Hey guys, welcome to Shama.tv. Today is an excellent episode because not only are we doing Whiteboard Wednesdays, we’re also doing ‘clean dog day’ here in our household. Snoopy got, went to the groomers’ today and got all clean. Hi honey! Hi puppy! And he’s decided to join us for Whiteboard Wednesday, so we’ll let him sit right there and hopefully you guys can still see the whiteboard.

Your comments last time were very appreciated. A lot of you guys Twittered me; some of you left comments on Facebook. I see that you guys really enjoyed the Whiteboard Wednesday, and I’m so glad. The one feedback that many of you did have was, “Why don’t you get this thing mounted?” and I’m working on that, I promise. Of all the things that I try to do, handyman is not one of them, or handywoman for that matter, so as soon as I can get one of the guys in my life to come put this up – that would either be my dad or my husband – to put this up, we’ll go ahead and get this mounted.

But for now, we’re going to do Whiteboard Wednesday. Today’s topic is social media. And just when you thought I couldn’t use the whiteboard to explain social media, I can. There’s a couple of things that you need to understand about social media marketing and here is the most important aspect. What is the number one reason most people join social networking sites? Think about it. If you’re thinking community or relationships, you’re partially right.

The first reason people join social media sites is for – that’s right – identity. That’s the first reason that people join social networking sites. It’s to showcase who they are. The second reason is to build relationships, connections if you will. And the third reason is community. But that’s the primary reason, and that’s the one that most marketers ignore.

Most marketers focus right here before ever thinking about this. If people are joining social networking sites, it’s because it says something about them. So when we fan a page on Facebook, or Tweet something on Twitter, we do those things not because of this necessarily, but because of this. Because we’re trying to establish our identity. We’re establishing it, we’re showcasing it. I love Coca Cola because that says something about me. I love dogs because that says something about me. I love whatever I may love because it says something about me, not necessarily because I love the company.

So what do marketers have to do? Marketers have to realize that for people to identify with their brand, their brand has to be cool, and even B2B marketers can do that, right? Give them some incentive to make it part of their identity. How can you make it cool for people to want to talk about your brand? And that’s where social networking begins, and that’s Whiteboard Wednesdays for you here from Shama.tv.