Social Media Marketing Institute

There has been a lot of discussion about signal vs. noise and providing value in online communications.  Yesterday, Deb Ng wrote about why social media noise is good that sparked a good offline conversation with Andy Kaufman and I.

Recently, my social networking time has been limited. A big part of it is being crazy busy with SMMI operations but I have also found that I am hesitant to create too much “noise” and so therefore I step back from my communications.  As a result, I not only have produced less noise, I also have produced less signal.

I don’t and haven’t pushed my foursquare checkins to twitter or facebook unless I have a specific reason.  I monitor the noise that I make.  But recently, I have taken that a step further for fear of generating too much noise and not enough signal.

Do I need to censor myself as much as I have?  I feel like I have been missing out on conversations I used to have.  I am talking more in back channels, not because I am trying to be exclusive, but for fear of making too noise, which means I have been meeting fewer people.

Yesterday, I logged in for some scheduled social networking time and scoured my tweet stream for conversation.  All I got was “signal”.  Nuggets of value, links, huge booming words of wisdom, but I didn’t want to read all business at that point in time. I wanted conversation. 

Where was the conversation? 

Could I find one to jump in to and engage?  It was a struggle to find someone to talk to.  I am guessing lots of other people are worried about making too much noise. 

Noise does not have to be bad.  Noise can be the catalyst to conversation.  Noise can be the catalyst to identifying a common interest. Some of my most important business deals have occurred after initiating casual conversation.  I am not just talking about online.  Have you ever been to a party and found out someone else graduated from the same college, likes the same music, or is a raving fan of the same sports team?  There are times when it is pure business, and there are times when common interests create a bond that enables a deeper connection and a deeper trust.  When we are looking at people to do business with, we seek out people we trust.

Conversation creates an opportunity to generate a deeper level of trust that can lead to more powerful personal and professional relationships.  That conversation won’t close a sale most likely, but it might start the process of one.

Should we be cautious that our noise isn’t excessive?  Absolutely.  Should we focus only on making signal?  I don’t think so.

Converse with me.  I crave it.


When Facebook announced it was not going to allow business pages with less than 10,000 fans (or likers, whatever we call them these days) to have a custom landing page, the small business commmunity went into an uproar on twitter.  The sky seemed to be falling, yet I hardly blinked an eye.  Not because I knew they would reverse the silly policy (which they did), but because Facebook isn’t the hub of my business.  Twitter isn’t either.

People in our classes often ask us why bother having a blog when you can have a Facebook page.  It’s easy and a few people (like 400 million) spend some time there.  I like Facebook.  I recently wrote about the value of a Facebook business page.  Even with privacy violations and an ever changing landscape I like facebook, but guess what?  You don’t own Facebook (unless Mark Zuckerberg is reading this and if so, I would love to interview you).  So if you aren’t Mark, and you aren’t paying for a Facebook plan that dictates the level of service they have to provide to you, you really don’t have much say.  You are using a free platform.  They can change anything they please.

I believe in owning the hub of your business.  This means your own website on your own domain.  That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t maximize the use of other tools to reach your desired market, but they shouldn’t replace a central place that is the cornerstone for your brand.  Tools like Facebook are a fantastic place to engage with people and share content.  Ultimately, I believe they need to be used to drive trafffic to your own site.

Your online and offline engagements, messaging and actions act as spokes to a master wheel or hub like this:

The wheel holds it all together.  If you own the hub, it is solid and only chanageable by you.  If someone else owns it, you don’t have control of the piece that holds it all together.  What happens to the spokes if the wheel goes away?

Where will people go to find you?  What happens to all the content you created?  How long will it take you to reassemble the wheel?  At the end of the day, if you want to own your brand you have to own your hub.  

Many people come to us looking for what I like to call “the magic pill” or as RE BlogWorld Co-Founder Jason Berman calls it , “the social media secret sauce.”

What is the secret sauce? The magic recipe?  The perfect formula for social media marketing perfection? The secret sauce is not so much about the recipe, as it is about the ingredients or the effort you put into it.

The receipe is two part and looks something like this:

A relationship created over time where you establish trust and demonstrate expertise will yield influence. 

When you add influence and motivation together, you have the opportunity to generate results.

The secret sauce all comes down to the quality of the ingredients.  The magic recipe for social media success is not one size fits all. The relationship required with a consumer to sell a book is far different than the relationship required to sell a boat or a house. 

True success in the social media space requires an in-depth analysis of your target market, their wants, their needs, their desires, their buying capabilities and so on.  My target market is not your target market.  It is rare to find two companies or individuals with identical needs therefore each social media plan needs to be different.  You can follow the same basic recipe, but the quality and how you use the ingredients varies dramatically.

We often think about social media in a framework of numbers.   How many followers?  How many friends?  How many retweets?  How many likes?  Statistical analysis of a social media campaign is extremely important but true social media success really relates to people’s actions, not the number of fans, friends and followers.

How did they feel?  What action did that cause them to take?  What did they buy?  Who did they tell afterwards?  While the results of these questions do need to be carefully monitored, the perfect formula for incenting your customer base to act is based on their specific needs.

This week I have had three different organizations come to me with “get followers fast” claims.  There are lots of ways to get followers fast.  I can do the same.  Size of the audience can be an important ingredient in the equation but in most instances, the number of followers has nothing to do with “the secret sauce”. 

You can have tens of thousands of followers but the only ones who really matter are those you can influence to take the action you want them to take. How are you going to motivate them? Inspire them? Solve their problems?

Influence without action is a like a fallen soufflé. Inspiring action in your target audience is the most important part of the recipe. The magic is what you put into it.

Paul Chaney, the “Social Media Handyman” and an SMMI Advisory Board member, announced a major career move this week. Paul left his two and a half year position at Bizzuka to pursue a career in public speaking, coaching, training, writing and consulting on the topics of Internet marketing and social media.   

Paul is the author of The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media, a tremendous resource for anyone getting started in social networking.

I don’t get to see Paul often enough but I had the pleasure of seeing him speak recently at the Houston Association of Realtors Digital Camp where we were both presenting.  Paul’s presentation was dynamic and powerful.  He is passionate about social networking and helping others.  Paul puts his heart and soul into every project and we know his clients will be rewarded for it.

We wish Paul all the best with his new and exciting venture.

Just wanted to share with you one of the articles we have written and was published this month:

CRB magazine honored SMMI by publishing this article:

It’s Not All About You

Click on the link below to read an article on how social media will become part of the fabric or our life, and our marketing. Learn how to integrate and create an online reputation and become a person of trust.

Lessons from Social Media’s Explosive Growth