Social Media Marketing Institute

Everybody loves short cuts. Most social media tools are so easy to initiate that people don’t recognize the need for adequate training to use them in an ethical and effective manner. Of course I may be prejudiced since I spend so much time providing technology and social media training, but most people seem to have difficulty achieving business goals on their own.

For most, the challenge is making a paradigm shift to inbound marketing. Their old traditional marketing programs are shoved into new marketing channels, and though the company can claim to have a presence on social media channels, they are not building community, gaining business intelligence, or driving business in these new venues. But for others, the problem is simply that they are overwhelmed. They have difficulty adopting the appropriate channels for their communication because they are confused by the overwhelming choices, and the ever changing landscape of social media.

Our good friends at ColumnFive and Flowtown have rushed to the rescue with the infographic below. Though it is not a substitute for a knowledgeable consultant, or a live course or seminar, it can be a great tool for busy people that have no clue where to start. It will at least help you begin to differentiate the trees from the forest so you can begin to determine where your business might engage most effectively, or where your existing marketing resources might do further research  about expanding your online campaign.  So bookmark this, print it out, share it with your marketing team, or just use it as a cheat sheet for your next cocktail party but most of all use this as a tool  to help you determine  which channels to get more training on so you can deploy effectively.

Pinterest is ao online pinboard  share images that interest you. My favorite description of the site is “a place where women dress children they don’t have, furnish homes they don’t own, and save photos of vacations they haven’t taken” . But whatever it is, there is no question that the site is hot.  As of January 2012 Pinterest is driving more traffic than Google+, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn — combined and is almost equal to Twitter.
In some respects Pinterest is a social bookmarking tool like delicious, but its graphic nature makes it visually appealing. And the impact of social proof – our herd instinct is amazing. Like may others, I got an account, and found myself being followed daily by lots of people, who it seems were waiting for me to do something interesting.

The applications for retail operations are obvious, and even businesses like real estate are struggling to find ways to use this newest and hottest social tool. Social referrals seem to have even more impact on how we find things than search – the holy grail of online marketing.

Our good friends at ColumnFive and Monetate are ahead of the game as usual, bringing us the latest numbers on the Pinterest craze. Enjoy, I’m going to be pinning this to my Pinterest page as soon as its published. What do you pin to yours?

In the past 5 years, I have watched the discussion of social media go from “What is it?” to “Do I need it?” to “How do I do it?”.

Now people who came late to the dance wonder if its not too late to create an effective online presence. It seems that no matter what their business, it there has already been a huge rush to stake out what has been perceived as valuable online territory. The fear of being just another tree in a forest filled to the edges is not a fantasy. Luckily, that’s not how social marketing works. Social marketing has never been (and I’m not sure it ever will be) a function of the tools we use. If you’ve ever heard me talk, you know that I am fond of quoting my son Hal Lublin who said, “three years ago , social media was Friendster and MySpace, now its Twitter and Facebook, and we don’t know what it will be next. ” In fact, I would expand on that to say that no one know what it will be next. Maybe Google+ and its integration in the basic search, maybe YouTube (since every year seems to be the year of video) or maybe FourSquare or Gowalla(since every year is also the year of location based services) But no matter what the tool, the basics will remain the same.

1. Identify your target or niche market. Through the glory of what we used to call the information superhighway, we are no longer tied to just geography, but are free to work  demographics to reach our intended community
2. Be a Joiner – Its better to be part of your community’s existing world than it is to try to create your own world and seek their participation. Why worry about competing for their attention when you can put yourself firmly in the middle of the place they’re already focused on? Join the existing conversations. Add to the comments in their community, respond to their statements and questions as a peer, and your acceptance will be almost immediate. People are finding that they get more traction by participating in Facebook Groups than they do trying to get people to engage on theior Facebook pages.
3. Get Through Giving  People become pre-disposed to like you when you contribute freely and without question.If you  contribute to the community on their terms, at their pace, through the channels they choose to populate, you become viewed in the most positive fashion, earning a position of trust that leads to referrals and direct business, when the members of the community have a need for your product or service – it is the very essence of inbound marketing.
4. Be Genuine At some point you’re going to be dealing directly with your consumer, and your interaction will have set some expectations in their mind about who you are and what you stand for. If you are not the person they expected to meet, their experience, and your ability to maintain their trust is severely limited.  You need to send a consistent message  and you need to make sure that your message has the right context. Context in terms of the ongoing conversation and in terms of the platform you’re sharing on. In the world of FourSquare, Yelp and Foodspotting, sharing what you’re having for dinner is not only acceptable, its crucial to the community – on LinkedIn, not so much…
5. Be Patient You need to understand that this takes some time and you need to have realistic expectations. Whatever your business goals, social media is a long term investment of time and resources. Your strategy needs to be considerate of that fact. Because of the nature of the relationship process, consistency and patience are key to success. If you blog once a week, at the end of the year, you have accumulated 52 posts that create a part of your permanent presence online. Each picture post, tweet and poke contributes to an overall structure that becomes your online persona – a place where people can see not only what you are discussing or sharing today, but what you have contributed to the community at large.

Bottom line, there is still outstanding opportunity for small businesses and professionals in the social media space. Used thoughtfully, properly, and with integrity, you can connect with a wonderful online community that will profit  your business and enhance your life.

New opportunities are being created everyday, Where will you stake your claim?

There’s an old saying “When God gave us two ears and one mouth, he was trying to tell us something”

Listening is important - there’s no denying it. Its half of the online conversation. In fact, judging by the number of people that just read and lurk, listening is arguably the most important part of the conversation. It is easily more important for businesses in today’s world than ever before, because more people are talking and reacting in public than ever before.

The value of listening is obvious to brands according to Forrester Research. Though only 50% of brands responded that social media  was a core function of their marketing program, nine out of ten have some form of monitoring program in place. Eight out of ten respond to customer feedback online and almost 70% incorporate customer ideas to their business process. Brands as well as consumers are constantly watching Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social channels to determine what their customers think and how they are expressing their satisfaction- or the lack of it!

With the ROI of social media still an elusive concept for many businesses, there seems strong agreement that the key to determining the value of your social media efforts is to be found through the listening process. But differnet industries use different channels as part of the process.

Here’s a great infographic from our friends at ColumnFive and GetSatisfaction about how brands listen in the online space.

Historically (recent history anyway) disruptive technologies have made huge impacts on industries.

People buy and sell stocks online, taking stock brokers out of the equation. As little as 15 years ago, travel agents were  making the travel arrangements we make for ourselves today using sites like Orbitz, Hotwire, Hipmunk and others. An even better example of the transformative use of technology is Amazon, who changed the buying habits of the world, first through their online store and then through the distribution of the first mass market ebook reader (making the publication of eBooks a new profit center for themselves and publishers). Netflix challenged the movie rental and pay television industry first by delivery of DVDs to customers directly, and then by streaming a large library of high quality video for a low monthly fee.

The success of all of these models leads us to believe that every new technological business model will not only impact the industry it is aimed at, but potentially be one of those models that changes the industry deeply and profoundly. The truth, of course, is a different matter, and we are faced with determining how we can embrace change and new technology without creating unintended negative results in our business.

Here are four guideline businesses and professionals can use to maximize their potential for success while minimizing the impact of failure.

1. Keep Your Head on a swivel - Like a basketball player dribbling a ball in a fast moving high pressure game, spend more time watching what’s going on around you in the game than worrying about the moves you know you’re going to make with the ball you have in your hand. Don’t spend all your time focusing on the technology you’ve already adopted and put in place, make sure you know what new entries there are in the business, and what new tools are available for your consideration. Change is rapid and impactful, be ready to keep up the pace.
2. Every new thing isn’t necessarily the next great thing - Don’t let enthusiasm for a new concept or a new product run away with your common sense. You know how your business works (or you should) and you should look at all sides of a new idea to see where its week and where its strong. Be as analytical as possible  (while avoiding “paralysis by analysis”) in not only determining what technology to use, but how you are going to execute that technology. Great ideas with poor execution are sadly handicapped.
3. Don’t Just Follow the Crowd - In a world where there are over hundreds of millions of  people sharing their lives and decisions on Facebook , LinkedIn, Twitter and other social channels, the power of social proof – the “herd instinct” is huge. If everyone in your business is getting a Facebook business page, you want a Facebook business page. If everyone seems to be talking about using their Pinterest subscription for business, you want to use your the same way. If everyone else has a Google+ account then you need a Google+ account. After all if it works for them, it should work for you, right? Wrong! Don’t do anything that doesn’t have a clear business purpose for your business – and make sure that whatever you are doing, its sustainable and affordable – both in terms of financial cost, time and effort. 
   
4. Prepare for failure  - You should be trying lots of new things, but be prepared for some of them to fail. Its far worse to never try anything than it is to try a bunch of things and have some work better than others. Have a Plan “B” in case the product or service doesn’t do what you need. Adopting new software? Run your old software in tandem for a period of time to assure that the new system does everything you want it to. Trying a new site for your marketing efforts? Measure your results and be prepared to adjust your efforts, increasing or decreasing your other activities as you get a better understanding of how the new effort has impacted your overall success. Businesses are constantly evolving entities – don’t be afraid of the natural selection process. If you try something and it doesn’t work after a fair trial, don’t be afraid to let it go and try something new.

The future is waiting for all of us.If you are alert, flexible, bold and thoughtful,the future will become the key to your company’s growth and to your success, but its all in your hands.

How will you explore the future?