Alan See

Are you friending, linking, tweeting and blogging? Social media is driving a wave of human interaction around the world. My @AlanSee twitter page currently references over 4,300 tweets and nearly 7,100 followers. Those are fairly low numbers when compared to many avid twitter users; although high enough to rank in the top one percent of users 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 isolated 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. To make a social-ready transformation an organization may need to adopt a new mindset. Enterprise 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 and desired customer experience?

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

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

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.

If you’d like to measure your social media maturity level set aside a few minutes to take the Berry Network Social-Ready Assessment. Building a social-ready organization is an on-going journey. And that journey as well as your 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.

I was in Junior High School during the early 1970s recession and I can still remember my parent’s struggle to keep our small family business from closing. In the late 70s I enrolled in college and completed my undergraduate degree just in time to enter the job market during the recession of the early 1980s. According to a study by Yale University’s Lisa Kahn, college graduates who entered the job market during that time period made significantly less money for at least a decade, compared with those who graduated in more prosperous times. I’m really not complaining, although I will add that I went back to school and completed my MBA just in time for the 1987 stock market crash. Is that funny or what? OK, my timing seems to be a little off, and my children have heard all my … “the snow was always deeper” … type of stories. Still, how is your organization listening and learning to what’s important to today’s cautious consumer?

In my post “How to Engage the 2009 Customer Mindset” I mentioned that sensitivity to total price, intolerance of poor customer service responses, and a focus on quality and trust was very important. I still stand by those recommendations, but when your customer’s appear to be hunkering down for the long-haul how do you find out what they really value? Consumer needs and preferences are shifting. That means marketers should take extra care as it relates to adjusting their marketing mix and one of the best ways to know what adjustments are needed is to listen. Is your organization listening? Social networking platforms are valuable listening posts and provide a rare opportunity to quickly learn what consumers really value. While reading their words you have the freedom to focus on what’s truly important to the writer. Whether the dialogues are in a group discussion on LinkedIn or referenced in 140 character tweets on Twitter; take time to listen and understand the conversation.

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.

In 1903 Dr. Horatio Jackson set off on a journey from San Francisco to New York becoming the first person to cross the United States in a “horseless carriage.” At the time there were only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire country. In addition, there were no gas stations and virtually no road maps as we know them today. This was America’s first transcontinental road trip, and like many road trips that would follow it included breakdowns and wrong turns.

Is your social media journey beginning to feel like Horatio’s drive? Sure, there are webinars, books and blogs enticing you to hit the open road; but how do you stay on track once you’ve set up that newfangled social media account and tweeted the link to your newly built online community?

Don’t abandon your strategy …
Many people doubted the automobile had much of a future when Jackson began his cross country trip. Along that same line, despite the millions who have joined, there are millions more who believe social platforms are a passing fad and don’t use them at all. One thing that kept Jackson going was his indomitable spirit and sheer enthusiasm for his new mode of transportation. Likewise, you must maintain focus on your social media strategy and stay engaged. As Jackson moved eastward, his quest slowly became a national sensation and huge crowds began lining the streets of towns to watch him whiz by in his newfangled automobile. Social media platforms and communities will continue to improve, and adoption will accelerate even more in the future, so don’t give up.

Old and new coexist …
While in Alturas, California Jackson needed to wait on the shipment of some spare tires. The tires were actually delivered by stagecoach. In fact, during his journey Jackson encountered pioneers in wagon trains and often had to depend on cowboys to use their lariats to help tow him out of mud holes and sand drifts. Keep in mind that some of your contacts and customers may never fully participate in these social sites. That means old and new media channels and communication strategies must coexist. A LinkedIn invite augmented by a personal email; a Twitter posting followed by a direct phone call; a face-to-face meeting fortified by direct mail may take some of the bumps out of your social media road.

Jackson’s trip was initiated as the result of a $50 bet that he could drive an automobile from San Francisco to New York in less than three months. He made it in 63 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes, well within his wager of 90 days. Go ahead and place your bet - social media sites are becoming the destination of choice for many businesspeople.