Rethinking Social Media
Many of the marketers who want to capture the power of social media struggle with how best to do so. According to Lon Safko, these marketers need to rethink their approach.
"They're not looking at it holistically," says Safko, author of The Social Media Bible. "They're looking at it as individual tools. Instead they should consider social media as a new tool set that they should integrate with their traditional marketing efforts. Then create a holistic strategy."
What makes this difficult, however, is understanding the psychology behind the tools, he says. Communication on Twitter, for instance, should be instant, brief, and broad. Safko cited as an example an awards ceremony he attended. During the ceremony he tweeted each winner as each award was announced. This made the communication real time and the message brief, as well as broadened the reach of the awards.
Blogging, on the other hand, is a whole different psychology, Sakfo says. Readers and customers want to know, "How will you educate me?" Consequently, corporate bloggers should consider what it is they want to tell their top customers. "You become a thought leader and trusted expert," he says, as long as the posts are transparent, authentic, and sincere. Ads can have a sales pitch; blogs and tweets shouldn't, he says. Additionally, blogging about topics in your firm's areas of expertise helps prospects find your company through keyword searches.
"Marketing is about being out there so customers and prospects can find you," Safko says. "Social media puts an edge on that. Customers will look for you or companies that offer products and services like yours in Facebook and LinkedIn and the like. You have to be there to be found. If you're not there and your competitors are, you've lost." This applies to both B2C and B2B companies, Safko says.
Like any disruptive technology, it will take time to figure out social media. It changes everything, Safko says, but in the end "it's still one person selling to another."
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Thanks for the post
I completely agree with Safko's assertion that social media must be viewed holistically within the context of the company’s overall marketing strategy. I would push the thought even further that the social web will force better alignment across an entire company and especially the customer care operations. In order for companies to have a transparent conversation with customers, the internal silos have to disappear.
I recently returned from a range of customer visits (disclosure, I work for RightNow Technologies) and the top topic at the table is how customer service operations can engage proactively and appropriately via the social web.
Regards - Andrew Hull
Awesome comments! I agree, that as consumers, we are beginning to "expect" our news, our entertainment, and our advertising to be tailored to our likes. I believe that there will always be a place for direct mail, email, television and radio commercials, only that their effectiveness will continue to diminish to the point where they simply drop below a company's ROI threshold. Just as Google's AdSense delivers targeted advertising, so eventually will most social media tools. Twitter has now become nearly useless do to its overwhelming spamming. I think that just like email, Twitter's pendulum might swing back towards center and become an effective and fun form of communication again with more self-policing and spam filters. If not, it won't survive. -Lon Safko
The Social Media Bible huh?
In the beginning some would say Google created search, most journeys on the web start off with a search. The goal is to be found first or very close to it, accurately. Social Media can equate to if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around does it make a sound? or maybe without light there is no color.
Just another way to look at it.
Fraser - Interesting approach. Thanks for sharing it.
Brian - I agree that "shouting" is coming to an end. Even companies like Coca-Cola are looking for ways to "mass target" and be more relevant.
I also think its possible to use traditional media, like direct mail and even email, in a much more personalized way than most companies do today. The challenge, and opportunity, is blending traditional and new channels for maximum impact.
Thanks Ginger.
I would argue that "traditional marketing" ie. "shouting" is on its way out. Prospective customers are less interested in generic blasts and messaging and more in personalized interaction. To take it a step further, the customer now controls the conversation.
Blogs, tweets, and other mediums that add immediate value, and establish credibility and expertise will consume what we now know as traditional marketing over the coming months and years.
Best regards,
Brian
You expressed yourself differently from me, however what I do is use my blog as the headquarters of my communication and then I distribute my content from the blog to twitter, technorati, facebook, linkedin etc with a series of "how to's".
Now I'm rolling that out to clients.
Regards
Fraser.