Social Media. The most overused, over-hyped, over-burdened term of the economic recession. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube all promise great riches if "played" correctly. And for the most part, they are all FREE. [Chris Anderson's book, FREE, BTW is over $26 bucks at the local B&N. Would it be okay to steal it? Or I guess I can just request it at our local library.]
The problem is that the tools are easy, the sign up process is short and in less than a few hours I can register a new business URL for you, set up a spankin new blog, a matched Twitter ID, a Facebook "group" and get you "set up" in social media. But that's where FREE and the Magic ends.
So like the desktop publishing craze of the 90's and the website hype of the 2000's, social media is a force to be harnessed. And doing it poorly is more common than doing it well. So, go for the consultants on Craigslist if you like. Hire someone's kid as an intern and blaze your own trail. Flood your twitterstream with Deals and Announcements and Specials. After all, what do you have to lose?
Okay, but now, seriously. Why would powerhouse companies like Bazaarvoice be moving into the Social Media Strategy space? To Just Do It, is easy. Do do it well takes a lot more focus and effort than your intern and super-social friend who needs work are capable of, for the most part. So let's look into it and see what parts of the strategy are hard. And what are the elements you need to get into place BEFORE starting your social media campaign.
Twitter. The poster child of social media. "Dell has made over 2 million dollars with Twitter."
What's easy: 1. setting up a new account; 2. coming up with a creative name and avatar (not quite the same as a brand); 3. blasting out all kinds of messages in less than 140 characters.
What's not so easy: 1. putting a REAL VOICE behind those tweets; 2. coming up with more than offers as a reason for people to follow you; 3. writing and engaging with followers and people you follow.
Facebook. The motherload of social media sites. The 4th most popular site in the world and growing faster than even Twitter.
What's easy: 1. setting up a Facebook account; 2. coming up with a creative name and avatar (again, not quite the same as a brand); 3. blasting out all kinds of messages in text, video, links, crosslinks, offers.
What's not so easy: 1. establishing a voice or "reason" for others to friend your business on Facebook (incentives work to gain friends, but won't do much to extend your reach or effectiveness); 2. writing content that people will be interested in forwarding or reposting on their sites. As Seth Godin says in his book Tribes, "Nobody forwards boring emails." Think about it, how many messages or emails or news stories have you forwarded to your friends? Can you come up with one of those "winners" each day?
Your Blog. Ah the holy grail of bringing it all together. What you can't do on your blog, simply, can't be done. WordPress can do everything. The search engines love WordPress. It's FREE. What's not to love about blogging? [You might consider who you are up against when competing for individuals attention.]
What's easy: 1. adding a blog to your existing site, or creating a new one; 2. coming up with a creative name or logo for your blog; 3. coming up with an awesome design.
What's not so easy: 1. generating new content on a daily or weekly basis; 2. learning how to write; 3. establishing a voice or reason for people to return to your blog or better yet subscribe to your RSS feed or email updates.
So what can we summarize about this current climate for online marketing and social media.
- Everyone is doing it. We should be doing it too.
- It's easy. It's free. And with just a little time each week we can probably attract some followers/friends and do some business.
- Content is still king. You need to be able to write and come up with creative ideas for writing and connecting with others. Daily.
- There is money to be made with social media. There are a lot of people who can show you how. In fact the market place is getting even more enticing with big players starting to enter the market to help you reach your market.
- Once the system is set up you will either create and contribute a continuous stream of content or pay others to create that content for you.
- It may be nearly free to get going. It is not free to keep it fresh.
- Failing may be harmful to your brand or business.
- Done well, social media is a powerful channel for attracting and keeping loyal customers, friends and followers.
Which ever way you choose to go with your social media plan, be sure and listen before you jump in. Entering a cocktail party and shouting, "Who wants to buy some Eco-friendly shoes!" Is not the way to get new customers or friends. You might think about that before you tweet your latest deal to your "friends."
@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/be-your-strategist
Additional Resources:
- Bored Tweetless: When Twitter Is Not About Conversations
- Going TRIBAL: The Foundations of an Active Community Site
- Who Needs a Social Media Strategist In This Economy? What’s The Value Proposition?
- Sooo, You’re the Leader of a Social Media Team…
- Twitter Fatigue: Hype Ends and Work Begins: Maintaining Your Twitter Account
- The Social Media ROI Acid Bath – Harmful If Swallowed (response to Tim Walker’s post)
- A Tweeting Fool or a Tweeting Genius? How Do YOU Add Value to the Tweetstream?
- ROI of Social Media – Risk of Ignoring – Interactive Austin 2009 Panel on Outside the Enterprise
Finally I am collecting all of my Twitterisms in a book called The Twitter Way
August 10th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Nice post. When I attended the TechCrunch CrunchUp, I found it interesting that most of the people developing these platforms talk about the Real-Time Web, the Real-Time Stream, or Real-Time Communication Stream. Being technies, they're almost more interested in the speed, process and the filtering of the data. Of course, they don't deny the power or importance of the social aspect, or that it's primarily purpose is for communication. But there's a semantic difference in their view that precludes them from overusing the ubiquitous 'social media' term being used by marketers, the media, and thus the public.
Thanks again. Good read.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Very interesting. I agree we are so focused on "platform" that we are often missing the "means." An interesting thing, I think the "social" IS the Filter. I think what I do with my Twitterstream is filter and focus my tweeps attention on what it think is important in social media strategy or what I think is simply funny. Thanks for your comment.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I totally agree with you that right now the 'social' is the filter. Like you said, you act as a filter to share info on social media or stuff that's funny. And, likely, people trust you to provide that filter. The issue is this: as more people come on-line with 'social media' how do you filter those doing the filtering? That may have sounded a bit too Watchmen, but the point is as the data in the firehouse increases, how do you engage it in a way that gives more meaning to your experience. Probably with more competitors to things like TweetDeck or FriendFeed (and maybe LazyFeed?), but no one knows the ultimate way yet.
August 10th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Nice post. When I attended the TechCrunch CrunchUp, I found it interesting that most of the people developing these platforms talk about the Real-Time Web, the Real-Time Stream, or Real-Time Communication Stream. Being technies, they're almost more interested in the speed, process and the filtering of the data. Of course, they don't deny the power or importance of the social aspect, or that it's primarily purpose is for communication. But there's a semantic difference in their view that precludes them from overusing the ubiquitous 'social media' term being used by marketers, the media, and thus the public.
Thanks again. Good read.
August 10th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Very interesting. I agree we are so focused on "platform" that we are often missing the "means." An interesting thing, I think the "social" IS the Filter. I think what I do with my Twitterstream is filter and focus my tweeps attention on what it think is important in social media strategy or what I think is simply funny. Thanks for your comment.
August 10th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I totally agree with you that right now the 'social' is the filter. Like you said, you act as a filter to share info on social media or stuff that's funny. And, likely, people trust you to provide that filter. The issue is this: as more people come on-line with 'social media' how do you filter those doing the filtering? That may have sounded a bit too Watchmen, but the point is as the data in the firehouse increases, how do you engage it in a way that gives more meaning to your experience. Probably with more competitors to things like TweetDeck or FriendFeed (and maybe LazyFeed?), but no one knows the ultimate way yet.