busting social media myths

Chris Middleton

Myth Busting Social Media

Covering

• Preparing yourself for social media

• Understanding what social media is

• Understanding what social media isn’t

• When should you NOT use social media?

Brand

Getting people to do what you want them to do.

Brands can be complex. With complex goals and multiple audiences brands can struggle to get their message across.

Consider…

Your different target audiences

and

How your goals may differ from one audience to the next.

Ask yourself

“What do my audiences think about me?

What do I want them to think about me?

What messages do I send them?”

When messages are clear, it makes it easier for an organisation to communicate with its audiences.

Do this with brand

It’s everything you say and everything you do, but includes:– Visuals

• Logo• Photos• Videos

– Brand language• Anywhere you speak• Anywhere you display words

Do this with brand

– Branded materials• Stationery• Brochures• Website• Social Media

– Operational activities• How you send out invoices• How do you answer phones• Customer service• Smell of the office / shop / marketing material.

It’s noisy out there

Think big?Think different.

Don’t be a carbon copy of other brands

Copies have no distinguishing features

Be remarkable

What is a Purple Cow?Seth’s definition of being a Purple Cow is that

‘products, services and techniques so useful, interesting, outrageous, and noteworthy that the market will want to listen to what you have to say’.

Being a Purple Cow is not about being loud or quirky, but about being more outstanding and remarkable than your black and white spotted competitors.

Above the Aircon it says “not that kulula planes need it… they’re already cool”.

overhead cabins – “VIP seating for you hand luggage”.

“Black box which is actually orange”

Fuel tanks – “the go-go juice”.

The captain is described as “The Big Cheese”

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have landed in Cape Town . Please take all your possessions. Anything left behind will be shared equally between staff. Please note we do not accept unwanted mothers-in-law or children."

"Welcome to Johannesburg, if this is not where you were intending to go then you have a bit of a problem."

“Have you heard the latest Cabin Crew lingo? BOB (Best-On-Board)if you are a BOB – you are the best looking man/woman onboard” – facebook comment

Give your audience a reason to talk about you and connect

dollarshaveclub.com

What is Social Media?

SOCIAL MEDIA IS AN UMBRELLA TERM THAT DEFINES THE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES THAT INTEGRATE

TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL INTERACTION, AND THE

CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS,

PICTURES, VIDEOS AND AUDIO

“Social mediais people having

conversations online.”

Use the tools that help you communicate to your audience better

Share slides and documents

100m Videos 2nd largest search engine

79% have watched

video content online

Universal McCann: Power to the People Social Media Tracker, Wave 4http://www.slideshare.net/Olivier.mermet/universal-mc-cann-wave4

70% have uploaded photos

Universal McCann: Power to the People Social Media Tracker, Wave 4http://www.slideshare.net/Olivier.mermet/universal-mc-cann-wave4

200,000,000 blogs

Online social networks

64% of us in the UK have joined

Micro-blogging

We don’t always find information using Google

Social reviews

25% of search results for the worlds top 20 largest brands

are links from user generated content

June 8, 2009 article from Marketing Vox and Nielsen BuzzMetrics SES Magazine entitled:Turning Blogs and user-Generated Content Into Search Engine Results, Chris Aarons, Andru Edwards and Xavier Lanier 

Who influences whom?

Will the brand site continue to be the first visit after they search Google or Bing?

The attraction of social media

People trust “a person like me” more than authority figures or marketing messages from business and media

Seeking ongoing dialogue, not a one way advertisement

Trust, Transparency, openness, honesty

We are seeing a communication shift

The shift is from one way communication

Dialogue between consumer and brand

Dialogue between consumer and consumer

The stage before committing to buy

The customers perspective

Understanding your customerChoosing the right Social Network

(Hang out where your customers hang out)

increase your exposure using highly targeted advertising.

Target users by age, gender, location, interests, etc.

Advertise an external website or a facebook page.

Social media advertising

“Move your loyal customers

from an expensive offline advertisement campaign to a cheaper, more efficient and engaging online campaign…

Use the tools of social media”

Record and share activities

Keep in touch.

Keep up-to-date.

Real relationships

• Create win / win situations

• Work in partnership

• Build a community of ambassadors and champions. Online and offline

• Create word of mouth

• Be seen as givers rather than takers

• Provide value

What social media isn’t

When shouldn’t you consider social media?

• If your audiences don’t hang out there

• If you have a resource issue and you can’t commit

• If you have other more effective short-term marketing solutions available to you

• If your house is not in order

• When you haven't planned it out.

Measurement

• Google Analytics

• Facebook insights

• Youtube Insights

• Good project planning, build in kpi’s monitor activity measure return on investment and return on engagement

• Are specific activities making a difference?

To finish

• Think big?• Think different• Create your own brand• Give a reason for people to connect with you

and talk about you• Build an audience • Record your activity• Keep in touch with your audience• Measure performance.