“The social media stuff is probably the most important we do today, from a marketing stand point. The other elements of marketing mix has sort of become more and more transactional and more and more tactical in nature. Social media stuff is much more strategic… Use social media to power the fundamental of the business. That’s what we’re focused on”.
The Web is a mass medium comprised of niches, formed around psychographic preferences and affinities
Just because you build it, doesn’t mean they’ll come (or stay)…a few things to consider:
Your brand is probably not something people will want to form a long-lasting community around. What’s the bigger idea?
Note: Consider the concepts or values related to your brand and the psychographic preferences they feed into
Define clear objectives for your community.
Note: “so people can upload pictures and share their stories and stuff” is NOT an objective….it may be a result of an objective.
Consider the value-proposition for users.
Note: again, “so they can post pictures and share their stories” is NOT enough of a value-prop. Why? because attention is scarce, they can do that anywhere and data portability is not yet a complete reality (yet).
Plan how to be useful (and compelling).
Note: your technology platform is not the first thing that should come to mind here. Your users’ needs are.
Be invested
Note: You don’t just make friends and drop them after you’ve gotten all you want out of them (or maybe you do, in which case you should get off the internet and take a long, hard look in the mirror), you build relationships. Assess the human resources you’ll need to be there for the community– to support and invigorate it.
….I know I said don’t focus on the technology first…but once you have the strategic approach down, “design for community” points to consider:
Two of my favorite examples of companies using social media at the core of their digital marketing mix:
Long time favorite: Urban Outfitters
Stats:
Website includes their YT videos and blog
Blog
YouTube channel
Mobile
MySpace
Why it works: They know their customers: they’re online, their shopping experience at UO is a lifestyle, UO fits their lifestyle (+3). The blog features free downloadable mixes (same music as played in stores) and features the latest round up of indie pop culture magic (+2). They maintain a distributed presence across multiple social spaces, and they make sense (they’re not being social spaces whores +2). -3 for not linking to their Facebook page from the site or blog, and for not using Polyvore.
New front-runer: The Roxy, LA
Stats:
Blog is their new website
MySpace
Flickr
Twitter
imeem
Eventful
FriendFeed
Muxtape
YouTube
Last.fm
Why it works:The Roxy is a club/event space with new events and info to share all the time– the switch to a blog makes their “homepage” all the more useful and relevant (+3). A distributed presence on relevant social sites (+2) that is connected and easily accessible from the blog (+1).
I’m having a bit of an identity crisis…lol…and while I find myself mildly amused at my own egoism for stressing about this, it shows the value I suppose in your ‘branded’ social media spaces and impact on search + identity.
My name is Alisa Leonard. I recently married and my husband’s last name is Hansen. I’m quite attached to my maiden name, but was not entirely sold on not taking his name. So I decided on Alisa Leonard Hansen. Unfortunately on my business cards for iCrossing it simply says Alisa Hansen. Its a large company and I joined right when I got married. So everyone knows the new name of Alisa Hansen.
What does this have to do with anything?
Google “Alisa Leonard” and I exist, somewhat on the internet.
Google “Alisa Leonard Hansen” and I exist, but to somewhat of a lesser degree (I went ahead and changed all my social net names to “Alisa Leonard Hansen”)
But Google “Alisa Hansen” the results that come up are not me at all. I don’t exist as that.
Is this the most ridiculous post ever? Probs. But Google identity is becoming (if not already) sort of THE most important reference you can have….
So, what do I do?
A few more to add to the list
11. A social media strategy does not mean filling every possible social network with your “presence”….Remember, usefulness! Are you a support or drain on a community?
12. Sometimes listening (understanding) to the conversation is better than joining
13. You (the brand) have to be better– not at “messaging” or even “dialoguing”….you have to be truly, honest-to-pete better. Peter Kim reminds us that “its whats on the inside that counts.”
14. It takes people. Human interaction. Sincerity cannot be faked.
15. Be in it for the long haul. We are experiencing a fundamental way in which not only people communicate, but in how we collaborate and produce– not a fad. Now is the time to start thinking about the long term affects/benefits of social technologies and how they can be applied enterprise-wide (and not just to marketing!)
Brian Morrissey’s new article on AdWeek “Why Brands Need a New Kind of Leader” hits the nail on the head with regards to “social media” and why brands need leadership to drive this area.
My favorite quote from the article is from Peter Kim and pretty much sums up the drum I’ve been beating for a while:
“The biggest challenge is moving away from thinking about it as marketing and PR,” said Peter Kim, a Forrester Research analyst. “It’s about product development, it’s about IT. It’s got to cut across all functions of the company.”
Lets repeat that together….”The biggest challenge is moving away from thinking about it as marketing and PR”
I would offer here too that its about using social technologies (can we drop ‘social’ yet??– web technologies!) in a useful, effective way. Don’t just go out and fill every single social space with your very own branded page/profile/feed and start polluting the space because you think this is “joining the conversation.”
Social computing, and the evolution thereof, has always been about enhancing collaboration and connectivity. Social computing has begun and will completely change “marketing” (and markets for that matter…er, ok I’m not an economist, but don’t stop me when I’m envisioning!)– not because a new channel (its not a channel) but because there is a fundamental shift in the way we, people, view ourselves. We are empowered. We don’t care about your (you, the brand) message and we in fact increasingly scorn your attempts at marketing.
You (the brand) have to be better– not at “messaging” or even “dialoguing”….you have to be truly, honest-to-pete better. Peter Kim reminds us that “its whats on the inside that counts.” And you know what? Its true.
Chat
[redacted]: It sucks. COMMENTERS ARE TAKING OVER THE INTERNET.
me: as opposed to who?
[redacted]: bloggers, i guess. commenters are taking over!
me: as they should
right?
the mob rules
[redacted]: yeah, that’s a good point… we WANTED them to win.
me: wanted? as in past tense?
now you don’t?
[redacted]: well, they’ve become a bit of a scourge. they’ve made life a mess.
me: but thats the bargain you make
when you blog
Which led me to ponder…who are the real influencers? Bloggers/publishers/producers– or readers/commenters/sharers?
Ranty-RoundUp
Because its one of those days…
(one caveat, some of these are, well, dated)
Social Media is Not a Silo
Hey Agency The Web is Social
Ubiquity
We Are The World
Vital Marketing
ITS THE GRAPH, DUH
New Media Douche Bags:”Making a Viral”
Techno Joy!