Social Media Strategy and Internet Marketing

One of the things that drives me nuts are people that create web strategies without any thought of how it helps a company. (Brand reinforcement on its own is not a successful goal.)

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I go crazy when I see people still citing digg as a viable social media strategy, or when I see people state that more traffic equals more money. I can send you loads of crap traffic, please tell me if it makes you any real money.

Social media is not all about digg traffic, or sending people from facebook to your site. Sure, it can be used for that, but in no way is that an effective use of your time.

A good social media campaign will focus on creating a relationship. Taking the old media method of advertising - a one way conversation - and making it a joint marketing production. Asking questions, finding out how to make your product better, and making your consumers a part of your innovation and publicity is Marketing 2.0.

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Instead of trying to get on the front page of digg all the time, target niche social media sites. Have a product for women? Get your blog posts on the front page of Kirtsy. Internet marketer or social media guy? Make sure you’re reading Sphinn.

By looking at smaller more focused communities you’re able to cut out people that don’t care about your product. You target only those that might buy your product instead of wasting your time on others.

This idea isn’t only applicable to digg and social news site, but also social networking sites. I’ve already said before that advertising on facebook is a waste of time. Instead use it to cultivate a community. People are interesting in learning about you, showing off that they bought your products, and be a part of a group.

There’s been a paradigm shift in marketing. Welcome to new media marketing.

The old thinking of content being king, the thoughts that traffic is money, and the idea that branding is for large companies, is a thing of the past. Now customer relations is taking a front seat. Creating brand loyalty and getting people to talk about you is king. The community and communication is most important.

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We’re in a recession and everyone’s hurting… awesome. You’ve got a few customers, but what are you doing to keep them loyal? Have you convinced them to recommend your product? Your current customers are the most important consumers. They will help you survive the recession and find new customers to grow your business.

Consider a pyramid; the larger you want it to be, the larger the base has to be. These days, that same fundamental idea applies to your business marketing.

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Word of mouth, viral marketing, and recommendation marketing all require brand evangelists. People who had a great experience with your product and are willing to share it.

If you don’t have a base and your consumers aren’t crazy about your product, they won’t go out and share your stuff with the world. They won’t take the effort to write a review of your product on Amazon, or tag your store on Google Maps.

It’s important to remember that consumers that have already bought your product are biased towards you already. They’ve bought something from you and they trust you. Offer them exceptional service and watch how they talk about your company.

Social media has made it easy for people to share their favorite products, write reviews, and recommend stores. The more we get to rank things, the more important a fan base becomes.

Having brand fanatics is what will help you get ahead in social media. Building this kind of loyalty should be the first step of any social media campaign.

It’s not that easy though. You can’t just say “we’ve got fans, a certain percentage of them will be crazy about us”. No, you have to reward them. Give them insider information, invite them to beta test new products. Cultivate brand loyalty by making them a part of the marketing process. Let them create a new ad, be a part of product creation, or innovate new things that they want from you.

Build a following and they’ll recommend your product. The more people crazy about you, the more people will hear about it. Consumers are beginning to experience ad blindness to online ads, fast forwarding tv ads, and not reading print ads. They want to hear from their friends what’s good and what’s bad.

Savvy companies will stop promoting their own product, but cultivating an environment where others promote for them.

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Social Media can be difficult to understand, which is why I’ve searched for these videos to help explain exactly what it is and how it can be used.

Each video shares an important aspect of new media marketing, everything from personal branding to ROI. If you have a video you’d like to share, I invite you to post a link in the comments section.

Social Media in Plain English:

If you’re giving a presentation on Social Media and your audience just doesn’t get it, it’s probably because you didn’t show them this video.

The CommonCraft Show is great for explaining new technologies and has videos on Twitter, Blogging, and RSS.

This video uses a town that sells ice cream to explain how Social Media is useful and how it can be used.

Authors@Google Charlene Li

We all know that Google employees get awesome perks. One of them is that they get to have live discussions and presentations from authors, candidates, and other thought leaders. Lucky for us they’re all posted on YouTube on the GoogleTalks Channel. If you’re interested in learning new things and hearing from the brightest, I highly suggest subscribing to the channel.

In this video, Charlene Li talks about Social Media. She offers an extremely in depth view at how Social Media can help businesses and be used to support the brand. Her presentation uses real life examples and makes excellent points.

The effect of Social Networking on Brands

Few understand new media better than Seth Godin and Tom Peters. In this OPENForum series they explain the impact of the web on company brands. Seth redefines the word brand and what it means for a company and analyzes how the consumer relationship has changed.

Watch the Video

Social Media ROI

Jason Falls first posted this interview with Katie Delahaye Paine on his blog, along with a great write up on Social Media ROI. Make sure you read it.

The problem with trying to determine ROI for social media is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are not quantifiable

Capitalize on Social Media

WebProNews gets to interview the smartest people on the web. In this video Mike McDonald talks to Andy Beal and Robert Key about using Social Media. The conversation centered around reputation management and brand monitoring, with some great points being made.

Said Beal, “Companies tend to be late in their reaction. They don’t pay any attention until it actually affects them. The conversations are going on… you can either put your hands over your ears or you can listen and potentially engage… A company should be aware… even if they’re not ready to pull the trigger and jump into the mix.”

Watch The Video

Personal Branding

No one is more exciting to watch speak than Gary Vaynerchuk. He also knows his stuff. At Web 2.0 Expo, Gary talks about how your personal brand is important and how to build it. What’s interesting is that his lessons on personal branding can easily be adopted by larger companies to strengthen their brand online.

Social Networking - good for small business?

In this second part of the OPENForum series, Seth Godin and Tom Peters tackle the question, “Is Social Media useful for small business?”. Together, they deliver a no bullshit answer, explaining how to use it and whether you should be.

Watch The Video

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Everyone keeps asking for a ROI or proof that social media is important. I’m here to say, if you’re a company that cares about your brand, investing in social media is a required expense. Whether you like it or not people are talking about you and you better spend the money to not only be a part of but to dominate that conversation.

Social media marketing is in its infancy and may never actually come to fruition, but leveraging social media for pr, customer relations, and community building is here to stay. We have case study after case study proving its effectiveness as a vessel for customer service or buzz creation.

I’m Not Listening

The biggest reasons why brands must understand the online space and social media is because it will happen without you. Whether you’re listening or not, people will gripe on Twitter, complain on their blog, or boycott you.

If you don’t respond to the bad press it could explode on you. Traditional media is relying on bloggers and web resources more often for breaking news and trending topics. What you saw on a blog could very well show up on the New York Times.

Who’s The Leader?

Don’t want to take part in the conversation? Fine, but don’t complain when someone else becomes the trusted member of a community based on your brand.

When the company isn’t the leader of the community, someone else will rise to that position. Are you willing to put full faith of your message and brand in this random person?

Yes its true that the web has made it more difficult to control your message, but without a social media campaign you have no means to push a favorable conversation for your brand.

Where’s the Store?

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Not having any social media interaction or online space is like not having a store front.

Let’s say you have a website, but there’s no back and forth. That’s like having a store with no employees.

Without a website or blog people can’t connect with you or find you online. They can’t create the connection new customers crave. If I have a question about a product or just need a suggestion to push me over the edge, there is no way for me to get that.

Proper Use of Social Media

We talk a lot about how to use social media. There’s a very simple formula for making it an effective tool. Listen about 90% and talk 10%.

Use the time to monitor for your brand. Where are you showing up, what are people saying, how can you help them? These are all questions you need to answer before setting up your full campaign.

By tracking your brand, you’re able to quell uprisings before they grow out of control. Placating consumers with issues publicly, not only solves problems but is proof to potential buyers that the brand is willing to help and easy to get in touch with.

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