Welcome back to my blog and week 4: Social Media Plans.
The first thing you need to keep in mind when developing a social media agenda, is that you need to be sure to formulate a strategic plan of attack. What does this mean, you must be asking yourself? A strategic plan of attack? Who are we attacking? I'm glad you asked. YOU'RE ATTACKING YOUR CONSTITUENTS! But in a super non-violent way. You will be connecting with them, through your messaging, and seeking out their company to come and engage with you, your product, or your service. To do this effectively, order must ensue. Well Charlotte's dad, how can we ensue this order you speak of? I will tell you. This order can be achieved through a few simple steps involving a strategic approach: identify your audience, develop your plans, and select your tactics. If your messaging is well thought out, and well distributed, targeting the right audience at the right time, you will be successful 92% of the time (that figure is completely fictitious). Moving forward, this week we will explore some key points from four different chapters from the readings which delve deeper into a more strategic approach to your overall plan.
Scott, Chapter 4: Social Media and Your Targeted Audience
In this chapter Scott covers the social media landscape, and likens the realm of social media, to that of a city. I thought this was a great way to describe what social media is, to someone who might not be familiar with the land scape. And for those of us who are, its a good way to keep ourselves in check as we navigate through this city, and engage in our social networking. According to (Scott, p. 54), social networking happens when users create a profile and engage to become part of a bigger community of people who can be seen as like minded individuals, to share information. As a business professional who engages consumers through the use of social media, or even individuals out to market themselves, we must keep a strategy in mind of which groups we choose to be a part of and what kind of information we choose to share. Scott, Chapter 11: You Are What You Publish: Building Your Marketing and PR Plan
Remember how we were all taught the 4 P's of Marketing? Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Well in this chapter Scott basically says:
That right, FORGET THAT STUFF...
Scott goes on to point out that if you want to be a successful marketer, you need to draw focus away from everything always being about your product, and put more emphasis on the consumer; those people who buy your product and engage with your company. When talking about companies that write successful blogs, Scott (P. 169), states that companies that do this write for their buyers, in regard to direct-to-consumer news releases. The blogs that are most successful about achieving organizational goals don't talk about the company, or product, but rather focus on their customers and their needs.
Qualman, Chapter 4: Obama's Success Driven by Social Media
Did anyone watch Jeopardy last night. The final question was: The most re-tweeted tweet of all time happened on November, 6th, 2012, and started with the word Four and ended with these two words...that;s right, "More Years" as in Four More Years, as tweeted by Obama himself after winning the election. Ah, the power of social media. Qualman discusses in this chapter how pivotal a part social media played in Obama winning the presidency. Why or how was it so successful? As found in (Qualman, p. 62), Obama embraced social media from the beginning. He knew he had a chance to dominate this medium over his democratic opponents. Qualman goes on to point out on (p. 64), how Obama's team stuck to a grass roots campaign by providing behind the scene's footage that networks would have loved to have. They were smart enough to keep the production value low, in order for it to look more authentic. Hat's off to you Obama team, hat's off to you. Qualman, Chapter 5: I Care More About What My Neighbor Thinks than What Google Thinks
This chapter focuses on the term "socialommerce". What socialommerce means is that we as a people, put a very high value on the opinions of our peers. Qualman states very early on in the chapter, which I found to be very interesting, on (p. 89), that in the future, because of socialommerce, we will no longer seek out ANY products, rather those products, will come and find us. Sounds kind of creepy. But fascinating at the same time. Keep in mind, the idea of socialommerce is not new. So why then are we tying some old idea, into a new form of communicating, such as social media? The idea behind that is that social media, through micro-blogging, as found on (p.90), enable users to inform their friends what they are doing every minute of every single day. This new tool then basically perpetuates the idea of socialommerce, into something that is living and breathing, and happening in real time. References:
Scott, D. (2013). The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Hoboken, NJ. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business. 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hi Dan,
ReplyDeleteI have to say, your post made me laugh! Love the humor.
So I had the same thoughts as you when Scott whipped out the “forget everything about the 4 P’s” thing. But, I think he has a valid point. If a company goes out with a product without understanding who its customers are, how they think and what they actually want and need, how does it expect its product to resonate and sell? It does make more sense to observe a target market, understand everyday life and what type of product or product features are needed to help improve lifestyles. This helps a company not only develop its product but also better understand communication preferences. Ok, so maybe the 4 P’s really are obsolete.
But then I remember a quote from Steve Jobs: “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them” (Sturt, 2014). So for Jobs, he was intent on creating products that people didn’t even know they needed in their lives. Think about the iPad. People didn’t really realize they had a need for the convenience of a tablet until it was given to them. Was this perhaps observed through buyer personas?
So in reality, you can’t rely on the consumer to tell you exactly what they need, but you also can’t ignore their ideas. Confusing right? The key to success “involves careful consumer observation and investigation—rather than traditional market research—to identify latent, unarticulated needs that customers may not even know they have” (Sturt, 2014).
What’s your take on whether companies today are using Scott’s model? While we don’t know the thought process behind product releases, there are some companies, like Apple, that continue to innovate and provide its consumers with products that really enhance lifestyles.
Reference:
Sturt, D. (2014, January 3). Delight your customers by giving them what they didn't ask for. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsturt/2014/01/03/delight-your-customers-by-giving-them-what-they-didnt-ask-for/
Lindsey,
DeleteI really enjoyed reading your insight on my post. I think in many ways, there is a balance that needs to be met, in relation to knowing what your customer wants. You pointed out a great example from Steve Jobs, basically creating products and telling people what they want. I think in his case, he was a genius, and he was an innovator. He was able to see the extremely big picture, and know that people everywhere would flock to his devices and technology like bee's to honey. I think he could have based his assumptions on basic human characteristics. so that gave him some insight into what type of device or technology people would find sleek, attractive, and fun to use. For me personally, it has always been my feeling that people want to be led. They want to be told what to do, and they want to be told what they want. But again, as an innovator, its about understanding basic human wants and needs. And in regard to the 4 P's and tossing that out the window, i wouldnt say its completely obsolete, but i think moving forward there is a different methodology to learn from and execute when doing business. The product is really just a thing. Its the experience you create around that product, how you package it for the consumers, that will make you successful. Starbucks was a great example from the book. Starbucks doesn't sell coffee, they sell and atmosphere, and coffee just happens to be something someone can buy when entering into one of their stores. Anyone can sell coffee, but can they sell it like Starbucks sells it? Off topic, did you see the DumbStarbucks in the news recently. I thought that was pretty funny.
I might have gone off on a bit of a tangent, but I did mention balance, and I feel even though people want to be told what they want, as technology advances, so does the accuracy of big data, which Ian spoke about in his post, and the idea of predictive analytics. And even mentioned in Qualman about socialommerce. Being able to know what the customer wants before they even know they want it. Big data, and predictive analytics is what will bring us forward into that era of being one step ahead of the consumer.
Thanks again for your feed back,
- Dan
Hey Dan – I agree, plenty of people just want to be led. A company can solicit feedback from its consumers, but so many are satisfied with their current products they don’t actually see room for improvement. If a company relies only on its consumer opinions it may never develop its products and remain competitive in the marketplace.
DeleteBut then there are some people, like Steve Jobs, who come out with this new product that really does improve your lifestyle, and then we can never look back! I recently noticed commercials for Xfinity’s X1 platform that brings voice commands to TV browsing. Much like Siri, you can just tell it to “put on Friends” and it finds it. Personally, I’ve managed just fine with a remote control and never thought it needed some kind of enhancement. But wait a second, life just got easier because now I don’t have to spend time clicking through channels (it’s possible couch surfing just got even lazier).
And yes, I did hear about Dumb Starbucks! I was actually curious if it had been shut down by Starbucks yet but it looks like health inspectors got to it first. Check it out! http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/dumb-starbucks-shut-health-inspectors-article-1.1609947
Dan,
ReplyDeleteMy first time reading your blog and I really enjoyed the voice and style you have. I think your style not only represents you, but bridges the gap between having just the class reading and a larger audience looking to learn without feeling like they read the book.
Social media like a city is a great concept. There are many individuals on social media all seeking for their own stake in the scheme, but at the core of it all is a sense of finding a community or fitting in. Finding your way around the city at first came be a disaster, but once you find the routes that work navigating becomes a breeze.
With the ever changing social media world, how do you think this metaphor can be adjusted to address that? It can be easy for a company to stick with the same routes and miss new parts of the city.
Welcome Courtney!!!
DeleteThanks for taking the time to read about what Charlotte's dad thinks about all this Social Media stuff. In response to your question, I think describing it as a city is a great way for those who know nothing aout Social Media, and for those who know a great deal about it, to wrap their head around the concept. In regard to how fast its changing, perhaps someone should take the time to develop an application that lays social media out as a city, and constantly offer users updates of new social road maps, new social "buildings" that are under construction or just opening. It would be cool to be able to interact with the social world in a city like environment, literally.
Thanks for your input,
- Dan