Social Media is Leading From the Middle

One of the more prominent leadership models you hear about recently is this concept of leading from the middle. This is usually compared to two other leadership strategies, such as leading from the rear, and leading from the front.  From the rear is like being a general in a battlefield, shouting orders of what you want done, without getting involved in the fray.  Leading from the front often times turns into being a micro-manager, charging forward to do everything yourself while your employees wait for you to do it for them.  Leading from the middle is hard, requires a lot of work, and that your team be in sync with both the short term and long term goals.

Social media is always, without fail, leading from the middle.

You simply cannot micro-manage social media, as one person cannot be truly “Social”.  You need a team of people. The good news is, you have a company, which has people.  You have a customer base that is made up of people.  That means there’s plenty of people that you need to communicate and interact with your company profile.  An enthusiastic employee base to start the exponential growth of your site, as your primary brand ambassadors, is essential.

Now, having a little bit of the old “General” style leadership, when it comes to getting the ball rolling, makes life a little easier.  If you have the authority to tell your people, “Since I haven’t shut off Facebook at work on the computers, and since we’re having this little contest going on our Facebook page, I’d appreciate it that when you’re on Facebook during work hours, on my dime, you participate a little...”

With that being said, if you think you can effectively create a social media experience that your employees and your customers take advantage of by leading from the rear, barking out orders, you are gravely mistaken.  You can’t order people to be social.  As soon as you try to command a lot of social interaction, your quality goes down the tubes, and you end up commanding mostly yourself.  At that point, you’re trying to micro-manage social, which we already said simply doesn’t work.
So, how do you effectively lead from the middle?  It starts by letting everyone involved, both internally in externally, know what you are hoping to accomplish.  Both internal and external clients need to have a reason to interact with you.  If they see the value in what you are hoping to achieve, then you can move forward.  There needs to be an incentive, whether it is intrinsic in the interaction itself or additional to it.

Then, you need to do it.

Here’s the tricky part.  If you cannot effectively run a social media campaign from the middle, because you have neither the time or the skill to do so, you’d better empower the person you have running it with some authority.  There’s nothing worse than a Content Producer sending out emails, begging people, “Can you please go on Facebook and help with our contest?” and being completely ignored, while the boss is saying to that same Content Producer, “Why aren’t you getting people to participate?”  We’ve seen those types of social media strategies.  They last around six months, end in complete failure, and propagate the idea that social media “Just doesn’t work.”

Are you ready to lead from the middle?

8 in 10 Connect to Brands on Facebook

Edison Research and Arbitron found that 80% of US social network users preferred to connect with brands through Facebook. Twitter is tied with "Don't know" for a very distant second place.

We'll revisit this data in a few months when we know more about Google+ and the effect it will have on the customer/brand relationship.  But, for now, it's fairly clear where brands should continue to focus.

Consumers Expect Something for "Like"

According to ExactTarget, 58% of Facebook likers expect both access to exclusive content, events or sales, and discounts or promotions through Facebook.  Only 37% do not expect anything to happen.

What does all of this data mean?  In short, it means that the "If you build it, they will come" mentality only works in the movies.  Just as it is with every other medium, you need to give visitors a reason to engage with you.

What exclusive content are you providing to your likers?

Google+ For Businesses

When a social platform starts growing exponentially, good marketers take notice and move in fast. However, social media marketers, not unlike myself, have hit a major roadblock with Google+ – there are no business tools. What’s a company to do?

According to Google+ Ads Lead Christian Oestlien – fittingly in a YouTube video posted on his Google+ profile page – here’s what you need to know:

1. Don’t create a business page yet: Oestlien asked brands and business to hold off using consumer profiles to create a business identity on Google+. Using a personal profile for a company or brand violates the Google+ terms of service (much like Facebook’s policy). In summary, create pages at your own risk until the proper tools become available.

2. Google+ business tools will be coming… sometime this year: Google engineers are currently working on separate business pages, which will include integration with other services like AdWords. According to Oestlien, the “business experience we are creating should far exceed the consumer profile in terms of its usefulness to businesses.” However, no time frame has been set for the deployment of these tools.

3. Apply to be part of the Google+ for business pilot: Google will be testing business features with a small number of users. You can apply here: http://goo.gl/zq95C

See Christian Oestlien's YouTube video here:



The fact that Google+ has an Ads Lead is a hint of things to come; clearly Google intends to put some form of AdWords on the site, like it has with every other major Google property.
In the meantime, the Google+ roll-out is having a massive effect on Google services across the web, and publishers, brands and businesses should take note. The Google +1 button has already been deployed on Google AdWords and search results. Publishers can (and should) add the +1 button to their content, similar to “Tweet This” or “Share on Facebook” buttons. It is likely that these “votes of confidence” from users will show up on their Google+ profile pages and be integrated into Google’s search rankings secret sauce. In addition, Mashable reported that Google will rebrand Blogger and Picasa to bring them into the Google+ fold. Maybe I’ll hold off on that blog migration I’ve been planning...

It took brands years to get on Facebook; a year or so to realize the value of Twitter. Clearly times have changed. What’s next for Google+? Stay tuned…

Google Plus: Solution to Online Privacy Issues?

Word on the street is that Google Plus is looking pretty good. As great as it looks, many are expecting the Circles feature to be what truly differentiates Google Plus from its main competitor. While Facebook continues to revamp its privacy options, there are still the countless stories out there having to do with people that have been fired, retired, dumped, and even evicted due to certain dealings on the world’s largest social networking site all in the name of good fun. Google has come up with a revolutionary solution to that which will most likely set the standard in days to come. How Google sizes up in the long run remains to be seen, but again, word on the street is…it’s looking pretty good.

A quick look at the new Google offering:

Thursday June 2nd. Social Media and E-Marketing Summit!

We typically don’t use this blog to promote things.  It’s bad form.  So, please forgive us for it this one time.

On Thursday, June 2^nd, there is a Social Media and E- Marketing Summit occurring in Marlboro, MA.  We don’t feel bad promoting this one event on our blog, because it goes so hand in hand with what we talk about on here a couple of times a week, and if you are a local reader of our blog, this event will certainly be something worth visiting.  It’s happening at the Marriot Courtyard at 75 Felton Street, in Marlboro, MA.  Tickets are on sale, and you need to pre-register for this event NOW. 

The topics being discussed are Social Media 101, the Power of Video, the Latest in Mobile Marketing, Understanding Website Analytics, Email Marketing, and Leveraging Social Media for your small business.

If you’ve already signed up, great! If you’d like more information, or are looking to sign up, click here.

 

For those still on the fence, let me help make it even easier: It goes from 7:30 until 11:45, so it won’t take up your entire day.  Basically, come in, learn, and go do it on your own.

While you’re there, if you have any additional questions about any of the information covered, our Senior Account Executive Mike Ivas will be available to schedule one-on-one consultant appointments, that will personalize all of this new material and help you custom tailor it to your specific business needs.  So be sure to keep an eye out for him!

Thanks for reading while I shamelessly promote this event!  We’ll get back to the practical advice for your advertising needs next post.

The biggest lie in marketing: Social Media is Free

There have been diagrams and blogs written that chart the actual costs required to have an effective social media program in place, and yet I still hear businesses all the time say, “Social media is free! Facebook is free, Twitter is free, yay! We don’t need to spend money on stuff that’s free!”

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Websites are free, too.  They are built with HTML, PHP, Javascript, CSS and other various types of code, and it’s all free.  You can host it yourself, and all you’ll pay for is the internet connection and the computer it’s hosted on.  You can even give your site a name for free through some services, so you don’t have to pay for the DNS, if you don’t mind having a less- than-flashy name. So don’t worry about buying a website, since it’s free.  Just go learn some script, and you’ll be selling online in no time.

In fact, there are pages online that will teach you how to code in HTML, for free.  There are lots of sites that will tell you how to build websites, and use all of these different styles of coding to create effective websites.  They are written by web developers that are more than willing to share their knowledge, so that other web developers who become a little stuck at times can fix their problems.

Now that I’ve shared this little secret, am I worried about being out of a job? Um, no.

When you buy a website from a professional web designer, you aren’t paying for the materials. You are paying for the knowledge of how to create a visually pleasing, information-sharing site that can increase business for your company. 

The same is true for social media.  Although Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all free, there is still a knowledge base that is required to make these tools effective.  There are websites and books written that attempt to teach readers how to effectively market to these channels.  And, the same as your website, you can give it a go all by yourself, for free.

But I wouldn’t recommend it.

Social media requires a hands-on approach, and if you want to be successful with it, you need people that are devoted to it.  If you want an employee or group of employees to be in charge of your social media programs, that’s a great way to go.  I always believe that in-house monitoring of these types of channels is most effective.  The caveat is that these staff members must be trained to be effective at their job.  They need to be trained by someone who knows how to make the most of these tools.

A couple of examples, just to drive my point home: If I give you some paint brushes, some paint, and a ladder, all for free, can you paint my ceiling to match the Sistine Chapel’s? Or if I give you a pile of wood, and some building materials, can you figure out how to build me a new house?  It’s free!

You can pay to have someone else run your social media for your company. You can pay to be trained on how to best use social media for your company.  Or you can continue to think it’s free, and SPEND several hours mismanaging a campaign that does not create any additional sales, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, and brand awareness.  No matter what, you’re paying.

Is your “Social Media Policy” Killing your Social Media?

A local business that I know of has more than 300 employees.  They’ve had a Facebook page since around mid February.  How many followers do you think they have?

Answer: 41. 

I want you to think about that for a minute.  Percentage wise, that means around 13% of their employees are fans of their own business.  (It’s less than that, because I am one of the 41, so that I could write this article, and they have more than 300 employees, not exactly 300...)

I can guarantee that this company does not allow Facebook pages on their own network.  I’m willing to bet that the company policies regarding Facebook are ironclad, and at least a page long.  If handed a copy of their policy, I’m sure it has this phrase repeated several times throughout the communication: “Up to and including termination.” 

So, you want to have a thriving social media presence, but threaten your employees with draw and quartering if they mention any detail on the page other than “We had great weather today”.  The employees must do any commenting from home, since they cannot access the site at work, even during their scheduled break.  You want the benefits that having a Facebook page can give, but you hamstring your employee participation with strong warnings and signed manifestos. 

Does any of this look familiar to you? Could you be the company I am writing about? Is it time for a change?

Obviously, there are some safety concerns for Facebook.  The last thing you need is for an employee to do something harmful to your company, or misrepresent the company in a way that opens you up to possible litigation.  I wish it was all just fun and games.  It isn’t.  You need a policy that protects your company, and that protects your employees.  However, the “Doomsday” policy is not going to work.  The “Don’t even think about going online to Facebook at work (But please follow us in your personal time)” approach rarely works, either.

Once again, it all comes back to what you want to achieve, and how to get there.  Start fresh.  Figure out what you want Facebook to do for your company, and then figure out what you are going to need to get there.  Throw away the “COMMENTS MAY RESULT IN INSTANT TERMINATION” style company policy, and build a new one that lets employees know what is acceptable and isn’t for your particular company profile.

The Sky Is Falling: The End of Social Media?

About once a month or so, an article comes across my desk regarding a company that has put faith in a social media channel and not had overwhelming success.  Not a month can go by without someone handing me or emailing me an article about how even though the Facebook campaign got lots of attention, the business witnessed a decline in sales for several quarters in a row.

Is this the end of Social Media?

With any luck, the buzzword “Social Media” is… But the concept isn’t going anywhere.

In all of the articles I’ve read regarding “Social Media is Dying”, none take the time to define “Social Media”.  In the most basic definition of the term, it means one person communicating with another in a public forum that anyone who observes can also comment on.  Before it became a buzzword, there were plenty of examples of this.  There were chat rooms on AOL that were a form of Social Media.  The bulletin board hanging up in many offices, where people can post “Free Kittens”, “Ice Cream Social Next Tuesday”, or any other communication, is by definition “social media”.

This type of social media has been around for many many years, and it isn’t going anywhere.

So when the industry gurus speak of “Social Media Peaking”, they are typically discussing the software versions.  The Facebook, Twitter, etc. ways of communicating between people.  Are these going away?

Once again, the answer is a resounding, “Nope.”  They are an effective means of communicating with a large group of people.  The individual user has no reason to stop using facebook, as an individual.  I was able to wish someone I haven’t talked to in ten years “Happy Birthday” the other day.  There’s no way I’d pick up a phone and do that. From a personal user point of view, I don’t see the social media channels going away.
So, whatever can these industry experts mean, when they say, “The Social Media Fad is Ending”?

I believe that they mean, useless, fad based Social Media is going out.  There are several social media sites that are not social; they exist on social platforms, but do nothing except promote ads.  Interaction is scarce at best, and pointless in many cases.  There is no reason to visit any of these sites; they provide no information, stirring content, or spark any intellectual debate.  Look at your own list of social media sites that you personally subscribe to.  How many of these provide advertisement content only? How many are not able to help you with service issues? Are these the ones that you are moving away from? I know these are the ones that I am “Unlike”ing.

Companies that understand engagement, and that work to constantly create bonds between the company and the consumer will succeed.  These companies reward users with both positive reinforcement and with increased service, and will not only survive but thrive.  These companies realize that social media is not simply an advertising tool, but something more.   Social Media that is complex, completely ad driven, and based more on the company’s “Brand Message” than on the consumer, will continue to be edged out.  If your company is considering Social Media as a way of putting ads in more places, then you may wish to pull back.

“Social Media©” may be in trouble, but the rest of social media is here to stay.

A little Social Recognition Goes a Long Way

Companies use social media to promote their businesses in several different ways.  Some use it to create customer loyalty, and provide promotions to their customer base.  Some use it to show a more “personal” side to their business, by showing they care about the world around them by offering support to the community.  Others use social media to showcase their expert knowledge on particular subjects, to enable customers to feel confidence that they are working with the best professionals in the field.

One of the questions we are asked most often is, “Where can I find more content for my social media channels?”  Today, the answer is, “Your employees.”

I don’t mean for you to ask your people what to post.  I’d guess that you already go to them for ideas of what to post.  I mean, post about your people.  Do you have an employee that has been with your company long enough to celebrate a milestone with the company?  Has one of your employees recently earned a promotion? Have you hired anyone new?  These work related accomplishments should be praised on your social media sites. 

Posting about work accomplishments of your employees has many benefits:

1. Gives the employee recognition, and shows them that you acknowledge their accomplishment and are willing to praise them publicly.
2. Gives your employees a reason to visit your social media sites or platforms, which will increase internal traffic of these sites.
3. Allows people outside of your organization to see that you as a company care about your employees.
4. Provides an opportunity for those employees being recognized to be congratulated by other users.

For example, if you were to post “Congratulations John Smith for 20 years of service! Thank you!” on your Facebook page, what could happen?  John Smith might go onto Facebook, and like that comment, sharing it with all of his friends and family.  Some of your employees may also comment, saying “Way to go John!” and share their comments with all of their friends.  Your comment, which is one that you are perfectly willing to make, can in turn bring additional fans to your page.  Not to mention the benefits already listed.  

You may also want to congratulate your employees on their personal achievements.  If a member of your staff recently gave birth, or has gotten married, for example, these joyful occasions can earn you some karma points.  It all comes back to making your social media page social. 

For more advice on social media content, email us today.

IS SEO Dead?

Dead? No. Evolving? You betcha.

Last week Google launched an upgrade to its search engine, adding social results for users signed in with their Google accounts. In addition to traditional website search results, searchers will start seeing results from their friends on Twitter, Blogger, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc.

Where's Facebook? Facebook won't give access to its social data as they want to compete with Google to be the leader of search in the coming years.  Because of this, Google has tried to work with just about every other social platform to make the search more social.

For a better understanding of these changes, check out this video from Google:

With this new take on search, rank is officially dead as a metric for companies to obsess over.  It doesn't matter if you rank high for a certain keyword -- Google is scaling personalized/social search.

What Does This Mean?

It means that everyone who searches on Google will see a different set of results, based location, search history and connections across major social media platforms.

It also means that companies need to be more active on social media.  The number of connections you have on different social media platforms now directly correlates to the number of people you can possibly reach through Google search results.

What Should You Do?

Stop worrying about whether or not you have enough relevent keywords crammed into each page on your Website.  Instead, focus your energy on creating rock solid content, and dispersing it through the different social media channels.

What do you think about Google's new search?

Social Landing Page: Creating Easier Transitions

Are you in the market to buy a new car? You can look forward to:

1.       Spending an hour or more with a sales consultant, building rapport and establishing trust.

2.        Working out a pricing agreement that makes sense to both parties.

3.       Arranging the details and scheduling regarding the transfer of ownership of the new vehicle.

Your next step sends you into an office to sit with someone you haven’t met before to discuss financial terms, and who offers additional products not previously mentioned, and can potentially change the scheduling of the delivery and the pricing agreement. 

Any time you end one process and begin another is called a transition.  In the automotive business, the transition listed above can potentially destroy customer satisfaction, and it is one of the areas that dealerships are constantly trying to reorganize, to make it more streamlined and comfortable for the customer.

Social media has the potential to have the same jarring transition for the user that the sales process in the example above has for the customer.

 For example, Twitter users are accustomed to very direct messages, and the entire statement needs to fit into 140 characters.  Bringing a person over from Twitter to a website that has too much text, without precise descriptions to determine the worth of each portion of a website, makes for a poor transition.  Someone who gets the majority of his news from Twitter is less likely to sit down and immediately dive into a 1500 word blog on a random subject. 

Let’s assume you have a great website, with intense graphic use and bold coloring.  Would the “Info” tab on Facebook, with its text only lists, be a smooth transition? If you have a great following, with lots of interaction from fans, the wall may be too busy to use as the default landing.  That’s why Facebook now has the ability to create custom-coded tabs.

Remember where people are coming from and where they are going.  You want people to come into your site comfortable.  If they found you via Twitter, have a landing page designed to make a Twitter user feel comfortable.  For each social media platform in which you are taking part of, you should have a custom landing page on your website that welcomes them to your site.

Companies spend lots of time making sure that the branding message across all of their different websites and pages line up visually.  On top of this, companies need to make sure that they are talking to their customers in the appropriate manner that their customer has learned to expect. 

Twitter - Your Social Media Defense

Social Media can be scary. I know we have had conversations with clients that frown on this new communication idea. Of our clients and prospective clients that do not use social media, the number one fear is that use of Social Media will provide customers with a complaint platform to voice and discuss problems with potential customers, which could drive away business.

I’m sure you know that if a tree falls in the woods, and you aren’t around to hear it, it makes a sound, right?

Likewise, if customers complain, and you don’t hear it, they are still complaining.

So listen for the complaints. Set up a tool to watch for any possible customer issues, and be aware of what is being said about you. Your first step is to publicly address any complaint. Use the customer’s name, and tell him or her that you want to help. Offer an opportunity to speak directly to this person. Don’t simply give a phone number to call. The customer has chosen to talk about this in an alternative manner, otherwise the complaint wouldn’t be on Twitter in the first place! A good example of a possible initial response to a complaint would be:

@angrycustomer, We are sorry for your problem, and we want to fix it. Can you DM me your email, so we can make it right?

The response is to the point, states you are sorry for the mistake, and that you want to fix the problem. What else can you say? Customers cannot DM (Direct Message) you unless you follow them, and unless they are following you. You always want to follow someone who is complaining about you. You want an email address, and any other contact information that you can get, but you should attempt to open the channel in a non public forum.

Understand – You are planning on fixing the problem, and you want the world to know that you are trying to fix the problem. You do not need the world to see every step you take to fix the issue. Get out of the public eye while you are fixing the problem. After the matter is resolved, you can go back to the public domain, and ask the customer if he or she is happy with the resolution, but do not complete the entire repair out in public, for everyone to watch.

Once the customer has contacted you in a private manner, you need to fix this problem as quickly as possible. Once again, the best way to handle this is to imagine the customer is in your establishment, not on the internet. How would you address this if it was happening in person?

Once the situation is resolved, try and engage the customer one last time privately. Since you handled the problem, gauge the customer’s temperature in the resolution, before going back to the public forum. If the customer seems completely happy, ask something like, “Are you now 100% satisfied?” If the customer is still a little warm under the collar, maybe, “I’m glad we could come to an arrangement. Thank you for your business!” would work better.

Groupon Tool Explained

I have read a lot of articles about Groupon. This blog post looks at Groupon in a more analytical way, since it seems every other article either sings their praises, or wishes they would burn for eternity.

For those that don’t know, Groupon is a social media tool that allows businesses to market to customers in an alternative way. The gist of Groupon is that customers sign up and connect their email, Twitter, or Facebook account to Groupon. When the customer signs up, they have to list their approximate location, of which there are around 150 cities available. First thing in the morning, Groupon contacts the customers and informs them of the “Deal of the Day”.

Although Groupon does try to have time sensitive ads, they cannot guarantee it. Therefore, do not try and line up a Groupon ad with a particular saving time period, (ie. Automotive groups could not guarantee that the Groupon promotion lines up with President’s Day weekend.)

Groupon writes the copy for the ad, and creates the links to your company’s sites, social media, etc. The reason for this is that they want the ad written in their voice, not yours. Although the goal is to bring customers into your store, they are not your customers. This is completely reasonable. Once they enter your store, they are your customers, and you can talk to them. Your company has to be concerned with two factors: how long is the offer valid for, and how many people have to take advantage of the Groupon for the offer to be valid.

Let's use an imaginary customer named Joe, buying a t-shirt from Sam’s T’s, as an example. Joe gets an email at 8:00 in the morning, telling him that there is 50% off of a particular shirt at Sam’s T’s. The shirt is regularly $25.00. Joe can buy a voucher to get this shirt for $12.50. Joe decides it’s a good deal, and so he clicks, “Buy deal.” He gives his money to Groupon via a PayPal account. He does not give the money to Sam’s T’s. One of two things happens at this point.

Not enough people take advantage of Sam’s T’s deal, and Joe is sent an email from Groupon, stating that the sale did not happen, and Joe never pays a dime.

OR

Enough people do take advantage of the deal. Joe’s credit card (checking account, etc.) is digitally billed for $12.50. Joe is not charged until after "the deal is on", meaning that enough followers have decided to take advantage of it for the sale to occur. He receives a voucher electronically for the shirt. He goes into the store, hands over his voucher, and walks away with his nice new shirt. Sam’s T’s gets a check in the mail from Groupon. They do not give Sam's T's the $12.50 that Joe paid. They keep a portion of that amount. Groupon doesn’t tell you the exact amount until you are ready to do business with them, so it is not possible for me to disclose their commission rate. However, most sources on the internet put the commission rate at 50%...

Groupon calls this a “Win Win”, since your company put together the sale and never had to pay anything out of pocket for the advertising. There is no upfront cost, but you are certainly discounting your product by more than whatever the sale amount is, due to the commission rate. Everyone is in business to make money, and I am not saying anything derogatory about this process; I just want you to be aware of it. It is also important to note that since only one “deal of the day” occurs, chances are that Groupon is going to promote the deal that makes Groupon the most money. If your sale will have less penetration than a different sale, yours may sit on the back burner. If you are not extremely aggressive, your ad will never be shared to the Groupon followers.

Some real thought needs to go into the math before you create a Groupon ad. For example, if you need to sell 100 products at 50% off before you are able to turn a profit, you had better set your minimum requirements above the 100 member mark. Unless, of course, you are trying to simply blow out a particular product to reduce your inventory, and are hoping to sell additional point of sale items. I would strongly recommend working with your advertising people before setting up a Groupon deal, since you have the potential to hurt your business by not fully understanding the goals of the particular sale.

Another factor to consider when creating your Groupon deal is how are you going to market your Groupon deal? Are you going to simply allow for current Groupon members, or are you going to leverage your other social media channels to get the word out farther? Groupon states, quite clearly, that there should be additional social media used to promote the sale. If your company is not fully comfortable in the world of social media, then additional conversations should occur beforehand. Again, talk with your advertising firm beforehand, to make sure you have the reach to make this campaign reaches its full potential.