10 More Experts Weigh In On Social Marketing

The second 10 social marketing experts in this blog series were: Top, from left: Gini Dietrich, Scott DeYager, Suzanne Vara, Ric Dragon, Amber Naslund; Bottom, from left: Avinash Kaushik, Valerie Simon, Paul Gillin, Dan Leveille, Steve Farnsworth

Social media marketing is a new and growing field of study. As someone who is now charged with teaching the basics in this field to college students I have turned to experts to ask them three questions about what makes a successful social marketer and how important social will be as a part of the marketing mix.

I’ve now asked these questions of 20 experts. Their answers were always informative and sometimes surprising.

Today, in case you missed any of the posts, I recap highlights from the second 10 experts who agreed to talk to me (see the link below to read a summary of the first 10). New posts in the series will begin later this week:

The Second 10 Social Marketing Experts:

In the future social success will require "utility marketing", according to Avinash Kaushik, Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, and author of two best-selling books: Web Analytics: An Hour A Day and Web Analytics 2.0. Utility marketing, he says, is marketing provides useful content and avoids the opposite: "shouting and pimping."

Talk to people as human beings, said Gini Dietrich, the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. "If a social marketer knows how to talk to people without being a marketer – in the traditional sense of the word – he or she will succeed every time," she said.

Social media is definitely a team sport, according to Scott DeYager, Social Media and Strategic Communications Manager at Toyota. He went on to say that to succeed students require writing and storytelling skills as well as a knack for team building.

Understanding "how marketing fits into an overall business picture," was the advice of Amber Naslund, president and co-founder of SideraWorks. She noted: "Too few marketers understand how the work they do affects the rest of the organization."

"Social can be the lighter fluid on the marketing bonfire," said Ric Dragon, author of Social Marketology and CEO of DragonSearch. He urges students to understand that "by integrating traditional marketing tactics with social, more value will be realized from each component of the marketing."

Understand "the basic fundamentals of marketing and communicating with the target market", Suzanne Vara, founder of Kherize5, advised students. They should also be well "versed in how the target audience uses the tools, engages with the tools and with others," she says.

"Being interesting" is the key to successful in social marketing, said Paul Gillin, a social media trainer and author of five books about online communities, including the new Social Marketing to the Business Customer (with Eric Schwartzman). "Successful social marketers have the ability to create a unique persona and content stream that engages the audiences they want to reach," he said.

Creativity and innovation are key skills to have in social marketing according to Dan Leveille, Product Marketing Manager at deviantART.com. He explained: "You need to stand out from the rest by having innovative campaigns that not only get people's attention, but retain it."

Stay away from quick "win" activities like contests, advised Steve Farnsworth, the Chief Digital Strategist at Jolt Digital Marketing and a Forbes Top 50 Social Media Influencer. Instead of contests, develop "a deep understanding of what customers actually want from the brand," he counseled.  

It’s time to re-evaluate the Product, Price, Place and Promotion approach to marketing, said Valerie Simon, marketer and co-founder of the #PRStudChat (PR Student Chat) and#HAPPO (Help a PR Pro Out) Twitter chats. Those traditional "4 Ps" have been replaced by the "4 Ss," she said, "Service, Solution, Simplicity and Sharing."

So, what do you think? How important will social marketing be in the future and what MUST graduating students know?

Previous posts:
The First 10 Experts Weigh In On Social Marketing
Social Marketing: Clearly connect business objectives, says author Aaron Strout
Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty
Social Marketing: A good marketer 'walks the talk,' says Kodak’s Jennifer Cisney

Social Marketing: 'The lighter fluid on the marketing bonfire,' says author Ric Dragon

What are the most important social media marketing skills that graduating college students need to understand?

Ric Dragon

I’m asking three questions of some leaders in the field of social marketing and this is what I learned. This is No. 15 in the series (see the links below for other posts in the series).

Today: Ric Dragon, is the author of Social Marketology, a social media deep-dive and process reference for marketing professionals, CEO of DragonSearch, and a frequent columnist, blogger and speaker on digital marketing. He can be found on Twitter as @RicDragon:

"Social can be the lighter fluid on the marketing bonfire," says Dragon, explaining that "marketers are in the business of creating more value."

"By integrating traditional marketing tactics with social, more value will be realized from each component of the marketing," he says.

"Create a reminder for yourself – perhaps a tattoo on your forearm or a post-it on your monitor – to always seek out ways to derive more value by integrating your efforts," Dragon says.

When asked: What skills are the most important in social marketing, he says there are two major buckets of important skills in social media marketing.

"The first bucket has a lot in common with traditional marketing skills: being able to understand actions in their context with an organization’s purpose, vision, goals and objectives; understanding customers; and understanding the complexity of influence," Dragon says.

"The second bucket has more to do with participating in social media in ways that help to create conversations and community," he says. "We’re talking high 'social intelligence' and high 'emotional intelligence' here – those little actions that encourage the trust in others, and help ignite deeper engagement."

He notes that organizations that are flourishing in social have shown a willingness to relinquish some of the control of the brand, allowing the brand to exist with a more dynamic voice – and thus become a part of the conversation.

They've relinquished the "command and control" approach to the brand, and encourage an "enable and facilitate" approach, and have very likely embraced notions of transparency and authenticity, he says.

But not all brands have crossed this threshold.

"The great challenge for many marketers is in helping those laggard brands join the social revolution – and are thus able to speak the language of the C-Suite," Dragon says.

"Instead of eschewing discussions of Social Media ROI, successful marketers understand that social media marketing exists within a complex ecosystem, and helps to create value across a wide spectrum of places in the organization.

"Communicating this – having those discussions – is critical," he says.

And how important is social marketing as part of the marketing mix?

"Marketers today should wake up each morning with a feeling of delight and excitement – we live in a time of real revolution in marketing and business communications," Dragon says.

"Brands that embrace these new approaches to building communities, leading with passion and purpose, and one-to-one conversations are going to assume a leadership role," he says, and "will be difficult for competitors to usurp."

So, what do you think? How important will social marketing be in the future and what MUST graduating students know?

Previous posts:
10 Experts Weigh In On Social Marketing
Social Marketing: Understand how marketing fits in, says Amber Naslund of SideraWorks
Social Marketing: 'Talk to people as human beings,' says Gini Dietrich, marketer and author
Social Marketing: Understand engagement, says Deirdre Breakendridge of Pure Performance
Social Marketing: Its 'part of a nutritious breakfast,' says Christopher Penn of WhatCounts
Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty