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Social Media Strategy

Social Media Strategy

Marketing that inspires

January 6, 2010

Now that 2010 is underway, I thought it would be nice to take a moment to acknowledge some great success stories, or at least success stories in the making.  There have been several programs that I’ve run across recently that grabbed my attention, and each of these can provide us with lessons in how we approach marketing in 2010 and beyond.

Disney
The other night I was with friends when a commercial for Disney came on that highlighted their promotion where they are giving away theme park tickets to people who volunteer for selected charitable organizations.  I’ve been thinking a lot about causes lately and how they can impact customer perception of brands, so this really resonated with me.

Of course, there are detractors that claim Disney is bribing people into doing service work and it’s not truly an altruistic gesture.  I see the glass half full here.  Disney is taking a stand and making it clear that they support service to the community and are rewarding those who are willing to give up their time and service for the greater good.  I believe this is a great example of aligning corporate values and goals with the bigger needs out in our communities.  Sounds like a win-win to me.

Domino’s Pizza
I’ll go ahead and say right now that I’m not a fan of Domino’s, or of pizza delivery as a whole, however they have made an astounding leap forward with their business recently that comes on the heels of an embarrassing PR fail back in 2009 (you may recall the YouTube video fiasco where employees of one of the local franchises made a video of some pretty gross things happening in the kitchen).  Most interesting about the Domino’s approach is that they actually LISTENED to their customers and ADAPTED to the reality of the situation (a lot of people didn’t like the pizza).  Instead of making excuses or paying for celebrity endorsements to make up for the lack of taste preference, they turned their whole business on its end and actually re-worked the recipe for their pizzas!  Watch the video that shows how and why they did it.  It’s a remarkable story, and this really gets to the heart of how the entire organization should be involved with ‘social’ – not just the marketing/PR/Customer service departments.

I wrote about this back in 2007, and it’s wonderful to see a major brand putting this kind of thinking into action.  As Amber Naslund recently cleverly articulated on her blog, when brands suffer a setback, it’s important to circle back around and determine what happened and why, but most importantly to ‘get back in the saddle’ and commit to understanding where it went wrong and to doing better next time.  Excellent metaphor here, and clearly one that Domino’s ‘gets.’

Pepsi
By now, I’m sure everyone is well aware of Pepsi’s daring move to pull out of Super Bowl advertising in 2010 and redirect that money into the Pepsi Refresh Project, which is a cause-based initiative that’s being promoted via social channels.  This is a bold statement from Pepsi, but it reinforces the idea that brands are finding new ways of connecting with their end-users outside of broadcast advertising.  Think about the incredible potential Pepsi has to connect with people and truly align the brand with their values.

I believe we’re going to see a lot more of this type of thinking in 2010 and the years ahead.  Let’s face it – Pepsi can’t advertise their way into market leadership.  Coke is too far in front.  What they can do is connect with people in a more meaningful way.  Will it work?  We will have to wait and see.  In the meantime, I’ve got to tip my hat to Pepsi for taking this approach.

Eight O’Clock Coffee
This is another example of a legacy brand that has really stepped out of the mainstream and taken a fresh approach to social media.  Denise McVey, who runs the Eight O’Clock Coffee Facebook page is interviewed in a video that shows people how to get started on Facebook.  Pretty cool, because the focus isn’t on the coffee or the brand – the focus is on helping the customer solve a problem.  I’d bet the target demographic for the brand is a bit older than the median Facebook user, and I’m sure there are plenty of their customers who would welcome a guiding voice to walk them through getting started on Facebook.  And if that’s not cool enough, you also get the added bonus of getting to know the person behind the brand on Facebook – love that!  Kudos to Eight O’Clock Coffee and their agency, S3 for this!

I’ll leave it at that for now, but I plan to share examples like these more often as 2010 gets into full swing.  Hopefully these spark some creative thinking for those who are planning their own social programs.

What about you?  What are some examples of programs or campaigns that you think are worth sharing?  Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

photo source: iStockPhoto

Social Media Strategy

Desire and 2010

December 31, 2009

I wanted to share a couple of quick thoughts today on some of the things I would like to see in 2010.  I suppose this is a combination of predictions and desires, and hopefully this will resonate with others and bring forth some new connections as well.

New Mexico March 2009Listening
I posted about this last week, but I hope more organizations will embrace listening as a strategic imperative in 2010.  Here’s the full post if you want to check it out.

Privacy
There has been much discussion and debate on privacy in social media and what degree is appropriate, and how this is managed.  I think that we are becoming much more open as a society overall, and my desire is that individuals and businesses keep an open mind and imagine what it might be like if all participants were truly allowed to be themselves.  Instead of trying to ‘manage’ or ‘hide’ information about ourselves, wouldn’t it be more productive if we focused on how we can all benefit from this new paradigm of ‘public’ being the new default?  Stowe Boyd had an excellent post about this topic yesterday that I thought I would share here.  I highly recommend you check out Stowe’s post and consider how this thinking might impact you or your organization now and in the future.

Social Responsibility
I believe that we’re going to see even more emphasis on social responsibility in 2010 and CPG companies in particular are going to need to adapt to this new reality and be more forthcoming on what effects their products have on the environment, the people that use them, and the people whose work make them possible.  Beyond CPG though, I hope that all organizations will think more about the impact they have on the world and adapt to the needs and desires of the people they serve more readily.

Businesses become ‘Social’ by nature
I hope to see social thinking embraced at all levels of organizations in 2010, not just the Marketing, PR, and Customer Service departments.  Everyone can participate and provide value to the organization through their individual and collective social channels – it just takes a little courage and forward thought to tap into this resource.  Hopefully we will see more social tools utilized behind the firewall as well.  Connecting people and gathering insights has a place in every department, and the organizations that embrace this concept now will likely be the big winners in the future.

These are just a few quick thoughts on what I would like to see more of in 2010. What do you think?  Do you have any specific desires for 2010 that you would like to share?

Thanks and have a Happy New Year!

photo: US Hwy 64/87 in New Mexico taken 3.21.09 on my iPhone

Social Media Strategy

2010 – The Year of Listening?

December 23, 2009

We are almost ready to sign off on 2009, and wow – what a year!  I’ve read many excellent posts that discuss predictions for 2010, and there are definitely a lot of great ideas being discussed on this topic.  The year of mobile, the year of mass adoption of social media, the year of geo-targeting, etc.  These are all exciting, and I can’t wait to see where it all leads.  But for now, I wanted to highlight 1 thing that I believe is the most critical aspect for all organizations to embrace in 2010.  Listening.

We hear about listening and its importance in social media, and I believe that organizations that are still struggling to make sense out of the social media space (or indeed the entirety of the changing media landscape) would be doing themselves the biggest favor by simply making a concerted effort to listen.  Powerful things happen when we listen, but perhaps more importantly it’s the thing that happens after we listen that matters most.  Thinking about what we’ve heard is critical before just jumping in and starting to talk back.

This concept plays out in personal dialogue all the time, and most of us can be better listeners, myself certainly included.  Think about how you interact with other people either face to face or over the phone – do you listen to what the other person is saying to you and take the time to process their thoughts before articulating your response, or do you jump right in as soon as there is a pause?  Worse yet, do you interrupt people as they are speaking and try to finish their sentences or interject your thought before you forget it?  We’ve all been there, on both sides of that situation and it’s a bad habit that inhibits our relationships with others.

The same holds true for business.  If we are constantly interrupting without processing what the community is telling us, then we are not really present in the conversation.  The value in truly listening is incalculable.  Everything we need to figure out what to do next is all there, we just have to be open to discovering it and we have to take the time to process the information and think, not react.  Everyone approaches this in a different way, but I think a critical factor is that we give ourselves permission to think.  Take time.  Turn off your email.  Turn off TweetDeck, Seesmic, HootSuite, or whatever monitoring tool you use.  Take a walk.  Meditate.  Go for a run.  Do whatever it is that you have to do to get your head around the information.  Then come back and discuss your ideas with your team.  You’ll have lots of great data and insights to back you up, which will help you build your case.  Does this make sense?

So many people in Marketing are trying to figure out what to do in social media in 2010, or how they can get their bosses to buy into it/assign budgets, etc.  If you are in that situation and you need to convince your company to engage, I think the single most effective thing you can do is to get them to listen to what is happening in your community or industry without committing to any particular course of action.  Propose that they sign up for a Radian6 account, or whatever monitoring tool you prefer.  Don’t worry about what you are going to do next – that’s what the thinking stage is for.  Just listen.  Take time.  Maybe it’s days, weeks, a month or more.  The point is that by listening and capturing information and then taking the time to think about what you’ve heard without pressuring yourself or your organization to have the answers immediately, you will be in a much better position to engage your boss, your staff, your customers, etc. in a way that will resonate and provide value to everyone involved.

What do you think?  Can 2010 be the year of listening?

Social Media Strategy

What does your brand stand for?

December 17, 2009

Today I’d like to talk about support for causes and how I believe this can affect the marketing communications approach for brands both now and in the future.  This was the post that I originally intended to write last week but got distracted when my favorite writing tool was offline.

CausesI was reading an excellent post earlier by Augie Ray where he says ‘in 2010, your brand will be more defined by what you do and who you are!‘  I couldn’t agree more, and to me this is the essence of where business is heading.  Think about it – when you hear about a specific cause that you believe in being championed by a brand, don’t you feel a closer connection to that brand?  I believe that this kind of connection is going to be vital for the successful brands of the future.  The age of advertising as we once knew it is over.  We can’t rely on the ways of the past or ‘better creative’ to be the saviors of our brands.  There has to be something more.

What does your brand really stand for?

People are paying more attention to what brands are doing and what they stand for than what they are saying about themselves.  People are talking with each other and discovering things about brands at a staggering pace, so naturally the more positive associations people find with brands they are considering, the better.  And of course, with the addition of real-time search to the equation, this is only compounded in importance.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from the Toyota social media fiasco that is really picking up steam right now.  I won’t get into the specifics, but you can read about it here.  The idea though is that it appears that this was approached using old thinking in a new medium.  Instead of trying to come up with a clever ad campaign to advertise the Yaris, they could have asked some better questions like ‘how can we connect with potential buyers and give them something positive to talk about in relation to our brand or the Yaris in particular?’  Or maybe ‘how can we make a difference in the lives of the people that we hope will buy a Yaris,’ or ‘what are some of the social issues that this group of people are passionate about and is there a way to align our brand with organizations or causes that are helping?’  Instead, they took a risk on the shock factor in what looks like a slick commercial in the name of ‘user generated content’ and have alienated a lot of potential buyers in the process.

Asking better questions

Instead of trying to get clever with your messaging, why not try thinking smarter by understanding how humans think and behave and how your brand fits into the bigger picture of this dynamic.  What if you take a percentage of your budget and dedicate it to social causes that will resonate with your target?  What if instead of always talking about how wonderful your brand, product, or service is, you help make the world a better place to live and let that message spread organically?  Which do you think is going to resonate and get people talking more?  Is it worth a shot?  I think so.  After all, if people are going to talk about your brand, wouldn’t it be nice to have a nice positive theme running alongside the discussion?  And it should go without saying that the support should be authentic, not contrived or opportunistic.

Remember, ‘social’ is not just a function of the Marketing, PR, and Customer Service departments.  All aspects of business are affected and can benefit from becoming more social.  The entire organization should be listening to what’s happening out there and responding with ideas and programs that will resonate with the participants of the conversation (special thanks to Daina Middleton for sharing her thoughts about ‘participants’).

So, let’s start asking better questions, ok?  Here are few thought starters:

  1. What does your brand stand for?
  2. Do you take a strong position on any specific cultural or social issue?
  3. Is there a way to use this point of view to connect with the people that use or could use your products or service?
  4. Is your organization making a difference in the world?  If so, how?  Do people know about it?
  5. Can your alignment with a cause or multiple causes help you achieve your business objectives?
  6. Would you be willing to put more focus on the causes you support and less emphasis on your overtly promotional messages?

What are some other questions you think we should be asking?  Let me know what you think about this in the comments.  As always, thanks for stopping by and reading.

Bonus Video

One final thing – if you have 10 minutes and haven’t already seen it, please watch this incredibly inspiring video by Simon Mainwaring.  He touches on this topic and really has a strong point of view on social causes and business.

Social Media Strategy

Are You Reliant?

December 11, 2009

Tonight I had every intention on writing a post about making support of causes front and center in communications, but something happened, and another topic came across the radar that I feel is worth highlighting.

As I got ready to start writing, my amazing ‘let’s get this done’ tool, Write or Die was offline. It’s been my companion in the past couple of months when I needed it most. It shaved unknown hours out of my schedule by forcing me (or perhaps strongly encouraging me) to write. But tonight – no dice. The site is down. Maybe it’s never coming back up – who knows. The point here is that we should never rely on a specific tool or site to solve all our problems. See the metaphor here?

RoadAhead

The reality is that the web changes at breakneck speed and many tools come and go rapidly. There is a lesson in this for all of us. Attaching ourselves too closely to any specific community, site, tool, etc. is potentially crippling if there is disruption with the service we are accustomed to. Think about it – if you can’t live without your Facebook page or Twitter account, you’re on shaky ground. There are no guarantees that the tools we use by default today will be around or relevant a year or two from now. Can you imagine a permanent #failwhale?

Be prepared, and expect change.

The best thing you can do when approaching the road ahead is to be prepared, and be vigilant in your monitoring of the space overall, but expect change. It’s guaranteed to happen. You’re better off knowing that upfront so there are no surprises when things get interesting. If you’re on the right path, you’ll go back the basics – you may ask yourself questions like ‘what is our goal here’ or ‘how can we provide value to those we want to connect with.’ In cases like this, you’re protected from the loss of any particular site/tool/network. Be prepared for your most important communications channel to be obsolete in a couple of years. You’ll be doing yourself a favor by thinking this way. It doesn’t mean that will necessarily happen, but you never know.

Strategize, Strategize, Strategize.

Make sure you know what you are there for before you get carried away. What is it you are trying to achieve? Do you have specific goals our outcomes in mind? How can you get there with what you have to work with? Make sure you are asking these questions because they are network agnostic. You can easily apply this thinking to whatever network du jour might come along. Make sense?

Write or Die is down tonight, but’s not stopping me from posting. It actually gave me an extra post by being down. 😉 The next post I will definitely pick up on the theme – should Causes be celebrated more? Maybe by then, Dr. Wicked will be back up and kicking my ass once again. In the meantime, think about this – what would you do if your most important communications channel became obsolete? Really think about it.

Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for being here!

photo credit: iStock