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Posts Tagged ‘customers’

Social Media is Not a Strategy

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Photo by joey.ganoza

One of the first things I ever learned in marketing was that “cool” in and of itself is not a strategy. Sure, it might turn a few heads. But will they remember what it said about your brand? Will they remember your brand at all? Unfortunately, “cool” rarely works when it comes to translating advertising into sales. Neither does “technology;” I remember the first augmented reality demonstration I saw, but I can’t tell you what the product category was, much less the brand. Similarly, “social media” is not a strategy.

Don’t misunderstand me. Social media integration is something many businesses ought to be considering as a potentially prominent part of their larger marketing plan, but it is so easy to think that being on social networks is the strategy itself. Unfortunately, it’s a much bigger picture. Social media is the means to the end, the channel for your message, so it’s important to consider what you want to say before taking the leap.

 

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In My Opinion…

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Photo by Thomas Hawk

So it turns out everyone is listening to their friends (duh!) and now everyone is also listening to strangers. A recent poll indicated that 90% of consumers trust the opinions of friends and 70% will trust the opinions of online reviews. Check out the beginning of this video from a segment featured on Good Morning America.

So what does that mean for you and your business? It means you better get listed on those rate and review sites and be sure you are taking advantage of your business presence.

 

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Get a Little Personal

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Photo by happeningfish

Everyone likes a card; not everyone likes an e-card. Everyone likes a personal message; not everyone likes a “mass message.” Why?
…Because you need to get a little more personal. Messages to the masses are just not cutting it these days. Gone are the days when we knew little about our audiences and one general message would work to target everyone (the blanket approach). We know more about our audiences than we ever have and messages that are irrelevant are not going to get you anywhere (but give a reputation of being distasteful and “spam-ish”…and no one wants to be labeled with that dirty four letter word).
A message with a personalized name or mention to a specific attribute (without being creepy) goes a long way. Consumers are inundated with messages and will only be listening to the ones they chose to hear—and those are the messages, which cut through the clutter because they are relevant and personal. And if you are honest and transparent, well by gosh you have cracked the code to social media success!

To use social media to get a little more personal, here are a few tips:

 

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Let Your Customers Speak Up

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

One of the biggest tests for companies that are trying to embrace social media with all its new ways of communication is the test of customer empowerment. Some companies have to deal with this without looking for it, while other companies, the ones that are beginning to understand what all that “word of mouth” is about, are taking initiative and empowering their customers themselves.

For example, McDonald’s in his effort to move away from the typical advertising that big companies like them are usually related to, launched a campaign in October 2009 where they let their customers submit two-word slogans to go with the image of their new Angus Third Pounders.

 

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The Three Immutable Laws of the Social Web

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Social Network Users

Social media has transformed the entire landscape of the web—not only how people produce and consume information, but also how businesses must engage and take care of their customers. If you want to be truly successful with online marketing, there are some rules of the new media environment that you need to learn and follow. These are the new rules for business success online.

You Have to Be Genuine

You’ve gotta be real. You can’t be the pushy car salesman. You actually have to demonstrate that you care. A lot of traditional marketing is overly pushy and sales-oriented, and these days, consumers are getting more and more effective at blocking out advertising entirely. When you get an unsolicited marketing newsletter or a spam message in your email inbox, do you read it? Or do you trash it immediately? Same rule applies to your potential customers. They’re smart, and they don’t want to be pitched to. Consumers trust the recommendations of their peers, and they trust companies who go out of their way to demonstrate that they care and provide helpful, relevant advice in the right context.

 

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Social Media is a Blast from the Past

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Vintage Television

The most important rule in social media is this:

You have to care about your customers.

If you don’t care about your customers, then don’t get involved with social media. If you can’t own up to your mistakes, forget it. If you don’t plan on really engaging with people, and having actual conversations, stop wasting your time.

The biggest thing about social media that is different from traditional media or marketing is that it is no longer a one-way conversation. If you’re not out there participating in the discussion of your brand already, I guarantee you someone is. Consumers are talking to each other, sharing their complaints about bad interactions and sharing their stellar reviews of good ones. But if you can’t be real and address the complaints when they happen (as well as share in broadcasting the successes) then you won’t succeed in social media marketing.

 

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