Social Marketing: Its 'part of a nutritious breakfast,' says Christopher Penn of WhatCounts

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing?

Christopher S. Penn

I’m asking three questions of some leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned. This is the seventh in the series (see the links below for other posts in the series).

Today: Christopher S. Penn, Director of Inbound Marketing at WhatCounts, an email marketing service provider; co-founder (with Chris Brogan) of PodCamp, the UnConference series; and the author of the excellent "marketing, media and martial arts" blog Awaken Your Superhero:

"Remember when we were kids and we saw commercials for breakfast cereal?" Penn asks. "And they always included that tagline 'Part of a nutritious breakfast?' That's social marketing."

"It's a channel, in the same way that email, news, PR, direct mail, SEO, advertising, etc. are channels.

"It's part and parcel of marketing, and if you want to really succeed, you need to know how it interoperates with other channels," he says.

So, what skills are the most important in social marketing?

Two are vitally important, Penn says: Understanding how human beings work (psychology, applied) and being a fantastic writer.

And, what separates a successful social marketer from the others?

"It all comes down to hitting your numbers, whatever they may be," Penn says "Reduced support costs, increased customer satisfaction, more marketing leads, more closed sales.

"Whatever you are measured on," he says, "you've got to be able to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that you are contributing to the success of your organization."

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

Related posts:
Social Marketing: Make music to an audience’s ears, says Mahei Foliaki (@Iconic88)
Social Marketing: Clearly connect business objectives, says author Aaron Strout
Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty
Social Marketing: Communication is the key, says Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus  
Social Marketing: Hubspot's Sam Mallikarjunan Tells All
Social Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know

Social Marketing: Make music to an audience’s ears, says Mahei Foliaki (@Iconic88)

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing?

Mahei Foliaki
(a k a @Iconic88)

I’m asking three questions of some leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned. This is the sixth in the series (see the links below for earlier posts in the series).

Today: Mahei Foliaki, co-founder at Iconic88 Media, and known as @Iconic88, "Unofficial Chief Happiness Officer of Twitter" and co-founder with Bridget Davis of The Internet Chef:

Making music to an audience’s ears leads to social marketing success, says Mahei Foliaki.

Social marketing is an increasingly important part of the marketing mix and is "like a piano," he says. "We have access to the same keys on a piano in the USA as people do in New Zealand."

"The point of difference across the world is how the notes are played in combination as chords to make a song.

"Those that play the best music for their audience win," Foliaki says. "Knowing what, how, why and when to play is the competitive edge," he says.

"If one is successful here, marketing investment becomes more efficient … because 'word of mouth' between friends, family and trusted sources is the most powerful of advertising we know."

To get to the point of providing what an audience wants the successful social marketer must also be a good listener, Foliaki says.

"If you listen to people, you'll immediately know how to make a positive difference in your communications," he says.

Social marketers should always "bring value to your communications channels so that the person you’re communicating with leaves happier than when they arrived."

Being well read is also a key trait. "The more one reads, the more they can contribute to conversations," Foliaki says.

And what separates a successful social marketer from the others?

Foliaki says how they listen to people, engage/respond to people and give back without any expectation of reward.

And, "empathy is a must here (in social media)," he says.

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

Related posts:
Social Marketing: Clearly connect business objectives, says author Aaron Strout
Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty
Social Marketing: Communication is the key, says Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus  
Social Marketing: Hubspot's Sam Mallikarjunan Tells All
Social Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know

Social Marketing: Clearly connect business objectives, says author Aaron Strout

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing?

Aaron Strout

I’m asking three questions of some of leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned. This is the fifth in the series (see the links below for earlier posts in the series).

Today: Aaron Strout, Group director at WCG (a strategic communications counseling firm) a member of the advisory board at Vintank (a company that offers software to connect wine industry with its customers in social spheres) and co-author of Location Based Marketing For Dummies:

Clearly connecting business objectives to actions in social, is what separates a successful social marketer, says Aaron Strout.

"While social media can be fun and a great way to connect, companies aren't paying you to mess around," he says.

"However, if you’re engaging and connecting with people on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook leads to good things for your business, it is a worthwhile activity."

Therefore, what separates a successful social marketer from the others is "being able to clearly connect business objectives (sales, awareness, loyalty, foot traffic) to actions."

Strout says success for a college grad will depend on strong communication skills.

"Making sure you are clear and concise and don't come across as too serious is also helpful," he says.

"One rule of thumb I always use any time I update on the social web is a.) would my boss be comfortable with what I'm writing and b.) would my wife be comfortable with my update (for younger folks, you can always sub in parents for spouse).

"The key is, it's OK to push the envelope a little," Strout says. "But you should always be aware of the potential outcomes/consequences."

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

"Increasingly more important," Strout says. "Many companies now realize that having a balanced mix of offline, digital and social marketing are critical to a company’s success."

"One of the forces driving the need for more social marketing is that budgets are tighter and resources are more scarce," he says "So doing 'more' with 'less' is the new reality."

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

Related posts:
Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty
Social Marketing: Communication is the key, says Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus  
Social Marketing: Hubspot's Sam Mallikarjunan Tells All
Social Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know

Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing?

Scott Monty

I’m asking three questions of some of leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned. This is the fourth in the series (see the links below for earlier posts in the series).

Today: Scott Monty, Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager for Ford Motor Company who writes the excellent The Social Media Marketing Blog and is found on Twitter as @ScottMonty:

"A successful social marketer is one who is not timid," says Scott Monty. 

They’re someone "who will try new things and be willing to fail, and who will constantly learn from his or her mistakes," he says. 

Asked what sets a successful social marketer apart from the rest, Monty says: "Piecing together trends and creating new and exciting opportunities rather than rehashing old ideas will make their efforts stand apart."

"It is important to know the overall practices of advertising, marketing and communications, and to understand the fundamentals of the business you’re using it for," he says.

But, aside from specific knowledge of industry or practices, it’s also "important to be curious and to understand what makes people tick."

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

"It’s currently a small piece of the overall efforts in communications and marketing, both in terms of budget and impact," Monty says. "But it’s something that is on everyone’s mind."

"Understanding how to truly integrate it into the traditional mix is the challenge," he says, "Rather than treating it as an afterthought or add-on."

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

Related posts:
Social Marketing: Communication is the Key, says Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus
Social Marketing: Hubspot's Sam Mallikarjunan Tells All
Social Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know

Social Marketing: Communication is the key, says Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing?

I’m asking three questions of some of leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned.

Cheryl Burgess

Today: Cheryl Burgess, Managing Partner at Blue Focus Marketing – a social branding consultancy that was the winner of MarketingSherpa's 2012 Reader's Choice Award - "Best Social Media Marketing Blog" – and who is on Twitter as @ckburgess: 

"Communication is absolutely essential in order to succeed as a social marketer," says Cheryl Burgess. 

"At its core, it means communicating among all the different departments in a business," she says.

However, a brand’s customers don’t see a company as a series of departments; they see it as a unified front. 

"This means all employees must be truly unified behind the scenes," says Burgess.

"If not, a brand risks presenting an inconsistent, potentially schizophrenic message." 

Strong communication also implies the ability to court influential people in your audience, whether that’s other business professionals or potential customers willing to help spread your message, she says. 

"Here, strong communication also means strong listening skills," says Burgess. "You have to keep your ear to ground and know where to spend your time in order to get the most bang for your marketing buck.

"According to Burgess, a successful marketing message will invariably take on a life of its own, one not necessarily expected when the campaign was first designed.

"The best social marketers aren’t afraid of this," she says. "In fact, they embrace it and do what they can to further this process. 

"In other words, they don’t act like a robot, blindly following 'the plan' until the campaign has run its course.

"They let the campaign take its own course, following it where it wants to go and clearing more space for it along the way.

"This organic approach ensures the presentation and execution of another key trait of social marketing: authenticity," says Burgess.

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

"It’s becoming more important every day," says Burgess. "No marketing campaign should be without a social component. A 30-second commercial, for instance, shouldn’t be the beginning and ending of a campaign. You will only reach a small part of your audience, and you won’t be offering them any chance to engage."

She says good examples of this are the recent Old Spice commercials, which were so successful they helped redefine the concept of "manliness" in pop culture.

"While the commercials themselves were incredibly iconic and memorable, Old Spice made sure the level of engagement went much further than that," says Burgess.

"The Old Spice Guy engaged fans daily on Twitter, and answered fan mail on YouTube.

"Old Spice made sure its message was everywhere, and users ate it up."

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

Related posts:
Social Marketing: Clearly connect business objectives, says author Aaron Strout
Social Marketing: Don’t be timid, says Ford’s Scott Monty
Social Marketing: Hubspot's Sam Mallikarjunan Tells All
Social Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know

Social Marketing: Hubspot's Sam Mallikarjunan Tells All

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing? I’m asking three questions of some of leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned.

Today: Sam Mallikarjunan, Head of Experimental Marketing at HubSpot – a supplier of "all-in-one marketing software" – and found on Twitter as @Mallikarjunan:

Sam Mallikarjunan

Having patience, being attentive to small details, being creative and developing a "thick skin/sense of humor" and an analytical mind are the key skills in social marketing, says Mallikarjunan. 

People new to social marketing must be patient because: "social media is not an immediately gratifying endeavor," he says.

"It's a long, ongoing process of relationship building. Expecting easy wins is a guaranteed way to get frustrated and fail."

Paying attention to detail is key because: "People usually don't make big mistakes in social media, they make small mistakes that have big consequences."

Because social media is, to an extent, a discovery and entertainment media you must be able to create something interesting (whether it's unique ideas, interesting content, or just witty one-liners), says Mallikarjunan, or you're not going to be successful with social media marketing.

Developing a thick skin and a sense of humor is essential because every brand has its trolls.

Mallikarjunan also says an analytical mind is important because he has noticed that some social media marketers are starting to think of themselves as artists.

"Stop it," he says. "You're not so special that you get to argue with data. "If your data says tweet twice an hour 24 hours a day, don't argue that 'you know' that that will 'annoy' your followers."

When asked: What separates a successful social marketer from the others, Mallikarjunan says an understanding that social media feeds off unique content is the biggest key.

"Without some kind of unique content, you're not going to be successful in social, he says.

"Just 'having conversations' isn't enough if you don't have anything to say that's adding value to your customers' social ecosystem."

And he believes social media is THE key part of the marketing mix.

"It's implausible that you're going to be successful as a major brand in the future without integrating social into your regular media mix.

"I'll add that the opportunity cost from being engaged in social is higher than other areas of marketing.

"It doesn't take an expensive piece of complex software and systems to implement; engaging in social media actually has a really low barrier to entry. Therefore the net benefit from gains in social media are proportionately more impactful.

"You're already creating content, you're already doing customer service, you're already engaging with influencers, so wrapping these efforts into a social strategy isn't actually that hard and the consequences of not wrapping them into it are potentially dire."

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

Related post:
Social Media Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know

Dear Foursquare – 3 features I’d love you to add

Foursquare started as one of those things I wasn’t sure I wanted (or needed). Now it is a fun part of my daily social media routine and something I do miss when I don’t have access to it (it’s a long story, but it involves American phone companies and their ridiculous international data usage rates).

But as someone who does a lot of thinking about social media and social media strategy I’ve been wondering how Foursquare could go from great to brilliant.

Dennis Crowley and his crew at Foursquare are doing great things, but I figured why not make a few suggestions for things I’d love to see on Foursquare. Hey you never know …

Dear Foursquare – 3 features I’d love you to add:

Meetup Planning: I’d love to be able to select a group of friends I have on Foursquare (and other social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, but let’s not get greedy) and suggest a future meetup at a location on Foursquare. Ideally Foursquare would track "yes," "no" and "maybe" responses and send me a reminder or two at times I pick.

A Better Recommendation Engine: Based on my checkins at every coffee shop I can find, for example, I would love to be able to toggle on or off alerts about coffee shops I have not yet tried. Maybe I can pick up to three categories of places I always want to be alerted about and a certain distance away from wherever I am. For example: "Hey Mike, Foursquare noticed you are within 2 miles of a restaurant that serves Mexican. Do you want to check it out?" Being able to save this heads up for a future visit would also be great.

The "Why-Didn’t-I-Think-of-That? " Wheel of Discovery: So I’m in a new city (or just in my own city and looking for a new experience) why not have a "spin the wheel" option where Foursquare randomly selects five things it knows are nearby (distance to be determined by me or Foursquare). This would be a good addition. To make it great, maybe each user's "wheel" learns over time as people accept or reject specific recommendations.

So what do you say Dennis and crew? Can these features be added? I know it would sure increase my use of Foursquare.

What do you think? What other features would you like added to Foursquare?

Social Marketing: Mark Schaefer on What Students Must Know

Mark Schaefer

What are the most important skills for graduating college students if they want to have a future in social marketing?

I put three questions to some leaders in the field of social media marketing and this is what I learned.

Today: Mark W. Schaefer, author of Return On Influence and The Tao of Twitter:

"A competency in math and writing is crucial, especially for entry-level jobs," says Schaefer because "the real future of marketing is in content creation and data mining."

He says it goes without saying that college grads need to grasp the basics of marketing, but beyond that math and writing will be the keys.

When asked: "What separates a successful social marketer from the others?" he says any social marketer needs to show measurable results that align with the organization’s strategy. 

"In this day and age, there is no excuse not to measure what you do and constantly improve," he says.

And just how important is social marketing for business?

"That is totally dependent on the structure of the industry in which you compete," Schaefer says.

"The place of social media in the marketing mix for a brand like MTV would be quite different than a company that sells coal or lumber, for example."

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

5 Nightmare Social Clients

With social media and dollar
symbols dancing in their heads!

As social media become more mainstream the ways they can help become more apparent to business owners.

In social media strategy consulting this means a greater variety of owners looking for help to get started or do a better job in social. Sadly, it also means more potential social clients who are, to put it mildly, "nightmares." 

These are the folks who are sure they know they need social media (and at least they recognize this), but get things off to a bad start in initial discussions by making it clear that the help they need may be way beyond the scope of a social media strategist to provide.

Here are 5 Nightmare Social Clients that anyone in social media strategy consulting will walk away from (or at least find to be a lot of heavy lifting):

The Lemming:
"I need to be on social media because everyone else is. " This usually mild-mannered customer often has a business that really could benefit from making social part of the marketing and customer-relations plans, but is equally likely to have no idea why. This is the least-scary of the nightmare clients because if (and it can be a big "if") they are open-minded and eager to learn they can be persuaded to do all the right things in social and ultimately be successful. Equally likely, however, is that they will never truly buy into social and your time will have been wasted.

The Square Peg:
"Social media will save me money and get me extra sales." This type is usually doing OK with traditional media for advertising and marketing. But they’ve seen social media and it has dollar signs dancing around their head (i.e. more sales at less cost). This "Square Peg" approach to pushing sales and marketing messages won’t work in the round hole that is social media. The only way to save this nightmare is to show them some examples of successful "round peg" approaches … and even then their first question will likely be: "How cheaply can I do this?"

The Naïve:
"I already have a blog and a Twitter, I just don’t understand why they aren’t working." If it were this simple, wouldn’t everybody be enjoying phenomenal success? This fact escapes the Naïve. This customer is a nightmare because they usually "just want a few minutes of your time" and hope that a single consult will set everything right. The only hope of turning this person into a good client is showing them that a long-term plan with frequent checkups and tweaks will lead to success. Again, the reality check ("this will take time and effort") has a good chance of scaring them off.

The Unrealistic: 
"The way I see it you can help me find new customers etc. all for a few minutes a day on Facebook." One of the more frustrating potential clients: They will often go to great lengths to impress upon you how much they already know about social media and all they really want "is a quick guide to using this stuff for business." They often have no marketing plan (or a poorly-thought-out one) and usually don’t understand that to be effective social media will require time and patience. This is the first of the "nightmares" who may not be able to be rescued.

The Impossible: 
"What do you mean you charge $XX an hour and think it will take a minimum of XX hours to develop a plan for me? I thought this stuff (social media) was free and easy to use?" This is the nightmare you should walk (no, make that RUN) away from as soon as you hear these words. No amount of explanation and good examples will turn them around. They usually have no interest in social except as a way to make money/save expense and, more often than not, will not be willing to put in anything but a minimal effort. Like I said, RUN, away from this person.

So what do you think? Are certain potential social media strategy clients "nightmares"? Should you walk away from them or try to "save" them? Are there other types of "nightmares" out there?

Further reading: The customer is (not) always right

Social time off – what it teaches

 Note to blog followers: This is my first post is some time because a serious health issue with a family member meant I had to take some time to help them. This time off blogging and other social platforms inspired this post. 

In 6+ years of active participation in social media I’ve wondered, as I’m sure many do: Does all this social media stuff translate to my real and personal life? Recently I had a chance to find out. 

My Mum received a sudden and serious diagnosis. She needed immediate chemotherapy and might need help during this time. My good fortune is that I teach college and so the summer is a time I can easily (unlike my siblings) take time to help out. 

Off I went and for nearly six weeks my real life – and the prospect of someone I love perhaps losing theirs – dominated my time. My time on social media plummeted to almost nothing. Here’s what I learned from this time:

The good: 

Real people are genuine no matter the venue. Although I’m connected to more than 10,000 people across various social platforms there are just a few dozen who picked up on the various signs in social media and asked such things as "Is everything OK?" or "What’s going on?" And when I explained, were quick to offer help, both virtual and real, and support. 

Some people really are "better than advertized." Because I was traveling overseas I had mentioned to those who suggested that a meetup may be possible right before I returned to the United States. Because of the chemo schedule I was not sure of the exact date of departure and therefore a day to meet folks in real life. But at very short notice two people I had previously only known via Twitter and Facebook made room in their schedules to meet and one even introduced me to two other academics in my field of teaching, communication . Not only did I spend some time with these folks, but I came to appreciate them as truly exceptional humans. 

I feel a lot less connected with the world when social is not part of my daily routine. Yes, I read a newspaper or watched TV news or checked in on email when time permitted, but I did feel a lot less aware of the world at large without social media in the mix. This IS good, because I now know for sure that my time on social has this daily (and very important) payoff. 

The not-so-good: 

Shallow people really stand out on social media. A very few people, without asking why, decided I was "taking time off" from social and was committing a kind of "social media ranking suicide." One comment went something like this: "You do realize that an extended time of almost no activity on social media will KILL your Klout score." And if such things were life and death for me perhaps I would have been concerned, but they are not. (FYI: My Klout score dipped from 52 to 49, in case you’re wondering.) 

The vast majority of social connections are superficial. We all "know" this, but perhaps, nothing more starkly highlights it than being "gone" for an extended period and having the majority of your followers, fans, connections not notice. Does this mean the majority of social media is a waste of time? Not at all. (See Nos. 1, 2 and 3 above.) But it does help put it all in perspective. 

What do you think? Have you ever wondered what would happen in a personal crisis or enforced absence from social media? Has this happened to you? What did you notice? 

Further reading:
3 Great Ways to Take a Social Media Time-Out by Jorgen Sundberg.