Social Media is Pointless

March 15, 2010 in Business, Communications, Technology, social media by gtaylor | No comments

One of the hardest parts of my job is convincing C-level execs that their business can benefit from social media marketing.  The two most common phrases I hear are, “I just don’t get social media” and “Social media is pointless”.  It’s easy to provide them with examples of other companies that have increased profits from social media marketing, but, it’s also very easy to show examples of companies who failed to use social media the right way and wasted their time.  Social media is pointless, if you don’t invest time in building relationships and a quality network.

Social media marketing should be approached just like any other marketing effort.  The content you produce must be intriguing and entertaining to spark, and keep, people’s interest; and it has to be valuable enough that people will continue to come back for more.

Social media is pointless to those who “just don’t get it”.  Building a quality social network is similar to starting a business.  You start with nothing and try to turn it into something that will generate an ROI.  It’s intimidating to venture into a world with millions of people and attempting to convincing them your product/service is valuable to them.  You have to be willing to invest the time and effort into social media in order for it to work for you. Research some of the social media influencers to see how they built, not only their company, but also their personal brand.

Social media is pointless if you create profiles and neglect them.  It’s easy to create a profile, and even easier to forget about it. You can’t provide a service to your customers and ignore them once you’ve made the sale.  When you choose to use social media as a marketing tool, you begin to build relationships and trust.  Your social media efforts are an extension of  your brand.  One bad tweet, or wall post can be a PR nightmare.

Is social media pointless?  It can be if you don’t know how to use it, or show no interest in using it.  However, the right social media strategy has the potential to generate new business and introduces your brand to millions worldwide.

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Let Your Facebook Fans Do the Talking

March 12, 2010 in Facebook, social media, twitter by gtaylor | No comments

The best form of marketing is word-of-mouth marketing.  There’s nothing like sitting back and watching your customers glorify, defend, and recommend your product/service to their friends, family and strangers.  Even though your customers can talk about your product on Twitter, their chatter may go unnoticed.

Facebook is the perfect social media outlet for your customers to express their appreciation for your company; something that can help in a time of crisis.  Don’t believe me, just ask SeaWorld what their Facebook fans did for them.

People tend to be 50/50 on setting up a Facebook page for their business, and I do agree that Facebook pages are not for every business or product.  But, as a creator and active manager of multiple fan pages, I can assure you once you get your fans engaging with each other, the fun begins.

One of the biggest mistakes admins make with a Facebook page, is only allowing fans to comment on what they post to the wall. Restricting fans posting abilities helps keep a page free of useless jargon and negative rants, but it also takes away the opportunity for user generated content.

Social media is about socializing with others. There are some pages I do not update for weeks because of fans constantly posting links, videos and comments. People do not want to be overloaded with promotions and links from a business.  They’d rather engage in conversations, share their opinions, and post their own links.

Do not be afraid to let your fans do the talking.  It’s better to see what they’re talking about and respond if a problem arises than to be oblivious to a problem and lose a few customers.

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Marketing Savvy Ala Lady Gaga

March 11, 2010 in Business, Communications, Facebook, Marketing, social media, twitter by MOster | 1 comment

How much can you learn from pop über-diva Lady Gaga about marketing your brand via social media? A great deal, as it turns out.

The past decade has not been kind to the music industry. Lured by digital music products, the convenient and comparatively low cost alternative to compact discs, consumers have abandoned music stores in favor of purchasing music online and downloading it to ever shrinking gadgets like iPods. In the wake of the digital era, many musicians, even the artists whose songs receive a substantial amount of radio play, have discovered that their chosen career path is not as lucrative as it was in years past.

Enter Lady Gaga. The singer/songwriter has mastered the art of leveraging social media to drive sales of her albums and digital singles — $8 million in album sales and $20 million in digital single sales, to be exact. Lady Gaga’s latest venture, as a spokeswoman for her own shade of Mac Cosmetics’ Viva Glam lipstick, has been wildly successful as well; the shade has already outsold any launch in Viva Glam’s 16-year history. Now companies that have nothing at all to do with music or the music industry are tapping her to market their products – not as the “face” of the products, but rather, as the “brain” behind the marketing strategies.

What is Lady Gaga’s secret? It is quite simple, and very contemporary. She has taken the medium that has hounded many of her peers – that is, digital media – and used it to her advantage. Social media in particular has been crucial to her success. The premiere of her “Bad Romance” video on LadyGaga.com generated a Twitter trending topic that lasted a week and a cumulative 110 million views on YouTube to date.

This is because Lady Gaga stays in constant contact with her nearly 2.8 million Twitter followers and more than 5.2 million Facebook fans. Though Universal, Lady Gaga’s label, occasionally supplement’s the singer’s online efforts with marketing firm partnerships, the vast majority of the time the musician maintains a hands-on relationship with her fans and marketing empire.

The lesson: Do not be afraid of the negative impact social media could have on your brand. Take a page from Lady Gaga’s book, and utilize it as a powerful marketing tool. Social media can also be leveraged for crisis management. In the wake of a massive recall, Toyota is attempting to restore its tarnished image via online social networks such as Twitter.

Social media is here, and its presence in commerce is growing. Soon, it could very likely become a necessary part of conducting business. You can fear it, but you cannot outrun it. So why not use it to your advantage?

Source
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Social Media Webinars and Workshops – Which One(s) Should I Attend?

March 9, 2010 in Communications, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Technology, emarketing, social media, twitter by gtaylor | 1 comment

Regardless if you are just beginning your social media journey or have been blazing trails of your own, by now, you should have had the opportunity to participate in a webinar, or workshop, focusing on social media.  There are companies that present the basics to you, while others provide a more in depth explanation of specific ways social media can change the way you market to your customers.  For newbie’s, the information presented may be helpful, but how do you ensure you don’t waste your time?

As a social media strategist, I have attended my fair share of webinars and workshops, and have found only a few of them helpful and interesting.

Half of them are about the social media basics, defining social media, or using the big five (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube) for your business.  The other half may have a speaker that has been successful in using social media and want to share their success stories with everyone.

Here’s a few tips on choosing a webinar or workshop that will benefit you or your company:

Research the organizing company

You don’t buy a TV without shopping around.  If you’re going to invest your time into attending a ‘How to Use Social Media’ workshop, look to see how the presenting company uses social media.  It’s easy to find out how long a company has been using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and creating blog content.  As Google continues to integrate social media into their search results, a company’s social media presence will be more noticeable.

Search for hashtags

Most organizer’s promote their event with a hashtag (#).  The hashtag makes it easy for not only the organizing company to see what people may be saying about their event, but also makes it easy for people to see what others may have thought about the webinar/workshop.

Crowdsource

If you don’t ask questions, you’ll always be in the dark. Maybe some of your followers on Twitter or connections on Facebook attended a previous webinar/workshop given by the same company.  Ask them what they though or if the information was useful. Usually, you’ll get an unbiased answer.  If you really know your followers, you’ll value their information.

Review previous transcripts or presentations

Most webinars are archived for viewing at a later time.  Quickly skim through the podcast or slideshow.  Skimming through podcast make take a little more time than looking at slides but spending ten minutes of your time to avoid wasting 90 minutes is understandable.

Follow your instinct

If you’ve researched the company’s social media efforts, crowdsourced information, searched for hashtags, listened to the podcast or reviewed slides and you’re still unsure, rely on your gut feeling. Your time is valuable.  Besides, you know your social media skill level better than anyone else.

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How Social Media Saved SeaWorld

March 8, 2010 in Business by gtaylor | 3 comments

SeaWorld’s recent tragedy allowed the power of social media to be tested. On a daily basis, thousands of people tweet about social media in one way or another, and companies use social media as part of their marketing communications.  PR is no different. Among the social media negativity are your loyal defenders.  Using social media as their ammunition, your brand loyalists can come to your rescue in a crisis situation.

Soon after SeaWorld Orlando’s recent tragedy occurred, the news became an instant trending topic on Twitter. As quick as the world was responding to the news, Sea World had to respond immediately.

First, SeaWorld responded with a tweet and wall post on their Facebook page officially announcing the attack, and SeaWorld’s CEO, Jim Atchison, posted a blog about investigating the situation.

Second, SeaWorld suspended their Shamu Twitter account and directed everyone to their main Twitter account which continues to be updated.

Third, the press conference Atchison held was streamed live on their blog.

All blog posts were left open for comments. Although receiving a lot of negative comments on their blog and Facebook fan page, SeaWorld loyalists, left their kind sentiments, answered questions directed at SeaWorld and offered condolences to the trainer’s family.

The customer relationships SeaWorld has been building for years has turned park visitors into brand loyalists and social media has made those brand loyalists more important.

SeaWorld’s response is an excellent example of how social media is an element of public relations even when it comes to crisis communications.

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