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
Finding the balance between personal and professional on Twitter
Apr 26th
I had the pleasure of being a guest at the Bliss PR Agency in New York City this week and the staff loaded me up with questions. Here was a particularly interesting one from Ben Weiss:
What is the proper balance between personal and professional outreach on Twitter? If I am using my account to promote company and client content, is it also appropriate to carry on conversations on a personal level about sports, a great recipe or my favorite charity?
This is a great question and one that I have to address on two levels, philosophical and practical.
At its heart, Twitter is a business networking tool … which is what many companies and individuals don’t understand. They view the platform as just another way to broadcast company press releases. By trying to force-fit old “broadcast” media thinking into this new platform they are sub-optimizing Twitter at best and hurting their brand at worst.
Think of yourself in another networking situation … say an industry conference or a chamber of commerce meeting. Would you stand there and read press releases? No, of course not. You would seek out great people to connect with, discuss subjects that are interesting to you and them, and look for ways to work together. Twitter can work exactly the same way.
So even if you are playing a business “role” on Twitter, there is no reason you can’t be yourself, unless you are a naturally mean and sucky person. If you are in that category, you either have to not be mean and sucky or not use Twitter. And if you are truly, chronically mean and sucky, you will probably will fail at business any way, let alone Twitter, so it’s better that you find out sooner than later I suppose.
When networking, the most powerful relationships are built on trust and friendship, so it’s OK to let people know a little bit more about what is going on in your life, including your love of sports, charity, and family. As you go throughout your day, just tweet what is interesting to you, as long it is appropriate and professional.
In most cases, I don’t think it makes sense to have both a personal and business account. You’re not two people and being yourself is not only a great way to build your business network, it humanizes your company brand.
Somebody told me yesterday: “I just do NOT follow a company logo account on Twitter. Why would I?” I think that sums up the sentiment for many.
Now let’s look at practical realities. Even if you have this concept down, maybe your company doesn’t. If your job is to be your official company Twitterer, you may have marching orders to follow a role or social media policy that has you tweeting behind a logo. Here’s what you should do in that case: follow the company policy. Don’t lose your job over Twitter. You can still work to change attitudes over time.
There are several compromises or hybrid strategies to blending personal and professional approaches on Twitter:
All business all the time. In some cases it is entirely appropriate to “broadcast” over Twitter. Here’s an example: Citi has a site that only broadcasts job openings. They really don’t need to engage in a conversation and they’re not even trying. Notice that they follow nobody. They have jobs, people want them … and they subscribe to the account. It’s that simple. They could probably work to build a community, but why?
Tweeting under cover – Many of the world’s most important brands have teams of tweeters engaging with the public behind a corporate logo. Like this example from McDonald’s Twitter account, the initials of the tweeter show up at the end of each tweet and following a link in the Twitter bio leads you back to profiles of the individuals providing the tweets. Certainly a great option to humanize the brand and still operate under one brand banner.
Blending personal/corporate — In some cases there are corporate accounts assigned to individuals. When that person moves on, the profile is still owned by the company. One example of this is @sharpiesusan who tweets on behalf of Sharpie pens. Susan has built up a faithful following but when she moves on to another job someday, this brand equity will stay with the parent company Newwell-Rubbermaid and Susan will simply be replaced.
This also works well in a customer service situation. In the example above, ATT has accounts set up for the representatives that can be moved over to other representatives as they change and take on new roles.
So those are a few examples and best practices but I’m sure there are many more. What challenges are you facing blending personal and professional content on Twitter?
Take the Mystery Out of Twitter!
, the best-selling Twitter book in the world! Learn the three elements behind every Twitter success, 22 ways to build a relevant audience, strategies to create personal and business benefits, and hundreds of amazing tips and time-savers.Click on the image for a Special Amazon promotion!
Illustration: Sculpture “Janus Head” by Peter Burke
Is Twitter for Everybody?
Mar 30th
Is Twitter for everybody?
This is the question that eventually gets asked by every person and every company trying Twitter for the first time. In the height of your initial frustrations, you may be wondering … is Twitter really for me?
Most social media hype-masters will tell you “yes.” Indeed, there is probably some business use or benefit you could discover for everyone and every organization.
But after working with hundreds of students and professionals across diverse businesses, I’ve come to realize the answer is no — it’s not for everyone.
Here’s an example. One of my customers is a brilliant management consultant. An engineer by training, he does not come by marketing instinct naturally and asked me to help.
This is a customer who would be perfect for Twitter:
- Small business-owner
- Enormous, global market potential (needs a lot of awareness)
- Small marketing budget
- Selling differentiated personal services
- No time to blog, develop extensive content, etc.
- Tech-savvy
- Is a charming, bright person with engaging personality.
And yet he WILL NOT TWEET. I coaxed, cajoled, and threatened him. I’ve trained him patiently and even prescribed a daily Twitter regimen. I demonstrated the power of the platform when I found him a potential new business contact on the very first day of our operation. He didn’t follow-up and seems content with his tweet-free existence.
This may seem strange, but it isn’t uncommon. I’ve found similar resistance from many people who can obviously benefit from this business tool. I asked my client ”why” and here is his answer:
“I’m not sure why really. I guess the idle chatter (which is mostly what I seem to see when I log on) just doesn’t make any sense to me. There’s obviously some self-imposed barrier that I can’t or just don’t want to cross. You were kind enough to introduce me to Twitter, and I appreciated that. There’s the old expression about leading a horse to water. Guess I’m just not that thirsty for Twitter water… at least yet.”
The Twitter Quitter
This type of reaction is not unusual. In fact I was a Twitter Quitter myself and had to really push through a few weeks of this non-intuitive communication platform before I started to understand it.
What is the difference between a Twitter-lover and hater? Does success on Twitter lend itself to a certain personality type? Some say it favors out-going people, yet introverts are quick to say that they love the platform as way to connect on their own terms and build quality relationships slowly. Maybe it has something to do with patience. Perhaps it is being creeped out by the crowds or by having strangers “follow you.”
Honestly, I haven’t figured it out, but I do acknowledge the fact that some very intelligent and wonderful people just don’t like Twitter even when they can see the benefits.
What About Organizations?
Is there a business case for Twitter for every organization and company? Like nearly every business question, the answer is, “It depends!”
Medical professionals, lawyers, financial managers, and defense contractors may have severe regulatory limitations on the information they can discuss in public. Remember, Twitter is a form of publishing.
When it comes to business communications strategy, it really gets down to this: What are your business objectives? What do you need to say? Where do your customers get their information?
If your customers are not engaging in this platform you’re going to waste a big wad of time on Twitter and get frustrated.
But I want to suggest two big HOWEVER’s before you decide your business is not cut out for Twitter.
HOWEVER, you may not really know where your customers are getting their information, even if you think you do! People are piling on to the social web in record numbers and are also spending an enormous amount of time there. In an always-connected world, the role of social media in the business and personal world is blurring.
Better check those customers again!
I have a client who resisted Twitter because she insisted that her customers had no interest in it. I conducted some customer research for her — completely unrelated to Twitter — and discovered that “social media” was the number one marketing and business issue for the majority of her customers! By getting in front of the curve and mastering Twitter before her customers were immersed in it, she capture a leadership position and guide them, become a valued subject matter expert, and even create new business opportunities for her company.
Now for HOWEVER number two — However, there are MANY other business benefits to Twitter beyond simply getting sales leads. Even if your customers aren’t there in force, it is still an incredibly powerful way to learn, connect with thought leaders, and identify new business opportunities.
I have seen an incredible diversity of organizations thrive on Twitter, from pizza joints to florists, from mega-brands to my handyman (who I found on Twitter). Colleges, hospitals, non-profits, shipping companies, government agencies, and utilities have all realized business gains from a Twitter presence.
There are just so many way to define success, create wealth, discover benefits, and even have fun with Twitter. Clearly there can be benefits for anyone if they have the fortitude to stick with it.
How do you handle the Twitter Quitters in your organization? Is it a matter of time or are you hitting a wall too?
Take the Mystery Out of Twitter!
, the best-selling Twitter book in the world! Learn the three elements behind every Twitter success, 22 ways to build a relevant audience, strategies to create personal and business benefits, and hundreds of amazing tips and time-savers.Click on the image for a Special Amazon promotion!
Illustration: Hongkiat.com
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.
Take the Mystery Out of Twitter!
, the best-selling Twitter book in the world! Learn the three elements behind every Twitter success, 22 ways to build a relevant audience, strategies to create personal and business benefits, and hundreds of amazing tips and time-savers.Click on the image for a Special Amazon promotion!
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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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