I have the good fortune of being active on the social media and business speaking circuits, which means I run both practical workshops and deliver more high-level speeches on the topics that affect us on a day to day basis in these worlds.
That’s a cool thing. Most frequently, I’m asked to speak about:
- Measurement & Metrics
- Community Management
- Social Media Execution
- Why Social Media Matters
Those seem to be recurring topics that folks want practical instruction on, and I’m comfortable talking about them. That comfort, however, leads me to wonder whether there’s something else that isn’t being said. Topics that aren’t getting enough attention. Somewhere that I need to be stretching my ability to teach to have more impact.
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know?
As Steve Jobs is quoted as saying, no one knew they needed the iPhone. So in some ways, I wonder if the conference attendees out there – many of you, probably – really know what is is they (we) are hungry for. Perhaps we know what we want to hear. The harder task? To identify the glimmers of the topics we can’t quite identify, but that we need to talk about.
I’m on the hunt to reframe some of the same old topics, and tackle some scary new ones. Things like reality checks on social media implementation and engagement. What it really takes to write great business content on the web today. The challenges and realities of building internal culture. The importance of creativity in business. Speaking the language of executives when you aren’t one.
Stuff like that. Things that aren’t directly step-by-step social media, but that can help us reframe ideas within social media and the business world that’s shifting around us.
Framing Ideas In Your Reality
So I’m going to ask you to weigh in, because when I’m out speaking, I’m speaking for your benefit. For you to walk away with something, hopefully fresh and new that helps you look at things differently. You pay good money to go to these events and hear these sessions, right?
I get that you can’t do that for me. The hard work is mine, and the burden is on me as the speaker to deliver great and valuable content. But I’m hoping you have a few thoughts you can share, or that have been burning in your mind when you go to events and think “I’m not sure I got something out of that.”
I hear plenty of people say what they didn’t dig from conference sessions, but I’m hoping all of you smart folks can offer something more concrete, or at least even messy glimpses at what you feel is missing on the circuit today, and what you do want to see. Maybe I’m prematurely jaded, and the topics above are still incredibly necessary and valuable. You tell me.
Lastly, if you’re going to hop in and ask for “case studies and practical examples”, I’m going to challenge you a step further and tell me why you want those case studies, and what precisely you want to learn from them. Otherwise, they’re as conceptual as any other content, because they’re not contexually relevant. So take care before you just tell me you need another one.
Want to Help Shake It Up?
I’m going to work on this regardless. But you, my friends and readers and colleagues, can sound off here too. Stay silent if you like, and leave it up to me. That’s okay, and I promise I’ll work hard to do you proud.
But if we’re all demanding more from this fishbowl of ours, it’s only fair of me to give you a voice in this, too. I’m waiting to hear from you. Dust off those opinions, and off you go.
Amber
I really like this idea / approach – some shaking up would be very refreshing 🙂
I’ll be sure to put my thinking cap on and come back with some thoughts.
Cheers
Adam
.-= Adam Vincenzini´s last blog ..40 of the Most Useful Social Media and PR Blog Posts of Q1, 2010 (Jan – Mar) =-.
Amber
I really like this idea / approach – some shaking up would be very refreshing 🙂
I’ll be sure to put my thinking cap on and come back with some thoughts.
Cheers
Adam
.-= Adam Vincenzini´s last blog ..40 of the Most Useful Social Media and PR Blog Posts of Q1, 2010 (Jan – Mar) =-.
I’m glad you asked this, Amber. I’ve been struggling with this, too, as I think all bloggers do from time to time.
It feels like we’re (finally) reaching that phase where social media is (slightly) less of a shiny object. Execs are asking harder, more pointed questions and not settling for “ROI doesn’t matter” or B.S. answers like “it’s all about the conversation.”
My question: Will we stick around to answers these tough questions, remain passionate about these topics when they’re more hard work than sexy, satisfy ourselves with incremental improvement, or will we take flight and look for more wide-open territory to explore?
I’d like to do both…wouldn’t you?
.-= Scott Hepburn´s last blog ..20 Business Decisions You Can Make with Social Data =-.
I think we’ll go where the growth opportunities are. And judging by this week’s activity, I’d say it’s location-based services, mobile and iPad. And I’m afraid that if it isn’t sexy, you’re probably in the wrong line of work. 😉
.-= M. Edward (Ed) Borasky´s last blog ..The ‘????? ???????’ story: Shostakovich, musique concrète, Wikipedia, bullshit and curation =-.
I’m glad you asked this, Amber. I’ve been struggling with this, too, as I think all bloggers do from time to time.
It feels like we’re (finally) reaching that phase where social media is (slightly) less of a shiny object. Execs are asking harder, more pointed questions and not settling for “ROI doesn’t matter” or B.S. answers like “it’s all about the conversation.”
My question: Will we stick around to answers these tough questions, remain passionate about these topics when they’re more hard work than sexy, satisfy ourselves with incremental improvement, or will we take flight and look for more wide-open territory to explore?
I’d like to do both…wouldn’t you?
.-= Scott Hepburn´s last blog ..20 Business Decisions You Can Make with Social Data =-.
I think we’ll go where the growth opportunities are. And judging by this week’s activity, I’d say it’s location-based services, mobile and iPad. And I’m afraid that if it isn’t sexy, you’re probably in the wrong line of work. 😉
.-= M. Edward (Ed) Borasky´s last blog ..The ‘????? ???????’ story: Shostakovich, musique concrète, Wikipedia, bullshit and curation =-.
Amber, I find it fascinating that you too find audiences principally interested in hearing about ways to measure ROI. I too find such topical directions to be a bit of a rudderless boat – a conversation without context – akin to monitoring gas mileage without regard for the possibiity of changing the type of vehicle you drive, or checking your personal vital signs but not contemplating a change in your diet or exercise regimen in response to the readings. I almost dread being asked the question, because so much depends on the subject business’s context that it is difficult to answer it theoretically and impart any meaningful information.
In response to your idea of doing a social media reality check, consider that I’ve bee wrestling with the notion of Social Media as a medium for enhancing and sustaining a community. One key questions occurs to me: how do you prevent a community from becoming a victim of its own success? For example, at what point does one’s Twitter network become so large that it loses its intimate, 2-way dialogue characteristics and start to become a one-way fanbase narrowcast medium? Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but if your once-intimate social media network morphs into a predominantly outbound narrowcast network, what do you do to get it back (if desired) or replace it with different approaches that keep the healthy two-way dialogue flowing?
Next topic (and arguably a partial solution to the first one above): There are not shortcuts to success; the one that is continually underestimated is the necessity of great content. Without content, there is no need to pay attention and, hence, no opportunity or requirment for community. It all starts and ends with content.
I could go on, but I just wanted to jot a few notes to repay the favor of your stimulating post. I think your instincts are good. Run with it!
Best,
~Ed
Amber, I find it fascinating that you too find audiences principally interested in hearing about ways to measure ROI. I too find such topical directions to be a bit of a rudderless boat – a conversation without context – akin to monitoring gas mileage without regard for the possibiity of changing the type of vehicle you drive, or checking your personal vital signs but not contemplating a change in your diet or exercise regimen in response to the readings. I almost dread being asked the question, because so much depends on the subject business’s context that it is difficult to answer it theoretically and impart any meaningful information.
In response to your idea of doing a social media reality check, consider that I’ve bee wrestling with the notion of Social Media as a medium for enhancing and sustaining a community. One key questions occurs to me: how do you prevent a community from becoming a victim of its own success? For example, at what point does one’s Twitter network become so large that it loses its intimate, 2-way dialogue characteristics and start to become a one-way fanbase narrowcast medium? Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but if your once-intimate social media network morphs into a predominantly outbound narrowcast network, what do you do to get it back (if desired) or replace it with different approaches that keep the healthy two-way dialogue flowing?
Next topic (and arguably a partial solution to the first one above): There are not shortcuts to success; the one that is continually underestimated is the necessity of great content. Without content, there is no need to pay attention and, hence, no opportunity or requirment for community. It all starts and ends with content.
I could go on, but I just wanted to jot a few notes to repay the favor of your stimulating post. I think your instincts are good. Run with it!
Best,
~Ed
I think more social media people need to tell conference audiences that social media won’t save them from the impact of their shitty customer service, shitty .com sites or any other shitty practice they’ve become comfortable with.
Social media won’t change your organizational culture, it’ll simply put it on display for the rest of the world to see.
And, perhaps most importantly, not every brand or organization is ready for social media. In fact, some may never be. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
As for case studies, I’m a big fan of the ones that show abject failure because they tend to have more teachable lessons in them then success, which are just as often a result of catching lightning in a bottle than any strategic vision and approach.
Hope this helps!
.-= Joe Boughner´s last blog ..Trying to do something good =-.
I think more social media people need to tell conference audiences that social media won’t save them from the impact of their shitty customer service, shitty .com sites or any other shitty practice they’ve become comfortable with.
Social media won’t change your organizational culture, it’ll simply put it on display for the rest of the world to see.
And, perhaps most importantly, not every brand or organization is ready for social media. In fact, some may never be. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
As for case studies, I’m a big fan of the ones that show abject failure because they tend to have more teachable lessons in them then success, which are just as often a result of catching lightning in a bottle than any strategic vision and approach.
Hope this helps!
.-= Joe Boughner´s last blog ..Trying to do something good =-.
Hey Amber – what a great question to ask. Here are a few of the issues that I’ve been wrestling with in my practice lately, and would love to get your insight on:
– Companies that integrate Social Media as an additional marketing channel without a dedicated content plan – is this a recipe for failure, or can the “right” person make it work?
– What are the real fears executives have about SM? We often hear “lack of control”, “Unproven/ROI”, and “insufficient resources”, but I believe there are others, and would love to hear your take.
– There are a number of tactical implementations of social media that depart from how the SM purists believe SM should be implemented. For example, many SM-types disdain the use of Twitter as a corporate broadcast-only channel. These gaps obviously highlight differences between what those of us in the fishbowl think, versus how it is being executed in the real world. Rather than assuming that we know best, what lessons can WE learn from businesses who are (presumably) “doing it wrong”?
Thank you for your continued intelligent and provocative efforts.
.-= Joe Hafner´s last blog ..Commented on “Mashable – The Social Media Guide” =-.
Hey Amber – what a great question to ask. Here are a few of the issues that I’ve been wrestling with in my practice lately, and would love to get your insight on:
– Companies that integrate Social Media as an additional marketing channel without a dedicated content plan – is this a recipe for failure, or can the “right” person make it work?
– What are the real fears executives have about SM? We often hear “lack of control”, “Unproven/ROI”, and “insufficient resources”, but I believe there are others, and would love to hear your take.
– There are a number of tactical implementations of social media that depart from how the SM purists believe SM should be implemented. For example, many SM-types disdain the use of Twitter as a corporate broadcast-only channel. These gaps obviously highlight differences between what those of us in the fishbowl think, versus how it is being executed in the real world. Rather than assuming that we know best, what lessons can WE learn from businesses who are (presumably) “doing it wrong”?
Thank you for your continued intelligent and provocative efforts.
.-= Joe Hafner´s last blog ..Commented on “Mashable – The Social Media Guide” =-.
Once you understand the basics of social media/marketing, the real issue is how you actually implement a social media program at your business, especially if there are multiple locations, multiple tiers, or lots of employees. When you’re small, you can get key staff together quickly and work thru issues and resolve them on the spot. But so many businesses are not structured to do that.
How do you get operations and IT on board? How do you reconstruct your backroom functions and develop your front-line staff so you have the back-up and support you need to be truly effective in social media communications? That’s really the challenge but it’s rarely addressed in workshops. Your business has to be geared up to effectively solve problems and respond to questions and concerns in real time. Businesses usually operate from 8-5 but issues arise 24/7. How do structure your business so you can respond quickly and accurately and make changes in a timely way?
After participating in several webinars or workshops and reading some white papers, let’s say you’re excited about the potential of SM mktg, and you think, okay, my marketing dept can make this work. It will be tough, but I can get my staff up-to-speed, reorganize our priorities, develop a plan, set goals, and we can get our business out there on Facebook, Twitter (or whatever vehicle you think is appropriate). But, have you even considered all of the other people in your business who need to support the effort, change their priorities, revamp their procedures, etc? Marketing/PR may be the communicators, but marketing cannot do it right unless they have key areas of the business behind them. Otherwise it’s just fluff and there’s no credibility.
Hi Lori –
Some good discussion points. I think part of the challenge in addressing this in a workshop or seminar is that much of the “how to” is reliant upon the details of a particular business and its structure, so it’s really hard to provide generalities in a 45 minute session that are universally applicable. In many of these rooms, you have small biz and large biz, those with the right culture for social and those still trying to make a case for it.
So the challenge for us presenter types is that everyone wants a presentation tailored to and actionable for their business, and it’s just impossible to present a single session that can roadmap these things appropriately for everyone (and certainly not in very much depth given the usual time constraints).
One approach I’ve taken instead is to review a sort of assessment and series of questions that businesses can ask themselves in order to determine the appropriate answers for them.
But how would you address the challenge of trying to solve such a monstrous issue as you’ve outlined in a 45 minute general session to a diverse audience profile?
Once you understand the basics of social media/marketing, the real issue is how you actually implement a social media program at your business, especially if there are multiple locations, multiple tiers, or lots of employees. When you’re small, you can get key staff together quickly and work thru issues and resolve them on the spot. But so many businesses are not structured to do that.
How do you get operations and IT on board? How do you reconstruct your backroom functions and develop your front-line staff so you have the back-up and support you need to be truly effective in social media communications? That’s really the challenge but it’s rarely addressed in workshops. Your business has to be geared up to effectively solve problems and respond to questions and concerns in real time. Businesses usually operate from 8-5 but issues arise 24/7. How do structure your business so you can respond quickly and accurately and make changes in a timely way?
After participating in several webinars or workshops and reading some white papers, let’s say you’re excited about the potential of SM mktg, and you think, okay, my marketing dept can make this work. It will be tough, but I can get my staff up-to-speed, reorganize our priorities, develop a plan, set goals, and we can get our business out there on Facebook, Twitter (or whatever vehicle you think is appropriate). But, have you even considered all of the other people in your business who need to support the effort, change their priorities, revamp their procedures, etc? Marketing/PR may be the communicators, but marketing cannot do it right unless they have key areas of the business behind them. Otherwise it’s just fluff and there’s no credibility.
Hi Lori –
Some good discussion points. I think part of the challenge in addressing this in a workshop or seminar is that much of the “how to” is reliant upon the details of a particular business and its structure, so it’s really hard to provide generalities in a 45 minute session that are universally applicable. In many of these rooms, you have small biz and large biz, those with the right culture for social and those still trying to make a case for it.
So the challenge for us presenter types is that everyone wants a presentation tailored to and actionable for their business, and it’s just impossible to present a single session that can roadmap these things appropriately for everyone (and certainly not in very much depth given the usual time constraints).
One approach I’ve taken instead is to review a sort of assessment and series of questions that businesses can ask themselves in order to determine the appropriate answers for them.
But how would you address the challenge of trying to solve such a monstrous issue as you’ve outlined in a 45 minute general session to a diverse audience profile?
You’re right; maybe all you can do is make sure they get that message. Checklists are good. Case studies are good. Examples of what has to be aligned are good. It’s tough to do a lot in 45 minutes, no matter what the topic. But as you consider other topics, something like, “Aligning Your Business to Be Effective in the Social Media World,” might be a good follow-up to a basic webinar.
I know this could be hard to tackle in 45 minutes. One simple solution I can think off is making series that could cover more details. Why not a 3 hour session at a conference or a series of webinars during a month. I know it still won’t be to precise, but perhaps this approach could help cover more topics and in the case of the webinars get people to gather information so more deep questions can be asked in the next session.
.-= Jorge´s last blog ..If you want to meet your objectives, make your product useful. =-.
You’re right; maybe all you can do is make sure they get that message. Checklists are good. Case studies are good. Examples of what has to be aligned are good. It’s tough to do a lot in 45 minutes, no matter what the topic. But as you consider other topics, something like, “Aligning Your Business to Be Effective in the Social Media World,” might be a good follow-up to a basic webinar.
I know this could be hard to tackle in 45 minutes. One simple solution I can think off is making series that could cover more details. Why not a 3 hour session at a conference or a series of webinars during a month. I know it still won’t be to precise, but perhaps this approach could help cover more topics and in the case of the webinars get people to gather information so more deep questions can be asked in the next session.
.-= Jorge´s last blog ..If you want to meet your objectives, make your product useful. =-.
What culture shifts are needed to support ideal processes… the overlap between SM strategy and Enterprise 2.0… SM learnings as bedrock for business process reboot.
.-= Jeremy Meyers´s last blog ..What “What ___ Can Teach us about blogging” can teach us about blogging. =-.
What culture shifts are needed to support ideal processes… the overlap between SM strategy and Enterprise 2.0… SM learnings as bedrock for business process reboot.
.-= Jeremy Meyers´s last blog ..What “What ___ Can Teach us about blogging” can teach us about blogging. =-.
Amber,
The exciting thing happening right now is change and opportunity. There are so many different angles one can take when talking about social media, ROI, Implementation, etc. The content providers and thought leaders always seem to push the envelop or find a new way to talk about an old idea.
Each of us have our own unique background and experiences. I think talking about similar topics from a different vantage point is helpful. Reading has helped me come up with new ideas. I look forward to reading your work moving forward.
.-= David Benjamin´s last blog ..How targeted are you in your search? =-.
Amber,
The exciting thing happening right now is change and opportunity. There are so many different angles one can take when talking about social media, ROI, Implementation, etc. The content providers and thought leaders always seem to push the envelop or find a new way to talk about an old idea.
Each of us have our own unique background and experiences. I think talking about similar topics from a different vantage point is helpful. Reading has helped me come up with new ideas. I look forward to reading your work moving forward.
.-= David Benjamin´s last blog ..How targeted are you in your search? =-.
Well, you probably can anticipate my bias here, but I’ll be blatant for a change. What’s missing for me is a sense that people want to build models from all the social media (and other) analytics data we are collecting and storing, in some cases “forever”. I see dashboards, definitions, drag-and-drop, widgets, best practices, key performance indicators, and, of course, funnels, goals, campaigns, etc. But I don’t see models – simplified representations that we can use to save time, energy, screen real estate and data storage space.
.-= M. Edward (Ed) Borasky´s last blog ..The ‘????? ???????’ story: Shostakovich, musique concrète, Wikipedia, bullshit and curation =-.
Well, you probably can anticipate my bias here, but I’ll be blatant for a change. What’s missing for me is a sense that people want to build models from all the social media (and other) analytics data we are collecting and storing, in some cases “forever”. I see dashboards, definitions, drag-and-drop, widgets, best practices, key performance indicators, and, of course, funnels, goals, campaigns, etc. But I don’t see models – simplified representations that we can use to save time, energy, screen real estate and data storage space.
.-= M. Edward (Ed) Borasky´s last blog ..The ‘????? ???????’ story: Shostakovich, musique concrète, Wikipedia, bullshit and curation =-.
I second the emotion of Joe Boughner: “I think more social media people need to tell conference audiences that social media won’t save them from the impact of their shitty customer service, shitty .com sites or any other shitty practice they’ve become comfortable with.”
Social media is not just about changing the way marketing is delivered, i.e. playing with messaging formats. It’s about critiquing and revolutionizing the way business does business. A corporation that mouth humanistic pablum–“Your call is very important to us”–then treats people like machines is not a business that will do well opening a Twitter account.
Corporations needs a conversion experience–in it’s deepest sense–a metanoia, change of heart.
Is this something that can be taught?
I second the emotion of Joe Boughner: “I think more social media people need to tell conference audiences that social media won’t save them from the impact of their shitty customer service, shitty .com sites or any other shitty practice they’ve become comfortable with.”
Social media is not just about changing the way marketing is delivered, i.e. playing with messaging formats. It’s about critiquing and revolutionizing the way business does business. A corporation that mouth humanistic pablum–“Your call is very important to us”–then treats people like machines is not a business that will do well opening a Twitter account.
Corporations needs a conversion experience–in it’s deepest sense–a metanoia, change of heart.
Is this something that can be taught?
If we’re going to talk about what’s not being said, I’ll throw out the dreaded S-word: Spam.
Any SM listening campaign is going look at what is being said online and often throw up a pretty graph or two that shows mentions or share of voice. And every single one will be a false representation of reality. Spam will always sneak into those numbers- especially in social media where it is easy to create a hundred different blogs and twitter accounts that post slightly different messages and use slightly different links to drive traffic to what is being sold. If I am looking for a pair of rocket skates and my twitter search yields 60 different tweets proclaiming the greatness of Acme skates it is going to at the very least plant a seed in my head about them. Happens to even the “super genius” type from what I understand.
Our goal is always to minimize the spam from our results (you will never eradicate it) but even that goal can be short sighted. Your target audience isn’t using the same tools to scry the social media landscape- and they sure aren’t actively filtering for spam like you are. Sometimes the behavior of spam (when it floods, the keywords it uses, etc.) can be a powerful tool in analyzing the behavior of your target audience. Spammers may often be sleazy and underhanded but they aren’t stupid.
Instead of ignoring spam as a matter of course, it needs to also be part of the conversation about what is happening online- just as it is in actual practice.
.-= Geoff Knox´s last blog ..GeoffKnox: @Chaf Falls into the same category as "tooth fairy", "leprechaun" and "abominable snowman". =-.
Interesting thought!
.-= M. Edward (Ed) Borasky´s last blog ..The ‘????? ???????’ story: Shostakovich, musique concrète, Wikipedia, bullshit and curation =-.
If we’re going to talk about what’s not being said, I’ll throw out the dreaded S-word: Spam.
Any SM listening campaign is going look at what is being said online and often throw up a pretty graph or two that shows mentions or share of voice. And every single one will be a false representation of reality. Spam will always sneak into those numbers- especially in social media where it is easy to create a hundred different blogs and twitter accounts that post slightly different messages and use slightly different links to drive traffic to what is being sold. If I am looking for a pair of rocket skates and my twitter search yields 60 different tweets proclaiming the greatness of Acme skates it is going to at the very least plant a seed in my head about them. Happens to even the “super genius” type from what I understand.
Our goal is always to minimize the spam from our results (you will never eradicate it) but even that goal can be short sighted. Your target audience isn’t using the same tools to scry the social media landscape- and they sure aren’t actively filtering for spam like you are. Sometimes the behavior of spam (when it floods, the keywords it uses, etc.) can be a powerful tool in analyzing the behavior of your target audience. Spammers may often be sleazy and underhanded but they aren’t stupid.
Instead of ignoring spam as a matter of course, it needs to also be part of the conversation about what is happening online- just as it is in actual practice.
.-= Geoff Knox´s last blog ..GeoffKnox: @Chaf Falls into the same category as "tooth fairy", "leprechaun" and "abominable snowman". =-.
Interesting thought!
.-= M. Edward (Ed) Borasky´s last blog ..The ‘????? ???????’ story: Shostakovich, musique concrète, Wikipedia, bullshit and curation =-.
Hi Amber,
Thanks for your provocative articles. Stimulating us to consider what we’re doing (and not doing) is wonderful, especially when changes in our world are advancing so rapidly that we see any “big picture” only dimly — in the realms of social media and marketing, certainly, but even more in all the disciplines trying to learn how to utilize them.
I just discovered your blog, and as much as I love what you’ve been saying, I’m just as amazed by the depth and diversity of all the comments you receive. I’ve just become an avid subscriber.
Robbie
Hi Amber,
Thanks for your provocative articles. Stimulating us to consider what we’re doing (and not doing) is wonderful, especially when changes in our world are advancing so rapidly that we see any “big picture” only dimly — in the realms of social media and marketing, certainly, but even more in all the disciplines trying to learn how to utilize them.
I just discovered your blog, and as much as I love what you’ve been saying, I’m just as amazed by the depth and diversity of all the comments you receive. I’ve just become an avid subscriber.
Robbie
Whilst the social media space is beginning to mature a little, businesses are still rushing headlong into it without full recognition that it is just another hammer in their toolkit, is if they don’t “get” the need to effectively engage/communicate with and market to their customers using all the other tools in the kit, then social media is a total waste of time.
I don’t see it often enough, but I’d like to see more speakers give examples of how to develop a fully integrated approach to engagement/marketing, encompassing all forms of interaction, not just social media.
Such presentations could be build around actual or hypothetical case studies, and (to give two examples) on such areas as :
– a specific marketing campaign (new product launch)
– overall corporate brand awareness / communication
Far too many silos still, and not enough joined up thinking on integration of channels. We all need to be where our customers are, wherever that may be, and (gasp) some still watch TV, read magazines, listen to the radio etc… and (gasp !!!) don’t use social media… so we need to have an appropriate mix of tools being used.
Why the silos ? With regard to social media in particular, I’ve blogged about this frequently, but I’m finding that those who have come up through the ranks in PR/Ad/Creative/support agencies in the marketing and communications fields… are struggling with social media and what it means.. and struggling a lot…. so they still put social media in a corner.
So, idea for how to keep it sexy (speakers need to sell their presentations, I guess!), how about “integrating and embedding social media into an integrated branding campaign” as a topic idea ?
.-= Tom McCallum´s last blog ..My #1 Marketing Tip =-.
Whilst the social media space is beginning to mature a little, businesses are still rushing headlong into it without full recognition that it is just another hammer in their toolkit, is if they don’t “get” the need to effectively engage/communicate with and market to their customers using all the other tools in the kit, then social media is a total waste of time.
I don’t see it often enough, but I’d like to see more speakers give examples of how to develop a fully integrated approach to engagement/marketing, encompassing all forms of interaction, not just social media.
Such presentations could be build around actual or hypothetical case studies, and (to give two examples) on such areas as :
– a specific marketing campaign (new product launch)
– overall corporate brand awareness / communication
Far too many silos still, and not enough joined up thinking on integration of channels. We all need to be where our customers are, wherever that may be, and (gasp) some still watch TV, read magazines, listen to the radio etc… and (gasp !!!) don’t use social media… so we need to have an appropriate mix of tools being used.
Why the silos ? With regard to social media in particular, I’ve blogged about this frequently, but I’m finding that those who have come up through the ranks in PR/Ad/Creative/support agencies in the marketing and communications fields… are struggling with social media and what it means.. and struggling a lot…. so they still put social media in a corner.
So, idea for how to keep it sexy (speakers need to sell their presentations, I guess!), how about “integrating and embedding social media into an integrated branding campaign” as a topic idea ?
.-= Tom McCallum´s last blog ..My #1 Marketing Tip =-.