In the first post on this series I provided 10 reasons why social media is about he people. I talked about how important relationships are to success. For the second post in this series I am going to focus on the planning and prioritization stages of social media.
Many organizations claim to "be social." They claim they have social media integrated with sales, marketing, and even customer service. They may even tout that their customer service teams are using Twitter to communicate and help customers. The real question is this... are they providing social lip service or social customer service?
Build it and they will come. Add some features & we can charge more. Build the social media tool & they'll switch as long as we give it away for free. The social ecosystem looks a lot different now than when Facebook joined the game. MySpace didn't have the social footprint, the mindprints, heart prints or the handprints that Facebook does today. People are not going to immediately migrate to the Google+ network just because they are ticked off at Facebook.
So you hear the stories of the broke realtors. I have heard many state they can't sell or rent the homes. I know the economy stinks, there is a surplus of foreclosures. However, there are still some people buying and renting homes, townhomes, apartments, condos and office space. The question is are realtors really doing all they can to help sell the homes? I think overall the answer is no. Read on to learn why.
For those of us who love the study of human behavior, social media provides a 24/7 real time research lab. Millions of people spend hours a day on social networks. As individuals, business leaders, students, CEOs, research analysts, marketers, and recruiters we all have different objectives both personally and professionally. Social media offers the opportunity to join groups of people, to create communities where people come together. We come together for a cause, to solve a problem. We join tweet hands to share content and knowledge, to increase the depth and reach of voice or simply connect with human beings.
You've heard the words... Tweet Chats, #TweetChats, Hashtags, or even hashbrowns as one of my clients first called them. You see the early notification tweets: "Peeps - I am going to be sending more tweets than usual the next hour, headed into a tweet chat." For those who aren't engaged in the tweet chat or don't understand them, a tweet chat may seem like a bunch of noise. You are half right and half almost right. Yes, there may be some associated "noisy tweeting." However, tweet chats can offer great benefit for you and your business to build new relationships, increase blog readership, build community and even get new followers or Facebook fans!
ROFL, LOL, :), ;), IRL, <3, Woot!, :-) :0) If you have spent anytime on Facebook, Twitter or texting you are guaranteed to have seen these characters. Chances are they usually make you smile, maybe even laugh (LOL). It is important that we don't let the online LOL's replace the offline belly chuckles. Or let the :-) smiles replace the smile on our kids face when we do something special with them.
What would you do if for free 600 million people would share their life with you? Everything? And you could capture it in a data base to monetize? What if you could learn what they like and don't like. What they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and who they ate it with. What if they told you who all their friends are and what they ate as well? Can you imagine the data and what can be learned about people, their preferences and behavior if you could pull off a free life time survey with 600 million people!?
The time has finally come. You have your plans, objectives, budget and even a social media manager to help you. Social media is your name and your game with a goal of integration and pastures of happy Twitter followers and Facebook fans. If you are lucky you might even end up with a happy boss and delighted shareholders. However, there is one thing keeping you up at night. You can't quit thinking "how the heck is anyone going to know I exist? How will I stand above the crowd, the millions of other Twitter followers and Facebookers?" First of all, you don't need to stand above the millions. What's more important is that you are relevant and able to connect with the right people who will help you zoom your business and your life.
So you tweet into a Tweet chat, a Facebook LinkedIn group or page, Quora stream, Empire Avenue community or blog comment discussion with good intentions. So what is it? Why do you have difficulties "gelling" with these online groups? Your offline relationships are "just fine." You simply wish people would spend more time "offline" living "real life."
How many times have you heard these remarks? "Yes, we are on Twitter. We hired an intern. He/she tweets links to our blog" or "yes, we are on Facebook. We have a website with the Facebook logo on it that links to our Facebook business page." At the core everything about social media is about the people.
You have read the blog posts, listened to the webinars and even bought the books. You've been watching the tweets go by for at least three to six months. One consistent message you keep hearing is that social media is one big conversation. Twitter is all about the conversation, connecting with real people. You wish you could have a conversation. You wish even one person would talk to you on a regular basis.
What is a Twit? It's not the same as a tweet although it's sometimes referred to as one. Is it a person? Is it short for Twitter? Is it a tweet gone viral? Or a tweet gone bad. Or neither? Check out these 33 tips to not be a twit on Twitter.
Let's quit bantering over the semantics & get real with people. Authenticity is a word being over used in social circles. Does it begin to lose meaning to some? Absolutely. However, just because we may be tired of the word "authenticity" does it change the importance and ability to embrace, desire and appreciate real relationships both online and offline? Absolutely not.
Many social savvy business leaders and marketers have integrated social media into their DNA. We know how to tweet with one hand, check into Foursquare in a split second & post a photo to Facebook without missing an run on the rugrats baseball field. Regardless of where you are with social media, there is one fact you need to understand. There is a conversation happening in your honor right now. The question is are you part of it?
So you work hard to connect with your audience. You know what they like. You know what they need. You blog and your fans love your content. They want to share it with their friends, family and pets. Bottom line your content rocks and you know it. However, this scenario has one issue. Although your content is getting read and your metrics are out the roof, it's not getting shared. The shares to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are dismal at best. You just can't figure it out. You wonder for a brief second if maybe your audience isn't on social media. However, you quickly come to your wits as you know they are.
So you got me to click the "like" button. I may have been excited, simply curious or half asleep when I clicked like. I may or may not virtually run to my Facebook wall to remove the automated Facebook post that tells the world I clicked LIKE on your page. If your lucky I will leave it there. I admit I delete at least 50% of them! Will I ever visit your page again? What are you going to do to inspire me beyond the like? The even bigger question is do you care about me after I click "like"? Or are you in it just for the numbers? Did you know that on average 95% of people who click "like" never visit the Facebook page again? Given these statistics you better give a hoot about me after the like. Otherwise it's all for nothin'!
Where are you in the adoption of social media? Are you a believer? A non-believer? Have you integrated it into your business? Are you open to new ideas, new ways of doing business? Or do you throw up the hand and pretend as if your current methods are working? Some business leaders are doing better than others as they struggle with the question of "do I or do I not take the time to figure out if social media is right for my business?" Are you being honest with where you as a person, business leader and as a company are with adoption of social media?
Do you dream about the perfect social media plan? The perfect social media template? Many business leaders wanting to get social dream about it. They think they need it. The social media magic template. The one that includes the perfect strategy, tactics and themselves as the social hero of their company and social superstar of their market niche! The question is does the perfect social media template or strategy for your business exist? A perfect strategy or template, well probably not! A good template and structure, yes!
