Cre8tive Flow

Introduction

It is fitting that this article appears on the date of the US Presidential Election.  The reason for that will become clear later.  One of the hottest topics in Internet Marketing is what has been called Social Media Marketing (SMM). Many people are also acknowledging that they don’t really understand what it’s all about or what to do with it. This article will attempt to demystify SMM and suggest how you can use it effectively.

It really should not be so little understood because the Clue Train Manifesto appeared In April, 1999.  On that website you will find the following:

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies. These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can’t be faked.

Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.  But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about "listening to customers." They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.

They were prophetic words but they still do not get sufficient attention.

Social Media

What exactly are social media?  Here is how the experts define it:

social media: A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction.
- from the SearchEngineWatch Glossary

That covers a wide variety of websites as can be seen from the following examples.  Each subgroup list is only a small fraction of the websites of that type.

The words, user participation, user-generated content or user interaction, hardly do justice to what is happening here.  What we are really talking about is individuals communicating and interacting with other individuals.  Historically the best example of such online communities of individuals were bulletin boards and forums. Given that they tend to draw fewer participants now, they are often left off such lists of social media.

The most useful definition of marketing is that it is a dialogue, a conversation, with prospects and with customers.  What are the best examples of social media marketing: that is dialogues with the social media?

Politicians Must Do SMM

Most observers feel that the politicians are the ones who are using SMM most effectively. As Clikz pointed out Voter-Generated Content Makes or Breaks Candidates.:

When it comes to campaigning — in effect advertising — Barack Obama and John McCain are facing the same challenges as brands. Neither candidate is completely in control of his image. Messaging at people no longer works. Candidates on national and local levels must find ways to connect with their constituents as well as be nimble and quick to respond to questions, concerns, and misconceptions. People want to have a conversation — they want to be heard. And, online video is the critical new medium that will make that happen.

The SEOblog uses what I feel is a misnomer for SMM, calling it SEO 2.0, however it too gives high marks to Barack Obama.
From a SEO and SEO 2.0 perspective you can’t help admire Obama for his Internet campaign. Thus I will outline the 7 SEO 2.0 methods the Obama campaign has scored with on the Web most successfully:

• Pull vs Push (encouraging dialogues rather than having intrusive advertising)
• Blogging
• Viral video
• Social Networking
• Web Design for ROI (with many forms to get people involved)
• Local SEO (linkages with people in your area - volunteer)
• Mobile Marketing (Twittering and Instant messaging)

The reason why SMM works so effectively for politicians is that connecting with people is exactly what the politicians want to do.  This is after all a democracy and people want to have their say.

Can Big Corporations Do SMM?

Given such a powerful way of connecting with prospects and customers, clearly corporations would like to be using these new channels. According to the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, that wish is shared by their customers:
93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while 85 percent believe a company should not only be present, but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

It is important to meet that need for interaction even though some feel that some industries like  Pharma Fears Social Networking. Companies can either be participants in online discussions or they can merely be the objects of such discussions.  Before the Internet, some would encourage such companies to hide in a trench until the noise died down.  That is no longer an option.

Social media are somewhat of a challenge to all big companies. That is why it was interesting to see the BlogWell seminar on How Big Companies Use Social Media. The biggest challenge is that social media involve individuals talking to individuals.  That raises the question of The Ethics of Disclosure as Mike McGrath suggested.  The WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) Ethics Code is largely accepted as the standard, but some companies occasionally have breached the code.  Since there is great transparency with the Internet, such breaches are usually quickly spotted.

It also raises the question of whether the ROI on SMM justifies all this effort.  Jay Deragon points out that
Any good sales person will tell you their number one objective is building relationships over time. … Relationships come from human experiences, not corporate spin and hyped promises. Human relationships are measured by trust, sincerity and common values. If you want a return on social media, then focus on conversations that build lasting relationships based on value exchanged and create great experiences.

That is an important message for any company of any size or even individuals who wish to do effective SMM

SEM versus SMM

It is worth pointing out an important distinction between SEM and SMM. SEM involves working with how computers that only use logic and are without judgment will assess different websites.  That is why key word searches can occasionally serve up somewhat irrational web pages.  SMM on the other hand deals with how individuals are assessing and commenting on things they see on the Internet.  Although some may attempt to manipulate results by gaming the system, this is a tiny fraction compared with the proportion trying to manipulate search engine results. 

Some Rules For Effective SMM

Social media come in all flavors, so if you want to do SMM, which I would encourage, then you need to check out what works for you.  Each of them has different rules and ways of working so you may wish to do some research on what others say.  The following topics cover some of the more important points in SMM

Your online persona

It is important to select a user name that will work in the long term for you.  It is almost as important as your company name.  One excellent example of this is the Twitter username that Frank Eliason of Comcast chose.  His user name is comcastcares.  He looks for any items where someone has mentioned Comcast and tries to respond to any where Comcast service has been less than adequate.  Not surprisingly this has given him and his company good visibility.  A Google search for his user name shows 48,900 references.

Another example of a well-known username is DazzlinDonna, that used by Donna Fontenot, an online business coach. She only recently, as an experiment, tried a different name (WebChicklet) and found that Fake Social Media Avatars Suck.  In addition to the reasons she mentions for avoiding multiple persona, her real username shows 30,300 Google references, so there clearly is no reason to look for another.  I have for years used the username bwelford which shows 22,100 Google references.  Such visibility is important in developing a personality for the various social media that you participate in.

Your Online Friends

Unless you develop a circle of friends in any given social media, it is unlikely that your social media efforts will produce useful results.  You make friends just as you would in real life by participating and by giving rather than always trying to take.  Others will fairly quickly determine whether you are someone they would wish to associate with. Be true to your personality and be sociable and you will see positive results.

Time Management

There is no fast way to develop a social media presence.  On the other hand it is important to budget the time one spends in such efforts.  With an hour or two each day it is possible to develop a significant presence. 

Twitter

Although Twitter leaves many people confused, it has become a place where many people participate often somewhat infrequently.  The references suggest how best to tackle Twitter.  It is probably time well spent.

Exponential Marketing

Social Media Marketing operates under other names such as Buzz marketing or viral marketing or word-of-mouth marketing.  Another less used term is exponential marketing.  I suggest this has value in reminding us that we should be looking at ways in which as many people as possible pass on the news to as many other people as possible (she told two friends, etc.).  This usually means creating items where someone passing it on is seen as being a very helpful friend by passing on something of value.

Conclusion

Social media tend to be somewhat chaotic like many social communities.  It is important to measure what you are doing in terms of results and to make sure that you are applying your efforts in the best possible places.  As Jay Deragon pointed out, the ultimate value is in the relationships you create, so try to evaluate how well you are doing on that scale.  Relationships are what will give you eventual rewards for your efforts.

Further Reading:

• The social media toolbox (PDF) - Alec Saunders
• Twitter Primer - Beth Kanter
• Twitter Best Practices - Kristin Foster