social shifting to being more targetted

I attended a Marketo event in June and here are my take aways...

• Lisa Borg, COO of Slimband presented her case study of using Marketo and said that she didn't believe in B2B or B2C but rather in H2H - human to human - we need to remember to relate to people in our marketing efforts with the key influencers being friends telling friends.
• Sam Fiorella of Sensei Marketing said something similar and emphasized the shift to the micro-influencers - in other words friends tell friends and you need to hone in on who advocates for your products/services.

 

There is a shift happening slowly - from social media for social media sake to targeting your customers - but there are challenges.

1.  People - especially executives but including marketing professionals, still don't get social - they still think that any activity is good activity and more is better no matter what. People do get turned off and tune out when the messages are all sales focus and not conversational or relevant.
2. People still want to know the numbers - followers, likes, fans - but without having set any goals of what they really want to achieve these are just numbers. If you're getting more followers but there is no impact on your business what good is it? sure you can say you've built awareness but again if there is no impact on your bottom line... you can do better
3. Time, resources, content - will always be challenges
4. Knowing your audience - your customer - what they are talking about and what is relevant to them where they are talking about it - if people only purchase your service after talking with someone they know about it (e.g. Slimband) then you better be concentrating on customer service, follow up and getting testimonials otherwise you're wasting your money.

Too many companies assume they know their customers but they haven't a clue, what's more they don't know how their customers purchase. They need to set goals based on that customer knowledge.


Social media should be part of a conversation, a touch point with your customers building trust and understanding of what you offer - not just in terms of getting a sale but in a relationship that includes customer service and support.

Why people in leadership roles need to know how to answer questions

I was once told that executives don't like being asked questions and that they only want short answers/solutions. So every chance I get I make a point of asking executives questions. Its partly the consultant in me but its also mainly I do want to know the answer. And sometimes I just want the executive's perspective.

What I've seen recently is executives fumbling for answers, shocked that someone would dare question them, even when the question was innocuous as - what market segments do you think should be targeted? and can you share your team's research? I even had a CEO tell me that I should know the answer and should be telling him, and then he said he shouldn't be flippant. But he didn't answer the question and he was flippant.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when executives get condescending and sarcastic to people who report up into them - they know the person can't retaliate. Being flippant is disrespectful - there should be an attitude of "there is no wrong question".

There is however wrong answers and wrong attitudes. Executives need to recognize that people ask questions for various reasons - to get a definitive answer from someone in authority, to bring to light certain questions aren't being answered at various levels, to engage with the executive, to understand different perspectives, and potentially to lead into a bigger issue.

Good executives listen, show respect, and answer the question so that the askee is satisfied. And if they don't know the answer, they say they'll get back to them and do so.

The flippant CEO had several executives he could have turned the question over to. Instead, he lost respect and showed lack of leadership.

Facebook's brilliant and appropiate 10th anniversary gift

If you're not on Facebook let me share something that I think they did that is brilliant. Without a lot of effort they created a slideshow movie of images loaded on your Facebook profile and called it a lookback. Its engaging, its personal, its appropriate for the medium, its engaging, its easy - its done for you and its compelling - you want to see other people's. Kudos to Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/help/206982576163229

The art of story telling

One thing I love about the Olympics is the wonderful stories that are shared - stories of struggles, challenges, successes and compassion; stories of individuals, teams and families; stories of strength, courage, endurance, and accomplishment - even when the podium isn't in view.

We need to look for these powerful stories in our day to day life - they're there just on a different scale.

And this is one of the reasons I'm proud to be Canadian: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/heartwarming-ways-canada-has-already-won-the-winter-olymp

Social media - It's not a conversation

I had a junior at a public relations agency person tell me that social media was a conversation. I beg to differ. When was the last time you had a real conversation with 100++ "followers"?

First off, social media is just a term that encompasses online channels where anyone can post their opinions and thoughts. Most of these channels are open to public viewing and anyone can read these pieces of wisdom or not. And in some cases people can "like" or share or add their comments.
We're still not having  a conversation. Yes, there is an exchange but it isn't  conversation. Now, you can then respond to their comments - and hey, you're conversing - its now fully a two way conversation. But it probably will be over after that short exchange.

People understand that television is a medium that you can advertise on and you'd never consider that conversing. There is now a new app called TunedIn where you can record your thoughts on your favourite show and upload it and it may be shown. This too is not a conversation.

Social channels can be a way of connecting - certainly Facebook and LinkedIn provide opportunities to connect with friends and colleagues and have short exchanges. Twitter is really about promotion. Oh, the agencies will tell you that 1 in 10 tweets can be promotional but the rest must be of value to the reader/follower in order to keep them. But let's face it, its all promotion. Even if you send out 9 tweets of facts - you're still promoting your knowledge or areas of interest.

Back to the junior PR person, she went on to send out tweets that had no context and were very negative to the overall objective of what we were trying to achieve (She misquoted a speaker out of context to say "Overworking is good for you" - we were promoting mental health). I have no idea who her followers are or why she thought they'd be interested.

Using social channels does require skill. You need to be aware of etiquette and retweet, like and follow those who have an interest in what you are saying and promoting. There is a rhythm to it.

And if you want a conversation, pick up the phone or better yet, meet face to face - remember how to do that?

Meeting etiquette

Have you seen this video about conference call meetings?

http://twentytwowords.com/2014/01/23/what-if-the-annoyances-of-conference-calls-happened-in-real-life-meetings-painfully-accurateand-hilarious/

It's missing the person who puts the call on hold so all you hear is music and everyone emailing to get them to take it off hold.

It's why face to face is still the best way to hold meetings, even if people come late and you need to get chairs, and water, and two people have sidebar conversations  and someone is answering their email, and someone's phone goes off...

Try to be the person who is polite, joins on time, participates but let's others talk.

Every meeting should have a purpose with clear objectives, written notes and any action items - otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time...