How to Grow a Targeted Following on Twitter

When I first started using Twitter, I made a big – yet common – mistake. I followed only people who followed me. This resulted in a stream full of spam and total silence whenever I posed a question or shared a link.

When I reached about 1,000 followers, I decided to take a proactive approach to Twitter. I began to seek and follow people in my industry – people who care about the same topics I care about. Once this happened, I generated some great opportunities through the social networking platform.

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The Role of Leadership in Social Media

We often hear of social media being equated with tools and platforms. But it’s really much more than that.

If you’re adopting these technologies and behaviors at your company, it’s not about the shiny new toys. It’s fundamentally about culture change. And that type of transformational change – which may include updating business practices – must come from the top. But more than a top-down dictum, it’s got to be part of leadership.

I’ve previously discussed leadership here – in particular the leadership from Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally, who really gets social media. He promotes a culture of transparency and openness that is completely aligned with the way we’re trying to engage with consumers online and think about how we do business. Consistency of purpose and of message is key.

The Washington Post’s “On Leadership” feature recently did a two-part interview with Alan that captures some of the thinking behind what makes this major culture change at Ford such a success. I thought it was valuable to share these videos with you, since there are broader business lessons here that any marketing, communications or social media professional should understand.

Alan Mulally on catching mistakes

Transcript available here.

Alan Mulally on the “liberating clarity” of his mission

Transcript available here.

This kind of thinking and laser-like focus on our plan is one of the things that continues to set Ford apart. In social media as well as in the industry.

Scott Monty

Costco and social media: Where are they?

As a business consultant, I always look at Costco with a lot of interest. It took me a good 2 years to be convinced that I needed a Costco membership card.
I used to piggyback once or twice a year with a privileged family member. Now, I am a member and I enter Costco feeling special, as if I belong to a privileged club of bulk buyers! Well, at least, that’s the perception most people have!

For those unfamiliar with Costco, it sells a variety of products from a multitude of brands including its own private label Kirkland. One can buy from the bricks and mortar warehouse stores or online. At Costco, you are not just a customer but a member; even if it’s partly semantic, the word makes a difference.

Don’t expect to be pampered at the door and to be able to a ask staff member information about a product at every corner of the immense warehouse. However, you are greeted at the door when you present your membership card, and then you are pretty much on your own. I think the mere fact of showing a membership card unconsciously makes us feel special – we are part of this gated community, we get access to what other people don’t…

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Marketing in a Social Media World

experiment

Experiment means trying different approaches until you hit the one that works.

Too often “strategic planning” means setting a course and sticking by it no matter what the feedback. The benefit and beauty of social marketing is the ability to experiment in a new environment and chart a course that may otherwise have never been discovered.

Time to come out of that BRAND controlled shell and harness the engagement and user generated content/feedback that can drive the business into the future…

Don’t be scared, it will only hurt a little and the benefits can far outweight any pain.

Ted Rubin

How to Reach the C-Suite: 10 Actions to Shift into High Gear

Think you’re ready for the C-Suite? Whether you aspire to the CEO, CIO, or CMO position, these 10 principles will help you market yourself in executive circles, develop an influential network, and reach your leadership goal sooner.

1. Build “up” your network. Assemble a personal board of directors to tap for business advice. Look for trusted, well-respected C-level leaders who will help you formulate a strategy of progression to the corner office. If you are the leader of your professional network and are the most knowledgeable and experienced in your group, it’s time to enlarge the circle of influence. “Your success, not only in climbing the ladder but in building a leading company, is as strong as the people you can call upon, because these are the people who will advise you, help you out, and whom you can appoint to key positions in your company in the future. As you start to get up higher in the pyramid, you realize that your networking ability, and your worth to the entire network, is what provides the keys to the kingdom,” says Bill Swanson, CEO of Raytheon (There’s No Elevator to the Top, Ramakrishnan, p. 87).

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A Problem Affecting Twitter’s B2B Marketing Adoption (It Ain’t Easy)

Over the past couple of months as we’ve been working with clients at Make Good Media, we noticed a social media trend I thought I would share. It has to do with Twitter. As an active, daily user of Twitter, it is fairly easy to overlook this trend. But repeatedly, we’ve heard the following, “At first, Twitter is really hard to understand, quite confusing, and frankly I don’t get it.” Some have even gone so far as to say, “I’m ready to give up.”


Now as someone who is very active on Twitter, and knows all the ins and outs, this can come as a quite a surprise. It’s not until you sit down with someone, begin going through it, and say statements like, “That’s a DM.” Or “You see this, that is a ‘mention.’ To reply to that, you just type in the at symbol followed by their username.” Pretty quickly you realize you are almost speaking a foreign language, and there are several things that need to be learned for someone to really grasp the basics of Twitter.

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Social CRM: Controversial, Complex, Critical!

Here at The Social CMO we have a number of experts, definers and those interested in the implementation of Social CRM Strategies. Everytime we make a post on the topic, there is always many responses both positive, negative or debating one interpretation or another.

See our recent post from @HKotadia entitled Definition of Social CRM – Explained! and the subsequent comments discussion as just one example of how active a topic that Social CRM is currently.

Also, for those looking for a frank and simple discussion of Social CRM and the approaches and differences from traditional CRM, the below two part interview videos with Lithium CMO Sanjay Dholakia are a great starting place.

Part One of interview with Lithium CMO Sanjay Dholakia



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How Ford Uses Social Media [VIDEO]

At the risk of giving away too much of what we do (not really – everything we do in social media is in the public, so you just need to pay attention or search around to find out), I’d like to share with you a little bit about Ford Motor Company’s approach to social media.

Here’s a great video that WebPro News did when we were at Blog World Expo last October. It captures a lot of what Ford is doing in the space.

I keep a clipsheet of coverage of our social media efforts (using Profilactic), which is helpful when speaking to reporters or digital media and they’re looking for examples of how our work has resonated. I simply refer them to our links and they can sort through the filters to find what they’re looking for.

On his blog, Jeff Bullas gave away The 7 Secrets to Ford’s Social Media Marketing Success last month. There are some great takeaways there for any company that’s interested in social media and some that are specific to Ford and our efforts. And Slate.com’s The Big Money covered the success we’ve seen from the first wave of the Fiesta Movement.

We’re working on a lot more – notably Chapter 2 of the Fiesta Movement, in which there are 20 teams of two in 16 cities across the country, creating mini marketing campaigns through social media as well as offline events and media. And our social media strategy is global, reflecting the growing interest from many areas around the company and around the world.

And we maintain profiles on a number of social networks, including profiles on Twitter: @Ford, @FordCustService, @FordFiesta, @FordAutoShows, @FordLatino, @FordEU, @FordAPA and more. In addition, we’ve got some employees on Twitter. You can find the full list at http://twitter.com/ScottMonty/ford.

We also have a number of Facebook pages, the most prominent of which are Ford and Mustang. All of our pages are favorited on the Ford page, so you can pick which ones you’d like to become a fan of.

ford

In addition, we’re active on Flickr for photo sharing, YouTube for videos, Plancast and Upcoming for events, Delicious for public bookmarking, and Scribd for document sharing (where we’re the #5 most followed profile). And if you’re ever in doubt where to find us, you can see our profiles on the front of Ford.com or on The Ford Story.

Lots of stuff going on right now that’s keeping us really busy. Just thought you’d like a window into what some of it is and why we’re doing it.

Scott Monty

Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/4

The Face behind your brand

elmo

When I say Elmo, you think… Sesame Street.
When I say Miss Piggy, you think … The Muppets.
When I say Steve Jobs, you think …Apple.

…I was in Starbucks this morning getting my coffee and I received an email from a friend who was announcing his resignation from his current job. There was a level of secrecy as he hadn’t made the announcement public. It made me wonder why I was one of the few selected to receive this special announcement. I checked to see who else was cc’d and was rather honoured and surprised at who else was also getting it. Then I realized that these were high-caliber, young, professionals who owned or represented a brand. He was reaching out to us for a very specific reason. It got me thinking…although some of these individuals don’t own the company they are working for, they are the face of the brand. They are the front line go to person. I wondered if these companies made the right choice in choosing such people. Although they are outgoing, intelligent, personable people, I wouldn’t say that some were the right people for the job. Perhaps I am wrong.

If you are a small business owner hiring for a brand rep., PR, community manager, community type position, make sure you select wisely as these people or this individual will be your mascot, the person and face that people will think of when communicating with or about your business. Make sure their personalities match that of your organization and that they will consistently and professionally represent your brand to its fullest potential.

Giving away a magician’s secrets

Steve Cohen makes more than a million dollars a year doing magic tricks.

I will now tell you the secrets of this magic:

1. He sells to a very specific group of people, people who are both willing to hear what he has to say and able to pay what he wants to charge them.

2. He tells a story to this group, a story that matches their worldview. He doesn’t try to teach non-customers a lesson or persuade them that they are wrong or don’t know enough about his art. Instead, he makes it easy for his happy customers to bring his art to others.

3. He intentionally creates an experience that is remarkable and likely to spread. “What did you do last night?” is a great question when it’s asked of someone you entertained the night before, particularly if you can give the audience an answer they can give. That’s how the word spreads.

4. He’s extremely generous in who he works with, how promiscuous he is about sharing and in his attitude.

5. He’s very good at his craft. Don’t overlook this one.

I guess it comes down to this: if you’re having trouble persuading people to buy what you sell, perhaps you should sell something else. Failing that, perhaps you could talk about what you sell in a different way.

Important clarification: I’m not telling you to sell out or to pander or to dumb down your art. Great marketers lead people, stretching the boundaries and bringing new messages to people who want to hear them. The core of my argument is that someone’s worldview, how they feel about risk or other factors, is beyond your ability to change in the short run. Sell people something they’re interesting in buying. If you can’t leverage the worldview they already have, you are essentially invisible. Which is a whole other sort of magic, one that’s not so profitable.