Comments on: The myths of social media and what it takes to be successful http://www.socialtis.net/2009/11/the-myths-of-social-media-and-what-it-takes-to-be-successful/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:29:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: admin http://www.socialtis.net/2009/11/the-myths-of-social-media-and-what-it-takes-to-be-successful/comment-page-1/#comment-217 admin Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:40:22 +0000 http://www.socialtis.net/?p=256#comment-217 I couldn't agree with you more, Aaron. Many B2B organizations still use social media only as a broadcast tool. Although this can be helpful for levels of awareness, it can also easily become a level of white noise. The key is to understanding how to leverage Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, as tools of engagement - yes, just another set of tools as part of the integrated marketing mix. The really key is how do you "listen" to the customer to move the buying process forward. I think you'll find <a href="http://garyvaynerchuk.com/tagged/keynotes" rel="nofollow">garyvaynerchuk's keynote at Mediabistro </a>has the very same sentiment, but with far more color and few more explicatives than I am willing to provide. What are your thoughts on target usages like event tweet ups or product promotions? I couldn’t agree with you more, Aaron. Many B2B organizations still use social media only as a broadcast tool. Although this can be helpful for levels of awareness, it can also easily become a level of white noise. The key is to understanding how to leverage Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, as tools of engagement – yes, just another set of tools as part of the integrated marketing mix. The really key is how do you “listen” to the customer to move the buying process forward.

I think you’ll find garyvaynerchuk’s keynote at Mediabistro has the very same sentiment, but with far more color and few more explicatives than I am willing to provide.

What are your thoughts on target usages like event tweet ups or product promotions?

]]> By: Aaron Savage http://www.socialtis.net/2009/11/the-myths-of-social-media-and-what-it-takes-to-be-successful/comment-page-1/#comment-216 Aaron Savage Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:48:35 +0000 http://www.socialtis.net/?p=256#comment-216 I think that the biggest myth of social media is the same for most digital and offline media when you look at them as tactical solutions rather than in the context of an overall <a href="http://www.interactive-mix.com/imix.html" rel="nofollow">digital marketing strategy</a>. If you have a Facebook page to write up your achievements and handle discussions and a Twitter page to broadcast where your thoughts can be found you may very well build up an audience and spend a lot of time interacting with them in exactly the right ways but are you making sales? I always say that running an online business is fundamentally no different to running a little corner shop. You need it to be open, and for people passing by to see that it is open, you need to be helpful and honest, you need to be busy as that persuades everyone else that the wisdom of crowds is right and you are the place to shop, but you also need to be focused. A shopkeeper in my grannies village knew that if he spent all day just chatting the world away with a few people who come into the shop but buy nothing was not as important as spotting a customer and leading them through to a sale. The danger with social media is that you end up doing the equivalent of this and spend a lot of time discussing things whilst missing out on the customer in the corner who is desperate to buy something, but needs a little help. Recognise buying signals and remember that 20% of your customers will purchase 80% of your products. I think that the biggest myth of social media is the same for most digital and offline media when you look at them as tactical solutions rather than in the context of an overall digital marketing strategy.

If you have a Facebook page to write up your achievements and handle discussions and a Twitter page to broadcast where your thoughts can be found you may very well build up an audience and spend a lot of time interacting with them in exactly the right ways but are you making sales? I always say that running an online business is fundamentally no different to running a little corner shop. You need it to be open, and for people passing by to see that it is open, you need to be helpful and honest, you need to be busy as that persuades everyone else that the wisdom of crowds is right and you are the place to shop, but you also need to be focused.

A shopkeeper in my grannies village knew that if he spent all day just chatting the world away with a few people who come into the shop but buy nothing was not as important as spotting a customer and leading them through to a sale. The danger with social media is that you end up doing the equivalent of this and spend a lot of time discussing things whilst missing out on the customer in the corner who is desperate to buy something, but needs a little help. Recognise buying signals and remember that 20% of your customers will purchase 80% of your products.

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