It’s no surprise that as social media sites and tools grow in popularity with customers, that companies are considering following them into this space. But for businesses that want to wade into the social media waters looking for customers, bring your sense of commitment, more so than your wallet.
At last week’s Digital Marketing Mixer, Gary Vaynerchuk had this interesting quote about companies not wanting to invest time in this space, during his keynote:
The problem is, these companies don’t want to work. I get it. I’m a consultant, I get it! You come in, you do this, you do that….they’d much rather give an agency $100,000 to run ads in the New York Post, commercials, pizza boxes, direct mail, and Stern radio ads, and they’re done, right? They’re clowns, don’t feel bad for them. Let them die!
Ah you gotta love GaryVee! But he’s right, many companies don’t want to invest time and energy into forging connections with their customers via social media. Many want to simply start up a blog or Facebook page, maybe give some free stuff to bloggers, and wait for the sales avalanche.
If your company wants to be successful in using social media, then here’s what you need to do; Use these tools in the same way your customers do, and for the same reasons.
Don’t have a firm or consultant set up a blog or Twitter account for you so you can broadcast. Take the time to invest in learning how your customers are using these tools, and more importantly, why. Spend time getting to know your customers and interacting with them.
Social media requires a long-term commitment. You can’t “buy” credibility in this space, you have to be here for the long-haul. Leave your wallet at the door, and invest the time it will take to build the connections to your customers. Take the time to give a damn about getting to know these people, and letting them get to know you.
That’s how you win with social media.
Hi Mack,
I couldn’t agree more. People should treat their online network as intensely as their local face to face network. The magnitude of the possibilities intimidates most people and they freak out, freeze or never come to the plate.
Genuine interest comes through just as clearly online as it does at on-site events.
People want to do business with people: Period. So put in the time to get to know people.
That statement, to use social media like your customers do is so critical to success. This is great, gotta love GaryVee
You have struck on one of the major problems in both business and home life. This morning I am doing a time management experiment to see just how much I can do within self-imposed 15 minute deadlines as a follow up to a blog post I wrote yesterday.
My company specializes in developing new media projects with web sites designed around a content management system the customer can easily update. When we encourage them to blog in increase search result and establish their authority in their field we still get the “I don’t have time” excuse.
The news is quick to report on economic recessions but how many of us are living in self-imposed time recessions?
We all have been distributed the same number of hours in a day but how we manage them is can make a huge difference between failure and success.
It’s time we all stopped saying we don’t have time. I think all too many people including myself are like the people will win a huge lottery and squander the winnings away instead of wisely managing the winnings.
Maybe it is hard for some people to write a blog post but while driving the could take along a portable digital recorder and record for a podcast which is for all practical purposes an audio blog.
Thanks Jennifer! I think that too often, we want immediate results. And companies want immediate results that can be measured! Social media usually doesn’t work well immediately, and the value of connections and conversations is hard to measure, especially with traditional metrics! KD Paine has a great acronym, HITS = How Idiots Track Success!
Maria, Gary gave a great keynote. Someone said later ‘we all knew that, but to see him say it with such passion was inspiring’.
Patrick you are exactly right. One time I was telling a friend that I hated that another person’s blog wasn’t taking off. My friend said ‘their blog isn’t taking off cause they never leave it.’ I offered that they probably didn’t have the time, to which my friend asked ‘Is it that they don’t have the time, or that they don’t MAKE the time?’
Social media takes time. If you are going to do it, you owe it to yourself to invest the time necessary to see the results you want.
Agree!
Engagement, relationships aren’t created during night. Give it time, enough time to get to know what people want, how the community works, how the interaction/participation works etc.
no clue what this means:
“their blog isn’t taking off cause they never leave it”
Mack:
I’ve had more than (many) companies, consultants, and agency people ask me, “how much should I budget for starting a blog,” “what’s the job description I need for my “blog” project,” etc. It is approached by most the same way they approach advertising. A warm body and an expense line in the budget.
Blogging and social media take discipline, commitment, and – as you so correctly say – time. It’s a cultural decision, not a budgetary one.
If your CEO isn’t comfortable, if there are deathly fears of how legal will be involved, if it becomes serial PR spamming, don’t do it. It will only bring you and your company/client heartache. For those who do get it and embrace it, they will get a core group of experts and a marketing vehicle as powerful as advertising — for next to nothing.
In the “olden” days we used to believe that “if we build it, they will come”. That mind set continues with many company blogs.
But we need to think about blogs in the same way that we think about retail. We need to distribute our offerings in a way that makes it convenient for our customers to engage with it. That means getting our distribution right. It means getting out from behind our own site and meet our customers where they already are …
This means learning. It means spending time “shopping” for ideas where our customers already congregate. Otherwise we are just whistling to ourselves.
Great post Mack!
Actually engaging with the community is one of the most important things you can do. Companies that come into social media and try to just post company updates without engaging are flushed out by the community pretty quickly.
I actually think this is about 80% rubbish. Companies aren’t looking to pay millions so they can hand their problems over to someone else and stop working. They are looking to do things which make money.
I know it’s easy to be on the bandwagon and bleat about social media and how smart it is and how dumb everyone else is who “just doesn’t get it” but the fact is the vast majority of companies aren’t going to target their clients by babbling on Facebook or writing about what plane they are waiting for on Twitter. Their clients aren’t secretly using these platforms either and just as secretly disappointed that they aren’t being connected into some higher thought plane sect by the aforementioned companies. This is the type of internet air which sounds cool but doesn’t add up to much on the battlefield.
I enjoy the feedback from blogging and commenting in the same way as I enjoy reading books. It’s an immediate way to accumulate knowledge and exchange ideas but from there to berating companies who don’t blog or Twitter is just silly.
I also work in training and consultancy in different industries, and though it may be interesting to look at different communication strategies with clients, the big fuzzy bear of social media is just one of many, not particularly well defined, and not always the most pertinent.
Thanks Mack. Good points. Putting social network/media marketing in your company’s marketing mix is just good common sense. Marketers need to go where the client goes and increasingly that is social networking sites. They won’t stop watching TV, although in general traditional ad effectiveness in dropping.
You are exactly right about being in social network marketing for the long haul. That being said you could also reap some short-term benefits as well. As for Gary Vaynerchuk’s statements, I am sure it was done for shock value. It doesn’t really help companies get into social network marketing, but it does play well with who are already in the field. We need to educate as much as possible.
To that end I recently wrote a white Paper titled The Positive Side of a Recession
Can social network marketing help you make a silk purse from a sow’s ear?
The URL for the download is http://www.octanecorp.com/portals/5/whitepaper/positivesideofarecession.pdf .
Also we have a number of other white papers on our web site http://www.octanecorp.com/whitepapers .
I would like to suggest two books as well:
Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff and
Tribes by Seth Godin
If we believe in social network marketing, we need to be evangelists not antagonists.
What if this were 100% true – Social media marketing is not about conversion, it’s about impressions and branding.
Companies might approach their campaign in a different way – and it wouldn’t be a campaign, but a commitment.
It’s as much defining the role of the online community manager as it is defining the tactics or strategy.
For non-profits, the challenge is finding someone to manage these communities. It does take time, but who’s going to take the time? Companies are strapped for resources – how is this actually taking place?
“I actually think this is about 80% rubbish. Companies aren’t looking to pay millions so they can hand their problems over to someone else and stop working. They are looking to do things which make money.”
Tim let’s back up and re-examine what I actually said, and didn’t say. I never said a company that doesn’t get on Twitter is wrong, in fact I don’t think ANY company should worry about Twitter UNLESS their customers are there and/or they are being discussed there.
And I agree, companies do indeed want to make money, and if they are using social media, they want to see those efforts turn a profit. Totally get that. But I think that the mistake many companies make is, they approach social media as a DIRECT monetization tool. Many start a blog with the mindset of ‘how is this going to help us sell more stuff’.
Here’s the thing about social media; it does NOT function very well as a a direct-monetization tool. In fact it pretty much sucks at it. But as a way to INdirectly make money, social media excels. Look at all the companies that are succeeding from their social media efforts, these companies aren’t positioning social media as a channel to be monetized, but as a channel to LISTEN TO and COMMUNICATE WITH their customers.
The byproduct of this communication (if done properly), is more positive mentions, an increase in brand equity, and a better understanding of the customers and what they want. Which all leads to…..wait for it…..them selling more stuff.
But all this takes TIME. You can’t throw wads of cash at an agency and tell them to buy you ads on Facebook and to create a ‘fan page’ on every socnet, and start 10 blogs up promoting your company.
Time is more valuable than money in the social media space. The companies that figure this out before their competitors, have a HUGE advantage.
“But all this takes TIME. You can’t throw wads of cash at an agency and tell them to buy you ads on Facebook and to create a ‘fan page’ on every socnet, and start 10 blogs up promoting your company.”
Buying ads on Facebook would be a pretty sucky way to increase interaction with your customers, I agree.
The idea is to create a groundswell of people who are prepared to talk about your idea, product or venture with other people. Social media or traditional media have this as the same basic objective. When Coke brought out ads in the 70s the idea was for people to talk about them, to identify with them and to buy the product. I can’t see any real difference between this and the majority of products today.
It’s true, companies want to quantify the energy invested in any aspect of their communication and it’s also true many companies are impatient. But the reasons behind this are more to do with keeping the wheels turning rather than any great aversion to ideas of social media.
I think what needs to be said is that if you get into the social media space without understanding what it is that you want out of it, you won’t be successful! Gary stressed this many times in his keynote and stressed that Twitter, Ustream.tv and such are just tools that need to be used the right way (committing a good amount of time) while always keeping in mind an end goal.
I also thought Gary’s point that the current economic situation will most likely keep many larger companies from getting into social media a real motivation to get off my duff and start using some of these tools to my and my companies’ benefit!
“It’s true, companies want to quantify the energy invested in any aspect of their communication and it’s also true many companies are impatient. But the reasons behind this are more to do with keeping the wheels turning rather than any great aversion to ideas of social media.”
Many companies are indeed very worried about shifting from a one-way (traditional marketing) communication, to the two-way channel that social media provides. And they are also wanting to stick with ‘the tried and true’. And for many companies, especially B2C, that’s spending big money on big ads that are increasingly ineffective.
And I disagree with your idea that the idea behind social media is “to create a groundswell of people who are prepared to talk about your idea, product or venture with other people.” The idea is for companies to become PARTICIPANTS in the conversation that’s happening around and about their companies. That’s what social media allows you to do.
And Eric I think Gary is probably right, the economic slowdown will indeed slow many companies getting into social media, which gives those of us that are already here, a bigger advantage when everyone else does ‘get it’.
Mack,
Picked this up off your tweet, glad I did.
The post reminded me of a Twitter search I did for a former employer a few days ago to see if they had gotten on board.
Sure enough, multiple accounts for the different businesses. The company, GE. Mildly surprised and impressed at the same time. Granted, the posts are PR and not engaging but it’s a start.
@Tim @Mack – Let me throw the missing link in here: if you want people to talk about your product (Tim’s “groundswell”) you have to have a product worth talking about.
Ooops.
Too many companies forget about that part of the equation– that the downside of social media is that it makes it a lot easier for people to talk about how mediocre your product is. And not necessarily on MySpace or Twitter, but on Amazon’s review boards and similar retail sites.
Because the new reality is that all roads lead to Google.
“Too many companies forget about that part of the equation– that the downside of social media is that it makes it a lot easier for people to talk about how mediocre your product is. And not necessarily on MySpace or Twitter, but on Amazon’s review boards and similar retail sites.”
Agree Alan, and this is why I think participation is so invaluable. When a company participates, the conversation changes, hopefully for the better for the company.
And the company changes as well.
Being in social media, working wit Fortune 500s, I know it is truly an uphill battle. It’s hard to show ROI on social media. But, I will say, some companies get it- Take Comcast that regularly interacts with its customers on Twitter. Take executive and pundits like Tim O’Reiley and Robert Scoble who not only have blogs but also Tweet and you see some movement in the right direction. But at the end of the day, trying to convince a whole bunch of execs that they too should be spending more time socializing online and may not see ROI right away, it is a very hard sell. Now, take companies like Coca Cole (the conversations blog) and GE (the innovators blog) – you will definitely see that some do get it and are slowly putting their toes in the social waters. Now, not to come down too hard on all of you, but also have to say… there is a way to sell it if you focus on showing them what they can expect, using qualified examples/results from other industry blogs and social accounts. Explain SEO ROI from backlinks and even the rep management aspect. Don’t focus on the how- show the results. That is the best way to sell this kind of campaign.
“The idea is for companies to become PARTICIPANTS in the conversation that’s happening around and about their companies.”
This is exactly the type of blurry diatribe which companies have difficulty with. Companies propose products (which we presume/hope are good as Alan says) to the consumer market. That’s it. If the products are correctly targeted and the information about them reaches the right people in the right way then consumers will buy and encourage other consumers to do the same.
The idea of the world being a great big conversation which companies need to participate in nicely in order to sell is too extreme. The opposite which would be companies who dictate or force their products on people without listening to their consumers is too extreme also. In reality everyone is somewhere in the middle and always has been.
Even the great poo bah example of Apple and Steve Jobs which is always wheeled out as the holy grail of all conversation marketing, proposed products therefore leading the pack then cultivated the ensuing conversation through advertising and marketing campaigns targeting the right consumers. Just because it was done well doesn’t mean they re-invented the wheel.
But as Bob Hoffman says “In American business, there is nothing stupider than the previous generation of management.”
Right?
As participatory media and user-generated content continues to grow, public media broadcasters need to move rapidly to find ways to monetize content and imagine new business models, panelists said at Beyond Broadcast’s afternoon session “Mapping the Money.”
———————-
Jennysmith
Influencer
“”The idea is for companies to become PARTICIPANTS in the conversation that’s happening around and about their companies.”
This is exactly the type of blurry diatribe which companies have difficulty with.”
I get that. It confuses them because they aren’t used to talking to their customers, and getting/acting on their feedback. Again, I get that.
Social media gives them the ability to do that. The more time they spend with this, the better they get at it. We praise Dell for their social media efforts, but their first steps into this space were painfully lacking, because they were still trying to CONTROL the conversation about them, instead of being a participant in it. They eventually ‘got it’, and now they use SM to listen and participate. Their IdeaStorm site is a perfect example of this.
The companies that will succeed moving forward will be the ones that leverage these new communication tools and channels to better communicate with, and understand their customers.
Customers are more empowered to share their opinions than ever before. Companies that ignore their voices do so at their own peril.
Hi Mack !
You have said it.
Social Media has more to do with building relationships and spending time to occupy mind space and heart space by being visible in social media channels.
It is high time that social media moves from monologue to a dialogue, driving audience engagement and influencing behaviour and thoughts.
Excellent dialog here. One can look at the benefits of social media in an analogy to “old world” sales and marketing. Decades ago, sales reps hit the road knocking on doors, trying to build relationships with existing and prospective customers. Many salespeople became friends with their customers, developing and nurturing relationships that endured through job changes and often, retirement.
Even though this same sales method is used today, social media adds to our “connection” opportunities, but multiplied exponentially. We can connect in a global fashion, make friends, share stories, and yes, even get some referrals or business in the long run. It allows each of us to build our own personal brand, something Gary Vee says should ultimately be our goal.
“I get that. It confuses them because they aren’t used to talking to their customers, and getting/acting on their feedback. Again, I get that.
Social media gives them the ability to do that.”
No, social media provides a new platform. It hasn’t created new human capacities or abilities. It just extends the conversations people had at the coffee machine or on the phone or at the bar after work etc. Or as Elaine just wrote it multiplies connections without geographical constraints.
I understand what you are trying to say and maybe I’m being pedantic but companies who never listened to what their customers were saying before the internet never sold many products either.
I agree, to not use new tools and technology to their fullest potential is always a bad choice. I also agree companies who ignore their customers are making a bad choice too. As I said before between having global and instant conversation reduced to its most inane form (ala Twitter) with no direction or interest and forcing products onto unwitting clients the majority of companies find themselves somewhere in the middle.
More than half the secret of “Social Media” is found in its name.