Tactics are a Dime a Dozen, Strategy is Priceless

What has really got me blogging again is working with a fairly new client that has unique challenges, but one who has very big potential to be a national powerhouse in their industry. And I like blogging about real life marketing challenges. Look for my guest post on building a Facebook Community coming out soon at Waxing Unlyrical, which also is based on working with this client.

Every business is unique and has their own goals and challenges. My friend Kaarina who is really sharp (read her blog!), did a guest post about Marketing Strategy which really hit home. Most Agencies and Marketers sell you on Tactics. TV advertising is a tactic. A Facebook Page or buying Facebook Ads is a tactic. But having a coherent strategy is what makes a marketer special. It is what brands and Businesses pay big bucks for. You will not find this expertise in a book you pay $10, $20, $30 for or in a Webinar. You can get ideas and you can learn tactics, but is hard to figure out the big picture. Not a lot of people have a big picture view of the world, never mind business.

If you ask me what is a human, I will tell you it is trillions of human and non-human individual cells that combined make your body. Each living in their own world with no idea what the sun or grass or water is like. They all work together so that you can be you. And somehow the electrical currents and nerves allow us to eat, breathe, walk, learn....just like a computer chip operates but at several magnitudes more complex. 

Strategy is choosing the right marketing channels that not only fit your goals but budget. Strategy is timing, when do you execute. Strategy is research and discovery. Strategy is living entity where you try things and sometimes they don't work and you need to change tactics. Strategy is message and coherence. Are all the efforts in all the channels working together. Strategy is matching goals, with tactics, expectations, and budgets. 

Want to know why there are crickets when you ask a Marketer to show you a successful stand alone Social Media Campaign? Because only a handful exist. And you will hear the same ones from a few years back. And they aren't repeatable. Ask though for a Marketing Campaign where Social Media played a valuable supporting role? There are a lot of them.

Finding someone or an Agency that can provide that is priceless. Finding someone or an Agency that can spend your money on tactics? A dime a dozen.

Social Media Perspectives

I hate articles like this:

 

How Walmart Won the Facebook War vs Target

 

It shows that there are plenty of Agencies who don't understand Social Media. And how sensationalism is why so many people are still suckers. To be fair I can come  up with many bright comments about the details in this story. From how many Fans Walmart and Target have on Facebook to the number of page actions taken as a great source of insights and feedback.

 

But that isn't what is in this article. And shame on Business Insider for allowing it to be printed.First off the title. The war will never be over. Don't use such a ridiculous title. And the stats inside  are so simplistic you wonder who comes up with this stuff. But the basic premise:

 

Walmart - 25 mil fans Target 20 mil fans and basically that Walmart has superior engagement levels and actions.

 

Yes. But why? Has Walmart run more games and contests or coupons? What time period is this over?Has either done heavy Facebook advertising? Do we know how much? 

 

No the author makes believe none of that is important. Here is my perspective. Facebook has been a zero for both brands.

 

Using the weekly 'Talking About' numbers:

 

Walmart 672k this past week or 96k per day.

 

Target     916k this week or or 130k per day

 

Worldwide Customers:

 

Walmart 500 million? More? Lets say 500 million. I bet it is higher.

 

Target     300 million? More? Let's say 300 million.

 

Walmart:

5% of customers like the Brand on Facebook. Average Fan takes an action on the page (Share, Like, Comment) once every 260 days. 

 

Target:

6.7% of customers like the Brand on Facebook.   Average Fan takes an action once every 153 days.

 

And of course the article mentions nothing about sales generated, coupon or campaign conversions etc. So based on the data above in the big picture Facebook is not driving sales for either company. and considering Walmart had $440billion in sales last year and Target only $67 billion on Facebook Target is wiping the floor with Walmart. In fact the doctor had to be called in to stop the fight and bandage Walmart's face.

 

Granted some of the numbers like Talking About are just from the last 7 days. But the article author gave no time line and if the war is over why did Walmart lose so badly in the last week?

Who has the relationship with your customers and fans?

I am a firm believer that companies should participate in Social Media even if they outsource the work. I have run Marketing for a client for 3 years. She has a small business that is mobile. I have begged and pleaded to have her employees participate on Twitter where we have a very passionate and rabid following. They are Tweetphobes. Because the Owner doesn't do twitter she has pretty much no relationships with her customers online and she is based in Los Angeles. I am in Vermont. I know a lot about her fan base. And no matter what I relay to her or her crew they do not have relationships with their customers online.

For another client which I took on last summer the same is happening. On Facebook and Twitter I have begun forging new relationships for them. Again this client is based in Southern Calfiornia with franchises in Texas, Georgia and Florida. I am in Vermont. There are some very important business connections I am building and I share this with the client. Often nothing happens. They are busy. 

Which has me thinking about Social Media. It is Social. And while I feel it is ok to outsource Social Media if you find the right people or agency who can represent your brand authentically, by not participating your become vulnerable to seeing all this work and good will disappear if you change agencies or even internal personnel. I know where my clients fans live, work, play. I know who is passionate about different things in life. Food. Sports. Health. Travel. I know who supports them the most and who goes the extra mile for them online. There is no way to generate a report to relay this. You need to see it, feel it, live it first hand.

So what do you do? You are very busy. You have Social being run via marketing or outsourcing it. You feel the work is below you? You are scared because you don't Tweet or Facebook? You are shy? You are too busy?

Hogwash 

is what I say. Are you too busy to take care of other engines of your business? Are you too busy to wine and dine your biggest customer or take their call when needed? Are you too busy to enjoy dinner out with the family or your weekend off?

I don't care the size of your business. 4 people in a garage or a Fortune 20 company. I suggest you make time to participate via Social Media. Either as yourself or as the company and you will gain insights no report or presentation can ever tell you. and you will forge relationships that won't leave the next time you change personnel or marketing agency.

Sunday's 3 Things!

Once again it is Sunday! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and if you shopped on Black Friday scored some sweet deals.
 
Fish: A Tap Essay  

Michael on Loving Something on the Internet. Many of us shared a common and awkward moment this week. While stuffing our faces full of stuffing, we were forced to go around the table and tell our family what we were thankful for. Of all the things that were likely to come out of our mouths, something we love on the Internet probably wasn’t it. I mean if, while surrounded by my family, I were to declare my undying gratitude for Radiolab, Back to Work or even friends such as Gini or Howie, my four-year-old might take it personally. Yet, moments after this unfortunate holiday ritual, the conversation picked up and chances are that you did talk about something you love on the Internet (or at least it’s a certainty I did). It’s also probable someone else at the table turned you on to something they love on web. Because none of you invited me to Thanksgiving (not that I’m angry), I thought I’d share something that I love on the Internet: Robin Sloan’s app Fish. Fish is an app-based manifesto that (quite fittingly) encourages you to recognize the difference between the things you like and the things you love on the Internet. Not only is it great, but having a better understanding of that seemingly subtle difference between what I like and what I love is something I’m very thankful for. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. 

 Consumers Punish Brands  

Howie on Brands Using Social Media. Social media has become complete anarchy. Every brand wants to talk with you on social media....RIGHT NOW! Yet we spend most of our time interacting with our friends and family. So few people consumer brand's social network engage. And their networks tend to be just a fraction of total customers. Yet if you aren't there to respond, take complaints, give stuff away, people have their pitchforks out and are ready to light you on fire. Your mistakes get amplified. Your triumphs often barely mentioned. And yes, if you intrude, they will hate you. 

The Branding of Black Friday  

Gini on Crazy Shoppers. More than a century ago, Black Friday referred to the day the stock market crashed. But today we know it as the day after Thanksgiving. The busiest shopping day of the year. The day people camp out for hours, waiting in line to be the first inside to grab deals. But how did it come to be? This Bloomberg article explores the evolution of the name and gives credit of its branding to Philadelphia cops. 

Now it’s your turn. Is there a podcast, video, or article you think we need to see?

Let's Face It You Never Had Control

Working on a new client project. This client had no social media presence. They are a B2C/B2B Home Service Provider. B2B because they can also service commercial properties. The consumer target is upper middle class and above. 

I do not get the email alerts when a new follow is on Twitter. Someone I connected with is young and while fits the demographic (or knows many people who do) had something in her bio that offended my client. She is a minor TV Personality and Model who called herself a hooker and a bitch. She isn't a hooker but she calls herself one because she thinks it is cool and funny. Twitter is filled with porn stars, pimps, bitches, ho's, niggaz, racists, mafiasos,  crazies, gangstas, etc. I have a rule anyone posting unsavory content in my own feed or a clients I unfollow. I can block them but this won't stop them from tweeting about me or my client. I just don't want to see their tweets in the feed.

I got an email that my client didn't want a 'prostitute' in their network. And they are allowed to ask this and so I blocked this account. Then I felt it a good time to explain they have no real control. I have no control. Accept it. It is actually a good thing usually.

Name the brand they all have customers they don't want to know for real. I can list quite a few scary hashtags on Twitter with crazy content. I have no control and my client and brands have no control over what is said. We never have.

I can't stop this person from creating new accounts to follow my client. Same on Facebook. Everyone who knows me, knows that Mashable banned me from commenting on articles I felt were poorly written or deceiving. I have 4 personal twitter accounts. I can create more. I still comment. They blocked just my @SkyPulseMedia . They can't stop me or anyone. I slam them on Twitter all the time. They can not stop me. So they ignore me. And I don't blame them.

But this is good. The enemy you know is easier to deal with than the enemy you don't. The person I blocked for my client has no reason to say anything bad or become a 'terrorist' like I am towards Mashable. But if you wronged someone they can and often will. It happens. People go Delta Skelta.

But I also explained that before Social Media real damage was done in private. People complained, lied, even slandered and still do behind brand's backs. In places they can never see. Doing real damage. They still do. Most human communication is not visible to brands. 

But isn't it great that now there are platforms for these people to rant and tweet on? You might cringe thinking 'But they have networks of people who will see it'. But they always did off line. But now we can know the threat. We can fix the brand image. We can engage. And we can even convert angry people into brand ambassadors. 

Having no control of what is said via Social can be a good thing. Most people want to feel good about your brand. Imagine being able to fix issues with 80% of your upset customers when before they just stewed and complained and you never knew?

Are Your Employees Your Brand Ambassadors?

The genesis for this post is from an experience I had last night at a minor league baseball game. The park is beautiful, very fan and family friendly. Concessions used to be very reasonable now they are edging to the high-ish end. All the employees are friendly and helpful. The home team is a Class A club for a Major League team very far away. They are very heavy into Twitter and Facebook and do it pretty well. Though last night was Social Media Monday Night. Tweet Your Seat for a chance to win a bobble head doll ...of the state Governor. They already gave out 1500 of them. Seriously? That is not enough reason for me to tweet my seat. I tweeted to tell them their phone app sucks (what were you thinking ATT for making such a horrible app?)

Back to my story. My friend Cheryl Burgess at Blue Focus Marketing has been blogging for awhile about the Social Business. Her take which I agree on, is that all your employees represent your business whether they think so or not. Online and offline. They have potential to be your greatest brand ambassadors. If they are happy and treated as assets by a company they will pay you back every time they deal with customers, clients, vendors, each other. They will do this online and off. Now I recently bashed on someone writing about social business who failed to take into account the fact if employees are not paid well and 'it's just a job' to them, they will never be your brand ambassadors or by in to the social business ideal.

So last night two employees selling concessions. One had beer and peanuts. Peanuts was $4. Beer $3.75.

'Isn't anyone drinking? Peanuts $4. Oh I know they are over priced. But you are at the ball park and I have food for you' 

People laughed at his honesty. But I am not sure my feelings on this. To me I might reconsider some of my price points.

Another concessionaire in the seats walks by me. His shirt says 'Turning every visitor in a loyal fan' on the back. I asked him if he was doing that. He said 'Haha! no not me' 

Which said to me he isn't paid enough to truly buy in to this great purpose.

I say this often. With 98 or 99% of human communication private, you can not separate offline from online. You must consider how every employee and customer will feel about your business, products and brand. And make them your real brand ambassadors. I wonder how many of the 30 Trillion emails sent each year in the US contain discussions on businesses and products you will never see or hear with much more damaging results than anything said online. Or how many more visitors that concessionaire will not turn into a loyal fan in person while you see his one Tweet saying 'Go Team' has you snowed everything is fine in Happyville. If your employees are not happy offline they will never be your brand ambassadors online or anywhere.

What actions are you taking with your business and employees that ensure their offline and online presence is one of positive promotion of your brand, your products, and your mission?

Offline word of mouth trumps online today

I recently had a short Twitter exchange with Ted Rubin because he wrote a blogpost called Want to Scale Social Messaging get your customers to help.

The thesis is great. But reality is your customers don't care enough to help you. We all know the current platforms suck for scale. You can't reach most of your customers via social only a small percent. Partially because people on average only like to engage with 2-5 brands regularly so good luck being in that group, and everyone has such busy feeds if we see 3% of the posts and tweets we are lucky. So good luck having your message seen. On top of that so few people retweet and share stuff and with each person averaging only 13 mins of Social Media use a day most of our time is spent elsewhere.

But it sure would be great if I could get my customers to share more for me. We are big fans of Chobani. I LIKE and RETWEET anything I see of theirs on Facebook or Twitter. Yet rarely see anything. They post and tweet a lot though. I just don't see their stuff. 

So what do you do? I was at a dinner Tuesday night. about 20+ people. All owned smart phones. None were using them. I was talking marketing with the owner of American Flatbread a very popular casual but upscale restaurant in Waitsfield, VT near the Sugarbush and Mad River Glenn Ski Resorts. They don't do that much on social but have nice followings in spite of that. They do some paid advertising. They are always packed. George said when he goes to tables asking where they heard about them this is what they always say: 'I was on the Ski Lift and I asked the person on the lift with me where to eat that is good'. That is the number one response by far. They make a great flatbread pizza with local ingredients and their staff is very good.

Yes when people are pissed they will come to social to complain. And some will come to praise when they are happy. But Social lacks scale. It should be part of every marketing effort. And definitely take what it gives which is one on one engagement, customer service and brand building. But for scale? It would take an army of employees to talk with all your fans and followers every day.

I have said on this blog many many times. The biggest marketing impact will be focusing on a great product or service, great customer service, and the right price point. The rest will take care of itself. Offline. Via Word of Mouth.

Auto Advertising...Cars Must Sell Themselves

Recently my friend Gunther Sonnenfeld linked a story about Ford using Ryan Seacrest to launch the Fusion with a Social Campaign. We got into whether this will help sell cars dragging in @Ford and Scott Monty.

Instead of dissecting the tweets because I was a cynic and they felt the impact will be outsized, I did some basic research. Ford has an eroding cash flow position. Their stock is down 50% from it's peak of $18 last year. The current Fusion is on pace to sell 225,000 units this year. This is their big family car and they need to grow the sales. Not sure their target number.

Scott was the brains behind the Fiesta Movement. This effort helped sell 30,000 cars ($390 million) which was highly praised and impressive. But now the Fiesta is failing.

@Ford told me they have 70 Facebook Pages. I checked it out. The top 2 are for Ford and Mustang:

Worldwide since that is what Facebook is they have 190,000 actions per week on the two pages. This totals new Likes of the page, Likes of posts, Comments, and Fan Posts. So just under 30,000 a day but just over 3,000 a day for the Ford page.

They have a Fusion Page:

But they have only 500+ actions per day.  I estimate Ford needs to reach millions and millions in the US each week. But Scott and Gunther feel reaching 10,000 engaged fans is better than reaching tens of  millions that only half pay attention.

But here is the catch. Cars have to sell themselves. Forget any spokesperson, TV ad, Radio spot, or Facebook page. The minute that car hits the street it is a rolling advertisement. You see it cruising and you see who is driving it. One of my favorite car commercials is the Kia Soul Hamsters. This car is aimed at the 18-25 year old market. But in person the car is pretty dorky vs what I see in the commercial. And in Albany NY I never see anyone under 50 driving it. So my view is kind of ugly car for old people. Won't buy.

When we do buy a car we have issues like price, what kind of financing is available, the local dealer ads and incentives. When we see them in person we decide immediately if we want one. And we ask people we see driving them in person (not via Social) if they like the car. I assume the Fiesta owners are not a glowing army for Ford now days. Or also possible the new Focus or competition has eaten into the sales?

So can 10,000 engaged fans for Ford propel the Fusion to sell more than 225,000 units? Maybe. But I am not very optimistic. There is a lot of competition in that car segment. And Ryan Seacrest isn't going to sway anyone in my opinion. Now I will state since Ford is going to spend big on this launch I fully agree with their campaign as part of an integrated marketing plan. 

I will end by highly recommending you listen to the last Mitch Joel - Joseph Jaffe podcast on Facebook. They have some very good takes on Social for Brands and why we really don't engage or care about them. I will revisit this launch when the data comes in. But it is safe to say if the car isn't attractive when seen on the road, or the right price point, neither social nor paid media is going to fix this. The car must sell itself.

Also if Auto Advertising is of interest Chris Baccus has a great one it is linked to your left!

Author's note: We love Ford. And we want them bountiful success. This post is more a discussion on Auto Advertising and Social Media vs any car or company viewpoints.

The Big Picture Matters

Our little girl had her one year old check up Tuesday. She got her first shot which was for tetanus. After he wanted to review the next three shots that we might want to have her get. All were optional.

When discussing the Chicken Pox Vaccine he said Adults are 4x more likely to have a serious bout of the Pox than children. But then he said 'What they don't tell you is that in children 0.02% have serious bouts and in Adults it is 0.08%'. In the big picture really we shouldn't worry about this.

I said my industry is just like that. They massage the facts to sound impressive. Especially social media. My friend Danny Brown posted an infographic Sunday about Facebook. The focus was on addiction but when I did the math 53 billion minutes a month in the US wound up showing active users spend only 11.7 mins a day on the site. The most of any website/network. In the big picture that is a small number. If you add the 50 million non-Facebook using interest users we are around 7.9 minutes a day. Do we even use the internet these days?

My last post slammed a study about Like's. While the case study on Skittles was a poor one to use they did show by using paid and earned media on Facebook you can boost your marketing results. It basically proved you can amplify activity when combined, but the base is almost zero percent of Skittle's daily customers amplified by 2.5x. In the big picture this was not driving Skittles sales. 

Twitter considers an active user someone who sends 1 tweet per month. But is that active? can you reach that person on Twitter? Of course not. Facebook calls an active user someone who logs in one time per month for one second. Is that active? of course not. But this makes the gross account numbers look nice.

But what is the big picture? It is taking a step back from the hype, the sales pitch, and the spin. Look at all options for your marketing plan. How can you reach people best? Just because they spend more time on Facebook doesn't mean you can reach them there. You might have more success with print or TV or a clown with a bell wearing a sandwich board.

My peers will shoot me for saying this. But it is the truth. Almost always your best form of marketing is great product or service, right price point, great customer service, your location and your street sign if you have a physical business. 

Remember that it is the big picture that matters.

Does Gini Dietrich Influence Me?

Saturday Gini Dietrich was on a panel discussing Online Influence in a Google Hang Out. You can watch it here: For Immediate Release the panel including a mixture of evangelists and skeptics. Gini rocked this round table.

I was out for an afternoon run that went wrong. Long story but ran much further than the plan. I checked in on Twitter to see what was going on and I saw Gini Tweet about the event:

I joked that Gini influenced me even though I am a big cynic since 99% of human communication occurs off social networks. And forget influence measuring. Each Brand and Business has a different goal. Nordstrom's wants you coming to the store and buying things. Huffington Post wants you sharing online their content driving traffic to their site. If Nordstrom's has content that goes viral using 'Influence' but not one person comes to shop that is a failure. If Huffington Post has links tweeted and shared over and over but no clicks on the links that is a failure.

So did Gini influence me yesterday? She sure has a high Klout score.

Well Yes and no. First off we are friends. Online we talk on Twitter, Facebook, Email and her blog Spin Sucks. Talk more on Email and her Blog. Both platforms influence measurement can not see. I share Gini's content often. But seeing her tweet was pure luck. Had I not seen it I would never of known about the Hang Out Discussion. Can she influence me if I do not see her tweet?

You can't influence online if your tweet or facebook post is not seen. And 97% go unread just due to the high volume in everyone's feeds. So if this is the case the fallacy I find is in how Klout and Peer Index measures. Gini is way more influential via her blog than any social networks. I have no idea how many readers she has. But with Twitter she might reach 600 people per tweet. That is a lot of Tweeting to match her blog reader ship.

But being philosophical I have never purchased a product or service because of her. I have read content she has shared. I read her blog. And I have a Google Alert for her because I thought it would be fun. But if you approached Gini wanting to influence me in some way because of her Klout score....not sure that will work. But if your Topic is such that she will blog about it...I guarantee you we will discuss your topic. On her blog. Or if the subject is one of such utter disbelief she might email me. But then Klout and Peer Index won't see that either way....will they?

Be careful. With 99% of more of human communication not taking place on Social Networks never mind public ones....you will get bitten. If you rely on these numbers to either market a product or service, build awareness or move content, or do not do your research of each influencer.

Should You Out Source Your Social Media?

Usually No. You really could be foolish to do so. 

I say this even though I run a client's Twitter and Facebook Communities. Been doing it over two years now. We often make fun of Social Media Ninja's and Gurus who advise on doing this but have never done it for a Brand. Doing it for themselves doesn't count. Show me one community for a brand, built, run and operated by a Brogan or Solis. Yet you will listen to them about how to do social media?

Who should run the Social Media? The real answer? The top Dog. The top Dog should help and seriously spend time doing it. I suggest 1 day a week the CEO should do this. Or CMO. I don't care how big a company or how well paid they are. If they don't they are failing their company.

Why? Because they should see their customers up close. Their complaints. The things the Company does that impacts customer service, image, etc. Bask in the glory of compliments too. Nothing wrong with that.

The community I run is 99.9999% positive. And I have skin in the game. I am their Director of Marketing. I believe in their product. I believe in their future. I share my client's vision. I am their company when it comes to Social Media and Marketing.

But Chunk-n-Chip makes the best gourmet ice cream sandwich in Southern California. How could they not make people happy. But they get some poor Yelp! reviews here and there. We even have a 'Terrorist' lately leaving false reviews. They get people who complain every so often on Twitter, though rarely and almost never on Facebook. But when I get those complaints it is a pain the ass. I think 'I have no control over this'. All I can do is advise my client what to do. If they don't take my advice (my client takes my advice I am really lucky btw) I am still paid to handle Social Media and have to deal with these issues. But it is a small business so I can share individual occurrences because they are few and far between. She can feel my pain.

Most CEO's and C-Suiters I am sure feel this stuff is below them. But there have been examples of CEO's working Customer Service Lines in the past. If I see that I know it is a good company. Buy their stock. But what about a larger business. Is really all you care about is an Agency giving you a report that says the sentiment with no content? Will they act quickly if they see a trend? Or will they wait for the monthly data report?

So when businesses think they can outsource this work is that the smart move? For example VW has Edelman Digital running their Facebook page  helping mine for complaints. VW wants Edelman handling complaints? Even identifying them to me is risky and needs close monitoring (maybe VW does this?). Would a Digital Agency worker be able to see a trend really quickly for a problem that could lead to a recall or lawsuits like an Auto Industry worker would? Edelman calls this customer care effort a success, because it nets them billings. And it is slick. But they seem to be running it vs VW. So I call just the set up a success. Jury is out on the management and operations.

Outsource the Set Up. Outsource the Training. Outsource the Advising. Outsource the Data Management and Measurement. But don't outsource community management. And upper management should be participating. Why have people working with your customers who A] Don't work for you B] Possibly have no buy in regarding your mission or product C] Have no skin in the game if customers get pissed or angry. Is that who you want the face of your company's front lines to be? An Advertising/Marketing Agency?

When I pursue clients I pursue clients I want to work with. I won't work with someone just because I want billable hours. If I believe in what they are doing I want to work with them. I can then ethically and emotionally represent them. 

My client in Southern California has many fans on Twitter who now follow Sky Pulse Media on Twitter. They know that even from Upstate NY and Vermont my 17 years in Los Angeles and Orange County and my buy in, that I am truly part of that brand vs just a hired gun. How many agencies who run Social Media Communities can say that about what they do? Think about it before you out source.

Part 4 Five Tips on How to Choose the Right Blogs

I am going to be nice this last post. Instead of calling out the myriad of bloggers that I can, I want to be constructive with some rules so you can determine the quality of a blog post.

1] Does the blogger support their thesis with real numbers and data? 

There is a really well know Author and Blogger who is big time all in on social influence who did a slide share showing 6 case studies on using Klout and Peer Index to help launch products. Not one case study gave support that the campaign worked. Do they use fuzzy math? I am still waiting on a study done by Wildfire App. Media Post did kind of a Press Release for them. It had no basis. It claimed things like 82% increase in engagement without saying from what base. Did engagement go from 10% to 18.2% of from 0.0001% to 0.000182%? Why are the details hidden?

2] Is the blogger an expert in their area of commentary? 

Have they done the things they claim they are an expert in? There are many thought leaders in social media who never built a brand community or managed one themselves trying to tell brands how to do this.

I have a Finance/Sales background. That is why many of my posts are slicing the numbers in the hype to reality. When Yelp! claimed a call is made every other second from the mobile app to sound impressive. I calculated 86 calls per day per US state which is almost zero.

3] Is the blogger always selling to you? 

I find there are three types of blogs. The first is helpful. They want to show you how to do things and do so in detail. The second is discussion. They present something they want people to respond and talk about. The last is selling selling selling They are trying to sell you on their service, their platform, their book etc. If the blog is the last type they will have serious bias.

The list to your left are all either informative/helpful or discussion based. Not one of those bloggers is trying to directly sell you anything even though many are authors and would love you as a client.

4] Are they objective? 

Do they always have the solution from what they do? Or are they willing to offer solutions from other sources? Will they admit there are other solutions or better solutions?

5] Do they like using mumbo jumbo? 

I have called Social Commerce...is just Commerce. I have railed that Social Media is not Media at all. Engagement and Impressions are nice fuzzy terms with almost no meanings. I just came down on Social Business because it is just Business. Look for people who like to talk human vs lingo.

There is so much great content out there. I subscribe to Ad Week, Media Post, and Ad Age news emails. They are free! I read a ton of blogs. There are so many great blogs and great thinkers and leaders if you look for them. Don't use the AdAge Power150 as your guide. Only 2 of the top 50 are listed here. And there is only another 5 I would read. The fact so many people read Mashable proves the low IQ for the industry.

And remember....just because someone wrote something doesn't mean it is true.

Part 3 Duh...Businesses have always been Social

I am going to state this up front. I do not think highly of Edelman Digital. They want to be thought leaders in the Social Space and I don't find their thoughts much more than self serving. I had a bit of a disagreement with Michael Brito on his blog post about Social Business. Edelman is pushing the term 'Social Business' in a way that is skewed towards their business.

Let's start with Michael claiming what all the people say in all these Twitter chats focused on how business should run. 

It starts with the CEO

DUH! Well of course Edelman knows if the CEO get's hooked the purse opens.

In fact I discussed a while ago why Social is not in the C-Suite and btw it still isn't. Not until CEO's see their bonuses being impacted in a meaningful way. I told Michael that businesses have always been social. Michael didn't agree.

And when I responded back with the cold hard truth that unless everyone benefits from better communication and goals they won't do anything the CEO spouts. They will do what maximizes their paycheck nothing more and nothing less. Of course when I responded Michael didn't respond back which isn't very social is it? Because today's business problems are the same as yesterdays. Tools change. Systems change. But they are the same problems in a different form.

Businesses have been striving to improve for years. The CEO's LOVE to jump on board the 'Idea of the Day'. In the 90's there was ISO9000 and Six Sigma. In the 2000's Kaizen and Lean Manufacturing. For communicating we had email, staff meetings, intranets, etc. Today it is Social Business. Which really says nothing to me. Often players come in and make a killing schilling stuff to CEO's who bite hook line and sinker. So Edelman is fortunate to be in the current space.

If a company approached Edelman and asked about Social Business, if Michael was honest and said "To be truly communicative you will need to ensure all workers have a stake in the profits in a way that truly motivates them. Let's start with 20% given back to Employees". How many CEO's would choose short term vs long term? They would see the hit on earnings as a hit to the short term share price and even their bonus as well as all bonuses for upper management who get paid in stock options. With no loyalty even at the top this is a very hard sell. Long term that decision could propel the business to great heights though. But will the CEO be there still? 

But if Edelman leaves that part out they very well might get paid a lot of money to set up systems and platforms to try to make the business more social without any carrot for success. I am not sure what the answer from Edelman would be since Michael didn't elaborate. And the fact is all businesses don't have to be 'Social' but they do have to be communicative. 

My point here is Edelman is selling Social Business so of course their blog posts will be pushing this. Even though businesses have always been social!

Take a step back. There is value in what you read from Edelman employees. But if you really want to be shown ways to improve your intracompany communication you need to find people or an agency that have no platforms or agendas to sell you and can actually objectively guide you with what is best for you. That could mean them choosing an Agency like Edelman if their skill set matches your needs. Or completely different solutions that might not even have the word Social attached. You need to have a choice of all tools and platforms because each business is unique and has their own goals and objectives.

Seek people like Cheryl Burgess from Blue Focus Marketing, or Gini Dietrich at Arment Dietrich who co-Wrote a great book with Geoff Livingston of Razoo called Marketing in the Round. All give great advice on how to improve and galvanize intracompany communication, and external with customers and suppliers. They teach solutions for challenges and are very objective vs biased. Trust me Cheryl is cringing because she loves the term Social Business even if I don't. But we both have the same viewpoints on communication itself for organizations. Read her posts for ATT's Networking Exchange Blog  And when you read posts on this by Gini Dietrich on Spin Sucks you don't see her pushing any platforms vs pushing your success.

Part 2 in why maybe you shouldn't trust marketing blogs

Yesterday I kicked off this series.

There have been many studies showing Marketer's are trusted less than Used Car Sales People. And deservedly so. Why would you trust people who do not care about honesty, accuracy, or reality. Especially so they can make money? I feel we should care about what we publish, what we present to clients. Yes making money is the goal, but clients come first right? Oh wait that is why in Advertising they never tie awards to successfully selling product.

Chris Voss has a pretty well read blog. Randomly this post with a Twitter Infographic was tweeted:

How Big Twitter Is in 2012 Infographic

I hate Infographics. They are almost always filled and riddled with errors. So I won't post any here. The issue I had with this one is stated that there is 175mil Tweets per day. Oh and also 33 Billion Tweets per day. When I asked Chris why he would post a graphic with false data here is his response:

So basically Chris is telling me it is ok to publish false content and that facts are not important and that I should get a life for wanting to have accuracy in reporting. But I bet if I slandered Chris and said he sleeps with goats and steals money from kids lemonade stands (allegedly) he would be upset that my content is not accurate. Would you hire someone who doesn't care about telling the truth?

This is why people do not trust marketers. Too many of us bullshit out of our asses....like Chris. Want to know what is even more stunning? 1,200+ idiots retweeted this deceptive and inaccurate infographic. Makes me really proud of my peers.

UPDATE:

Seth Godin created a minor storm this week. He was taken to task and quite humbled and accountable with his response:

Punk Views on Social Media

I also bring up Inforgraphics in this post where Ad Week had a horrible one on Mobile.

Why Are You Not Getting Through?

Before I slacked and then got sick I posted asking Are You Getting Through? 

I didn't go into details regarding why you aren't getting through. There has been a huge industry of hype almost fraud about Social Media for Marketing. Social Media is about connecting people in new and unique ways. It is a Revolution in Interpersonal Communication Technologies. 

This does not mean people want to talk to Brands via Social Media. In fact contrary to many of my peers I would bet it ranks last on reasons for using Social Media. So that is barrier number one. People have limited time and they don't care about your Brand or Product enough to engage with you beyond possibly 'Liking' or 'Following' you.

The second barrier is as our networks mature and we add more and more connections our time is the same. If I have time to read 100 Tweets per day and I follow 100 accounts who tweet 4x er day I will read 25% of my feed. If I add 100 accounts to follow I will read 12.5% of my feed. You see how this is going right?

The third barrier is also time related. I checked out a Twitter application called Social Bro. And it says of my 1600+ followers 45 tweeted in the last 5 minutes. Which tells me maybe 100 people are active on Twitter right now. Less than 10%. While you can see when the most people in your network on twitter, it still will be a minority of your network.

So the numbers run against Social Media Marketing. For whatever the guru's tell you about how things are shared and go viral etc the number of shares per person per day is very small. And the chances of those shares being seen is very small. So the craps table is better odds for you.

What can you do aside from paying to advertise?

1] Tweet or Facebook Post enough to be seen but not enough to spam. 

2] Give Fans and Followers a reason to come to you. This could be bribes such as deals or just great content.

3] Forget about forcing Marketing on people. Focus on your Product or Service or Experience. make it best in class. People will talk without you initiating and you can then listen and data mine.

4] Lastly be realistic. Have an integrated marketing plan. If you need to reach X number of people per day you will need help beyond Social Media. Look at your options based on your budget. You will be surprised how much impact some creativity can have on your marketing.

Are You Getting Through?

I have a client that makes the most delicious gourmet dessert. It is called a BOO-Yah!! and it is a unique Ice Cream Sandwich made with fresh warm soft cookies sandwiching ice cream made from a local vendor. It is not cheap and made from the most premium all natural ingredients available. The fans are pretty rabid. We have a nice social media community on Facebook and Twitter which we grew organically without any tricks or Facebook ads. 

I have explained to my client that based on the volume of fans and followers vs her sales while Social truly impacts her business, it is not driving her business. One reason is that the platforms are flawed. It is hard to get a Tweet or a Facebook Post seen.

There are simple tests to prove this. You can view stats showing how many click on a Tweet or Facebook Link. You can also do fun giveaways and see how many react.

And what I have found is that people are not seeing the Tweets and Facebook Posts in any sort of volume. I am seeing from 2-4%. Which tells me this is a platform issue. The biggest proof? What if I Tweet that I am giving away one of these to 5,000 people. 

And only 6 people respond.  Or if I do the same on Facebook and get 2 responses. This tells me that I have a platform problem vs a content problem. Because there is a reason 5,000 plus are following my client on Twitter and 3,000 on Facebook. It is because they love the product. They often wait in line for 10, 20, sometimes 45 minutes to get one. And they pay $4.75. But when we give one away on Twitter or Facebook? We get so few responses.

I see this on all Facebook Brand Pages. When Ford Mustang (Passion Brand) has 4 million fans yet can only get 10 people to post on their wall in 12 hours, and only 7,000 per day combined Likes and Comments on their posts. I have to assume it is because their posts are not being seen. 

This is going to get worse. As people grow their networks they will see less and less of the feed. Our time is valuable. If we have time to read 100 tweets per day and 50 Facebook posts per day, that will not change even as traffic in our feed grows 50% or doubles. 

GM vs Ford and the Facebook IPO debate

If you are in the marketing world the announcement that GM is canceling it's $10 million in Facebook ads just before the coming IPO was big news. And Ford it's main competitor seemed to have some tongue and cheek words on the Twitter followed by this Forbes article. They say they believe in Facebook.

Who is right? It depends on what you think Facebook is. In the Forbes article Ford clearly does not view Facebook as a paid advertising site. They look at it more for the social interactions on Brands Pages in conjunction with Paid ads and an integrated non-social media marketing effort. 

GM feels the value is in direct advertising and they aren't getting the response rates. Others also have experienced this.

I have three views on this. Because they both are right.

1] Facebook is not driving car sales. It will never drive car sales. But advertising there and having Brand pages to get feedback as mini-focus groups like Ford is using them is a worthwhile part of your marketing mix. I am ok with brands not being on Facebook,. Facebook surely doesn't give you the ability to listen off your page. So it is probably 100% likely that 95% of the chatter going on about your Brand on Facebook you will never see or hear. But that 5% that is on your page can be valuable for sure.

2] Facebook has an upcoming IPO. They are selling themselves to investors as a giant paid advertising network no different than Yahoo. Yet their ads perform worse than Yahoo's. And they aren't elegant banner ads but little Craig's List worthy Ads. And GM decided why spend money on these ads because they perform poorly. And thus place that money elsewhere with higher impact.

This is the problem with the IPO. Facebook is a Social Sharing Network it is not a Paid Advertising Network. But the revenue is in Paid. Ford finds value in the first and GM wants the second.

3] But should GM of pulled the ad spend? Depends. Facebook to their credit charges only if you get a click. If I pay for 200 clicks and it takes Facebook 1 million ad impressions to get me that who cares? That is their problem not mine. As long as I can get my 200 clicks is all I care about. So no GM should not of pulled them unless that was near and dear money they knew would have a higher return. BUT tell me GM isn't wasting half their ad spend just like Ford does? What is $10m to them?

Lastly as an investor I would be really worried that a major Brand like GM is pulling money from Facebook when they are selling themselves as a paid advertising network. The reason there is hype is because they keep booking more and more ads even while the performance in terms of click through rate being really poor. Right now everyone is testing how they work. But if they decide ads work better elsewhere their goes their revenue.

You have to be all in or not in at all

I have written posts about how hard it is to reach people on Twitter and Facebook. And the lack of engagement (I hate the term btw I consider engagement an action taken online: Link Click, Comment, Like, Reply, ReTweet etc) due to the platforms inhibiting this. I have also blogged about how hard it is to have scale and reach on social media.

But I find immense value for the platforms as simple customer service, community building and listening tools. If you have customers who want to come and chat with you by all means why put barriers. And talking with 1% of your customers regularly is much more valuable than zero percent, and in fact can be quite profitable.

But you can't do this part time. You can't check in on Facebook once a day, add a post and leave for 24 hours. You can't respond or converse on Twitter once a day either. You will never have a community no matter how big or small. You will never keep people interested in you or looking for you if you are never there. This means content and persistence. It means having a thick skin and showing a human face for your brand.

It takes a lot of energy and effort to build an online community for your business. I created and manage one for a client and now are moving some of that burden in house. Took two years with no gimmicks but we did it. It was worth it. We have extended our reach and awareness dramatically to where now we can actual redirect some of my time to other areas of marketing to grow even bigger.

I tell clients it is worth it because you get a multitude of value back. Sales. Feedback. Engagement. Customer Loyalty. But it really needs to be done by someone who is part of your business. I would not out source the work to an agency unless there was complete buy-in and understanding of the product, brand and customers. The clients want an easy fix. Cut a check gain a community. It doesn't work that way. I also see many small businesses posting infrequently and see how little they gain. They might have a lot of fans or followers but they have no value if you don't give them anything to respond to.

You have to be all in or not at all. The good news is there is help. You can learn. It is fun. The resources often are mostly time. But if done right the return on that time can be immense.

Don't be Snowed. Total Fans and Followers Mean Nothing

I recently blogged that people aren't engaging with Brands on Facebook. I used MTV's 100million total fans for their Facebook pages and got into their numbers. Then I saw this Forbes article linked on the Twitter.

Stop being conned by the Media, Marketers, Guru's. No one gives a flying crap about Fans or Followers. They mean nothing to your business.

The C-Suite knows this and that is why they don't care about Social. They didn't in 2010 and they do not today. Why is this? 

What is important is activity. You need to forget 800mil Facebook accounts and 450mil Twitter accounts. Next time someone says your customer is on Facebook or Twitter the fact is they are not. And if they are it is not for very long each day.

When I went to MTV's main page with 33mil fans I find over 300K in the Talking About Section. Talking about is the number each week adding up all the comments and likes to your brand page posts, plus all the times people add their own comment and those get liked on your page. This is not UNIQUE visitors! If I comment once per day then they count me as 7.

So take 300,000 and divide by 7 and you get just over 40,000 actions per day. Hey that is nice right? But MTV needs millions of unique viewers world wide since MTV is a GLOBAL BRAND. So it could be 300,000 unique people who each took one action, or it could be 10,000 hardcore people who take 4-5 actions per day on the brand page.

So that 33mil Fans? Means nothing. It is nice to have them. But you can't reach them all with your page. You can reach maybe 0.5-1% a day in terms of them seeing your posts and comments. Not bad. That is 150k to 300k impressions. But not driving viewership or profits. 

I once blogged about starting with your goal and working backwards. Imagine the CEO of MTV coming to you and saying 'I want to have 10,000 to 40,000 actions per day on our page. How many fans do we need for that?' and you respond '33 million'.

You need to stop including gross numbers and start looking at 'how many are you really reaching'. 

Stop saying total accounts and think how many are actually using this network right now when I want to reach an existing or potential customer. 

You need to stop thinking you reach all your fans and start thinking is having X number engaging with me a big enough pay off vs my effort which could be focused elsewhere.

People spent ONLY 12 minutes per day on Social Networks?

My friend Shelly Kramer blogged about a recent ComScore report. (btw follow her on the Twitter she needs more friends)

While it highlights an increase in usage for Social Networks it reinforces the fact you can not really market via social media to any scale. For those that wonder how I arrived at the 12 minutes the report states people now spend 6 hours a month on Social Media 360 minutes divided by 30 days....anyone who reads this blog knows I hate how marketers aggregate numbers to make them look big.

We have blogged that use of Facebook is now under 20 minutes per day per user. We have blogged that most if not all of human communication takes place off of Social Networks in private.

Meanwhile people still spend 4hrs per day watching TV. They still work, eat, play. They still drive around and shop. They still spend hours on the internet. But only 12 minutes on Social is just 0.8% of a day. 

So how should a business reach their current customers and find new ones?

First most powerful will be word of mouth. If you have a great product or service at the right price point and give customer support that will be your biggest sales driver. Remember advertising is like shooting with a shotgun. You spray it and hope you hit some folks. But people will talk about your product, service or brand if they have a great experience! And I don't mean on Social Networks! I mean Live! Email! Phone! Etc!

Next is your location, storefront, street sign or if you are on the internet your website and great SEO. Make sure people can see you easily whether when walking, while driving, or searching on the internet.

Third is traditional marketing works! Look at TV and Cable ad rates. Digital ads, yes even Facebook ads which are traditional advertising if you were unaware. Publicity/Public Relations efforts. Even print ads depending on your business, product, service.

Lastly use social in ways that fit your business size. For a small business you can talk to and groom customers to become brand advocates. For a big business you can get them talking about your brand.

You should talk to people with similar businesses, or observe your competition and find out what works for them best. I have a client who wanted to be included in a Best of Their City publication for 2012 and the publication wants them to buy advertising in order to really be supported. So we asked a business that is similar that ran an ad last year and the response was  not positive so I advised them to look at other options and weigh where to invest their limited budget. 

For a bigger business that can afford many things try what looks best and then after 6 months evaluate how your choices performed. And then the ones that did well pay for again, And the ones that didn't reinvest in some of your options you decided to pass on. Often you can't tell how well a marketing/advertising channel or platform works until you try them.