You're Scared of Social Media, Aren't You?
For many of you Marketers reading this article, the year has started off with the vexed question of 'what role should Social Media play in my marketing strategy?' This year will undoubtedly be the year that more organisations than ever before rush out and claim their slice of digital real estate in the new frontier of Social Media Marketing, if they haven't already done so.
But for many Marketers in the B2B space the role of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other Social Media platforms is more than a little fuzzy.
As an Interactive Agency operating predominantly in B2B marketing, this year Modus is asked almost on a daily basis for strategy, creative and just plain general input into many of our client's forays into Social Media. So here is a helicopter view of how you should be thinking about the new frontier.
First off, you need to recognise where Social Media sits in the mix of tools that make up your marketing plans. That is, your marketing activities are either Bought, Owned or Earned.
Here are some examples:
- Bought: Print advertising, TVC, radio and billboards
- Owned: Website and shopfront
- Earned: PR, customer recommendations
Social Media sits in the final category, because via your Facebook presence you will inform and listen, gently shape views and impressions by providing more information or promising and acting to improve product or service features. As a general rule only 30% of the content on your Facebook Page will be generated by you, the rest will come from your Fans. So look at your company's Social Media presence as a cross between PR and ongoing measurement of customer satisfaction sprinkled with product/service development opportunities.
Secondly, your Social Media presence is as much about being seen to respond to the needs of your clients, as it is about addressing an individual's needs or concerns. Don't be frightened by the fact that what has in the past been a bilateral discussion is now completely transparent for a crowd of onlookers to see. The crowd will watch and follow with eager anticipation your actions as you meet the needs of one client. Successful resolution will be viewed by the crowd as the ultimate recommendation of your product or service.
Similarly, don't react to every instance of criticism. Social Media participants have an amazing ability to filter out the background noise of whingers and crack-pots and a business that reacts to their antics simply creates a (virtual) 'scene'. Often individuals in the online crowd will censor an unruly individual without any need for your company to get involved. Ultimately your clients and prospects know that no business is perfect and in the egalitarian (in terms of voice) world of Social Media you will need to be able to cope and respond where necessary to criticism.
Lastly, and don't forget that this article is only intended to provide you with a helicopter perspective, Social Media platforms like Facebook:
- provide your business with distribution, reach, relevance, frequency and brand engagement
- for many people, Facebook is becoming the 'net' as more and more people are getting news etc from Facebook, not the net.