The dreaded “It Depends” answer is the bane of existence for a lot of corporate communicators trying to get involved in social media.
We want shortcuts. We want a kit of parts, turn-key, that we can plug and play. (We did love the Chia Pet after all. Just add water.)
We’re accustomed to standards and rules of engagement and largely accepted practices that someone has captured in a textbook somewhere. We look to “best practices” and the road that someone has safely paved before us. It’s reassurance for us that we’re “doing it right”.
We want to know that our ideas are going to work before we execute them, because failure is some kind of subtle indication that we’re not very good at our jobs. We ask about ROI because faith isn’t an accepted business practice, and we’d much rather cover our asses with a case study (TM Chris Brogan) as a safety net in case we fall (“but it worked for them!”).
Here’s the thing, folks.
There is no kit of parts in social media. There are some examples of what works. There are examples of what didn’t work. The answer to “will this work for us” or “how should we get started listening” or “what’s the best way to engage our audience online” will always be this: it depends.
It depends on your business. Your goals. Your resources. Your culture, risk tolerance, openness to change, compliance and disclosure issues, industry, product, audience, management. Among other things. (And as a quick aside, there was no guarantee your dumb postcard campaign would work either. It’s just that other people did them lots, so it felt like an easier risk to take. After all, everyone else was doing it.)
What worked for them might not work for you. What failed for someone else might just be a key to your success.
The difficulty in social media is that there is no storied history yet. No decades of proven practices that are ubiquitous and consistent and infallible. And this makes us, as creatures of habit and security, painfully and remarkably uncomfortable.
But if you ask me whether or not you should have a YouTube channel, I’m going to tell you that it depends. If you ask me whether you should be on Twitter or whether you should be blogging or how to monetize this stuff or how it translates into sales, I’m going to tell you the same thing.
The best answer I can give you about your social media endeavors is actually a series of questions. The social media strategy you build will be based on your answers to a pile of smart questions about your business and your tolerance for a new approach.
So answer your own “It Depends” conundrum by trying these on for size:
Research and Groundwork
- How are our customers using our existing online properties (website, email marketing, etc?)
- Do we believe social media will have an impact? If so, in what way?
- Why is social media of interest to us?
- Is our industry ahead of the curve, behind it, or in the middle?
- Is discussion about our brand positive, negative, or neutral? Are we being talked about at all?
- Who in the organization needs this information, and what do they need to see?
- How does what you learn through listening touch each area of the company?
Auditing and Readiness Assessment
- How do we as a company feel about opening up the dialogue with our customers?
- What do we perceive as the biggest obstacles to our adoption of social media practices?
- What approaches can we take that are evolutions of our current practices (vs. complete overhauls)?
- Who on our staff is most enthusiastic and passionate about talking to customers?
- How well do we communicate internally, cross departmentally? Do we need to improve this first?
Goal Setting
- What are our measures for success? (qualitative and quantitative)
- Who do we want to reach and why? And beyond customers and prospects, how about suppliers, vendors, partners?
- What do we want from them?
- What are we giving back that has nothing to do with our product/service?
- What data do we want/need to gather during our efforts?
Resource Planning
- How much time and money are we expecting to dedicate to this?
- What are we spending for technology, development and tools vs. human resources to activate communications plan?
- Who are the point people, and what are their roles? Who are the “faces” of the organization online, and where?
- Are we ok with not seeing an immediate and direct return on the money we spend, and are we looking at this as a short term or long term investment?
- Can we afford to keep part of our allocated $ budget flexible to respond to evolving needs?
- If we’re successful with social media, can we scale our interactions to continue to meet higher expectations? How?
- Are we flexible enough within roles/responsibilities to shift them as needed to accommodate what we learn from social media?
Internal Education and Training
- Are our employees using social networks in their personal lives? What level of familiarity can/should we expect?
- Does our internal audience understand the business potential of social media, or are they skeptical?
- What are the biggest fears/hesitations that we have as a company about using social media?
- How detailed do we need to be about our communication policies?
- Are we empowering our employees to respond at the point of need, regardless of their role? Is there a “chain of command”?
- How are we going to structure the flow of information so that necessary learnings get back to the right people?
Immersion and Participation
- What practices do we see from our peers/competitors that we’d like to emulate?
- What do we see from them that we’d like to avoid at all costs?
- What unique voice can we contribute to the conversation at large?
- What is it that we want to convey to our community through our participation in social media?
- What content makes sense for us to create on a regular basis, and how/where will we post it? Why?
- Are we going to encourage community generated content? How? Where will it live? Will we moderate/edit?
- How are we ensuring that we’re providing a two-way channel for dialogue (vs. just posting information and walking away?)
- How will we respond to negative feedback/criticism when we discover it?
- Can we solve problems on the fly? Which ones? How are we empowering our team to do that?
Learning and Evaluation
- Do we need to change any of our assumptions about time/resources/workflow required to do this for the long term?
- What sites are we finding the most comfortable, responsive? Are they the ones we anticipated?
- What are we doing with the information we learn? How are we distributing it internally and acting on it?
- What new metrics should we be tracking based on what we learn?
- Were our original assumptions about social media correct? If not, what do we need to adjust as a result?
- Are we moving toward our goals, and to what do we attribute that?
- What have our customers and competitors taught us that we didn’t know before? Now what?
So now. I’ve given you a start to some of the questions you need to be asking yourself in order to build your own, custom social media approach. What other questions are you and should you be asking? What have I missed? And how are you dealing with the idea that there is no insta-grow social media?
The comments I leave to you.
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Brilliant, Amber. Great questions… I suspect you’ve just handed us a pretty fine ‘kit’ 🙂 Thanks!
louise
Louise Ralphs last blog post..KISS and tell…
Brilliant, Amber. Great questions… I suspect you’ve just handed us a pretty fine ‘kit’ 🙂 Thanks!
louise
Louise Ralphs last blog post..KISS and tell…
This covers a lot of preparatory groundwork. In the same vein there could be questions pertinent to each industry or product. If you do one product you would have some of the questions for competitor products.
Very perceptive post and it clarified some of my thoughts. Thank you.
This covers a lot of preparatory groundwork. In the same vein there could be questions pertinent to each industry or product. If you do one product you would have some of the questions for competitor products.
Very perceptive post and it clarified some of my thoughts. Thank you.
Excellent post and I absolutely agree – “it depends”. Got an email from a client we are doing SEO work with and he says – we just put up our facebook page, started our twitter account, and now we want to blog what do you think. My response – lets first talk about what you want to accomplish and how your prospects use the Internet – my question is how can the sizzle be so great that very bright individuals are so enamored by the sizzle of these tools that they forget the basics of marketing. Oh well keep up the great work and words.
Excellent post and I absolutely agree – “it depends”. Got an email from a client we are doing SEO work with and he says – we just put up our facebook page, started our twitter account, and now we want to blog what do you think. My response – lets first talk about what you want to accomplish and how your prospects use the Internet – my question is how can the sizzle be so great that very bright individuals are so enamored by the sizzle of these tools that they forget the basics of marketing. Oh well keep up the great work and words.
Excellent post, Amber, and some excellent questions.
I would add that the “infallible” proven practices of older disciplines are more of a comfort blanket than anything else. No practices are infallible – familiarity just breeds an illusion of safety and of lowering risk.
The more we look at it, the more it’s clear that while social media engagement involves some new expectations, new tools and new approaches to communication, the big-picture thinking is much the same – figure out your objectives, look at the big picture, determine your audience and pick the best tools to engage with that audience.
Dave Fleets last blog post..Rethinking “Influencers”
Excellent post, Amber, and some excellent questions.
I would add that the “infallible” proven practices of older disciplines are more of a comfort blanket than anything else. No practices are infallible – familiarity just breeds an illusion of safety and of lowering risk.
The more we look at it, the more it’s clear that while social media engagement involves some new expectations, new tools and new approaches to communication, the big-picture thinking is much the same – figure out your objectives, look at the big picture, determine your audience and pick the best tools to engage with that audience.
Dave Fleets last blog post..Rethinking “Influencers”
Amber:
As always this is great. Stuff that all forward thinking marketers are pondering and trying to answer. Challenge of course is that most of them don’t even have time to get through this list never mind answer them all. You’re right, I find all the time that clients want answers, predictions, measurement, guarantees to make it easier to commit resources. What I’ve found to work is this. Take baby steps. Start, learn, experiment, let consumers teach you, fail, recover quickly, but stay in once you’re in. Resource allocation, time commitment, expectations are all being determined. But one thing is a given. You need to start and start now. Before you are too far behind and the world of communities, conversations and social media programs become even more cluttered than they are now. Getting in two years from now will put any brand at a disadvantage.
Edward Boches
edwardbochess last blog post..User generated content makes it to the big time: The Cannes Lions Advertising Festival
Amber:
As always this is great. Stuff that all forward thinking marketers are pondering and trying to answer. Challenge of course is that most of them don’t even have time to get through this list never mind answer them all. You’re right, I find all the time that clients want answers, predictions, measurement, guarantees to make it easier to commit resources. What I’ve found to work is this. Take baby steps. Start, learn, experiment, let consumers teach you, fail, recover quickly, but stay in once you’re in. Resource allocation, time commitment, expectations are all being determined. But one thing is a given. You need to start and start now. Before you are too far behind and the world of communities, conversations and social media programs become even more cluttered than they are now. Getting in two years from now will put any brand at a disadvantage.
Edward Boches
edwardbochess last blog post..User generated content makes it to the big time: The Cannes Lions Advertising Festival
I immediately noted what you DIDN’T mention: what tools or tactics should go into the kit. And that’s absolutely the correct way to do it.
The best “best practice” for starting out in social media is not to look at it from the perspective of “what tool should we use?” Otherwise you’re just chasing the flavor of the month (“This month it’s blogging, next month it’s Twitter, next year it’s XYZ…”). Instead, you approach social media from the perspective of figuring out WHO your talkers are, and WHAT they’re talking about.
These questions go a long way toward figuring out the answers. Excellent post, Amber.
Cheers,
Michael
—
Michael E. Rubin
847-370-3421 // merubin@gmail.com // twitter: merubin
I immediately noted what you DIDN’T mention: what tools or tactics should go into the kit. And that’s absolutely the correct way to do it.
The best “best practice” for starting out in social media is not to look at it from the perspective of “what tool should we use?” Otherwise you’re just chasing the flavor of the month (“This month it’s blogging, next month it’s Twitter, next year it’s XYZ…”). Instead, you approach social media from the perspective of figuring out WHO your talkers are, and WHAT they’re talking about.
These questions go a long way toward figuring out the answers. Excellent post, Amber.
Cheers,
Michael
—
Michael E. Rubin
847-370-3421 // merubin@gmail.com // twitter: merubin
Thanks Amber – you’ve provided a helpful roadmap that details what “set your goals and determine your resources” means and improves the probability of a positive experience with social media.
I would add these questions:
1- How will we ensure that our company speaks with one voice through its social media participation and traditional marketing?
2- What are the risks associated with social media and what systems need to be put in place ahead of time to deal with them?
3- What guidelines and standards do we need to establish for our employees in order to protect proprietary information and the company’s reputation?
@wvpmc
Thanks Amber – you’ve provided a helpful roadmap that details what “set your goals and determine your resources” means and improves the probability of a positive experience with social media.
I would add these questions:
1- How will we ensure that our company speaks with one voice through its social media participation and traditional marketing?
2- What are the risks associated with social media and what systems need to be put in place ahead of time to deal with them?
3- What guidelines and standards do we need to establish for our employees in order to protect proprietary information and the company’s reputation?
@wvpmc
Great post – very comprehensive and realistic
Great post – very comprehensive and realistic
Great list, Amber. When people ask me how to measure social media I usually respond the same way, “It depends”. Depends on your measures of success/stated objectives. It should go without saying but I’ll say it anyway. The objectives must be measurable – change in key metric + timeframe. The vast majority of social media objectives are not measurable as written.
Don Bartholomews last blog post..What Is That Hit In The (insert major publication name here) Worth? Nothing, Unless it Creates Engagement.
Great list, Amber. When people ask me how to measure social media I usually respond the same way, “It depends”. Depends on your measures of success/stated objectives. It should go without saying but I’ll say it anyway. The objectives must be measurable – change in key metric + timeframe. The vast majority of social media objectives are not measurable as written.
Don Bartholomews last blog post..What Is That Hit In The (insert major publication name here) Worth? Nothing, Unless it Creates Engagement.
Excellent post. There is no magic formula and you illustrate that very well here. Thank you.
Elmers last blog post..Basic HTML For SEO – Part 2, Anatomy of a Web Page
Very helpful post…and so true. Everyone wants a cookie cutter answer and it’s just not that simple. Sometimes an answer changes over time or evolves. And of course, I must explain to them that changes aren’t seen overnight either.
I like to take an incremental approach with clients, testing the waters slowly and with little risk. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by social media and it doesn’t have to be.
Every client has a natural predilection toward certain arenas of social media and that’s an important factor, too.
Excellent post. There is no magic formula and you illustrate that very well here. Thank you.
Elmers last blog post..Basic HTML For SEO – Part 2, Anatomy of a Web Page
Very helpful post…and so true. Everyone wants a cookie cutter answer and it’s just not that simple. Sometimes an answer changes over time or evolves. And of course, I must explain to them that changes aren’t seen overnight either.
I like to take an incremental approach with clients, testing the waters slowly and with little risk. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by social media and it doesn’t have to be.
Every client has a natural predilection toward certain arenas of social media and that’s an important factor, too.
Great post. Amen. Required reading. If there were shortcuts, we’d have already found them.
Great post. Amen. Required reading. If there were shortcuts, we’d have already found them.
Amber
Great post. But I’d expand your reference beyond SocMe to include ALL forms of media. Long history (advertising) or not, there are no “kits” in marketing. Every brand, every marketing challenge, every time period is different. What worked last year might not work this year. What worked for Ford may not work for Chevy.
The bottom line with ALL marketing, not just SocMe is that it’s legalized gambling. Your marketing budget is Vegas money. Spend what you can afford to lose and not jump off a tall building. Do your homework, study the odds and maybe even learn to count cards…but do everything in your power to give yourself the advantage — which you so thoroughly document above — and then launch. But always remember, there are no guarantees.
There are no short cuts or sure things in our business and the sooner folks figure that out, the more successful they’ll be IMHO.
@TomMartin
tom martins last blog post..Launching Free Idea Days Bring me your marketing problems
Hi Amber – I’m new here being guided here by a tweet of Chris Brogan’s.
Seems you’ve made a pretty exhaustive list above – I fear that if I show that to anyone who approaches me for advice on social marketing, they’ll go “oh no – looks like it will take too much time” and not even get past ‘first base’.
I’ve always (and still) believe that doing something is better than nothing. As a comment above says, if they leave it till two years later, by then they’ll be at a 2 yr disadvantage.
Making mistakes – that’s all par for the course and it can take a while to work out what really works for you as an individual company etc. The best bit is that you’re making those mistakes whilst your competitors aren’t even trying at all.
Time is the issue – we’ve got to get it over to people new to this that it won’t happen overnight. I’ve been blogging for two years now in support of my partners photo gift business and only now do we see a steady stream of traffic to her site from our social activities.
Seems companies are all too willing to spend thousands on newspaper ads etc but they never measure the response – just assume its bringing them business. Truth is it probably brings very little or worse, none at all.
Thanks again.
Jonathan
blog: http://purple13.blogspot.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/fabphotogifts
Fabulous Photo Giftss last blog post..New Office Number
Amber
Great post. But I’d expand your reference beyond SocMe to include ALL forms of media. Long history (advertising) or not, there are no “kits” in marketing. Every brand, every marketing challenge, every time period is different. What worked last year might not work this year. What worked for Ford may not work for Chevy.
The bottom line with ALL marketing, not just SocMe is that it’s legalized gambling. Your marketing budget is Vegas money. Spend what you can afford to lose and not jump off a tall building. Do your homework, study the odds and maybe even learn to count cards…but do everything in your power to give yourself the advantage — which you so thoroughly document above — and then launch. But always remember, there are no guarantees.
There are no short cuts or sure things in our business and the sooner folks figure that out, the more successful they’ll be IMHO.
@TomMartin
tom martins last blog post..Launching Free Idea Days Bring me your marketing problems
Hi Amber – I’m new here being guided here by a tweet of Chris Brogan’s.
Seems you’ve made a pretty exhaustive list above – I fear that if I show that to anyone who approaches me for advice on social marketing, they’ll go “oh no – looks like it will take too much time” and not even get past ‘first base’.
I’ve always (and still) believe that doing something is better than nothing. As a comment above says, if they leave it till two years later, by then they’ll be at a 2 yr disadvantage.
Making mistakes – that’s all par for the course and it can take a while to work out what really works for you as an individual company etc. The best bit is that you’re making those mistakes whilst your competitors aren’t even trying at all.
Time is the issue – we’ve got to get it over to people new to this that it won’t happen overnight. I’ve been blogging for two years now in support of my partners photo gift business and only now do we see a steady stream of traffic to her site from our social activities.
Seems companies are all too willing to spend thousands on newspaper ads etc but they never measure the response – just assume its bringing them business. Truth is it probably brings very little or worse, none at all.
Thanks again.
Jonathan
blog: http://purple13.blogspot.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/fabphotogifts
Fabulous Photo Giftss last blog post..New Office Number
Okay as far as generic information goes, but it needs the focused eye of experience. Dozens of categories are listed here, with not one thing about multi variant testing. That is the key to any and all marketing, and will quickly determine if ANY of your “social marketing” efforts are worth the time and money.
Intiate tracking codes, email opt in/list building programs, and website/direct mail analytics to compare (split test) all of the scary new snake oil to traditional direct mail or even email marketing.
There are no “mysteries” here: CONVERSIONS rule. Period. There is no “gambling”, just experiments to try out messages – the medium is NOT the message – Sales and ROI are the message you should be listening to.
Okay as far as generic information goes, but it needs the focused eye of experience. Dozens of categories are listed here, with not one thing about multi variant testing. That is the key to any and all marketing, and will quickly determine if ANY of your “social marketing” efforts are worth the time and money.
Intiate tracking codes, email opt in/list building programs, and website/direct mail analytics to compare (split test) all of the scary new snake oil to traditional direct mail or even email marketing.
There are no “mysteries” here: CONVERSIONS rule. Period. There is no “gambling”, just experiments to try out messages – the medium is NOT the message – Sales and ROI are the message you should be listening to.
Excellent post. This is certainly something that I struggle with convincing both senior management at my agency, as well as clients sometimes. Thank you for some excellent points and valuable reinforcements!
Justin Boones last blog post..Everything’s Better in Stereo
Excellent post. This is certainly something that I struggle with convincing both senior management at my agency, as well as clients sometimes. Thank you for some excellent points and valuable reinforcements!
Justin Boones last blog post..Everything’s Better in Stereo
Excellent post! I like the thought provoking questions and I think it is an excellent process to follow. Since I am just now exploring the Soc Media scene, one thing that would be handy for me to know is how to put in the right measurements for returns. With all the areas of Soc Media it would be nice to know when I have conversions, where did they come from?
Excellent post! I like the thought provoking questions and I think it is an excellent process to follow. Since I am just now exploring the Soc Media scene, one thing that would be handy for me to know is how to put in the right measurements for returns. With all the areas of Soc Media it would be nice to know when I have conversions, where did they come from?
@Paul – the multi-variant testing as applied to social media hasn’t really proven all that fruitful. Let’s look at it:
Can you make a variation test for “to tweet or not to tweet?” Can you make a variation test for “how to blog?”
No, not really. But you can test effectiveness of the resulting next action, such as a conversion, a prospect, link usage, etc.
I think you’re in the wrong tree. Happy Easter.
Chris Brogan…s last blog post..Spread Your Wings- Get More Retweet Action Today
@Paul – the multi-variant testing as applied to social media hasn’t really proven all that fruitful. Let’s look at it:
Can you make a variation test for “to tweet or not to tweet?” Can you make a variation test for “how to blog?”
No, not really. But you can test effectiveness of the resulting next action, such as a conversion, a prospect, link usage, etc.
I think you’re in the wrong tree. Happy Easter.
Chris Brogan…s last blog post..Spread Your Wings- Get More Retweet Action Today
Brilliant post. Thanks!
Matt Howards last blog post..The Future of the Yellow Pages: Wanna See it?
I have recently been helping individual financial planners to better utilize social media in their business. It’s amazing to me how much the principle of “it depends” apply’s to all situations. Every financial planner has a different personality, and as a result, they each use specific social media differently. They may both use Facebook or LinkedIn (their companies don’t allow Twitter yet), but the strategies used are very different. So yes, “it depends.”
Brilliant post. Thanks!
Matt Howards last blog post..The Future of the Yellow Pages: Wanna See it?
I have recently been helping individual financial planners to better utilize social media in their business. It’s amazing to me how much the principle of “it depends” apply’s to all situations. Every financial planner has a different personality, and as a result, they each use specific social media differently. They may both use Facebook or LinkedIn (their companies don’t allow Twitter yet), but the strategies used are very different. So yes, “it depends.”
Has no one else noticed the irony of a post titled “There Is No Social Media Kit” featuring an ad for a free e-book entitled “The Social Media Starter Kit”?
Todds last blog post..The Oracle Has Spoken: Krugman Says Worst Is Over, Maybe
Has no one else noticed the irony of a post titled “There Is No Social Media Kit” featuring an ad for a free e-book entitled “The Social Media Starter Kit”?
Todds last blog post..The Oracle Has Spoken: Krugman Says Worst Is Over, Maybe
You can’t drink coffee from an empty cup.
Websites, software, gadgets, toys and other ‘tools’ are completely useless and irrelevant if we are unsure how to use them or expect more from them than they can deliver.
Direct mail, radio, television, outdoor, cross-media, cross-platform, social media and the rest are irrelevant if we have no idea why we want to access them.
This is not a social media issue; it is a managing expectations issue.
If I have a dead tree in my backyard, a top-of-the line rider mower will not help me.
Adding profiles on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn are complete and utter wastes of time if there is no commitment to utilize their intended use.
Relationships take time, there are no shortcuts. That rings true for individuals and companies.
Fantastic piece, Amber. Thanks for sharing!
@knealemann
Kneale Manns last blog post..Giving Up Control
You can’t drink coffee from an empty cup.
Websites, software, gadgets, toys and other ‘tools’ are completely useless and irrelevant if we are unsure how to use them or expect more from them than they can deliver.
Direct mail, radio, television, outdoor, cross-media, cross-platform, social media and the rest are irrelevant if we have no idea why we want to access them.
This is not a social media issue; it is a managing expectations issue.
If I have a dead tree in my backyard, a top-of-the line rider mower will not help me.
Adding profiles on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn are complete and utter wastes of time if there is no commitment to utilize their intended use.
Relationships take time, there are no shortcuts. That rings true for individuals and companies.
Fantastic piece, Amber. Thanks for sharing!
@knealemann
Kneale Manns last blog post..Giving Up Control
Alright, for all the literal folks that think the toolkit and this are an ironic pair, let’s pretend that the post is titled “there is no social media shortcut”. All better now?
The focus of one is tools. Here is anything but. Sorry if my semantics got in the way.
Good initial thought about corporate integration of social media. You have asked some valid questions and I completely agree that SM does not have an established history with defined metrics that can be analyze up to this point. Many companies are still trying to define what and where to look for ROI. There are some companies that are ahead of the curve in their approach with relation to many other organizations.
It would be crazy to say that some sort of SM integration should not play a role in business today. If you do not then as a company your just leaving $ on the table for your competition, and everyone has competition. Lets not kid ourselves to think that we do not.
Great Job!
Nathan McIntyres last blog post..My Unrelenting Pursuit
Good initial thought about corporate integration of social media. You have asked some valid questions and I completely agree that SM does not have an established history with defined metrics that can be analyze up to this point. Many companies are still trying to define what and where to look for ROI. There are some companies that are ahead of the curve in their approach with relation to many other organizations.
It would be crazy to say that some sort of SM integration should not play a role in business today. If you do not then as a company your just leaving $ on the table for your competition, and everyone has competition. Lets not kid ourselves to think that we do not.
Great Job!
Nathan McIntyres last blog post..My Unrelenting Pursuit
Wonderful leading questions to ask when a company wants to blindly dive into social media. My company wants to play in the space, but they need to do their research first. We are starting with Twitter. After they get comfortable, I want to expand them into Facebook and LinkedIn for their marketing efforts.
Jason Bartholmes last blog post..21 Twitter Directories and Follower Finders to Expand Your Twittersphere
Wonderful leading questions to ask when a company wants to blindly dive into social media. My company wants to play in the space, but they need to do their research first. We are starting with Twitter. After they get comfortable, I want to expand them into Facebook and LinkedIn for their marketing efforts.
Jason Bartholmes last blog post..21 Twitter Directories and Follower Finders to Expand Your Twittersphere
The funny thing about all of this Amber, and what frustrates business incessantly, is there really isn’t any kit or per-fab answer with ANY sort of marketing. God, it’s all so subjective and hit/miss. As somebody who’s been in the traditional media world for 30 years it’s maddening how every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Estelle, Jane, and Sally) wants the magic bullet. And the accompanying guarantee. Before they want to part with their money!
And yet, despite all their fears the hellaciously sad irony is how quickly they’ll leap onto any and all manner of marketing the minute they’re ready to close the doors and NEED to sell off the inventory!
The biggest lesson in all of this is that marketing is a fixed and real expense. It isn’t that “first thing to get cut”… It isn’t based on some magical percentage of sales… It simply is a critical cost of doing business WELL. And that applies to traditional media and to social media.
The real value comes in finding the source of creation. Finding the agency or company that knows how to twist the elements within the various media options in just such a way that ROI comes flowing.
It’s a horribly inexact science. But it sure reaps HUGE benefits when it’s done well. And horrible downsides when it’s done poorly. Or not at all.
Geez, no wonder the business world hates it!
Steve Gainess last blog post..Cursed by Your Own Knowledge
The funny thing about all of this Amber, and what frustrates business incessantly, is there really isn’t any kit or per-fab answer with ANY sort of marketing. God, it’s all so subjective and hit/miss. As somebody who’s been in the traditional media world for 30 years it’s maddening how every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Estelle, Jane, and Sally) wants the magic bullet. And the accompanying guarantee. Before they want to part with their money!
And yet, despite all their fears the hellaciously sad irony is how quickly they’ll leap onto any and all manner of marketing the minute they’re ready to close the doors and NEED to sell off the inventory!
The biggest lesson in all of this is that marketing is a fixed and real expense. It isn’t that “first thing to get cut”… It isn’t based on some magical percentage of sales… It simply is a critical cost of doing business WELL. And that applies to traditional media and to social media.
The real value comes in finding the source of creation. Finding the agency or company that knows how to twist the elements within the various media options in just such a way that ROI comes flowing.
It’s a horribly inexact science. But it sure reaps HUGE benefits when it’s done well. And horrible downsides when it’s done poorly. Or not at all.
Geez, no wonder the business world hates it!
Steve Gainess last blog post..Cursed by Your Own Knowledge
Amber, you shouldn’t have to defend yourself with the whole ebook and title for this post. Your ebook goes over some of the tools that you use for engaging in social media and people want to know what you use. They want to know what are some of the basics and this post is a great compliment to the ebook because people will want to know where to start and with what tool, and like you said it all depends.
This whole social media trend is so new, and it’s hard for anyone to call themselves a “social media expert” because this area is still evolving. If anyone thinks they know it all, let me know. I would love to sit down and talk to them.
But great post! Keep them coming. I’m a huge fan!
David Onoues last blog post..NCAA vs. The Facebook Community
Amber, you shouldn’t have to defend yourself with the whole ebook and title for this post. Your ebook goes over some of the tools that you use for engaging in social media and people want to know what you use. They want to know what are some of the basics and this post is a great compliment to the ebook because people will want to know where to start and with what tool, and like you said it all depends.
This whole social media trend is so new, and it’s hard for anyone to call themselves a “social media expert” because this area is still evolving. If anyone thinks they know it all, let me know. I would love to sit down and talk to them.
But great post! Keep them coming. I’m a huge fan!
David Onoues last blog post..NCAA vs. The Facebook Community
Excellent article. I enjoyed this throughly. The photo reminds me of my bookcase 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Excellent article. I enjoyed this throughly. The photo reminds me of my bookcase 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Amber: I think the 4P’s apply. Or put another way: utility, price and availability. W20 makes it easier to locate communities and talk to them. It’s easier for consumers to research products and compare prices.
I found your blog post via Twitter (from amandachapel). Point being the dots get connected faster, different tools can be applied, but I think the marketing practices are the same.
Cheers,
Scott
Scott Charless last blog post..A Few of My Favorite Things
Amber: I think the 4P’s apply. Or put another way: utility, price and availability. W20 makes it easier to locate communities and talk to them. It’s easier for consumers to research products and compare prices.
I found your blog post via Twitter (from amandachapel). Point being the dots get connected faster, different tools can be applied, but I think the marketing practices are the same.
Cheers,
Scott
Scott Charless last blog post..A Few of My Favorite Things
Amber,
Are you suggesting (horror face here) that we … plan? (gasps and faints)
Very well done, I have found that for everything in this world, planning and asking the questions before hand (and having an answer) will work much better than any ROI or CYA case study. I am a firm advocate of making my customers ignore that worked or what went well for others (obviously, best practices and lessons learned are good reading material – but not the answer) and focus instead of how and why it will work for you.
I have countless examples of companies (like the internet service provider who deployed chat because their competitor did – and then found out that for its customers, not being able to connect was the main problem — take your time and see what the problem is on that one) who did something just because. Few of others than took the time and did it right.
I am in favor of doing things right and planning before doing anything else. That is why I called what I do strategic consulting. Strategy is key to everything you do. And the reason you succeed.
Thanks for a well done post.
Esteban Kolskys last blog post..Funky Friday Grab Bag – 05/22/2009
Amber,
Are you suggesting (horror face here) that we … plan? (gasps and faints)
Very well done, I have found that for everything in this world, planning and asking the questions before hand (and having an answer) will work much better than any ROI or CYA case study. I am a firm advocate of making my customers ignore that worked or what went well for others (obviously, best practices and lessons learned are good reading material – but not the answer) and focus instead of how and why it will work for you.
I have countless examples of companies (like the internet service provider who deployed chat because their competitor did – and then found out that for its customers, not being able to connect was the main problem — take your time and see what the problem is on that one) who did something just because. Few of others than took the time and did it right.
I am in favor of doing things right and planning before doing anything else. That is why I called what I do strategic consulting. Strategy is key to everything you do. And the reason you succeed.
Thanks for a well done post.
Esteban Kolskys last blog post..Funky Friday Grab Bag – 05/22/2009
Amber – this post is phenomenal. You’ve managed to cull together the most cogent points about engaging or not in one place. Without creating a larger picture of the what’s and why’s, any plan is doomed for failure. What I like the most about this is that you’ve very clearly pointed out that the roadmap needs to be individualized; in fact, it may never be standardized for the very reason that SM is about evolving the dialogue. And that dialogue will always be fluid. Yet, you’ve provided marketers with key benchmarks to return to over and over. Bravo!
Liz Ss last blog post..Wednesday Bubble: no glove…
Amber – this post is phenomenal. You’ve managed to cull together the most cogent points about engaging or not in one place. Without creating a larger picture of the what’s and why’s, any plan is doomed for failure. What I like the most about this is that you’ve very clearly pointed out that the roadmap needs to be individualized; in fact, it may never be standardized for the very reason that SM is about evolving the dialogue. And that dialogue will always be fluid. Yet, you’ve provided marketers with key benchmarks to return to over and over. Bravo!
Liz Ss last blog post..Wednesday Bubble: no glove…
Amber – this post is phenomenal. You’ve managed to cull together the most cogent points about engaging or not in one place. Without creating a larger picture of the what’s and why’s, any plan is doomed for failure. What I like the most about this is that you’ve very clearly pointed out that the roadmap needs to be individualized; in fact, it may never be standardized for the very reason that SM is about evolving the dialogue. And that dialogue will always be fluid. Yet, you’ve provided marketers with key benchmarks to return to over and over. Bravo!
Liz Ss last blog post..Wednesday Bubble: no glove…
Wonderful article. Referenced in my blog, url above. Thanks!
Wonderful article. Referenced in my blog, url above. Thanks!
Nice article. It should be a checklist for every social media whenever they start a new project.
Nice article. It should be a checklist for every social media whenever they start a new project.
Nice article. It should be a checklist for every social media whenever they start a new project.
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