Jiri Marousek on March 3, 2011
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What’s behind the shine?
It took a while. A lot of soapbox discussions and rants on the part of many in the digital and integrated marketing community. But finally the industry is seeing the light. As slowly as it frequently does when shiny new objects are blinding our vision. The chrome finish of social media is starting to rub off and as the actual tool itself emerges, it is becoming obvious how ridiculous the obsession with social media as a strategy was becoming.
Does your car have a “Chief Bumper Strategist”?
Just as your neighborhood car shop doesn’t have a “chief wheel mechanic” and a “headlight director”, any brand that sees social media tools as a field in need for its own strategy is missing the point. Social media is a lever (Horrible business school flashback) of marketing and business strategy. It is not THE strategy itself.
It is simple to see the reason for the many obvious failures in social media campaigns in recent years. Isolated campaigns spawned in the bowels of companies. Great ideas executed without any thought of integration or leveraging of the brand and its assets in other channels. How can we even judge a social media campaign with any kind of reasonable ROI and response measure if measurement was never considered from the get go?
Get to know the social media toolkit
The right structure to fix it? Marketing and brand leaders are the ones that need to know digital tools and most importantly social media. It is THE CHANNEL that provides the most amazing way of engagement, observation and participation in conversations with the customer. But the actual task of executing within social media is not a strategic or isolated responsibility. It is a management and tactical task that informs and integrates with what we as brands do. Not as a peppy little tail that tries to wag the dog.
What does it mean to a brand steward and leader? If you have off-loaded the knowledge of social media to the new kid 2 years out of college that is now your “social media strategist”, it’s time to dig in and get a little hands on and actually know the tools of the digital space. And time to know how they integrate with not just your other marketing assets, but with communications, product and sales channels. If your brand is underperforming, these lessons might just be the key to jumpstarting gr0wth.
Can We Rethink the Title “Social Media Strategist” Yet?
Rick Stone on February 24, 2011
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What connects us?
Social networking is taking over the world. I keep track of my kids who are scattered around the world on Facebook; the same with my brother and sisters and their kids; with old friends, too. Why are these people in my network? Because I have an emotional connection with them. We have shared experiences and, while our politics and walk of life may vary, we are emotionally attached. When one does something special, it gets passed around to all their friends and family. Recently one of my daughters participated in a protest in our state capitol. She reached out and found solidarity on Facebook.
So, what is the message for marketers in this? People talk about things that matter to them. They pass along things that they feel passionate about. What have you done to make a strong emotional connection with your customers and prospects? What have you done to make them feel the level of passion about you that my daughter felt carrying that sign up the capitol steps in Madison?
Passion Conversation vs. Idle Chatter
Brands need to connect emotionally with customers. Just putting up a press release to bloggers or asking people to retweet a link, even if done regularly, won’t cut it. Conversations without emotion are just idle chatter and don’t do much to persuade. The whole reason we want people talking about us is so that their behavior will change and they will buy our brand more often. Conversations about brands and products usually happen when we feel strongly enough about something to share it with others, like my daughter. We are attracted to, and talk about, brands that are like us; that share the same passions, beliefs and aspirations as we do. Brands are the symbols that define people in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. How are you helping people be more of themselves?
Brand is beyond benefits.
It’s tough these days to generate this type of attachment based on a functional benefit – hey look, I think these clothes are whiter. There once was a time when products were different from competitive products. But today, in a society when we have the choice of over 50 cars or 30 tooth pastes, those functional differences are minor and certainly don’t generate much passion. What makes someone a Ford person or a Chevy person? Clue, it’s not the cup holders or even the navigation system. It’s something much deeper.
Building a brand is about understanding how to make that emotional connection, it’s not about more visits or friends. The best way to maximize social media is to tap into people’s passions. Then you will become important enough for them to share your story with others.
