A few weeks ago Marc Meyer of Digital Response Marketing Group had a simple, but impactful post on his blog that explains a basic social media conundrum: “I can show you how to use a social platform, but I can’t show you how to be social.”
Marc and I have put our heads together to come up with a list of things that social media consultants and/or agencies can’t teach organizations to do. These are things that an organization will have to want to do for themselves in order to be successful in engaging in conversations and building mutually satisfying relationships with customers, prospects and other constituents.
A social media consultant or agency can’t teach you to:
- Have a social media mindset
- Desire to be truly authentic
- Have a personality
- Be personable
- Really care
- Commit to transparent communications
- Embrace the value of having a measurable plan
- Want to implement internal systems to track all of your social activities
- Desire real relationships and conversations
- Want to be social in ways that matter
- Value opinions other than your own
- Comprehend that it’s not always about the influencers
- Be genuine on- and off-line
- Trust your employees, channel partners or customers
- Share your knowledge for free and expect nothing in return
- Have social foresight
- Not want instant gratification
- Get the benefits of being an “unmarketer“
- Want to remove internal politics
What do you think? What would you add to the list?
Related posts:
- Marketers Want To Play With Your (Social Media) Toys
- Using Social Media to Deepen Customer Relations
- Social Media Won’t Work if You Aren’t Social
- You Don’t Need to be an ‘Expert’ to Succeed at Corporate Social Media
- Did You Make Any Social Media Resolutions for 2010?
Tags: Social Media
Absolutely Beth. That’s why it’s so important for companies (and people) to Get Their Own House In Order before attempting this stuff.
Communication being treated as a shiny object leads to people getting into it without really committing to the precepts behind it, which leads to the failure of the attempts at engagement which leads to the writeoff of communication (SM) as a tool.
There is a wide open space for true talent to enable places and people to fight their internal momentum in the wrong direction.
Great post, Beth. This reminds me of Mack Collier’s “Five Reasons Why No One Likes You on Twitter”
http://mackcollier.com/five-reasons-why-no-one-likes-you-on-twitter/
and its sister post, Rick Liebling’s ‘Seven Reasons Your Brand Shouldn’t Be on Twitter”
http://www.rickliebling.com/2009/07/14/seven-reasons-your-brand-shouldnt-be-on-twitter/
My favorite line happens to be from Mack’s post, but I think this nicely sums up a lot of what is expressed here and from those two guys:
“…you’re in it for the numbers, not the people.”
(Which is not to say you shouldn’t measure what you do there, but is to say that Social Media starts with “Social.”)
Beth – I really like this post. I would offer up, “It’s not about the project, it’s about the individuals.”
You can’t teach the value of long-term gratification (brand building) to a company with a short-term numbers mindset.
You can’t teach nonlinear dialogue to a company with linear communication cycle-deadline brains, and you can’t teach them to value dialogue even when it it produces results.
(Yes, I’ve tried.)
Beth,
Great Job! You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
We can talk until we are blue in the face, but all the talking may not be motivation enough for some to act.
So true, Beth. Basically, being good at social media marketing means having an authentic brand and living it in all communications.
Be Unusual.
Thanks for the splendid post, Beth.
In my own viewpoint, this relates to the adage that “you can bring a horse to the water but you can never force it to drink.”
Social media consultants/agencies only do fifty percent of the job by providing helpful tips and pointers.
It’s up to the organization how it will sincerely harness these bits of knowledge. That’s where the other fifty percent comes.
I have a bit of a debate going on my blog about the ability to out-source social media activities. I think you just answered the question.
Good article, Beth. I’ll probably reference this in a future post!
Make a decision about the message, be clear and communicate it well across the platforms without going off topic.
If a client doesn’t know the message and isn’t clear about it, then you’re in for a struggle.
It’s back to school but, Keep It Simple Stupid; Social Media isn’t rocket science but it needs dedication.
Beth – I’d say that the SM consultant also can’t MAKE a company spend the time necessary to do things right or allocate an appropriate level of resourcing (time, people and money – although this stuff is relatively cheap).
Fantastic post, Beth! I’d say you’re preachin’ to the choir, but we all know that’s not the case.
Simple, clear, factual advice to help the masses – thank you!
Although this fits in with “Commit to transparent communications” it still bears a bit of elaboration – you must make it a habit to participate regularly in the community. Even if it is just once a week, at least be predictable!
Good post and a great read thanks for the info
Hey everyone! Glad you liked the post… and thanks for adding some important items to the list.
(I love horeses and know how stubborn they can be!)
My favorite: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 1-3 years and if organizations begin to realize the shift.
Great post, Beth.
It’s the same as the difference between learning how to introduce yourself to people and understanding how to be a good friend. Success in social marketing is a direct reflection of the credibility, value, and transparency you provide in all areas of your business.
Simple advice necessary for not just Social Media marketing but for cheerful living too I must say!
Insightful summary! One addition:
- To honestly evaluate the value of ALL current activities to identify resources to invest in Social Media
Wow! too true… I’ve been singing that gospel to my South African counterparts… focus on adding value at first then the rest will follow naturally!!!
This is a great post. In my 9 to 5 job, I work with an organization who “wants’ to be leveraging social media, but I consistently see signs of some of these items you list above that prove to me that they just aren’t ready. Specifically your point about not being able to teach the “desire to be social” to an organization jumps out.
They want to be social, but resist the idea of “being social” stating the 50 million policies and procedures that will have to be followed / executed before a strategy can be rolled out. Essentially, they have not yet internalized the idea of having a social media mindset and are not yet ready to “be social.”
Thanks for articulating this.
etFzUN I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!
I would add:
Be Helpful
and
Be Creative