My kids are out of town, so this weekend my wife and I watched a bunch of movies on Netflix. The chick flicks didn’t do as much for me, but one of them, The Social Network, really got me thinking. Everyone knows about Facebook, and how we use it to keep up with cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, and even the occasional ex boyfriend or girlfriend, but should we really be using it to try and convince people to buy our products and services? I’m not sure, but there sure seems to be a lot of buzz about social media as a marketing tactic in circles of those who talk about marketing.
I liked in the movie how Zuckerberg was hesitant to allow advertising on Facebook. He wanted it to be cool. I think it is cool too, but not when people friend me with the specific intent of trying to sell me something. I got a call from a guy I didn’t know who wanted to pitch to me because he saw that I was a friend of a friend on Facebook. I said no. Maybe I should have said yes, and pretended to be in a cult when he came to visit, and try to recruit him to one of my meetings at the North Raleigh Hilton. That would have made for a great laugh. My point is, as a nice guy, I will take his call, but if I feel duped into taking the call I’m not going to be a happy camper.
OK, here it is. From a marketing perspective, we should not expect anyone to buy anything because of our Facebook pages, but we can use social media as an effective way to develop consumers (and brand loyalty) to the point that when they are ready to execute a transaction, they are predisposed to buy from us. Use Facebook as a way to share information and gather opinions from thought leaders, and focus less on the volume of information you provide, and more on the quality of information you are providing, and people will listen to what you have to say. Send out junk, they won’t. Heck, I hid my own companies Facebook page one time because we were using it for the wrong reason. We were telling people how great we were (which we are), instead of allowing our friends and customers to speak for us. There is a big difference there.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to see pictures of my friend’s babies, and puppies, and hear about broken hearts and new jobs, but don’t try and pitch me on Facebook into buy a new washing machine. Maybe Zuckerberg was right. Maybe it is enough to be cool, without worrying about making a buck.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Change Isn’t Coming, Change Is HERE
The last handwritten letter I got in the mail was from my Grandmother. It was 1993, and I was spending the summer in Texas, and she wrote to tell me all about her Myrtle Beach vacation. I remember how excited I was to open the letter, and read in her own handwriting about how much fun she had. It meant a lot to me. I’m not sure I would place the same value in a Facebook post or a Tweet. Regardless, the way we communicate has changed, and like it or not, change is here to stay.
As consumers of content, we exchange ideas and information in a number of ways. We email, we post, we tweet, we text. We do all of this in compartmentalized chunks of data broken down into (sometimes) 128 characters of type, but no matter far the digital divide continues to expand, we still print things. We print books, we print posters. We like to hold things in our hands. That will never change. What will change is the way we combine traditional methods of delivery (postcards, catalogs, annual reports) with more rapidly developing new media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and even personalized (one-to-one) marketing and print with QR codes and PURLs. What this represents for you is the opportunity to more effectively communicate with your constituencies, your clients, and your coworkers, whether you are educating an audience, or selling a smoothie. As digital printers, we can help you understand, and embrace, the opportunities that are out there.
A lot has changed since 1993. I miss getting hand written letters. I miss picking up the phone and talking to someone instead of sending a twit or a text, but if you think about it, social and digital media have not only changed the way we communicate with each other, they have really changed the way we live our lives. Ready or not, change is here to stay. Deal with it, or be left behind.
As consumers of content, we exchange ideas and information in a number of ways. We email, we post, we tweet, we text. We do all of this in compartmentalized chunks of data broken down into (sometimes) 128 characters of type, but no matter far the digital divide continues to expand, we still print things. We print books, we print posters. We like to hold things in our hands. That will never change. What will change is the way we combine traditional methods of delivery (postcards, catalogs, annual reports) with more rapidly developing new media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and even personalized (one-to-one) marketing and print with QR codes and PURLs. What this represents for you is the opportunity to more effectively communicate with your constituencies, your clients, and your coworkers, whether you are educating an audience, or selling a smoothie. As digital printers, we can help you understand, and embrace, the opportunities that are out there.
A lot has changed since 1993. I miss getting hand written letters. I miss picking up the phone and talking to someone instead of sending a twit or a text, but if you think about it, social and digital media have not only changed the way we communicate with each other, they have really changed the way we live our lives. Ready or not, change is here to stay. Deal with it, or be left behind.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
OK, I am a printer
OK, I admit it: I am a printer. There, I said it. At my company, we like to call ourselves marketers and communications specialists, but at the end of the day, what we do is put ink on paper. We are printers. Printers used to be like used car salesmen, using slide of hand to trick buyers into upgrading their paper and spending more money, and like used car salesmen, there are some pretty bad printers out there. Me, I like being a printer. I am pretty good at it. I don’t sell lemons.
What does this have to do with the sales and marketing nirvana? Well, actually, a lot. Many people today define themselves by how they want people to perceive them, not by who they actually are, and in a society where consumers are constantly bombarded with marketing messages (over 4000 a day) people are tired of being tricked into buying things they had no intention of buying in the first place. The miracle weight loss pill, the magic squeegee, the “limited time offer”. What message do we send when we market ourselves this way? The message is simple. You can’t afford NOT to buy us. I call BS on that.
Be true to your message. Tell people what you do, and why they should buy from you, and they will either respond, or they won’t. Use too much spin, trick them into buying, and they won’t come back. That is a guarantee. The same is true in real life as it is in business. We all know people who talk one way but act another. We tend to faze them out over time. The same thing is true in printing. Be true to who you are, but also be honest with yourself about who you want to be.
What does this have to do with the sales and marketing nirvana? Well, actually, a lot. Many people today define themselves by how they want people to perceive them, not by who they actually are, and in a society where consumers are constantly bombarded with marketing messages (over 4000 a day) people are tired of being tricked into buying things they had no intention of buying in the first place. The miracle weight loss pill, the magic squeegee, the “limited time offer”. What message do we send when we market ourselves this way? The message is simple. You can’t afford NOT to buy us. I call BS on that.
Be true to your message. Tell people what you do, and why they should buy from you, and they will either respond, or they won’t. Use too much spin, trick them into buying, and they won’t come back. That is a guarantee. The same is true in real life as it is in business. We all know people who talk one way but act another. We tend to faze them out over time. The same thing is true in printing. Be true to who you are, but also be honest with yourself about who you want to be.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Facebook, Twitter, and the Art of Avoiding the Dupe
Wow, has it really been almost a year since I posted last? How did that happen? Hard to believe. Here I am, preaching to others about keeping their brands fresh, and I go and let moss grow on mine. What does that say about my personal brand? Am I really “so last year”?
I’ve been thinking a lot about branding lately, and the impact social media has on our audience’s perceptions of us. I was in a meeting the other day and actually heard someone say “I got to get me some of that Facebook!” Do what? What exactly does that mean? Honest mistake. Not his fault. Many people think you can throw up a Facebook or Twitter account and become relevant all of a sudden. It doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t matter how many Facebook or MySpace pages you have, or how cool your hash tag is, or even how many billboards you put up, because if you don’t have a message that people put value in, you become even more irrelevant than before. You become a “social spammer”. We all know them. They post everything. They tell us about their dogs and cats and trips to the convenience store at 3AM for Boones Farm (seriously?), and even though we thinks it’s cool at first, eventually we go for the dreaded “HIDE” feature of Facebook and remove their card from our mental rolodex. My question is, if we do this to our friends, and our families, as marketers, do we risk doing the same things with our prospects and customers?
All I am saying is this: too many times today, when it comes to branding, we skip over defining our goals and developing our strategies, and go right for the tactics. All Facebook and Twitter are (as it relates to corporate branding) is tactics. Even worse, without a sound strategy behind them, they are pretty lousy tactics at that. I think people get so caught up in being out there that they forget to really focus on what they hope to accomplish. If you get your audience to your page, don’t let them down. Don’t take their wallets. Offer something of value, or they end up feeling duped.
OK, so my Chinese New Year’s resolution is to post more. I refuse to be last year’s poster child for next year’s rising star. Whatever that means.
I’ve been thinking a lot about branding lately, and the impact social media has on our audience’s perceptions of us. I was in a meeting the other day and actually heard someone say “I got to get me some of that Facebook!” Do what? What exactly does that mean? Honest mistake. Not his fault. Many people think you can throw up a Facebook or Twitter account and become relevant all of a sudden. It doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t matter how many Facebook or MySpace pages you have, or how cool your hash tag is, or even how many billboards you put up, because if you don’t have a message that people put value in, you become even more irrelevant than before. You become a “social spammer”. We all know them. They post everything. They tell us about their dogs and cats and trips to the convenience store at 3AM for Boones Farm (seriously?), and even though we thinks it’s cool at first, eventually we go for the dreaded “HIDE” feature of Facebook and remove their card from our mental rolodex. My question is, if we do this to our friends, and our families, as marketers, do we risk doing the same things with our prospects and customers?
All I am saying is this: too many times today, when it comes to branding, we skip over defining our goals and developing our strategies, and go right for the tactics. All Facebook and Twitter are (as it relates to corporate branding) is tactics. Even worse, without a sound strategy behind them, they are pretty lousy tactics at that. I think people get so caught up in being out there that they forget to really focus on what they hope to accomplish. If you get your audience to your page, don’t let them down. Don’t take their wallets. Offer something of value, or they end up feeling duped.
OK, so my Chinese New Year’s resolution is to post more. I refuse to be last year’s poster child for next year’s rising star. Whatever that means.
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