Recap: The Geography of Narcissism – Social Media Behavior & Usage in Various Cultures
July 9th, 2010 by Jessica Weil
On yesterday’s episode of This Week in Social Media, Mike O’Toole was joined by Frank Cutitta, CEO, The Center for Global Branding to discuss narcissistic media – both international and domestic – and how marketers need to build narcissism into their social media strategies. It was a great discussion that we hope to revisit in the future. But for now, here’s some of Mike’s advice for marketers:
When planning a content strategy, think like a narcissist. In other words, think of your audience’s self-interest.
Narcissists love a personal connection. If you’re already engaged with them on social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter, and you’re already commenting on their blogs, they’re much more likely to respond to a marketing message from you. Think about including some emotional content – something that’s funny or surprising instead of purely rational. People are much more likely to react to that kind of content.
For a narcissist, it’s all about “me.” Build your programs based on their information needs, not what you want to sell them. Let’s take a look at B2B technology buyers, for example. They have huge needs around category education and making the business case for technology, but they don’t particularly want to hear about your product in the early stages of their decision process. Build content that responds to them and their needs and you’re more likely to get through to them.
Not all narcissists are created equally. Take a minute to understand the media behaviors in your target markets. Think about the fact that Japanese consumers are some of the world’s most avid bloggers. Hispanic consumers are twice as likely to be creators or critics, which makes them a great crowdsourcing market; give them something to do and they’ll get involved.
Don’t isolate social media from a traditional content strategy. When looking at optimization from a cross-cultural point of view, don’t just consider the tweet or status update, but the supplemental material that goes along with it.
How would you define narcissistic media? What tactics would you use to engage this type of audience?
