Why Spotify Is A Social Network

Duh, Spotify Is A Social Network

I don't always get it right off. Sometimes it takes someone smarter to point out the obvious. I thought Spotify was a great way to have access to any music anytime, and that's true.

As Amanda Gagnon (@AmandaEGagnon), pointed out so brilliantly in Tune Up Your Marketing With Spotify the music platform is also a powerful social network. Coming out of Plato's cave into the light I realized every tool is a potential social network now, so huge DUH. 

Let's stay with how to use Spotify for Internet marketing and branding for today's post. Here is one of my favorite Amanda quotes setting up Spotify as powerful Internet marketing tool:

Marketing your brand on Spotify is one of those tactics that doesn’t feel very much like marketing, so your customers are more likely to engage with your brand there. 

Like most brilliant statements this one covers a lot of ground. The implication that the world is stuffed with spam and noise is accurate and painful for anyone marketing anything is true to my experience. Bad news is no let up in sight. Good news the spoils have always gone to the swift, those willing to try something NEW and DIFFERENT. Amanda's suggestion that marketing in an unusual place in a soft and supportive way defines the pillars of the new Internet marketing.

How To Spotify Your Brand

More and more, as experts from Seth Godin to David Edleman point out, branding is changing. Control is moving from US (marketing types) to THEM (our brand advocates and supporters). Amanda describes how to use music as sound paintings adding new dimensions to your marketing, company, brands and products.

What does your company sound like?

The best response to that question may be you have no idea. As Amanda suggests run a contest asking that question. Pit the top playlists against one another with a poll and those involved will drive social links into your contest page (make sure the voting page is on your website in an important place since the SEO-juice could be considerable).

What Social Networks Teach Marketers

Listening skills should be the biggest gain from learning how to market a company, brand or product on social media. If you don't have distinct marketing personas and segments read Managing Content Marketing by Rose and Pulizzi. Your messages must be relevant, so Know Thy Customers and Supporters is the first rule of Internet marketing these days.

Spotify can help you add a new dimension to your personas and segments. Personas and segments are only helpful IF they aren't cardboard characters full of meaningless cliche. It may be helpful to know what car I drive, but it is infinitely MORE helpful to know how your supporters and customers think and feel.

When you know the language, images and music that matter to your customers you are aligned, you understand and a careful, fragile relationship has formed. During the first part of my previous tenure as a Director of E-commerce I thought of the web as a place to sell things. More and more I see my job as an Internet marketer as curator/connector.

As an Internet marketer our jobs are to:

• Study, study and study more knowing the mountain of knowledge needed to be a great Internet marketer will only grow faster and faster. 
• Listen MORE than we talk. 
• Listen BETTER than we talk. 
• Create platforms that make connection to US easy. 
• Restrain our desire to talk AT people, talk with them instead. 
• Use scaled platforms such as Spotify to increase interaction and engagement.
• We are humans in search of greatness like all humans so share that fact often. 
• Curate and share the greatness created by others (even "competitors"). 
• Find the love, share the love, add to the love. 

The "Like Me" Thing In Internet Marketing 

We are more comfortable in places that feel "like us". In the Mad Men advertising days the key was tricking people to believe they could self actualize via your brand. Good luck with that strategy today. Does anyone really think they are skinnier, sexier or wealthier because of some deodorant, car or toothpaste?

We've all seen millions of ads. We are cynical and hardened, but in search of something too. We search for authentic, real, true experiences. We search for people "like me". Here is the new CATCH-22. Try to be like me and you fail.

Attempt to manipulate your core values to become like your segments and personas and you lose. Be who you are, stand for something and you may win. Everything is a social network now, so every customer will know your company, brand and products from a variety of people, places and things.

Values is what separates GREAT from average. Being average used to be profitable and secure. Not so much anymore as the web ruthlessly eliminates anything other than GREAT, about to be GREAT and can be helped to GREAT companies, brands and products.

During my P&G tenure I thought Unique Selling Propositions were the most important club in a marketer's bag. After reading Grow by fellow ex-P&Ger Jim Stengel VALUES feel like the most important thing to get straight, to know so well you can repeat them blindfolded and spun around.

Stengel and Millard Brown studied stock performance by values based business vs. "average" marketing plays. Values based brands crushed the other guys in their study. Review the Stengel Fundamental Human Values list below and determine what one value your company, brand or product works on the most:

• Elicit Joy.
• Prompt Exploration.
• Develop Connection.
• Evoke Pride.
• Impact society (change the world).

NOW, go and create a Spotify playlist that reinforces your primary benefit to the human experience and remember, everything is a social network now. 

Read Amanda's Article on Social Media Today (not sure how much Cliff Figallo @CFigallo helped but the link is to his page on Social Media Today. ) 

Are you using Spotify or other platforms to create meaningful connections with customers and advocates? Please share your glories and failures so we can praise one and learn from the other.