Category

Social Media

Sep 16
Love0

WTF? Friday: Why Fake it When You Can Have the Real Thing?

By Communications, Social Media

Today’s post is brought to you by Ken Mueller, the owner of Inkling Media, a Social Media and marketing company in Lancaster, PA.

You just can’t fake some things.WTF?

The other day I saw one of my friends post on Twitter:

NEWS FLASH: Fake tans don’t look real

And he’s right. You can spot a fake tan a mile away. A fake tan screams, “I’m vain and I was nowhere near the beach!”

Same with toupees.

Is it more embarrassing to go bald and show the world, or try to cover it up with a piece of “processed hair matter” that screams, “If I were bald you MIGHT look at me, but NOW you can’t take your eyes off of me and the monstrosity on my head, can you???”

Like any great marketing, they grab your attention, but for all the wrong reasons. People can see through fake. Fake might work for a while, but eventually you will be found out.

What does faking it look like in Social Media?

Claiming to be something you’re not – your credentials can be Googled, and what you say about yourself can be either confirmed or denied by those you have known over the years. And the more you share online, the more people can tell if you have no clue what you are talking about.

Claming to NOT be something you are – You’ve read the reviews on Yelp where you just know that the glowing review was written by the mother or spouse of the restaurant owner, or it might actually be an employee pretending to be a happy customer. On the other side, I’ve seen horrible reviews that just feel as if they were written by the competition. Don’t do it.

Astroturfing – This is when businesses create fake profiles of individuals who then comment on their blogs, Facebook pages, etc.. The idea is that you are “seeding” conversation, and making it look like you have a larger following than you do. This will bite you in the butt big time if you are ever caught…and odds are, you will be caught.

Don’t be stupid. You can try to fake things, but it’s very likely you’ll be found out, and the damage done can be pretty bad. Be real. Be who you are. By all means, filter yourself, but don’t try to give people the wrong impressions.

Sure we can beat the words “authenticity” and “transparency” to death, but they are incredibly important. It’s like signing up for a dating site and posting a picture of a beautiful man or woman, and claiming to be much younger than you are. That game only goes so far. Eventually you’ll have to go on a date and it will be obvious you’re lying.

Faking it never works. Well…almost never…

 

 

Sep 14
Love0

Is Social Media Really Worth My Time?

By Communications, Social Media
Chester Hull

Chester Hull, Prosound

Chester Hull is a Caller Experience Expert at Prosound, and an intense proponent of helping companies provide outstanding experiences in all realms of customer interaction. He writes the Prosound Blog at www.prosoundusa.com/blog and you can connect by following Chester at facebook.com/chesterhull or twitter.com/chesterhull.

“How should I use social media to reach the right people?”

“How will I know if social media is ‘working’ for me?”

“I’m too busy to be a social media expert.”

I hear these a lot, especially from business people. It seems that so many businesses hesitate jumping in to the social media pool because they are afraid they will ‘fail’ or somehow not do it right (whatever those things mean!).

Return on Investment?

But rather than only measuring the return on your investment in time dedicated to social media for your business, here’s a another way to consider the value of social media. Especially if you are a business serving other businesses.

Provide Value

We follow all our clients on whatever social media platform they use. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. And we use that to help us provide extra value to our clients. For example: Today I noticed that one of our clients, the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport was conducting it’s Live Fire Training and Triennial Disaster Drill. I emailed the Deputy Executive Director and Director of Marketing to ask if we could help by providing an overhead announcement message that would educate passengers and visitors of the training. This would provide interest and information, as well as keeping people from panicking when they saw 200 participants from all the local emergency service agencies converging on the south end of the airport! The need to create an realistic environment includes the use of role players, real equipment, and actual emergency techniques. That could get pretty intense! And for those who would be unaware, could provide a storm of questions that the airport staff would have to answer from worried passengers! A regular announcement throughout the day would go a long ways to informing and calming passengers’ concerns.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

We’ve had similar opportunities as clients promote sales, events, promotions, or new releases. Believe me, your clients don’t always remember to share the details with you directly. But you can use social media to help keep you in the loop!

Relevant Help

Following clients allows businesses to be proactive about reaching out to clients that may be overwhelmed by all the planning and execution of an event or promotion! Instead of waiting (and hoping!) they remember to ask for your help, you will be able to offer relevant, timely help right when they may need it most. Securing your place as not just a service provider, but a true business partner…a company they can depend on to help them deliver outstanding service!

Value depends on what you measure

If you only think of social media as you speaking to your audience, you will be missing out on the value of listening to your clients and prospects. Social media isn’t just about what return you can get out of it. It’s also about finding out what you can do to add value to your clients, make their lives easier, or help them in some way.. Done well, and done right, they’ll thank you for it!

 

 

Sep 13
Love0

Twitter for Non-Traditional Business: When Contests and Customer Service Don’t Apply

By Social Media
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/RCiprotti/status/113406455343882240″]

I’m intrigued by my friend Rachel’s suggestion to blog about Twitter. I know her background is primarily serving nonprofits — and that’s where the “non-traditional” viewpoint comes from. It’s true that contests and customer service have far less applicability when the Twitter account is connected to an association, a charity or a service organization.

Twitter, as in blogging or any online presence representative of ANY organization (corporate, for profit, non profit), should share the stories of the organization.

Those stories can be shared in 140 characters (pro tip: limit to 120 for re-sharing ease) or can link to web content (i.e. blog posts). Ideally, the organization is using Twitter to drive followers to content on the organization’s home base — it’s website — where the engagement and interaction can be measured and managed.

If Twitter followers are inclined to follow organizations only because they’re providing special offers, coupons, contests, etc. then this approach is not going to attract that kind of user. With genuine, regular engagement the interaction will be real and meaningful (contest interaction rarely is).

Remember, with nonprofits, the endgame typically involves fundraising and donations that keep the organization acting on its mission. It’s relationship development, and all interaction, no matter the vehicle, should keep that in mind.

 

 

Sep 09
Love0

How the HIV/AIDS Conversation has Changed

By Communications, Media, Social Media

My friends Shawn and Gwenn began a joint career in 2000, educating teens and young adults about HIV and sexual health (Shawn is HIV positive; Gwenn is not). We met for coffee this week and talked about how the sexual health conversation has changed.

I learned that:

  • AIDS and HIV has become much less interesting to college campuses and other likely audiences; since AIDS patients manage the virus with a series of pharmaceuticals, the reputation of the virus has changed from that of a killer, to a “managed condition.” This is a false sense of security as people with AIDS are still at much higher risk of dying from a broad array of related causes, and is dangerous since it can lead to unsafe practices and spread of the virus.
  • Audiences (and the schools that fund them) are more interested in a broader sexual health conversation than focusing on HIV/AIDS. This opens potential new opportunities for the couple, particularly with the introduction of Gardasil, the HPV vaccine from Merck.
  • Sometimes, Shawn and Gwenn’s message isn’t welcome. Sometimes, there are pockets of denial; “our students aren’t having sex!” or groups that think that they’ve had all the sexual health education they need. That’s not really new, but has a resurgence when the country shifts to the right and has a stronghold in certain geographic areas. (No one has sex in the Bible belt, right?)

I’m interested, of course, in how students who are digital natives are learning; my guess is after friends, YouTube is a top educator. I’m not sure, as a parent, that I want my kids’ sexual health education to come from un-vetted sources (although I’m aware that has been the trend since sex itself became popular).

Shawn, also an author (My Pet Virus), has adopted social media outreach since before we even had definitions for it; a blogger back when blogging was “live journaling,” Shawn has successfully reached MANY living with AIDS or young couples with HIV positive diagnoses in their relationships. Adopters, too, of Facebook and Twitter, the couple makes their message available in all the channels where they can be found for those who may be searching.

There’s no substitute, however, for the message being delivered in person. A sponsor to make it possible for the couple to appear before more students nationwide would help extend safe sexual practices and hopefully, prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, improving the futures of a generation.

What other ways have you heard the conversation change about AIDS, HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases? As a parent, how will your kids get the sexual health information they need? As an adult, where did your education come from? Was it correct, or sufficient?


Aug 31
Love1

Why You Won’t See “Target Audience” or “Drive Traffic” on this Blog

By Communications, Media, Social Media

I am an impassioned believer in the culture of social media. I believe that social strategy works because of the culture and those that sidestep, shortcut or throw money at it to make it work will be sorely disappointed.

What is the culture of social media?

The culture is founded on shared information, transparency (before it became a buzzword), authenticity, real, personal experiences, (yes, Virginia, even in business experiences). The culture eschews the idea of TARGETING prospects and audiences. The beauty of blogging and subscribing to content via RSS feeds changed the way the world consumes information. We were given the power to choose what we take in; what we absorb. The onus was put, at last, on us, to opt in to the information we want and conversely, block that which we don’t.

The Currency of the Digital Age

Instead of TARGETING people (and that is an unfriendly, militaristic concept, isn’t it? Are they targets because we are shooting at them?) we, instead, create content that is genuine and interesting and in doing so attract those who are interested in the topic, the service, the product, etc. We pull in people who want to read, watch or listen to what we have to say. If it’s five or 500,000, it doesn’t matter, as long as the people who arrive feel rewarded, and honor us by paying for what we offer with their attention, the currency of the digital age.

Herding Cattle, Leading Lemmings

Look: I’m a small business person. I am an entrepreneur. I want eyes on my website and know that when those numbers increase, the warm leads I have grow and turn into new business opportunities. But there’s no cattle prod here. There’s no workaround that is consistent with the practice of developing authentic, solid business relationships. Any quick fix  that promises to “drive traffic to your site!” is not consistent with the values of those doing business today. It’s not a long term, big picture view of building a business that values people, their opinions and their dollars.

Decide what kind of business you want to be in, and engage accordingly.