Social Media Guru? No Professional? No Lover? yes!

Image courtesy of SocialGrower.com

"If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time." - Billy Joel, American Pianist, Singer and Songwriter

How often in the course of conversations with our friends, family or coworkers do we hear these words, "It's a job, but it pays the bills"?  Even, more telling is the phrase, "They can take this job and shove it."  It doesn't take a mind reader to realize that they would rather be doing something else.

I have been reading a lot of blog posts lately on how to be a social media guru or professional.  One conclusion I have come to is that I am not a guru nor a professional.  I do not get paid for what I do; I do it because I love it.

My past work experiences have run the gamut from customer service, client relations, sales, marketing, finance, and most recently, advocacy.  These all have one recurring theme - engagement.  So it seems only fitting and natural that I would be so drawn to all that social media has to offer.

I may not be using so-called "best practices" to their fullest and I may not be making a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. These are not obstacles in stopping me from continuing to do what I love - promote causes, events and local area businesses via Facebook and Twitter and engage with followers.  I will continue to share links to articles from other bloggers and social media influencers as I learn more about Social Media.  Most importantly I will continue to love what I do.

The Equality of Social Media

This week, the nation (and the world, for that matter) turned its attention to the US Supreme Court as it heard arguments from both sides regarding marriage equality.  

When did we, as a society, become so desensitized to major political and social events?  With the presidential election behind us, we continue to be bombarded on all social media sites with  “messages” and agendas from every corner of the political spectrum.  We read posts and see memes ranging from the  “war” on women to the “fiscal cliff”.  Various versions of these same messages are being regurgitated and posted in infinite forms.  It has gotten to the point, I am afraid, that as a society we may have finally reached that point of desensitization that every social media marketer fears.

Then, again, have we?  A one point this week, my cellphone was overloaded with notifications of Facebook friends changing their profile pictures in support the Marriage Equality.  

Having lived my life in both the pre and current Internet worlds, I did not expect to see reactions to Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus posts similar to the Civil Rights marches, the Vietnam protests, or even the burning of the bras on the street; but I was pleasantly surprised at what I did see.  

In the past, there have been those who have tried to bring focus to hot-button social issues.  Unfortunately, they did not seem to have the same outpouring of support as the release of the latest movie trailer or preview of that week's episode of a popular reality show. This past week was encouraging in that the conversation remained positive with very little online debates or caterwauling.  The simple changing of the profile pictures to one of the various forms of the red and pink equal sign had a much wider influence than I believe was originally thought.  

In the past several days, there have been articles and blog posts written about this subject and I will not rehash the same opinions already expressed.  However, I will stress my hope that this appearance of acceptance and respect for the rights and opinions of those whom we may not normally agree with carries over to other political and social causes.  There will always be opposition to every cause; but what opposition I did see this week was expressed in a more civil and humane way than in the past.  

I realize there will be comments that the economy and politics have no place in social media.  Tell that to the “traditional” media establishment that has latched on to social media with gusto.  News reports and political analyses are posted on the Internet for a reason.  These posts build up viewership by openly inviting commentary.  Even more significant is that the political parties have become more social media savvy.  They understand that our voices are necessary to formulate a successful platform.  When we are silent, we do both them and ourselves a huge disservice.

One personal theory is that a majority of the American populace doesn't care. I know it is simplistic; but for whatever reason we have become a society that focuses on the issues that we “perceive” to affect us directly. Politically, in one way or another, everything affects every one of us.  An extremely simplistic example would be to ask a random sampling their thoughts on yesterday’s basketball scores, or how their favorite golfer did in the Master’s tournament, or what did they think of the photo just posted of Sally dancing on the table. Compare it to their thoughts on the state of our economy or the agendas of our political parties or even North Korea's nuclear threats.  I am afraid that Sally’s dancing photo would probably get more comments, or at least likes.

Do yourself a favor; the next time you scroll through your daily news feed and notifications, take a moment between the animal photos, the birthday wishes, status updates and the event invites.  Click on a post you normally would have ignored.  Don’t be afraid to post a comment on how you really feel.  Share the post with your friends and connections in your social media network.  Engage them in conversation.  There will definitely be differences of opinion; that is to be expected..  However, it will open up the possibility of learning that there may be a point of view that you never considered before.

We need to be more vocal when we read something we either agree or disagree with.  We also need to find a way to take our thoughts and ideas back to streets; away from the computer and perceived sense of anonymity. If you are not comfortable with marching down Main Street carrying a sign and chanting, so be it.  It will take baby steps.  For a difference to be made and for change to occur, there needs to be civil dialogue. That dialogue must start with us.

Does Your Online Marketing Strategy Include A Customer Service Component?

As I continue my journey into the world of Social Media, I remain flabbergasted as to the lack of customer interaction by many businesses and organizations on their Facebook pages..  I touched on this topic in a previous post (How NOT to Engage Your Customer via Social Media 6/6/12); however, 9 months later and not much has changed.

The drive to increase customer engagement on social media sites is not new and definitely not likely to diminish anytime soon. Businesses, Nonprofits and; even, Government entities have jumped on the social media bandwagon to build their client/fan base and drive up sales, name recognition or simply to get their message out there.  All noble and worthwhile reasons for which I can find no fault.   

As more consumers enter their comments on various social media sites (both positive and negative), there continues to be a disconnect regarding follow up by quite a few page administrators. However, we all know that the larger your client/fan base the more likely you will receive complaints along with compliments.  No organization is perfect.  There is always going to be something the consumer is not going to be happy with - whether it be pricing, product quality, message content, etc..    

Page administrators continue to ignore or delete negative commentary. These comments are the ones which should be embraced.  Turning a negative into a positive is skill of an experience customer service professional which has been forgotten in the social media arena.  The simple act of ignoring a negative post is tantamount to corporate suicide.  It needs to be addressed head on in a positive and forthright manner.

Engaging and interacting with your base in a positive and forthright way is the only way to go to be successful.  Copying and pasting the same "canned" corporate approved response to each and every complaint and comment posted to your Facebook page, website or corporate blog does not qualify as sincere customer engagement. It only serves to add credence to the original complaint due to their lack of sincerity and originality.

This is where all the current education in social media marketing is lacking.  The marketing skills are taught and put into practice.  However, social media are created the need to merge good old fashion customer service skills with those of a talented marketer.

Those of us who have been involved in the customer service sector have come to understand that they are the face and voice of the company or organization they represent.  There is a solution to every problem and can be tweaked to satisfy both the customer and the company.  However, social media engagement has brought those one on one phone calls or emails out into the public arena.  Are these organizations afraid to admit there are flaws in their business model for the entire Internet world to see?  They shouldn't be.  By addressing the concerns head on, they are acknowledging that it puts its customers first and is not afraid of criticism.  These are the companies that will survive in this tenuous economic climate.

I learned from the old school where personal interaction always took precedence.  Many of those same tried and true techniques are easily transferable to the social media environment.  Administrators of these various sites are not be skilled in these time honored customer engagement methods or maybe they have not come to the realization that a perfect blend of customer service, marketing and public relations skills are necessary.  

I continue to have this fear that organizations that continue on this track of non-engagement will eventually end up with no online client/fan base to engage with.  What are your thoughts on this?  Have you seen a shift to a more customer service oriented online marketing strategy in your organization?

Social Media's Role in Economic Development

Let me start off by saying, "I am not an economist nor do I pretend to be one."  Okay, now that I have gotten the necessary disclaimer out of the way; this topic has been weighing heavily on my mind for quite a while now.  Whether you live in a metropolis or a the smallest of villages, economic development is something government officials have been struggling with since the beginning of time.  But, I will not bore you with the history lesson or, even, with the partisan political  rhetoric on the subject.  This is simply a posting of my personal observations.  

The use of social media in boosting economic development appears to be gaining a foothold.  I have recently seen an uptick in its use on Twitter, Facebook and Google + by offshoots of local government entities.  While these new entrants into the world of social media can initially be considered positive in nature, are they a little too late and, if not, are they targeting the right audiences?

My personal beliefs on the subject have always been that you cannot grow a community's economic base (businesses and jobs) without involving the prime stakeholders of the community in the process.  Boosting local economies through the promotion of business development while maintaining a sense of community involvement is by all accounts not an easy path to follow.  There needs to be a concerted effort of maintaining a balance between the business and residential communities.  This is not always an easy thing to do, under the best of circumstances.  However, there is one social media campaign that does deserve special mention.

Blueprint Binghamton is a "citizen-driven effort to plan for Binghamton's future and move our city FORWARD TOGETHER."  It is a major campaign by this upstate New York city to solicit the community stakeholders' input in the development of a new comprehensive plan.  While I can go on about their goals and what they want to achieve, that is for another time and place.  I only bring them up as an example of how they have embraced social media in a way that has not been done before by this particular community.  They have been able to access the power of Facebook,Twitter and YouTube in a way that should be used as an example by all those with a stake in economic development and community planning.  Through their use of offering the community a voice and sense of empowerment on how the area should grow and prosper, many of the negative attitudes that normally surround local governments and their efforts are minimized.

Granted, there are many more examples out there on how social media is being used to promote the economic growth potential and community involvement of various urban and rural communities.  This is just one example of many.  

Local communities, both their elected officials and the residents they serve, have been given a gift from the world of Social Media.  It is up to them on how they use the tools provided to them. That task I will leave up to them.

The Award for Worst Facebook Page Manager Goes To:

ME!

That's right.  I hereby nominate myself has one of the worst page managers, if not the worst, on Facebook.  Now, don't get me wrong.  This is not about to become one of those self-loathing rants in an attempt to garner sympathy.

I currently administer (or manage) nine separate Facebook pages.  One of these pages is being administered in a way that defies all best practices advice and basic marketing logic.  How did I achieve the dubious honor of being the worst of the worse?

1. Post at least one relevant status update. FAIL
The sole purpose of this particular (community) page, is to promote the local area small businesses and organizations in order to drive traffic to their own Facebook pages.  On any given day, I am liking and sharing over 100 other pages' status updates; far exceeding the recommended minimum of at least one.

2. Respond to any comments.  Want engagement? Engage. PASS (BARELY)
Okay, I pass this one; at least, on the comments I am able to catch in a timely manner.  There are times I find myself apologizing for the delay in responded. Who can blame me?  I was probably clicking the like and share button and not paying attention to the notifications popping up from our own followers.

3. Share 3 interesting status updates you find. FAIL
Refer back to item #1.  No need to rehash that all over again.

4. Like or Comment on at least 7 status updates or messages. INCOMPLETE
Obviously, since I like every status (as the page) that I share to our timeline, I meet the minimum of 7 likes.  However, I am remiss is commenting on every single one.  I will admit that it is more of a time factor than anything else.

5. Leave a comment on another Page whose audience is your audience. FAIL
Again, although I know I should do this (and I do with the other pages I manage), I am allowing time, or lack thereof, to control my adherence to this rule.

6. Running Facebook Ads? Review stats twice daily. FAIL
Definite failure here.  Not because I am cheap or anything.  Okay, maybe I am.  This is a community page of which I manage on a strictly volunteer basis.  While I feel strongly about promoting area businesses, I am not in a financial position to pay for advertising; especially since the businesses, in essence, are receiving free marketing from me and the page.

7. Locate 3 relevant pieces of content your audience would like and schedule it. INCOMPLETE
I do attempt to post relevant links regarding Facebook marketing on the page.  I fail at scheduling them for posting.  As I find them, I will share them.  Need to work on the scheduling portion of this item.

8. Review Facebook Insights. Look for trends and emulate them. INCOMPLETE
The Facebook insights for our page is disingenuous, at best, since the posts we make are 99% shares from other pages.  There are definitely posts that work better than others.  However, we have no control as to the content of the posts on any given day or even hour, for that matter.

9. Ask one thought-provoking question. INCOMPLETE
I have made several attempts at asking the tough questions, such has "how are you planning on spending this weekend?"  Okay, investigative journalism 101, this clearly isn't.  While I know from the Facebook insights report, that over 500 have seen such questions; very rarely do we get an actual response.  Our followers are probably still wading through the 100+ notifications we generated on their news feeds that day.

10. Listen for and respond to every lead immediately. PASS
This one I have got covered.  We are constantly on the lookout for new business pages to promote and, when we are fortunate enough to have one recommended to us, we jump on it.

So there you have it.  I am clearly not fulfilling the expectations set forth by so many social media gurus when it comes to Facebook page marketing; and for that I have failed.  Then again, our page is the talk of the town (literally and virtually) and our fan base continues to grow at an amazing rate.  So maybe, just maybe, I am doing something right.

5 Things Social Media Has Taught Me

When I created this blog, it was as a means to express both the frustration and fascination I was experiencing from the world of social media.  I was clearly a novice at the time, and am by no means an expert now.  However, I was fascinated by what the industry has become and how it affected our everyday lives.  I was also frustrated by what appeared to be conflicting articles and how-to tips aimed at both the social media marketer and the recipient of these digital marketing messages.

As I read every blog and article I could find on the subject, one thing has become very clear.  Although this is a fairly new industry, the same principles from traditional marketing apply.  Granted, they made need some tweaking; but the basics remain the same.

As previously stated, I do not pretend to be an "expert" by any means; however, some of the things I have learned through trial and error may prove helpful to some who may not have the time to wade through all that has been put out there on the subject:

1. Number of Fans / Followers is not a true gauge - We are constantly seeing social media posts touting the virtues of the number of fans as brand, page, or celebrity may have.  What I have learned, at least from the Facebook end of the social media spectrum, is that the number of fans is not as important as how many people have actually seen your post.  Case in point is the Facebook page set up to promote my other blog, Greater Binghamton Business Profiles.  We currently have a mere 59 followers, since the page was first put up on March 4th.  However, we have reached over 1250 people in 5 days time.  In fact, our first new blog post to be shared to the page reached over 300 people alone.  
2. Images Do Work - One of the continuing themes in all that I have read is that the use of Images in your posts will engage your fans.  Again, using the Facebook page for my other blog, I posted an image along with a thank you to all that have liked the page so far; our reach on that particular post soared to over 550 people.  Now to the dyed in the wool social media gurus, these numbers may be of no consequence.  To a "newbie" such as myself, they are the same as if it were a million people.
3. Park Your Political, Religious and Environmental Opinions at the Door - Again, as a social media coordinator, one must remember that your personal opinions should never enter into the posts that you are generating unless the business or organization are known champions of the cause.  All too often we see posts from well known local and national brands that are obviously the personal opinions of the person posting rather than the business and organization itself.  Not only do these posts reflect negatively on the brand, they also may have a tendency to drive fans away.  It is just as easy to unlike a page or unfollow a Twitter feed.
4. Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling Do Matter - We have become so accustomed to the use of acronyms and abbreviations in our personal interactions whether it be in text messages, on Twitter and in our Facebook posts that we tend to forget the importance of proper grammar, punctuation and spelling.  While your friends and family may not mind seeing the use of "ur" instead of "your" or "LOL" instead of "laughing out loud", a fan of your business posts may interpret such shortcuts as a sign of either laziness or total nonchalance on the part of the poster.  Spelling errors are also something to be avoided. There is no excuse, with all the spell-check options out there, to post something with a flagrant spelling error.
5. Don't forget the Social part of Social Media - All too often we become so engrossed in building up fan bases and getting the messages out there, that we tend to forget that social media is essentially a two-way street.  Once you have gotten your followers' attention, you need to continue the conversation.  If they take the time to comment on a post, the worst thing to do is to ignore it - no matter if it is a positive or negative comment.  In my opinion, ignoring a negative post is the worse of the offenses.  It allows your other, more positive, followers to second guess why they were following you in the first place. 

Five things I have learned from social media.  Okay, I will be honest.  I have probably learned much more than this and will continue to learn.   However, these 5 basic premises are a solid starting out point for anyone venturing into this new area of communication and marketing.  They have helped me along the way and I hope they do the same for you.  Please let me know if you have any set guidelines that you follow; I am always looking for new ideas and techniques.

I Don't Consider Myself A Prude, But.....

Time to let the chips fall where they may.  As the title of my blog suggests, I was raised in a much different era.  There are just certain words that you didn't use in mixed company.  Okay, I will be honest; I probably use them almost as often as anyone else but it is usually while I am among close friends and after a few cocktails.

However, there are just some words, no matter how prevalent they have become in today's everyday speech, that you just should not use in your marketing material.

All too often I am seeing images and announcements of events and promotions which contain words that I, personally, would not consider appropriate.  Just because the promoter may use the "F" word in normal everyday conversation, using it to promote their business takes away all sense of professionalism.

As I have stated in previous posts, I administer a Facebook page which promotes local area businesses.  Too often I find myself censoring what I share based simply on the wording of the businesses' status.  Am I wrong in doing this?  Am I more of a prude than I care to admit?  What are your thoughts on this matter?