When was the last time a big national brand made you feel special via the social waves? Are we starting to lose the hope we once had in social media of humanizing brands? The hope of the brand coming out from behind the logo and showing they care and want to connect with real people? The possibility of them actually demonstrating their brand promise via social media versus just plaster the words on their Facebook page?
Are some brands falling prey to traditional mass marketing methods that are simply masked with a coat of new paint in red and marked with a K+ and called social media? Are some fooling themselves into thinking they are engaging by leveraging only automated tweets, retweets, and direct messages?
Many businesses feel like they are the last to get online. They decide they want to “do social” and all of a sudden it becomes an emergency.Often times the CEO or other executive attends a one off social media training event such as a class for LinkedIn or Facebook and next thing you know all corporate business priorities are put on hold. Within days there is now only one priority and that is “doing social.” Nobody really knows why other than that executive management said it’s the priority.
When building an online persona and brand usually we start with the most basic aspects including over arching brand, logo, colors, core messages etc. All of these are foundational to success. We develop our plan, develop our platform, create and launch our brand presence, integrate social with our business goals and start the social media engagement. However, after a few months goes by we realize nobody is buying from us. Nobody is opting in to our email lists. What has happened? Why don’t they want to further engage with our brand? Do they not trust us? Do they not think that we could bring them value?
If you have been online Twitter or Facebook this week it would be hard to miss the chatter on Klout and their new algorithm. We are not social puppets. We must refuse to behave like puppets for any score. We are not defined as a human being by our Klout or any other score. What you do in the lives of others offline is what matters. Social media is simply a way for us to impact business and lives. It’s how we use it and what we use it for that will determine our influence. Our influence in reality is not measured by +Ks, topic lists or other.
Wrong game, right field or right game, wrong field? Many businesses are showing up to the game but they’re on the wrong field. They also have the wrong attire and mindset. It’s not about a quick win or dunk in the basket with 500 likes and a Klout score of 70. It’s about building relationships, fostering a community, inspiring people to connect with your brand by helping them achieve their goals and objectives.
Approximately 80% of small businesses fail within the first year. How many of the people you know who have started a business have truly succeeded? How many of them put on a happy face yet are still at every networking meeting looking for business?
Humans are creatures of habits. Often times our behaviors are predictable. Old habits are hard to break, good or bad. Why would we expect social media to be any different? Why should we expect that just because marketers can now connect with anyone across they world in a simple 140 character tweet that they will by default do it any different than the days of email spam, direct mail and traditional broadcast marketing advertising.
People are moving by the masses to social communities and platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter. There is much pressure to have a page as cool as your competitors, clients, partners and colleagues. There are many experts who tell you how to talk, how to tweet, what to say, when to say it, [...]
We’ve all seen the begging pleas of the wanna be social business:
-like me on Facebook
-I need likes, come visit my page
-I’ll like you if you like me
-let’s take the conversation to Facebook
-Many of us have at one time done them. The smart ones eventually stop such behavior.
What these people are not getting is that I must have a reason to “like you.” WHY should I like you? There are a million other pages also asking for my time and for me to like them. And take what conversation to Facebook? I am not having a conversation with you to begin with? Give me a reason to want to talk with you, please.
One of the many new features Facebook announced this week at F8 is the new Facebook timeline.
Are you one who doesn’t have it, but wish you did!? Here are a few easy steps to turn the timeline on.
You have sent a few tweets but just don’t know what’s wrong. Something isn’t working. You don’t feel the confidence you wish you had. You know the tools enough to be dangerous. However, getting a retweet that leads to actual engagement or relationship building is a different story.
Dear new social network getting ready to launch,
This message is to the new social network who has made, is making or will make plans to take over Facebook and the rest of the social media world as we know it.
Every week there seems to be a new social network popping up. I am not saying new networks are bad. I love innovation. However, I will boldly state that their marketing and social network takeover strategies and messages are not working.
A new social networking platform, UNTHINK was unveiled yesterday. It is yet another platform where the founders are claiming to be the Facebook killer, the best thing since sliced bread and Myspace.
It’s Saturday morning. You wake up out of the fog. You manage to open one eye and reach for the iPhone. You push the little round button so you can say good morning to your friends. Since the rest of the family is still asleep you think “hmmm… I’ll just go into my office and send a few tweets, see what’s circlin’ on Google+ and upload the photos from the seminar this week to Facebook.
Well, that was at 7:00 am. It’s now 11:00 and you are still in your jammies with messy hair. Your significant other has made breakfast. The kids are watching cartoons & fighting and the house is a mess. The big plans of mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage and hittin’ the gym all before noon are history. You would much prefer to stay in the safety and quiet of your little tweet heaven just for one more hour.
There seems to be a mad rush to get on the social band wagon. Even though you and your business have been without Facebook, Twitter, a blog, LinkedIn or Google+ for your entire life and business history all of a sudden someone in your organization who has authority has decided you need to “get on social media,” by next Friday.
Whoooaaa horsey, slow down!
Retweets, you have heard have them, you know what they are but you aren’t gettin’ them. For some reason you just can’t seem to get the engagement you are seeking, desiring and yearning for in social media and Twitter.
You may be new to Twitter and simply don’t know what the heck you are doing, how to get a retweet or why the retweets even matter.
Or are you a Twitter and social media veteran who just wants to boost your ego, increase your Klout score or simply show off for Grandpa this weekend how popular you are on the social waves?
Blogs & Websites: 4 Goals + 10 Tips To Inspire, Connect & Achieve Results
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t is my mantra of life. I am who I am take it or leave it.
There is not one way to tweet, Facebook, Link or circle. The only way to do social media is the way that works for you. Here is a summary of what works for me and my tweets.
I believe we are over complicating the world of social media. We get caught up in tweets, posts, follows, influence scores, analytics and the list goes on.
It doesn’t have to be so hard. Does the newbie really need to watch us debate for weeks about if Facebook or Google+ is going to win when they are simply coming to us for help in getting online in the first place?
Random acts of marketing (RAMs) will melt the positive in your business checking account, return on investment and brand equity like an ice cube on a hot day on hot cement. RAMS are a leading cause for failure in business, marketing and of course social media.
Integration may seem like a lot of work up front. When I talk about integration with clients I often get that raised eyebrow look and know they want to say “what is she talking about, we don’t have time to think further than tomorrow… we’ll never get integrated… she just wants to complicate the project so she can charge us more!” This couldn’t be further from the truth!
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