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: 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