Why Apple doesn’t need a social media strategy

Whenever there is a discussion about social media and brands it is inevitable that the Apple case comes up. The Apple brand is like the antagonist of all social media lore, it’s tightly controlled and there is no open communication.

Usually in the discussion ( e.g. yesterday) somebody is going to argue that only Apple can get away with this, but it always sounds like this would be a terrible mistake for other companies.

In fact Apple is probably the strongest social media example that exists, social media is not only about conversations between brands and users, it’s mostly about conversations between users that include your company or brand. So if you manage to start a conversation without being an active participant you have almost no reason to become a participant.

Imagine a cocktail party where everybody is talking about your new book, but nobody knows you are the author. Some are criticizing your book, but some others are defending it and they are doing this with a lot of enthusiasm.
You can learn a lot from this discussion, but you don’t need to engage in it and you certainly don’t have to inform everybody about your book.

Sometimes listening and watching is all that is needed for a succesful social media strategy.

Of course it doesn’t hurt to have some brand evangelists