Why Companies Fail at Generating Social Media ROI
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Social Media ROI (Return on Investment), is supposedly a hard thing to prove or measure. The problem isn’t the value of social media, or in many cases our approach to getting results – it’s about commitment – a good old fashion work ethic and focus on the longterm.
Today’s social business podcast discusses the dilema and the needed shift in consciousness required of leaders to win in the social media space.
Social Media ROI takes time and most people – even really smart people in leadership positions (who come from a different era) have a tough time planning more than 3 months into the future these days. When you build a social media presence it becomes an asset, one which increases in value over time but really requires no more input on your 18th month than it does on your first day (solid strategy required of course).
“Social media” as a term sucks. The minute we put the word “media” beside something we start to measure it like our latest newspaper campaign or radio blitz. Most media is disposable and impermanent. The radio ad, print as or email blast has a very finite window for generating results and then that money, well spent or not is gone. We spend our $20,000 for a month long campaign and then to drive more business we have to spend it again next month.
In this podcast we are going to discuss three types of media:
- Bought media
- Owned media
- Earned media
Failing to understand the difference between these three types of media and having the foresight and commitment to build a true media asset for their business is in my opinion one if the single largest roadblocks for most businesses social media success.
Influence Marketing Book Interview with Danny Brown
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This week I had the great opportunity to interview Danny Brown on his new book co-authored with Sam Fiorella called Influence Marketing. Danny in my opinion is a Thought Leaders’ Though Leader – an awesome no BS resource for what really works in social media marketing.
The book launched yesterday globally and you can get it on Amazon in hardcover or Kindle format. According to HubSpot Danny Brown’s blog (DannyBrown.me) is the #1 Marketing Blog on the planet. Danny and I have been Tweeting and emailing each other for almost four years and we finally got to connect and do this podcast together
Here were some of the key take-aways from the podcast interview with Danny Brown:
- Most concepts of influencer marketing (especially through social media) are incomplete or focused on the wrong audience
- Good influencer marketing doesn’t start with social media gurus or big influencer, it starts with mapping out what your customer persona is and then identifying who impacts your customer buying decisions
- Klout and the many apps like it are great for identifying macro influencers but in many cases aren’t helpful identifying the actual micro influencers that directly impact your customer’s buying decisions
- 5 steps to to start doing your influence marketing right
We covered so much in this podcast that you’re just going to have to listen to it to get all the information.
Here’s a great InfoGraphic on Influence Marketing Sam and Danny just released that really demonstrates how many organizations are struggling with or don’t understand the importance of Influence Marketing (Click here For the High Res Version):
Why Community is Still Number One in Social Media Marketing
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Community in social media is still number one. I posted the following tweet a couple days ago on Twitter and it received quite a bit of feedback and a few retweets:
Social Media Tip: social media scales through community, community grows by relationship building. Focus on people.
I then realized that I needed to expand on the topic. Here’s the basic outline of what I cover in todays podcast:
- Why community is vital if you want to leverage your social media marketing efforts and get your content and marketing to expand well beyond your own sphere of influence.
- Relationships build community, numbers alone don’t make a community. People who have an emotional connection with you and your brand are more likely to share your content and interact with you.
- Focus on people, even PR has changed. Bloggers and community influencers have now become gatekeepers of communities and your content won’t flow into those communities until you connect with those gatekeepers.
7 Steps to Building a Social Business
I have been a little too busy over the past 3 months. 20 seminars and training sessions, a half-dozen new clients for our social media agency and of course family time! I have a number of new podcasts in the que for you over the next 60 days but I thought I would re-ignite my blogging efforts by sharing a new video I just posted called “7 Steps to building a Social Business.” Also you can also check out our Socialized! Agency Blog for new and breaking news on the social media space. Enjoy!
Also Consider Gannon University Online MBA Programs as another way to build success in the business world. Before you get social a business foundation really helps.
5 Social Media Lessons From Wizard World Comic Con
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At Socialized! our Social Media Agency we have had some incredible opportunities over the past year to work with brands such as the Ford Dealers Association of BC and Alberta, the Certified Management Accounts, CGA BC, CGA Canada and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. However…even producing the week long event “Social Media Week Vancouver” did not prepare us for the passionate, loyal and often opinionated fans at Wizard World Comic Cons. This is a relatively new adventure for us but this podcast reviews 5 social media lessons I have learned (or re-learned) so far:
5 Lessons (Listen to the podcast for a full explanation):
- Tapping into a Tribe is much better than building one
- When people know you’re listening they talk, share, tweet, like and follow
- Amplify the moment
- Run contests to find influencers
- Partner to expand influence
Here are some of the links and resources mentioned in the podcast:
Wizard World Comic Con Sites and Resources
- Wizard World Event and News Site
- Wizard World Comic Con Blog
- Wizard World Facebook Page
- Wizard World on Twitter
Social Media Monitoring:
Socialized! Social Media Agency
- Socialized! Blog
- Socialized! Team on Twitter
- Shane Gibson – Chief Social Officer on Twitter
- Tris Hussey – Chief Geek and Pixel Washer on Twitter
- Anthony Caridi – President on Twitter
11 Social Media Trends for 2012
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Today’s podcast is on 11 Social Media Trends for 2012. Here’s the outline for my podcast – I would love your feedback and thoughts:
Key trends
- How not if
- TV on everything and social on everything
- Location based marketing will continue to grow
- Social cultures will evolve out of social use
- Social CRM will move mainstream
- India is rising
- A return to engagement
- Rewards versus contests
- Filters will dampen the noise
- Social networks will become more fluid and mobile
- Corporate social intranets
Potential pitfalls
- App overload
- Lack of conversation management
- No policy, training or identity management
- Lack of true internal social culture
- Domestic focus and culture
- Competitors get better at local, mobile and intimacy
- No follow-up after the contests (see engagement)
- Hard push back for no engagement
The New Rules of Engagement in Social Media
These are the 7 Rules of Engagement from Sociable! (http://fb.me/sociablebook) that Stephen Jagger and I developed almost 2 years ago… and the rules are now more important than ever! Enjoy! – Shane Gibson.
Social Media Speaker Video: Going Social with CRM #SCRM 41:28
I recently delivered the keynote speaker address to CDC Software’s CRM conference in Las Vegas. This is one of the most recent social media for sales professionals talks I have done and it’ not just a promo clip. Here’s the full 41 minutes on “Going Social with CRM – How Social Media is Turning Sales Upside-down:
Here are the slides to go with the presentation:
Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.
Assessing Defining and Measuring Your Social Media Influence
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Today’s podcast is on defining and measuring your social media influence. Dave MacDonald who is an integral part of our team at Socialized! works on our social media assessment process with our clients. Recently he suggested we add a component to our assessment that measures how well the client we are working with is engaging and connecting with influencers in social media.
The question of course is what makes someone influential? Should we look at the Klout score of the people they interact with? Possibly the number of important bloggers that write about them? Or is it simply how viral or broad their message gets shared? As a guerrilla social media marketer I measure success in profit and net-action or results. For this podcast I want to focus on a section right out of our Social Media Rules of Engagement training module. Here is the basis for what we consider influential:
John C. Maxwell said it best when he said “Leadership is Influence.”
He didn’t say leadership is a good idea, a vision or a title. He said influence. Influence can be defined for our purposes as causing someone to take action (internally as and personal growth or externally as in doing something). So we can imply the following:
Influence = Action
Following are some examples of action:
- Message gets passed on
- Get linked to
- Changing or molding views
- Registering and attending events
- Solving problems
- Getting feedback
- Listening and creating brand and relationships
- Generating dialogue
- Getting press
- Capturing an e-mail address or contact info
There are many more. The important factor here is to go beyond the Klout score mentality and realize that people are not an algorithm. I check my Klout on a regular basis, but it’s value of the actions we create determine if we are truly influential. So to summarize this:
Leadership = Influence = High Value Action
What comes first? A pretty website or business results?
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Too many people think a website, Twitter account or well produced video is a strategy — in reality they’re just tools. Before you invest money and time in building a brand new site, or devote more time to your social media efforts, it might be a good idea to have a plan.
Today’s podcast was inspired by a couple of conversations I have had recently. The recurring issue is people and organizations revamping their websites (some spending thousands and thousands of dollars) and not having a social media strategy before doing so. Many sites are built by well meaning developers or agencies that haven’t considered what a truly social site and blog are.
I personally think organizations should have a plan, strategy and spec their sites to be social and easily adaptable to new social media tools and trends (and not cost huge amounts of money in the process). Have a listen to my podcast and let me know your thoughts on this.
Shane Gibson (@ShaneGibson) is a sales and social media speaker who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages on three continents over the past 15 years. He is also co-author of Guerrilla Social Media Marketing and Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. When he’s not speaking or Tweeting he is in the social media trenches working with his clients as Chief Social Officer for Socialized! Ltd. a social media agency and training organization.
Join Me for the 30 Day Podcasting Challenge – @ShaneGibson
I have been podcasting since 2004. It has brought me great clients such as Ford, ACL, and a dozen other major corporations. It has also allowed me to meet and interview people like Guy Kawasaki and Bruce Philp (two marketing minds that I suggest you get to know well).
I then looked at my roster of podcasts and realized that I have much more to share. The podcasting seems to happen after the client work, proposals, research, books etc. BUT it has been a major driving force in my business and I have been less than generous with my listeners. I should be giving you way more in the form of interviews, strategy and just sharing the things I’m learning everyday.
I decided to publicy make myself accountable and also ask for your help. Starting today I will be doing 30 podcasts over 30 days. I would also like to challenge you to contribute in a few ways:
- If you’re a podcaster – take the challenge with me. Start sharing more of your knowledge more often today.
- If you are an author, subject matter expert or are having success using social media for business, community building or charity — reach out to me and lets get you on the show TODAY.
- If you’re a listener, Twitter connection, LinkedIn associate or Facebook friend take a moment to listen to the podcasts, submit your questions, share what you like and let me know what you think. Heckle me if you feel like it!
That’s it. Thanks for coming along this journey with me. I hope you enjoy the show. (I am posting two podcasts today just to get a head start — come back in an hour!)
Shane Gibson
Chief Social Officer
Socialized! Ltd.
http://socialized.me
Blog: http://www.closingbigger.net
Got iTunes? Click here to subscribe our Podcast!: http://tinyurl.com/itunes-sales-podcast
Follow Shane on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shanegibson
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