January 17, 2011
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Social Media Is Not Free

There is a cost to social media.

One of the biggest reasons that companies think they want to market via social media is that they think it’s free. I mean, it’s free to create a Twitter or Facebook page, right? It’s free to answer a question on Quora. It’s free to ask people to follow your blog or your RSS feed. It’s free to post. So there’s no cost to social media! Right?

Wrong.

There are several costs to consider:

  • There’s the cost of time. “If you build it, they will come” only works in a Kevin Costner movie. You need to actively curate your social media. Post on Twitter and Facebook, monitor your brand sentiment across the Web, respond to people who take the time to respond to you – these all require an employee. In order to humanize your brand, you need a human. At least one, maybe more.
  • There’s the cost of promotion. How will you get people to your page? How will you keep them there? Will you run contests? Will you have give aways? Not. Free.
  • There’s the cost of gidgets and gadgets. Want to have that cool Facebook fan page? You’ll need a design, good copy, a call to action and someone who knows FBML. So you’ll need a designer, a copywriter and a programmer. Generally, they don’t work for free.
  • There’s the cost of INACTION. If you build a page, and don’t curate it, people get wise to the fact that your brand isn’t interested in a relationship with them. Sometimes, they’ll just ignore your brand. Sometimes, they’ll take over the conversation that you’re ignoring. (A prime example of this is the “fake” BP page that Tweeted out very funny and clearly not BP-sanctioned posts about the oil spill.) Sometimes, they’ll go to the extreme and turn on you and actively point out that you’re a social media pariah. Sometimes, they’ll be really extreme and hack your account. Do you want that to happen? I didn’t think so.

So just remember, when starting a social media campaign, have a plan. Have someone who knows social media run the campaign. And have a clear goal for the campaign. Also, have a clear understanding of the true cost of social media.

January 13, 2011
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Super social media followers – give them a cape!

Oooh, Green Hornet opens at the movies this weekend! I love super hero lore – Iron Man, Batman, X-men, etc. There’s just something about super powers that I find interesting. (Question: what super power would you want? Me? I’d like to teleport.)

Did you know that you have social media heroes among your followers? That’s right. Those followers/fans that talk to you, or re-post what you post, or comment on your blog – they have a super power – at least, a social media super power. They have the ability to evangelize your business for you. That’s a great power to harness, if you’re a business.

But if you don’t cultivate that power, help it to grow, it can be lost. No one wants that to happen! But how do you cultivate social media superheroes?

You tap into the basic human nature in each of us – we all like to be recognized, even in small ways. I like to always thank people on Twitter that ReTweet, or re-post, my posts. I like to respond to every person that responds to me on any social platform. I like to give little kudos, like Fan of the Week posts or #followfriday shout outs on Twitter.

If you run a forum or message board, perhaps let the super users earn badges, or points, or even contact them in a personal message and offer them a guest post on your blog, or five percent off their next order, or anything you can dream up in your marketing brain. Even the littlest of gestures can go a long way toward building social media superheroes.

January 12, 2011
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Social Media: You Can’t Control the Conversation

The conversation is already happening

Do you remember the song that goes “A-cent-uate the positive, E-lim-inate the negative.” It’s a great philosophy for keeping a good attitude in life, but it doesn’t really work in terms of social media.

Many companies don’t want to enter the social media space at all, and many don’t want to make the effort to truly embrace social media, because they don’t want to open their brand up to negative comments. They’re concerned if they employ a star-rating system on their site, or allow for comments on a product, that they won’t always see the 5-stars or the positive reviews. Some companies even *GASP* “e-lim-inate the negative” comments. Bad juju, companies, bad juju.

Here’s the raw fact: The conversation is going on. Good conversation. Bad conversation. It’s going on about your brand, your company (probably even YOU) whether you like it or not. You can’t stem the tide of the people.

Forget eliminating the negative. I have an even better saying for you “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

I have seen the results, time and time again, when a brand joins a conversation that doesn’t shine the most positive light. If someone is complaining on Twitter, for example, and a brand representative sees the comment, then responds in a helpful and humble way, the whole tone of the conversation turns. Now, let’s be clear, it’s not about getting into a pissing match with a customer (remember, they’re always right, even when they aren’t!) It’s about listening to a concern, offering a helpful solution, or just an “I hear you.”

For example: A few years ago, SoBe spent a ton of money for a commercial during halftime of the Super Bowl that required customers wear those 3-D glasses to appreciate. The company took a gamble that viewers would don these glasses JUST FOR A COMMERCIAL! In watching the Twitter stream (there was a #hashtag set up just for talking about Super Bowl ads) I was amazed. There were some very angry people upset over a 30-second ad spot. The venting went on for about five minutes until *POP* there was the SoBe lizard, Tweeting from the SoBe account. I watched as the SoBe social media engine addressed the concerns. “We’re sorry you didn’t like it, what could we do better?” was the general gist of the SoBe Tweets. It didn’t convert the skeptics, but it did make them feel heard and thus the tone of the conversation turned to more about how cool it was that SoBe listened, rather than about how bad the commercial was.

The only way to address a negative conversation is to become a part of the conversation. Listen. Learn. Then try and find a way to address the concerns. You’ll be surprised at the results.

January 10, 2011
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Refrigerator Tweeting? Social media I don’t need.

Tweeting refrigerators?

I am a social media evangelist. I think everyone should give social media a try and join in the conversation, at least on some level.

It’s become so easy to use. You can post using your computer, or do like the majority of social media users do, post with your mobile device.

However, I was a bit, um, concerned, when I saw this article on Mashable.com about Samsung’s Tweeting Refrigerator. I think this is taking social media just a bit too far.

I believe in being “jacked in” but there’s also a time to unplug. Plus, there is such a thing as oversharing. If you’re going to tell me on Twitter or Facebook that you just got a drink from the fridge, or that you’re out of beer, or that you found a moldy sandwich, that’s just information I don’t need to know.

A lot of people on Twitter think that a steady stream of “I’m eating Doritos” or “BRB, must pee” is what people want to read. I happen to think that if you can’t participate with something useful, then maybe you should just wait until you have something useful to say. And nothing useful can come to mind when getting ice out of the refrigerator door.

Plus, I worry that social media has allowed humans to become, well, less human. We still need in-person interactions. I believe that kitchen time is family time. A Tweeting refrigerator is just one more distraction.

Usually, I’m an early adapter of cool technology. In this case, I’ll just stick with my regular old refrigerator and hold out for the Tweeting Toaster. Or the Facebook Fryer. Or the Quora Coffemaker. Just kidding.

January 5, 2011
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Make your Twitter avatar better than the movie!

Sometimes, you can’t see the forest for the trees. Other times, you’re too busy looking at the forest that you miss the trees. 🙂

The devil is in the details, my friends. Yes, you need a well-thought-out social media strategy, but sometimes, you need to take a step back and consider the details.

Take your Twitter avatar, for instance. (It’s the small image that appears on your Twitter profile and beside every Tweet you post.)

A default Twitter avatar

If you don’t upload a profile photo when you first set up your account, your Tweets appear with the Twitter default image. It looks like an egg – you’re a Twitter newbie, ready to break out of your shell. And do you know what most people think when they see a Tweet to them with the newbie egg? They think spammer first, and newbie second. You don’t want to start off a conversation with someone with the proverbial bag over your head, right?

The next question becomes, do you use a corporate logo or a picture of a real person? I suppose there are two schools of thought on this. For example, @Starbucks and @DunkinDonuts are two that use their logo. I would argue that in these cases, that’s acceptable, because these brands are 1) Super recognizable and 2) their Tweets are so personable and conversational that it makes up for the stiff corporate logo. 3) In the case of Dunkin Donuts, they have multiple Tweeters for their account.

Using social media is supposed to help you humanize your brand. So I really hold the opinion that you should try to humanize your avatar. I always like to know that I’m talking to an actual person! Perhaps there’s a way to compromise. I really like how Scott Monty (@scottmonty) of Ford has blended his smiling face with a small Ford logo in the corner. Corporate (because he’s representing Ford) and personal – love it!

If your account will have multiple Tweeters, I would still suggest something other than a logo – especially if your logo is not easily recognizable. Be creative! Maybe it’s a mashup of your Tweeter’s faces. Or all of their eyes. Or all of their left pinkies. 🙂

I can’t wait to see your avatars! Tweet with me over at @SocialMedBtrfly and let me see!

January 3, 2011
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The value of a social media “follower”

These are SERIOUS fans, the kind you want in social media!

Building a client base is hard – like building a follower or fan base in social media. Anything worth having usually doesn’t come easy. Which is why it troubles me that many potential clients start by saying “can you get me 1000 followers/fans in a week?” Or “get me 10,000 followers this month?”

The answer to those questions is not yes or no, it’s “why?”

Technically, sure, I could get you those followers. I can make a complete nuisance of myself and use all those follower “bots” and generally sell out to get those followers (Please see my social media gone bad elevator analogy post below.) But what good are they if none of them interacts with you? If no one is Retweeting your message, reading your content, interacting with you on whatever social media platform you’re on – what’s the point? If it’s just so you can tell your boss, your client or yourself that you “earned” followers, you’re going to be pretty disappointed in the long run.

Social media is about quality over quantity. I would challenge someone that made such a request that if I can only get you 500 followers/fans in a month, but those 500 people thought that what you posted or showed them was so awesome that they in turn went out and told their friends/contacts (by Retweets, or posting on their Facebook wall, or sharing a video, etc.) then those 500 followers/fans are actually WORTH MORE TO YOU than 1000 fans that either lurked or ignored you. Actually, I’d say that a person who engages with your company, asks questions, posts feedback, takes a poll, responds to a survey – is WORTH AT LEAST THREE TIMES MORE than a wet blanket follower.

So, we, the social media mavens that we are (or strive to be) are going to concentrate more on cultivating quality followers or fans. We’re going to listen first to what they have to say to us, we’re going to respond and talk to them, and then we’re going to watch social media magic happen as they go out and then become ambassadors FOR us and say to ourselves “I’m so glad I didn’t worry about sheer quantity, because this is so much better!”

December 20, 2010
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Social Media marketing success is like an elevator ride

Photobucket

Welcome to the first post on my social media blog! In this post, I will give you my famous social media elevator analogy, wherein I explain why you might not want to plaster hard-core marketing messages all over your Twitter and Facebook pages.

Let’s say we’re in Las Vegas (yay!) and we’re in a mega-hotel staying in the penthouse suite (double yay!) which means we have to ride up 40 floors. For some reason, today the super-duper fast elevator is going very slow. When you get on the elevator in the lobby, you notice that the ultimate salesman – complete with plaid pants and a golf shirt – has gotten on with you, and he’s getting off on your floor. Now it’s you and the salesman going up on the elevator at a snail’s pace.

Scenario 1: TORTURE – The salesman doesn’t even wait for the door to close before he’s bombarding you with business cards and shaking your hand and telling you that he’s got the best Vegas gizmo for the best price ever and because you’re new best elevator friends he can cut you (and anyone else that’s on the elevator) a great deal. As you can imagine, that is going to be one long elevator ride. This is the annoying way to use social media – bombarding followers/fans/friends with hard-sell marketing all day every day.

Scenario 2: RELATIONSHIP – The salesman gets on the elevator and just smiles a friendly smile your way. You smile back and say “hello.” Because you’ve been friendly, the salesman says “Is Vegas an awesome city or what?” – because you have a commonality (you’re both in Vegas, in the hotel elevator.) You say “I’ve had the greatest stay!” and now you’re having a conversation. By the time you get to the 20th floor, the salesman has given you the most useful piece of information, such as you can get a free drink by mentioning his name at the bar. He has now positioned himself as something of an authority on this particular Vegas hotel. You are very grateful for the tip, and ask what the salesman does for a living. The salesman says he sells Vegas gizmos. Now, you and the salesman have a relationship – you are both human beings having a fun time in Vegas and now there’s this gizmo for sale. You, being the savvy person you are, ask him for a deal. He says “now that we’re friends, I can sell it to you 10 percent off. Not everyone gets this deal.” By the time you get off the elevator on the 40th floor, you’ve exchanged business cards, promised to meet at the bar to get that free drink, you’ve bought a gizmo AND you’re likely to tell all your friends about this great guy you met on the elevator. That, my friends, is social media, done right.

Do you see how you would tune out the salesman in scenario 1? He could hard-sell you for 40 floors, and you can’t shut him up, but you can just nod and tune him out. In scenario 2, you’ve ENGAGED each other in meaningful CONVERSATION and you didn’t feel like you were being hit over the head with a sales pitch. Additionally, because you’ve now got a RELATIONSHIP with this person, you are going to go tell your friends and sell his product for him!

Can you think of another social media analogy? Did this analogy help explain things? Let’s talk about it in comments!