Social Media = Convos, Not Monologues

So, every once in a while, I get into these great discussions on LinkedIn (my business social network site) and it always gets me thinking on how much social media is misused in the business sphere. Yesterday (Tuesday) I replied to a post where someone was asking if joining a bunch of social networking sites was effective. And the original poster (OP) cited a friend of their's who joined like 10 - 15 sites, posted content daily and upgraded their page rank to the 2nd page. That's awesome right? No not really, and here's how I explained my reasoning:

That's not an effective use of time nor does it mean that your social campaign is truly effective. Yes, he gained rank, but that doesn't mean that people really know who he or his company is and what they do, and why they should want to use his company. I'm a social marketer, and I wouldn't recommend that someone use more than two or three social sites. For example, I have a FB, Twitter and LinkedIn account. My FB is linked to my Twitter so I'm not racing back and forth between the two. Everytime I make a tweet, it automatically goes to my FB page.

Yes, being active on a social site will increase your Google rankings, but I was able to push my rank to dominating page 1 (as well as doing that for some of my clients) without going on every social page. The reality is that social pages shouldn't be dominating your time - otherwise when are you getting real work done? And, how can you really have "conversations" with people if you're on every site known to man? That's the whole point of businesses using social media - to put a face to the company/to connect directly with consumers. If you're on all the social sites, then you're spending two or three hours doing mundane updates and not focusing on the response rates to your posts.

Plus, there's also the issue that not every social site will really address your demographic. For example, if you're marketing to people in the older half of Gen Y, why are you on Myspace? Myspace has essentially become the teenage playground (and young teens at that 13 - 15 year olds). So, I think your friend did a shot in the dark. It was effective in that it increased his Google page rank, but he probably could have gotten similar & more meaningful results with a bit less effort and more targeting.

And then I got a private inMail from a group member who read my response and asked specifically why they weren't receiving results for some of their social media campaigns for their company. They were posting to quite a few different networks, knew that it probably wasn't the best use of their time/efforts, but wasn't sure how to approach management with their feelings. So, I said: 

Hi [name withheld for privacy!],

It's about frequency & conversation, not just the total placements. Besides the fact that posting all over the place is just exhausting, you're not giving yourself the chance to see what the response rates are to your content/updates. One thing I noticed when I first started on Twitter (long before I jumped on the FB craze) was that the people who seemed to have the most followers & the most influence (when you hubspot someone's name) were the people who seemed to be "regulars" on Twitter. Maybe they posted about work things, but then they also posted nice random posts about just whatever they're doing. And most importantly, they replied to other people's posts. That's a conversation - rather than just posting content which comes across as a one way monologue.

Social media is supposed to humanize a brand - so if a company is just doing shot in the dark approaches by posting to too many services at once, it's disorienting to consumers and also makes them feel like the company is somewhat of a fraud. That you don't really want to connect with them, but just have an online presence (sort of a "me too" effect). It's a fine line with social media, and that's also a reason why I don't recommend that people post to more than 2 or 3 sites. If you spread yourself too thin, it shows and in turn makes it harder to connect with your consumer base. Of course, you can also link your services together to save time (much like I linked my Twitter to my FB account) but that still isn't an excuse to join too many sites at once.

Keep in mind page rank means nothing other than the Google/search engine crawler came across your name or meta tags that much more often than your competitors - it doesn't mean that consumers are actually searching you. Conversations will get you high ranks & more importantly, consumer recognition. Otherwise, you run the risk like the guy in the OP's post. Yes, he got page rank, but he got page 2 even after being on all those sites, and yet he still doesn't know whether or not consumers know who he is. And in the end, that's the point of social media, to get others to sing your praises and recommend you or relay your info to others without you having to pay for an expensive campaign.

Let your bosses know that a huge roster of social pages doesn't equal an effective campaign. :)

Yet Another Social Media Post...

Okay...I actually originally posted this as a response for a LinkedIn post that I wrote earlier today but I loved it so much I decided to make a blog post around it. ^_^ If you haven't figured out from my many posts, I am a social media marketer. I do entertainment content promotion & content aggregation & monetization via Internet, mobile & TV platforms. So suffice to say, I spend a lot of time online, and with my marketing background have seen campaigns fly like eagles & tank like rocks.

To put the below comment I made in context, someone posted a discussion article/question asking about whether or not social media was something that everyone should be doing and some "best practices" for it as well. So, I said:

Social media is neither new nor relevant for all industries. Some industries like say pharmaceuticals and tobacco should stay far from it since the marketing guidelines that they face are far more stringent than other industries. In my opinion, social media is really nothing more than word-of-mouth marketing done on a global & digital scale. Rather than me waiting for "Millie from Milwaukee" to send me a letter telling me how wonderful product XYZ is, I can go online and find thousands of Millie's who are either promoting or refuting a product, idea or service.

Likewise, much as others have said [there were a couple of comments above mine], "traditional" social media options (Twitter/Facebook, etc.) are nice additions to a strong marketing campaign but shouldn't be the only concentration. If Twitter and Facebook are having a hard time truly monetizing their platforms, that's usually a really good indicator that it's probably not a good idea to base the success/failure of your company on those platforms as well.

I believe the key to successful marketing via social media is transparency. If you create a Twitter handle or Facebook fan page for your company, please don't fall prey to the marketing fallacy that "the public is stupid". All it takes is a few quick seconds on Google to learn who is linked to who through social sites. Be upfront on who you are, so that when you do promote marketing oriented messages on these platforms, people will understand why they're receiving these messages and the backlash will be practically non-existent.

And finally, don't abuse FB/Twitter and only promote but never have a dialogue. The CEOs of Red Mango & Zappos are great examples of company owners who are truly embracing social media. Obviously these two firms are not relying solely on Facebook & Twitter to create revenue. But at the same time, I know that occasionally I can receive $1 off coupons for Red Mango smoothies and even learn when the CEO of Red Mango is having a birthday party or what the CEO of Zappos is randomly doing. Now more than ever, people want to know that they're connecting with real people, rather than with a faceless "PR Department" who is carefully crafting canned messages. Be authentic, be transparent & be realistic - those are key things to remember in social media.

So Tired of Social Media Getting the Black Eye!

Okay,

So, unless you've been living under a rock and you have absolutely no clue who I am, you should know that I'm a social marketer. But not in the traditional sense - and I find myself saying this quite a bit...so we need to delve into social media: what it is, what it is perceived to be, and what it isn't in terms of what I do.

I came across an article that talked about the do's and don'ts of Twitter. Of course, that's nothing new. If you hang around sites like Mashable or MediaPost, you'll see a number of "do this - not that" articles as it pertains to social media. But here's the real deal - there's no perfect answer. Social media is an ever changing field, I liken it to some fabled game that children come up with at the beginning of the Summer. As the Summer progresses, the rules, objects and final outcome end up being something entirely different than what was intended when the Summer began.

First of all, don't get caught up in the hype, social media has been around for years. As soon as AOL and Prodigy burst onto the scene, and showed people what a chat room and discussion board was, that was the TRUE birth of social media - not Facebook (sorry guys), not Myspace, etc. People were able to quickly exchange ideas with each other in a virtual world without having to have prior history to the receivers on the other end. Fast forward a few decades, and those old school forums and chat rooms have morphed into something more state of the art. With the advances in mobile technology and Internet speeds, our dependence on the Internet (whether from a home computer or our mobile phones) increased dramatically. And the reigns of control definitely shifted. It used to be the marketer's responsibility to not only determine the ideal demographic for a message, but to create and control the spread of that message.

As technology advanced, and the consumer realized how easy it was to add their two cents, the consumer's opinion of all content became extremely important. In fact, it became so important that marketers began to realize that they could actually rely on the consumer to carry the message farther for them by building trust and aligning their brands with early adopter and influential consumers. THIS IS SOCIAL MEDIA.

Social media is not sitting on Facebook/Myspace/Twitter like a tool and sending 10,000 updates every day which are neither relevant nor interesting to a target market (if these people even bother to define their market before they launch a "campaign" if it can be called that). And this is the mis-represented form of social media that I hate because people assume that this is what I do all day.

So, I'm a social marketer because I use the same mediums that consumers use to "hang out for fun" (Internet, mobile and TV) to promote my clients' products. But I do not spend all day sending pointless updates on Facebook/Twitter/etc. I focus on entertainment content, whether that's music, film, episodic shows, animations, etc. As long as it's original, I can promote it which I do very well! I partner with entertainment aggregation firms that act as platforms where consumers regularly visit to learn about what's new in the market (this translates into sales). Unlike Facebook, where it's easy for fly by night marketing firms to fake hits/traffic, the companies I partner with actually can verify that traffic, prevent bot attacks or large amounts of erroneous traffic. How can I stand by this claim? Because the same stats that I use to prove the traffic that my clients are getting are the same stats these companies need to use to substantiate their rates to advertisers or to pay out on revenue share agreements they have with my clients. So, faulty stats equals paying on fraudulent activity or losing advertisers because of excessive fraud.

But to get back to the deal on social media, when I do post to Facebook, Twitter, etc...it's to link back to my serious partnerships. Always link fluff with something concrete. If you have a magazine interview link, by all means, post it on Facebook! Give people a reason to really read your posts, don't just push junk at them. And likewise, have something of substance to substantiate your attempts at social media. Because to serious firms, telling them that you have 20,000 Twitter followers or hits on your track on Myspace, it sounds like a joke. Real marketers know that those numbers can be easily bought, so you're not instilling confidence in people when you boast about empty numbers like that.

And the final goal of social media is to humanize your brand. So, most importantly, don't just act like a robot and only post about work related items. If that's what you're doing, then don't be surprised if you don't get much traction from your work. People love to see you being productive, but they want to know that you're human too. Let people know that you have a life outside of work, even if it's through responses to posts on your board or a few random commentaries about things you see or experience in daily life. You'll be amazed how some of those "pointless" posts will actually encourage others to follow you or promote your content even further than your network.

OMG! It's Been a Minute!

Ok....

So, it's definitely been a minute since I updated my blog. I've been super busy with work (in a good way since it's my own work!). And what have I been up to? The following:

So as everyone knows, I'm a social media marketer who officially started my own company (Big Apple Style Marketing) not that long ago. I prefer working with entertainers (musicians, artists, actors, DJs, etc.) and helping them to gain visibility as well as perfecting their "Google-ability" by enhancing their placement in natural search.

Over the past few months I've really made some great partnerships with major Internet content providers as well as mobile providers. So, now I'm in a perfect position to help emerging/new/hungry artists get their trade seen & heard by eyes & ears from around the world!

So, now that I've established those relationships, it's time for me to actually take the time to put my website together rather than working off of word of mouth (which has been good...but a 24-7 presence is awesome too!).