Social Media Tip How to Survive in the Social Medi Egosystem

Social Media Tip of the Day: How to Survive in the Egosystem

Posted on January 17, 2012

In an interview on Software Advice, Brian Solis discusses the six rules of engagement in what Solis coins as the “Egosystem.”

Solis broadly defines the term as:

The Egosystem describes this new environment where people see themselves as the center of everything. Every interaction, with people and businesses alike, revolves around them. That kind of changes the dynamics and balance of the relationship.

Solis goes on to outline six rules of engagement that businesses and organizations should adhere to in order to find success in the “egosystem:”

Rule One: Value

Consumers want to feel valued by the companies they do business with. Feeling valued translates to knowing that the company or brand will go above and beyond to meet your needs. In the Egosystem, the customer identifies their needs as the most important. They want the company or brand to share that sentiment.

Rule Two: Efficiency

Not only does the customer want to feel valued, but they want their time to be valued as well. Thanks to an increasingly mobile and social world, consumers are used to having technology that allows them to often expedite traditionally long, laborious processes. They expect this same level of expediency when dealing with businesses.

Rule Three: Trust

Consumers need to be confident in the credibility of businesses. They want to know that a company will stand by the product, actions and services that they deliver.

Rule Four: Consistency

It is common for companies to offer multiple channels for communication with their customers. AT&T offers email, live chat, Twitter, Facebook, phone and even postal mail. Offering multiple channels is good, but there is no value unless the service you provide is consistent across each one.

Rule Five: Relevancy

This is something that a lot of companies struggle with, particularly when it comes to social media. Many companies use social media as another means of advertising. They essentially spam social media profiles, blogs and marketing emails with product-centric information. However, that’s not what the consumer wants.

Rule Six: Control

We have heard over and over again that the customer is in control. But the idea of control is two-fold. It is clear that customers want a sense of control in that they want to choose the channel they communicate on, and they want the ability to opt in and out of specific engagements.

Read the full interview with Brian Solis by Lauren Carlson on Software Advice.

Deltina Hay is the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Social Media Survival Guide, and the upcoming book, The Bootstrapper’s Guide to the Mobile Web. She also teaches the online version of Drury University’s Social Media Certificate program. Learn more about Deltina and her availability for speaking engagements at Deltina.com. You may also enjoy listening to her video tutorial series on YouTube.

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