10 Experts Weigh In On Social Marketing

The first 10 social marketing experts in this blog series were: Top, from left:Aaron Strout, Scott Monty, Sam Mallikarjunan, Deirdre Breakenridge, Mark Schaefer; Bottom, from left: Mahei Foliaki, Jennifer Cisney, Christopher Penn, Cheryl Burgess, Eric Miltsch.

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 decided to turn to some experts and ask them three questions for a series of blog posts.

The answers were always informative and sometimes surprising. Today, in case you missed any of the posts, I recap highlights from the first 10 experts who agreed to talk to me (new posts in the series will begin later this week):

The First 10 Social Marketing Experts:

Clearly connect business objectives to social efforts, says Aaron Strout, author of Location Based Marketing For Dummies. "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."

Don’t be timid was the advice from Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company. He went on to say that successful social marketers are those "who will try new things and be willing to fail, and who will constantly learn from his or her mistakes."

Be patient counseled Hubspot’s Sam Mallikarjunan. Social marketing is "a long, ongoing process of relationship building," he said. "Expecting easy wins is a guaranteed way to get frustrated and fail."

Understand engagement, said Deirdre Breakendridge, author and CEO of Pure Performance. "A successful social marketer knows why they want to engage in social communities and how a particular program will serve the needs of the audience in the community."

The real future of marketing is in content creation and data, said marketer and author Mark Schaefer. Students must grasp the basics of marketing, but beyond that, math and writing will be the keys, he said.

Make music to an audience’s ears, said Mahei Foliaki (@Iconic88). "Those that play the best music for their audience win," he said. "Knowing what, how, why and when to play is the competitive edge."

'Walk the talk,' said Kodak’s Jennifer Cisney. In social media nothing beats firsthand experience, she said. Therefore a successful social marketer, "uses social media themselves and knows the tools, the best practices and the protocol."

Social is 'part and parcel of marketing,' said Christopher Penn of WhatCounts. Social is "a channel, in the same way that email, news, PR, direct mail, SEO, advertising, etc. are channels.… If you want to really succeed, you need to know how it interoperates with other channels.

Communication is the key, said Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus Marketing. This means all employees must be truly unified behind the scenes or a brand risks presenting an inconsistent, potentially schizophrenic message.

Make your communications 'special,' said Eric Miltsch of DrivingSales. College graduates must be able to communicate on every level: In-person, writing, phone skills and video, because "every one of these is an opportunity to connect and have an impact," he said.

So, is there a social marketer you’d like to hear from? And, just how important will social marketing be in the future and what MUST graduating students 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