I’ve had so much to say and no time to post! I promised a fellow PRSA colleague that I would write this, so here it is. If you are a Family Guy fan you know exactly where this is heading. So what grinds my gears? People/organizations who leap on to social networking sites and then complain social media is a waste of time and/or doesn’t work. Whether it makes sense or not, virtually every organization has a Facebook page or a Twitter. While I commend organizations for no longer wanting to be tardy for the social media party, it's pointless just to show up.
Someone please share with me, are there any professions that allow you to waste the budget by "winging"something? Sure there are few instances where hunches lead to million dollar plans but most likely, a deep understanding of demographics and trends are an essential component to success. Just like a lawyer would not go to trial without a plan. NO ONE should start a Twitter initiative without a strategy or a plan. I recently attended OMMA Social and listened to Joseph Jaffe author of Flip the Funnel speak about how so many of us get social media wrong! In his presentation he had a woman talking to a shoe. Ridiculous right? That picture represented an organization shamelessly bombarding the consumer with a message and NOT partaking in two-way communication.
So for those of you still confused about this social media "thing," I will break it down for you.
Social media is like something shiny - It looks cool in the sun but it is NOT that special
Get over that! Focus on what you can do.
Someone please share with me, are there any professions that allow you to waste the budget by "winging"something? Sure there are few instances where hunches lead to million dollar plans but most likely, a deep understanding of demographics and trends are an essential component to success. Just like a lawyer would not go to trial without a plan. NO ONE should start a Twitter initiative without a strategy or a plan. I recently attended OMMA Social and listened to Joseph Jaffe author of Flip the Funnel speak about how so many of us get social media wrong! In his presentation he had a woman talking to a shoe. Ridiculous right? That picture represented an organization shamelessly bombarding the consumer with a message and NOT partaking in two-way communication.
So for those of you still confused about this social media "thing," I will break it down for you.
Social media is like something shiny - It looks cool in the sun but it is NOT that special
- Yes, I said something very taboo.
- Yes, I know you don't have control over what is said about your organization.
- Yes, I know random teens can create fan pages for products that are bigger than the official one you created.
Get over that! Focus on what you can do.
- Who is your audience?
- What do they want from you? Give it to them!
- Look at the competition but don't be quick yo copy. (They may be missing the mark as well)
- Keep at it! Do not jump into my network and fade away. Think of social media as dating the consumer. No one likes a flake.
- Lastly, many "old media" rules still apply. Just like you research target media, what your audience likes to talk about, and anything.
Please share any additional thoughts!
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You bring up the best basic points of brands and social media. I do think brands need to get on the mark and start using social media tools to build their brand, but tools like Twitter and Facebook are more for building the consumer experience. Love the line about dating the consumer.
ReplyDeleteStrategies are always necessary, yes, and its also important to get in there and "do it" to learn what kind of strategy to build. In some cases, the suit and ties will have you locked up in meeting after meeting instead of out there in the social media wild communicating and building along the way. I think its a little of both action and business insight.
Nice post.
Thanks for the comment! I agree with your point about Twitter and Facebook being a tool for building the consumer experience. If you make the consumer happy you're in the position to get that coveted word of mouth marketing.
ReplyDeleteLove this post. Like you pinpointed you can't just start something and then become ghost, example commercials don't air once on one channel in one language. It takes repetition and persistence to make people take notice. Those who complain are doing a huge disservice to themselves because true power exist in taking advantage of social networking. Will be retweeting your link. kudos.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS! I appreciate the support! If I'm not too tired I'll be writing another post on the SIENNA family! Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteLove, love this post. I wrote a post along similar lines earlier today. I run into clients all the time who want to "plug and play" social media or any other "emerging technology". They fail to understand that core communication issues or bad business process will exist regardless the tool. And that is what social media is... a tool.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. I will be sure to check out your post!
ReplyDelete