Social Media is About Connection

There’s a whole lot of sharing going on, but are we really connecting?

One thing that I'm finding fascinating watching people interact through social media is how much more important face-to-face has become even though we have up-to-the-second information sharing with the people in our lives. 

I think there is a distinction between the sharing of information through social media (pictures, links, videos, random political rants, etc..) and true relationships that involve trust and bonding. As businesses, we might use online search and social media to narrow down candidates for a job, but I doubt any of us would hire sight unseen. There's too much non-verbal communication that you miss without the face-to-face. When you need to build a true relationship with someone, digital communication doesn't fill that need.

I watched recently as a distant connection lost a child. The outpouring of support and sympathy came from all corners of this person’s life through social media. But then the pictures came - pictures of friends who went beyond social media and spent time face-to-face to console and grieve with their loss. Lesson: you can say you’re sorry over the Internet, but it sure doesn't take the place of an honest moment in person.

You can’t replace eye contact. You can’t replace a smile. You can’t replace the warmth of being with another person. And you really can’t replace the all the non-verbal communication that takes place where words are simply not enough. A hug says more than a thousand Facebook posts. 

Coca-Cola & Social Media Marketing

There was a great article on Linkedin the other day that discussed Coca-Cola and their social media strategy. I was dismayed by some of the comments suggesting a lot of people don’t think that social media marketing works for smaller businesses or less “glamorous” ones.

Yes, it can.

How you make social work is by providing value to people. One commenter suggested that social media wouldn't work for a copy machine company and I disagree. For demonstration, here’s how I would do a social media campaign for a copy machine company - let's call them MemoX.

The people who've chosen to become fans of MemoX are most likely already owners of MemoX products, so what we're doing is brand building to keep MemoX in the market leader position. The social strategy for MemoX is all about customer service and creating a sense of value around the MemoX brand. Their Facebook page should include a once or twice weekly post that focuses on the many great product features and how they can help customers work more efficiently.

Each product feature post should lead off with how that feature saves the customer time and helps them deliver a superior quality product to the stakeholders on their end. You can pull an entire year's worth of Facebook posts out of the product user manual that 90% of MemoX customers never read.

I would also encourage MemoX to run specials on supplies that are only available to Facebook fans, maybe once a quarter.

On a regular basis, their social guru should toss out a request for questions or issues that they can help solve, this shows their fans that MemoX is listening and cares about their customers. They also should post the occasional copy-related joke to keep things fun and informal. The key point is MemoX needs to be front and center with offering their customers valuable tips (sprinkled with the occasional giggle) that improve their work and lives. Always go back to how you can deliver more value to the customer via social media.

Lastly, nobody wants to socialize with a brand. They want to socialize with human beings that represent the brand. They aren't interested in mission statements and they really aren't interested in carefully crafted, focus-group-tested, advertising agency spin cluttering up their social newsfeed.

Social is easy. Deliver value. That's it.

Defining Goals for Your Event

We started having a discussion on Linkedin a few days ago about defining “success” for events. Since most events are done as a form of Event Marketing, what did the client have in mind when they committed xx dollars to the event?

The goals are important not just from an ROI standpoint, but because the destination determines the road that you take. To borrow a bit from Brian Tracy, if you want to go to San Diego, you take roads that lead to San Diego. If you want to go to Santa Barbara, you take a different set of roads that lead to Santa Barbara. In order to successfully navigate to your destination, you have to know what the destination is and which roads lead there. Every goal for your event has a set of roads that lead to the successful achievement of the goal.

The goal of the event dictates the routes you travel and effects every single event decision you make, from venue to catering. All choices come down to “does this move us toward the goal?” It is frighteningly easy to spend large amounts of money that do nothing towards achieving the goals of the event, especially when the client is the one coming up with idea.

One thing I always like to do at the start of a project is to sit down with the stakeholders and ask what the top 3 priorities are. Then we prioritize the priorities so that if there is ever any conflict we can steer back onto the correct path leading to the priorities in the order which the client specified them.

With the focus on ROI for event dollars spent, it is imperative that event producers define success and goals ahead of time. When everybody agrees on the destination, it’s a lot easier to justify costs.

What are your techniques for keep your projects on goal?