Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

The four truths of social media: It’s about dedication

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Semper Fidelis: Always Faithful.  As a Marine, I heard these words all the time.  They were not just a motto; they were a call to action, a call to remain faithful to our fellow Marines, the Corps and our country.

As I left the Corps and started running social media campaigns, the words kept creeping up in the back of my head.  I couldn’t put my finger on why I thought about the motto so much until it hit me: to be successful at social media, you need to be Semper Fidelis.

As social media has quickly become a dominant power in the business world, more and more companies are jumping on the bandwagon.  This is a great thing but it will make it more difficult for you to be successful due to all the other companies going after the same piece of pie.  Even if you put together a great campaign, it will take time for things to get off the ground.  Although it can be frustrating that you are not seeing a return on the assets you are investing, you need to always be faithful that the results you want will come.

That said, all the time in the world will not help you if you are not always faithful to your followers.  Although social media may appear free, time is its true cost.  In order to be successful you will have to dedicate a good amount of time to creating content, finding new followers and interacting with your community.  If you do not put in the time to foster and interact with you community, you will not see a return on your investment.

As I have said, the only reason a company should implement a social media campaign is to see bottom-line growth or to hit strategic marketing objectives.  Assuming that is the return you are looking for, it will take the dedication of being always faithful to see that kind of return.  As long as you use the words as a call to action, you’ll find the success you are looking for.

This is part four of five in the four truths of social media series.  To catch-up on the posts you have missed, or to sign-up for the remaining posts, we invite you to visit timeforarebel.com/blog and put us on your RSS feed.

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The four truths of social media: It’s about communication

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Social media is a lot like polygamy.  Now, before you write me off for the loony bin, hear me out for a second.  I’m a huge fan of Big Love on HBO and, in the show, one husband has several wives that he must care for and attend to.  He must communicate with them and encourage them to communicate with each other in order to ensure the marriages work.   Personally, I have trouble keeping my one girlfriend happy so I can’t imagine doing this for multiple women at once, but that is for another day.

The fact of the matter is that social media is set-up much the same way as a polygamist marriage.  Whether you are promoting yourself, or a brand you represent, you play the husband role.  As you grow your community, which we talked about in the previous post, it becomes your responsibility to care for and attend to your followers.  Each one of your followers is a “wife” with their own needs and desires.  It is your job to foster each one of those relationships to ensure you meet their needs and desires.

As just about any relationship expert will tell you, the key to a good relationship is communication.  You have to be able to start conversations, listen to what people are saying and respond accordingly.  If you do not start conversations, it is not communication.  If you don’t listen to what people say, it’s not communication.  If you do not respond to what people are saying, it’s not communication.  And if you’re not communicating, you’re not going to have those relationships for very long.

Now, I’m a realist and I realize that businesses are not going to use social media to simply build relationships.  As I have said all along, social media is a tool to grow businesses, which is exactly why communication is so important.  If you are properly communicating with you followers, you will be able to address any concerns that would prevent them from buying from you.  If you are properly communicating, you will enable your current customers to encourage other followers to buy from you.  If you are properly communicating, you will have proven to your followers that you are the business they should buy from.

Proper communication starts by simply addressing the problems your community has that you fix.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I invite you to checkout last week’s blog.  Once you start communicating with your community, it is a simple matter of dedication, which will be covered next week.  Until then, start communicating with your wives, it’s what a good husband should do!

This is part three of five in the four truths of social media series.  To catch-up on the posts you have missed, or to sign-up for the remaining posts, we invite you to visit timeforarebel.com/blog and put us on your RSS feed.

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The four truths of social media: It’s about community

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

There he was, smack dab across the table from me.  As much as I like to play the cool and confident type, it was hard for me to not show my excitement.  This was IT!  This was the chance to sign my dream client.

As nervous as I was, I knew I was prepared for the meeting.  I had researched everything I possibly could about the company, and its leader, before I even dared to step foot through the door.  I was prepared and was able to answer all of his questions before he even opened up his mouth.  I knew that he had problems in his business and I was just the man to solve them, all I had to do was prove it to him.

This is the scenario that I ask my clients to think about when they start their social media journey.  By thinking about the dream client, or customer, we are able to start defining who that person is and where they are located.   The simple demographic and location information is pretty easy to figure out.  However, the true definition of that dream customer is not who they are but what they want.

And this is how we start to form a community.    You define who that dream customer is, find out where they are located in the social media realm and then figure out what problems or desires they have that you can address.  It is their problems and desires that will become the basis of your community.  From there, you simply provide them information and tips about how to solve their problems or achieve their desires.  It’s as simple as that.

Okay, maybe simple is an overstatement.  In all reality, defining and creating a community can be very difficult.  However, if you start by thinking about what value you can offer to your dream customer and then offer bits and pieces of that value on a daily basis, you will be well on your way.  And do not fear about loosing business to your own social media campaign.

By creating a place of value for your dream customer, you will be the first person on their mind when it is time to purchase your service or product.  And, as much as we hate to admit it, selling stuff is the entire reason we built the community in the first place.  But, if you do want to sell stuff, you’ll have to have a community.

This is part two of five in the four truths of social media series.  To catch-up on the posts you have missed, or to sign-up for the remaining posts, we invite you to visit timeforarebel.com/blog and put us on your RSS feed.

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The four truths of social media: what it’s all about

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

I recently heard someone talk about the “rules” social media and it really rubbed me the wrong way.  First off, despite what all the “experts” will tell you, there is no right or wrong way to use social media.  There is only what works for you to achieve the goals you want to achieve.  Secondly, if there were rules, as a Rebel, I would have to break them.

While this may make social media seem like a lawless domain, incapable of providing bottom line growth, it is in the ambiguity of social media that you will find its strength. Although I cannot offer you a how-to guide, I can offer up the only constraints you will need to creatively grow your business.  These constraints are not the highbrow thinking of academics; they were simply created by the very users of social media.  All I have done is observe these users, over the course of working with dozens of different companies, and now present you with their truths:

It’s about community: The first thing I have my new clients do is describe their ideal customer.  I don’t care about the normal demographic listings; I want to know what makes them tick.  What keeps them up at night, what do they think about all day, what problems or desires do they have that you can solve?  As you start to answer these questions you will know what kind of community to create.  From there its about finding how to create this community by offering value to your audience.

It’s about communication: As any good relationship expert will tell you, communication is a two way street.  If you’re the only one talking, you’re not communicating.  For anyone that has ever been talked at, instead of talked with, you know how annoying this can be.  Luckily social platforms make it very easy to ignore the people that simply talk at you.  If you don’t want to be ignored then find a way to talk with your community, not at them.

It’s about dedication: Social media is quickly becoming a cluttered space, as every business under the sun jumps on the bandwagon.  This means two things for you.  First, it’s probably going to take longer than you think it should to grow your community.  Even if you are providing great value, don’t expect things to take-off over night.  Second, you will have to pay even greater attention to the community that you do create.  If you don’t provide the value and responsiveness that your audience desires, they’ll gladly and easily go elsewhere.

It’s about flexibility: As I said at the beginning, there are no rules to social media.  What has worked great for some of my clients has absolutely tanked for others.  Not only that, there are constant changes and adaptations that you’ll have to stay on top of.  To stay ahead of the game you will have to constantly test, measure and monitor your campaign.  Find what works for you and then find out how you can make it even better.

Over the next several weeks I will be covering each one of these truths in detail.  If you have any questions before then, just let me know.

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What is a social media expert?

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

When most people think about social media experts a fair dosing of snake oil salesmanship comes to mind.  Heck, a lot of people would consider me a social media expert and I regard the title with skepticism at best.  Regardless of these hesitations, there are actual social media experts out there but the question is: what makes someone a social media expert?

In my mind there is only one definable trait to a social media expert: positive return on investment.  I don’t care if the person tells you to send out one tweet a year or to shut down your Facebook account, if what they do provides a positive return on investment for your company, then I would consider them an expert!  Whether the investment was a book, seminar or all-out social media campaign, if what they provided you made more money than it cost, they are experts.

So often people like to talk about the “right” way to use social media.  They’ll talk about the newest social network that you just need to use, the exact number of followers you need to be important or the five rules you must follow if you want to be successful.  And the majority of what is out there is very helpful but if the return doesn’t outweigh the time and investment, it was a pointless transfer of knowledge.

Actual experts will seldom tell you there is only one way to accomplish an objective.  What an expert should do is craft a plan that connects, enthralls and turns consumer into customers.  An expert should be able to realize that what works for one person might not work for everyone.  An expert is someone like Wayne Breitbarth, who teaches about a formula to success and how you are the cornerstone of that formula.

With the dozens of clients that I have worked with I have had one that has not seen a positive return on investment.  To him I am not a social media expert, thus why I seldom accept the title.  For whatever reason though that client has stuck with me and I am dedicated to showing him a positive return.  We will continue to shape and create a social media campaign that drives in qualified leads that turn into customers.  If we were to continue with rigid adherence to what worked for my other clients, we would never be able to find him the business he needs.

Perhaps when I show that last client a positive return on investment I will be happy to call myself a social media expert, but until then, I am content with the title of my choice: social media artist.  For I truly hope to meld and mold great social media works of art.  I realize that the canvas and brushes may change but the output should not.  For in this art form the output is a positive return on investment and that is a work of art.

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I hear Facebook will be dead in 5 years

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

I was reading an interesting blog post awhile back that was discussing whether Facebook will even be around in five years.  It seems that social networking sites are unable to find a business model that translates into profits.  Being that my business revolves around social media, this started to concern me.  But then I realized: who cares!

My epiphany came in the realization that social media is not at all a shift in technology; it is a shift in the way we communicate.  No longer are we dependent upon a single source to push out a message through a given medium.  Although television, radio and magazines will almost certainly continue in some form, their impact has already begun to dwindle.  Large conglomerates no longer dictate what information we should know; we have become a water cooler society.

What I mean by water cooler society is that our information is now distributed casually from person to person, just like rumors at the office water cooler.  Yes, we can learn about the Iraq war from the massive amount of television coverage or we could read the blog of a soldier fighting on the front lines.  Yes, we can get a recap of yesterday’s news from the newspaper or we can hear it from our friends in our news feeds.

Although it may seem like it, this water cooler society did not arrive on our doorsteps overnight.  Since the advent of the internet we have been moving in this directions.  Forums, chats and groups paved the way for what we now call social media.  Forms of blogging have been around since the mid-nineties and modern social networking sites since the early 2000s.  Granted, this is a quick timeline in the sense of changing how information is passed from person to person, but is by no means instantaneous.  Society has been striving for a new way to communicate for sometime now.

Even if Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn all fall off the face of the earth tomorrow the way we communicate is unlikely to change.  In their void will come new technologies that allow us to continue our water cooler society.  Gone are the days of one-way communication and here to stay is an era of word of mouth conversation.  So, die if you must Facebook, it wont effect my business none.

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The truth about Facebook pages

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

My main beef with Facebook pages is that they ignore the reason why social networking sites were created, which is to network!  To use such sites for any other reason is to try to warp the tool to your strategy instead of changing your tactics to fit the tool.  Trying to market in a networking world is exactly why companies struggle with social media.

What this means for companies is that they need real people out there, talking on behalf of the company.  To a lot of people, this might not make sense but it is no different then hiring a sales force.  You hire a sales force to talk on behalf of your company because humans respond best to other humans.  Just because humans now communicate screen to screen, instead of face to face, does not change the rules.

The companies that are seeing the greatest return on their investment are already adhering to this paradigm.  The reason Zappos has had so much success with social media isn’t because they have the best Facebook page out there.  Their CEO, Tony Hsieh, networks on behalf of the company, tells consumers about what makes Zappos so great and gets direct feedback from customers.  He even takes it a step further and encourages each of his employees to network on behalf of the company.

My guess is that I am probably not the first person to tell you that you cannot market through social media.  However, I will often see people take this concept to the other extreme and never talk about their business.  I heard one “expert” say that what you say should be 80% personal and only 20% business.  Though this is better than going out and trying to use Facebook for marketing, it too misses the mark.

I already have plenty of friends so I use networking to drive new business for my company.  I do this by engaging people in conversations with the purpose of discovering is it makes sense for us to do business together.  I do not bore people with the details of my life because that does nothing to grow my business.

The fine line to walk with social media is to not try to make everyone your new best friend but also to not go around telling everyone why they should buy from you.  Forget that you are on Facebook and just try to network.  Engage potential customers in conversation, learn about what it is they want and then see if you can provide that to them.

So, are Facebook pages pointless?  No, they are great for customer retention and loyalty.  However, if you want to use social media to grow your company and get new clients or customers, forget about them.  Remember, its call social networking because you are supposed to network!

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The five things you must know about social media

Friday, September 11th, 2009

I’ve been suffering through a bit of writer’s block lately.  It seems like everyday I learn new things about social media but when I pull up to my computer at the end of the day, I end up drawing a blank.  Since I’m sick of staring at a blank screen or getting half way through a post and hating it, I decided to try a recap of sorts.  My idea for this post was that if I could only tell someone five things about social media, what would they be?  Here’s what I came up with:

  1. It’s not your daddy’s marketing: This stems from a major pet peeve of mine.  It seems like there are a good number of people that think social media is just another way to push their features and benefits onto customers.  What they fail to realize is that since we receive 3,000-5,000 marketing messages a day, even the best-worded pitch, is still that, a pitch.  Get out of the marketing mindset and start thinking about conversation.  What kind of conversation do you want to have with your consumer?  Where do you want that conversation to go?  Once you discover the power of conversation you will never think about returning to that cool marketing copy again.
  2. Life is about who knows you: I always said life isn’t about what you know but who you know.  I was close, but the real measure of success is who knows you.  Take a moment think about who you want to know you.  Whether that person is a business owner, marketing manager or lowly college student, find out where they are.  More then likely they are somewhere on the social media spectrum.  Once you have them cornered, go after them from all angles.  Join groups they are a part of, connect with their friends or ask mutual friends for an introduction.  If you notice, I never once suggested sending them a message about what you want from them.  As soon as you do this you are just another pitch.  Get them cornered and then start your conversation.
  3. Be a jabber mouth: Constant consistency is the verbiage I like to use with my clients.  We have all heard about the vast growth of social media recently.  Yes, this is a great opportunity for you but it also means you will have a tough time standing out.  To get past this you need to be engaging multiple times a day.  You will note I said engaging, as I alluded to in the first topic, if you are constantly and consistently polluting the social media realm, you will see no return.  Your constant engagements need to be relevant and meaningful to your customer.  On the flip side of that coin, even the best conversation starters will get lost in the shuffle if you are not staying at the top of everyone’s news feed.
  4. Brace yourself: I try to warn my clients of this all the time but it still seems to come as a shock when it happens.  When you enter the realm of social media you are fair game.  Anything you say, do or allude to will be used against you in the court of social media.  As long as you stay away from the feature and benefit pitch you should be okay but people will still say whatever they want.  The key is to use each criticism as growing point and not respond emotionally.  Instead, see it as a chance to prove your point and intelligently defend yourself.  If you believe your company’s worldview is correct then you can absolutely defend that as long as you are not being defensive or offensive. 
  5. Have fun:  Don’t worry; this isn’t some pep talk about how this is supposed to be fun, so you should just do it for enjoyment.  If that were the case no business owner would make the time for simple enjoyment.  What I am referring to is that social media is supposed to be about personal connections and bonding.  Think of it as a party.  If you go to a party and try to engage everyone in constant serious conversation you will get the party pooper stigma.  However, if you go to the party, tell a few jokes, make fun of yourself and look like you’re having a good time, people will want to party with you again.  Therefore, keep your happy face on, make some jokes and make people want to be your friend.   And that is the key, making people know who you are.

 

Five simple things, follow them and see success.

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