Have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation and suddenly had the awkward feeling that everyone was talking about you?
Motrin has. About a year ago, they became a trending topic on Twitter when Moms, one of their key customer groups, were talking about the insensitivity the company displayed in a recent ad campaign. The consumers summed up Motrin and its use of social media this way: “They don’t get it.”
One year later, we see Motrin exerting an active presence on Twitter and other social media sites and doggedly determined to become “Part of the Conversation” rather than the “Topic of It.” But just “Being” on social media does not necessarily mean you are “Doing it Right.”
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As someone who helps companies wade into the social media waters, but do it in a way that is authentic and in alignment with their brand, I have picked up on a few red flags that I would like to pass along. I call it:
The 5 Ways to Know if You’re Using Social Media Wrong
1) Your Twitter page reads like the CNN ticker. Social media is NOT the place to post your newsfeed! That has become a staple of many homepages, where it is ideal for SEO bots that are scouring the web for updates and new content. But social media is about interaction and one-to-one contact. Nothing says “impersonal faceless corporate entity” like following your favorite brand on Twitter and receiving the Tweet “Thanks for following us. For more information, visit our website.”
2) Your company Facebook friends are also your kids’ Facebook friends. Like any marketing initiative, social media campaigns should be targeting Quality over Quantity. With more than 370 million users, chances are that you have actual customers on Facebook. A simple step many companies overlook is the proactive promotion of their social media sites to gain targeted customers and build relationships with them. Do not let it become a web-based popularity contest where every fan, follower and contact is weighted equally.
3) Your Social Media Marketing is something you’ve assigned to the Interns. Successful marketing campaigns always stem from being integrated across the company. That requires buy-in from the top down! I get very nervous when an executive tells me the company is already on “MyFace” or “SpaceBook.” Too many execs think that new technology is beneath them and refuse to take the initiative in learning what it can do for their business.
4) It Doesn’t Seem Like Your Social Media Profile is “Doing Anything.” Although social media functions in areas like SEO and PR, it is, at heart, a marketing device. And somewhere along the lines, people have forgotten that marketing’s job is to create sales. Which means that social media should be attached to business objectives! That actually generate revenue! A strong advantage of social media over traditional marketing vehicles is its built-in trackability. There are great tools out there to set goals and determine ROI on any social media marketing efforts.
5) You tried social media and it didn’t work for you. I have heard more than my share of marketers explaining, “It detracted from our messaging” or “It’s not a good fit for us.” 9 out of 9 times, what they’re really saying is they didn’t like it or understand it, they didn’t integrate it into an overall marketing campaign and they got tired or bored of it after a few half-hearted attempts. My favorite is when I later find out that the boss’ 16-year-old niece put them on Facebook. I’ll be the first to admit that for many companies, a Facebook Fanpage makes zero sense–so don’t waste your time. But you are missing valuable customer insight if you are not monitoring these powerful online conversations. Effective use of social media, like traditional media campaigns, requires an intelligent strategy tied to real world objectives, executed consistently over a long period of time.
If these all made perfect sense to you, congratulations, you are among those who “Get it” in the new media environment. If any of these sound like you or your company, I would encourage you to re-evaluate what you are doing or who you’ve put in charge of it. Like so much in life, there is more to success than just “being there.”
Shawn Butler is a campaign strategist at Relevant Social Media based in Atlanta. You can contact him at Shawn@RelevantSocialMedia.com.
I had missed the whole Motrin upheaval. Good, frightening example of why companies can’t afford to ignore their online audience. I also really liked the last two paragraphs; any CEO who took five minutes to explore themselves on facebook would realize why they themselves need to be involved.
Adam @Advent Creative Web Design
Great post. Number four really hit home and I think some of us forget that, “social media should be attached to business objectives!” I know I need to keep that in mind more when I tweet.
.-= Racheal New Home Blogger´s last blog ..Bethel Pointe in Wilmore, KY: Homes Near Asbury College =-.
Social Media is the great leveller of our society… corporations just can’t get away with underhanded dealings with customers and employees like they did when their peers were not peering in.
.-= Suzanna Aaring´s last blog ..Surprising pHx Attributes =-.
Great post! #3 on list hits home for me the most right now. And your so right…it must come from top down. When everyone does a half ass job of pushing the initiative then your results are also half ass and you ruin your social media reputation early on in the game. Then you end up scrambling to get back on track as in your example above.
What makes any executive think that an intern understands the concept of interacting and engaging with customers or potential customers in a fairly new environment?
.-= Joe Salome´s last blog ..Facebook =-.
It often seems that people jump into social media without a plan. They have blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages but don’t know how to use them. All those posts, fans and followers are just there waiting for you to be “doing anything” or something: share relevant content, engage with followers. You’re right about SM being not just communications, but a BUSINESS function. Any SM plan should include ROI, provide marketing communications teams with valuable feedback to help rethink sales strategies, PR leads, etc. FWIW.
.-= Davina K. Brewer´s last blog ..Social Media, PR, Marketing in 2010: Looking Back, to the Future =-.
@Adam – “be involved” is exactly right. The CEO is too busy and valuable to do it, but they need to let their people know that it is important. And you do that by putting someone in charge and then listening to that someone! You guys are doing it right at Advent!
@Racheal – Thank you! It is discouraging, but people seem to forget that Marketing’s role “should be attached to business objectives” as well!
@Suzanna – Now even the smallest customer/client/shareholder can have a big voice. Seth Godin just wrote about the “megaphone” being obsolete, but not from the customer side. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
@Joe Salome – So glad you’re a fan! It’s like the “new technology” side shuts down the “customer interaction” side that good execs have mastered. They seem to throw up their hands, surrender, and pass it off to the kids using facebook. It kills any chance at integrated brand strategy, not to mention, it always looks amateur!
Oh, and I heard a new one the other day… a company president kept referring to “Hoots” and I asked her what she meant and she said, “You know, messages on Hooter.” I said, “Oh, you mean Tweets.”
It’s nice to hear that Motrin took steps, albeit late, to turn things around. I wish that were the case with Adobe as myself and several others have tweeted, blogged, etc. about their lack of attention to customer complaints made on Twitter (they have multiple company accounts on Twitter).
In my case engagement on Twitter is paramount and while I don’t have the capacity to engage as much as I would like I feel I do a good job at it. What I’m not so good at is actually “marketing” my Virtual Assistant services on there. However, I do have that on my 2010 goals as how can people know what I do if I never mention it? (actually finishing up my blog post on exactly that)
Glad I found this post through Shawn’s LinkedIn Status!
.-= Michelle @ Your Virtual Assistant´s last blog ..4 Reasons: Twitter’s new ReTweet Feature SUCKS! =-.
Great post Shawn. I couldn’t agree more. I work with a lot of companies that don’t spend the time to track the ROI because it takes too much time. They then make blanket assumptions that something is not working. Thanks for the link to the ROMI calculators. It looks interesting and I can’t wait to see if this will help some of my clients.
I think social media is just a whole waste of time. How many people have bough stuffs from the social media sites? It is a lousy tool for that and not a good tool to sell things. Social media is just a tool to keep in touch with peoples, not for businesses. Tons of time are wasted there and companies are dumping loads of cash for nothing. Sorry but it is true…… this is not a holy grail, but a lie the mass want you to believe……>>>>