Bingo!

When I was consulting, half the companies that wanted a blogging strategy mainly needed to learn to pay attention to the feedback coming in from everywhere, from the unfocus group, so to speak, and engage with those people on their own terms (as opposed to trying to create, spark, or host yet another community).

i’d add “if your product is generally boring and being ignored outside of the social network – it will also be ignored within the social network.”

Nicely said! I too am weary of marketers treating social networking like the latest advertising gimmick. The rule is pretty simple – if you want to have meaningful conversations with your customers, then social networking is great. If you don’t, then don’t!

I agree with Alex.

And I’ll add that “social media marketing” is NOT about you helping yourself. It’s about sharing your ideas and products with others and allowing them to help you through feedback. Then you can in turn help them by considering their comments and adjusting your offering to better fit their needs and solve their problems. It’s not a one-way street.
If your members know that you’re not in it just to help yourself but to help them and usually give them what they want and need, then they’ll stick around for a long time and tell lots and lots of friends.

That is definitely a valid point. I’ve always thought as social media marketing as creating the buzz, but you’ve set me on the correct path.

Sounds similar to Search Engine Marketing vs. Search Engine Optimization. You can deploy every gimmick or placement tool in the book, but at the end of the day, it’s about optimized code and content, which should be intrinsic to a good web site, not a marketers tip sheet.

Sounds similar to Search Engine Marketing vs. Search Engine Optimization. You can deploy every gimmick or placement tool in the book, but at the end of the day, it’s about optimized code and content, which should be intrinsic to a good web site, not a marketer’s tip sheet.

By dint of working broadly in marketing and with social media I can be called a social media marketer (although I don’t think I’ve used that phrase yet).

As with all forms of business and marketing there’s good and bad, good practice and sharp practice, and it will always be thus.

Two points that make me feel like I’m doing the right thing right now (though I’m always open to challenge):

1. When I’m talking to clients about thinking about social media the first principle (and first tactic)is listening. So, I completely agree with the points you make about the most useful thing you can do is take feedback to improve your product.
2. I believe that social media is utterly disruptive to businesses – by beginning to understand it and engage (by listening or beginning conversations) through “marketing” (or customer service, or internal communications, or product design) its principles will change the way a whole business works.

The target of “social media marketing” is to do viral marketing or virus marketing. this is done, by using structures of the web2.0 architecture to “insert” good positive “fake” informations about a product or generate a hype, by giving informations about upcomming products on these instruments. also it´s on the user again, to detect “fake” informations as “fake” and isolate it from the web. the evulution of this type of marketing is natural, but new for some folks. this depends on the change of media from print to tv and from tv to the internet. the major point is that media today (tv,radio and print) will lose the leadership position to the internet.

Hey, great post. Social Media does amplify public opinion. I think that when used genuinely and sincerely, it can also give companies (people) the ability to listen and also a channel to respond. If they can connect to them as a peer, instead of selling them, then it changes the game from marketing to service, which can only help.

My issue with “Social Media Marketers” is that everyone is suddenly an expert.

I recently found a conference that was positioned this way, “How To Use Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis & Other Social Media Tools To Find Clients, Make Money & Create the Lifestyle of Your Dreams.”

I wrote about it at PR 2.0.

“It’s better to think of social media tools as amplifying customer opinion rather than improving it.”

Adding that to my favorite quotes!

Amen Brother!

Very good point. Take for example the multilevel marketing online scrapbooking software company that is renegging its represented offerings to all the women that were signing up in the downlines. Now the downline reps are expressing their disatisfaction in their yahoo groups, and the upline reps moderating the group are editing out the complaints in the posts, making the primary group even angrier.

Social Media Sites are getting full of flashing ads…nice words by the way

the statement does have merit. You can use the tool to “leverage” buzz. the question leverage is a whole different concept than create. It is implied that their is a message that needs to be dispersed.

Social marketing is not new, in certain communities it is the only marketing done, What is new is the use of digital media as tools, to disperse the information. In fact we have found that the persons that subscribe to our social marketing tools are not usually those that have access to us in the real world.In both the real world and online, the quality of the product drives the result. While relationships fuel it. Too often many of producers rely on hype or gimmicks to sell a product. When I am first approached to consult on a business I take to the product and investigate it from the users point of view. A poorly designed product or user experience can undermine the best search optimization or social Marketing Strategy. I have found that many businesses have no idea of their potential constituents” personas, nor any idea of how to find and engage them or what they really think of the product. Then when we have a great product we depend on it to build its own hype, and then complain when inferior products corner the market. Social media marketing can be used to improve customer perception of products,especially when coupled with an experiential product development philosophy. A brand can make the information easily available to be distributed.

The problem (which I am currently facing in the launch of an onlne version of our designers collective is getting companies to have that information not only easily available and accessible, but in a language that appeals to a social environment) I have sat through trade shows with companies and listened to them “pitch” their products to their consumers; then ask the customers what they like and you get two completely different messages(and language).
To clarify, when a consumer speaks about a garment, or are shopping they look at seams and edges, speak of the fit comfort and how it made them look like a model. Most designers want models in editorial shots that glorify their product. These usually do not show stitching or product details. ‘Someone told me about your product.” Or “my friend uses your product and it makes her….” Those are social marketing messages. I can tell you from experience that social marketing can change perception. The media tools just make a louder(faster and Farther and longer} noise! Isn’t that leveraging!

great post! yes, social media tools (and any social media campaign) will yield a lot of insight about your product, but it won’t make you communicate better with people who use your product. If you’ve got customer service problems to begin with, then any social media campaign isn’t going to automatically create “customer evangelists” for you. If your product stinks, people will give you feedback, but if you don’t listen, you’re still stuck with a crummy product. Social media campaigns will not make you look cool if your product sucks and your customer service is less than civil. Companies need to stop looking for social media campaigns to cure their product’s ills. They need to address those ills first. And if they don’t want to listen, they shouldn’t go into social media.

“It only amplifies what the opinion was in the first place.”

Yes, if all you do is implement (or join) the tools and then stop. Social media/community/whatever, as Brian points out, gives you the ability to also engage, converse, respond, improve.

Well said.

All the hype and inflated promises surrounding social media marketing (no doubt to sell useless products) are making me want to smash my computer and go back to the J.O.B.

It’s a great tool for those who use it wisely but not a replacement for the basic core foundation of an online business nor a life preserver for a failing attempt at some get rich quick dream.

Sheree

I think the whole social network thing is getting used for businesses own benefit. I have a wedding website and I write in my blog (website link above plus /vista) to tell any customers about what I’m about and keep them up on what I’m doing.
I send the occasional article into Digg or mark it in Del.icio.us to put out a bread trail back to my blog. I want to be informative and hopefully provide a good service. To me the social networks are used more for this type of purpose…
Jeff

To say that social media is ONLY a feedback/engagement tool seems a little short sighted.

Social Media can be used as a tool the same way as any other marketing tool – to acquire new users and build loyalty/preference with existing users. The key is to provide the right message to the right people at the right time. Social Media can provide a way to do this, however this must be done in an honest and transparent way that builds your equity and credibility within the community.

Just my 2-cents

Joshua,

You are absolutely right. At Ignite, this is all we do, but (a) it’s not magic, it’s communicating and (b) as much as it provides powerful new tools to the marketer, it involves equally powerful tools for the customer/prospect.

Given that, they can say that you’re a schmuck if, in fact, you are a schmuck.

So step 1: Don’t be a schmuck.
Step 2: Start talking like a human being…

Not hard, but surprisingly shocking to many.

~Jim

Krista – I’m not saying that you can’t use social media as a way to acquire new users. I think you can, but mostly as an indirect result of engaging with existing customers in a positive way.

Joshua,
We don’t leave any chance to get on to a band wagon. What many people fail to realize is that Social Media Marketing is not same as SEO, it’s a dialogue or an engagement with your customers. I am not sure how many businesses are equipped to handle the normal email feedback that they receive on their website ?. Engaging on SNS is atleast scary for me, you can initiate but you cannot control any how. The best strategy would be offer such wonderful products and services that it drives your users to provide testimonials across the web. Make your users / customers happy, they are people, they are social and they would carry it on their (Social) networks.

Thanks!
Santosh

Some great comments here. In my opinion I do not see that there is this mystery formula to SMM. I agree a big part of being successful is good customer service. Listen to your users and let them know you understand what they are saying to you.

There is a misconception that you can succeed only relying on social media marketing when SMM should encompass every other aspect of your marketing and advertising campaign. As for acquiring new users, for the most part it is not you broadcasting to acquire new users but the existing users who became a user firstly by a positive experience that are rebroadcasting their positive testimonials and feedback. Once I acquire new users my goal then is to maintain a relationship and build trust. I consider my network a pool of opportunity. Who is this person? Where are they from? What is their profession? How old are they? How can we help each other? Do I have news that they should know about that is specific to them? Have I met this person or already know them through a connection with someone else? Who was it that referred them in my direction? Are they an influence in their group of peers and colleagues? Opinion leader? What are they blogging about? What do they find funny? A list of questions enters my mind when engaging a new user. It’s like any other social interaction for me. I want users to feel like a part of the success not just a person to be marketed to.

Thanks
Adam

Great post and some good comments. If only things were this simple. It certainly presents a challenge to the philosophy of many company directors and managers. Too many of them will see social media marketing as just another selling tactic. Marketers are traditionally given orders to get a product or service out there to meet certain targets, then they have to find the best way to do it – whatever it takes. In doing so, too often they ignore or misrepresent their own customers.

Social Media turns the tables round. Most companies don’t want to change their business unless they absolutely must, let alone for their customers. I think that these days you simply can’t ignore it, people will talk whether you like it or not, and the web gives their messages exponential reach. The first thing when I want to evaluate a product is type the name and brand into Google followed by the word “sucks” or “sux”. To me at least, negative comments seem to amplify much easier than positive ones. I can’t think of any real way for any snake oil can counter this. In my opinion this is the first problem.

I believe that the best social marketers are experts at facilitating customer feedback in a semi-controlled environment, whether it is negative or positive. This way they can generate some positive feedback just by participating. They get a better feel for what the customers like and don’t like and this should be channeled back into product development. Therefore social marketers should have much more input into the direction of products and customer service. They are the eyes and ears of the company. The role of the marketer becomes more important, and to be most effective, they need buy-in from the highest level. However this is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible. That is the second problem I see with social media marketing – it requires huge cultural change.

You are right that at least on the web, consumers create the demand and buzz, not social marketers. With the web, consumers have amplified choice. It would be great to think that companies really had choice. Unfortunately, in a more competitive marketplace, businesses have little choice because profitability only comes by amplifying the demand for your products. Too many still consider consumers to be dumb, but long before sports stars started endorsing breakfast cereals people could still weed out the fake from the sincere – even if they still ended up buying your product. People are naturally skeptical of positive comments, but take negative comments seriously. The web is making consumers smarter, today they can make informed choices. In today’s market, it is no longer possible to sell a product with one or two testimonials. If a company drops the ball, it faces a mass exodus to its competitors. Social media marketing is actually becoming necessary but it has to be done right. It is about weight of numbers and it will bring some honesty, ethics and accountability back to doing business.

It’s a great post and highlights the importance of using social media to engage customers and open channels of communication.

Customers are able to provide feedback directly – which is great because you know in an instant whether you’re on the right track or not with regards to your product, marketing or service.

Once again though, I cannot help but feel that the term social media is exactly that, social (although it’s an all-encompassing term which includes a diverse range of web 2.0 application, websites and such).

If you walk up to a bunch of folks in a bar and start handing out business cards without introducing yourself, most of those cards are going to get binned or used as roaches in the end of joints.

However, if you engage them and are entertaining, able to make interesting, insightful and constructive input before dishing out cards you have a greater chance of those cards making into their wallets, drawers, filofaxes or wherever they keep stuff…. If you do really well, they will ask you your name and actively seek out more information, maybe even REQUEST your business card.

That said, it boils down to intention; do you want to start a conversation, distribute content, understand a demographic, get a feel for a market or just simply use social media as another spamming tool. Social media can be anything you want it to be; a link building tool (Digg, StumbleUpon etc), a free focus group (facebook) or even a content distribution network (feedburner, digg, delicious, sk*rt, youtube, flickr) or simply a way to let people know what’s happening (blogging, twitter etc) or even a brand building medium is you use any of the aforementioned sites in combination. And this does not even begin to speak about the SEO benefits that can be gained by using social media as a way to generate links through your content distribution network or boost pages which are struggling to get indexed.

The decision have to be made prior to entering the social media space what it is that needs to be accomplished, that way with a clearly defined purpose, you can more accurately pick a medium which is better suited to achieving your goals.

I must admit, though, that said that it’s a pretty big space and is still quite new to me, but I am leaning quickly that honesty, transparency and sincerity will stand you in good stead in the long run, which ever social media channel you wish to go swimming.

“It’s better to think of social media tools as amplifying customer opinion rather than improving it.”

Adding that to my favorite quotes!too