Archive for year 2012
The level playing field has turned into a content arms race
Nov 14th
Have I ever told you how much I love Gini Dietrich? For me, she is such an amazing role model for dong it right on the social web. And if you’re one of the five people on earth not already following her Spin Sucks blog, go do that now.
Gini is a smart and savvy friend and we don’t always see eye to eye, which makes her an even better friend. Last week she penned a post about how Facebook seems to be unfairly squeezing money from us by forcing us to use paid promoted posts to reach people who are already following us. It’s a good point of course, but I fell off Gini’s wagon at this point:
The awesome thing about the web and social media, in particular, is it levels the playing field. No longer do you need millions of dollars to spend on PR firms and ad agencies in order to build your brand and reputation among the masses.
Today all you need is a good writer, a self-hosted website and/or blog, and organically grown social networks. With those three things, you suddenly are competing with the big boys for reputation and credibility. You’re seen as a thought leader in your industry. You’re creating kinship among your prospects. And you’re selling in a way that has never before been possible.
All of the tools are free so it’s a really low barrier to entry. And it works.
You see, I have been thinking just the opposite about our social media world. Yes, three years ago Gini was probably right. When the social web was young almost any foray into social media was novel and attracted attention. It was pretty cheap and the entry barriers were indeed low. You could post a video of a bride falling into a swimming pool and it would go viral.
No longer.
Today YouTube is mainstream entertainment fueled by slick corporate video content. People have increasingly sophisticated expectations about what they’re going to find on your Facebook page, Twitter stream, or blog.
I recently saw a statistic that stated there was more information created on the web in the last two years than all of human history combined. I don’t know if that is true or not and I rarely let facts get in the way of a good story anyway, so let’s just say it makes a point — there is an enormous amount of data to get through these days. Heck, even Mashable makes me dizzy.
The content arms race
To succeed on the social web today you better bring your A Game and a bucket of money. To connect with customers today you need to consistently provide useful, relevant, and entertaining content — and that is not cheap. And as the information density on the web increases, so too will the cost to produce that great content.
Yes, yes, I know there are plenty of companies who are still finding niche success with modest social media programs but as soon as their competitors get in the game, the content arms race begins.
As I wrote recently, the social web is NOT a level playing field. There is definitely a first-mover advantage for people who have the money to create useful content and overwhelming amounts of it (which then become entrenched in the search rankings). In the long term, you probably will NOT be competing with the “big boys” (as Gini states) with just a writer and a blog.
Social media is a mainstream marketing and communication channel that will increasingly be dominated by those with the fattest wallets. Agree?
Photo: I took this shot during a visit to the Kremlin in Moscow
Why do rich people get better service on the web?
Nov 13th
I’m involved in this fascinating new project called The Social Habit. We’re focusing the power and experience of Edison Research on the field of social media and it is producing some incredible results, including one that blew my mind.
Some of the most interesting and useful set insights have come in the area of social media’s impact on customer service.
Jay Baer, one of my partners on the project, wrote a superb post articulating some of the revelations about expectations of social media and customer service. A few highlights included:
- Among respondents to The Social Habit who have ever attempted to contact a brand, product, or company through social media for customer support, 32% expect a response within 30 minutes.
- 42% expect a response within 60 minutes.
- Our research found that among those respondents who have ever attempted to contact a brand, product, or company through social media for customer support, 57% expect the same response time at night and on weekends as during normal business hours.
Whoa. Huge implications for companies and their customers.
But a deeper dive into Social Habit data reveals a perplexing new insight about companies providing service through social media:
Rich people apparently get better service. Check it out:
Now, let me emphasize that this is no casual data set. This is a conclusion from robust research and there is a statistically significant difference between those in the income “over $100,000″ category and the others. Why?
I have three hypotheses but I bet you can come up with other possibilities in the comment section.
Hypothesis one is that perhaps rich people complain to companies who are more likely to provide an effective response via social media, like an airline or luxury brand.
The second possibility, and this has somewhat of an icky factor, is that companies are baking consumer profile information (including income) into their CRM systems and respond more effectively to the people with the fattest wallets.
My friend and {grow} contributing columnist Kerry Gorgone has a third fascinating observation: “There are a number of factors at play, but I’d say the rich expect better service online because they get better service ‘in real life,’ where the trappings of their wealth are more readily apparent to customer service people. Having gotten used to a higher level of service, they make it clear they expect a response quickly.”
In other words, have the wealthy developed better complaining skills because they have been conditioned to expect better service?
I really have no idea. All of these are just guesses. But there IS a difference.
What do you think? What is your reaction to this study?
Best Social Media Management Tools for Small Business Owners
Nov 11th
By Kerry Gorgone, Contributing {grow} Columnist
Entrepreneurs are universally short on time and money. Everyone knows that social media needs to play a role in their marketing efforts, but managing all of the different social networks can seem daunting.
There are numerous tools that make populating your Twitter feed, Facebook page, and other social media outlets relatively painless, and some are completely free. Of course, if you want more versatility (additional profiles, analytics, etc.), some services require premium subscriptions.
You need a simple solution that meets the following criteria:
- Sends scheduled posts, so you can set updates to go out during the day (and night), while you run your business.
- Connects all (or most of) your social media accounts, so you don’t have to visit multiple sites or launch multiple apps to update your feeds.
- Provides analytics for posts, so you can determine what kind of posts draw the best engagement from your audience, and when you should post to achieve the best reach.
- Shortens URLs, so you don’t have to visit bitly, tinyurl or some other site to shorten them yourself.
The pros and cons of the main contenders are covered here, along with when you’ll have to start paying (and how much).
Hootsuite / Seesmic
Price: Free up to five social profiles; $9.99/month for unlimited social profiles, plus additional features
Platforms: Web application; Mobile apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry
Use Hootsuite to manage your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts. Through third-party apps, businesspeople can connect most of their social media accounts, from Tumblr and Reddit to StumbleUpon and Instagram. Pinterest is not yet integrated, but once the “taste graph” offers an API, that should change.
One of the best features of Hootsuite is that you can integrate your Google+ business page. Only a few social media management apps offer any type of Google+ integration, so this is a huge bonus.
Hootsuite acquired Seesmic in September, so eventually these two apps may be integrated into one supercharged option. For now, Seesmic users have been folded into the Hootsuite community.
In short, Hootsuite is the hands-down winner for most networks integrated and most options for busy business owners.
If Google+ isn’t a priority for you, and your efforts are focused primarily on Facebook and Twitter, you might consider other options.
Tweetdeck
Price: Free
Platforms: Web application (Safari, Chrome, Firefox are supported; IE will be soon); Desktop app for Mac or Windows
One of the earliest Twitter clients on the scene, Tweetdeck established a foothold among early adopters and won praise for its versatility.
With Tweetdeck, you can manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts at once, monitor your feeds, and display search results continuously so you can respond quickly when anyone mentions your company, brand or product.
Global filters enable you to block content you’re not interested in, to help keep your feed streamlined.
Tweetdeck also makes it easy to post (or schedule) tweets containing text, photos or links, and monitor Twitter interactions and direct messages. Be careful to select the appropriate account before hitting send, or bad things can happen.
After Twitter acquired Tweetdeck, developers improved usability and added features, including the ability adjust font size and column width, and even change the traditional dark background of the app to light.
Drawbacks: Tweetdeck doesn’t integrate Facebook pages, Google+, LinkedIn, or any of your other social media outlets, which means you’ll need more than one management tool.
Buffer
Price: Free
Platforms: Web application (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari); iPhone app
Buffer enables you to schedules posts and provides analytics on posts so you know which topics and times best engage your audience. The app connects to Twitter and Facebook, as well as LinkedIn, which makes this app another good option for B2B companies.
There’s also an impressive array of free apps, extension and extras that work with Buffer to help you maximize your reach.
Socialite
Price: Free (with ads); $19.95 (ad-free), but currently offered at introductory price of $9.95
Platforms: Mac OS X Version 10.5 or later
Enables users to populate multiple Twitter and Facebook feeds and Facebook pages, as well as Flickr stream, Google Reader, Digg and RSS subscriptions. There’s even Instapaper integration.
Drawbacks:
- Exclusive to Mac users.
- No analytics, although there are a number of free social media analytics tools that could bridge the gap.
- No scheduled posts, but developers say the next update will include this feature, as well as Google+ and Instagram integration, if the API is available.
If your social media efforts are focused on Twitter and you have a small, trusted team, Twitter for Business might be your simplest option. You can allow multiple contributors to populate a single Twitter profile (not that this is always the best approach).
Twitter does offer analytics for advertisers, but hasn’t committed to a timeline for a wider rollout. There are a number of free tools that provide similar information.
There are plenty of other great tools that can help you to get the most out of your social media efforts, as well.
Did I miss any of your favorites?
Kerry O’Shea Gorgone, JD/MBA, teaches New Media Marketing in the Internet Marketing Master of Science Program at Full Sail University in Winter Park Florida. Follow her on Twitter: @KerryGorgone
Awesome Box. A {growtoon}.
Nov 9th
Join the growtoonists each Friday for a humorous take on marketing, social media, and current business events.
Mars Dorian describes himself as a creative marketeer with a moon-melting passion for human potential and technology. You can follow his adventures at www.marsdorian.com/
Welcome to {grow}
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Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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