“It works in practice but will it work in theory?”
I recently heard this quote, admittedly in relation to something completely different, but I felt that it was a perfect reflection of feeling towards social media and its potential in the UK.
It was followed by, “We are wallowing in a miasma of over analytical nonsense”.
It’s true isn’t it? Even sitting here writing this I’m conscious that I’m adding, in a very small way, to the noise out there on this subject. Surely the arguments are compelling enough. Engaging with customers and prospects is a good thing right?
So, for this post I will say no more.
Except this – Just Do It
Are you the owner of a yellow Reliant Robin?
Does your business resemble a modern day Trotters Independent Traders – T.I.T? Are you ‘Del Boy’ in disguise?
Will we see you down the market pushing out some clobber from ‘a mush in Shepherds Bush’?
I’ve just had a great call with a former colleague who told me stories of conversations he’s had with marketers in the UK over recent days about their view of social channels. Channels to market!
“Yes it’s great. We’re all buying into customer engagement”, they say. “But we’ve still got to get the marketing message out there.”
Of course, if you’re under pressure to deliver your numbers each week, the temptation to push, push, push more and more through these channels is understandable.
But the bigger picture is this: your preparedness to engage, to listen and respond above anything else, IS your marketing message. It’s what you will be known for. Indeed, very soon, your reluctance to listen and engage will be what you’re known for. And that will be the end of the line. Or Peckham!
We talked about brands with a mystique and their reticence to actually talk to people for fear the myth would be shattered. Again I understand this, but your customers are human beings. They know that there are other human beings behind the mask. Deciding on the voice and tone for your brand is one of the earliest decisions that needs to be taken. That’s why the Best Buy view of allowing thousands of ‘Blue Shirts’ to tweet isn’t appropriate for everyone. There is no manual!
But not engaging is the road to ruin.
Don’t be a ‘plonker’ all your lives….
Google’s Golden Egg at Risk?
Here’s a fascinating article by Tom Foremski on Google’s own eye tracking results from trials of its new ‘Google Instant’ search product.
Essentially, after just a couple of characters are entered, some suggested results are presented. The overall aim is to shorten the time people have to search for the sites they want. A glorified and more intelligent ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button.
Unsurprisingly, the results suggest that very little of the ‘heat’ generated by eye movements went to the traditional paid search ads on the right hand side of the page while automated suggestions are presented to the viewer.
With two thirds of it’s overall revenue generated by these ads, what will be the implications of people spending less time seeing and clicking these ads in the future?
Are Google prepared to kill the goose that laid the golden egg?
Or do they have plans to replace this revenue through other paid search models up their sleeves?
Another One Down
Just a quickie. I was following Iain Dale on Twitter this morning and laughing out loud at his unfortunate experience in the Tunbridge Wells branch of PC World on a Saturday morning. Iain tells a great story. Here are the highlights:
“Enduring the usual bollock breaking customer service experience at PC World trying to buy an iPad. How does this company stay in business?”
“In the end walked out of PC World after they wanted 2 know how many credit cards I had and other personal info irrelevant to iPad purchase.”
He then publishes a Blog post entitled “How Does PC World Stay in Business”
Finally,….“Have now ordered iPad via Apple Online Store. A pleasureable experience, and all without having to deal with PC World numpties.”
Now Iain Dale has just shy of 14,000 followers, not a massive number, but that number includes some very influential and powerful people who have much larger number of followers. A simple re-tweet of this mornings miserable experience would be devastating. As it is, here I am writing about it!
I’m not aware that PC World in the UK are on Twitter. They don’t promote it on their site so I supsect not. So I guess they’ll just not be listening for people like Iain Dale either? Shame. Best Buy are coming….
But then as Mark Ritson says in his infamous article “Social media is for people not brands” and “..it does not work is when cold, hard, lifeless organisations start trying to spark interactive social media conversations.” What about just engaging with poor Iain Dale?
Give me strength!!!
Digging Your Heels In
Stubborn, intransigent, awkward and obstinate. We’ve all behaved like that at one time or another. Usually between the ages of 2 and 7. But for a “Professor of Marketing and an Expert on Branding” to continue to insist that social media is “…a new and relatively insignificant communications tool that has limited potential for a very small proportion of brands” as he did in the latest issue of Marketing Week, is astonishing.
At the Engaging Times Summit in Chicago last month, the great Stan Rapp announced his conversion to social media. Indeed one of his memorable quotes was “Stop advertisng, start dialoguing”.
Rapp’s conversion was based on the very numbers that the Professor rests his arguments on. Ritson says of Tesco’s Twitter page, “And what about Tesco? It’s arguably Britain’s biggest and best run brand and yet it has a grand total of 281 followers. Are you starting to see my point?” No Mark.
What this says to me is that Tesco have yet to grasp the potential that social engagement tools offer. In fact, having just checked their page, it appears Tesco are really confused! I’m not clear which Tesco Twitter account is the official one, but twitter.com/tescostores (which I suspect is the official version) last tweeted in April 2009! Do they promote it on their advertsing materials, their website or even their till receipts?
No!
In fact the tell tale sign that brands haven’t grasped the potential of Twitter, is that it isn’t promoted at all on their ‘Contact Us page!
Well, if they’re not tweeting, the it’s a good job they don’t promote it!
Go figure Mark.
“A Journey of a Thousand Miles Starts With Just one Step”
This quote credited to Lao Tzu, a Chinese Philosopher who lived 500 years before Christ, could not be more apt when people think about starting a blog.
Just recently I’ve heard a number of different reasons why companies have yet to start a blog. Time, resource, subject matter – lack of each of these is cited as an excuse, for really that’s what they are – excuses.
Writing this I’m struggling to think of any organisation that can really justify these excuses. Just yesterday somebody told me, “but we have nothing to say”. That’s just extraordinary! What do they talk about all day long?
Write about your world, your market, your experiences, tell your stories. Maybe people aren’t reading enough? Surely just reading an opinion piece about your market will provoke a response in your mind? Write it down.
Lack of time? Really? Why not set a target of say 3 posts a week – can that be so hard? Remember how to eat an elephant? Write things down as they come to you. A pen a paper by the bed can be invaluable.
Lack of resource? – I don’t get this at all. Somebody in you organisation should be blogging, but just who that person is does take time to decide. Should it be the office junior “because they do that stuff all the time” or should it be the CEO? This deserves plenty of thought. But don’t let the decision delay you too long. But here’s a clue – the office junior is NOT the right person.
How much freedom will the writer have? Again, I sympathise with those wrestling with these questions. Some businesses work within very tightly regulated industries where the legal department checks every piece of material before it’s released. That’s why listening to Donna Rossi, from Western Union at the Engaging Times Summit last month was so liberating. The first thing to note is that Donna is the Global Customer Experience Manager for Western Union – not the Head of Marketing. Important because it highlights that social media begins with customer care – but that’s another blog post! Donna explained just how Western Union had wrestled with the letting go that is necessary to really engage with their customers on the social web. She demonstrated real trust in WU employees to blog and vlog appropriately without breaking some pre-set guidelines.
A final obstacle that may be front of mind for people is the fact that nobody will read it! Well, that’s probably true. You could be talking to yourself for a time. But this is the time to try different things, to see how your writing style develops. Don’t think that by building it, they will come. You have to work on your blog distribution channels and encourage feedback. Do this and they will come.
Am I happy with every aspect of this blog post? No. Will I read it later and think I could have written it better? Yes. But that’s always the case and the road to nowhere.
Go for it!
Mirror Mirror
Stan Rapp said recently, “This generation of consumers are the most narcissistic in history.”
Boy was he right. We all sit and polish our ‘Me’ brands with huge care and attention. Shall I change my profile picture (logo) for the umpteenth time? Sure we do.
It’s not a bad thing. That narcissism was always there, it’s just that now we all have channels through which to promote our ‘Me’ brands.
Firstly, isn’t it interesting what some people do with them? How many times do you see oblique status updates or tweets that are just begging for comments or re-tweets? I’ve been astonished how many times I’ve read a sad status update only to followed by “Aww hun. I’m here if you need to talk xxx”
Meaning, “I’d rather you kept it to yourself, but I want my brand to appear caring and concerned and I want to comment before the competition (I mean our other friends) do.”
Secondly, what does this narcissism mean for business?
Well, I believe it means that people (British people) are no longer shy about complaining. That quaint British trait. Their brands are protected by their screens and they no longer have to actually speak to people. Think about the work environment and that most poisonous development – cc’ing on email. A cowards charter to broadcast vitriol and blame! Screens insulate us and give us a shield behind which we can hide.
But, it’s not going away. To be successful in the future, businesses and organisations are going to have to accept the new reality and respond immediately to publicly broadcast complaints as well as positivity.
STRATEGY!!!! AAAGGGHHH!!!!
I HATE the word strategy. It is the most abused, overused word in the English language and typically used by idiots when the have nothing to say because they think it makes them sound intelligent.
I HATE it.
Let me state how things should be. A marketing manager or director, must write a plan. The plan should identify quantifiable objectives. Each of these objectives should have a strategy to support them and so deliver the plan.
So – have a plan and objectives before you have a strategy. And then never use the word again. Ever.
Social Media Campaign – an oxymoron?
Many many so called experts and social media agencies speak of the need for brands to launch a social media campaign.
To me, a campaign implies a start and a finish. In the old days, a campaign had a launch date and an end date. That was great – budgets could only go so far. But to speak of what is possible, or rather what should be more pressing for a brand today, by bracketing this activity as a ‘campaign’ surely misses the point.
The media is here to stay, we all agree about that. But remember, businesses don’t control the message anymore and so to imply that an activity can end once embarked upon is slightly confusing?
Once you dive in, you’re in to stay. The winners recognise this. They are resourcing up for this and have changed their organisations to account for it. You can’t dip in and out.
Amazingly, results from the Alterian Engaging Times Summit in Chicago last week show that ‘Less than one percent cited that the most important objective was to offer customer service.’
Let’s hope their customers don’t mind! Clearly the allure of what’s possible in this space is drawing marketers to expensive productions like moths to a flame. Maybe they are just paying lip service to saying they are prepared to engage?
But as was said at the Summit “Don’t bother wasting money on social media until your organization can competently handle a customer phone call or email.”
Customer care comes first and last. Never take your eye off it.
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