Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!
Does a stressful event start a cascade that ends up making even you more stressed?
If an authority figure corrects your behavior, does the intervention lead you to push back and make the behavior worse?
Does a failure set you on a path to more failure?
The Challenge
Just as the fascination with all things Mad Men is at its height, advertising agencies themselves are undergoing a period of great change.
The show, which follows a New York ad agency as it struggles to adapt to the television age and survive in rapidly-changing 1960s society, has many parallels with what ad agencies are going through now in our fast-moving digital age. This is a challenging and disconcerting time for ad agencies and their survival depends on their ability to embrace new media and adapt to a consumer-driven market.
In this fragile economy, many companies no longer have the budgets to throw at big-name ‘multinationals’. A business model based on creating a witty concept and buying media space to disseminate it no longer ensures that the message is heard. Consumers are so overwhelmed by an abundance of information on myriad platforms that agencies must purposefully engage with their target market, whether it be through their cell phones, iPads, or traditional print media. The traditional ad agency thrived on its ability to produce ideas; but ideas are no longer enough. Edward Boches, of marketing blog Creativity Unbound, sums up the challenge perfectly: “we can no longer buy attention”.
The following is an excerpt from “If a Tweet Falls in a Forest,” my section of Chapter 3: ACTIVATE in The Social CMO’s upcoming book.
Imagine this scenario …
You hear how one of your competitors is driving business through Twitter and want to see if you can achieve the same results. You open an account and become overwhelmed by Twitter’s language – a mix of symbols and slang that makes no sense to you.
After a while, you familiarize yourself with Twitter’s interface and grow excited by the possibility of getting your message out to a new audience. You post frequent tweets that ask your followers to check out your website, blog and latest promotions.
A few months go by, and nothing happens. No new leads. No sales. No amazing opportunities. You wonder if anyone noticed your efforts and reduce your time on the social networking site. You decide social media is a waste of your resources and go back to the old way of marketing your business.
Does this sound familiar?
If you’re like many marketers who experiment with social media, you may not understand how to develop messages that not only get noticed as they fall in the dense social media forest – but also get acted upon. Sysomos, a company that specializes in business intelligence for social media, conducted a study of Twitter retweets and replies. They determined that 71% of all tweets are ignored.
To succeed with social media, you must create messages that fall into the other 29% and inspire action. Let’s explore some methods to help you write content that resonates with your target audience, motivates them to take action and ensures your tweets are heard.
Make Your Calls to Action Social Media-Friendly
A major difference between writing direct marketing copy and writing for social media is the nature of your call to action. In direct marketing, most calls to action are designed to push leads further along the sales cycle. Since blatant selling doesn’t mesh with the conversational nature of social media, your calls to action should focus on building trust and sharing relevant information.
Here are 5 examples of calls to action for social media:
Social media is often the start of a longer relationship that can lead to sales. Use these low-pressure, no-commitment calls to actions to start a conversation. Once potential customers grow to trust you, they will be more likely to take the relationship further by completing an opt-in form on your website, making direct contact with you or downloading a free trial of your product.
Stay tuned for The Social CMO’s upcoming book and especially my section of Chapter 3 ACTIVATE which shares many more ideas on how to create social media content that inspires action!
Rachel Foster
Now more than ever, all organizations are looking for the discipline of marketing, to help cure their organizational woes. With that said, excellence in marketing is more important than ever. Thus, the great CMO’s and top marketing professionals, in all types of organizations, are looked to for leadership and I believe they all share common character traits. As it is always easier to remember an odd number (in this case 9) items, you will find I have listed 9 characteristics of great CMO’s below.
So, remember the discipline of marketing is more important than ever in 2010 and beyond… and it is the job of the CMO, or top marketing executive, to exhibit the highest degree of excellence in all that s/he does. Have you seen such a great CMO in action? What other characteristics should we mention?
Ryan T. Sauers
Did you feel it? Last night something happened when @ChrisBrogan took the stage on #MMchat for a tweetchat with you all about The Role of Major Influencers in Cause Marketing.
Not sure what you call it, spontaneous combustion, fusion or fission, but it sure was fun! And even more importantly we were all able to hear from and interact directly with @ChrisBrogan a major influencer in his own right.
Who better to talk about the issues from both sides surrounding working with major influencers for the creation of effective cause marketing in support social causes and the creation of positive change?
Please take some time to review and absorb the transcript from last night’s #MMchat with @ChrisBrogan. And I have no doubt that it will take some time, as there are more than 2,000 tweets from 450 contributors setting an all time record for #MMchat and perhaps all organized Twitter chats to date.
Thanks to all of you #MMchat tweeps and others for joining us last night and sharing your thoughts and questions on such an important topic, for it truly is all of you who make #MarketerMonday Chat matter!
Remember #MMchat makes Mondays MARVELOUS!!
Cheers
Jeff Ashcroft
Participation in social media is about the community, not the cult of personality, the narcissism, the “look at me! I’m so great.” I think we all understand that, at least in our talk, if not in our actions. Yet, lately, I find myself bothered by the absolutely rampant self-promoters. I follow people on Twitter who tweet about almost nothing but themselves, their products, their accomplishments, their hotness.
Sure, you might argue, I could just unfollow them, unfriend them, block them, whatever. And I could. But I don’t, because I think they are really good people with a lot to offer who are just caught up in the shiny illusion that social media can create that everyone’s a celebrity. I have actually had people refer to me as a “local social media celebrity” and it makes me laugh and throw up a little in my mouth. I’ve seen friends, so caught up in the moment of their “celebrity” status, completely disregard other friends, because they are not in “the group”. Welcome to social media high school. I’d like to graduate and move on now, please.
I recently found myself in a heated debate on Twitter about the ROI of social media. In one corner sat those promoting ‘there is no return on social media…yet’ and in the other sat myself insisting ‘it’s not only possible, it’s happening.’
The skeptical side of me wondered if those who are promoting the ‘no ROI from social’ stance are those who are truly generating ‘no ROI from social’ and are perhaps looking to substantiate that result. But then again, maybe I was wrong. After all, there were some pretty smart people in that opposite corner publishing blogs on Huffington Post and ClickZ – all reaffirming the belief that Social ROI does not exist.
But after further consideration and more research, I’m sticking to my guns. Social media ROI is not only attainable, it should be expected. The harsh reality is that most business executives measure value in terms of financial metrics – not fans. While it’s true that the long-term benefits from real engagement through social media will likely be far greater than any of us realize today, it’s also true that many companies are positioned to start delivering financial returns now, particularly strong CPG brands.
The game will change in 2011
For most CPG companies today, ‘we need a social media presence’ means Facebook and Twitter. Although deeply simplified, this strategy plays out a lot like this:
By all accounts, the results exceed expectations. But while you’re patting yourself on the back for attracting a social following, understand there’s someone within the company scratching their head and asking: So what? How is this investment bringing me any value?
There is one thing that makes social media special — not to mention social — and, from a business perspective at least, it’s the one reason SM is worth investing in.
It comes in the form of the conversations that used to occur at the water-cooler or over the backyard fence, or in the good-old-fashioned (un-choreographed) town hall meetings. It is about give-and-take, and real-time feedback.
While one of the primary ways we evaluate marketing tools is in terms of how effectively a message is delivered, social calls for a new way of thinking about media. (Or, more accurately, it can actually help refocus our perspective on what constitutes successful communication. But that’s another discussion.) This is a new brand of media, made up of the fabric of relationship. This tool is far from one-way, one-sided or one-dimensional. It is about participation, collaboration and interaction.
Creating fresh, valuable content for your company’s website not only improves your search rankings and gives your brand a voice, it also shows your customers, your prospects and your industry that you have something to say. And, more importantly, it shows you’re listening.
Content is king, long live the king. Digital content lives forever.
There is, however, a downside. I call it the “Twinkie Effect.”
In no time at all it will be #MMchat time again and this week our SPECIAL guest will be none other than @ChrisBrogan on Monday November 22nd at 8:00pm eastern!!
The topic for our chat is one that continues to grow in both importance and impact and that is The Role of Major Influencers in Cause Marketing. We look forward to Chris’s insights and examples in this regard based on his previous experiences with cause marketing programs.
Hope you’re all as excited as I am to have @ChrisBrogan join us and that you will all make the time to be with us on November 22nd, for it truly is all of you who make #MarketerMonday Chat matter!
Remember #MMchat makes Mondays MARVELOUS!!
Cheers
Jeff Ashcroft