Top 5 Reasons Your Social Media Strategy Can Fail in 2010

There are many reasons your social media strategy can fail in 2010. Here are just five of them…

No Top Down Support
It doesn’t matter how mainstream social media is without top management support you’re going to fail. Social media takes time. When the boss sees people Tweeting, blogging and Facebooking during business, if he’s not on board he’s not going to like it. Find examples of competitors or other companies in your industry doing an effective job of engaging community and brand building through social media to get the boss on board.

No Content Strategy
Just because your company has a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page doesn’t mean you have a strategy. You need a content hub and a content theme for an effective content marketing strategy. Define the “why” and the “what” of your content strategy. Develop content that delivers on the three E’s: Educate, Enlighten, Entertain. Use platforms like Twitter and Facebook to support your content strategy. But, put the horse in front of the cart, not the other way around.

No Consistency
You’ve developed your content marketing strategy and you have the boss on board. You plan out the first two months of content and you post. Then that big trade show comes up and you get super busy. Your consistency goes from daily, to weekly and before you know it your only consistency is being absent from your social media strategy. This is worse than not having a social media strategy. If you’re not consistently posting content and engaging community, you’ll never enjoy the benefits of social media marketing. You wouldn’t water a garden once or twice then walk away from it, would you? Consistency is not an option in social media marketing.

You’re Too Loud
If all you do is consistently deliver a sales message on social media, you may just as well go buy billboards and skip social media. For social media newbies, the temptation is sometimes to use the tools as megaphones to shout sales messages. Some brands can earn the right to offer deals and promotions on social media. But, even those brands must have a loyal audience. In most cases the loyalty must be earned through consistent content and authentic, creative engagement. Brands that engage their community through enjoyable experiences win.  Remember the three E’s.

You’re Not Human
Brands who hide behind a corporate facade with corporate speak and no human interaction don’t do as well as brands who engage human to human. Zappos and Ford Motor are good examples of large B2C brands that engage well human to human.  In B2B some relatively unknown names such as Indium Corp.

BatchBlue and HubSpot are successful at engaging human to human rather than hiding behind a brand. The people at each of these companies post content in their individual name, respond to comments and engage with people who engage with them. They recognize that the brand perception is what other people think it is. They don’t ignore anyone. They engage human to human and it’s very effective for them.

There are other reasons your social media strategy could fail in 2010. For additional reasons, you’ll find an entire chapter dedicated to it in my book, Marketing 2.0.

Add your comments below to join in the conversation.

Bernie Borges

Social Media Results in Motion

The December 14th issue of BusinessWeek has an article entitled: Beware Social Media Snake Oil. The article is intended to be a balanced look at the lack of marketing success some companies are having with social media through industry consultants. I disagree that it’s balanced. I think the article is biased against the social media consulting industry. Here’s why…

As the owner of an inbound marketing agency helping clients get measurable marketing results through web marketing strategies which include social media, I take exception to the general characterization of “snake oil” to my entire industry. Sure, it’s hard. As Chris Brogan points out in the BusinessWeek article, social media marketing is still new. Many companies are still trying to figure out social media. And, some are doing it wrong. And, yes some may be getting bad advice from so called experts. But, that’s no excuse to call the entire industry a bunch of snake oils.

Historic Transition

We are in a period of transition in marketing history. As we close out 2009 there are still a mix of traditional marketing channels which allow marketers to deliver outbound messages through tried and true tactics including advertising, mail, events, contests, email, etc. But, as time passes some of these so called tried and true marketing tactics are becoming less and less effective. Ask yourself (as a consumer) how many advertisements you allow yourself to see or read? Better yet, ask yourself how many ads truly influence your purchase decisions? Now, ask yourself (as a consumer) where do you go to get information about products and services you’re considering? I’m not against advertising one iota.  But, I want marketers to ask yourself are you willing to ignore the connected consumer regardless of your industry? Are you willing to allow your competitors to engage your target market through social media while you ignore it?

Let the Experiments Begin

Most marketers are beginning to realize they don’t have a choice but to participate in social media. If some social media consultants irresponsibly lead you down a failed path ask yourself did he/she promise quick results?  Did he/she promise the tactics would work out of the gate? If he/she was one hundred percent honest he/she explained it will take time and the tactics you try may or may not work. A competent social media consultant will formulate a plan based on research and much dialogue with you to develop the plan. After the plan is developed, then let the experiments begin! That’s right – experiments!

Measuring Results

The BusinessWeek article is critical about the inability to measure results. There are numerous articles, books and blogs that have argued that measuring results in social media can be difficult. The issue is exacerbated by consultants counting Twitter followers as results. The only results that matter are tied to sales (or equivalent for non-profits). That said, there are many interim steps that lead to sales and a well planned social media strategy can facilitate those steps.  All marketers have the choice of implementing any combination of tactics to reach their consumer. The channels marketers use are a choice. It’s been said for decades by marketers: “Fifty percent of my marketing budget is wasted, I just don’t know which fifty percent.” This is no excuse for not measuring. The issue is how do we measure results? I’ve blogged about measuring results and written about it in my book, and so have many others more prominent than me such as Chris Brogan.

Results in Motion

All businesses want to get a return on their marketing. However, measurable results from a social media strategy may or may not look the same as they do in other channels.  And, they may or may not happen quickly. While there are many big brand examples of successful social media marketing including Dell, Comcast, IBM, Starbucks, Ford and  Zappos, there are also examples of smaller, unknown brands. I call these results in motion because they are a work in progress. Remember, social media is still new!

Consider how Utica, N.Y. based Indium Corp reaches a worldwide audience of engineers to educate them about their solder paste used in electronic assembly equipment. In this B2B example, Indium has 85 blogs staffed by 15 engineers. They also produce video content which is educational and sometimes humorous. Results: They produce contacts with engineers around the world, a portion of which become sales opportunities…Results in motion….

Consider how Toronto based Homemakers Magazine reaches Canadian women to engage them on topics such as cooking, health and life balance. They have a diversiied content strategy which gets delivered across various channels on the web. They measure the growth of their reach, which is a stepping stone to selling subscriptions and advertising…Results in motion.

Consider how Ford Motor Company developed their social media strategy as summarized in this slide deck:

Notice that the word “product” or “sales” is not in their social media strategy statement. But, look at their most recent sales results (below). I’m not suggesting that their social media strategy is entirely the reason for their positive sales performance. I believe strongly that Ford is an example of a big brand who is doing an effective job of integrating traditional marketing (e.g. television advertising) with social media through community centric events and activities which builds trust with the consumer and spreads through word of mouth, all under the leadership of Scott Monty, their head of social media.

These are just a few of many examples of businesses who recognize they must experiment with these new social media channels. In the process of experimenting they are willing to take some risk and learn lessons about what does and doesn’t work. They are measuring results that impact their brand, which impacts their ability to differentiate from competitors and compete for sales.

Choices?

Do marketers really have a choice but to experiment with social media? Remember the question I asked about where do you turn to gain insights about the products and services you buy? If your answer wasn’t the Internet are you being honest? When you turn to the Internet to search for products and services, do you rely on ads or do you  seek input from others and do you allow input from others to influence your decision?

I am a BusinessWeek subscriber and I have been for many years. I rely on BW to keep me informed on many business topics. I have seen BW do follow ups to stories in the past. For example, in May 2005 BW did a cover story on blogging and the impact on business. In May 2008 they did a follow up to that cover story called Beyond Blogs, which expanded the coverage to social media. While the social media snake oil story is not a cover story, I would like to see BW do a follow up story with favorable examples of companies (not limited to large brands like Ford) who are getting solid advice from consultants and who are achieving measurable results, even if those results are results in motion….

Twitter in Business: It’s for Real!

How can businesses use Twitter in a way that executives can justify having their employees spend time on Twitter? Listen to the podcast above. Below are the show notes.

Twitter is a cross between a social networking platform and a micro blogging platform. You create a simple profile, you start following people, some follow you and you have 140 characters to say something about what you’re doing, thinking or planning.  People who talk about interesting, meaningful stuff and include links to blogs and articles have a positive affect on their brand.

There has been lots of press coverage on Twitter including a Wall Street Journal article titled: “Twitter Goes Mainstream.”

In December 2008 HubSpot published the Q4 report on the State of the Twittersphere. Some interesting stats from this report:

• Twitter is dominated by new users – 70% of Twitter users joined in 2008.
• 5,000 to 10,000 new accounts are opened every day.
• 35% of Twitter users have 10 or fewer followers.
• 9% of Twitter users follow no one at all.
• There is a strong correlation between the number of people you follow and the number of followers you have.

Chuck Palm started following some Twitter celebrities recently.  He started following the CEO of Zappos, the well known online shoe store. Chuck searched for blue suede shoes and found a pair that meets his unique feet. Chuck found their customer service was terrific!

Zappos has over 400 employees using Twitter. They are very focused on customer service, engaging people on the web and building relationships. When you buy from Zappos you can Tweet what you bought and post it to Facebook.

When someone of prominence starts following you on Twitter others notice and your Twitter following starts to grow.

A Ford Motor Company promotion: “just drive one.” Scott Monty heads up social media marketing at Ford Motor. He builds relationships on the social web. He communicates what Ford is working on and allows word of mouth on the web to run its natural course. He talks in a conversational way. He informs in a human voice. He educates and he engages people. He once conducted an interview on Twitter between Alan Mulally, Ford’s CEO and consumers.

Many famous individuals use Twitter. To name just a few: Lance Armstrong, Governor Schwarzenegger, Demi Moore, Anderson Cooper. Cooper always drops links to stories on CNN.

How important is the number of followers? It depends on how important that is to you. Guy Kawasaki once stated that he would be willing to pay $500 per month. He said it’s the best platform to communicate with so many people so easily. Marketing reach like never before!

“Show Me The Money!”

Who in your company is a good candidate to embrace Twitter to write interesting posts several times per day? Ideally it should be more than one person.  Consider a Twitter persona branded by the company, e.g., Apple, Comcast, L.A. Fire Department, Zappos, HubSpot, etc. Individual employees should be Tweeting about anything relevant, not always about yourself or your company.

Focus on building great relationships!

Breaking Twitter Etiquette

The biggest etiquette rule on Twitter is not to view Twitter as a platform for shameless promotion. Some  view it as an advertising billboard.  It’ NOT! it’s a platform for your human voice to build relationships across a great reach.  You can make so many connections on Twitter. Market through relationship building, not shameless promotion.

@chuckpalm got a new Twitter background. The gal behind TweetGlitz.com created a new Twitter background for Chuck for free. And, she got a shameless plug from Chuck on this podcast. Not bad!

During the holidays of 2008 Dell sold more than $1M through Twitter. People were tweeting about promotions during the holidays, only available to Dell’s Twitter followers.

I personally have made several valuable connections on Twitter as I use it for relationship building in my social media marketing plan.

Twitter provides access to your community and to your extended community through a multiplier affect.

Twitter is like a marketing megaphone due to its exponential reach.

Many businesses can strengthen their brand through Twitter.

Do you know any businesses doing a great job on Twitter? Please write about them below.

Bernie Borges
@berniebay

Are You Building Your Personal Brand?

This blog post is an excerpt on personal branding from my forthcoming book Marketing 2.0, due out in June…

The term personal branding is relatively young, but the concept is nothing new.  Before the advent of the social web and its many opportunities for personal branding we just called it our “reputation.”  If you’re old enough to remember building your career before the Internet became social, our reputation followed us from job to job.  We used personal referrals through the relationships we built to maintain our reputation.  Our reputation was built by our achievements and the relationships we built throughout our career.  Those relationships included our peers, bosses, subordinates, customers, trade association colleagues and people in our community.  As we traveled around in our career our word of mouth reputation followed us through a chain of phone calls, and live conversations, not to mention old fashion letters of referrals.

Fast forward to 2009 and our reputation isn’t even called that anymore.  Now it’s called our personal brand.  There are real dangers in not understanding the concept of a personal brand and how to develop and manage one.  There is also a danger for employers to attempt to thwart employees from building their personal brand.  The truth is an employee who builds a good personal brand has two benefactors: him or herself and their employer.

To build your personal brand start by filling out your online profile on social networking sites including but not limited to Linkedin and Facebook.  If you’re willing to devote the time to Twitter, then go there as well.  If you’re willing to devote more time to it create a Flickr account with photos and a YouTube channel where you aggregate videos about your favorite topics.

It’s critical to understand one point though before you set out to build your personal brand.  Whatever you put online stays online.  And, your personal brand is you both professionally and personally.  If you think you can build a personal brand about your 9 to 5 life and a separate personal brand about your evenings and weekends life, think again.  The web has converged our lives into one platform.

How can you help your staff build their personal brand while also benefiting your organization?  Start by embracing this concept because you will both benefit. Next, set out to build your own personal brand if you haven’t already.  In most cases, whatever you do to build your personal brand you should encourage your staff to consider, though in their unique way.  It’s important to know the area of expertise of your team members and encourage them to build personal brands around those strengths.  Start with the basics described above by creating a footprint on the social web by getting them actively engaged in social networking sites.  Make sure their profile is completed entirely.  Upload a good picture of you that is current.  Once you’ve filled out your profile you’re just getting started.  Then, start connecting with people you know directly or indirectly.  Use the Search feature to find people you used to work with or went to school with or are from your home town and connect with them.  In LinkedIn you connect with others.  In Facebook you friend others.  In Twitter you follow others.

Chances are you’re already using at least one of these mentioned social web platforms.  That’s great!  But, are you building your personal brand with them and encouraging your staff to do the same? Perhaps, your staff has a head start on you and they’ve been bugging you to get started.  You’ve resisted either because you thought it is for kids or because you think you don’t have the time.  Well, Mr. or Ms. CEO, I’ve got news for you.  Many of your peers are already there.  Your absence is obvious.  The train has left the station.  Get on board!

Once you have your social profiles completed, how often do you upload content to your personal profile or to industry social sites? How often do you recommend others in your network? How often do you answer questions in online discussions? How often do you ask questions?  How often do you check each of these platforms – once per month? Once per week? Daily? Hourly? In order to develop your personal brand you must be active in the online social platforms.

Here are some tips to consider in building your personal brand on the social web:
•    Be visible: Stay active in which ever social web platform you choose to participate.  When you are active you will be noticed more and you have more opportunity to engage with others.
•    Be interesting: Whatever your subject matter expertise you probably have ideas to express.  Think of creative ways to express your thoughts.  Ask questions meant to get people thinking.  Remember that often what is obvious to you is probably not so obvious to others.  Don’t be shy about expressing your points and stimulating new conversations.
•    Contribute: Similarly share your insights.  We live in an economy where our content is our marketing.  When you have good content to share, by all means share it! You’ll get recognized for it.  Don’t be surprised if you get invited into more conversations, or invited to speak or write because you have contributed good content.
•    Push the envelope: This one requires discretion especially if you are employed (as opposed to being self employed) or you are the CEO.  You don’t want to create controversy which can have a negative impact on both you and your business.  Using discretion you can be provocative and thought provoking with your ideas or methods of getting things done.
•    Be real: This is critical.  The social web is not a place to act or be someone you’re not.  You may get away with it for a little while but not for too long.
•    How do you want to be found? If you do a Google search on “personal branding” the number one listing (in early 2009) is a blog called Personal Branding Blog by Dan Shawbel.  Develop your personal brand around something specific that you can use as your unique value proposition.  Even if it doesn’t boil down to a single phrase like this example, you can still become known for something like “the gal you want to hire if you need to launch a new product in the (fill in the blank) industry.”

To promote your personal brand promote your presence on the web.  Start with the simple tactics such as including links your social web profiles.  If you have a blog, include graphic links to each of your social web profiles and invite people to connect to you.

Building your personal brand is too important to ignore.  Businesses who understand the value of a personal brand do more than accept it, they embrace it.  One of my favorite personal branding examples is Matt Cutts from Google. His personal brand is very recognizable to people in the Internet industry.  Google benefits greatly from Cutts’ personal brand because he is so effective at conveying who he is as a person and as a Google engineer.  Another good example is Scott Monty of the Ford Motor Company. Scott heads up social media at Ford. He is an active blogger and he is very active on Twitter. He delivers great content about Ford enhancing their reputation while he has built his own reputation as a social media strategist.

If it frightens you that your employees may leave once they develop their personal brand then I argue you have other problems to address.  Such insecurity will fail you in an age of marketing on the social web.  A strong personal brand will benefit you and your employees assuming other pieces of healthy employment are in place.

Personal branding is the new media version of reputation management.  You can’t fight it.  Embrace it for all its value.  Personal branding does not have a line item in your marketing budget but it is a marketing asset.  It takes time to develop and maintain.  But, there is a strong argument for the opportunity cost of not allowing employees to develop a personal brand.  One way or another they will do it.  You may as well encourage them to do it in a mutually beneficial way.

Bernie Borges
@berniebay