When it comes to social media, stop trying to “work the room”
May 11th
By Contributing {grow} Columnist Srinivas Rao
When I look at social media I don’t see a way to lower your cost of marketing, increase ROI, or grow your brand. What I see is access to a global networking of inspiring people.
You see, the benefits of blogging, tweeting, and social media extend far beyond the walls of your business and the depths of your pockets. When you take the approach of making friends instead of followers, the world opens up to you in a way that you never imagined possible.
A few weeks ago, I sold everything I owned and left the U.S. to move to Costa Rica with some pairs of shorts, t-shirts, a surfboard, a laptop and a camera. That’s it. I think you’ll see why concentrating on “friends” instead of “followers” has helped my journey in immeasurable ways:
A Couch to Sleep On
I recently had a chat with John Falchetto, one of my favorite new bloggers on the rise. It’s coincidental that I found an expat life coach just in time for my relocation to Costa Rica. In my chat with John he told me something that really struck me. He talked about the importance of connecting with people who are not your clients. I’m not one of John’s clients and he’s not one of mine. So you might be thinking, why connect? Because we’re interested in each other as people.
I’ve been struggling to figure out where I’m to stay during Blogworld since I’ll be in New York City for 10 days and I’m on a tight budget. A few days ago John offered me a pull-out couch in his room. So now I have a place to sleep. But I didn’t connect with John because he had a couch for me. It was because I like his story and I think what he’s up to is interesting.
A Second Family
Adjusting to life in another country can be a challenge. For me the whole expat experience has had its share of ups and downs and there are days when I feel like living the dream is more like living a nightmare. Fortunately, I’ve had somebody like Mark Harai to help ease my transition to my new life. If you spend even a few days at his house, you’ll quickly find yourself with a second family. There’s never a dull moment in his household with four kids, and his wife will make sure you are well fed. How did I find my second family? It all started because of our conversations on Twitter. What’s even more interesting is that it has actually resulted in us doing business together even though it was not our original intention.
A Suit for Blogworld
When I found I’d be speaking at Blogworld, I realized I didn’t have a suit. Just shorts, remember? When I wrote about this in a recent post, Dino Dogan offered to send me a suit so that I wouldn’t have to buy one and bring one back to Costa Rica. I don’t know how, or if, we’ll ever do business together and neither does he. But you can be sure that when I have the opportunity to return such a favor, I’ll do it no questions asked.
Conversation for Sake of Conversation
When I recently spoke with Dino, he told me one of the smartest things I’ve ever heard. He said the key to success on the social web is to completely eliminate self interest.
It seems counter-intuitive that in the process of trying to grow your blog or brand that you would eliminate self interest. But based on my experience it seems to work quite well. We get caught up in metrics, measurements, ROI, and more that we often forget about conversation for the sake of conversation. I’ll go so far as to argue that some of the greatest value is created through casual conversations.
This is where trust is created, relationships are built, and friendships are formed. It’s never about what you can get. It’s about what you can give.
The human ability to detect insincerity is amplified on the social web. When we stop trying to “work the room,” we tend to get the world handed us on a silver platter. What’s been your experience?
Srinivas Rao is a contributing writer to {grow}. You can read more of his original writing at The Skool of Life blog or listen to his podcast at BlogcastFM. Follow him on Twitter at @skooloflife
McDonald’s scales to meet social media demands (video)
Mar 15th
In a recent #MMchat session, I referred to McDonald’s as a social media best practice and said they should give me some free fries for the reference. In a tribute to the way McDonald’s is “tuned in” to its audience, Rick Wion, the company’s director of social media, responded to one of my tweets and said that he would indeed buy me some fries.
What resulted was even better … a lengthy discussion and a short video interview when I got to meet him live at SXSW. Talk about the business benefits of Twitter!
How does a global icon like McDonald’s — one of the world’s most important brands — engage with millions of customers? Well here’s the answer in this video. I think you’re going to love this interview. We touch on some very significant topics about the research that went into their effort, humanizing a brand, staffing up for an initiative like this, and where it will lead.
Would love to hear your comments about this. We may even be able to get Rick to answer a few questions.
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Five Hidden Secrets of Social Media Failure
Jan 9th
2011 will be a year when many marketing professionals hit the social media re-set button. After climbing aboard the “engagement train” for fear of being left behind, many marketers will come up empty when they try to explain what they actually achieved for the money. The honeymoon is over. Show me the money.
This theme of social media failure was recently addressed by PR Smart Guy Brian Solis. I usually agree with Brian but his recent post seems overly-simplistic. Let’s explore this vital issue and fill in some of the points that Brian overlooked. Why are the majority of social media efforts failing?
1) THE MYTH OF PLANNING
Brian seems to equate a lack of planning with a failure to have goals. I think these are distinct problems.
Rather than lack of planning, one common source of social media failure is OVER-PLANNING. I mean if there is one thing corporations really know, it’s planning! Every major goal has a 2-5 year forecast attached to it, doesn’t it? But that’s the fatal flaw.
- Many companies don’t have a corporate culture ready to adjust marketing tactics month-to-month. What was the last major platform shift in television advertising? Cable? The idea that the medium is shifting right under your feet is unfamiliar. Not only are the channels evolving rapidly, the rules of engagement are changing too! You can’t plan for that. Would your company devote half its social media budget to a category called “we don’t know yet?”
- The other cultural aspect contributing to failure is that the real opportunities on the social scene may not present themselves in what we’ve planned to do (i.e. “We’ll take out an ad and hope people come to my sale”). With new media, commercial opportunities appear in the moment (I just found a person who needs our product - let’s make a deal and get the business.”). Are you organized for In The Moment Marketing? Authority for service, sales, sometimes even pricing, may need to be pushed down to the level of the organization dealing with the buzz every day.
2) NOT JUST GOALS — METRICS
Brian wisely states that “accountability, metrics, and outcomes serve as the foundation for social media success.” But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Goals drive EVERYTHING so the TYPE of metric you choose is more important than the tactics you put into place to achieve them.
The problem rests in the fact that many companies will only believe results that can be displayed on an Excel spreadsheet. But if you’re only relying on quantitative results, you’re missing the real beauty of the social web. Many of the business benefits of social media can only be captured through qualitative measures. If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend:
- Explaining the ROI of Twitter
- Social media measurement: Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand tweets
- Three reasons why the experts are wrong about social media measurement
3) WHY THE BOSS MATTERS
“Social media strategy must gain attention from the very top of the organization and see its integration across relevant business teams,” says Brian.
Social media initiatives must get more than mere attention from the top. They must be sponsored from the top. There is no such thing as a grassroots strategic initiative.
Many failures occur from trying to do too much too quickly. Rather than integrate “across business teams” Success is far more likely by planning achievable goals, publicizing quick wins, and then shaming laggards into adoption. Rolling something out across the company will smell like a “program of the month.”
4) BEYOND MARKETING
Brian points to an eMarketer report that shows adoption is taking place primarily in the marketing departments. He says that to be successful, companies need look at every department that engages publicly — HR, legal, environmental, etc. — and apply these tools. I agree but will also take it a step further.
In addition to looking at these obvious external applications, the more potent business benefit might be using social networking platforms INTERNALLY. The technology is mature and people love to use these tools. Think of the opportunities for collaboration, knowledge management and innovation if we could connect employees in a far-flung global enterprise! I think this is the next big thing in social media. Applying internally may be less risky than leading with a public social media showcase.
5) THE CURSE OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA KNOW-NOTHINGS
One reason for failure overlooked by Brian is the drastic mis-match between social media resource availability and need. This is such a new area and the parameters are constantly shifting. The market is flush with social media know-nothingswho have little knowledge of business or marketing, let alone a track record of measurable success. If you’ve assigned social media marketing to the intern or the person with the most Facebook friends, this might be a root cause of failure too!
That’s my take on the subject. What are your thoughts? The comment section is now open for YOU!
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