Who should be the star of your social media?

Having been involved in social media for the last five years, I've beeen part of developing social media strategies for selected clients and being a curious techno I've constantly searched the world for new thoughts on the medium. I've come to the conclusion that it's a person that must be active on social media, who ever likes talking to a in adamant object like a computer (other than strange people that like blow up dolls)

As business people we all understand the value of a referral or the power of word of mouth marketing (I get told this every time I sit with a new client) ... So why do we all constantly search for automated and impersonal marketing vehicles? couple this with my anadotale experience reviewing the web analytics of 100's of sites the second most visited pages on a website are about and team.

So, as a business owner do your best to conduct your social media updates and posts as a human rather than as corporate memo's, you'll find that people will follow and interact with you as a real person getting more followers... that actually follow and they'll stick around longer ... which ultimately means one day they might just need what you sell/produce and since they feel like they know you, you just maybe the chosen supplier! :)

When posting about a product you're wanting push paste a photo of yourself with it, or add a personal message about how much you liked it. Ask questions as this gives your followers an opportunity to engage and before posting read it out loud and ask does this sound like its written by a person or someone in the PR department... if you follow a couple of these rules you should be sweet!

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Its just Horse shit

My kids now talk about the bank that killed the horse, I reckon they threw out the baby with the bath water, but that's just my opinion... and then in the mail [yip we still get paper mail] the official letter arrived, with all the usual 'spin' a landscape with no Horse, a lot of blurb and a a simple goal "To be New Zealand's best bank"

I do wonder what drives a large corporation to make decisions like this? Is it a drive to increase the share price and therefore the value of the company [which executive bonuses are often calculated on] or is there a more honorable drive, a mission to deliver a better quality service, better valued products [lower interest rates] and more services? And what does it really matter to me as the customer?

In the letter they went to great lengths to explain all the new advantages, but hang on a minute .... I already had those advantages, and I've been enjoying them ever since the ANZ bought the bank a few years back, so I again I ask, what is the benefit of belonging to a bank that wants to be the best bank in NZ?

An interesting additional piece of information that needs to be tabled is that the National Bank was already ranked the best bank in NZ, so now that they've merged, they've succeeded in taking one bank back and the other mildly forward (remember that the ANZ was ranked one of the worst ;-).

I wish I had an answer to this question, and I can't be bothered contacting the Ad Agency or the Comm's department at the bank to get any answers as I dare say I'll just get more 'Spin'... so maybe over the next few days some of you may be able to shed some light and educate a rural boy from Ranfurly ... please...comments are now open

 

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Don't be up yourself!

Reading my bible is a daily challenge, but it's one thing I enjoy, but only after the exercise. Anyway this particular day I read in Proverbs 27:2. Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you. I stopped and thought about this for some time and realized the truth is especially important in a business marketing context.

God, is stating that we should not self promote, but let others do it for us, and in my experience this is true, making sales easily, faster and getting those all important calls or enquiries and we must resist the temptation of thinking that we should tell people how good we are. it's like our CV that's us self promoting, and that's why prospective employers contact and interview referees and past employers. A good book written specifically about this was by Al Ries "The fall of Advertising and the rise of PR" His premise in his book was that large firms that appear to have built their position or reputation by creative advertising, actually built it early in their life cycle on the back of some very good PR and all that advertising does is maintain or strengthen that market perception.

... So then how can we improve our reputation?

1. If you have a LinkedIn page then get other contacts to write recommendations. This is very easy to do if you've taken the time already to connect with many business contacts.
2. Join networking groups, like the chamber of commerce, The Cycling Cluster, BNI and get to know other business people that will actively recommend you.
3. Build a blog so that people the ability to comment on your posts, this has others see that you have people following you or social proof (take a hint people write nice things please ;-)
4. Post in Facebook and Twitter regularly asking questions that inspire others to comment, just don't be like me and go too contraversal
5. Here's a big one: DO A GOOD JOB! all the tricky tactics in the world don't work unless you or your business aren't delivering good value.
6. Avoid all tactics that have you stand out from the crowd, they'll be the reason people remember you, for potentially all the wrong reasons
7. Become world famous, write a blog, post in the social networking arena, or like my good friends at concentrate.co.nz, write articles for the local media.
8. Be easy to talk about, my anadotal evidence as a marketer involved in networking groups, is the businesses that are the easist to understand get the most referrals. This requires a deeper understanding of what you do for your clients, not what you do! (If you need help call me 03-974-9230 and I'll steer you in the right direction)

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