What’s it all about? All this social media marketing? All this chatter about humanizing and engagement? Why bother using social media for customer service?

I wanted to share an experience I had last week with you.  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but as a premise for discussion: How would you feel about this company if you were me? And taking it to the next level, how hard would it be to do this for your own company?

11/9/2011 – Sprout Social excitedly announces it newest platform upgrades, a major overhaul, to its users with this email outlining the latest changes. They are clearly excited and hope I will be too! And they thank me for being a customer, right away before launching into details about the upgrades.

11/9/2011 (12 hours later): Oops. Sprout Social’s new release isn’t going so well, there are some unanticipated glitches. A not so glossy email comes out from the CEO, with his personal email address. Its short, its sweet, its apologetic and earnest and its not the slick promotional email I got the other day. It even includes his actual email (which I’ve removed) and it appears to have been actually written by a human if not actually the CEO. But the email is so likable, I’m inclined to want to believe the CEO wrote it.

Another similarly unformatted email follows 4 days later. It includes updates on the specific challenges they’ve been having and reassurance that they are working diligently to make the fixes.  The second email is significantly longer, but Justyn makes a joke about it and says he would apologize a bunch more if the email weren’t already so long.

So for most companies, the crisis is mostly over, situation averted. They had some road bumps, they apologized. It isn’t a federal case, everyone can move on.

But they aren’t done. They’re monitoring. On G+ none the less, the least populated social network out there (but with the highest geeks/post ratio). A couple of days earlier, I noticed this person from Sprout Social started following me. I don’tknow if she found me through keyword search or was simply finding the names of their customers. Either way – I thought it was very cool that one of the companies I purchase from wants to follow ME. Instead of asking me to follow THEM.

And after I comment on a post by Gwen, their rep pops in for a really human conversation…(even though the marketer in her comes out when she can’t tell me the answer to my question):

So, if this was your company:  How would you have reacted? Who would be doing this outreach, if at all? What about using a real email address from the CEO? Would you do it? Interesting question, right? Is your social media person this human? Do you think customer service via social media is a waste of time?

As a customer, how does it make  you feel when you think the business is listening?

Can’t wait to hear from you!

PS: Don’t you think its appropriate we’re talking about customer service on Black Friday?! Since I stay out of that particular fray, let me know if you see any cool examples of customer service on Black Friday…I have some ideas, but I’d love to hear what you guys experience!!

While using social media for business purposes has been around for the better part of 5 years now, we’re reaching a place where businesses are starting to ask “what should I be doing with social media?” Its a fair question. After dabbling in Facebook or opening a Twitter account, the next question is often, “what now?” And much of this questioning is driving the conversation for ROI. But before we dig into ROI, its worth asking some of the tough questions about why we’re even talking about social media.

Why Social Media?

Now, you know that I am an advocate for measuring social media, I also think its also time that we ask ourselves what we are really trying to accomplish with social media. What makes social media so special and how can we really achieve business objectives with it? Every single time I meet a new client I ask “Why Social Media?” I purposely ask the question very broadly, but I also usually get the broad answer of “we want to increase sales.” Its an honest answer. But its also the easiest. Without meeting a single client, without a single email, I already know this answer. But its time to dig deeper, I’m suggesting you dig deeper and I’m asking my clients to also. What are some of the questions we should ask ourselves about the social media opportunities before we get started?

What is our impediment to increased sales?

Do we need to create awareness? Do we need to distinguish ourselves from our competition? Do we want to create community? Do we need to drive traffic to a digital or real-life location? Do we have a PR issue to overcome? These are different goals and social media can be used in each case, but its best if we focus on one, at least initially. Depending on the ability for the company to support the objective, we may initially start with one channel. Its best to really narrow this down, because by answering this question as specifically as possible, we also set ourselves on the right track for ROI measurement.

How are we communicating with our audience now?

A strong mailing list is a great start to social media, as is a website  that supports social sharing and perhaps even a blog. If you are a new business, then its all the more important that your website have sharing capabilities and be integrated with social media. And building that email list will probably be one of your social priorities. If you are an existing business, your customers and clients are probably already using social platforms to talk about their experiences with you. Look into those platforms and start building relationships with people who are talking about you-its back to listen first, and then engage.

Who is our online and social audience?

Do we know who influences our audience in social media? There are certain audience segments where people have carved out niches for themselves, particularly in travel, Moms and B2B spaces. Its good to know and follow these people. Social media can help you create a relationship with these people who influence your potential customers. We tread lightly here because we are creating a relationship, not a promotional partnership. We may be choose to partner with influencial people in social media, but let’s start with identifying who they and why our audience is so passionate about them. Listen first. Talk later.

How can we use social media to support existing mediums and marketing channels?

How can we integrate social media into our existing marketing programs: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, social media is the farm not the silo. Don’t let your social media program live in the dark and don’t let your other marketing initiatives live without social media. Integrate! Let it work with the rest of your initiatives. If your using print, let’s find ways to integrate or even measure your print impact. Events and social media go together like two peas in a pod, there are lots of great opportunities for those two to work together. Look for ways to tie in a particular campaign across the board!

Are we ready for social media?

Are we open to a culture shift? Social media is more than a marketing channel, it really is a culture, a different way of looking at communication.

Its more transparent, more human than traditional marketing, its more individualized and very, very much about supporting customers so they can support you. Social media’s transparency requires that you consider how all your departments and staff can benefit from and participate in social media. Incorporating social media throughout the company is a great way to spread the work, and as we move forward, we truly are going to have to embrace the fact that each employee can and should take a role in marketing as so beautifully articulated by this McKinsey Quarterly article. Really ask yourself if there is any reason why your company’s employees shouldn’t be engaging current and potential customers. You hired them because they understand your business, shouldn’t they understand your customers too?

About a year ago I started advising my clients to “Stop Thinking Like a Marketer and Start Thinking Like a Human.” In other words, think about what makes YOU interested in companies and brands. Think about how you would like to be communicated with if you were YOUR customer.  Its hard to get out of our own heads sometimes, but start thinking about what would make you read more. That’s the essence of social media communication.

Are we committed or is this an experiment?

I strongly discourage dropping in and out of social media. Its sort of like not answering your phone…in both cases, it does nothing to create customer trust. If you just aren’t sure that you’re totally ready for social media, grab your handles and domain names on as many social media outlets as you can and leave a post or similar that directs people to the channels that you do monitor (your website for example). Also spend some time monitoring the social web for mentions of your company and products, this may help you understand the places you SHOULD go when you’re ready. BUT-and this is a BOB, big ‘ol but- remember that if you are going to start responding and engaging on social media that you should keep it up and also remember that the time to build community is NOT when you have a crisis, or a new product. You want community in place BEFORE you need them, which means you’ve already created the relationship.

Its really important that we get to the bottom of these hard questions before we leap into social media. You may find that answering these questions is a process of listening, learning and testing. Yes, these questions may unearth other questions, but if we’re to reap the full benefits of social media then we’ve got to plant the right seeds to get there.

QUESTION: What questions would you add to this list? Did you do this when your company started in social media? Please, let me know!

What’s needed for a successful social media campaign? That’s sort of like asking what it takes to create a success business. The truth is a successful social media endeavor requires hard work, time, commitment and a dash of good luck. But if your business is considering getting serious about social media with a social media professional, there are some things that you should know. The first of which is that no matter how fantastic your social media professional is, you’ll still be pivotal to the success of the campaign.  Here are 5 ways you can support the success of your social media campaign and your investment with a social media professional.

1) From the outset, determine if you have the man power for social media: social media is dynamic and fast paced. Communicating with your clients in this forum will require a willingness to be there when your clients are there too. If you decide to outsource your social media communication, you’ll still need manpower and here’s why: there will be times when a potential sale or compliment or complaint comes in through a social media outlet and having a process flow that is fast and internal is absolutely necessary. You’ll probably quickly get to the point where content creation becomes a topic. Who will create the content? Even if you outsource your content to a PR or video firm, you’ll still need to be involved with the topics and subjects.  The people in YOUR company understand the needs and views of your customers better than anyone else, why wouldn’t you want them to be involved.

Creative Commons Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/

2) Open up: The more you empower your social media campaign, the more successful it will be. Open up to new ideas. If each new idea or suggestion is met with a “we can’t do that”, then not only are you tying the hands of your social media professional, you’re limiting your own success.  Make sure your executive team is on board and enthusiastic. Find an internal champion who wants to see a social campaign succeed.  Be ready to share some of the nitty gritty of your company’s inner workings with a social media professional and allow them to help you through the process. Whenever I hear “we tried hiring a social media consultant, but it just didn’t work” I often ask “why?” Because while social media consultants are not all equally successful, some clients aren’t either. Some come to the table ready and willing to create magic, some come with a skepticism that limits the possibility of success from the outset.

3) Tracking Sales: If you are looking to track your sales directly from social media, be ready to invest in some additional tools. Google Analytics is a good start, but it won’t be enough. If you utilize non-digital forms of marketing, then let your social media pro in on the details. Let them understand your marketing cycle so they can support your over all goal, not just the goal of social media.  There are tracking tools which will help you identify multiple digital touch points such as email and web and social. But if you really want to dig deep, you’ll want to integrate your CRM with social media. If you don’t have a CRM, then tracking that insight will be considerably harder and more time consuming, you’ll have to rely on causation rather than direct attribution. No social media professional can make you invest in these tools, but if you wish to skip them, then it isn’t the fault of your social media professional.

4) Be ready to integrate: You’ll quickly find that elements of social media include touch points including marketing, sales, PR, customer relations and more. Social media shouldn’t be treated as a silo, I always say, social media is the farm, not the silo. I say that because its the fertile ground where the sun, the rain, the tender care all take place to create magnificent fruit. But without all the elements together, the fruit isn’t as magnificent.  Make sure you’re willing and able to have those touch points involved in the discussion. An audit will quickly reveal the areas in which you can have an impact, but at the very least, its likely to include some changes to your website, integration with your email list,  some communication with your executive team and support from everyone involved.

5) “What Have You Done for Me Lately”: Social media isn’t really a sales tool, its a marketing tool. Social media helps you create a stronger emotional connection with your customers, but few customers place orders through social media (subject to change?) The effects of social media are likely to be exponential, but perhaps not immediate and potentially difficult to track (depending on your choices of tracking). Give your customers some time to start communicating with you on social media..and give them a reason to communicate with you. You’ll find that things come into play together, over time.

6) Be Flexible, Be Human: What worked for your competitor may or may not work for you. You might find that something that has worked in the past isn’t working now. Be prepared to try something new, in fact, always be thinking of what’s next. Social media is dynamic and so are social media users. They expect you to be interesting, inventive and informative. If you aren’t one of the three “I’s” on social media, then its time to think about how you can be. And don’t forget, at its heart, social media is about communication. Be human, let your customers be human. They’ll think more highly of you and that will pay dividends for years to come!

Creative Commons Photo by Daehyun Park

In the marketing world, we toss around some language that can be confusing. Two of those words are “audience” and “community.” Guess what? They aren’t one in the same. In fact, they couldn’t be more different. Think of the differences between an orchestra who performs and the audience who listens. The orchestra works together, they listen to one another to create a beautiful result. Without that team work and willingness to support one another, the result would be lackluster. The maestro directs, he coaxes, he makes the orchestra the best it can be, that’s what a good community manager’s job as well. The audience on the other hand, is a gathering of people with at least one similar interest: music. The quality of the music has to do with the team on stage, not the size of the audience.

Why should you care if you have community vs. audiences? Mostly because an impassioned audience will allow you to do many things: recover from PR mistakes more quickly. Audiences complain about your company publicly, maybe on your Facebook page, maybe in a blog (Think: Dell Hell).  Communities are the people who stand up for you when there is flamer on your Facebook page (Compare Dell Hell with the Community’s response to Dell’s Flaming Notebook). Communities don’t care don’t care if you made a mistake, so long as you admit it. Audiences make sure you never forget your mistakes. Communities add value to brands and companies both in terms of valuation and in terms of increased sales. An impassioned audience cares less about price and more about how they feel about the product (think: Apple).

Interested in a community vs. an audience? Read on.

Audiences can be purchased: Think about buying an email list or a direct mail list. This is an audience. Its a total group of people who have a likelihood of appreciating your product and service. Having a large audience is important in the advertising world. That’s what you buy: access to an audience. You can purchase an audience fairly quickly and start marketing to the audience immediately. You can develop a portion of an audience into a community.

Communities must be developed: You can not buy a community. Creating a community of people who support your brand and its products takes time. Creating a community occurs when you tap into the passions of an audience and allow them to see your product or brand as part of their daily lives.  It takes interaction, committment and it takes the right platforms to do it. Social media is popular because there is potential for building a community, but simply participating in social media does not inherently give you a community. Events have the potential to create community, but simply attending or hosting an event does not create community either. With both tools its important to have 1:1 engagement. You might do so through creating unique experiences, you might do so giving your community to be part of the product development process. Developing a community can take years, its a long-tail process.

Audiences are automated: Emails can be sent, resent and followed-up on automatically. Auto posting RSS feeds on a Twitter account reaches audiences, but doesn’t create community.

Communities are personal. Creating community requires 1:1 engagement and outreach. It takes courtesy, respect, appreciation. Responding to a comment, tweet or post using the person’s ACTUAL name (even if you have to look it up) builds community.

Audiences are disengaged: Generally speaking, one reason a large audience is necessary in advertising is that the response rate is low. It takes a concentrated effort to get in front of the audiences you wish to reach and you must do so repeatedly and consistently. Once you’re off the radar, your collective success begins to diminish; they don’t miss you. That’s why consistency in running ads is paramount in success. You advertise TO an audience.

Communities are engaged: You communicate WITH Communities.  Communities respond because they feel like your listening. Communities are interested in what you have to say because you talk less about you and more about them.

Brands with Communities have Personalities: The reason you hear so much discussion about transparency is that people respond to people. They want to see a sense of humor and even imperfection. Brands who have thought through their voice and their willingness to be open have a higher likelihood of success in community building. Companies who think about what their audiences talk about have a higher chance of developing community.

Brands with Audiences have Reach: Reach is fairly easy to build and each communication is viewed as a “message” rather than an opportunity for discussion. Its the difference between a blog post and a newspaper article. Community builders don’t really give a flying flit about reach – they focus on engagement.

Audiences are Set it and Forget it: You create an ad, you run it, you measure,  rinse and repeat. It scales. Its easily repeatable. Running an ad doesn’t take any man power or additional resources outside of creating the ad and buying the time or space.

Communities Are Like Marriages: Communities require consistent feeding and caring. Every situation is different and therefore, each response and action is personalized. Relationships don’t scale.  Communities expect and accept apologies. Communities feel listened to, appreciated and validated. Members of communities might even feel singularly special.

Audiences operate independently: Audiences don’t know how they got on that mailing list and they don’t care who else is reading your ad. They don’t talk to one another and they don’t talk to you and your brand.

Communities work together: The essence of a community is dialouge. Community members talk to each other, even without brand intervention. Communities support one another. Support doesn’t mean messaging, it means finding out what’s important to your community and help them have that conversation.

This list isn’t anywhere near exhaustive – what other differences between audience and community would you add?

If you grew up in a traditional marketing or pr or design field, you probably had the implications and research of demographics beat into your head. You probably studied trends and learned all about how to market to and and communicate with particular generations. Maybe you even sought to discover emerging trends.

Social media really messes all that up, doesn’t it?

Have you ever heard as I do, the sound of the wind blowing when you look at demographics for social networks? They are practically meaningless. Here’s why: it doesn’t matter the age, gender, race, marital status or income of users on social networks because your talking to each of them. Individually. I can tell you that my audience on Twitter is mostly male. I can tell you that they are generally over 35. But who cares? I also have 18 year old girls in that mix too. Relying to heavily on the demographics can be misleading. Besides, what do you really care how old the audience is, if the people are passionate about something relevant to your brand, isn’t that the more important piece of knowledge?

Not what we are. Who we are.

But there’s something more important at work here. For businesses to really communicate with their audience they have to touch on the passions of their audience. They have to remember that the audience is filled with people who have hopes, disappointments, families, busy lives.  The audience is more than a group of demographics; they have to listen for conversations to pull out potential clients and customers. The audience is back to being individual. The audience is more than the sum of their parts. Someone might follow your brand and a competing brand. They might be fans of your company and one that’s totally counter intuitive. That’s because your audience is filled up with HUMANS, not numbers and humans are imperfect and well, weird.

Get to know your audience, and they’ll get to know you.That’s what’s even more interesting about this: be true to your brand, its mission, its ideals and you’ll find your social niche. In this way, I think its easier for entrepreneurs and small business owners to really be successful in social media. But once in awhile, you see a founder or CEO of a major company out there, communicating in social media in the way he would at a cocktail party. Regardless, this is the argument for “humanizing” your brand..for giving it a conversational outlet. People prefer to talk to people, not on-message marketers.

But how do we scale that?

Fundamentally, I reject the idea that just because social media occupies the space between mass media and 1:1 communication that it has to be scaled. Sure, you’re processes should scale, your tools should scale, but the communication itself? Nope. I mean, how many meetings do you go to a week? Yep. If you spent as much time on social media as you do in meetings, you’d learn more about your audience and less about that creepy guy in accounting…and you’d be better of for it in so many ways. Business hasn’t demanded we scale meetings, in fact, I’ve heard some analysts argue for smaller meetings..not larger more scaleable meetings. But meetings are still important. The reason it works is because its isn’t about mass messaging; its about intimacy. In business, (some) meetings are valuable and so is (some) social media listening and conversations.  So stop worrying about what check boxes are checked and start listening to people and conversations. This has another perk: its much more satisfying and you’ll definitely learn something too.

What do you think? Does it throw you off that you don’t know the demographic profile of your audience? Or do you and it doesn’t effect how you communicate?

So every once in a while…I think I have a fabulous idea for a blog post. I mean the kind of idea that wakes you up at night!  One that everyone will appreciate and want to discuss. Last week I had one and I wrote a post about it. That post last week was easily the least engaging post I’ve ever written earning me yet another badge of lessons learned. I mean, it was crickets. Nothing. We had a small amount of discussion on Twitter around the hashtag #sociallyspeaking, but even that was pretty weak.

Does this make that idea and that post a failure? Hardly. Nope. Not in my book.

Every single post is a learning lesson for me. And whether your blog is like mine or a corporate blog, you can learn from the experience of a blog post with no excitement. Excitement to me, by the way, is measured largely in conversation around the post. Regardless, you have to learn from the experience and move on. No matter what kind of marketing you do, you have to listen, engage, measure, repeat. In my case of course the only sound I heard was crickets, but that didn’t stop me from measuring and repeating and it lead me to THIS blog post to help you look at some of the things you can consider when you have a bomb of a blog post.

Know your audience: A failed blog post will likely tell you something about what your audience does and doesn’t want from you. Maybe they don’t care about a particular topic. Or maybe they don’t feel its up to them to write your blog post for you.  Maybe your audience expects solutions, not questions. Maybe they didn’t like the tone of the post or it just wasn’t human enough. Or maybe it wasn’t “you” enough…when you take a risk, you’re audience will tell you right away what they think..even if they don’t tell you what they think.

Timing: Let’s face it. Sometimes you post a blog on the exact wrong day. You know, like the day Google+ was announced (and they didn’t warn you). That wasn’t the case with my particular post, but you should consider where everyone’s attention might be before hitting “publish”.  Again, if you know your audience and you’re up to speed about what’s important to them, maybe you shift your editorial calendar on days you know they’ll be distracted. But it isn’t just about timing your post, its about timing the communication around the post. I’ve been experimenting with the timing on my tweets and Facebook and Google+ Profiles. I won’t say that I’ve got it down to a science, but I’ve definitely learned a few things about timing from you. Some days just work better than others.

Pictures: I like to use a picture with my blog post because I think it pulls people in. Sometimes though, I choose a picture that I think really sums it up and its so weird people read the article just to understand why I chose that photo. Sometimes I choose a picture that’s really..well…B-O-R-I-N-G. Pictures are meant to engage and they do a good job at it. Pick carefully and smartly…and really, stay away from power point slides and logos. Just say’n-lesson learned.

Too technical or too long: I’ve done it. I’ll admit it, written blog posts that were 1,000 words or more. And you know what you guys usually say to that? “Pass.” Let’s face it, you don’t have a ton of time to read blog posts throughout the day – and neither does YOUR audience. Stick to the KISS principle and your audience will appreciate: Keep It Simple Stupid.

The conversation took place elsewhere: Sometimes, instead of commenting on a blog post, people will choose to engage on another outpost, Facebook or Twitter for example. While this might disappoint those wishing to drive traffic to the blog or website, the truth is, you go where the conversation is happening and be glad there is one! The audiences on your Facebook, Twitter and G+ are different. They’ll react differently to different topics. Track what topics are hot on what platform and expand upon it in that platform. Use it as an opportunity to really engage the community who engages you – give them something they want to talk about in the place they want to talk about it.

In the end, its important to remember..if you don’t try something, you’ll never learn. And blogging is very forgiving. If you have a blog post that doesn’t generate comments, you move on to the next post. You live another day.

So, bloggers…do you agree with my lessons learned?

Creative Commons photo by Amaury Henderick

Let’s say you have a new product. It’s brilliance. Sheer brilliance. You begin to build and allow your imagination to take you to that World-Wide Cruise you’ve always dreamed of taking. What you have here will surely be the next big thing..people will talk about it more than they talk about the Ipad.

Before you start planning your vacation, start thinking about your marketing plan; specifically, your social media marketing plan. I know. Your idea rocks, you won’t need a plan. Its going viral, baby. And while it probably should, the cold hard truth is that even brilliant ideas sometimes need a bump that creates the energy that gets people talking.

Mashable just released a new list of the 5 successful social media campaigns. Here’s what they all have in common: a “thing”. But there is something else they all have in common, most of the campaigns supported their use of social media with other types of marketing. Which highlights the fact that best laid marketing plans are integrated. In some cases it was advertising, in some cases it was promotional partnerships.

While your budget may not enable you to make the next Mashable list, you can still learn some lessons from the leaders. One way to create a bump is to identify your “thing”. What makes you special? Why should people care?  Your “thing” is not a “Feature” its not a “Benefit” your “thing” creates an emotional reaction out of people that causes people to take action (share, buy, talk)?.  The “thing” is not your product.  The thing is about your “thing” is that it might not be about your product at all. Your “thing” might make your customers a star or let their true nature stand out. Your “thing” might infuriate, inspire, scare or amaze them. Your “thing” might make people laugh or cry. Whatever your “thing” is its designed to get people talking, which means its unique…which means you might have to take a risk.

In each of these 5 campaigns they all have something in common:

1. The “thing” touches on a human emotion and increases the likelihood for action (talking, sharing, etc.)
2. Content is King: each of these campaigns had ongoing content over a period of time, designed to keep the conversation going. Content varies from Tweets to videos to other media like songs.
3. Very often, the campaign is supported with advertising or events.
4. Empowerment: each of the campaigns maintained a conversational tone, which meant each and every tweet did not go through legal, communications and HR approval.

• Edge - So Irritating Campaign: What do random acts of kindness have to do with shaving gel? In the case of Edge shaving gel the “thing” is to be less irritating by providing random acts of kindness to people who use the hashtag #soirritating. This campaign’s social element is exclusively done through Twitter, but they also partnered with somecards, known for their snarky and sardonic e-cards to promote the idea. Getting people to engage and discuss shaving cream is a tough task, but Edge felt is was a success, they increased their followers and engagement.
• ToyStory3 – By fleshing out the persona’s of the various characters in ToyStory 3, Disney broadened its reach to many different types of people (adults). Their “thing” touched on childhood experiences of all people and created a universal appeal. One of the standout elements of this campaign is the collaborative nature of the campaign. Disney paired up with different partners to extend the reach and give the campaign extra legs. Like Disney, you might have a “thing” that someone else can benefit from, maybe its your own icon’s persona. Look for creative ways to engage other businesses by asking them “how could you benefit” and giving your partner an opportunity to have some skin in the game, increases your potential visibility.

• The Old Spice Guy: Over 50 million YouTube views say this “thing” was successful. And if you have any doubt, ask yourself “before the Old Spice Guy – when did I last talk about Old Spice?” But the thing that really got people talking ABOUT the Old Spice guy wasn’t just the videos and commercials, it was the fact that the thing Old Spice Guy answered people’s questions and had fun with the audience in the social sphere. Old Spice committed fully to the project and today, a year later, they still appear to be reaping the rewards. Even the parody’s of the “Old Spice Guy”, which admittedly had different objectives,  considered their response campaigns a success. The Old Spice campaign shows what you can do when you actually interact with your fans, followers and viewers and fully commit to a project.

• Internships.com: WOW. Talk about risk taking. Partnering with Charlie Sheen right on the heels of his very public melt down might take more courage than most businesses have. But, in terms of sheen sheer numbers, it worked. The “thing” here is the firestorm surrounding Charlie Sheen on social media. What’s interesting is that this is the one exclusively social media campaign. No other outside marketing support was created. Kudos for acting fast, not as many kudos for ignoring the obvious question: now what?
• Reunited Again: Barbie and Ken: Again, some interesting risk taking here: Barbie and Ken’s actual users are children unlikely to have social media accounts, but those who buy Barbie and Ken dolls just might. Mattel didn’t ask its audience to contribute, it just created the personas behind Barbie and Ken in a social media way. The “thing” here, much like ToyStory3 is nostalgia. Integrating with Match.com was brilliant – and probably a nice coup for Match.com But perhaps the most brilliant element of this campaign is that its ongoing, leaving Mattel open for future partnerships, including (love this) Foursquare integration.

• Ford & Doug: a “match” made in heaven: Perhaps the biggest reason this is even mentioned is because of its risk-taking nature. Ford made a sock named “Doug” its “thing”. Doug’s tweets don’t appear to have to go through the Ford marketing/PR approval process. Doug seems to say what he wants when he wants.  Doug has roughly 1500 followers, but Ford calls it a success. I think this is a great example of taking the long road of social media success and not making fans and followers the #1 metric.

Ok. Let’s say you’ve taken a deep breath, a little risk and identified your “thing”.

Giving birth to your “thing” isn’t enough, you’ve got to give it air. Much like a fire can’t spread without some oxygen, your “thing” won’t spread unless you give it the social oxygen it needs.

Once you’ve identified the “thing” that’s going to get people to take action, begin to consider how you can use this thing in advertising, PR and events. Imagine how your thing interactive?  Once you’ve answered these questions – begin implementing…and be prepared. To wait. Very few over night successes are truly overnight. Stay committed and be prepared to make slight changes to your plan based on its results.  Creating a social media “thing” is a lot like raising a child – you’ve got to give it a chance to live and grow and allow it to have a life of its own. Be patient and loving with your “thing”, nurture it. Give it time to return the love back to you!

Do you see any other similarities in these 5 social media marketing campaigns? Do you think any of them can apply to your business?

I recently read an article by Tom Webster about the fact that measuring social media is limited largely by the fact that most data comes from Twitter rather than Facebook which has far more users, which limits the over all data a business receives from social media programs like Radian6. The fact that Facebook is a closed ecosystem has been a frustration of mine for some time, its one of the reasons that Twitter is one of my darlings, there is so much I can see and measure there. Alas, as Tom’s presentation on The Social Habit 2011 points out, according to Arbitron only 8% of Americans are using Twitter, despite incredibly high awareness numbers. Facebook continues to dominate the social scene, particularly in brand interaction.

But here’s the deal:  8% of Americans is still 20 million users. Please tell me any other marketing or promotions avenue which gives you access to 20 million users for free. Seriously. When I worked in magazines and tradeshows if I had been delivering 20 million readers or attendees, almost everyone one of my client’s problems would have been solved, and I would have been a hero. Alas, here’s the rub: there is a lot of junk in that group of 20 million people. Some of them will apply to you, some of them won’t. Some of them are active users (3 in 10 user Twitter daily), some of them aren’t.  But those who are using Twitter are apparently using the service more and more and Twitter users are more likely to use multiple platforms. Combine this with the fact that because Tweets are so easily indexed by search engines and its easy to see how the power of Twitter and its influencers can extend beyond the power of this single platform. Despite the short comings of services like Klout and Peer Index, there is significant relevance in identifying influencers who can evangelize your product. In fact, in light of the recent data, its all the more important to identify these people. Because those people on Twitter will almost assuredly be on Facebook (since 98% of Social Networkers are Facebook users).  Think of Twitter as the gateway drug to Facebook. While most Facebook users do not have a Twitter account, most Twitter users will have a Facebook account. And since businesses can not reach out to people who aren’t already fans, finding key influencers on Twitter will likely lead you to key influencers on Facebook. When you merge the idea that Twitter’s users are heavy social media users and typically cross platform users, with the Forrester Social Technographics information that suggests that MOST people are not social media creators or even critics, but spectators the importance of influencers becomes even more obvious. Because, generally speaking, most users (except influencers) use social media to listen, rather than actively engage.

For businesses considering a social media strategy, the question for Twitter clearly has to be: can we identify some key influencers and engage them?

What say you? Do you agree with me that Twitter is the gateway drug to Facebook?

Resources:

The Social Habit 2011 (download from SlideShare here)

Twitter X Factors (download from SlideShare here)

Tom Webster and BrandSavant.com

Forrester Research Social Technographics

Having thousands of social media friends is fun, but honestly, doesn’t it get a little hard to keep track of it all?  Not only that, but let’s face it, there are some people, whether they be clients, friends or business associates with whom we are closer and may meet off-line. And then, there are those with whom we are developing a relationship. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could track your interactions with others whether it be real life, email or a social connection on Twitter?

Enter: Hashable. I’ve been using Hashable for about 6 weeks now. It was released in all its glory at 2011 SXSW. The idea behind Hashable is to allow you to track the depth of your interactions with others. This can be a particularly useful tool for small businesses and individual brands who are having lots of conversations in many different forums. Essentially the idea is that by using predefined hashtags within a tweet or email, you’ll be able to track the depth of relationships. The beauty lies in the fact that it isn’t limited to online engagements. Hashtags like  #coffeewith exist to enable users to give their off-line life authority in identifying the depth of a relationship. Also, if you’d like to track other types of engagement, you can easily add your own hashtags by cc’ing Hashable in email or a Tweet. Hashable suggests that using it can be basically be a CRM program for small businesses. I’m not sure I’d go THAT far yet, but it is a useful tool that shows even more promise.

How COULD small businesses be using Hashable? I see several opportunities:

Tracking Influencer Conversations: If you are working on creating a relationship with an influencer, using Hashable to track each of your engagements whether they be through email or Twitter is a great way to see the relationship develop.

Bloggers: I have a custom hashtag of #blogconvo for those who are actively commenting on my blog. Its a great way for me to track those who are consistently commenting on my blog and lets me see at a glance when its someone’s first time.

Events: Creating and urging those at an event to use a particular Hashtag (as we do now), but including Hashable on the tweet is a great way to see participants of an event. In fact, hopefully, it’ll be easier for events and brands to register Hashtags at Hashable so they can use Hashable in a larger, more scaleable way.

Community Managers: Much in the way that tracking influencer relationships is easy on Hashable, so it is for Community Managers to see their most active Twitter followers and those who engage.

Customer Service: Companies who use Twitter for customer service can go back and see their engagements over the last 30 days or so and touch base with those people again to create a feel good touch point.

Overall, I really dig Hashable. I think its smart and fun and insanely simple. But here’s my official “Likes” and “Mehs”

Like:

The overall concept: Its a great idea to track the depth of your relationships and see them at a glance.

Great interface and easy to use. Particularly if you are using a pre-identified hashtag, it couldn’t be easier to track your Twitter conversations.

Ability to track offline meetings: Yes! What can I say! Hopefully we all have vibrant off-line lives.

Inner Circle: The inner circle group is that group of people who you allow to see your interactions and also you see theirs, even when it has nothing to do with you. Great for identifying potential synergies.

Great Iphone App: To make it easier to use on-the-go the Iphone app roooocks! I also love that from the app you can send “send a business card” with someone you’ve #justmet

Meh:

Email integration only works with webmail: Not necessarily business friendly. Plus, I have to cc: hashable on my actual email if I am using a unique hashtag. Its one thing to cc: Hashable on a Tweet that is already public. Its quite another to cc: Hashable on an email. As I am not a techie, I don’t know the solution, but I don’t see myself doing this. Ever.

I don’t really “get” how to use it with Facebook: I’m not a huge fan of using hashtags on Facebook. I think its alienating to the Facebook audience who may or may not “get” hashtags. Plus, it doesn’t work with Facebook Pages, which is very important for businesses. Surely there is a Hashable Facebook app in development. Right?

Make it easier to register Hashtags: it would be great if you could register a Hashtag for public or private use. More public hashtags would eliminate the need to cc: @hashable on Twitter – which takes up valuable character space. And for brands and business, the ability to reserve a hashtag could be invaluable..and something even worth paying for?!

Sometime hard to remember to use in real life: I have so many apps I use when I am out and about, sometimes its hard to remember to do it when I am with someone. But Hashable lets you do it later, so they’ve got that covered.

So what do you think? Have you been using Hashable? Do you like it? Will you try it now?

More about Hashable:

Business Week Article April 29, 2011

Mashable Topic: Hashable

Once upon a time if you wanted to start a company you have two choices. Hit up your Dad for the cash or shlep down to the bank where you would sign a second on your only real asset: your house (IF you had one). You also had the choice to go see a “Uncle Vinnie” or someone similar who always seemed to have cash and the requisite thugs laying around. In the 80′s Venture Capitalism took the dreams of Silicon Valley and entrepreneurs and funded  them into cash making machines with little respect to the original ideals of the founder.  Conversely, it used to be if you wanted to publish a book, you had to know someone. Or spend years in Paris getting to know other artists who might connect you accordingly. Then came blogging. Suddenly, being a writer was a very democratic opportunity. If people loved your blog, you might just get a book deal. Today’s writers can say “no thanks” to publishing houses if they want..but the truth is that there is still more money to be made in having a book published than there is on running a blog.

Its not news that lots of businesses are integrating social media into their marketing, customer service and product development goals. But today, entrepreneurs and writers are making social media part of their business model. In otherwords, if it weren’t for social media, the business itself might not even exist. Over the last month, I’ve come across three such enterprises, two in my home of Hawaii and one mainland writer who is taking publishing into his own hands in a brilliant way. I wanted to introduce them to you to see if it got your own juices flowing.

Begfor.it

Taking the idea of winning on an online auction to the social level. If you want an item, you say so, then ask your friends to support your cause. Brilliant really, if you think about it. The site is still in beta, but there are products up there for the begging already. Its highly addictive and pretty smart. The site’s idea is pure social – forget about the money, if you have the most votes for the winning bid, your in like flyn! BUT, you gotta work for it. You can use whatever medium you’d like, writing, movie making or photos, but you have to prove to the audience that your worthy. And maybe, just MAYBE your creative pleading and begging will go viral too..ensuring you win the item and giving you your 15 minutes of fame in the process. Can’t you just see “Begfor.it” stars being created?

The site is entirely self-funded by its founder, Tim Parsons, so he himself isn’t afraid to do a little “begging” if you like the idea this soloprenuer has put up, you can donate to support the further development of the site.  (full disclosure: I’ve done a little consulting work with Tim and Begfor.it) Twitter: @begforit Hashtag: #begforit Facebook Page: Begforit

Henry Wood Detective Agency:

As a character and a story get fleshed out on a blog, the author, Brian Meeks continues to push his development of a character, a brand and his own social media prowess, by creating a Facebook profile for the business of the main character (Henry Wood).  It doesn’t hurt that Brian’s writing is as wicked as a whip and the main character, Henry is the sworn bachelor you hate to love. The Facebook page currently includes updates from the author on various processes, but it has the potential to be the brand portal for the Detective Agency. I have a feeling that the only think stopping this Facebook from being completely fleshed out are time limitations for an author whose breaking new ground by publishing his blog serial to Kindle, Ipad and maybe even an actual book. If you want to read the book, you can shoot Brian a tweet or ping him on his blog. He’ll send you a copy if you’ll agree to giving feedback (full disclosure: I’m on chapter 3). But the thing that really sets Brian apart from the rest of the publishing world is that he gets social media and he’s challenging the publishing world to play by HIS rules by creating demand for his writing and stories before he is officially “published” but what does that mean to a guy like Brian anyway who goes beyond the blog to publish in a self-made socially empowered way everyday.

Twitter: @ExtremelyAvg Facebook: Henry-Wood-Detective-Agency

Juicies:

Starting a company that manufacturers a product in a sustainable/green way is gutsy. Raising initial round of funding exclusively through social media and a website called KickStarter is really putting it on the line. But Juicies is taking risks and making social media an integral part of the start-up process.  The product is actually simple: colorful cords that work with your Apple products like Iphone and Ipad. Founder Laurens Laudowicz started by asking for $5000 to get samples made from one of only a couple manufactures in China who manufacture in a sustainable way. But Laurens was shocked to learn what the minimum quantity is for the initial order (10,000 feet!), so even though over 1000 donors have blown away his initial request of $5,000, he’s leaving it open for another two weeks. Those who donate to get the company started will get their very own Juicie when they are released and you’ll get the feel good vive is helping an entrepreneur break the mold, literally . After you donate what you think you can give, don’t forget to participate in the product development cycle, by voting for the color you think they should develop by using the #juicies hashtag on Twitter. As an homage to the 12 year old girl in me, I voted for piiiiiiiink and glitter..I also revealed that I still believe in Unicorns too. But, I don’t think I’ll be able to plug my Juicies into a Unicorn anytime soon..I’ll have to settle for one of my many Apple products.

One of the cool ways that Juicies is using social media, besides the pleas for investment is that through KickStarter, Facebook and Twitter, you can really follow the development of this product. Laurens is  totally transparent about his ideas and his challenges and he’s as real on the content sites as he is in person. What’s super smart about using Kickstarter, and asking people for their color ideas is the opportunity to create advocates for the brand before the product even exists. When the product does launch (and I personally think its a matter if “when”, not “if”) then over 1,000 people will be take to their social media outlets to talk about their Juicie product and how they helped start the company.#Luvit

What other businesses have you seen using social media as an integral part of the start-up process? I’d love to see and hear about more! If I get enough, maybe I’ll do another blog post on this topic, I really enjoyed digging into these companies and sharing them with you!