Alan See

It’s not just a cliché; when people get lost, they really do tend to walk in circles. According to research by psychologist Jan Souman; only when the sun or moon was visible as a reference could the subjects walk in a straight line. Otherwise, they often traced circles without ever realizing it. Reference points are a good thing because humans are perhaps the greatest wanders on the planet. From below sea level at Death Valley to Mount Everest, the highest point on earth, it seems we have a basic compulsion to see what’s over the hill. Or under the hill as was the case with two young girls in South Australia.

Walking through storm drains is known as “urban exploring” and has a popular sub-culture following in many major cities. As reported by the Adelaide Metropolitan Fire Service two young girls found themselves lost in a drain system while on such an exploring adventure. Underground the girls lost their frame of reference … they did have their cell phones though. However; rather than call their parents or 000 (911 in the U.S.) they used their mobile devices to send a message for help out to their friends via Facebook. Glenn Benham from the MFS said it was fortunate a young friend was online at the time and was able to call help for them; although the youth’s fixation on Facebook actually delayed their rescue by hours.

“If they were able to access Facebook from their mobile phones, they could have called triple-0, so the point being they could have called us directly and we could have got there quicker than relying on someone being online and replying to them and eventually having to call us via triple-0 anyway.”

Why did they choose to reach out to their friends on Facebook rather than just call for help? My guess is because they didn’t want mom, dad or any authority figure to hear directly from them that they were exploring areas that were off-limits to begin with. You can imagine how that conversation might have sounded:

Ring … Ring … Ring

Father: Hello

Daughter: Dad, I’m lost… help me!

Father: What do you mean you’re lost? You’re calling on your cell phone … where are you calling from?

Daughter: Well, you know that storm drain you told me never to play around? I went inside to explore and now I don’t really know where I am … or how to get out.

Father: I’ll get help … but when this is done … you are so grounded!

OK, the “grounded” part of the conversation might actually wait until after the rescue, but I think you get my meaning. But what if the fear of getting in trouble really wasn’t the motivating factor for not making a direct call to an authority figure? It’s interesting to consider that social media may have become such a pervasive part of their lives that it was the natural first line of response for communicating a message to others. It’s something to think about as you consider your marketing communication channels.

Are you friending, linking, tweeting and blogging? Social media is driving a wave of human interaction around the world. In fact, I find myself approaching the triple 3K mark on twitter; 3,000 tweets, 3,000 followers and 3,000 connections. Those are fairly low numbers when compared to many avid twitter users; although high enough to rank in the top one percent of users, at least according to Twitter Grader . But what does it all mean? Do social media sites encourage people to concentrate on their number of connections rather than build actual relationships? Is social media best used by individuals; or will it really change the way organizations engage their customers? And what about the ROI; is the return on relationships something that can (or should) be measured?

Some marketer’s are still eager to list the reasons why they don’t believe in social media platforms.

• It’s for self-promoters or the unemployed.
• It’s for teenagers.
• It’s just over-sharing too much trivial babble.
• It doesn’t directly drive sales leads.
• I can’t control the marketing message.
• There is no measurable ROI.

While all those may be true in some cases, you’re not doing your organization any favors by dismissing the game changing power behind the new social media applications. At a high-level social media marketing is about influencing the customer experience by engaging in dialogue with the customer in order to build a trusted relationship over time. The customer experience refers to all touch points people have from the moment they are aware of a need until they have fulfilled the need or reached a certain goal. To make the social-ready transformation an organization may need to adopt a new mindset. Most transformations involve strategy, technology and processes and a social media transformation is no different in that respect.

1. Strategy: How well does your social media plan support your overall marketing strategy?

2. Technology: Do you have the technology and infrastructure to support your social media goals and objectives?

3. Processes: Do you have the operational processes in place to support your social media goals and objectives?

In the last few months we’ve noticed that many organizations tend to fall in the following broad categories as it relates to the key transformation areas above:

The Broadcaster:
The Broadcaster is typically focused on one way communications and is most comfortable in the traditional media world of mass marketing. Leveraging typical “push marketing” tools and tactics the Broadcaster pushes their product towards the audience which may or may not be aware of it. The Broadcaster largely focuses on the features of their product or service and seeks a direct response from the mass audience. Often times the Broadcaster is focused on a short-term strategy that involves a specific event or time-based campaign (Christmas deals, Back-to-School, etc).

The Listener:
The Listener tends to focus on push marketing tactics; but also considers customer feedback. The Listener may have customer listening posts established in the form of brand monitoring initiatives, although those initiatives may be fairly informal.

The Conversationalist:
The Conversationalist is more in the “pull marketing” camp. The Conversationalist is typically interested in interacting with their target market at a deeper level of engagement through tighter relevance, content and stronger brand identification. The Conversationalist is focused on the development of trust and perceived value.

The Community Builder:
The Community Builder is fully in the pull marketing camp. The Community Builder looks for ways to engage their customers and prospects in two-way conversations, and is comfortable with the concepts of user created content and co-creation. The Community Builder is focused on influencing and involving vs. educating and controlling their audience.

Building a social-ready organization is an on-going journey. And that journey as well as an organizations position on the social media continuum is determined by several factors, including; overall marketing strategy, desired customer experience, business model, and the competitive environment. Social media isn’t going away so you need to set a course that’s right for your corporate goals and objectives.

The marketing agency I work for is often approached by local Universities to work with senior business students on their capstone marketing courses. This spring we helped one class work through a marketing media planning session focused on one of our national plumbing clients. The students did an excellent job. In fact, I was impressed with their recommendations to leverage social media in addition to the print and interactive yellow pages that are traditionally used for advertising in the plumbing industry.

We had challenged the students to assemble a media plan that would also resonate with their generation (Gen Y). So, it’s no surprise that they focused on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as some of the primary channels to capture their attention. Of course, most 22 years olds have never actually had to call a plumber, and that fact came out in the following exchange:

Alan: “What I would like for you to do is to close your eyes and imagine that you have recently purchased your first home. You walk down into your basement and you notice water on the floor because your hot water heater is leaking. What’s the first thing you are going to do?”

Student: “I’ll probably still live in this area, so I’ll pick up the phone and call my dad.”

Alan: “You’re not going to leverage one of your social media communities, or go online and do a search on plumbing? … Is your dad a plumber?”

Student: “Well – no; but he will know who to call.”

I’m a baby boomer and have three Gen Y’s (ages 18, 22 and 26) myself. I’m also a heavy social media user and have profiles on most of the major platforms. However; when I think about it, it’s not hard for me to imagine that the situation above would play out the same in my home. I can hear it now:

My 22 year old daughter: “Dad – my hot water heater is leaking!! Can you help me?!”

Alan: “Yes, let me grab the phone book so I can call a plumber. And don’t panic, I’ll be over in a second.”

Customer segmentation based on demographics is fine; just remember that social media and print media can interact and work together – there doesn’t have to be a generation gap.