How to avoid social media crash landings
December 17, 2009 11:46 AM
If, in the early years of the 20th century, the Wright Brothers had set out to build a machine that would carry hundreds of passengers across the Atlantic, with toilets fore and aft, they would have failed.
Instead, they focused on the short-term goal, which in their case was to prove that it was possible for a self-powered, heaver-than-air machine to fly. The distance was unimportant, they wanted to see if it worked.
So when the Wright Flyer bumped back onto the Kittyhawk sands after its maiden flight - a distance of a mere 120 feet - they had achieved what they set out to do.
Whilst reluctant to drag the reader away from aviation pioneers and back into the 21st century world of social media marketing, the parallel is an important one: you cannot expect to go into social media marketing and achieve everything at once. You have to learn to walk before you can run. Or, to extend the earlier analogy, if you want your brand to really fly, you've got to do the basics first.
Here's why - and what you can do about it.
Time, because social media marketing unavoidably takes up a lot of your time - or the time of key, expert people within your company. So if you leap into every available social media channel, you will end up doing them badly - because there are simply not enough hours in the day.
The second reason is that, while you have expertise in your field, you do not necessarily know the social media world quite so completely. You will therefore make mistakes, and it makes an awful lot of sense to make small mistakes early on, rather than big ones.
And it becomes impossible to manage. The infrastructure required for a well-managed and effective social media strategy takes time to build and to mature. And of course, who has time to manage the project - to take an bird's eye view of the whole social media operation - if your every waking hour is spent furiously blogging, tweeting and commenting.
Don't take unnecessary risks
There is an additional point in that, as marketers, we need to get buy-in from the purse holders and senior decision makers. And the best way to cajole budget from them is to show early successes. Reduce risks into risklets. Take on small projects and set small, achievable objectives. Prove the principle. 120 feet of sand doesn't sound much, but it's the only encouragement the Wright Brothers needed.
The reason for writing this blog is that I have recently been talking to a client about 'starting out' in social media marketing. He recognises the potential, but is understandably wary of something he hasn't done before. I realised that the best way was to talk through the gradual steps he might take, which were as follows.
- Advertising. Yes, that's right advertising. This was a client that had always used traditional industry press to gain brand awareness, generate leads etc. In the technical, niche market in which the client operated, this had proved successful. Our conversation had begun with a request that we help him with his next campaign, at which point I realised he could gain a lot from social media marketing - just as long as we didn't try to run before we could walk. So we planned a campaign and presented creative concepts - but also introduced the second step towards social media marketing.
- Content. Again, this is perhaps nothing new. But the role of content has changed dramatically We talked about the call to action in the ads and recommended replacing the "call 01234 56780 for more information" with "download our latest whitepaper" and offered an intriguing and focused piece of content that was relevant to the target audience.
- Content development. The next point to broach was that this piece of content could not be a one-off. We wanted to show to the target audience that it was worth their while to begin engaging with the brand. As Jason Van Orden puts it in his excellent podcast Mastering New Media, it is about a value exchange. A customer will only give up their valuable time and attention if you offer something valuable in exchange. And if my client's brand became known as a source of valuable information, we start to get somewhere. Also, by planning the content in advance, you can tell people what is coming up, therefore giving them a reason to give you their email - much more likely to succeed than inserting a huge data capture obstacle in the way of every visitor.
- Channel development. This is the point where it is easy to look at the sweet trolley and tell the waitress you'll have a bit of everything. Resist the temptation. My advice to my client was first to look at blogging as a channel. To introduce a regular, personal angle to the presentation of the content described above - rather than simply publishing the content to the corporate website - and to get used to contributing on a weekly basis. A bit like going for the profiteroles and only trying the treacle tart if you have room afterwards.
- Twitter. If the appetite is there, Twitter is next. To open a Twitter account and to use it as a means not only to get feedback from content readers, but also to help get traffic coming through to the blog. It takes more time, but we would help train the client and help them to do it effectively.
- Repurposing. The next step - if all has gone well thus far - would be to consider non-text content. For some people, this would be an earlier stage. For us, we felt it was best to start with written content and work our way up. This of course opens up the world of YouTube, Vimeo and further channels for content 'distribution'.
- Syndication, extension, world domination. If the previous steps have been followed in order, with measurement of success versus [sensible] objectives, we should have a pretty good social media presence by now. This may be 6 months away or two years away. It doesn't matter. But at this stage there will be a host of options open to the client because there will be a thoough understanding of what social media is doing for them, of the time an resource it takes up, and of what they can expect to gain from it. This knowledge was not there at Day 1, and it is only a gradual planned process that helps a company to exploit it properly.
Of course, my client is only just starting out. But I look forward to sharing news as his journey pogresses. And although right now he is just preparing for take-off, he knows that each flight will prepare him to go further with the next one.
5 Comments
Jamie Lee Wallace
John - Great post.
I'm working with a start-up client who, unlike your client, has no prior "status quo" system in place and is overly eager to dive into the social media scene. In this case, my task is not to overcome reluctance, but to rein in wild abandon. However, my approach and yours are very similar.
Creating a social media strategy is one thing, executing on it is another ... and executing on it well is the real test. By watching what others are doing, it's easy to get inspired and a little punch drunk. Your guidelines above for an iterative approach that carefully lays each element over the last is great advice for those considering making the leap.
People inexperienced with the day-to-day demands of a social presence that covers both content creation and participation with the immediate and larger community are often too quick to say 'yes' to every outreach concept that comes across the conference table. Being selective and cautious are both key to building those initial successes that will empower you to take the next steps to, as you put it, "world domination."
Go forth and conquer! ;)
John Bottom
Thanks for your comments Jamie - funny how clients tend to polarise on issues of social media: they are either suspicious or excessively enthusiastic about it and either need encouraging or holding back!
Either way, a structured approach is good, but it is a shame to kill that enthuisiasm! Wish you luck with your client.
John
Anonymous
Hi John,
Nice post. Clear progression that makes social seem less intimidating. But I think we should be intimidated, not by social media, but by the process that it drives. Getting into social media really means getting into publishing. It means creating a constant stream of idea-based content that keeps buyers interested and engaged. That's hard, and it means a real shift in skills for many marketing departments. I think the suspicion that we see of social media, which is justified, is mixed with fear. Let's identify that fear so that marketers will have an easier time making the transition. I think it's fear that the hardest aspect of marketing, content development, is ascending to become marketing's most important role, as advertising, traditional PR and events shrink and fall away. At ITSMA, we're seeing marketing budgets as a percentage of revenue fall to their lowest levels ever--1% or less. Businesses are asking, if you're not going to run ads, you're not going to run events, you're not going to design a trade show booth, you're going to stop printing brochures, what are you going to do for me?
Marketing departments are going to have to transform themselves into content development engines and they are going to have to sell the value of that to their businesses to prevent further cuts to the budget. As McKinsey consultant David Edelman said at the ITSMA annual conference last November, "We can't do more. Social media can't be more on top of what we're already doing. We need to think about doing things differently."
So would it be too radical to say that what you're really talking about in this process is a transformation of marketing?
Chris Koch
@ckochster
Cindy Davis
John et al,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I too often hear from large companies and marketing firms that they will bring in interns “to DO social media” for them. First, no one person should be responsible for all communications via social media. That is like saying one person is in charge of advertising, PR, customer service, sales leads, research and much more. And wow, do companies really want people who don’t know the product commenting and making judgments? So many companies are jumping in without a plan. Just like the good-old days, a plan needs to be in place. The other trend I am hearing is that companies don’t want to start with a social media plan until they have something to market – which is exactly the wrong time to start. Listen first, build relationships and gain trust first – add value. Those who want to enter with a bang will be sorely disappointed with the results. To Chris Koch’s point, good content is where real value is added. And I mean GOOD content. Absolutely an understanding of how to use and engage within the different social media networks is essential, but these are merely new communication tools that most people can learn to utilize for their specific goal and when it is carefully tied into the overall plan. Having interns crank replies to updates is not providing value. Marketing as we knew it is different when using social media as a tool. If companies want to endear new customers through social media they need to understand that on customers want more than just marketing and PR messages. Potential customers will be turned off and choose to turn off the direct marketing stream. Don’t even get me started on the importance of listening first, measurement and reporting, and then taking action on those results. I hope 2010 brings thoughtful, well-researched, value-added content to social media and not just a bunch of spouting. Oh, was I just spouting? Sorry!
Cindy Davis
@customcexperts
Amy Ricalde
I've learned that their is a strategic shift that has to take place when engaging in Social Media Marketing. One thing I now keep in mind is that my online group of people is intelligent and binded by a common passion... they are the "heart and soul" of what I am trying to accomplish. It is a group of about 700 people... Therefore, I don't expect to charge them any fees, but strive provide a service or information that is important to them. The value is in the trusted "think tank" it has created and further down the road, I'll let companies that see that value, sponsor our trips or projects... Otherwise, If my motives don't serve the group, I believe it will fall apart.
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