Social Media: It Doesn’t Work

by Marvin Kane | Sep 7, 2011 | Social Media

Part Four in a Four-Part Series: Common Objections to Social Media

Be Patient. Results Will Be There

At the end of my previous post in this series I hinted that the biblical figure Job would have been very successful with social media. Did you get the reference? Let me explain: Job had in abundance the quality that many of us lack but need more of to successfully manage a social marketing campaign. Patience. Social media marketing has to be understood as a long-term commitment. Unfortunately, this is not a comfortable outlook for today’s  business leaders who are expected to produce results quickly. That’s why we find so many marketers today complaining that they tried social marketing and it doesn’t work. Really? How long did you give it? Two weeks? Three weeks. Here’s the answer: you didn’t give it long enough.

Okay, Then. How Long is Long Enough?

Let me share a true story quickly. In my younger days my friends and I became interested in eastern religions. It was New York in the sixties. Enough said. We were enthralled with the notion of spiritual enlightenment, this place of perfect peace and equilibrium. To get there we were told, we needed to meditate twice daily. Once first thing in the morning and again before going to bed. One of our crew was particularly disciplined with his daily meditation. After a month or so I asked him how it was going. I was surprised by his answer. “I quit. I meditated for thirty minutes every morning and every night for three weeks and I’m still not enlightened. This meditation stuff just doesn’t work”. See where I’m going with this? Did he give it enough time? Was the time he gave it appropriate given the goal?

Define Your Social Media Marketing Goals First

Break your larger marketing goals into smaller, easier to manage  pieces. Your first goal might be to get people to sign up for your newsletter. In that case you can use your social media tools to point people to your newsletter sign up page. Next you may want to get people to sign up for your webinar. After that you may want people to download a white paper. Once you’ve clearly defined you goals you can come back after a month or so into your social marketing campaign and see how you are doing. Soon you will have a good feel for how long is long enough.

Summary

• Be patient. I know it’s hard but it pays off
• Make sure you understand the social tools you are using. If you don’t, get help
• Break your larger marketing objective into smaller goals that can be tracked and monitored

Have you abandoned social media because you thought you gave it enough time and it just wasn’t working? Can you be persuaded to try again?

Photo Credit: The Inspiration Room

Social Media: We’re Fine Without It

by Marvin Kane | Aug 31, 2011 | Social Media

Part Three in a Four Part Series: Common Objections to Social Media

“Complacency is the enemy of progress.” “If you’re not growing, you’re dying“. We’ve all heard these catchy phrases reminding us that in business, as in life, we should never be satisfied. We must always keep moving forward. So why are so many businesses content to be …. you know, content? How far back do you go? Do you remember your workplace before copy machines? before fax machines? before computers? I’ll bet your boss thought you were doing fine. Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t. Gary Vaynerchuk says it well, “Any company that gets so complacent it thinks everything is “fine” deserves to go out of business.”

Think Your Business Is Doing Fine? How do You Know?

If you’re the owner of a business, it doesn’t matter if you think your doing fine. What matters is what your customers and clients think. And now we have the means to ask them. How did we get this information before? Focus groups, comment cards, surveys, mailers. Sure, those were the only means we had back then but even if customers took the time to respond, it was a one time, one way communication. Now with tools like Facebook , Twitter and Yelp, to name just a very few,  we can see what our customers are saying in real time, respond quickly and nurture relationships. As business owners, isn’t this what we want?

The Value in Social Media Far Outweighs the Risks

Last week I wrote how fear is what keeps most businesses from adopting a social media marketing strategy. I think it’s worth repeating: what should really scare you as a business owner is not knowing what your customers are saying. Consider these two fictional scenarios (ok, not so fictional as this stuff really happens every day).

Scenario 1: John and Mary eat at the Good Eats Eatery. They’re not happy with the service and not terribly thrilled with the food either. They tell everyone in their circle of friends about their bad experience. They don’t come back to the restaurant and neither do their friends. Without any social channels to communicate with her guests, Stacey, the hard working owner of the restaurant never knew there was a problem in the first place. Sadly, she only knows there is a drop off in business but doesn’t know why.

Scenario 2: Jim and Sue eat at Good Food is Us. They too are not so happy with the service and food. But they’ve been following Good Food is Us on Twitter and post a tweet about their disappointment. Homer, the owner of Good Food is Us, sees the tweet and quickly and honestly responds. He also notices Jim and Sue’s less than flattering review on Yelp. He takes the time to respond directly to them, apologizes, assures them it will never happen again and sends them a gift certificate to the restaurant. When they come in he waits on them personally. The result: he turned two unhappy customers into strong advocates.

Note: See my earlier post The New Rules of Engagement to see how one restaurant is doing it right.

Summary

• You can’t really know if you’re doing fine if you don’t ask your customers.
• Don’t worry about negative comments. They are far more valuable than no comments at all.
• If you’re afraid to jump into social media, start slowly by listening to others first.

Does this make sense? Don’t hesitate to use the comment box below to disagree with me. Disagreement makes for lively conversation.

Stay tuned to this channel for part four in the series: Common Objections to Social Media. Next week we’ll talk about companies who claim they’ve tried it but it doesn’t work. Hint: Job of the Bible would have been very successful with social media.

Photo Credit: The Inspiration Room

Social Media: We’re Afraid

by Marvin Kane | Aug 24, 2011 | Social Media

Part Two in a Four Part Series: Common Objections to Social Media

Many companies have failed to adopt social media out of fear. They are afraid of what customers and employees will say about them. Not only are these companies missing an opportunity, they are ignoring a much bigger problem. Denying your employees the chance to speak freely about your company is a sure sign that there is something wrong with the culture of the workplace. If you’re a CEO, a boss, a supervisor or the person in your company empowered to make decisions about social media and fear is why you’re saying no, then put social media on hold and fix the bigger problem. Ask your employees the tough questions. Listen to the answers. Take appropriate action. Social media can be the best tool you have for identifying problems and fixing them. Imagine how your company would be different if you looked forward to reading what your employees were saying about it. Sound good?

Your Customers Are Talking. Are You Listening?

You can’t function in a vacuum. Everyone knows that. Yet there are many companies that are still trying to do just that. Another missed opportunity. The question is so fundamental that it seems ludicrous to ask it. But here goes. How do you know what your customers think of your product or service if you never ask them? See where I’m going? Social media channels like Facebook and Twitter are where your customers are. It’s where they are talking about you and your product. But if you’re not hanging out where your customers are, that is to say if you’re not using the same social media tools they are, you’ll never hear them. And if your product or service changes to meet the requirements of your customers, it will be a coincidence and not the result of a planned strategy. Can you afford that?

A Negative Comment is Better Than no Comment At All

You know the old Hollywood adage – negative publicity is better than no publicity. It’s true. You have nothing to fear from the customer who posts a critical or negative comment about you. Why? Because now you know what you have to fix. And once you fix it you have turned a critic into a fan – and perhaps into an advocate. Does that make sense?

Dont’ Be Afraid

Here is a quick summary:

• If you’re not adopting social media because you’re afraid of what customers/employees might say about you, you have a bigger problem.
• If you’re not listening to your customers through their tweets or facebook postings, how do you know how you are doing?
• See negative comments as a positive. A customer who takes the time to post a negative comment can be turned into your best customer

Are you with me? Are you using social media or have you been reluctant to adopt it?

Stay tuned to this channel for part three in the series: Common Objections to Social Media. Next week we’ll see why companies who claim to be just fine without it really aren’t fine at all.

Photo credit: Brian Lane Winfield

Social Media: It Won’t Last

by Marvin Kane | Aug 15, 2011 | Social Media

Part One in a Four Part Series: Common Objections to Social Media.

I'ts not a fad. It's a cultural shift

No one can predict the future. But we can make educated guesses based on the evidence in front of us. So here is a bold prediction. Social Media, in some form or another, will last.  The genie is out of the bottle. Social Media has given us a new way to do something as fundamental to human nature as breathing (okay, maybe not that fundamental): communicate!We are by nature social beings. We love to talk, to gather, to share. We’ve been doing this since we lost our tails and started walking upright. I think its safe to say we’ll keep doing it. Will the sun come up tomorrow? Probably. Simply put, the social tools at our disposal are making it easier to do what we’ve always done.

Aren’t  a Visionary? You Just Need an Open Mind.

It’s easy to understand why blacksmiths in the early part of the 20th century desperately wanted to believe that the horseless carriage was a fad that wouldn’t last. Their livelihoods hung on that hope. Gary Vaynerchuk, in his absolutely must have book, The Thank You Economy,  quotes a few less than visionary “visionaries” whose take on the latest trends of the day seem … well just plain dumb in hindsight.

• “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.”
  — Western Union Internal Memo, 1876
• “The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”
  — an investor in response to David Sarnoff’s push for radio, 1920
• “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility.”
  — Lee De Forest, radio pioneer, 1926

Closer to my own world and our own time, I recall the day in 1995 when the IT Director of the company I was working for at the time asked me to investigate this new “internet thing”. I was not in the IT department. The thing was he couldn’t find anyone on his staff who was willing to take the time. They all thought the internet was a fad that wouldn’t last. I rest my case.

Don’t Make it About the Tools

We focus too much on the tools of social media. That’s why we’re skeptical. If we make it about the tools, our belief system is shaken every time a new one emerges. And there will be new tools emerging all the time. Today its Facebook and Twitter. Next month it could be something else. We need to focus more on the objective, on why we are using these tools in the first place. So what is the objective? Okay, here it is. Ready? It’s all about building and maintaining authentic, meaningful, caring relationships. Once we commit to that, it becomes a simple process to determine which tools best serve the goal.

Are you with me? Do you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said. What are your thoughts about the role of social media in our lives?

Stay tuned to this channel for part two in the series: Common Objections to Social Media. Next week we’ll look at why companies are afraid to incorporate social media into their marketing plan and why they shouldn’t be. (Hint: maybe they should be).

Photo credit: Brian Lane Winfield