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.