Is Your Company Being Social But Not Sociable?
As someone who studies and manages online marketing campaigns, I’ve been meaning to write on a recent trend which has become rampant in our industry. And, its nothing to brag about.
Some would call it a bandwagon. I prefer plague.
The problem (plague) starts off like this:
Day 1
#1 – Company A needs to expand marketing avenues and start using “New Media.”
#2 – Well, how should we go about it? Create a Facebook profile of course. Throw in some YouTube, Twitter, Linked In, Google Buzz and you have yourself a social media campaign.
“Great, we are officially a 21st century company!…got a welcome video / status update posted and tweeted a few times”
Day 17
Your new “social” media attempts have a better chance at landing a spot on Life After People vs. engaging you’re base and recruiting potential customers.
YouTube still has a welcome video.
Facebook says “Keep checking our page for updates (say whatever you want)…but there there are no updates to stay tuned for.
Twitter has a Tweet
Linked In and Google Buzz have nothing to Link; neither is there anything to Buzz about.
I’m afraid to announce, this is what I’m seeing a lot of these days. Remember, social media without being social is simply media. And, media left to it’s own devices is useless. You can always start an introverted media campaign if you like…however, I wouldn’t encourage it.
This isn’t Field of Dreams. Just because you build it, does not mean they will come. Whoever they are. And, this brings me to my next point.
Who are they? And, how do we find them?
Stepping into the social media realm is no different then walking into a party with dozens of people you don’t know. The question you have to ask yourself is – will you be the person sitting in the corner staring at the Ficus tree?
Hopefully you said no.
Or, the other option (and there is no in between) is to actively MEET your community.
M = Make a connection. It all starts with the first comment.
E = Engage – start a conversation and find some common ground.
E = Entertain – no one wants to talk to a clone of their should have retired 20 years ago geology professor.
T = Teach – introduce them to your product but don’t stop there. Show them WHY it will solve all of their problems, eradicate world hunger and bring world peace. You get the idea. Showing them what your blog is about will create interest (buzz) and build trust and credibility.
Now that you know what you need to do, take a look at few things you shouldn’t do with social media.
Spamming the community will get you no where. I don’t necessarily mean in the old fashioned sense of harvesting a bunch of contact info and sending unsolicited messages. A more relevant form of social media bombardment would be to randomly post links and information unrelated to the topic at hand. The best speakers tend to be great listeners. Engagement also means paying attention to what users want and providing timely and helpful solutions.
As the saying goes, “don’t call only when you need something.” Your posts should be helpful even when they don’t directly further your brand. The idea is to build trust so when you release that hot product or write a killer post, no convincing is necessary. Don’t expect to teach before engaging.
Even though we’ve been talking about customer relationship management for years, social media has made the relationship far more accessible. Notice I didn’t say easier.
No true relationship will ever be easy. Especially when dealing with humans who have wants, needs, ideas, problems, good days, bad days. The list goes on.
But, as Woody Allen put so simply – yet profound “90% of life is showing up.”
Shoot for 100%.
