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social networking

When Customers Attack: 2 Simple Questions to Avoid Social Media Failure

by Tim on February 8, 2012

We talked yesterday about the first rule of social marketing. Today we’ll look at how that rule works in practice.

As many of you already know, McDonald’s thought it would be fun recently to get their customers talking about their experiences with the brand. So they asked their customers to post their memories of the fast food chain on Twitter using the “#McDStories” hash tag.

Yeah. That went well.

Some of the more memorable tweets?

#mcdstories The dude in front of me at the drivethru was so stoned he couldn’t find the pull up spot where they cart the food out to you.

— Clark Bacon (@baconwc123) February 7, 2012

McDonald’s Pink Slime Defeated By @jamieoliver youtu.be/dCqKl4Q3hW4 @TheYoungTurks @AnaKasparian #McDStories

— Tom Hanc (@tytmedia) February 6, 2012

As much as people choose to make this a spectacular social media fail – and it is – it’s worth noting that people saying bad things about McDonald’s food isn’t new. Or news. Lots of people poke fun at the fast food giant all the time. At least one notable stand-up comedian has virtually built his career around the idea. McDonalds’ mistake was giving sanction to a dialogue that’s been going on for some time—and paying to promote the conversation on Twitter.

Before you make the same mistake, here are two things to consider:

Is it reasonable to expect customers to say only nice things about you? Or,
Can you give them a specific reason to say only nice things about you?

Since we’ve already looked at the risks of number 1, let’s look at an example of number 2 for a moment.

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream launched a micro-site last year designed to raise awareness of World Fair Trade Day. Visitors to the site simply post their tweets from the micro-site, which then uses any remaining characters to promote the cause.

Why does it work?

Well, ignoring for a moment the good will Ben & Jerry’s has built up with its customers over the years (and, yes, it surely plays a role), who is going to send a tweet that bashes a company that’s promoting a worthwhile cause? Even those with an axe to grind against Ben & Jerry’s would come off looking much worse if they high-jacked the brand’s initiative the same way as happened to McDonalds.

Additionally, the fit between cause and brand helps a ton; people who truly love Ben & Jerry’s typically share (or at a minimum don’t mind) its long-held, long-stated values. McDonald’s also sells salads, while ice cream remains a fatty, high-calorie food. But one got pummeled and the other praised. Both the brand and the campaign have enough good will to succeed on their own. But, like cookie dough and ice cream, the combination worked even better.

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Technorati Tags: F-commerce, Facebook, social, social commerce, social marketing, social media, social search, social strategy, tweets, twitter

Tagged as: social, social business, social commerce, social e-commerce, social ecommerce, social marker, social marketing, social media marketing, social media profiles, social network, social network marketing, social networking, social networks, social search, social search strategy, social shopping, social strategy, social tools, social web

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The First Rule of Social Marketing (Social Marketing Fundamentals)

by Tim on February 7, 2012

in Social Media, social strategy

Dave Thomas wrote a great guest post yesterday that looked at where social media fits in your marketing plans. Of course, knowing where to start is half the battle.

So, where do you start?

By following this one simple rule: Social is people.

While there are specific “tips and tricks” to keep in mind about each new social network you use to market your business, the key point is that you’re looking to connect with people, not just sell your wares. People spend time in online social networks for a variety of reasons. But we can summarize those reasons down to just these few:

Staying in touch with friends
Staying in touch with family
Staying in touch with business associates

Keeping those three separate matters. Because you’ve got to understand where your business falls in the social spectrum.

According to research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, adults 50 and older cite “staying in touch with family” as their top reason for using social networks. Adults under 50 cite “staying in touch with friends.” Surprisingly, neither group says a big reason is “keeping up with products or services that I use now and again (or even every day, for that matter).” In fact, very few people use social networks to find new friends, find out what celebrities are doing or even find people to sleep with, er… date.

Again, people—your potential customers—aren’t looking to find new relationships using social networks. They’re looking to deepen the relationships they already have. So it’s rare that you’re going to find new customers using social networks, unless your existing customers tell their friends about you.

Now, how is that going to happen?

Don’t worry. We’ll touch on that in our next post.

For now, you need to come to grips with the notion that most people on most social networks aren’t there to connect with you. Yes, you can use social networks to market your brand. But you won’t do it successfully if your approach suggests it’s all about you. It’s not. As with most marketing in the modern world, it’s all about your customers.

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Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.

Technorati Tags: social, social commerce, social marketing, social media, social search, social strategy, strategy

Tagged as: social, social business, social commerce, social e-commerce, social ecommerce, social marketing, social media marketing, social media metrics, social media profiles, social network, social network marketing, social networking, social networks, social search, social search strategy, social shopping, social strategy, social tools, social web

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Social media marketing is a good idea: Reason #324

by Tim on October 25, 2011

in Social Media, social strategy

OK. I don’t know that there are exactly 324 reasons why social media marketing is a Very Good Thing, but I’m confident there are lots (Actually, I think I see another post on how many there are in my future). Long-time readers, however, will note that I don’t talk about having a “web site.” I talk about having a “web presence.”

Because you can’t just be one place on the web.

I particularly recommend thinking of your presence in terms of a hub and spoke model:

Former Myspace CEO Michael Jones explains one reason why:

“Single front door = single point of failure. Many large Internet businesses, such as Myspace and Yahoo, have a single “brand” front door, in that users have one point of entry into the site. Behind the door, users will find multiple product lines. Unfortunately, a single front door means there is a single point of failure in consumers’ minds — even when the product lines behind it are robust.”

Your website may be the hub, but the individual spokes, including social media, provide redundancy and alternative entry points to your brand for your customers. Robert Scoble made almost the exact same argument in a comment a few weeks ago. I agreed with him then. And I agree with him now.

Social media offers your customers multiple doors through which to find you. So, whether it’s reason #324 or not, it’s still a great reason why social media makes sense.

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Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.

Technorati Tags: integrated marketing, internet marketing, marketing, marketing best practices, social, social commerce, social marketing, social media, social search, social strategy

Tagged as: e-commerce strategy, social, social commerce, social e-commerce, social ecommerce, social marker, social marketing, social media marketing, social media profiles, social network, social network marketing, social networking, social networks, social search, social search strategy, social shopping, social strategy, social web, Strategy