Social Media and You

In the ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ category, kudos to Starbucks for innovations that might impress any marketing mastermind. Get a load of this article about the launch of Starbucks’ own  Digital Network.

Their concept – offering a select (and hotly popular) set of internet picks, free for the taking when on site (when they’d usually cost the viewer at least some pittance) –  is brilliant. It’s a marketing gimmick, a free plastic toy to beat all and to please all, as well. As the cited article’s author says, “Imagine a customer-only network chock full of ‘In Network’ freebies that you can ONLY get while on ‘location’ …  Free access to premium news sites such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, free iTunes downloads, and for the kids free access to Nick Jr. games that typically require monthly fees.”

Talk about no-brainers. The cheap and easy value-add boosts Starbucks’ appeal astronomically. This is at least as phenomenal as Facebook Places, IMHO, though it approaches the wooing of customers from a different angle. While Facebook Places distinguishes a business establishment through its visits from individuals, the Starbucks initiative wins customers through the irresistibly of its personality.

A fascinating dichotomy, n’est-ce-pas?

One thing about the web and social media: you have to continuously be ready to try new things.

Dealing with changes has become a challenge for my old bones. Still, I know flexibility is of the essence.  (Yoga is a great way to stay in shape for it, by the way.)

Participating with the likes of Facebook will drive you straight to hell’s precipice in terms of adapting to change. Not to mention endless innovations at any site you frequent, or tool you use, search engine technology, or whatever, will keep you spinning.

Building websites is especially demanding of your flexibility factor. Can you instantly comprehend your client’s tastes, needs, and options,  making intelligent recommendations in those areas based on your client’s completely individual situation juxtaposed upon the immense array of available resources?

It’s all about being nimble, and light, refining your practice into increasingly skilled listening, so that your product on behalf of the client can be efficiently created and targeted.

The internet challenges us, big time. Not everyone is up to its demands, and no one is up to its demands all the time.  Sigh. No sense trying to be perfect, I guess. Just go with the flow.

A solid definition of your ideal client is essential to online business success. But creating that definition is no slide.  Nonetheless, lately I’ve been on the brink of progress in that department.

Identifying your niche market, recognizing the sort of person who most relates to you and your business can be tricky. You might think your market is busy moms or people with dogs or investment bankers. But to be actually useful in marketing, your definition has to be far more specific.

And not just predictably specific. It’s not busy moms who live in Peoria and are under the age of 30. That stuff’s important, but not the key. The key is that your busy moms need a shoulder to cry on, or they need affordable diapers, or they need care for their aging parents.

Who they are is of interest, but what they need is bankable.

For me, the ideal client picture has been fuzzy. When I started in this biz, I thought it was okay to focus on ‘small businesses.’  So it’s been a long road from there. You get closer, over time, to a good working definition.

But it’s what you learn about yourself that’s mind blowing.

The two are so closely related that it’s hard to distinguish between them, sometimes. But actually, they differ in important ways. Important, that is, if you’re wondering how to sell your products / services online.

Social media is a sub-set of inbound marketing. It’s much easier to understand and manipulate than inbound marketing. Social media is to inbound marketing what a rowboat is to an ocean vessel.

It’s like writing a letter, versus developing an entire postal service.

What you consider to be social media may range from a narrow perspective, in which only the networks of Twitter-Facebook-LinkedIn and such are included, to a broad definition inclusive of almost anything about your business that exists on the internet.

Perhaps social media goes even further than that, extending to in-person meet-ups and Foursquare events.

Social media is a set of tools.

Inbound marketing is a state of mind.

Inbound marketing is about moving beyond a competitive economy to a branded one, where value is derived from observed behaviors and relationships that are relatively personal.

(Traditional business values subliminal seduction through mass communications.)

Social media’s easy. Inbound marketing’s hard.  It’s tough to teach: it begs intuitive understanding.

More to come on this.

What can the web profit you? Only your hairdresser knows for sure!

Yes, this is a cute reference to an ancient tv ad that conferred new sophistication on American women. Are you old enough to remember? Women were offered a hair coloring so true-to-life as to fool your best friend.

This was power!

What web plan is so efficient that even your best friend thinks you do it by magic? Who has the ultimate formula for online success?

I’ve written elsewhere about the growing ties between business and art. A company’s web plan is as much a work of art as it is a roadmap.

What an audacious statement. How can art and roadmaps intersect?

Yes.

That’s the challenge. No use tiptoeing around. Inbound marketing and social media combine opposites in a new way. Personal and professional. Service and sales. Giving and getting. Sharing and listening. Art and roadmaps.

Anyhow, the thing about art is that it exists in its specificity, not its generality. So; business + art means commerce that thrives on eccentricity rather than generality. Because the market is that diverse, the long tail works, provided communications are global.

Simply, the web is what you make it.

What is required if you want to take full advantage of marketing opportunities for your company on the web?

Not many businesses have figured this out. Most have no idea where to start, and so can’t begin to plan. Those with enough staff may send them to seminars on internet or social media marketing. The company’s web presence accumulates haphazardly, with new bits and pieces patched in as the learning curve steepens.

Executives are beginning to understand that the internet is not going away, and that they must take it seriously. Their efforts so far are certainly not wasted. But creating a comprehensive strategy remains problematic. No one proven guideline exists that will equally satisfy everyone’s questions:

• What can we appropriately expect from internet branding?
• What elements need to be included in our internet marketing plan?
• How do we measure progress?
• How will internet strategies affect other aspects of our operations?
• Should we hire a staffer?
• Should we outsource?
• What is the range of appropriate cost for internet branding?

There’s no one method for online participation: all strategies are customized.

What can the web profit you? Only your hairdresser knows for sure! *

* To Be Continued

I help people, in my business, who I meet online, and also some folk from local networking meetings.

It’s a wide range of savvy. While the local peeps are bright and energetic as anyone, they’re not necessarily well-versed in the internet.

On one hand, there are the online entrepreneurs; and then on the other hand are the mostly brick-and-mortar business owners who keep society as we know it afloat.

Local people tend to be suspicious of social media evangelism. We inbound marketing freaks often don’t make a lot of sense as we attempt to relate the wonders of the internet universe in a 30 second elevator speech.

The digital pundits like to do the Moses bit, bringing down the New Marketing Laws. They like to threaten: anyone not conquering cyberspace right now is a loser!

Hogwash. Everyone needs to relax a little. Technology will serve our best interests if we remember it’s the means, not the end result.

When considering social media marketing, the first question is always, What end result am I seeking?

With your answer to this question firmly in mind, social media marketing begins to make sense. You’ll quickly find your level, and begin to see returns.

Twitter users are divided on the issue of pre-scheduled tweets.

Do you use SocialOomph or Twuffer to set up messages that will post sometime in the future? Or do you view such tactics as heretical, diametrically opposed to what Twitter’s all about?

The beauty of Twitter is its emphasis on the here and now, with authentic, nearly real-time communications between real people. In such a context, pre-scheduled tweets seem not much different from billboards.

Some people will only do in-the-moment interactions on Twitter.

Others use pre-scheduled tweets in various ways. I’ve noticed some who respond spontaneously on a regular basis, but also run branded pre-arranged tweets just as regularly. Others aren’t shy about having almost all their tweets pre-recorded. The most famous twitter gurus don’t run these kinds of tweets, but I’m not sure that means they’re ineffective (the pre-mades, not the gurus).

Though I likened them to billboards, these aren’t really ads. They’re more like announcements, updates, information. I come from a non-profit background, so it’s not hard for me to see the difference. On Twitter or any social network, the PSA (public service announcement) is perfectly acceptable, but the advertisement is verboten.

What’s your take on the issue?

At a workshop yesterday on computer maintenance, the instructor emphasized the importance of organization. If you keep data on your computer in neat order, filed appropriately and stored logically, you’ll have a far easier time of it whenever your machine needs repair, re-installment, or replacement.

For those who are naturally not-so-neat, this is disturbing news: your messiness can threaten the health of your data. It can be a liability in other aspects of life online, too: like social media and inbound marketing.

Yes, I’m talking to the millions out there (often including myself) who are willing victims of the internet’s boundless wealth. We get online and want to consume it all! We distantly sense the days turning into nights and back into days as the thrall of all that entertainment and enlightenment moves us from site to site to site without end.

The hard truth? You’ve just got to get organized. You have to set limits. You must make choices and stick to them. Join a very few social networks, not every one that looks cool. Read for a strictly observed amount of time. Get a grip.

The internet is a tool, remember. It is not an end in itself!

I’m excited about an upcoming course I’m taking at VA Classroom. We’ll be looking at ways the web is becoming more focused on the local (brick and mortar) scene. There are a number of new tools like Yelp.com that are gaining prominence as we look for ways the internet can serve our best interests.

Today I had the privilege of creating a Facebook Fan Page for my local leads group. It’s exciting to anticipate the interactions these folks will enjoy there. As it is, we meet once weekly, and build in-person relationships according to the traditional formula. What a blast to enlarge that goodwill and mutual benefit through a social networking venue. We’ll be able to discuss issues, help solve problems for one another, share visuals and ideas – exactly as we do in weekly meetings, but much more!

Coincidentally, I also happened upon a wonderful blog post urging social media specialists to focus on their local area and take responsibility for their community’s internet savvy. To shirk this duty is to cut off your nose to spite your face. We’ve all got to master internet skills because to be sure, the web is where communications are happening in the 21st century.