Marketing 2.0

Social media vs. Strategy

Everyone wants to get in on the social media party. The question I get asked most by potential clients these days is, how to build a social media presence. Of course, I remind them that you have to begin with a coherent marketing strategy, and only one piece of that is building a Facebook page or using Twitter. While social media is the marketing flavor of the day, companies often have core issues that need to get fixed before they can improve sales or profitability.

One of these core issues is competition. Marketers and senior executives often downplay the strength of their competitors in an effort to be positive leaders and inspire their troops. You have to be realistic. Strong competitors can make it virtually impossible for you to accomplish your goals, especially if you've set the bar too high on market share. While you can always find a way to position your brand and differentiate yourself, I'm really struck by how difficult it is to change consumer perception and convert them to your offering.

Consider the tablet market. We have Apple and Amazon entrenched in leadership positions. Who else has cracked this and made headway? HP? RIM? Microsoft? Dell? Nope. Barnes & Noble? Maybe. You would think a market that's growing this quickly would offer opportunities for everyone. What happened to the old saying that a rising tide lifts all boats? It's been replaced by the law of oligarchy — market share tends to be concentrated in the hands of a few powerful brands.

I think one reason for this is we are bombarded with choices in life and we need to make things simple. I do that all the time. I don't have enough free time to comparison shop and I don't want to risk making a bad decision, especially on a major purchase. When I need a television, I buy a Sony. New laptop? My only decision is between the 13" and 15" MacBooks. Time to relax and sip a capuccino? Where's the nearest Starbucks? I know there are lots of good alternatives to these brands but I don't have the time or the inclination to seek them out. 

So what do you do if you're not one of the big players in a given market? Don't give up but know that your job is going to be challenging. You will definitely need to innovate, find some way to change the game with either product design or customer service. Look for a niche segment that's not well served by the big guys. 

That brings me back to social media. If you haven't effectively differentiated yourself, don't expect people to sign up as Facebook fans or subscribe to your Twitter feed. Consider the entire brand experience and then find a way to use social media as one element in the marketing mix. Just remember to sort out your brand strategy and positioning first.

Who owns your Twitter followers?

Here's an interesting legal case. Who owns the followers you attract to your Twitter feeds? In this instance an employee built a Twitter account on behalf of his employer. After leaving the company, he changed his username on the Twitter account but retained the followers. Now, the company is suing him. According to the company, Phonedog Media, "We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands."

This points out the need to have a clear policy within organizations on the use of social media. I know that any and all intellectual content, products, or creative ideas that you generate for your employer become their property unless you have an employment agreement that stipulates other. A Twitter following isn't the same as a customer list but it can be interpreted as a list of brand followers or prospective customers.

Lawsuit Claims Twitter Followers Belong To Company, Not Employee | LinkedIn.

Building a business case for social media

I came across this video clip today on the Internet Time blog.It's a good primer on the need to create a business case for social media. Specifically, that means identifying how it can increase sales and reduce costs. I really like the animation used in the clip.

 

10 Social Media Monitoring Tools to Monitor Your Brand's Performance And Results

One of the myths associated with social media is that it can't really be measured like traditional media channels. Here's a compendium of tools you can use.

10 Social Media Monitoring Tools to Monitor Your Brand's Performance And Results.

Brand Bowl 2011 - Using social media to rate the Super Bowl commercials

Check out this innovative way of measuring the popularity of Super Bowl commercials. They use a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors on Twitter. Combining the total number of tweets along with the positive or negative commentary, Mullen & Radian 6 have ranked the top 10 advertisers. I won't give away the winner but it looks like Chevrolet shouldn't have bothered to spend all those millions to try and resurrect their brand image.

Brand Bowl 2011 - Ranking the Super Bowl TV ads - presented by Mullen, Radian6, and Boston.com.

5 Ways to Get More From Online Video

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing has a good post on how to get website traffic from online video. Did you know that YouTube was the second largest largest search engine? I'm sure you know who number one is - that would be Google, the company that owns YouTube. It's good to be Sergey and Larry!

Take a look at these suggestions for tagging and describing your video content to facilitate the search process and get noticed.

5 Ways to Get More From Online Video :: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing.

Facebook's 500 million strong

Facebook recently achieved a milestone of 500 million users. Here are some fun facts about the makeup of that massive social network courtesy of Macworld.

Fun facts about Facebook's half-billion users | Social Media | Macworld: "

Facebook Will Allow Users to Share Location

Adding location data to mobile and social networks is one more enhancement of the pervasive computing experience. But is it going too far?  Do you want your Facebook friends to view your location? Hopefully, they learned from the mistake that Google made with its Buzz feature. Users should have to opt in to ad the location function to their Facebook accounts.

Facebook Will Allow Users to Share Location - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com.

How to Use Twitter for Marketing & PR

Hubspot provides a short but concise guide to using Twitter for marketing and PR. It seems that many companies are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon but how many are using it effectively? There are some good applications suggested here.

How to Use Twitter for Marketing & PR .

GM's Virtual Design Studio

Despite its lack of success in the marketplace, GM has been pretty innovative when it comes to using social media. Several years ago, they initiated the FastLane blog. This allowed their senior managers to connect directly with consumers and is one of the most successful corporate blogs in my opinion. The postings are honest and the number of comments they garner is impressive.

CNET is now reporting on GM's new program, creating a virtual design studio online. The idea here is to post future vehicle design concepts and get customer feedback. It's a combination research project and social-networking site. The CNET story also includes the introductory video that GM produced and posted where else but on YouTube.

I don't know if GM will survive in the long run but I admire their innovative use of social media to connect with consumers.

GM floats auto concepts on virtual design studio | Green Tech - CNET News.