Posts Tagged ‘social media’

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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I may be slow but I am dumb

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Sometimes things are so obvious that you just completely forget about them.  When these things smack you in the face you can’t help but feel stupid for not thinking of it earlier.  Well, in true Kyle fashion, I had one of these realizations this week.

For those of you who do not know, I am a social media guy.  I eat, live and breathe it, day in and day out.  Whether it is my social media presence, or that of my clients, I am constantly working to expand networks and build communities.

One of the questions my clients generally ask is what they can do to help expand their network.  I always suggest integrating social media invitations into their traditional marketing pieces to help build their community.  This way the consumer not only learns about you but they also connect to your community, pretty cool stuff.  Beyond the traditional forms of marketing, I also suggest they include links to their social media sites in their email signature.

Now, I am the subject matter expert, the one making these suggestions to my clients, you would think I would do this stuff for myself.  But, low and behold, I realized this week that my email signature didn’t include any reference to my social media sites.  How boneheaded!  As I quickly updated my email signature I realized there are two lessons that you can take away from my oversight:

1) If you don’t have links to your social media sites in your email signature, add them.  They are a great way to connect with people and share networks.  Trust me, just because I was so aloof to the concept, does not mean that it is not a valuable add-on.

2) Take a look at what you advise your clients, customers, colleagues or employees to do.  Do you follow suit in this action?  I know we would all like to say that we do but unfortunately that is not always the case.  Just take a quick second to run through what you ask of those around you to ensure you are meeting that expectation yourself.  I wish I had done this a while ago!

I’ve always said that if I can start a company than anyone can.  This just goes to prove that!

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It’s not about you

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

A friend of mine recently sent me a great article by Joel Spolsky on why he was shutting down his blog.  It appears Joel had great success in creating a blog about programming but he felt it was time to focus his time on taking his business to the next level.  As he prepares to shut down the blog, he reflected back on what made the blog such a great tool in growing his business.

What Joel did, without even trying to, was create a community of programmers that were highly interested in his product.  He did this by not focusing on himself or his company but rather the industry as a whole.  This allowed him to draw-in over a million unique visitors a month that may have otherwise not had an interest in his company.  While he admitted it was hard to not give into the impulse of self-promotion, he saw it as the key to his success.

As Joel shuts down his blog, he does so having used it to grow his company from a single person, bootstrap company, to over 30 employees and millions in revenue.  Not bad for a man with a vision and a blog.  What interested me in the story though was HOW he did it.  Time and time again he pointed out that the only reason why the blog worked was because he didn’t focus on himself or his company, only on his industry.

This is an important lesson to take away.  Even as a seasoned blogger I sometimes succumb to the temptation to self-promote, although the times are few and far between, they show how easy it is to do.  All too often I run across blogs that have aired on the side of self-promotion and they immediately seal their fate that I will not return.  Even if the writer is amazing, witty and captures my attention, it is not worth sifting through the sales pitch.

This is even a problem that I will run into with my clients.  They will love the traffic and response they are getting and decide they want to through in a quick pitch for one of their products or services.  I try to warn them against the move but it is ultimately their blog and their company.  And although the results of this quick pitch might not be immediately felt, it is evident that repeated self-promotion leads to stagnated growth.  Even an expert in growing a blog’s reach, like me, can do little if the content is not what people are looking for.

I guess my mom was right; it’s not all about me.

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The mother filter

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

My mom doesn’t approve of most of the things I do.  Since the seventh grade I have seemed to make it my life’s mission to act in a way that she finds unacceptable.  However, after over 20 years she has learned that I am going to do things my own way and that is (usually) okay.  So as I go through my life I am happy to share with her all the details that she may or may not approve of.

When I started participating in social media several years ago I thought about what information I would or would not share.  I looked back to my relationship with my mother.  Beneath the disproval of my actions, there seemed to be a genuine appreciation of the honesty.  And so I applied that open book policy to social media.

Yes, I do and share things that some people may not agree with.  I am a young man and I like to work hard and play hard.  There are no apologies about that.  But even after years of allowing an open book approach to my life, I occasionally cringe at the thought of sharing certain information.  However, I take a deep breath and remember that even the worse of me, is still me and even if people one hundred percent disagree with me, they can at least appreciate my honesty.

So when people object to the thought of sharing information, I instinctively wonder what it is they have to hide.  Don’t get me wrong, I get where people are coming from.  I understand the desire for privacy and not wanting certain people to know certain things about you.  Believe it or not, I am a fairly private person that doesn’t generally like to mix my business and personal life.  However, I am me, one hundred percent of the time.

For the people that do question about what they should or should not share with the social media world, consider the mother filter.  Would you share the information with your mother?  If so, I say go ahead and let the world know about it.  If it is something you would not want your mom to know about, it is probably best kept off the internet entirely.  Once something is posted to the internet you should assume the entire world, your mother included, can see it.

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Who is to blame for my frustration?

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

As hard as it is for me to comprehend, there are people that disagree with me.  I’m not sure what these people are thinking but apparently they don’t wholly and unquestionably accept my worldview.  I’ve grown accustomed to this from a personal side of things (I’m a pretty unique character!) but when it comes down to business, it is still down right frustrating.

Now, I’m not saying I have all the answers; there are a lot of things that I suck at in life.  However, one thing that I know I do not suck at is using social media to help companies grow.  Therefore, when people question my tactics and procedures I am immediately defensive.  This is what I do day in and day out, this is what I eat, breath and sleep, this is how I make my money, this is all I do!

Don’t worry; the point of this piece is not for me to grip.  I point out my frustration because it is an internal obstacle I have to overcome from time to time.  The fact of the matter is that when I am frustrated at others for not seeing my point of view, I should really be frustrated at myself for not properly explaining myself.

I am going through one of these internal/external struggles right now.  A client of mine is not too pleased right now because they have received some negative response throughout the social media community.  However, I am very used to negative responses and I simply see them as an opportunity to disprove critics.  My client does not so easily accept the public criticism.

My initial reaction was to wholly reject my client’s objections and tell them to trust in my expertise.  But then I realized that this does not really handle the issue at hand.  What happens when more negative comments come?  What happens when they disagree with something else?  Telling them to simply ignore it will not suffice.

I need to take responsibility for not properly informing the client what a great opportunity a negative response presents.  It will be my job in our phone call tomorrow to properly illustrate my worldview to the client so they can share my vision.  Any frustration that I feel is simply because I had failed to do this earlier.

It is easy to become frustrated when others disagree with us.  However, instead of pointing the finger outward, look inwards and you will most likely see who is to blame for your frustration.

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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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Do I have to use social media?

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Well, if you are reading this, then yes.  Eighteen months, or maybe even a year ago, I would have considered an argument that social media is meant for a specific target demographic.  However, the breadth and depth of social media today is so consuming that it seems naive of any company to not fully delve into social media.

Why must you use it?  Although my mother would tell me this is a horrible excuse, everyone is doing it.  Even if you are a staunch resister of the social media title wave, you have undoubtedly dabbled, looked or tried.  Most of you will have favorite sites and think that others are stupid or a waste of time.  I understand all of these perceptions.  But let me assure you, if you want to continue to see serious growth in 2010, you need to go all-in on social media.  It has been, and will continue to be, the medium that changes how we communicate.

Yes, yes, I am well aware that this sounds like a scare tactic from a social media expert that has much to gain from a slew of companies jumping into the social media game.  The reality is that I have more to gain from a gradual social media acceptance than I do a massive onslaught.  Already people that I taught how to use social media are labeling themselves experts and trying to take a piece of the social media pie.  If suddenly there is a lot more pie to go around, more “experts” will follow.

Not only that, I am far from the only person to suggest that social media is now a must.  In his book “Crush It” Gary Vaynerchuk tells his reader that they should be on every social media site possible.  Although I would not go to this extreme, it has become apparent that a strong social media presence is essential to continued growth.  Gary doesn’t just point out the necessity for social media, he also points out that social media has leveled the playing field in business.  Now, any size company can connect with an unlimited number of consumers.  No longer do the gatekeepers of large media dictate where the public devotes their attention.

Not only is social media a must, it is a great opportunity.  If you are a small company you now have the opportunity to connect with limitless consumers and over take the goliaths of the world.  If you are a large company you have the opportunity to connect with consumers and turn them into life long buyers.

So yes, social media is a must but you should consider it the greatest opportunity your company has ever been given.

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