Last night I had an enjoyable conversation with Scott Monty of Ford, Jeff Hayzlett (formerly CMO Kodak), Mike Monello from Campfire and our host Bob Knorpp of the famous BeanCast about a variety of topics including foursquare, Facebook, Hulu, social gaming and even small logos. One of the topics that emerged from that discussion was the astute observation of how many companies “suck” at social media.
The current iteration of what we all call social media has been around for at least 3-4 years but apparently brands are still irrelevant on Twitter and companies continue to blunder on Facebook and show a lack of understanding of what makes social media conversations succeed at reaching business goals.
Part of the problem is that most companies are not inherently “social” to begin with. It’s not in their DNA to understand what it means for individual employees to start having conversations with the social web at large as representatives of a company personality. Marketing is about many things including connecting audiences with products they want to buy.
Marketing on the social web is less about the tradition of packaging and distributing information and more about companies being able to connect with customers in ways that are both meaningful to those customers and to the goals of the business.
Cisco’s attempt to leverage their take on the Old Spice campaign didn’t work so well (6,900 views). However, Brigham Young University did a parody of the Old Spice campaign and nailed it (1.8 million views). Why was that? Was it in the execution? The production? The relevance to the audience? One could argue that there is probably more resonance between the Old Spice brand and students at a University than with a company that sells routers. Just because a campaign that used social media channels worked well in one situation does not mean it’s a universal formula.
That’s a big part of the problem. Companies that are trying to understand how the social web can work for them are looking for specific formulas like we’ve been able to do with Email, Direct Mail, Advertising and even Search Marketing. The idea that a particular promotion worked for one company, therefore it should work for us too, doesn’t hold water. Companies need to figure out what works best for the social channels, media and content that best resonates with their customers.
While it’s fun to brag about, getting a viral hit on YouTube does not define success on the social web. Creating trust, connections with a relevant community and ultimately an increase in business goals like revenue is what really matters. The Old Spice YouTube channel not only racked up 50+ million views, but the company reported sales doubling.
To me, the issue isn’t about sucking at social media, it’s about failing. Companies should not fear taking risks and trying new, creative ways to connect with their customers. Some of those efforts will succeed and many will suck. Failing at social media is more about choosing NOT to:
- Listen – Social media monitoring.
- Create – Content that customers actually want.
- Engage – There is no substitute for direct participation with customers in social communities.
- Be open – Stop deciding what’s best for your customer and be open to letting them show you how they’d like to engage.
- Be brave – Show leadership in your social participation.
- Test – Moving corporate mountains is tough, so try proof of concept campaigns, run business case examples and get your feet wet.
- Change – Organizations can only be social if leadership buys in and a commitment to change is made.
- Make money – Don’t be fooled into thinking social media is all about kumbaya with customers. It’s about creating opportunities to connect and influence sales: indirectly and in some cases, directly.
I consider blogs a big part of social media and we’ve been blogging for well over 6 years. While sites like Advertising Age and Technorati rank this blog pretty high as a marketing blog, it “sucked” for quite a while as content and “voice” were being tested. There’s nothing wrong with testing and failing. But do so after listening and participating with the channels you’ll be engaging. Learn from mistakes, be creative, be nimble, empower employees with knowledge and resources. Work to make your organization “be social” vs. “do social”.
Have you “sucked” at social media? What did you learn from it? How have you turned your social media failures into successes?
Hi Lee,
Valid points as usual. This is the reason that so many offline companies are turning to online marketers for help and advice, and of course many marketers are obliging (for a small fee of course). And completely transforming the way companies market.
Take Dell as an example, they employ i think it’s 4-5 people full time just to tweet for them.
Must be something in it.
Pete
That's exactly why many companies reach out to 3rd party resources for help on the social web. The Old Spice project for example, had a team of media people as well as writers and several social media savvy consultants to help guide the man on a horse to over 50 million views and doubling of sales.
Excellent article – this is one I will bookmark and refer back to regularly when I feel myself “getting off track”. Thanks so much!
Hi,
Well I have not used social media like it should be used. So can't say whether I sucked or not, but your points are well noted!
Kindest,
Nabeel
Two points: 1) social media has been around for so long- since WOM, forums, blogs etc- it's not new and only became more popular with Facebook and Twitter coming onto the scene. 2) you need to be a good marketer first to reach your consumers and achieve company objectives.
Combining points 1 and 2- companies need to understand their target market and their behaviours- companies should've been listening to consumers from a long time ago and they should've seen this demand for openness and transparency from their consumers coming. If they 'suck' at social media it's because they don't have good marketers- it's just another platform for them to leverage to understand consumer behaviour and reach out to them and should be a part of the marketing plan, not treated as a separate thing altogether.
Exactly Nahgam and its why companies would do well to “be social” vs. “do social”. It's a matter of perspective.
Exactly Nahgam and its why companies would do well to “be social” vs. “do social”. It's a matter of perspective.
You make an EXCELLENT point when you say that “Part of the problem is that most companies are not inherently “social” to begin with.”
You're absolutely right. It's not in the “nature” of a business to be social in the same way that we perceive being social on social media. I think the culture of business has become so sales-oriented that it has pushed out the notion of socializing on the most basic level.
Thank you Michelle. Ironically, it will be the desire to increase sales that motivates many companies to finally become more social.
I do agree with you, Michelle. Social media is not about “implementing a marketing channel based upon a concept or strategy”. It is about living and breathing it, it needs to be part of the company culture, the company DNA.
So, in my eyes social media failures are mostly due to “genetic engineering” on the company DNA…
Yes that's a great way to phrase it, “genetic engineering.” It really is as though business culture is a living and breathing thing.
And you're absolutely right, Lee. I'm already seeing MANY business owners say “I'll do whatever it takes to increase my sales–even if that means spending time on social media.” But unfortunately, many of them are still confused and often unwilling to take the quantum leap to do business differently than before.
Here's a potentially dangerous question: What is the correlation between “sucking at social media” and “digital illiteracy?”
Josh, I agree there's a lot of education ahead and sucking because of not knowing any better is OK to me, as long as we learn from it and make commitments to participate and get better. Companies are as tentative about the social web now as they were about the internet at large in the nineties, so it seems like familiar territory in some respects.
Josh, I agree there's a lot of education ahead and sucking because of not knowing any better is OK to me, as long as we learn from it and make commitments to participate and get better. Companies are as tentative about the social web now as they were about the internet at large in the nineties, so it seems like familiar territory in some respects.
Great post Lee. I use to simplify what you are talking about here for my clients in one sentence.
“If you really want to be successful with social media you either have to be genuinely passionate about speaking to your customers online or hire someone else that can be.”
I think I might use the Cisco vs. BYU videos in my next presentation.
Great stuff as usual Lee.
It's a hard pill to swallow for a lot of companies when they start adding up the logistics of the organizational and culture changes but without customers, businesses will die. They have no choice.
So true, many companies think just by having a Twitter or Facebook page is enough which is definitely not the case!
Excellent article (I just Tweeted it because I think it’s so important). I like it especially because it’s blunt, honest, and describes exactly what’s going on out there in Social Media Land.
Great post Lee! I also believe that many companies don't have clearly defined goals when it comes to social media. They just aren't sure what it is they are trying to accomplish through the social media channels. Plus, they are entrenched in the “good old days” of big advertising budgets which allowed for direct advertising methods (like TV, radio, etc.) Now, they are suddenly faced with this entirely new medium and they aren't sure what to do with it. I absolutely agree with you…go ahead and dive in, if you fail, learn from it. That's the only way to success!
Exactly Jessica and kudos to those companies that have tried and sucked like Skittles, Target and Dr Pepper. They should be proud of their social media suckiness (but certainly not promote it), learn and move on to creating great things on the social web. What customers appreciate is transparency of intentions.
Great Post! I sent to my boss.
Nailed it. Spot on.
Nailed it. Spot on.
Great post! I like that you listed “listening” first. There is a reason we have 2 ears and only one mouth. 🙂
2 ears and one mouth – classic.
Awesome and VERY well put. I forwarded to the rest of my company.
The biggest point for me is that companies are just not usually “wired” properly for social interaction. The business world runs on dollars spent vs. ROI and that is it! They do not understand or have the vision of what it means to have actual conversations with their clients. Why? Because no other tool in history has ever allowed for that. All they have been able to is talk AT people, not talk with them.
Hi, great article. I am going to incorporate it into an upcoming analysis of Morgan Stanley's use of social media on my blog next week. Follow me on twitter @KarolinaReiss.
Thanks Lee. As a new user of Twitter, I’m trying to learn the best I can. I love the “2 ears and 1 mouth” comment below. Thanks for the insights
Here's yet another “companies that don't use social media are stupid” post. Wow. I'm amazed by how so many companies are still growing their sales & revenues without social media. Why haven't they all met their doom? Statistics show very few companies actually utilize social media as part of their overall business plans. Statistics also show more and more companies beginning to explore social media marketing opportunities (yay!) but what statistics don't show is true ROI of social media. Think that has anything to do with a company's hesitancy to jump into the social media madness? Perhaps.
I know, I know, you can give me several examples of companies that have had some success with social media campaigns but was it an effective campaign or just dumb luck? What may work for one company might not work with another…yes? So maybe the problem isn't that companies suck at social media but that social media has gotten harder and harder to define.
There are too many avenues for a company to consider when choosing the right social media strategy. A video campaign on youtube? Hmm, well maybe a facebook fan page would be best. Scratch that, let’s go with a blog! Oy vey!
You think companies don't listen? That they suddenly don't create content that customers actually want? That they're not open to the needs of their customers? Brave? What kinds of companies are you talking about? Not successful ones.
Sure, “There’s nothing wrong with testing and failing” unless it's your money that goes down the drain. Companies stick with what has worked since forever: deliver a quality product at a competitive price with exceptional customer service. Got news for you – it still works. So can social media be a valuable asset for a company's marketing/customer service initiative? Sure. Will it mean their doom if they don't? Not unless you've got any facts to back that up and you don't…do you?
Congratulations Dan! You've won our cynic of the day award.
You forget the *possibility* of “uncovering millions of dollars worth of sales leads” can cost a company thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) in social media training, hiring & marketing materials that may be best utilized in sales, customer service, & product knowledge trainings.
As for “1 in 3 Fortune 500 Companies Have Branded Twitter Profiles” how many of those are placeholder accounts used to protect the company against brand-jacking? You might also want to check the stats on the level of “engagement” of these accounts after 6 months. As for “108 of the Fortune 500 have blogs” [half full], which means 392 don't [half empty].
I'm not here to pick a fight, I'm just getting tired of hearing online marketers and social media specialists making it seem like companies have not been listening, creating, engaging, being open, being brave, testing, changing, or making money before social media came around.
PS – Snappy finishes do make me feel better when I'm frustrated 🙂
Being in a company that 'failed' (imo) at social media, this is a nice post summing up some of the things that we didn't do. Corporations that fail at social media in Taiwan seem to think that social media solely as a tool, and by thinking in such a way you neglect the true value of social media- personality and relevance. There are many hurdles for a large corporation to adopt (what I think is) the social media mindset. Often the case, company culture, politics, sales-oriented mentality and lack of understanding tend to lead companies down the wrong path. Bloggers and media arn't actually helping either, we're seeing a large number of 'go big or go home' case studies, and how Company X incorporated this mammoth social media campaign and rolled their way into stardom. These companies that are struggling will benefit more from a lesson in Change Management, and a gradual ease into the social media mindset.
Hey Paul, regarding “These companies that are struggling will benefit more from a lesson in Change Management, and a gradual ease into the social media mindset.” I don't disagree with that at all. Testing and building a business case can be a challenge but showing progress is a great motivator for change. Of course, so is ego and embarrassment if it comes to showing how well the competition is doing.
Hello Lee, definitely. But in my industry (tech components/consumer tech), corporate culture is still largely manufacturing and sales oriented. It's almost become just a rat race to see who can one-up the competitor in (what they perceive as) KPI's.
“They have more fans than us on their Fan Page…Give away some prizes!!!”
YES! Now we have more fans, we win.
That's the general vibe of things here, and it's really quite depressing reading about all the untapped potential that other people/companies are exploring or discovering bit by bit. Social media is easier to 'measure' compared to traditional WOM in respect to some basic indicators and references, but I think Einstein's quote holds true for this instance: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” How do we, as a relatively large organization, wrap our heads around concepts that require stepping out of our comfort zone, and become customer centric?
Love that quote Paul, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted”. I think part of the answer to your situation is in counting or at least monitoring. Implementing a social media monitoring effort with more advanced tools can generate very useful and qualified data about the social opportunity in your category. Revealing opportunities that can impact the business both in terms of increased revenue but also cost savings might be the key to moving towards a more customer centric focus.
Thank you for your insight and please continue to share your insights. They are appreciated.
You have to admit, it's quite the advantage you have to be able to sit down and pow-wow with the names you dropped in the first paragraph. Small companies like my own don't have that edge (no pun intended) and do the best we have with limited resources and small teams who are already spreading themselves thin is this competitive environment. Access to a think-tank that includes Scott Monty and Jeff and the rest is what “we the suckers” could really use.
Let me know when they do pro-bono work, I'm in.
Craig, the interesting thing is, I have a fairly small company and it is through the power of networking, content and creating value that gives me the opportunity to connect with many of the top marketers in the world. If I can, anyone with smarts and passion for their industry can. Is there any reason you cannot set a goal for creating your own mastermind group?
Lee…Thanks
I think your comments on Social Media raise some great points. I also think the word “Sucked” is probably a little “heavy handed” as it often creates the perception of “Never” being able to “Get it Right.” I would say most companies usually “Fall flat on their Face” the first time around – but are completley willing to get up, dust themselves off and keep going. (except for companies with mindsets like those in Dan's comments – I Loved your reply…)
I believe we are in the “Toddler” phase of Social Media – Some companies walk and talk faster than others – but they “ALL” want to….As companies start to really understand what works and what does not work, the desire to generate new business will always overcome their fear of the unknown – except for the few who do “Not” want to change with the times. Thanks again…
Thanks Go2Mach2, glad you liked it. While sucks is a strong reference, it was the language used in my discussion with Mike, Scott and Jeff. I blog it like I see (or hear) it. 🙂
Great post Lee!
I love seeing companies try something new and take risks. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but at least they're trying to separate themselves from the herd.
Social media is not a paint by numbers type thing and I think that those that are willing to try and be different will be the ones who really shine.
Cheers,
Sheldon, community manager for Sysomos
Exactly – better to try and better yet to try using smart tools.
Excellent post. You really nailed the Cisco/OldSpice issue. Simply taking a 'successful' campaign, copying it and expecting it to work wonders for you company just won't cut it.
Thanks Jeremy. It's the easy way to borrow and sometimes it actually works. But when it doesn't it really stands out on the social web.
Lee
In your list at the end, I would add 'target'.
Here's why in my mind (feel free to disagree):
– Targeting is a key step in developing a marketing strategy, social or not.
– Social media is a network of niche networks (or communities and am not talking facebook/twitter/…but 'beauty','personal finance', 'wine' and so on). Targeting the niche communities corresponding to a brand (say the 1000 computer security influencers) brings focus to an engagement strategy.
– Because listening is a critical step in SM, and brands don't have the resource to listen to everything, they need to choose where to listen thus target.
What do you think?
Laurent
Good social media monitoring tools pull in vast amounts of data but are also keyword based, so the targeting that results is pretty straightforward. Find where customers are talking about topics of importance and spend time on those channels.
Havn't seen one market research data and I've been working in this corp for nearly two years. So Laurent's point about “Targeting is a key step in developing a marketing strategy, social or not” can almost bring me to tears (as basic as it may seem). We sell through third-party distributors and wholesalers, and even though most of our products are components, we do have consumer goods.
Ironically, one could say our market 'research' is conducted by word of mouth (through talking to our distribution channel in an ad hoc manner).
What I've seen is that if you're not doing a decent job in your marketing fundamentals, when you decide to shift resources to social media, your flaws will be amplified. If you don't have a clear target before, when you go onto twitter blabbing about anything to anyone that (in your own little mind) you think is your target, you're gonna sound very, very dumb 🙁 .
P.S. I'm actually doing up a new resume, maybe my comments will start sounding less morbid after that all pans out, ha ha!
Paul
I like your twitter example. I see that happening a lot. I also see some companies that are going after specific target and engage in a way that a good chunk of their followers come from that pool.
Laurent
Lee
I don’t know about that. My experience (being in the business of technology to support social media activities), is that monitoring does a ‘broadbased targeting’ which is so so…but if you want to invite say, 10 people to a focus group on skin rejuvenation and you want 5 of them to be somewhat part of your ‘brand promoters’ and 5 to be somewhat ‘brand detractors’, it’s a different ball game. You can’t start with keywords. You first have to start mapping a relevant communities (for example, dermatologists or beauty bloggers) and gather intelligence on the communities and its constituents to pin point the ideal target. I call it ‘social targeting’
Does it make sense?
Laurent
Laurent, that's a great example and very, very specific.
I truly enjoyed your post along with everyone's comments too. There are so many great points made here. I just thought I would share my own experiences with social media networking. Although my company has only done a small amount to date, with blog, facebook and Twitter, I have found the biggest value so far to be the customer interaction. Our Facebook page especially has created an opportunity for us to respond to daily – to weekly customer questions in a timely fashion for many others to see, and this dialogue encourages others to engage in conversation, and/or ask questions as well. So, you're right, this is where you'll see the “social” part come into play, and then in return you will see the gains. I agree, most companies are still in the toddler phase, trying to figure out how to make social media networking work for them…so they're not necessarily failing, rather they just haven't fully figured it out yet. Thanks again for your post.
Thank you for sharing your experience Colleen, I think many of our readers can relate and many others will be motivated by your insight. Think of how many companies sole conversations with customers are limited to transactions and customer service vs. what you're describing. It's new territory.
I think most companies are afraid to embrace new trends in social media because it's really uncharted territory. A lot of the time even when a major company does embrace social media it can also backfire considerably when the company is unable to provide solutions if there are issues with their products.
It's a good point and I forget who popularized this expression, but I agree that “social media doesn't fix a broken company or a broken product”.
I agree with the earlier comment that companies are frightened by the idea of exploring uncharted territory, and many feel that social media detracts from their ability to control their organization’s channels of communications. However, since social media opens these channels for communication, it’s far worse not to take part, and therefore essential that your organization’s voice is heard and included in the conversation. If that’s not convincing, we can also say, c’mon, it’s 2010, everyone’s doing it…
Bandwagon, embarrassment, fear of loss, ego … there are many psychological triggers to get people to do the right thing before they know its the right thing. The trick is, it REALLY needs to be the right thing 🙂
I think Gary Vaynerchuk would have an answer to the question posed in the headline. Follow him @garyvee
Companies suck at social media because they don't understand how time consuming it is. They know they need to participate but they assume its something that their 24 year old marketing assistant can do in her spare time. “She has a facebook page, she knows how this stuff works.” Then to the surprise of no one, social media becomes less and less of a priority because whoever was given the task wasn't given the time to be successful. Therein likes the suck.
Bingo, Bingo and I say again, Bingo! Nail on the head John.
When I get asked, “How many interns should we hire to friend and follow people?”. I ask whether those companies would hire an intern to be their media relations spokesperson or if they would have an intern give a presentation at a client conference. Whoever the company tasks with social web interactions becomes the face and voice of the company. Is it possible for an intern or recent grade to do that well? Maybe, but certainly not the norm or the default.
They suck because they are sometimes unaware of the exact tactics which are performed for a better Social Media Campaign! Without planning and forecasting your social media campaign it would be really difficult for you to exist in the circle!
Thanks!
We have tried lots of different things in our own small business, most of which didn't work. That takes time to learn what does and does not work, most businesss aren't willing to invest the time, and are deathly afraid of something not working. Yet those same companies want to buy a “Block of Social Media” to increase sales, and typically think all social media is, is facebook.
Facebook or Twitter or YouTube and so on. I can't emphasize enough, the value of participation and research to create reasonable goals for commitments to social media. I say commitment vs. investment because the emphasis is, as you say, on buying something with the hopes of more in return, vs. a commitment to becoming a more social organization in a way that engages customers. That engagement translates into the desired outcomes like word of mouth referrals, site traffic and sales.
This is truly excellent post. I don't think I've ever read anyone nail the whole Cisco/OldSpice issue with such thoughfulness. It's true simply taking a 'successful' campaign, copying it and expecting it to work wonders for you company just won't do it.
A majority of companies are inherently 'not social' It's a different way of doing business that hasn't been picked up by the business masses yet. I think companies just try to dive into social media with really having a plan. They'll look at another successful campaign and try to mimic it but fail. They'll get frustrated and say social media isn't for them. Rather than just attempting a campaign without a plan, these companies should send their employees to training. They can even do this 100% online to save on travel costs. Here's one such program where you can even earn a social media certificate. I'm not saying this is the solution to all problems but it'll definitely take companies in the right direction.
Very, excellent post . Really, in these days social media websites like twitter, facebook are very popular websites, millions of people are using twitter and facebook. So many of companies are going towards facebook and twitter.
Dear customers, thank you for your support of our company.
Here, there's good news to tell you: The company recently
launched a number of new fashion items! ! Fashionable
and welcome everyone to come buy. If necessary, please
input:www.ongoin.com
fbg
Nice article. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
I'd really love to see some data from a real e-commerce site. Are there any companies willing to share the percentage of their online revenue they get from these sources?
• Email marketing
• CPC
• Organic
• Social media (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Stumble Upon, etc.)
• Direct
• Referrals
• other?
The title nails it from the jump. Most companies do have issues with this because it more than likely is going through editors and more than one head is having to approve “a single thought.” rnrnThis is why people who don’t own a company are usually great at this. No deadline and its all natural thoughts they are simply passing on to readers.
companies must be able to embrace new trends in social media and that is one major reason why they do not so much succeed like they expected. it’s not all about hanging out, there is more to social media and that is adapting to new trends in the market.
Companies should not fear taking risks and trying new, creative ways to connect with their customers. Some of those efforts will succeed and many will suck.
Late to this thread, having just picked up on it via Twitter…thank you for the observations, Lee. Here are a few of mine, some of which echo earlier comments: 1) all media are social, and the most social are actual human encounters; 2)most people who call themselves social media marketers are actually marketers of social media platforms; 3)most brands that try, and get no traction on social media platforms, make the mistake of ‘listening’ for linear narratives, when narrative in a network is non-linear;4) in the networked business environment, improvisation is the most vital communication skill, ask the Old Spice team, which considers it the most important element of the campaign’s success; 5) improvisation begins with person to person interactions inside an organization; 6) If the ‘media’ internally — listening, connecting, adapting,collaborating in reality, and consistently — are not ‘social’ — non hierarchical, unscripted, non-dogmatic, spontaneous — no platform or strategy in the world can make the brand so.
Thanks for the excellent observations, Lee. Here are mine, some of which echo earlier comments:nn1) ALL media are social, and the most social media are real world human encounters. Social media platforms must be designed to flow to and from these encounters; n2) most people and companies who call themselves social media marketers are actually marketers of social media platforms; n3) most brands that try, and get no traction on social media platforms, make the mistake of ‘listening’ for linear narratives, when narrative in a network is non-linear;n4) another reasons brand get no traction with social media is that they’re looking/listening to connect threads of their own brand narrative, rather than looking/listening for threads of customer narratives in which their brand can play a role;n5) in the networked business environment, improvisation is an essential skill, as brand narratives can no longer be entirely scripted–if they can be scripted at all. For example, I’m told by the Old Spice online team, one of whom is an improvisational musician, another of whom took several GameChangers workshops with me, that improvisation is the single most important element in the online campaign’s success; n6) If an organizationu2019s u2018internal media’ are not themselves socialu2014meaning open and always listening on multiple levels, connecting across disciplines and hierarchies, consistently adapting and collaborating — no platform or strategy for interacting with the external audience can make a brand so.n
Are their affordable yet respected and proven SMM companies that will launch a SMO program for a small, start up company that has huge growth potential?
Ron, I’m sure there are and much of that growth potential could occur because of great marketing, so it can be a bit of chicken before the egg. No matter what, great marketing advice costs money. The challenge is in finding a company you feel is worth the investment and that will invest in your project.
another reasons brand get no traction with social media is that they’re looking/listening to connect threads of their own brand narrative, rather than looking/listening for threads of customer narratives in which their brand can play a role
It’s truly like pulling teeth just to get a small mom and pop shop to think in terms of SEO or social media. Companies that are just now getting into it are stuggling as their “social experienced” competition is dominating the local market with the way they interact with thier client base.