Travel back in time just a few years and you’ll jog your memory about how Social Media started and how we viewed it. It was originally meant to identify or reference user-generated content. Where we stand with social media in our current time frame still includes that concept to a certain degree however the label of “social media” is being used as a larger and larger umbrella term to describe many things.

With a number of them, the similarity is only that they have something to do with being online and generally involve some kind of interaction on a B2C of B2B level.

This is where a number of people are hitting walls of confusion with the concept of social media because they can’t figure out what the hell they’re looking at. If you randomly walked up to someone and handed them a Rubix cube, how quickly do you think they could finish it? Most people can’t even do it, and this is something that’s been around for a long time.

Social media is starting to get that same mystique and scrofulous annoyance with many business owners simply because it’s starting to look like an unsolved Rubix cube with its components scattered all over the cube. Some think it’s a fad, but many know that there is something to it however getting to the end and unscrambling all the information is often too much to deal with.

We’d likely be in a much better position if many of us stopped lumping everything under “social media” and started labeling things in specific areas that social media integration could produce.

Let’s look at the 5 ways to simplify the entire process of social media. With the first two, I’m looking specifically at focusing on prospective customers that you don’t have yet and building brand awareness

Social Outreach – One of the simplest things to do is just say Hello. You can use the various social networking sites and other platforms online to introduce your company or products to people with influence. That means targeting the larger members of the media, but this doesn’t need to be the case at all time. Sometimes the strongest influence can suddenly erupt from a new blogger or a geek from California who loves to podcast. Regardless of the medium, your entire job here it generate conversation. ANY conversation.

Social Media Marketing and Apps – This is an approach also meant to build brand awareness and loyalty. It’s the massive bright light on the bug zapper. You’re building promotional offers, mobile apps, widgets, contents, coupons, Facebook landing pages all of which generate interest and draw in the masses.

These options are great when you’re reaching out to people, but once you have them actually in your clutches (that sounds evil… I like it) you have to learn to straddle them (not literally). You have to continue your efforts to bring in new prospects while at the same time providing something new so you don’t bore the hell out of the ones that stuck with you. That’s where the next two come into play.

Content Marketing – I love content marketing, because this is what drives traffic and users eat up valuable and entertaining material. It’s what keeps the SYNND network and other CSN’s milling out awesome content – the stuff that keeps the web running. This is the process by which you distribute free (stop grumbling) information appetizers so that you can sell the Prime Rib later in the meal.

Content marketing (or thought leadership as some call it – blah) is a fairly large umbrella in its own right because it covers a number of different platforms. Blogging, video, audio, podcasts, slideshow presentations, Lenses (squidoo) or pages like Hubpages. Articles, etc. This will hook prospects and certainly keep existing customers interested as you provide valuable, useful and entertaining content.

The last part of the building blocks in social media has to do with building real loyalty with those customers that you’ve established. This is where the rapport is tested as you move the customer from a relationship enveloped in transactions to a more symbiotic relationship where there is far more give and take. When customers become advocates to you, you know you’ve won.

The Brand Community – You can turn your customers into a marketing army. I’m not talking about the mass of customers that come into your brick and mortar store front in their sweat pants and “Corona” t-shirts. I’m talking about the customers that actually give a damn about you and your business. That’s probably about 1-2% of your actual customer base but those are the ones actively supporting your business and paying your bills. Ask those people for information and input, give them assignments and find ways to bring them together. Not sure what that means?

Look at RedBull. They have an annual Flugtag that brings thousands of people together to compete and have fun, all in the name of Redbull. Red Bull Flugtag challenges teams of everyday people to build homemade, human-powered flying machines and pilot them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight. Redbull got the ball rolling, but the people, the community, their customers – those are the ones making this successful and popular. You can do the same.

Customer Relationship Management – I know… “Screw that” right? That sounds like a lot of work when it’s put that way. I mean, after the last 4, you’re pretty much out of time and you have enough on your plate as it is. Well, too bad. Clear your plate, because social media is turning into the new call center.

Thanks to big companies like General Motors and Ford (and a slew of others, this isn’t just about cars) leading the way to attend to issues through social media, this is an emerging discipline of providing service and support via channels like Twitter and probably Facebook down the road. People are finding answers to major problems through Twitter, and companies are stepping up (the smart ones anyway) to take a proactive stance on reputation management online.

So what does that mean in terms of your business? That means that when two people are talking about “social media” they might not be talking about the same thing. When a business wants to “do” social media, it’s as vague as saying “im bored, I want to do something fun”.

When you start breaking it down, and identify that your weak point rests in social media marketing and apps then you suddenly made your job a lot easier and put quite a few things into perspective

“I’m bored and I want to ride a rollercoaster until I vomit nacho cheese”

Don’t we all. Welcome to social media in 2010.

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