{"id":288,"date":"2010-03-16T03:56:45","date_gmt":"2010-03-16T03:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=288"},"modified":"2010-03-16T03:57:23","modified_gmt":"2010-03-16T03:57:23","slug":"three-social-media-myths-i-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/three-social-media-myths-i-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Social Media Myths I Encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The marketing communications toolbox is exploding, and social media is fast becoming a game changer for businesses of all sizes and industries. We work with clients who understand the value of powerful language and smart marketing; so we don\u2019t have to spend time educating them on why they should stay current with technology and new media channels. But we\u2019ve had many conversations with people, even communications professionals, who continue to ignore the information channels on the social web. Why? Here are 3 of the most common social media myths and excuses we hear:<\/p>\n

1.\tOur customers aren\u2019t using social media, and who cares if you\u2019re drinking Starbucks anyway?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many companies lack the detailed analytics to fully document customer demographics, so they rely on assumptions. \u201cMost of our customers pay cash for their cars. They are just beginning to use computers,\u201d said one business. I explained that that may be true today, but tomorrow\u2019s customer is the son, daughter, or grandchild, and they live on technological devices. They experience BSA\u2014bandwidth separation anxiety\u2014if they lose their cell phone for 5 minutes. Good marketing reaches the customer and aims for the children, peers, and parents. Social media usage has skyrocketed in the last 18 months across every age, gender, and economic group. Who cares if you\u2019re drinking Starbucks coffee? Starbucks cares and the commercial property owner who is leasing to Starbucks cares. And Ford cares if you\u2019re tweeting about their Sync system, and the local pizzeria cares if you complain about cold pizza. Our advice is to ease into social media, keeping a foot in traditional advertising to maintain contact with viewers in those channels, and then establish a presence in social media to integrate traditional and new methods, attract new customers, and create a platform to introduce your story. Your 60-year-old customer is thrilled to be on Facebook reconnecting with old classmates and business associates. And your 20-something customer is happy to tell an entire fraternity about your service or product. Understanding all the marketing tools at your disposal is smart business.<\/p>\n

2.\tI don\u2019t have the time to fool around with Twitter. <\/strong><\/p>\n

My guess is that if Fortune #7 Ford CEO Alan Mulally has the time to sit with @ScottMonty and tweet and even comment on blogs, then you probably have time to learn it too. <\/p>\n

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Knowledge is power, and today\u2019s business climate is survival of the informed. When an executive refuses to learn the advantages of a new technology, it\u2019s a poor signal to shareholders, customers, and employees. Telling your story in every appropriate channel is the best use of marketing resources. If your customers are there, you need to be there too. New media has ushered in a new era of marketing: It\u2019s no longer a one-way push of sales information and service benefits. An integrated marketing campaign now includes a presence in traditional advertising forums\u2014local dailies, weekly business journals, outdoor, radio, TV, magazines\u2014and then a concurrent engagement in new media circles such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and many others. Check out these executives who do have time for Twitter @CEO_INGDirect<\/a>, @Zappos<\/a>, @Padmasree<\/a> (Cisco CTO), @Werner<\/a> (Amazon CTO), @MichaelDell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3.\tWords don\u2019t matter as much in our micro-messaging world. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, words shoulder more power now. You have mere seconds to capture our time-starved attention with powerful language. A well-chosen word can define your company, increase your Google search rankings, attract the attention of a Wall Street Journal editor, become a tag in your digital brand, and trend on Twitter. Your communication materials give a first impression of your company\u2019s core values and brand. And that includes tweets and blog posts. Chances are high that the first time a customer learns about your company will be on a social media platform or Wikipedia, not at the chamber of commerce mixer. Although writing online appears less formal and unscripted, your words form a transparent trail of your personal and business brand. If you leave irascible, snarky comments on blog posts or in emails, or your tweets are narcissistic, reconsider your strategy. The words you use are like the radioactive isotope Uranium-238\u2014everlasting!<\/p>\n

On the positive side, our clients want their words to be everlasting. Engaging in social media is exactly where they see a profitable and positive client experience with rich customer feedback. The good news is that it\u2019s not too late to engage and learn exactly what your customers think, before they share it with your competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The marketing communications toolbox is exploding, and social media is fast becoming a game changer for businesses of all sizes and industries. We work with clients who understand the value of powerful language and smart marketing; so we don\u2019t have to spend time educating them on why they should stay current with technology and new … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,60],"tags":[151,152,153],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-annedgallaher","tag-3-social-media-myths","tag-ceo","tag-tweeting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions\/290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}