“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter social media marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.
This week: People Do Want Brand Relationships (At Least Sometimes), Be True to Your Brand, Content’s Tough and This Internet Thing’s Going to Stick Around.
Read More“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter social media marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.
Different Networks for Different Reasons – LinkedIn polled more than 6,000 social media users to better understand their mindsets when accessing social networks. The poll found that people express different mindsets when engaging with different social platforms depending upon what they’re doing: socializing, wasting time or professionally investing time.
Key Takeaway: It shouldn’t come as a surprise that users behave differently on different platforms, but this should be taken as an even greater sign that a brand needs to mold itself to the platform vs. asking the platform to mold itself to the brand. Any brand on any network should add more value to the value already being generated by the existing community.
It’s Not What You Say, It’s When You Say It – HubSpot published a piece stating that when you post content is just as important (maybe more important) than the content you put out there. But HubSpot takes it a step further by not just telling marketers to post at the right time but also how to determine that right time.
Key Takeaway: Social media is 24/7, and that means brands are forced to connect with people outside of business hours. Make sure you’re giving your content a chance to succeed by posting it at the right time, not anytime.
You Have Nothing Without Integration – SmartBlog asked its readers: Which do you think is more difficult: planning a social media strategy or implementing it? 65% answered implementing it, and 35% answered planning it.
Key Takeaway: Planning and implementing are essential because an idea from planning is only as good as its implementation and execution. Mistakes happen when both don’t come together.
Jesse Stanchak says it best in her commentary on the poll results in which she says, “When the left hand doesn’t talk to the right, both suffer.”
Social media marketing touches every part of an organization, and to be successful, people need to communicate with others in a way that they may not be used to. Still, it’s essential, and this poll says to me that it’s one of the hardest things someone can do. Let’s start communicating.
Still Not Convinced? – A study by Appirio found, among other things, that 13% of respondents consider their businesses “anti-social” and have no plans or interest to invest in social media.
Key Takeaway: Either the respondents with no interest are the smartest business leaders out there or missing the boat big time. I find it hard to believe that any business should completely steer away from social media.
Facebook for Commerce – Mitch Joel weighs in on Facebook’s advertising merits and pitfalls, while digging into the potential of the newly relaunched Facebook Gifts. He weighs in on the potential to create an engaging experience that builds a direct relationship between Facebook and its users by merging the digital world with a physical payoff (the gift).
Key Takeaway: Facebook hasn’t cracked the code just yet, but as Mitch points out, it has the tools and the resources to compete, even to the level of Amazon, from an e-commerce perspective. Yes, Facebook’s had its issues, but it also has an infrastructure unlike any other.
“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter social media marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.
Why Should They Care? – Danny Brown explains what a brand needs to do in social media, a space in which many brands are trying and saying the same things.
Key Takeaway: Making consumers care comes down to understanding what the brand can say that consumers will also care about. Brands can say a lot, but the key is identifying the relevant intersection of what a brand has to say and what has value in the lives of consumers. Both elements must exist. That’s the only way a brand will prove that it deserves consumer attention.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Digiday breaks down the challenges Facebook has with proving the value of its advertising.
Key Takeaway: Are Facebook ads effective? Are Facebook ads ineffective? The answer to both questions is sometimes. Facebook is losing the PR battle. Brands have been burned. Brands are skeptical. They don’t trust Facebook, and I’m wondering if the time is coming for Facebook to take a pro-brand stance.
Stop Skipping Strategy to Get to ROI – Danna Vetter outlines the necessity of establishing a social media strategy before determining ROI. He states, “…giving yourself no real direction or the accountability of a strategy, your channel has a high probability of dying a very public death, joined possibly by a hallow Twitter egg, months or years of inactivity, and, oh yeah, the company name.”
Key Takeaway: ROI cannot be an afterthought. It also can’t be a question that’s raised before a strategy is in place. What’s the ROI of Facebook? That question gets you nowhere if you don’t know what you hope to get out of Facebook. Determine the return you desire, and then evaluate your ability to deliver that return.
Small Business and Social Media Stats – AllTwitter featured an infographic on the impact of social media on small businesses. Stats including 73% of small business use social media and 81% of small businesses plan to increase their social media efforts make a good case for going social before being left behind.
Key Takeaway: Social media has evened the playing field with businesses. Both large and small businesses have opportunities to beat each other. Large businesses can appear to be smaller and more personalized, while small businesses can take their ability to deliver customized, expert information to their customers on an ongoing basis and at greater scale.
The Social Media Bubble Didn’t Pop – Mitch Joel puts perspective on CNN’s article regarding the popping of the social media bubble. He explains that social media is a blanket term that encapsulates very different kinds of companies, that businesses are looking in every corner to be social and that social media is very, very young. There’s time to evolve.
Key Takeaway: Social media has been classified by far too many as a “silver bullet” of sorts. It’s not. As Joel points out, the hype may be dying down. Expectations are being tempered, but the excitement is still there. That’s where we should be. Let social do what social does well, and don’t put it on too high of a pedestal.