{"id":5003,"date":"2013-08-11T15:17:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-11T15:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=5003"},"modified":"2013-08-11T15:17:48","modified_gmt":"2013-08-11T15:17:48","slug":"the-accidental-narcissist-and-the-future-of-connected-customer-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/the-accidental-narcissist-and-the-future-of-connected-customer-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"The Accidental Narcissist And The Future Of [Connected] Customer Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"selfie_-_Google_Search\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you ever noticed that your Facebook News Feed is the digital equivalent to \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life?\u201d Perhaps you\u2019ve likened your Instagram stream to that of\u00a0 \u201cLifestyles of the Digital Rich and Internet Famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In each network, and across multiple social streams, you\u2019re fed a visual buffet of seflies, travel, food, fashion, and celebrations. In assemblage, they tell the story of life well lived, or at least a life well curated. At the center of each of these experiences is the person living and sharing them in real time.\u00a0 Every day that passes, it seems that a growing network of our friends, family, and colleagues are charmed with this picturesque life.<\/p>\n

Some may see this behavior as self-centered, self-promotional, or view it as a form of attention seeking, but at a human level, it\u2019s simply a new form of self-expression and an open invitation to interact. <\/em><\/p>\n

But who are we kidding? It\u2019s not just everyone else, we might as well be talking about ourselves.\u00a0 It\u2019s a social world after all and shared experiences are the epicenter of a growing majority of engagement. As such, we\u2019re introduced to a new law of social physics, if you will, where for every action there is an equal or greater reaction. The truth is that social sharing is part self-expression and also part provocation. People share to communicate who they are or who they want to be, while concurrently hoping to incite a reaction that validates or substantiates their intended online persona.<\/p>\n

This phenomenon may seem like a personal discussion, but I can assure you that it has everything to do with your business.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to officially introduce you to your connected customer<\/a>. I believe it\u2019s about time we get to know the connected set to better understand how to engage them in social and mobile networks now and throughout the entire customer lifecycle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about you and me\u2026but mostly me<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re reading this, then you\u2019re most likely the very person you\u2019re trying to reach. You\u2019re connected, always on, unabashedly multitasking, and living across multiple screens each and every day. You live a digital lifestyle and without realizing it, you and others like you, are gradually exhibiting slivers of narcissism. Believe me, I say this with the utmost discretion. You can\u2019t help it of course. These networks prompt you to share your world, your way, all day, every day. And each time we do, we contribute to our \u201cegosystem,\u201d where we are the center of our own digital universe. Experiences and engagement represent the orbits that bring us together.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s visit planet Facebook and its orbiting moon Instagram for a moment. Facebook is now home to over one billion digital denizens. To put that in perspective, that\u2019s roughly about 12 percent of planet Earth. Instagram is a fledgling digital society in its own right. At 100 million residents and counting, a culture of sharing one\u2019s experiences is further enhanced by the ability to instantly enhance them with a creative filter, broadcast them across multiple networks, and earn the attention and reaction of a boundless and seemingly idle audience.<\/p>\n

The question is, if everyone is busy sharing content, then who is consuming it? This is also the law of social attraction. It\u2019s a reciprocal relationship where to earn reactions, one must equally or progressively react. How do you do that if the real-time web moves in real-time?<\/p>\n

The age of prevalence<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Understanding digital behavior has never known greater importance. As it evolves,\u00a0 we need to appreciate its velocity and impact. For example, on Facebook, conversations lose momentum in an hour, give or take. The reason for this is because people consume until they create. As they create, expectations shift as characteristics of narcissism take over. What about Instagram? Allow me to share some revealing behavioral stats that will make you say \u201cWow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statigram<\/a> is a third-party tool that tracks activity on Instagram. According to a fascinating article in pdn<\/a> (Photo District News) written by Kathleen Hay, Statigram tracked the number of photos tagged \u201cselfie,\u201d social slang for self-portrait (yes, that\u2019s a thing.) At 11 p.m. PST on December 28, 2012, the number of selfies numbered at a noteworthy 5.5 million. The egosystem wouldn\u2019t be the same without the \u201cme\u201d in social media. At the same time, photos tagged \u2018me\u2019 completely eclipsed \u201cselfie\u201d with a staggering 72.6 million self-portraits. Added together, you start to get the picture of just how prominent the egosystem is becoming.<\/p>\n

In the article, Hay introduces us to Dr. Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology and author of Generation M<\/em>e and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement<\/em>. The titles alone convey that connected consumerism is nothing like the conventional customers you once knew. To better understand the crux of selfies<\/em> and the digital \u201cme,\u201d Twenge explains that at the core of narcissism is this invention or aspiration that people are better or more important than in reality. In the digital realm however, perception is<\/em> reality.<\/p>\n

Agree or disagree, this is your connected customer. And in many ways, you and those you know are among them.<\/p>\n

How can you re-imagine your engagement strategies to align with and inspire the \u201cme\u201d in social media? How does \u2014 or how can \u2014 your brand evoke an experience that elicits self-expression? And how will your brand become part of the egosystem and create a gravitational pull for others to orbit?<\/p>\n

Brian Solis<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Connect with me: Twitter<\/a> | LinkedIn<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Google+<\/a> |Youtube<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever noticed that your Facebook News Feed is the digital equivalent to \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life?\u201d Perhaps you\u2019ve likened your Instagram stream to that of\u00a0 \u201cLifestyles of the Digital Rich and Internet Famous.\u201d In each network, and across multiple social streams, you\u2019re fed a visual buffet of seflies, travel, food, fashion, and celebrations. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,964],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-briansolis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5005,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions\/5005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}