Clear Verve Social Media University Presentation

Editor's Notes

• #2: Survey the room. How many are Business owners In-house marketers At an agency of some sort How many are Social media kindergartners – tried it, but can’t figure it out Social media grade school – use one platform fairly well, but not others and still aren’t sure of the value Social media jr high – use several platforms, but they’re not necessarily part of an official strategy Notice – I didn’t ask about social media college grads. That’s because it’s all so new that even today’s experts would admit that they still have a lot to learn. Invite any agency or marketing people to chime in – glad they’re here to make presentation even more valuable for the others. And at the end, not just questions, but discussion. Book giveaway.
• #3: Goal for today: you are a diverse crowd and I didn’t know who you were going to be (want to provide helpful information to appeal to this group/engage discussion at end). The jumping off point for today is: We know what social media is , we just don’t know how to add it to our current efforts or if we’re using it well. We want to feel more confident that our social media actions have the opportunity to produce results
• #4: Low barrier to entry It can make a huge difference for your business
• #5: Hear success stories about bands being discovered on YouTube, companies making it big because of twitter, or getting the opportunity to write a book because of a blog. We all want that. It’s no different than before. There were always stories about someone who had a story run in a local paper that got picked up by the NY Times, or some random person that Oprah discovered becoming an overnight success. Mustela In Style story.
• #6: Sometimes, you’ll hear amazing overnight success stories with social media. Unfortunately, marketing success is usually still built one step at a time and social media is like anything other strategy. We all know: One ad in a newspaper won’t save your business One postcard in a direct mail campaign won’t save your business One week on twitter probably won’t either. That’s a big challenge because Although the barrier to entry for social media is low, the barrier to success is high because you have to stick with it and work at it constantly. How many have started a newsletter, or a blog, or a twitter account, posted two things and then got too busy to keep it up? This is very common. Social media is a lot of work.
• #7: and It’s also not a replacement for everything else. That stinks because it’s not like we don’t all have enough to do and there are already a lot of ways to spread your message. It’s just like when the internet came along and e-commerce got going. Catalogs didn’t disappear. companies still have to produce printed catalogs if they want to sell more. Why? Because people like to shop in the catalog, but they buy online. So, it didn’t save money or time. It makes more work and more expense. Now, you have to design both a catalog and a website. And they both have to be good. And they have to look like they go together. And now instead of one person doing the work, you have two. So things changed, but not the way we wanted them to.
• #8: What happened during the dotcom boom is a great example of this For every amazon.com, there were other people who thought if they built a website and advertised the heck out of it, they could sell anything and make millions. But there were not enough million $ superbowl ads or sock puppets to keep these companies alive.
• #9: That’s because you can’t use an old trick on a new dog. This is mktg 101, but we forget it when we see a shiny new toy Your sales channel has to make sense. You have to communicate in the way your audience wants it (not the way you want it) And communication is changing with the live web. People want something different out of their internet experience and out of their relationships with companies than they wanted in the past. Your marketing/advertisng/pr (whatever) needs to be not just creative, but also relavant and engaging so your audience can participate You can’t just take the old way of doing business and plunk it into a new medium.
• #10: I’d suggest removing this analogy/slide. I’m not sure it adds a lot of value to presentation. It’s a good story but I think your lead in info. might be too long. How many here have seen Singin in the Rain? This movie is a great example of how people using old tricks on new dogs isn’t a new thing. Explain movie. Movie is based off of actual problems studios had with switching to talkies. We’re not any smarter today than people were in the 1920s but technology is a lot more advanced.
• #11: We like to do what we know. We like to do what is comfortable. Change is scary. Especially screwing up online. There’s a lot to be afraid of:
• #12: Web 2.0 has its own set of challenges. Main one we hear about is that people are afraid to make fools of themselves. In the past, if you make a marketing mistake, nobody really knew Ex. Bad radio buy Now, if someone doesn’t like you, your company, or your product, it’s easy to post it on the internet, where it lives forever. And because bad news travels faster than good, it can spread. Ex. What if you hate this presentation?
• #13: The other challenge is the Silos present in many businesses. If you have a small business, this isn’t much of a problem, but if you have a big one, this can be a huge barrier. Web 2.0 marketing actually crosses many depts in companies that ordinarily may not consider themselves marketers Sales Marketing PR HR Customer Service IT Legal Challenge – how to address both positive and negative comments in a timely manner. Everyone needs to understand their area of responsibility.
• #14: And then there’s one of most company’s biggest fears. What if their employees do or say something stupid or something that affects confidentiality? You have to figure out how your company will deal with employee’s communication? Not just for responses, but for communication you originate. Ex. Us military – recently embraced web 2.0. why? Boot camp theory vs. Burger King bathtub story.
• #15: And last, but not least, there’s the issue of message clutter and the fact that you have to be creative to get noticed. No need to harp on this, but anyone over the age of 30 can remember when there were 4 TV channels, no VCRs, no cell phones, etc. There are a million fragmented ways to reach everyone. Specialty TV channels, websites, magazines. Need to know where to put your message and how to make it interesting so people will participate.
• #16: So, how do you beat all these fears? You plan. As much as most of this doesn’t make sense until you try it, there are many issues you can think through before launching a social media campaign. Can’t give you the answers because for all of us it’s different, give you a way to think through the situation yourselves. My goal for today is to give you an organized way to think your strategy through. So you don’t just jump in, fail, and give up. I’m going to show you a series of questions you can ask yourself that will help you to think through your strategy and hopefully, help you find a creative way to engage your audience.
• #17: What do you do really well? This is important because If you’re known as a low price leader, your strategy will be much different than if you’re known for providing the most insightful advice. Social media is about being yourself and engaging others.
• #18: Can your competitors provide the same thing? If so, how can you be different? Maybe you have to hang your hat on something else. Social media is about the little things that get people really excited about a product or a company. It’s about the things that make you different from everyone else. You can emphasize all the basic stuff somewhere else, but in the social media space, you need to be very focused and specific.
• #19: I hesitated about including this question because I really hate marketing by imitation. So I want to stress that you shouldn’t keep an eye on your competition to copy them, but you should keep an eye on them so you don’t copy them. Especially with social media, it is so public, you want to know if your competitors are using facebook or twitter or whatever and how. If they’re not that’s great because there is always a huge advantage to being first, but if you can’t be first, you need to be better. Be aware of your competition so people don’t mix you up.
• #20: Think about What can you offer for free that will encourage people to: Learn more from and about you Visit your web site Interact with your company Spread the word about your company or product Remember, it has to be free. People think things on the internet should be free. It can’t go viral if you have to pay. Think about it, would you pay to join LinkedIn? There has to be something there that is worth interacting with. Need to provide some sort of experience. What is that experience going to be?
• #21: For example, if you sell a relatively simple product that people don’t generally research before purchase, google ad words may not be the right option for you. Ex. Sugar. Just go buy it. But, I might post to my facebook page that I’m baking with my kids. FB adv might work because you can have fun with recipes and contests. Ex. Technical professional service. Sharing articles and advice on twitter could be a great way to demonstrate expertise. Maybe a blog. Maybe google ad words linking to site or whitepaper. Think about how your product fits into their lives.
• #22: Your social media campaign needs to reinforce this. Ex. Shoot the moon posting pictures on FB and blog
• #23: Let’s go back to the kitchen. If I interact with a FB page on sugar, I might download the recipe, but I’ll still by Roundy’s sugar because it’s cheaper. Social media marketing is about targeting smaller groups of passionate people and getting them involved. They tell others. Your audience is the conduit for advertising. People don’t trust ads anymore, too much advertising and interruption and we’re smarter now. Just because Brooke Shields uses Colgate doesn’t mean my teeth will look like hers. They trust their friends, but not just friends, their “friends.” It sounds more real when it comes from a real person, even if you don’t know them all that well. You can’t control it, but you can facilitate it. Talk to passionate people and let them pass it on. Who, out of the larger group of people who actually use your product, cares enough about it to talk about it. No every user is highly engaged.
• #24: Facebook, twitter, some specialty networking site for physicians, alumni of some college or another, brides, whatever. We’re talking about the big guys today, but there are lots of specialty sites out there that can help you reach really passionate people. Find the right place for YOU and YOUR message
• #25: You have to get them to do something they find interesting or exciting enough that they will want to spread the word. This will help you pick up other followers that are likely to be similar to your current customers. This is important because people turn to different types of influencers as they move through the decision making process. Recently read a study that showed that when people initially start researching a purchase, influential (famous) experts are important, but as they get closer to making a decision, people that they have a connection with are more important.
• #26: How are you going to let the people that you currently do business with, those that you have a real human relationship with, know about your social media efforts? Just like the advice that it’s easier to sell more to your current customers than it is to find new ones, it’s easiest to engage your current customers in a social media strategy. Do you have a newsletter where you can tell them about your new facebook page or contest? Have you connected your blog to your linkedin profile? Can you connect linked in and twitter? If your company has seminars or learning events, do you promote your blog or twitter account ther Once you spread the word and people are aware and join in your social media efforts, don’t forget about developing a plan to continue to engage these individuals and have consistent communication.
• #27: Your online community will not grow very fast unless you reach outside your current customer base. Are you currently advertising anywhere? Does it make sense to implement Facebook advertising or google ad words? Can you add social media to your public relations strategy? Sometimes social media can work on it’s own, but many times it’s like any other marketing strategy – works better when it’s supported by another strategy.
• #28: Are you trying to: Drive visitors to your web site Sell more online Get influential twitters to tweet about you Get more people talking about you online Build a following on facebook Drive people into your physical location to make a purchase Redeem a coupon Step one is to develop your objectives and then put in place measurement mechanisms to know if your are successful in achieving these objectives . If you know what your goal is, you’ll know if it worked. .
• #29: You have to spread the word. Empty restaurant syndrome. People like success and are more likely to join in if they know others have too.
• #30: Can they handle also working in the social media space? Low barrier to entry, really high barrier to success. Do they have the time to put together an integrated campaign and do it well? Does IT, HR, or sales need to be involved? How can you make that happen? Who will execute? Social media takes time and commitment. Don’t start until you can answer this question! This is the most likely thing to make your campaign fail!
• #31: Start with one or two social media strategies. You can spend a lot of time learning and reading. If you try to do too much, you’ll probably end up spending so much time on the research, you’ll never get anywhere. Jump in. With social media, you can’t “get it” until you do it. Ask questions and get advice. Whether it’s from someone like me, or the person sitting next to you. Like I said at the beginning, this is all new. Nobody is a true expert. I am sure that someone here today will ask me a question I can’t answer. Remember, it’s what your customer wants to say or do more than what you want them to say or do. They control the space. You’re not going to get them to talk about your brand exactly the way you want them to, but if you can get people excited about even part of your brand, even if it’s in a weird way, you’ll get tons of exposure. (like mentos and diet coke)
• #32: I hope that in the short time we’ve had today, I’ve given you a way you can start to think through your own strategy. I wish I could have told you all exactly what to do, but there are as many options as there are people in this room. Actually there are more. Hopefully, these tools will help you make your way successfully into social media. That said, are there any questions or comments. Questions do not need to be for me. You can share an experience to get group feedback or tell a story of a success you’ve had if people will learn from your experience or your mistakes. Book giveaway.