So, without further ado I will explain how to use Twitter Search to increase
followers and potential customers.
How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers and Potential Customers
*You want to find people who are talking about or asking questions about
your Niche. For this example we will use DVD Players…. as if you run a DVD
Player Business.*
Go to Twitter Search and enter "DVD-Players" into the box (without
the quotes around it). Press enter. It will look something like:
Read through the Realtime results for dvd-players and see if there is anybody
asking questions that you can answer. Or, perhaps just have a conversation
with one of the tweople. Remember that Twitter is not about one side talks,
but instead it Twitter
should be a conversation.
Here are some examples of some of the tweets the tweople left and possible
replies you could leave in response to them. This will give you an idea of
how to have a conversation with them. And also how to use Twitter Search to
answer questions and as part of the customer service end of your business.
Examples of How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers
Below is a really cool tweet. Yes, there isn’t a question to answer, but
I bet you could come up with something cute that would make you stand out.
Something that will cause @ladybugbows
to follow you. How about this???
Reply with something cute to get their attention like, "A family
that has their own DVD Players Stays Together".
Here is a really great chance to make a person from Twitter into a customer….
Offer a Coupon Code:
Straight forward questions need straight forward answers.
Just as if you were handling customer service at your place of business, answer
questions via phone calls or emails… Twitter
can be a medium that you can handle customer service as well. Answer questions
where you can and become known as a Specialist in your field.
If you know something that others don’t know share your knowledge. This
tweeter’s DVD Player lost his power cord due to a hungry pet….. he needs
help. Can you help?
But, what if you knew something that could help? Offer the tip or suggestions….
you might even get a sale from it.
And that is pretty much it. See how easy that is and yet Twitter Search
can be super powerful way to not only increase your Twitter Followers, but to
increase your Customers.
This session was amazing. It reminded me a lot like a baseball line-up. Before
you start thinking that I totally lost my mind let me explain a bit why I say
this.
First up to speak was Neal Rodriguez.
And, speak he did!!
In baseball the first player in the line-up is generally a person that is fast.
A player that has a great potential to steal bases. He gets the rest of the
line-up motivated and ready to play their hearts out. And, this is what I feel
Neal did during this session. He motivated the audience and got them ready for
the rest of the game.
Seriously, he could have been talking about cleaning the lint out of my laptop
keys and I would have listened intently to everything he said. He had me wanting
to stand up and cheer with excitement just by listening to his passion and watching
him talk about something he felt strongly about.
Social Media in the Grind ‘09
Neal explains how Social News is directory that’s unbelievable. Social News
are the stories that make you go "WTF!"
Unbelievable is part of the ingredients to the entire recipe. Stories need
to be compelling and controversial.
Assault the reader!!
Make your reader say, "Hell Yeah!"
To Do that:
Do your homework - Study sites that make the front page
frequently. * Di66.net *
Reciprocity - Help your fellow socialites. The Key to any
relationship. * Source - DiggStatistics.com
*
Neal reminds us that "The More you do the better your will
get at it."
In baseball the middle of a line-up has the power hitters. These are the baseball
players that have a great chance of getting a home run. These are the players
you can count on for giving you what you came to the baseball park to see. In
this case that is David
Snyder and Todd Malicoat.
David Snyder spoke about "How not to utilize Social News and Bookmarking"
He reminds us that the keyword is "Social". Social
News & Bookmarking exist as a place to center conversations and sharing
around content. And, the end user is the most important part of this process.
How Social News and Bookmarking can be used by marketers….
Not an end means, but a tool to increase visibility of content, and conversation
around content.
You get what you give from Social Media
DON’T
Hire people for pushes where you pay based on the outcome
"Push" content without first thinking about the community
Approach social bookmarking as a business looking to engage.
The next power hitter up to bat was Todd Mailicoat
He spoke about "How to sell social media marketing for in house
SEO’s"
Show a Competitor
fear
uncertainty
doubt
greed
Show the Stats
digg
delicious
reddit
stumble
buzz propeller
Introduce the Concept - The plan
Show the Value
Explain the Value of the links
theme value
power source
outbound links
unique linking domains
placement
age
Explain why link baiting and viral marketing
global link popularity
sometimes anchor text (based on title)
Better Rankings
Links competitors can’t get
Close the Concept
Add the Bonus - lots of traffic and branding
such as premium content
So, as you can see this entire session was amazing….. it kept me on my toes
wanting to start the wave.. All three speakers hit the ball out of the park
and kept the audience happy and cheering for more. No doubt in my mind…. A
Win!!
After spending four days in Florida with the IM Spring Break crowd and attending
the conference & enjoying the parties at night It didn’t take me long to
realize that this is hands down the best conference I have ever attended. And,
from reading others tweets I come to the realization that this conference is
a "must attend". In case that wasn’t enough to get you to realize
you should be totally bummed you decided not to attend the IM Spring Break Conference
here are a ton more reasons you should Kick your own Ass for not attending IM
Spring Break.
Small conference….. big knowledge. I know small isn’t
always, the best description of something wonderful. But, trust me on this
one. What I think made this conference so amazing was the small size. I had
a chance to sit down with practically everybody and have a nice conversation.
At no time did I feel rushed to hurry a conversation so that I could find
the next one to talk to. There was plenty of time to get to everybody.
Intimate Conversations - Due to the small size of the Conference
I was able to have some wonderful intimate conversations with not only Industry
Leaders, but the awesome guys running the whole show. That has never happened
to me…. but on the first day I shared lunch with Loren Baker and his beautiful
wife, Janna.
The Best of the Best in our Industry speaking on Search,
Social and Internet Marketing - Loren, Dave
and Jordan
made sure to get some of the best in our industry speaking on the panels….
making sure we were learning everything from the most knowledgeable in the
field.
The Q & A’s after with amazingly awesome top secret info…..
seriously, TOP SECRET. Only people that were there have the benefit of hearing
the information. And, even if something wasn’t covered in the Q & A’s
there was plenty of time for conversations with the speakers later. If you
are beginning to the get the feeling of kicking your desk for not attending….
I can understand.
The food, the YUMMY food. And, I am not talking simple
meals. I’m talking about meals that knock your socks off by simply looking
at the colorful presentation. Loren, Dave and Jordan spared nothing to make
sure we ate like Kings and Queens.
Open Bar - The attendees of IM Spring Break were offered
Open Bar every night. Do I really need to say anything else about this? I’ll
just repeat it….. Open Bar EVERY Night.
The pool - A Gorgeous pool that many of us got to enjoy…..
whether we wanted to jump in or not. Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to
personally thank Streko
for my shoes just finally drying.
Poker Games - Yes, we even had poker. And, even though
there were some winners and some losers from the looks of everyone participating
we enjoyed ourselves either way. I even managed to spend some money during
Poker just watching… Not sure how that happened.
Arm Wrestling Neil Patel - At what other event could I
have a chance to kick one of the Speakers Ass’s in Arm Wrestling. I doubt
anywhere else. But, at IM Spring Break I was offered the chance to do just
that. I took Neil up on the offer to arm wrestle and I fought really hard
to beat him. Unfortunately, I totally got my ass kicked. I’m pretty scrappy,
but he must be freakishly strong for his small size. He also took $20.00 from
me from losing.
Beautiful Friendships - While at IM Spring Break I was
fortunate enough to build beautiful friendships that I have no doubt that
will last a lifetime.
Free Chiropractor on Call - We can all totally use a good
back massage from time to time. And, there were plenty to go around at IM
Spring Break….. thank you Chiropractor
Mike.
Killer DJ - At the indoor BBQ Party there was some awesome
music during the open bar and dinner. I mean, I’m talking killer music. Thanks
to Steve Plunkett
for giving up his yummy dinner to make sure to keep us totally happy until
the live band started. Proof the music rocked is in the pics my friend…
Lots of Dancing - Steve had the music playing for 2 hours
until the live band started. Giving us 2 hours extra to dance…. and dance
they did!!
Live Band - Yes…. Loren, Dave and Jordan spared absolutely
no expense to make sure the attendees of the conference were kept happy and
entertained the entire time. They hired a live band to get people out on the
dance floor. But, it turns out they were just the opening band for a rock
band MUCH larger….
SEO Rock Band - This might come as a total surprise to
you, but many of the leaders in our wonderful Industry are also musically
gifted. Our very own David
Szetela and Jeff
Quipp surprised all of us by announcing that they were going to get on
stage and entertain us with The SEO Rock Band. And, they were good. No, I’m
lying….. they were freakin awesome!! Like, I’m talking about lighter waiving
and girls screaming kind of awesome. But, that wasn’t the end of it….Loren
Baker and Tony Adam
got on stage with them and were just as amazing making up their own SEO lyrics
to popular songs. It was so much fun. Still not over…. I got more. Brasco
from WebMaster Radio sang La Bamba perfectly. I mean, perfectly. Steve
Plunkett did some singing as well… as did Aaron
Chronister’s beautiful fiance, Jenny. It was an amazing night with some
of the best fun I have ever had. Many of us want to know when the SEO Rock
Band’s CD will be coming out…. it truly would be a must buy!!
… and the lead singer even had his groupies:
Neil Patel made me Breakfast - I’m assuming that Neil
was feeling bad for hurting my ego the night before in arm wresting, but whatever
the reason he made me a toasted bagel, went out of his way to find the exact
type of cream cheese I wanted and spread it on my bagel. Thanks, Neil….
it was an awesome bagel.
Drinking being part of a session - The wonderful Tony Adam
brought out beers for everybody during his IM Business session. He was going
through his 9 Steps to get people excited about what you are doing. And, as
he pointed out sometimes you just need to "take a break and knock
one back!!" I agree, Tony.
Milk & Cookies - Thanks to Allyson
Fergison, aka SEOaly
we all were able to enjoy her homemade
cookies. Allyson was the very lucky winner of the free pass to IM Spring
Break. She was so excited to have won she apparently didn’t know what to do
with her pent up energy that she decided to bake like a mad woman. And, a
mad woman she was….. she came to the conference with 600 freshly back chocolate
chip cookies. Could you imagine this happening at a huge conference? No, I
don’t think so. I’m telling you… small intimate conferences is where it
is at!!
Rock’n Keynotes - We got to hear some of the best keynotes
I have ever heard. The keynotes were from Chris
Winfield, Neil Patel
and Rae Hoffman.
Really, really great stuff…. all three were totally passionate and equally
motivating. The best combination.
Sushi baby - I will have to admit…. I have never had
sushi. I have always been afraid to try it because of the fact it is raw fish.
But, upon being pushed to try it…. try it I did. Oh My God…. it was so
good!! I am now sushi’s biggest fan.
Bacon Explosion - At the IM Spring Break BBQ Party the
food continued to be just as impressive as any of the other meals that the
gentlemen of IM Spring Break provided for us. This meal had a BBQ
flare. But, the highlight of the meal had got to have been the Bacon
Explosion. This dish was thought up by Aaron Chronister and loved by everyone
I spoke to that night. I can’t even describe the taste to you…. just trust
me when I say it is like no other. And, you have got to experience it for
yourself. Yep, just another reason you should be kicking your own Ass for
not going to IM Spring Break.
Appearing on Webmaster Radio - Webmaster Radio was at the
conference the entire time and many of the attendees of IM Spring Break appeared
on Webmaster Radio being interviewed. Even I was one of the lucky ones. It
was so much fun!! I felt like a superstar.
Weight loss - Apparently the more you eat the more weight
you lose. It probably has something to do with the fact that you
can eat healthy even at a conference.
Okay, you still don’t believe me that this was the conference of the year???
Don’t take my word for it…. check out what Alysson Fergison had to say about
it. Her tweet totally sums up my entire post…
Just to let you know….. IM
Broadcast has other conferences coming up in the future. They mentioned
doing one in the next few months in California and another Scary SEO in October…
this time in Atlantic City. So, keep an eye
out for the next IM Broadcast Conference and sign up. Otherwise….
you are totally missing out on the best Marketing, SEO, and Social Media Conference
out there!!
Thank you to those who allowed me to use the wonderful photographs they took
during IM Spring Break. Most of the photos on this page came from either Janna
and Loren Baker at the IM
Spring Break Facebook Fan Page, Rafael
Montilla and Dana
Lookadoo’s Flickr Page. So, make sure to check out their photo pages so
you can check out the rest of the IM Spring Break pictures.
The first session of IM
Spring Break on Social Media day was "Creating Content for
Social Media – How to create the content and make it stick".
Kenny Hyder, Greg Finn and Brent Csutoras were on this sessions panel and what
a Rock’n job they did. It was an awesome session!!
First up was Ken of PositionTech.
He started with "Content is King. And, if your content sucks
it won’t go anywhere." And, moved on to explaining that it
takes more than just ideas. Your content needs to be compelling. To show this
Ken compared the two sites Watch
it Shred with Will
it Blend. Both of these sites have a very similar type of viral content….
Watch it Shred has videos of many different items that they put through a large
shredder to see if it will shred. Will it Blend puts many different types of
items into a blender to see if they will blend. They both started their YouTube
accounts around the same time, but Watch it Shred has 3,553 subscribers while
Will it Blend has 178,164 subscribers. Why such a huge difference? Because of
the question, "Will it Blend". And, this question
causes the viewer to wonder…. will it in fact blend? See, questions
need answers. Viewers watch to find out…. will it blend. The question is compelling.
Brent starts off talking about how Businesses often wonder how social media
pertains to them. What should I write about…. how is my product going to work
in social? How am I going to participate?
But, Brent assures us it doesn’t have to be the most extreme thing. Social
Media can apply to anything.
For a company to come up with things to write about he suggests….
Step back & Identify your:
Social Goals - What do you ultimately want? Do you want
more links? More traffic, etc..
Desired Keywords - what do you want to be known for? What
do you want people searching for when they find you?
Related Keywords - loosely related terms.
Once that is done the Research begins.
Research social sites for what has worked for others or failed
for others, Check competitors and see what they are doing, and Check Search
Engines.
Some tips that Brent suggested were…
Tips
Involve your staff - memos. Keep all informed of plans.
Current events - watch them and use them. People love what’s going on right
now.
Avoid "10" - Top 10 gets old fast.
Don’t accept crap and don’t push crap either. Throw it in the trash.
Next up Gregg Finn of 10e20
who spoke about Tactics for Creating content.
Gregg starts talking about content and what makes for bad, good, great and
pants crappingly awesome content. Yes, I did say, "pants
crappingly awesome" content. You are dying to know what that means huh?
This is how Gregg defines it…
Pants Crappingly Awesome Content
Content that stands out
Readers Can’t stop reading it
Takes serious man hours to create
Extremely well written
Great looking
Immediately vote and IM friends about it.
Gregg then goes into some detail about the Do’s & Don’ts of Creating Content…
Do’s
Be comprehensive. Make sure your content is inclusive.
Be consumable - Make it so the reader doesn’t have to read
every word for them to understand it.
Be Relevant - Make sure your message is on point, content
"fits" on your site.
Be Niche - Quality targeted content is better than average
general content.
Be Thorough - Make sure all spelling / grammar is on point.
Take the time to do it right.
Be Supportive - Provide detailed media, link to sources
when necessary.
Be Attractive - Take the time to use well designed images.
Don’t
Don’t be overly linkbaity - Users can see when you are
trying too hard.
Don’t be sloppy - Check with others on spelling & grammar.
Don’t be greedy - Keeps ads minimal & make sure pop-ups
are non existent
So, as you can see the "Creating Content for Social Media" session
was a huge success. The speakers rocked. And, the information I got out of it
was amazing. Wait until you hear about the other sessions…. the rest of the
Social Media Sessions at IM Spring Break were just as good as this one!!
It is Day 1 of IM Spring Break here in beautiful Deerfield Beach, Florida.
And, Dave Snyder,
Loren Baker
and Jordan Kasteler
have an entertaining and educational day planned out for us. Day 1 of IM Spring
Break is dedicated to Social Media…. which I am totally excited about.
First off was Chris Winfield’s Keynote. Chris is the President and Co-Founder
of 10e20. His Keynote was
absolutely the perfect way to open up Day 1 of IM Spring Break. Chris spoke
about Social Media in Business brilliantly…. I love how passionate and excited
it was to speak about it…. Totally motivating. It was awesome to hear him
speak.
Chris began his keynote by announcing that Social Media Marketing in Business
is way more than just Facebook and Twitter.
Social Media is one big conversation.
Now, this is when Chris gets into the true nitty gritty of Social Media Marketing
in Business. He begins talking about the question that many of us as Social
Media Marketers have heard asked hundreds of times….
Why would a Business Want to get involved in Social Media?
A business should get involved in Social Media for a number of reasons. Such
as,
achieve recognition with a wider audience
create/ improve reputation
enhance credibility
attract evangelists
public relations
link attraction
traffic
Ok, so now we know why businesses should get involved in Social Media. But then
what? What types of Social Media should Businesses get involved in?
No worries… Chris covered that as well. And, in great detail.
Types of Social Media Businesses should get involved in
Blogs
MicroBlogs (Twitter)
Social Networking
Myspace
Facebook - Facebook Ads & Facebook Pages
Niche Social Networks
Online Videos (YouTube)
Forums & Groups
Photo Sharing - (flickr & photobucket)
Yahoo Answers
Online Review
Wiki’s
Social News and Bookmarking Sites
Even after going into great detail on all of that Chris then went into making
sure people know who you / your business are.
Let people know where you are
Have your social links in your email signature
Include your social networks on mailing lists
On the business web site make sure you have links to where people can locate
you online…. your other social networks / profiles.
Chris then goes into how to build up a network of people online.
How to build up a network of people
Check their website - many websites list where you can find them on other
social networks.
Go to digg & other social sites’ profile page and see if they list their
other social networks there
on social sites there is usually a way to direct message them
go to conferences and talk to them and find out how to connect with them.
Chris finishes his keynote by reminding us that, "Social Media is
opportunity for you!!!"
Christmas Season is about ready to come to a close. You have already missed
the cut-off to purchase items online and to receive them at your door before
Christmas. In a couple of days you will be cleaning up wrapping paper, returning
unwanted items and planning your New Years Resolutions.
But, I wanted to talk about things I learned from shopping at Twitter.
You get honest opinions. No need for reviews…. just ask
your followers any kind of product questions and they will respond honestly.
I asked about Moon
Sand. My daughter was bugging me about it and I had no idea what is was
and whether it was something I should get her. So, I asked my Tweeps:
And, my Tweeps told me honestly how they felt.
Who needs to search for reviews and testimonials on websites when you have
pure Word of Mouth or I suppose I should say “Word of Tweets”.
Find Awesome Deals - I previously wrote a post about using
Twitter as a Sales Channel. And, it totally is!! You can subscribe to
@Woot and @AmazonDeals
and get notified of their daily deals. eCommerce sites and businesses are
beginning to realize the importance of using Twitter as a Sales Channel. You
can follow these businesses on Twitter and cash in on the sweet deals.
Retweets - The Power of Retweets!! You can find some truly
amazing deals just by listening to the retweets of the items that your tweeps
thought were hot deals. That is exactly how I found my father’s Holiday Gift.
Mark Hayward, who
ironically wrote about the value of retweets, had posted a retweet about
The Flip that Andy
Beal had originally sent out. Even though I follow Andy
Beal I had missed his original Tweet, so I am very thankful that Mark
sent out this retweet….
I own a Flip Ultra Series and love my Flip. It is what I use to create my
video posts. My father was so impressed with my videos that he asked to
borrow my Flip. Well, thanks to Mark’s retweet I purchased my father a Flip
for the Holidays. Check it out…
And, then I announced my purchase….
… and then the power of Twitter began. Check it out!!
I told Carolyn Shelby
that I loved my Flip and she landed up purchasing one too. Wowzer!!
Using Twitter Search to Find Amazing Deals - I’m not sure
many people are aware of the power of Twitter Search yet. It is a fantastic
tool when used correctly. Here is a super quick tutorial. Let’s say you wanted
to see if you can find a Nintendo DS for your son on Sale. Go to Twitter
Advanced Search and enter the following information. Enter the word "Nintendo
DS" (without quotes) into the "exact phrase" box.
And, enter "sale" (without quotes) into the "Any
of these Words" box.
Click on Search. The results you should get should point you to sites and
information on how to get the Nintendo DS on Sale in Real Time.
And there ya go. Twitter helped me big time this year with Holiday Shopping.
I know it is too late to use my fabulous methods to pick up sales this Holiday
Season. But, use these tips all year long to pick up Rock’n deals for you and
your loved ones.
I wish you and your loved ones the Happiest of Holidays and a Wonderful
2009!!
But, in order to connect with these business owners and consumers they need
to be following you on Twitter….. following your conversations. If a member
of the Twitter community is not following you they can not hear you. So, in
order for Twitter to work effectively you need to get members to follow you.
One sure fire way of NOT getting any followers is to use the
Twitter default avatar. And, using the default Twitter profile page isn’t that
much better. For many people when they see the default avatar they think its
one of a few things….
A computer bot - not a real person
A member that doesn’t take the community seriously
A brand new member that just hasn’t had a chance to add the avatar
To put the importance of an avatar in perspective think of it this way… an
avatar is a visual symbol of you or your company.
Some people are very visual. In order for these visual thinking people to remember
you or your business they will probably have an easier time remembering your
avatar. So, having an avatar that is something other than the default avatar
is extremely important.
As a continuation of my "Basic Tips of Adding Social Media to
your Business" here is a tutorial for how-to set up a Professional
Twitter Profile in Minutes….
How to set up a Professional Twitter Profile in Minutes
Are you attending SMX
East on October 6th? If you are make sure to attend the Internet
Marketers Charity Party on October 6th. It is sure to be an awesome event!!
The Internet Marketers Charity Party is being hosted by We
Build Pages & sponsored by BestOfTheWeb,
10e20, SugarRae,
Search Engine
Journal,
and Sure Hits. The money
they raise that night will help to support the Ronald
McDonald House. Ronald McDonald House has been supporting and creating programs
that improve the health and well being of children all over the world for more
than 30 years. The party costs $50.00 and not only does your money go to support
this amazing charity, but you get open bar for 3 hours. Plus, you get to party
with some of the best Internet Marketers around the World.
So, come raise money for a good cause as well as shmooze with some of the best
Internet Marketers around….. I will be there.
I wrote my first ever guest post over at Hobo
SEO Blog. No, It’s not about SEO….. it’s about my true love, Social Media.
Shaun asked if I would write a post on how
to get involved in Social Media and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I don’t
write about the basics of Social Media often enough. I have a tendency to get
too advanced or talk about special techniques. It was nice to get back to the
basics.
Social Media can be very intimidating for many, so I broke down the process
into four steps making the process a bit easier to handle.
Figuring out what you want to get out of Social Media
Creating your Profiles
Learning the Community
Becoming an Active Part of the Community
So, check out my guest post and let me know what you thought.
Rand Fishkin recently wrote a post on SEO Moz about ‘getting
it’. By ‘it’ Rand was talking about the web… and
he guesstimated that just one person in every million truly gets the Internet.
My first thought after reading the article was that based on Rand’s estimations,
there must be a hell of a lot of online marketers out there that don’t
get the web (there’s a scary thought for you…). My second thought
was that if so few people get the web, which has been widely accessible for
over a decade, how many actually get the relatively new phenomenon of social
media/ social networking (clue… not many). And my final thought was if
so few people really understand social media, how many businesses have their
finger on the social media pulse…? The answer it seems, is not many.
When the social web goes wrong…
By now, we can all probably recall the most infamous corporate social media
disasters off the top of our heads. Brands such as Dell & Sony immediately
spring to mind. But above all else, it’s probably Wal-Mart that sticks
out above others as the worst exponent of social initiatives on the web. The
two most documented disasters are:
Wal-Mart was at it again (along with PR firm Edelman) when they published
a fake Wal-mart blog called
‘Walmarting across America’. The suspiciously pro Wal-Mart sentiment
of the blog set alarms bells off in the blogosphere and it wasn’t long
before the blog was exposed as a fraud.
If it achieved nothing else, Wal-Mart has set a fine example of how not to
adopt social media technologies. However, despite the fact the ‘The Hub’
imploded well over two years ago, it seems fellow marketers refuse to learn
from Wal-Mart’s social networking mistakes. The
Wall St Journal recently painted a somewhat frightening picture of the state
of social networks and communities within the corporate world. The key findings,
which were taken from a research report developed by Deloitte, include:
35% of corporate online communities had less than 100 members
25% of corporate online communities had less than 1,000 members
6% of businesses spent more than one million dollars establishing their
community! Let’s hope these 6% aren’t amongst the 35% of businesses
unable to attract more than 100 members to their community!
So what exactly is the corporate world doing wrong when it comes to social
media…? Why have 60% of corporate social networks failed to attract more
than 1,000 members? The answer is quite simple. They’ve failed to recognise
the fundamental principle of the social web - that it’s not all about
them.
The social web is about people, not brands or technology!
It seems as if the marketers behind many of the corporate social networks/
communities operated on the premise – ‘If you build it, they will
come’… particularly if you make it really shiny. Unfortunately,
many have had to learn the hard way that this simply isn’t the case. The
fact is that unless you’re Apple, people really aren’t that interested
in your products or services. Deal with it. One of the primary features of Wal-Mart’s
social network ‘The Hub’ was the ability to generate shopping lists.
Hmmm… how many teens do you know that are interested in making their very
own shopping list? Not freakin’ many. Wal-Mart made ‘The Hub’
about them. And that’s why it failed.
For the ultimate example of a self-centred social networking initiative, check
out David Hasselhoff’s personal
social network. Sure… everyone loves to have a good laugh at The Hoff,
but does he really think people care enough about him to make his page their
social networking home…? You do know people laugh at you Hoff…right…?
Social initiatives can go old school… if that’s where your
audience is
I recently wrote a social media strategy practically devoid of technology (some
would even say it was positively old school). The strategy was for the Australian
arm of a major global organisation, with a budget stretching into the hundreds
of thousands of dollars. If I wanted to, I could potentially have sold them
on the development of their very own social network. But I didn’t. Because
I know that social media is not about the technological platform… it’s
about the people.
Instead, my first recommendation was to begin monitoring and participating
within existing online forums. Yes… that’s right… forums.
How very 90’s of me. But the fact was that a community of over 60,000
people had already formed to discuss this company and their products within
online forums. Indeed, they were lucky to be one of the very few companies with
a customer base passionate enough about their product to create an online community
around it. So… instead of trying to host the conversation, why not just
simply join it (at least initially)?
My second recommendation was to establish a company blog. Sure… a blog
isn’t as feature laden (or shiny) as a Facebook clone, but communities
can form around blogs just as effectively as they congregate on social networks.
Just look at Tech Crunch. A blog provides a cost effective way for the organisation
to establish a social media presence without spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars on development (thank you Wordpress!). And who knows… if the
blog takes off we may consider implementing some more advanced social networking
capabilities. But that’s the last consideration, not the first. After
all, if the audience are happy in forums, they don’t need all the bells
and whistles yet.
The social web mind shift
The reason most corporations don’t ‘get’ the social web is
quite simple – success requires a shift in marketing methodologies. Traditional
marketing principles just don’t cut it in online communities. Amongst
the most fundamental shifts in thinking, marketers need to recognise that:
You don’t need to own the traffic, you just need to own the relationship
You can’t control the conversation, all you can do is listen and respond
One size does not fit all, and nor does one message
Actually talking to your customers isn’t such a bad thing. You may
even learn something from them.
Until marketers ‘get’ these principles of the social web, it seems
we’re destined for more corporate social networks built around shopping
lists… or worse… washed up celebrities.
