Acknowledging the Why Factor

photo credit: Flickr.com - Plymouth Devon

Five fundamentals taught in every freshman journalism class are who, what, where, when and how. Questions that form the basis for every news article in print or broadcast media. These same questions are also relevant when it comes to social media; whether it be online news sites, blogs and, even, social media marketing.

Lurking in the shadows is that rogue sixth question of "why". The “why” factor is speculative and, at times, dangerous; especially when the story is still fresh and the facts haven't been fully fleshed out. The writer staying true to their craft and omitting any reference to the "why" factor question avoids the risk of appearing biased. The reader or viewer will automatically be left to insert their own perspective into the process. It is this use or non-use of the "why" factor that creates a bias in the ever evolving world of social media.

No media outlet (whether it be in print, broadcast or online) is exempt from utilizing some sort of bias in its reporting. Bias is simply another word for opinion. It has been present in both an overt or covert form since the inception of mass media. There are several gospels of the bible which never made it to the final edit based on the church’s bias. Town criers did not report all the news in the village square unless it served the whims of the village elders.

This bias is not restricted solely to the news media. Question five people who have read the same book, or have seen the same play, movie, music video or television episode. At least three, if not five, different interpretations will be received in response. Society has been inserting its own bias since the beginning of time. Case in point would be to compare what the impression two separate groups have upon viewing the Mona Lisa or the ceiling at the Sistine Chapel for the first time. People bring their own life experiences into the mix when processing information.

The explosion of social media sites on the Internet has heightened this bias. How people process what they come across on the Internet is more reflective of their own preconceived opinions on the topic. Once this innate bias is acknowledged, online information can be processed in a more informed manner.

The Internet has afforded society the opportunity to familiarize itself with a larger spectrum of opinions and ideas than our forefathers. Once people realize that a modern day town crier’s view on an issue, product or brand is never going to be free of a certain amount of bias, our social media experience will be less stressful and frustrating. 

Going into the process already acknowledging an existence of the "why" factor on social media channels; we are given reason to pause before going off on an all capitalized rant or, worse yet, unfriending our childhood sweethearts because we couldn’t agree on why we broke up back in high school. There it is again, that dreaded “why” factor.

Marketing Strategy: Staying the Course

Photo credit: Patti Schwartz/Pattilovesbing.com

Whenever a company hires a social media marketing manager, either internally or through an outside agency, they are entrusting them to promote their brand, image or service to a diverse audience across the wide spectrum of social media platforms; usually given carte blanche when it comes to the content posted. However, are they always keeping the best interests of their employers (or clients) and those of the brand's fan base in mind?

I recently came across a Facebook page for a local business. Since I was interested in the service they provided, I liked their page and began following it. Unfortunately, my initial interest quickly waned due to constant posts about sports which had no bearing on the company or its services. It's not like I hate sports; I have been known to cheer on a favorite team virtually. However, continually posting about the local water polo team on a company's business page doesn't entice me to spend money on that business' products or services. It might, however, cause me to buy season tickets to the matches being held at the local swim center. I don't think that was the original intent of the company's social media marketing strategy.

This is not an isolated incident. More and more, personal preference seems to be permeating throughout posted social media content. We have all been told that marketing on social media needs to be kept light and friendly. The hard sell approach is as much of a turn off as continual posts of the office cat or the boss' Caribbean cruise. We need to engage our followers in a conversation; a conversation that's relevant to the brand or business. Targeting your content is one thing; but targeting it in a way that it does not benefit the company or brand that you represent is a big marketing misstep. 

Clearly, there is nothing terribly wrong with an occasional post featuring the office mascot or pictures of the receptionist's new baby. In fact, they do tend to lend a human touch to our marketing. It all comes down to knowing when the conversation has completely strayed off course. Being creative in your posts and finding a way to showcase Fluffy with one of your products or services will keep your marketing strategy on track while at the same time keeping the conversation light and whimsical. 

There is also nothing wrong with the occasional sharing of a post by another page. While it shows that you are willing to be an active participant in their social conversation; be wary of it becoming one sided. Your sharing of their posts with no reciprocity on their part simply turns your page into another marketing tool for them; a free one at that.

Take a hard look at the pages that you follow. Are you seeing irrelevant content popping up more often than you would like?  Are you beginning to second guess why you followed them in the first place? Is your brand loyalty strong enough for you to stick it out?

How Engaging Are You?

As I delve further into the world of Social Media, I am dumbfounded as to the quality; and in many cases, the lack of customer interaction by local and national businesses and organizations. I realize that I have touched on this topic in previous posts. However, recent events have compelled me to expand on my original thoughts.

Corporate America has jumped on the social media bandwagon in order to build its client base and drive up sales.  Nothing wrong with that; so far so good.  We also know that the larger your client base the more likely you will receive complaints along with the compliments. No business is perfect. There is always going to be something the consumer is going to complain about; whether it be pricing, product quality, etc.  It is the nature of doing business.  

Engaging and interacting with your client base in a positive and forthright manner is one the tried and true ways to build both your online and offline brand reputations. Copying and pasting the same "canned" corporate approved response to each and every complaint and comment posted to social media platforms does not qualify as sincere customer engagement. It only serves to add credence to the original complaints due to its lack of sincerity and originality. 

I am of the old school where personal interaction always takes precedence when dealing with both established and potential clients.  Many of those same tried and true techniques are easily transferable to the social media environment.  It has become apparent that many administrators of these various platforms are not skilled in these time honored customer engagement skills.  We can blame it on corporate downsizing resulting in the loss of veteran employees or simply that these "newbies" in the field just are not being mentored properly in these skills.

When something goes awry whether it be with a product or messaging, acknowledge the mistake and share the corrective actions that you plan on taking.  Many times, we do not learn of the mistake until someone points it out; usually in a very public setting.  The tendency is to immediately go on the defensive. Do your best to avoid the urge. Becoming defensive and redistributing the blame is as bad as responding with a canned corporate response

Businesses and organizations that continue on this track will eventually end up with no one to engage with.   

Are You Marketing Socially?

As a social media marketer, do you find yourself simply marketing on social media platforms or are you marketing socially? Many may ask, what's the difference? There is a big difference; one that determines whether your social media marketing campaign is a successful one or not.

Social media is all about connections and conversations. This is what sets social media marketing apart from print, radio and television advertising. While they are one-way streets, social media platforms allow us to have two-way conversations. Conversations that enable us to engage with our followers (or customers). 

These conversations; however, are important to develop relationships more so than selling a product or brand. Many social media marketers tend to forget this. Developing a personal rapport with your followers and customers should be a priority in all your social media marketing campaigns.

As a marketer for several different brands, businesses and organizations; I can tell you it takes a lot of trial and error to find the right mix for each one. What works for one organization may not necessarily work for another. However, there are some basic tips that, if followed, will help anyone either just starting out or reevaluating their social media marketing strategies.

1. Keep it simple - When posting about your product, brand, organization or community, keep it simple. Users of social media platforms are not apt to read through paragraphs of product descriptions or reasons why they should like your brand. They will probably lose interest after the first couple of sentences and move on to something else.

2. Personalize it - Posting images of the organization's staff out in the community will draw your followers into the conversation. Of course, the appropriateness of the image must always be considered. An image of your human resources director partying it up at a local bar is probably not as appropriate as an image of them attending a employee benefits workshop. 

3. Keep the conversation going - This is probably the most important tip of all. You have gotten a conversation going whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus or any of the many other social media platforms. Followers are commenting, sharing or retweeting. Acknowledge this engagement. Reply to their comments; both positive and negative. 

Unlike a 30 second television commercial, social media marketing has an unlimited life span. It is up the the social media marketer to continue to breathe life into it.

Page Manager's Biggest Fear: No One Showing Up to the Party

Your event, sales or fundraising team has come up with the best (in their minds, at least) event concept ever. The date, time and venue are set. Now, it is on your shoulders to promote it via your social media channels and get the people to walk in the door.

You create the event; putting in the extra effort of including an eye catching event image and a captivating event description. You even remember to invite your personal online connections. You are confident that people will be knocking down the doors to attend; you may even have to have the event budget adjusted to include the cost of a bouncer.

A little too optimistic?  Of course it is. Anyone who has set up an event on social media knows that 9 times out of 10; a majority of the people that say they are going to attend an event never show up.  

So, what is a page manager to do? While, no one tip or technique is a surefire cure all; there are a few things you can do (and not do) to increase your chances of success.

1. Utilize the social media platform that is appropriate for your event. Industry or professional specific events are best shared on LinkedIn. A workshop on the bioethics is not going to garner the too much interest on Facebook as it would on a bioethics group on LinkedIn.  Conversely, sale events at a local business would garner more traffic on Facebook than it would on LinkedIn.
2. Encourage traffic to the event page; especially on Facebook, by posting updates and images about the event. It will draw those who have already accepted their invitations to the page; an action which will then show up on their friends' news feeds and tickers.
3. Tag community or business partners in as many ways as you can. Their fans will have their curiosity peaked. However, do not fall into the trap of sharing the event on every single community page as you can. There are clearly certain events that do not belong on certain pages.  Posting the link to a political rally on a business' page will not only not help your cause but also may harm the business by alienating some of their followers.
4. Never wait until the last minute. Creating the event online too close to the date is never a good idea. First, it tends to look like you and your organization waited until the last minute; even though months may have gone into the planning. Second, we all lead very active lives between work, school, family and social activities. Finding the perfect date to hold an event is never easy. The sooner you begin to promote your event, the better.
5. If you are also sending out email or snail mail invitations, include the link to your online event so the invitees can keep up to date on any last minute changes.  
6. Always acknowledge and respond to any and all comments made on the event page. Make your guests feel welcome and appreciated. 
7. Post pictures during and after the event. Nothing says success better than images of people enjoying themselves.

Do you have any tricks on increasing attendance at your events? If so, please feel free in sharing them. 

Five Simple (yet Powerful) Words

We see these words on websites, business cards, menus and storefronts. We have even seen them on the bottom of our television screens and have had them read to us over the radio airwaves.  

We are intrigued and make the conscious effort to search for the Facebook page and connect with them as we have been instructed.  We even make sure that we check the appropriate "Show in News feed" and "Get Notifications" links so as not to miss any important updates. As consumers/fans/ followers (however we want to label ourselves), we did as we were asked and now we wait.  

However, we may end up waiting an eternity. There appears to be a problem. A quick check on the page's timeline reveals that there has not been an update to in several weeks, months or since the page was created.

All too often page administrators take the attitude that the simple act of having a presence on Facebook will drive hordes of dedicated followers and fans to them.  They need to realize that their fan base needs to be engaged on a regular basis. Updating and encouraging engagement can take anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours.  In fact, Facebook makes it easy with their post scheduler feature where you can schedule page updates days, weeks or even a year in advance.  In addition, there are several third party applications (i.e. PostPlanner) which help to relieve some of that time management stress.

There is no set rule of thumb of how often a page should be updated. However, ignoring those that made the conscious effort to connect with you on Facebook (at your request, mind you), defeats the whole purpose of having a social media strategy.  

Facebook makes it easy for the administrator by providing statistical analysis on a weekly basis.  You know how many new likes you have, how many people have seen your posts and how many are talking about your page.  But what is the sense of having all these statistics at your fingertips to be analyzed when you are not providing your page followers anything to engage with? It is time for page administrators to put that social media strategy you worked so hard on developing to good use.   

When Blogging Morphs Into A Full Blown Infomercial

A blog (a contraction of the words web log)^[1] is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). (source: Wikipedia) 

Over the course of a day, I read blog posts written by various authors; many of whom have become giants in their respective industries. While not, by any means, denigrating their thoughts and ideas, I do have a problem with those authors who have turned their informative posts into infomercials.

Some authors have become so brazen as to have an embedded link to their website in every other sentence or paragraph.  Now, there is definitely nothing wrong with self promotion; however, the hard sell approach can become grating on the nerves; and to be perfectly honest, downright annoying.

Blogging is essentially online marketing of a brand, community or yourself.  It is, for all intensive purposes, no different than marketing offline.  You need to instill confidence in your followers (and potential clients) and open the lines of communication.  Past years of sales, marketing and customer relations taught me one thing, the soft sell approach has an overall greater effect than the hard sell.  

While your readers may have strong positive or negative opinions concerning your post, the overabundance of links to your sales site can be viewed as an obstacle to a productive dialogue.  More often than not, I stop myself from commenting or sharing someone's post for fear of appearing to be their salesperson; all because of the hard sell approach their article took.  

If you truly believe and stand behind your product, brand or idea and articulate this passion in a way that interests the reader, more often than not they will click through on the ONE link to your website at the end of the post or in the about the author box.  Taking on a more informative and conversational approach rather than a "used car salesman" approach opens your work up to more sharing and discussion.  Sharing and discussion is what it should be all about. If done correctly, making a sale is simply an added benefit.

Delegating Social Media Tasks Should Not Create A Message Disconnect

Being able to delegate responsibilities effectively within an organization is a sign of true leadership.  Note that I added the word "effectively" since that is the necessary component to ensure not only leadership success but the overall success of any business or organization.  Effective delegation carries over to social media, as well.

I recently came across an organization that divvied up its social media campaign responsibilities among several different individuals.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach.  Some people have a stronger grasp of the ins and outs of Facebook marketing while others have fully embraced Twitter over all other social media platforms.  Recognizing and making the best use of an employee's strengths has always been considered an effective management skill. However, what happens when there is a disconnect between the messages being broadcast over these various social media sites?

In the case of the organization I mention, the posts between several platforms are disjointed and in no way reflect a cohesive message.  It quickly became apparent that the tasks were delegated to individuals without first bringing them together as a team and setting down guidelines for the organization's social media campaign.  This ineffective delegation only serves to damage the online reputation of the organization which will ultimately carryover to the real world.

As a business or organization leader, you owe it to yourself and to those whom you have assigned the various tasks, to follow up and make sure that everyone is on the same page.  You need to check in on the various platforms to review what is being posted by your employees and others.  Make sure that their posts are in sync. Also, make sure comments left by your followers are being acknowledged and responded to; the negative as well as the positive ones.  If you assign a team leader for the follow up, then make sure you receive thorough updates on the progress of your social media campaign.  Ask for a report on its effectiveness.   Above all else, be open to suggestions from all members of your team especially if something about your message does not seem to be working.

It's Not Rocket Science

Through the centuries, mankind has used the power of both word and image to express ideas, announce events, and to educate the masses.  The early caveman drawings, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the town crier, the early days of radio and television have all served as the seeds to what we now refer to as social media.  While the terminology and the means to disseminate the information have evolved, the basic premise remains the same. 

I admit I will probably not garner any new fans; in fact, I may even lose some with this post.  However, let's be honest here.  Social media marketing is not rocket science.  There are those that seem to base their entire existence on the SEO, the Google Analytics, and the like. Seriously, if your online marketing strategy is approached with both common sense and a clear focus on the message, all that statistical "mumbo jumbo" becomes moot.  (Oh, that last line is sure to get some negative responses.)

That being said; why do so many of those who claim to be social media marketing experts or gurus try to sell us on the idea that this is something new?

Although my posts are primarily personal observations; I did take the time to research a link to some basic marketing concepts.  In doing so, I found the following from December, 2005:

Basic concepts of marketing  


1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: " I am very rich. Marry me !".
------------ That's "Direct Marketing"

2. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her & get her phone no.. The next day you call & say:" I am very rich. Marry me !".
------------ That's "Telemarketing"

3.You're at a party with a bunch of friends & see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her & says: " He's very rich. Marry him !".
---------------- That's "Advertising"

4. You're at a party & see a gorgeous girl. You get up, straighten your tie, walk up to her & pour her a drink. You then open the car door for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride & say: " By the way, I'm very rich. Will you marry me !".
---------------- That's "Public Relations"

5. You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says: "You are very rich. Will you marry me !".
-------------------- That's "Brand Recognition"

6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: " I am very rich. Marry me !".. She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.
--------------------That's "Customer feedback"

7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: " I am very rich. Marry me !". And she introduces you to her husband.
------------------- That's "Demand & Supply"

8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and, before you say anything, another person comes and tells her " I am very rich. Will you marry me !".and she goes with him.
-----------------That's "Competition eating into your market share"

9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say : " I am very rich. Marry me !"., Your wife arrives.
------------------- That's "Restriction for entering new markets" 

(source: Some Basic Marketing Concepts )

All nine of the above are as true today in the social media marketing industry as they were then.  Know your brand, know your competition and, most importantly, know your audience.  Every one of the 9 concepts have the marketer engaging with the audience in some way or another.  

Engagement should be every marketer's mantra.  If you actively engage with your fans and followers, all the numbers and statistics will fall into place.