Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’
(Yuck. We really don’t like the term “Social Media,” but we feel compelled to use it here so you’ll get the point of our message. Do yourself a favor, though, and stop thinking Social Media – start thinking Online Brand Management. It makes much more sense)
But for now…
The idea of hiring college interns or fresh, young twenty-somethings to manage social media is a hot topic these days. And a crazy one if you ask us. It’s like hiring someone to manage your TV advertising because he watches 3 times as many shows as you do. Oh, and he knows how to do everything with just one remote control. What the heck does that have to do with marketing?
Here’s what we’re hearing a lot these days…
Boss to employee: “We’ve got to get going with this Facebook and Twitter stuff. Do you have any idea where to start?”
Employee: “I’ve got no idea. Heh, unless you want to hire my wife. She’s hooked on Facebook these days. But my kids don’t even tweeter.”
Boss: “What about Cindy down in HR? She’s young. I’ll bet she tweeters. Maybe we could give it to her. She could do it a few minutes every week.”
Employee: “Yeh. She’s got a little free time. I see her on Facebook.”
Boss: “At work!?!”
Employee: “Oh yeh. All the time. But what about getting a college kid? We could hire him as an intern and wouldn’t have to pay.”
Boss: “Hmmm. Good idea. Who wants to pay someone just to do Facebook. Why don’t you check into that.”
So, let’s see. The average business today has what is, probably, the most powerful opportunity in years to properly position and market their brand to a highly targeted and relevant audience, and they want to hand that responsibility off to a youthful, untrained kid. CAN YOU SAY CRAZY?
Oh sure, Brandtailers has interns. Great ones, hand picked from the best colleges with the best advertising and PR programs (ala Chapman University). But we don’t entrust our client’s brands to them! Yes, we get some of them involved with our clients online efforts – but only after 60 hours of training and testing and only with constant supervision, guidance and ongoing webinars to improve their talents. Even then, they’re often doing the background work, i.e. gathering research and info for interesting posts on Facebook. We do not leave a client’s online brand in the hands of anyone who doesn’t completely understand the full marketing strategy, goals and objectives of a client’s brand. The online world is not a separate place from all other brand messages – it’s another place. A new one that has more potential to grow your brand than any other media has since television’s hay days.
If you’re a business leader reading this, please take our advice. DON’T “Just Do It”. Read a few case studies about businesses who understand the place Social Media has in marketing, and the powerful part it can play in the 21st century businesses’ success, or failure.
If you’ve visited our Brandtailers office you probably noticed that we have books everywhere. All on marketing and advertising. We’re fanatical about staying ahead of the curve, so we read a lot.
But, if you only have time to read a few books over the summer, how do you choose from Amazon’s 33,000 titles in marketing, advertising, and social media? Ugh.
We filtered through our library and found what we believe are today’s five best books to read. They offer you a well-rounded understanding of the latest consumer preferences, marketing strategies and technology need-to-knows. Hopefully you’ll have time to devour a few. (Oh, and for those of us who spend more time in their cars or at the gym than sitting with a book, there’s always Audible.com)
1. DON’T MAKE ME THINK – Steve Krug
Although it’s a couple years old, it’s still the best book on what makes a great website. It’s written in plain, and downright funny, language. We often give it to clients as gifts. It’s not for programmers. It’s for the rest of us.
2. TRIBES – Seth Godin
Seth hit another home run with Tribes. He took what is happening in the world of marketing and applied it to basic human behavior. By the time you finish this short book, you’ll feel like you’re viewing the world through a whole new lens.
3. THE NEW RULES OF MARKETING AND PR – David Meerman Scott
David just revised this book with new updates, so make sure you get the latest edition. It has the best examples of how things have changed for marketers, along with the new rules of engagement. It’s simple, useful and inspiring.
4. TRUST AGENTS – Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
For anyone who has spent a year or more in social media, this book may seem a bit simplistic. But the overall message of how trust drives today’s world of marketing is the most important and valuable take away. It makes you want to be a better person (and marketer).
5. WEB ANALYTICS 2.0 – Avinash Kaushik
OK, maybe sections of this book get into a little too much detail, but you can skip those parts. Avinash is so entertaining in the way he explains current web technology, you’ll be chuckling while learning. Don’t be afraid of the title (or his name).
What books would you add to this list?
What’s the best way to win advocates for your brand? TRUST. What’s the best way to win trust? Be helpful. What’s the best way to be helpful? Give consumers useful information they wouldn’t expect to get free. Information that will save them time, save them money, make them smarter, make them happier, make them feel better about themselves – and you.
Since its inception, the Nordstrom brand has centered around being helpful, right? Like a phone call telling you they remembered you were looking for shoes to go with the suit you bought last month, and they just got the perfect pair in. Or how about the American Express openforum.com, a free website with tons of information that claims huge success in helping business owners succeed. Oh, and its content contributors are donating their brains and talent at no charge to American Express.
It’s easy to talk about big brands like these, but how about the success some smaller brands are enjoying due to their helpfulness? Like Kellogg Garden Products, with a website full of gardening tips from soil calculators to fun kid gardening activities. Their website Analytics show a huge percentage of visitors time being spent on the pages they’ve built simply to be helpful, and their brand recognition confirms this.
Big or small, these brands understand they must give in order to receive. Paying it forward may end up being the most successful marketing mantra for the 21st Century. The question is, is your brand ready?
This is a great list of 12 short tips on Social Media from Shane Gibson, international speaker and author of several books on Social Media, including his latest, Sociable. For some of us, it’s “the basics”, but it never hurts to be reminded of them.
- Keep giving and contributing more than the competition. Pay back will be huge.
- Every tweet, blog entry, comment and status update will be saved forever and is permanently part of your brand.
- Before permission to market comes permission to connect. There’s a lot of trust building in between.
- Make it easy for people to find you. While you’re out looking for business there is an entire market looking for you.
- It’s not about B2B or B2C it’s about person to person marketing in social media.
- Use the back links function in Google to see who is linking to your competitors. Reach out to those connectors.
- Go wide with social media then build strong deep networks by going deep with the phone, Skype, webinars or in-person.
- Twitter search and tools like Twellow.com can dampen the noise down from millions on voices to the exact ones you’re targeting.
- Picking a fight publicly stays on record long after the battle is done. Rarely is it worth it.
- Not getting the results you want? Are you asking for help often enough? It’s about community. Reach out.
- Share and give more than you think is practical… then do it again. It will build positive momentum for your brand.
- When partnering with other social media influencers start by making sure your values and principles are aligned.
