Small Town Rules | Social Media Marketing

Posts Tagged ‘small town rules’

We Like Human

Monday, January 4th, 2010

An usual decision that every company has to take when they start talking about joining the social media movement is deciding who’s going to be in charge of it. Are we going to connect with our customers using the company logo and be impersonal, like Starbucks, or are we going to put a specific person to talk to people in the name of the company, like Scott Monty does successfully with Ford? There are certainly arguments for doing both, but in my case, I prefer the human approach. Here are some reasons for going with a real human in charge of your social media connections:

We Want A Face

A face is very important. A name is nothing until I can put it in some face, until I can start guessing what kind of personality that man or woman has depending on his or her face. It’s only human to seek this chemistry, so it’s only clever to provide it. Don’t underestimate the power of a good Public Relations face. It can make a huge difference.

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Tags: Blogging, community, credibility, relationships, small town rules, Social Media, Strategy
Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Strategy | 1 Comment »

The Three Immutable Laws of the Social Web

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

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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Tags: authenticity, blogosphere, consumers, credibility, customer service, customers, enthusiasm, Gary Vaynerchuk, genuine, information, networking, online presence, passion, personality, raving fans, small town rules, Social Media, testimonials, transparency
Posted in Marketing, Strategy | 1 Comment »

Social Media is a Blast from the Past

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

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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Tags: conversation, customer service, customers, discussion, Gary Vaynerchuk, Garyvee, podcast, small town rules, Social Media, social network, social networking, Wine Library
Posted in Marketing, Strategy | 4 Comments »