Marketing Talk

Over the last few months I’ve been watching an effort increasingly gain momentum in the online world. When I first heard about it I shared it myself because I thought it was really really cool, but then I found out that the person who started promoting it initially was doing so because this group was actually their client. That wasn’t the puzzling part, however. The puzzling part was that this person somehow managed to get lots of other people I was connected to to promote the cause too. There have been Twitter chats, blog posts, Facebook shares, and who knows what else. I have been scratching my head trying to figure out if these other folks even know that they are helping this person do client work.

Suddenly, lying around in my sickly stupor today, I figured it out. Of course they are aware that this is all for this person’s client. People in the online world tap their connections on the shoulder and say, “Hey, my client is doing this thing and I really want them to make a big splash. Can you help me?”

Would you believe that doing that has never occurred to me over the years I’ve been online? I feel yucky when I decide to let someone know I’m writing a post that they’re tagged in, so I try to do it in advance of the post being published or well after so they know I’m just letting them know and am not requesting that they share it. But this is really what people do in the PR and marketing world today, apparently. They say, “I’m going to be running a Twitter chat for this client – can you come and make it look like it’s popular?”

Transparency is a word that gets tossed around a lot in the online world, so I have to say that it is disturbing to me that this whole realization I just had is anti-transparency in two ways. For people who, like me, think that all of these people are jumping onto a cause just because it’s super cool, it is frustrating to realize that you have in a way been duped. These folks may not feel particularly passionate about the product or the project. They are scratching someone’s back – without revealing it to be so. But I wonder too if this is not also showing a lack of transparency to the client. If you are looking to make a report on how many times your chat’s hashtag was used in an hour, sure, getting lots of people to join in makes sense. Are those people ever going to buy your client’s product? Eh.

It is sort of sad it took me this long to come to this realization, which may seem completely obvious to you. I have always tried to do favors to people while I’ve been online because I thought I was helping out, being nice, even building friendships. But I realize now that in many cases the expectation was that I was doing that favor because then I would say to that person, “OK, now can you share this post I wrote for our agency blog?” I never do that, really. I have always figured if people want to read my content they will. If they want to share it they will. So, people took their favors, waited for the other shoe to drop, and when it didn’t, well – they were able to go on their merry way. I was not playing the game correctly.

Do I regret doing things the way I did? Not at all. At all times I have done my best to remain true to what I feel is right. I have never felt that begging for readers and shares was appropriate, so I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t feel right telling a client that their amount of Twitter followers increased because I messaged 50 of my friends and asked them to give my client a “like” or a follow. I don’t regret doing any of the favors I did. Every book review I have ever written I did from the heart with the hope that it would help the person in question. When I participated in this or that to support a friend, I did it as just that – a friend. I can’t have any regrets about that.

Having said that, it is bitterly frustrating to watch other people present the illusion of success, both for themselves and for their clients, when it so often is just a house of cards, a masterful disguise of what is really going on in the online world. Perhaps companies are experiencing such difficulty in measuring their Social Media ROI not because it’s difficult but rather because the numbers would reveal the truth – all of those impressions, likes, hashtag uses, and retweets are the function of behind-the-scenes back scratching and nothing more. Where does that leave these companies? Good question.

I don’t regret doing social media wrong. Not one bit. I would easily be able to defend myself before any clients, and I can look in the mirror every night and every morning and know that even if I am not on the surface the most successful person around, at least I have maintained honesty, integrity, and yes, even that famous buzz word – transparency. I wouldn’t trade that for the world. And to people like Kaarina Dillabough, Marsha Collier, and Brian Vickery, who support me without my ever even hinting at an ask – thank you. My appreciation knows no bounds.

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hkvam/148970581/ via Creative Commons

This past weekend was pretty brutal. On Saturday morning I found out that a woman I respected in the online world, Judy Martin, had passed away suddenly at the age of 49. Judy wrote often about the work/life balance. She did her thing, always seemed to be positive, and in my few engagements with her she was always, ALWAYS, kind and supportive. To think that someone like her could just be snuffed out came as a bit of a shock.

The next day I learned that one of my favorite actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman, had died of a drug overdose at the age of 46. It seemed impossible that such a great talent could also be snuffed out so suddenly. Boom. Gone.

The shock of these deaths was bad enough, but what made it worse and perhaps even more horrifying was the complete lack of compassion I encountered in the online world. While many of my friends mourned and lamented the death of Hoffman, others took it upon themselves to almost celebrate Hoffman’s death. That’s what he deserved. If you do drugs, dying alone in the prime of your career is exactly what you have coming to you.

As for Judy, when I noted her passing, people did not, interestingly, simply acknowledge that it was sad that someone had died suddenly. “Who was she?” was a common question. I find this odd. If you do not know of a person but find they have died suddenly and that this is making someone sad, would you not focus first on the fact that this person is gone? Your knowledge of them is not the most important thing at that moment. Or am I crazy here?

It’s all about relationships

You don’t have to skim Twitter or Facebook for very long before seeing the word “relationship.” It’s all the rage these days. Engage your audience. Be human. Be authentic. Be real. These sound like great ideas, but some of the things I saw this weekend make me wonder if people actually remember what relating to people is about. A relationship does not mean that things only matter if they are connected to you. When someone notes that they have experienced a loss, what you do not want to do is say, “I wrote a post when my uncle died. [link] (Yes, I’ve seen that happen). When someone has lost someone, your first question should not be, “Well, who were they?” To me this insinuates that if the person was meaningful enough you might note that their passing is sad. If they don’t cut the mustard it’s not really worth thinking about. “I didn’t know them,” you seem to say. “therefore they must not have mattered.”

I wonder, after this weekend, if social media is actually reducing the human capacity for compassion. People who sounded off against Philip Seymour Hoffman got a lot of comments. A lot of traffic. Sure, some of that feedback was negative (something about ruthlessly attacking a man who just died and who had obviously been in pain). But still, if you are trying to gain Klout points, comments are comments. I find myself wondering, although I am horrified to admit it, if there would have been more posts about Judy Martin if she had been one of the “guru gang.”

It’s not new, it just seems worse

I have been watching humanity drip out of the online world for awhile now, slowly but surely – at least in the marketing/business realm where I tend to hang out. Personal uses of social media are different and usually better. But in the professional realm, where you would think there would be more of a focus on decorum, the actual humanity…the capacity to relate to others…has been steadily dissipating. I really became aware of it after the passing of Trey Pennington. Blog posts started multiplying as fast as bunny rabbits. Everyone was now an expert on emotional distress and suicide. I raised an eyebrow. Then people started throwing LinkedIn “parades” and others commented on posts supposing that Pennington had just been a jerk-off fake.

All of that was wretched. A month later, when Bruce Serven took his own life, the silence in the online world was eerie in contrast. Was it because Bruce had not been as popular or as well-known? I wonder.

I am painting with a broad brush. Not everyone online is bereft of compassion. But I am noticing enough scenarios where compassion has gone missing that I could now call it a noticeable trend. Sympathy is becoming a traffic booster. Antagonism is becoming the new way to connect. Judgment is becoming the new handshake. This is not just bad for business. This is bad for us as people.

Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me you’ve seen compassion and empathy increase these last few years. Tell me this weekend was just a blip in the radar.

Please. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me we aren’t living in and creating a real-life town without pity.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayterrill/6165556884/ via Creative Commons

 

 

Yesterday, shortly after the events in Boston started to unfold, a person who is very well known online still had their automated posts flowing into Twitter. One such post mentioned something goofy or something seemed inappropriately light-hearted for what was going on at that time. A person retweeted that post and mentioned that it was inappropriate. “This is why you shouldn’t automate your tweets” was the message with the shared post.

Shortly thereafter, the well-known person issued a pithy, not automated tweet. They said, “I love how people with under 1,500 followers are telling me how to tweet.”

To me, this means that this well-known person not only was taken off guard by a very appropriate criticism, but then they looked at how many followers the tweeter had before responding. Would this response have been different if the critique came from someone with 100,000 followers? Logic seems to indicate yes.

I have never wanted to write a “call out” post so badly in all my life. There is so much wrong about this exchange, especially during a time when people need love, support, and a sense that the world isn’t falling apart. But I don’t want to use this time to rip someone up. Instead, I want to build up those of you who may have seen this comment from someone you may look to as a role model, from someone you felt you were learning from, and I want to tell you that these words are not anything you need to pay attention to.

Some of the most amazing people I know have 1,500 followers or fewer. If they don’t know, they did at one point. I still remember (with the occasional nightmarish flashback) how frustrating Twitter was when I first got started. More than 1,000 followers? Are you kidding? I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me. I was stuck at 67-75 followers for months, and each follow or unfollow was ludicrously meaningful. When I got to 100 followers I felt like trumpets should be blowing, although I was sort of ignoring the high percentage of spam bots that made up my following. Details, details.

Anyway, the number of followers you have on Twitter does not matter. Certainly it does not pertain to your value as a person or the value of your advice. In the above scenario, who do you feel was more right in their actions? Who do you feel is more attuned to what is appropriate during a tragedy? It’s not about the number of followers. And clearly, how many followers you have does not improve you as a person. A person who is truly confident in themselves can accept criticism with grace, no matter how many followers or “fans” they have. Followers, like money, can’t buy you love.

When I follow people, I don’t look at how many followers they have. I look at how they interact with the people who are following them. I look to see if they are trying to use this online world to communicate, not just promote. I don’t care if you have 16 followers or 16,000. I’ve been at point a. I’ll probably never be at point b.

Does that matter to you?

Hang in there. Don’t let the big cats get you down. And to that person who called out the big guy – good for you. You did nothing wrong. The Emperor really isn’t wearing clothes.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22928412@N05/4892486499 via Creative Commons

Happy New Year, everyone!

My dear friend Susan Fox (aka @gagasgarden) sent me a very interesting email recently with several questions about her experiences with Twitter. She wondered if I could write up a post answering these questions in case other people would be interested too, so here we are. I actually thought Susan’s questions were broad enough to use this as an opportunity to kind of reflect on what Twitter is like on this first day of 2013. I’ve been using the platform for about three years now and have experienced ups and downs during that experience, as I think most of us have.

So, without further adieu, here are Susan’s questions and ponderings and my best effort at answering them.

“Most tweets are high level selling statements…” they make “a supposition the reader knows more about their business/company than we do…”

There are a lot of things that business accounts could improve on Twitter. Imagine how confusing these selling statements are if they are coming from an account with a bio that reads, “I have 3 kittens, 5 kids, 2 husbands, and I love hyenas!” A very significant disconnect there. This is not just a Twitter problem though. As marketing becomes something that is shuffled off to the sales team, you will find increasingly that statements about the product or service do not really seem geared towards the audience. This is a common human characteristic. When we know something really well, we assume everyone does. If we are really close to a project or a product, we assume everyone will “get it.” If you really want to sell something, you need to assume that the people you are talking to have no idea who you are, what you are selling, or why they would want it.

“Conversation is at a minimum, and not really invited. Really it’s just, buy my stuff.”

This is not entirely surprising to me. There were a lot of articles and posts during 2012 about social media as a marketing platform and whether or not social media should be used for those purposes (we actually wrote about this subject on our agency blog). There was also a lot of talk about social media ROI and how companies need to increase sales to get a return on all of the time spent tweeting and Facebooking. What we are ending up with, again because a lot of companies are strapped for time when it comes to marketing, is accounts accumulating on both radical ends of the spectrum. Some companies are doing absolutely no selling online because they believe that promotion of products should not be done online. Social Media is “not transactional.” On the other side you have accounts that are of the philosophy, “Oh man, we really need to do a hard sell to make this worth our time, money, and effort.” Factually, as is the case with most things in life, handling marketing or product promotion on social media platforms is not black-and-white or a this-or-that scenario. It is possible to be conversational and then mix in, on occasion, a promote of your own content, your own products, or your own services. This is the nuanced approach to social media that I learned when I started but that has since seemingly fallen to the wayside.

“Many times the tweeter has encouraged a reply [but] often the responses are ignored.”

For about the first year I spent on Twitter, this pretty much summarized my entire experience. People would tweet out questions, I would tweet back a reply, and then my tweet would fall into the ether of darkness where no tweets are ever recovered — or responded to. Predominantly this seems to be a problem with accounts that have extremely large followings. They want to send out questions to make it look like they are willing to converse, but really there is a select group of tweeters these folks converse with. If you don’t fall into that select group you are not likely to get a response. It has always seemed extremely silly to me – I make an effort particularly to reply to people I haven’t “met’ yet.

My best advice on Twitter is to find people who are newer to the platform than you are. Take them under your wing, offer advice, walk them through the tricky dance of building a following and starting conversations. This accomplishes a lot of things. First, it introduces you to tons of great people who might be on the verge of quitting Twitter out of pure frustration. It enables you to converse more. It tests your own knowledge to see where you are in terms of your Twitter journey. And yes, there is even a slightly self-serving reason to hang with people newer than you – you can show other people who might see your tweets that you really know your stuff.

“I see a randomness in tweets…no consistency…”

I think a lot of this comes from the influence of Triberr, Buffer, and other sharing tools that automate a lot of your process. This is why I maintain vigorously that you need to read every post you end up sharing. If you don’t, you could end up tweeting live about something that completely contradicts a post that just got shared from your Triberr account. I also think people are tuning into the keywords Klout and Kred say they are influential on, so like any disreputable SEO company would suggest, they are trying to plug those words into tweets, kind of like a Mad Libs game. This creates a less “human” and less consistent stream of tweets.

“I noticed you are very brief on Twitter and keep your tweets to a bare minimum. Is there a reason?”

Well, honestly, a lot of the people I used to talk to aren’t doing much beyond tweeting posts, so having good interactive conversations is harder than it used to be. In the days when I first was getting used to Twitter, a person would tweet out a post and they would be there to answer any arguments or to answer any replies. Now, because of these scheduled tweets, a person might be sleeping while their tweets are going out. That means if I really disagree (or agree) with the post they tweeted, I won’t get a reply and my response will be buried by the time they return. I also struggle with how to acknowledge people who share my posts via Triberr. I know that a lot of those folks don’t really read the posts, and thanking every single person for tweeting out a post would get really boring, especially if they don’t really know what they are sharing. I still am pondering that whole scenario. I always wanted to thank people who shared my posts in the past because I wanted to show my appreciation for their taking the time to read AND share my words. Now things are different.

“Some celebs are subscribing to the Chris Brogan method of unfollowing most of their followers. Why?”

Ah yes, the great “unfollow” concept. The sad fact is that as I mentioned above, a lot of people who have become “twelebrities” are simply out of touch with what it’s like to be newer on the platform. They forget (or perhaps they never experienced) how valuable a mentor or a guide can be when you are just starting out.

The other sad fact is that platforms like Klout punish you for having a lot of dead weight amongst your Twitter followers. I was just reading about this in Marsha Collier’s new book, Social Commerce for Dummies. She went through a plot of platforms that allow you to find out who your inactive followers are, or they allow you to explore the demographics of your followers and determine who you should cut because they aren’t “relevant.” Again, this is function of losing nuance in the online world. You can talk about things relating to your business but you don’t have to do so ALL of the time. I enjoy talking about anything from The Princess Bride to SEO on Twitter, and I don’t really worry about whether that’s helping me be “influential.”

Folks are focusing on the wrong things, at least in my opinion. And if that misaligned focus influences them enough, they’ll just unfollow everyone and start again.

“What is the best tool to stay in touch with followers you would like to touch base with and know better?”

What I’ve done is create a couple of different lists that I keep as columns in Hootsuite. While I like monitoring replies better on Twitter.com, I use Hootsuite to keep track of what people I like are tweeting about. You could create a list of people tied to your business, a list of people you like to talk to for fun…whatever you want, and just track all of those as columns in Hootsuite, TweetDeck, or whatever other tool you use.

“What are best Twitter practices/etiquette?”

This would be a post unto itself, but I would say the most important things are to make sure you aren’t just broadcasting blog posts (yours or other people), try to talk to at least one new person a day, make sure you are following new people, stop chasing after “twelebrities,” offer help to others who might have questions, and be personable.

“What’s the best use of Twitter for bloggers/writers?”

I think there are two ways Twitter can come in handy for bloggers/writers. First, of course, it helps you expose your content to a wide open stream. However, there’s an understanding that if you want your posts shared, you should make sure you share other peoples’ content too. People will be more motivated to help you out that way. Also, conversing about the topics you’re interested in can be valuable. A lot of people use these conversations as an opportunity to spout out 5 links to their own blog. I’ve never been a fan of that approach. Would you mention a blog post while talking to a person at a coffee shop? You might mention it but you wouldn’t scream the URL into their ear, right? But talking knowledgeably about your subject will draw people of similar interests to you. You need to be consistent on your blog though. If you are engaging on Twitter, you also need to be responsive to comments on your posts.

“Why do followers just start dropping you?”

We mostly covered this already. Also, there are some Twitter accounts that are set up, I think, to follow for x number of days any account it tweets with, then it unfollows automatically when that time was up. I experienced some of that when I first started tweeting. I found it rather annoying!

Hopefully this is helpful. Of course I would love to hear what other people think about all of these issues too!

First image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/5301633680/via Creative Commons

Second image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/2191408271/ via Creative Commons

Third image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/poper/29916517 via Creative Commons

This fun post is by my friend Sarah Manley. Sarah Manley has extensive experience marketing for manufacturers, technology companies and healthcare organizations. Sarah drives online traffic to create sales by writing collateral and managing social media accounts for clients. Sarah enjoys speaking about social media for business, implementing fresh ideas and measuring campaign effectiveness. Here’s Sarah’s LinkedIn Page or you can find her on Twitter.

 

 

A few days ago I watched a movie that inspired me to make connections between social media (work) and movies (play).  This is the time of year studios start pushing the movies they think will garner the most Oscar buzz.  Using some quotes from some of my favorite movies, there are some marketing lessons to be learned and applied to your 2013 plans.  How is your marketing stacking up?

1. “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”  This phrase, uttered by Judy Garland in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz exemplifies social media perfectly.  Social Marketing tools have different nuances in each tool.  What works for a LinkedIn company profile, may not be the best way to talk about your organization on Facebook.  Learn the tool and celebrate the unique qualities in the social media realm.
2. “Here’s looking at you, kid.” Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine from Casablanca was really on to something, especially with the increasing importance of digital imagery within social tools.  Beyond brochures and flyers, marketers need to think about the importance of photos with Flickr and Instagram to convey that snapshot of their organization.
3. “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”  Marlon Brando had it right in The Godfather.  Marketers should think of this line when they are starting to setup their social promotions.  While 10% off a purchase sounds like a great deal, take some time to think out of the box and come up with something truly unique.  This is also a great idea when you want to survey your customers.  Make it worth their while.
4. “If you build it, he will come.”  Ray Liotta explains this core message in Field of Dreams.  This is NOT the way to treat your social media plan.  What you need to do is tell others in multiple ways about the great things your organization offers.  A website alone will not get it done. Incorporating the basics of SEO by adding a blog, making sure you pay attention to tags will help your website get noticed by the casual online browser.
5. “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” Yep, the Captain from 1967’s Cool Hand Luke strikes this nail on the head.  Are you responding to the comments you are getting on your website, on your Facebook page and Twitter or YouTube accounts?  If you are not responding to your customers and engaging in conversations with them, you are failing at communication and giving your competition an opening to start a dialogue with your customers.
6. “Show me the money!” Rod Tidwell from Jerry Maguire wants his agent and future employers to reward him for his reputation.  That isn’t a good enough reason.  Tidwell learns he has to put heart into his work.  This is a valuable lesson to learn with your online look as well.  If your site looks good, but you can’t back it up with good customer service or an inferior product, you may get that initial sale, but you won’t keep them coming back.
7. “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Jennifer Cavilleri Barrett tells her husband this during a pivotal moment during the movie, Love Story.  Well, you aren’t in love with your clients and they aren’t in love with you.  You do have an obligation to be honest with your customers.  So you do have to say you’re sorry, especially if you mess up completing an order or something bad happens.  “You can’t handle the truth!” Col. Nathan R. Jessep tells a prosecuting attorney in A Few Good Men.  Yes, your clients, vendors and partners can handle the truth.  That is ethics in practice.
8. “I’ll have what she’s having.” This customer from When Harry Met Sally spouts a great one-liner, but it is a poor social media strategy.  Don’t jump on a social tool just because everyone else is there.  Think it through and find out if your customers are there before you invest the time and resources.
9. “We rob banks.” Clyde Barrow succinctly sums up his mission in Bonnie and Clyde.  How does your About Us page on your website read?  If it is isn’t clear what you do and why you are doing things, take a look at your text and simplify it into one sentence.  It gives you a great jumping off point.
10. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Martin Brody tells his fellow fisherman in Jaws that they need more to catch their shark.  Similarly you think you might need more information on your website.  A bigger website.  Actually what you need to do is analyze what is on your site and determine if it is effective and how it works.  Your website might just need a good hook to get those customers, not extra stuff.  The extra stuff is what the sales department delivers.
11. “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Forrest Gump was talking about life, but he may as well have been discussing social media reach.  If engagement is the number one advantage of participating in social media, then the number two is reaching people who may not know your organization by showing up in the social media stream.  Creating additional exposure to people you don’t know can boost your credibility among prospects.
12. “Nobody puts Baby in a Corner.”  Johnny Castle had it right in Dirty Dancing.  Don’t put a part of your marketing program in a corner.  If it isn’t current (within reason) or has an old logo or a different look.  Recycle it and make it relevant or get rid of it.  And please stop using old collateral.   You don’t want to confuse people with 2 looks.  They won’t know which one is right.
13. “Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac…It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!”    Carl Spackler in 1980’s Caddyshack does a great job of building up a story.  Some of the most profound marketing tells a story…how you got a client, how something is built, how you started your business etc.  Use story in your marketing to make it memorable.
14. “After all, tomorrow is another day!” Scarlett O’Hara used this phrase all of the time in Gone With The Wind.  It was her way of pushing a do-over or reset button on her life.  You are empowered to do that.  But I would rather see you incorporate this line from John Keating in Dead Poets Society and stop waiting on tomorrow.  “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”

Now, you’ve learned some valuable marketing from this list, what about you?  Has a movie or pop culture effected how you conduct business?  If it has, comment here.   As Han Solo says in Star Wars, “May the Force be with You.”  You can write something interesting that tells a story.  This is appropriate marketing advice so you can exclaim like Jack Dawson in Titanic, “I’m king of the world!”

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennfinley/793827083/ via Creative Commons

This past week, MarketingProfs, in collaboration with the Content Marketing Institute, release a report called B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America. The report represents two very particular, very important trends that I find extremely disturbing in the online world today, so with respect and no bashing, I want to talk about this report a little bit and tell you what bothers me about it.

First, some background. It’s hard to go to any blog site these days without encountering a post about content marketing. More than Pinterest even, content marketing has grabbed the hearts and minds of social media practitioners. In fact, content marketing has become such a focus that it has continued the trend of marketers drowning out anything that is NOT content marketing. Content marketing, if you read most of these blog posts, is just about shoveling out stories and using those stories for your blog, your Facebook page, your e-newsletter, and more. If you are not doing content marketing right now, it seems to be insinuated that you are really missing the boat.

The first few slides of the report seem to support the fact that content marketing is an increasingly powerful tool in the B2B world. The first slide notes that 91% of marketers polled are doing some kind of content marketing. The fifth slide shows that 87% of marketers polled use social media while only 3% use “content marketing” in print. A few slides deeper and you find out that 54% of marketers polled plan to increase their content marketing over the next year. This all looks pretty good for the content marketing fan club.

However, when you get to slide 19 out of the 23 total slides, you find something quite shocking. Of the marketers polled, only 36% felt they were using content marketing effectively. To me, this should be the headline of the study, and it certainly adds a different aura to the information already cited. Marketers want to invest more time and money into content marketing but they aren’t sure that what they’re doing now is working? Marketers want to continue to increase usage of social media to distribute content marketing, but they aren’t sure their content is good?

What is going on here? To me, this seems like a breaking news problem.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that these marketers probably read a lot of the same blogs I do. They read about how stories regarding their company, their corporate leadership, their products, and more would entice customers to get to know them better. They listened to the folks who said that content marketing is about relationships and how it’s not transactional. I would guess that these marketers felt the urgency of jumping into content marketing and just started writing without any plan as to how best to distribute that content. Maybe these marketers started blogging but aren’t getting a lot of comments or shares because they are writing about things that their audience doesn’t care about. Just like social media, I would hypothesize that these marketers heard that content marketing was the big new thing and they jumped into the swift tides without a plan or a life jacket.

This brings me to my other concern about the report. There is no mention, really, of integrating content marketing as a tactic into anything else. Interestingly, it is noted that marketers found in-person events most credible – that would be trade shows and conferences among other things. Social Media may supplement those events but it is not the core of the issue. There is no talk about how increasing an investment in a tactic you aren’t good at may impact you negatively if you are leaving behind things that have worked. There is no indication that the marketers were asked if they were integrating their social media/content marketing efforts into other areas of their marketing campaign. It’s all content marketing, all the time. Again, this is all the more disturbing if over 70% of marketers polled feel they’re not even doing content marketing well.

Writing good content has ALWAYS been important to marketers. Marketing master David Ogilvy was all about content. In fact, he developed ads that looked more like editorial pieces because they were so full of content. Case studies, press releases, radio spots – all of those have depended on strong content. If the content was not strong, the effort would fail. Nothing has changed but where content is placed and how it is approached. You still need to figure out what kind of marketing materials are most likely to attract future customers. You still need to figure out what kind of content they like. While talking about storytelling is popular these days, some companies may find that their customers find that sort of content too fluffy. They want “how to” hard information. Conversely, perhaps you are providing solid “how to” information when your audience really wants to see a more human side of your company.

You MUST do the work. You MUST have a plan. And you should not be wishy-washy about whether what you are doing is working or not. Slapping blog posts onto a site and then sharing those posts via Facebook and Twitter is not a strategy. It will not work unless you plan it out, and you will not know it’s working for you unless you have a methodology for tracking it.

I know it is tempting to jump on to whatever the hot topic is amongst social media practitioners. A few months ago it was Pinterest. It’s been content marketing for awhile now. If you can’t do it effectively, whatever it is, do NOT do it. Either ask for help or stick to what does work for you. Just because content marketing is a social media darling does not mean your company will shrivel up without it. It does not mean it’s a perfect match for you. You must be the advocate for your own company. Do not throw money at whatever the bloggy tides tell you is hot now.

Make sense?

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/o5com/4912022499/ via Creative Commons