SMM: Social Media Marketing is the Standard, Not the Exception
Today I came across a blog post / book review that inspired me to blog. It contains so much information in such a short space that our clients and prospects desperately need to know.
If your company has a static / unchanging website and has yet to engage in social media marketing, this post is your call to action.
Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot wrote a book titled, Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
Megaphone vs. Hub
If your website is like most others, it is a one‐to‐many broadcast tool – think megaphone. The web was originally built to be a collaboration platform by Tim Berners‐Lee in the 1980’s. It has taken a couple of decades to get there, but the web is now truly collaborative. If you look at the top ranked websites on the web, they are not broadcasting to their users with a megaphone, they are creating communities where like‐minded people can connect with each other. We need to rethink our websites to take full advantage of the collaborative power of the web – think hub.If your website is like most others, people visit it once, click around and never return because they heard your sales message and moved on. What we want to do is change the mode of your website from a one way sales message to a collaborative, living, breathing hub on the internet for your marketplace.
It’s Not What You Say – It’s What Others Say About You
If your company is like most others, you put all your web energy on your site. In fact 75% of your focus should be on what is happening off your website about your brand, about your industry, about your competitors, creating communities off your site for people to connect with you and your products, and ultimately driving people back on your site.
Ahh…. I love a wonderfully crafted, accurate, and timely message. Before you shrug it off and forget what you just read, let’s discuss a few talking points in these three paragraphs.
1. The web was originally built to be a collaboration platform.
Everyone is hyped up and excited about social media because we’re seeing the Web finally begin to reach its potential. Anyone in the world can collaborate, discuss, and share online.
2. If you look at the top ranked websites on the web, they are not broadcasting to their users with a megaphone, they are creating communities where like‐minded people can connect with each other.
The takeaway here? What are successful websites doing? They are becoming social. Every business owner should look at what is successful, ask why it is successful, and then challenge his team to figure out how they can learn from more successful websites and implement winning strategies to improve his/her own business.
3. If your website is like most others, people visit it once, click around and never return because they heard your sales message and moved on.
The clear picture here is that it’s very easy to have a static, unchanging website. It’s also very boring. Visitors don’t hang out on a static website. They read the information once and then they’re done. They don’t return unless they forget something and need to reference the source again.
Obviously, every company doesn’t need it’s own internal wannabe Facebook on site. But you build brand loyalty by incorporating your brand into people’s daily lives.And honestly, if you don’t, your competitor eventually will, if they haven’t already.
4. It’s not what you say – It’s what other say about you.
This is marketing truth #1. Your BIGGEST and BEST advertisement is your customer. He or she has an opinion. If she’s engaged with your brand online, she’s building brand loyalty for you in the minds of her friends, colleagues, and online connections.
Think about it. If all you do is talk about yourself, who do you care most about? Exactly. Yourself. A brand that only broadcasts a brand message out says:
“We are so important, you should buy us and use us. We have no idea what you think about us or what you really want, and we don’t care. Just sit there, watch and listen, and spend money when and where we say like a good little consumer.”
Everyone’s time, energy, and entertainment is shifting away from traditional venues to online. The masses go where they can have a voice. Everyone wants to connect to other people who are like them and who will appreciate what they have to say. This shift is unintentionally training people to prefer social media marketing versus traditional broadcast. They now prefer to get recommendations from actual customers rather than the marketing spiel of the brand. They want to know what REAL PEOPLE think who have drank, eaten, played with, tested, and used your product. When they see complaints and kudos, they feel a sense of authenticity. Each person has their own method of determining whether the pro comments outweigh the cons, but the reality is that they’re developing their impression of you from other people who don’t represent your company.
5. 75% of your focus should be on what is happening off your website about your brand, about your industry, about your competitors, creating communities off your site for people to connect with you and your products, and ultimately driving people back on your site.
I love this statement because it’s so true. What are people saying about you? Or your competitors? Or your industry? There are potentially hundreds of opportunities out there to connect with people and meet their needs, join their communities, and invite them to help you make a better product that makes them happier.
You show them you care because you listen and respond. You impress them by taking their comments and suggestions and improving your business model. You retain them for life by delivering what they asked for. You have just made people feel so important they can’t afford to lose you as a brand. You’re special. You care. You REALLY care. It’s no longer talk. It’s day to day reality.
Thoughts? What challenges does this present for your brand? What unanswered questions do you have?
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