’s not about social networks. It’s about people. Having crazy ideas, good ideas, simply ideas and opinions. People sharing these ideas with others and helping each other out.
The value of the platforms, the blogs and the Facebook pages we’ve built is in the content but most of all in the people that decided to sign up, join, guest post, share, etc.
On Facebook, they are called ‘fans’, on Twitter ‘followers’, but we call them people. In fact; we are fans of the people who stood by us and all the members of our community, followers and so-called fans.
Because, in the end, we don’t own a community. The community owns us. If you decide to leave us all, there is no community. If you decide to invite everyone you know and participate, there is a huge community.
Whether you start doing it on this blog, on an own blog, in our community or on Facebook: say what you think, blog, connect and help each other out.
This is all we ever wanted to offer you. You decide where it will end. You define and control what we do and are.
Basically, our fans are our shareholders, even if we’re not a business.
You can read the whole text here.
By the way: did you thank your community lately?
Join me in the Social Marketing Forum