Posts tagged business relationships


A formula for social media business success

Aug 2nd

45 comments

Starbucks.  Dell.  Mark Schaefer.

Yes, I am now up there with the mega-brand big dogs, at least momentarily, in an article in Forbes recently. Not only that, but I was acknowledged as a Twitter marketing authority in the same breath as Chris Brogan and Jeremiah Owyang, two national marketing luminaries.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that I make up about 75% of what I say and fabricate the other 25%.  You’re thinking that now too, aren’t you?  No, it’s true. I’m really in there.

How did this happen??  Through social media, of course.  And it’s a great case study on the Social Media Formula for Business Benefit:

Connection + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefit

Let’s see how this worked in the real world.

CONNECTION

It started about nine months ago when I attended a free webinar featuring Nathan Egan, a former Linked-In exec who had just started a company call Freesource. I thought he was an exceptionally bright guy and decided to comply with his public request to “link” with him. I also looked him up on Twitter and he became one of the first people I followed.

 MEANINGFUL CONTENT

Through his posts, I grew to appreciate Nathan’s vision and he became a regular reader of my blog. He was so interested in one particular article that he called and talked to me for over an hour, deepening the respect and connection between us.

 AUTHENTIC HELPFULNESS

Our friendship has grown and now we routinely support each other. We discuss new ideas and bounce around solutions to business challenges. Nathan recently asked for my help on a new app his company was developing (which I will also be featuring on a future blog article). He has tweeted out my blog posts, helping to grow my readership. That’s what social media is all about!

BUSINESS RESULTS

When Nathan was interviewed by Forbes, he was asked if there was anybody he could recommend who had done an exceptionally good job nurturing business relationships through social media. And he thought of me.

So now I had an opportunity to extend content and helpfulness to a reporter at Forbes. Over a lengthy phone call, I brought him up to speed on my experiences, my client’s social media successes, and ideas about the future of social media. And now we’re friends, too.

As Nathan’s business has expanded, he turned to me to take over some of the company’s marketing functions he no longer has time to handle.  Our social media connection has turned into a fantastic opportunity for both of us.

That’s how social media works for business: C + MC + AH = Business Benefits. Look at ANY B2B or B2C success story and these three elements were in place — none can be missing. Over the next three days, we’re going to look at this STEP BY STEP and come up with some new, actionable ideas that you can use to realize your own business benefits from social media.

But here’s the best part. YOU AND I ARE CONNECTED, TOO! Who knows what will happen NEXT?

If this article made you think, please consider leaving comments.  I’d love to hear from you!

Other articles in this series … each one builds on this theme:

Part 2: Building meaningful business connections

Part 3: The biggest obstacle to social media business succcess

Part 4: Authentic Helpfulness: The economy of giving

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Yes, it IS about the money

Jul 26th

8 comments

I know social media is about “relationships.” I get it … I really do. But if you are responsible for a social media initiative for your company, somebody is eventually going to ask you, “Where’s my money, honey?”
In a business setting, social media relationships must eventually lead to making or saving money. Of course they do. Every activity of the enterprise is tied to that in some way. So, why does this opinion create such a violent reaction in people?

The fact that I think you should be focused on the quantifiable business benefits of social media marketing seems to put me squarely at odds with many thought leaders right now. This quote from a very respected blogger still haunts me:

“When you ask businesses why they are participating in social media, what do they say? If they say, “to make money,” then they will fail, because currency in the social web is found in both relationships and content.”

Another leading observer opined yesterday that his “economy is relationships.”

An economy is not relationships. An economy is an exchange of goods and services. If the relationships contribute to that exchange, fine. But it all has to lead to business value at some point. You can’t feed your kids by increasing your “followers” or the number of people who have friended you on Facebook.

How is social media marketing any different from holding a company open house for community leaders or hosting a dinner to get to know some potential customers? Are those things about building trust and relationships? Yes, of course! But we also have no problem admitting that the ultimate goal is to burnish our image with these influencers to improve our chance of business success. Why are we so intent on carving out a special little place in the sun — where results don’t matter — for the social web?

The world would be so much easier if we didn’t have to be accountable for results. But that’s not the way business works. A company exists to create shareholder value, so that’s what you should do — and be PROUD of it!
Tomorrow, ideas on what measurements make sense for your business.
This is part of a series examining social media marketing measurement.

Part 2: Social media ROI shock treatment

Part 3: Irresponsible social media measurement research            

Part 4: Social media impact on brand equity                                                        

Part 5: The most important question to ask in social media marketing     

Part 6: A double standard for social media marketing?                   

Part 7: Yes, it IS about the money!                                                          

Part 8: Creating a measurement plan                                                     

Part 9: Measurement is like a bartender                               

 

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The Biggest Lie in Social Media Marketing

Jul 20th

23 comments

This is what real ROI looks like. Except if you’re in Canada. Then it would be red, blue and purple. Canadian money rocks.
Do NOT skip over this article — It might just save your reputation, your credibility and your career!
ROI (Return on Investment) seems to be THE social media marketing topic right now — How do we make money on this darn stuff? There are hundreds of articles on SM and ROI. So why am I writing yet another one? Because almost all of them have it WRONG. Furthermore, I don’t want you to get it WRONG and be misled by these ROI lies because I want you to become fabulously successful and wealthy so you can buy me things.
Let me illustrate our problem through the headlines of three articles posted in the past two days …
“Forget ROI. Measure Return on Conversation.”
“Social Media ROI measures – Influence and Mention”
“Social Media ROI: The Currency is Content.”
.. and one quote from a prominent blogger I love and respect:
“When you ask businesses why they are participating in social media, what do they say? If they say, “to make money,” then they will fail, because currency in the social web is found in both relationships and content.”
Let’s start our discussion with a point I think we can all agree on. Businesses exist to create value for their shareholders. No profit = no company, no jobs, and no social media marketing. So it is neither wrong nor undesirable for a company to make money and expect to make more of it through investments in efforts like … oh, I don’t know … social media, perhaps?
Second, you CANNOT measure ROI with any parameter other than money. ROI is a financial metric – amount of money returned for the amount of money invested. Not “page views” invested, or “conversations” invested. Greenbacks.
So, from now on, if you see any article proposing to measure ROI by any measure other than cash returned to the enterprise, I request that you write the author directly and tell them “HOOOEY!” because you are a very smart person and know that when speaking within a responsible corporate environment, management expects ROI to be expressed in terms of MONEY. Instead of “hoooey,” you may also substitute “poppycock,” a seldom-used word sure to get their attention.
Measuring true ROI for social media marketing can be very difficult, but that does not excuse anyone to tell their CEO that the ROI is coming in “number of tweets.” If you are having difficulty connecting your effort to either new revenue or cost savings, you will be far more credible telling your management, “At this time, it is beyond our ability and resources to accurately measure this in dollar terms, but we think (insert your non-financial measure here) is a reasonable indicator of our success until we get more experience and data to make the correlation to profits.”
So now you’re thinking, “Great. I no longer have an excuse to measure page rank and call it ROI. Now what am I going to do? I have a report due on Friday!”
Don’t freak out on me. I’m here for you and we’ll get through this together! Over the next few days, we’ll continue our dialogue on marketing measurement with articles on calculating true ROI, the importance of non-financial indicators and that ever-so-tricky intangible, “brand equity.”  You should be fine by Friday : )
This is Part 1 in a series on social media marketing and measurement
 

Part 2: Social media ROI shock treatment

Part 3: Irresponsible social media measurement research            

Part 4: Social media impact on brand equity                                                        

Part 5: The most important question to ask in social media marketing     

Part 6: A double standard for social media marketing?                   

Part 7: Yes, it IS about the money!                                                          

Part 8: Creating a measurement plan                                                     

Part 9: Measurement is like a bartender                               

 

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Reality check

Jul 19th

No comments

Photo credit: Hannah Baker

A few musings on the real world …

I was fooling around with a new Twitter account and it checked my existing 1,000 + contact list for possible matches to “follow.” Very, very few have Twitter accounts. And, among industrial marketers I know — zero. Twitter is growing rapidly but this makes me wonder if it will reach critical mass in corporate America to be a pervasive and useful tool? What do you think?

I have been selling a few things on Craig’s List over the past few months. For my non-U.S. friends, this is a free online application to post belongings for sale to those in your area. I would say 80% of the people who committed to buy my furniture never showed up and never even called to say they changed their mind. I find this incredibly rude. What is going on out there? Is it an impulse buy that they later regret? Are people who use Craig’s List inherently rude? Or, are all people becoming inherently rude?

Last night I had a discussion with a friend who is the marketing manager for a holding company. He has the difficult job of overseeing the commercial efforts for five disparate companies. “I know I should be getting into the social media thing,” he said, “but where do I find the time?” Of course it is a matter of priorities, but what would you do if you were him? After downsizing, he’s already doing a job that was filled by three people just a year ago. Expense of out-sourcing is not an option. The time requirement of social media is a significant issue for small businesses. Who has the time to patiently build an audience, hoping for a pay-off?

Just read an article about a local company starting up an online eCommerce hub where people can trade (instead of purchase) goods and services. Interesting concept. Check it out by clicking here: Tradingo.

How do you keep up with the multitude of supporting apps for platforms like Twitter? Have you noticed how many articles you see like this: “12 iPhone apps for Twitter reviewed.” Clearly it’s impossible for any single person to surf this tsunami of innovation. If anybody approaches you claiming to be a social media “expert,” RUN! What is your strategy for learning about the latest and most impactful technology developments?

Thanks for dropping by!

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