Ted Rubin

Relationship Killers: Four of the WORST Mistakes Brands Make in Social Media

The biggest goal for any brand delving into social media should be to develop quality, productive relationships. That’s the bottom line. However, many brands still “don’t get it,” and consistently make mistakes that are damaging to them in social media and therefore damaging to their brand. In my opinion, there are four big no-no’s that not only kill those all-important relationships, but also tarnish your reputation:

1. Broadcasting:  Blasting out sales messages rather than listening and engaging has got to be the number one relationship killer of all time. Bar none. People hate to be sold—especially on social channels, where their main objective is to talk, get opinions, relax and have fun, or find answers to pressing problems. When a brand spends the majority of its time broadcasting, it’s a clear message to followers that they’re not interested in real, two-way communication.

Listening should be your first priority, followed by engagement. Don’t try to sell to people until you’ve earned their trust!

2. Taking Followers Offline to Resolve Issues:  If someone has a problem and comes to your social presence to try to get it resolved, the worst thing you can do is shunt them off to a customer service contact with a “form letter” response. Too often I see… “follow us so we can DM you,” on Twitter, or a quick move to traditional customer service channels on Facebook. People have an innate need to be validated—and “showing them the hand” is the fastest way to sour a customer relationship. Sometimes there are things that have to be resolved offline for legal issues, but the majority of complaints or requests for help should be addressed promptly and publicly in social channels. At the very least, if you MUST send them offline, do so in a friendly, personal manner. Address them by name, thank them for bringing the problem to your attention, and so on. Walk a mile in your customer’s shoes—how do you feel when you’re ignored or made to jump through hoops by a company you deal with?

Responding publicly has another important, beneficial, and cost saving benefit. Other people with the same issue, and you can/should assume there are many more, can receive resolution via your response, and see how you interact… and then make their own judgments about your brand character based on those interactions. If you’re doing it right, you will build brand advocates in the process, and when/if needed your best brand advocates will support you when they see that kind of open, honest communication.

3. Having No Brand Personality:  People who spend time on social media like to spend time with people—not logos. If you have a team of employees handling your social responses, don’t make them hide behind the brand logo when they interact with followers—give them a voice and a face. Ford does a great job of this with @ScottMonty building his personal brand along with theirs. Scott interacts with followers as himself, not the Ford brand. This humanizes the brand and fosters good communication. Being able to see the team members behind the company and interacting with them personally makes a big difference in fan loyalty.

When a company censors its employees and doesn’t allow them to participate in social discussion surrounding the brand, it’s usually because they’re afraid of “what might happen if…” They’re afraid they’ll spend too much time on social or say the wrong things. These issues can be resolved with a comprehensive social media policy so all employees know how and when they can and should interact. Remember, your employees should be some of your best advocates, and a natural extension of your “public face.”  You can’t do social right with employee censorship. Your people are your company’s personality. Let them shine for you. And… if you don’t trust your employees, maybe you have the wrong employees, or a business approach that will be difficult to sustain in this hyper-connected world.

4.  Making Social a Direct Marketing Channel:  Can you develop a relationship with a piece of direct mail? A TV commercial? A newspaper ad? An email blast? Of course not! Yet many brands treat social as an extension of their direct marketing efforts—mainly because that’s all they know. They’re used to handing off their marketing to an advertising agency and having them run with it so they can get on with their day. They think in terms of ROI formulas, but falter when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of one-on-one networking.  If that’s you, don’t feel too bad—it’s a habit that’s been drummed into you and hard to break. But you’ve got to break it! Adopt a whole new mindset around social, and think in terms of building relationships and an emotional connection to your brand, or you’ll always be frustrated with your results. Remember… Social Media drives engagement, engagement drives loyalty, and loyalty correlates directly to increased sales. Return on Relationship™ = ROI.

This goes back to the “Broadcasting” mistake I mentioned earlier. Think in terms of providing helpful content, fun ways to communicate, sharing information and asking questions. Leave the direct marketing stuff in traditional channels. Get a sense of who your audience is and give them what they’re looking for in your social communications, or you’ll get “un-followed” or ignored in a hurry.

What other “relationship killers” have you come across when dealing with brands online, and how do you think they could be avoided? Conversely, which brands have you noticed that are “getting it right” in social media when it comes to Return on Relationship™?

Social Commerce is Relationship Commerce

We’re hearing more and more about “Social Commerce” these days – but how many of us actually understand its implications?  I’ve spent years in the midst of the evolution of commerce: As traditional commerce shifted into a digital world, becoming e-commerce, and now evolving through the evolution of social media into Social Commerce. The implications here are huge because the maturing of Social Commerce is… Relationship Commerce.

There are some guiding principles to Relationship Commerce.  None seem drastically different on their own; though they seem radically new when applied to the realm of commerce:

  • Relationships matter.  Discovering something you love is great, learning about it from someone you trust is even better.
  • Buying from someone you like is way more fun and rewarding than buying from someone you either do not like, or have no feeling one way or the other.
  • Shopping can be better.

Relationship Commerce is simple yet novel, it’s buying from people, brands, and entities you know and trust and learning about through social channels in a way that is authentic, natural and a part of your daily interactions. If marketing is relevant, it is a “service” NOT a “promotion.”

But in a fast paced, digital world, defining and maintaining our relationships has become unexpectedly difficult.  Social Media has enabled us to connect with an infinite number of individuals; it has given us the tools to extend relationships that years ago would have been impossible.  But in many respects we are failing and simply starting to believe that a “follow” or “like” is a relationship and after that we can simply move on to the next. This is not an email list or a database. We must be certain to remember: “Social Media is a facilitator of relationships, but it is not the relationship itself.”  You have to give to get. No relationship can survive without trust; it’s so simple in concept yet not always easy to execute.

With effort, a relationship may begin from the request of a Facebook friend or following someone on Twitter; but make no mistake – that initial request or follow will never create the relationship.  Trust is built upon interaction, when you’re true to your word, authentic, and genuine. To build relationships online, you (as a brand or individual) have to offer value in return. Be it via valuable information and content, or personal introductions, engagement and interaction… connection will remain key.

By asking questions and proposing ideas, you can engage your followers in such a way to give them the ability and reason to respond. Then when they do respond, interact with them to solidify your relationship, lest it fade away. Directly acknowledge their response, ask follow-up questions and share their insights with others.  Follow me on Twitter (@tedrubin) and you’ll see what I mean. The more responsive you are to your audience, the more responsive they’ll be to you. And that’s where relationships are born. It is this interpersonal exchange, the relationship, which differentiates Relationship Commerce.  You might even consider picking up the phone sometime and actually talking to someone… or even to many. Life is not just about financial exchange, and neither is commerce… especially in today’s hyper-connected “click here to share” world.

The way I see it, we’re overdue for a revolution in retail.  So many of us have been sharing our passions and discoveries, it’s about time brands and retailers took notice, gave us a voice, embraced the consumers perspective, and realized how our social presence can enhance their bottom line.

Originally posted at Collective Bias

Twitter basics… In My Humble Opinion

The mistakes I see being made is trying to measure Social engagement with the same tools we measure every other digital touch point. In my view email, search, even banner ads, have spoiled marketers into thinking everything can be and must be measured with the metrics used to gauge success in other mediums. I am not sure of what the next stage will be for you, but in the beginning, when you are building your Social Media audience, and testing, I have three stages with which I measure… #1 is Audience growth, #2 is Reactivity… getting them to take an action, and #3 Stickiness… keeping them coming back, engaged and interacting. After you achieve all these I feel measurement will easily follow depending upon what is important to you and your brand.

If you want to continue to reach your market in this social media age, the marketing focus needs to be on building relationships, and metrics need to expand beyond ROI (Return on Investment) to include ROR: Return on Relationship™. If you are not engaging in your field of expertise on Twitter someone else is, so the first issue is that you are missing that opportunity and handing it to others. Second… if you are not talking about your business, your customers and prospects probably are, and you are not there to participate, engage, interact and most important for your business… listen and lead.

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Are You Too Comfortable to Grow? Break out of that Mindset!

Most of us spend our lives trying to “get comfortable and stay comfortable.” We want a roof over our heads, enough food to eat, a decent car to drive, and enough money that we don’t have to worry about the next mortgage payment. That’s just who we are as human beings.

However, that ingrained need to be comfortable extends into our psyche, and can keep us from growing. We don’t like to feel exposed or vulnerable, so we don’t take chances—we limit our thinking so we can feel safe—even to the point of sabotaging our own success. Unfortunately this often begins when we’re young. Many times it is something our parents pass along without even realizing how they’re setting the stage for us. When we hear things like “Oh, Johnny doesn’t like to read,” or “Sue isn’t good at sports,” those things get hardwired into our mental attitudes and before you know it, they become limiting beliefs that keep us from reaching our true potential.

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Be Good To People and Just Be Nice

I am a big believer that doing good, and just being nice to people, begets good treatment in return (part of that “Return” on Relationship)… for the most part. Therefore there is a return, just not necessarily from a particular act or specific relationship. I am not referring to this in a spiritual or cosmic sense. What I mean is that by building a reputation for putting yourself out (whether as an individual or a brand), doing good for others without expectation of something directly in return from that person, and generally being nice will most definitely add to your life in so many ways. People will notice, talk about it, spread the word, and in general most will treat you better, do for you, and watch your back because of the way you treat people.

This is not just a theory, but something I have put into practice personally and professionally. I make it a part of my daily life, try to help brands to understand, and have had a great deal of personal success and fulfillment in this respect. And yes, this is a basic tenant of Return on Relationship™ …simply put the value that is accrued by a person or brand due to nurturing relationships. ROI is the specific measurable, $’s and cents value, ROR is the value (both perceived and real) that will accrue over time through loyalty, recommendations, sharing and trust. A “Brand” is what a business/person does, and a “Reputation” is what people remember.

Be Good To People and Just Be Nice… for no apparent reason other than it makes the world a better place, makes you feel good, and will benefit you in the long run. Shoot me… I am altruistic :-)

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou

Originally posted at TedRubin.com

Learn to Savor the Moments—and Help Your Customers Do the Same

You’ve heard the old adage “Stop tosmell the roses,” right? Well, I’ve come to learn that when life hands you those “moments,” it’s best to slow down, savor them and commit them to memory. They only come around once! And when you make a conscious effort to put yourself in that moment and really experience it with all your senses, you can recall that memory in an instant, and “re-savor” it. How can this relate to your business? Let’s try a little experiment. Close your eyes and think back to a particularly happy moment in your life. Picture where you were, what you were doing, and who was with you. What happens when you think hard about that moment? Are the details sharp and clear? I’ll bet that for those really good memories, you can even recall smells and the sense of touch or taste—things that trigger an emotional lift and make you smile. Now think about when you last had a fun experience while shopping. Perhaps you were at an event,or browsing a brick-and-mortar store… what products come to mind? What details do you remember about the experience? When you’re thinking about “branding” your business (and it doesn’t matter if you sell cupcakes or care-giving services), think about providing your customers with the kind of experiences that they will want to savor, because that’s a foot in the door to building a long-lasting relationship with them. What can you do that will make them want to stop and savor your “moments?”

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Marketing 101 Lessons Social Marketers Shouldn’t Forget

In watching the social media revolution unfold around us over the past several years, there’s a recurring theme that keeps popping up. I see it all the time in discussions on “best practices” and in forums and blogs where marketers lament the fact that you can’t measure ROI in social and that marketing has completely changed. The “gurus” out there say it’s a brand new world—the past is past—we have to throw out the old and create the new, yada, yada, yada.

You know what I say to that? Phooey!

The number ONE reason some marketers fail when they try to use social media is that they DON’T take into account important traditional marketing lessons from the past—and I’m talking Plain Jane, Vanilla Manilla lessons that should be the bread and butter for any marketer. Social media doesn’t supplant traditional marketing practices and tenants. In fact, it enhances it when handled correctly.

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Permission Marketing: Why Brands Should Be(a)ware!

Social Marketing is the ultimate in Permission Marketing, and therefore it carries the ultimate marketing danger with it: taking away the permission is totally in the consumers’ control.  Brands be(a)ware!

Permission Marketing puts the power in the consumer’s hands, by requiring that the marketers send promotional messages only to consumers who have given marketers permission to do so, whether explicitly (opt-in email list, for example) or implicitly (internet search).

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Do you call on those Raising their Hands?

Every Google search is a hand being raised. So is every tweet, blog post, and Facebook comment with a complaint or question. Do you call on those raising their hands??  If not, you are missing an incredible opportunity!

Every social complaint or question is the “low hanging fruit” of a brand’s chance to interact with consumers.  But it’s not just ANY chance – it’s a chance to interact when you have the consumers full attention “and” PUBLICLY, to engage in a way that can, and often will, catch the attention of an entire audience. These kinds of comments are visible, relevant and actionable, and brands need to have a plan to engage.

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