Dialogue changes things. It connects people, seeds ideas, and is a critical thread in the fabric of relationship.
This dynamic is at the heart of social media’s appeal — the opportunity for dialogue and community. And the prospect of change.
Yet, some enterprises — from Main Street start-ups to global leaders — continue to wrestle with where social media fits within a communication strategy.
The reason for the struggle is the same reason relationships at any level are so difficult; genuine dialogue does not come easy.
Self-interest, the superficial and the politics of the moment serve to frame much of what attempts to pass as the substance of dialogue.
Social media participation is a marketing game changer for every size of business. The playing field is leveled and companies from @Ford with 198,000 employees, to @AmeriChoiceFCU with 60 employees, to @GoodHlthRewards with 7 employees have equal opportunity to tell their story, attract an audience, listen to the customer, and make the sale.
Perhaps you think blogging, tweeting, and checking-in is a fad. Who cares if @AlanBr82 had coffee at Starbuck in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania? @Starbucks cares and commercial real estate developers like @RichardEJordan2 care.
“Social media brings new tools to our preliminary market studies,” says Rick Jordan, CEO of Smith Land & Improvement Corporation. “In real time, we can learn consumer trends and desires. Twitter is one massive focus group. As a property owner who leases office and retail space, it’s good to know that our tenants have a loyal following and are building community. By tracking conversations, we can discover what products and services people want in a region and attract specific tenants to fill the needs. That’s good for business.”
Chances are high that your competition is already engaged on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Foursquare. To find out, go to www.socialmention.com, www.trackle.com, or set up some Google Alerts. If you’re not on at least one of these social platforms, you can join the conversation today to add social media to your marketing mix. It’s never too late to tell your story.
Where should you start?
1. Meet with the CEO to establish executive buy-in. Top-down support drives a social media marketing campaign. Peter Aceto (@CEO_INGDIRECT) is an excellent example of an executive who harnesses the power of social media for a business advantage. He tweets about his institution, his team, his family; and he has gained loyal customers and fresh insight because of his transparency. Ford’s Global Digital Communications Director @ScottMonty explains the power of these tools and the CEO’s support in a video interview at Ford’s World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Whether an executive understands these nascent tools or not, dismissing them can be business suicide.
2. Develop a social media strategy. Don’t make this step too difficult—plan for where you want to engage your target audience (are they on Facebook or LinkedIn, are they local or global, are they retail or B2B), and plan the content of your messages. Focus your strategy, and commit to participation in at least two channels where your customers or clients are. Determine objectives, messages, and who will lead the messaging. Every tweet and post embodies your brand. Don’t be fooled by the language and brevity in the social media. Those 140 characters carry tremendous potential to boost your brand or set off a PR nightmare. Are you determining trends, seeking opinions, looking for new customers, finding influencers, or pitching the media? Start with measurable objectives and allocate sufficient people, time, and money to accomplish them. (This is where the value of #1 is realized.)
I’m really looking forward to the day when social media matures as an advertising medium. I feel as though social media advertising is currently pigeonholed into the same boat as mobile (which has been in the same boat for the last four years): it’s about one to two years away from maturing as a medium for advertising. That doesn’t mean that social media (or mobile, for that matter) is not a strong marketing medium. It just means we have to be honest about what needs to be fixed — or else bad ads will continue to happen to good people.
We also have to be clear on the differences between advertising and marketing. Advertising is defined as a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services. Marketing is defined as an integrated communications process through which individuals and communities are informed and persuaded that their needs can be met by products or services.
The primary difference, when you break them down, is where your money goes! Advertising really means paying to broadcast or display a message, whereas marketing refers to all the differentiated components that allow a brand to convey a message to a consumer, of which advertising is just one tactic. Marketing is the umbrella term.
Currently, social media ads are inexpensive, untargeted and not as effective as they could be. Social media is great at marketing (when used properly), but it currently falls down when it comes to paid advertising. From a marketing perspective, it is a great way of engaging/interacting with a consumer through presence and seeding: creating a presence for the consumer to interact with and inserting (seeding) into existing conversations that may be of relevance to the brand.
Dialogue changes things. It connects people, seeds ideas, and is a critical thread in the fabric of relationship..jpg "Alan Mulally")