Over Engagement

Anyone else ever get turned off by compulsive posting? Or how about constant marketing messaging? Yeah, that’s annoying! In case you’re guilty of over engaging, just remember, other folks in the class would love to share, but if you keep raising your hand to share your thoughts, the rest of the class might think you’re the teacher’s pet, and then everyone’s avoiding you, and eventually you’ll realize…you have no friends. Wouldn’t you agree, everyone has something of value to share?

…And about constant marketing, see next point.

Over Automation

C’mon folks, the point is to engage with people. Talk to me, I’ll listen, and please listen, when I’m talking, this dear friends, says our relationship is important. Who wants to stay friends with someone that does all the talking?

The famous last words of every unsuccessful Marketing Manager’s social media plans are ” Oh! That’s fine, we don’t need an agency, and my secretary and marketing interns practically spend the whole day on Facebook”. It has to be clearly stated that personal use of social media does not make you an expert in executing brand dialogue within the social media space. Clients often question why they should appoint an agency to manage their social media. As with any marketing plan, the implementation of this strategy requires more than just an understanding of how to use these mediums. The common misconception is that social media is Facebook and Twitter alone. social media platforms are evolving and appearing all the time. Appointing an agency that has their finger firmly on the social pulse ensures not only that you are not left behind but also that you are in contact with the social community that is best suited for your brand.

social media has grown beyond being only a phase, an afterthought or a fun extra. It can be a very powerful tool for your brand but you really need to know how to use it. Without a thought through social media strategy, on how the brand will: listen to a defined audience, engage with them using defined rules of engagement, Reach and attract new users and measure of the social media success, brands should not join social media platforms. The brand needs to create content that speaks to and engages with your consumers, constant monitoring and replying to comments on your brand and a good social media team to look after the whole thing, your brand will either be lost in the social media stratosphere, or worse, will get a bad name. If your brand isn’t ready for social media, just don’t go there until it is.

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Three reasons why experiments in social media are so important:

1. Social media websites themselves change frequently, adding newer and altering older functionality. This has always been the case with Facebook and more recently with LinkedIn. Did I mention that there are more than 70,000 Twitter apps that exist? In other words, the functionality governing these websites and the tools that we can use to optimize our presence on them is a moving target.
2. The demographic using social media websites is continually evolving. Turn back the clock just two years: Did you foresee so many  businesses, and even yourself, being that active on Facebook, that it would become a ubiquitous part of not just Gen Y society but society as a whole? Who thought Twitter would become the default channel for news reporting? And ask the founders of LinkedIn if they thought back in 2004 that more than 40% of their revenues would come from Hiring Solutions, solutions that they have developed along the way.
3. How we use social media is ever-changing, as witnessed by how all of these social media websites are being used in ways that they were never designed or intended for.

In other words, no one can predict how this will evolve except that we are in the midst of an unprecedented convergence of how we communicate and where we go for information.

So what can you and your business do to take advantage of this eternally unstable situation in social media?

Experiment. And then experiment some more. Try something new. Figure out what works and what doesn’t. Learn from it and optimize. Kaizen.

The objective of experimentation isn’t just for the sake of experimenting. It’s about finding what sparks engagement, spread of word, new fans, and action in what you do in social media. And guess what? You won’t know what works until you try it, analyze the results, and incorporate your findings in how you refine your social media strategy going forward.

Neal Schaffer suggests that you buy Facebook Me! and hire a virtual assistant if you don’t have time to engage. You won’t understand the value of social media without having experienced it for yourselves. He also writes,

“Let me give you an example. On a recent trip to Japan I had the chance to meet the social media lead for Microsoft Japan, Gosuke Kumamura. Kumamura-san’s official title is Online Marketing Manager, but he had also become their Social Media Lead because he had been passionate internally about the need for social media strategy. After their successful integrated marketing campaign for the launch of Microsoft Office 2010 which helped them sell twice as much as they did for the launch of Office 2007, he then turned his attention to Twitter and realized that the main Microsoft Japan Twitter account @Windows_Japan had suddenly amassed 5,000 followers. Who were these people? Why would they follow Microsoft Japan on Twitter? He decided to create an experiment to find out more about what he should do in uncharted waters. This is what he did:

He created a campaign website for these 5,000 Twitter followers to enter their personal information in exchange for having a chance to win some products.

When I talk about experimenting, I don’t mean it has to be something that is high risk. It requires creativity and an objective. Kumamura-san wanted to better understand this Twitter demographic to better serve them.

Of the 5,000 followers, a little more than 500, or 10%, responded. Through these responses, Microsoft Japan found a wealth of information regarding this unique Twitter demographic. Interestingly enough, 70% of the respondents were under 30 and most were college students. This under 30 demographic had traditionally been a difficult population to market to, so now Microsoft Japan could create a strategy to leverage this demographic to meet their marketing objective.

This is a great example of how social media experimentation can be done through a campaign. You don’t need a new product or service to launch a campaign: Launch a campaign to experiment with what is and what isn’t working with your social media strategy.

On a final note, if you think that by merely reading books and attending webinars will make you successful in social media experimentation it really won’t. A good friend lent me Wired for Thought, which I will be honest in telling you I haven’t finished reading yet. But, as the book suggests, if the Internet, with social media being an important part of it, is constantly rewiring our brains, and then our rewired brains constantly evolve in how we use the Internet and social media, what worked for one company probably won’t work as well, or at all, for you because of the ever-evolving environment in which we live.

The best way to experiment in social media is to return to the definition of experimenting: try something new, as in order to gain experience

With experience comes knowledge that we can now apply to continually optimize and improve our efforts in the spirit of kaizen.”

Is marketing your thing? Do you love it? I stumbled on this site that has a few cool podcasts that could be helpful for you.  I Love Marketing

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