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Ok. I’m not the very most cutting edge dude when it comes to technology and such. I’m no slouch, but I admit that I just opened a Twitter account a couple weeks ago… because our local reporter was tweeting the most up-to-date info about the Gap Fire that had us evacuated from our home for several days. So, I was under duress.
I’ve had a blackberry for a couple years, but just hooked up my email the other day.
I’ve had a Facebook account, but no photo up and no friends ’till just two weeks ago. And despite being hammered from every direction about my dire need to be blogging, I’ve been dragging my heels.
Why so (relatively) slow on the uptake?
Well, it’s because of a lot of things. Let me tell you about some:
- I don’t have the time for social media. Who the hell does?
- I’m not as clever as some people I know.
- I don’t already have a giant group of friends with nothing better to do than follow my tweets all day long.
- I don’t have great design skills, but I like things just so.
- Did I mention I don’t have the time?
- Also, I tell myself that blog consumers aren’t my market. That’s why all the blogs about blogging and blogs about technology are so popular. It’s just an incestuous scene that works for other niches than mine.
- So, even if I could generate an audience, I probably couldn’t turn that into real business results.
- And it’s just a giant Hoover time vacuum, isn’t it?
And my little list of reasons/excuses goes on. The bottom line, though, is that I don’t believe my investment into social media will return nearly as much as other things I could be doing with my time and money.
I’m not saying I’m right about that. I’m just saying that’s what I notice I believe.
Your Proof Isn’t Enough
Funny that I believe it despite quite a mass of evidence that the stuff works. It takes just a second to find a whole slew of bloggers with massive followings that don’t seem a whit brighter or more deserving than myself.
I personally know several people who have quickly built serious businesses starting with nothing but a blog and a niche market.
But my skepticism runs deep.
If social marketing were selling, I wouldn’t be buying. Even though I kind of know I should be.
How are your prospects similar? What skepticism do they secretly harbor? What fears aren’t they telling you about?
Dig this, because solving your prospect’s unspoken reservation is the key. They won’t come out and tell you what they’re afraid of, because it’s probably about you. They probably don’t trust you.
To really get someone like me to make a ‘buying decision’, I’ve got to buy several things about what you’re selling:
A. What your selling works, at least in theory. (If it’s an iPod, that it really holds 1000 songs, etc.)
B. It’s actually worked for others. (That lots of people are really having better music experiences.)
C. It’s better than what I’m currently doing, or could be doing. (Not only is it better than my diskman, but it’s better than all other MP3 players.)
D. It will work for ME. (I’ll actually install the software, download the music, remember to bring it with me, and ultimately reap the benefit that seems to be available.)
Interestingly, D is the tough nut.
It’s easy for me to see that social media should work, and that it has over and over… for other people.
And an argument could certainly be made that there’s no better place to spend my marketing dollars than on the exploding world of social media.
But…
Just look at all the (formerly) internal concerns that I’ve been harboring… that stop me from taking a risk on social media!
Your prospects harbor internal objections that you’re neglecting, too.
What are they? And how are you answering them?
(And, what about this social media marketing thing? You think it flies?)
Follow me on Twitter! You know you want to…
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Chris Ross 08.11.08 at 3:10 pm
Hey Landon,
Love your take on this. Relationships of any kind take time to build and develop and ultimately thrive or collapse based largely on trust. There is a distinct difference between social marketing as a means to simply pass a message along via virtual word-of-mouth and actually using the medium to build relationships. I think for those who are willing to be selective in their virtual relationships, can deliver real value to those they interact with and have the discernment to sift through all the junk, social media marketing can work.
Laurie Marrelli 08.11.08 at 6:38 pm
Hey Landon,
I feel your pain! I’m just starting to jump on board with social medial - here’s my take on it.
It’s like any other marketing tool and it must be measured by the ROI. The investment is both in time and money. It depends on the market your in and if that market hangs out in these venues then it’s a must. For me, my market is small businesses and face book, linked-in and such are becoming common place. Getting my feat wet in this pool I can see how valuable it can be to reach potential clients that I would have never run into.
I think the added benefit of investing time is that I’m forcing myself to get crystal clear about my niche and point of view and being authentic to the brand I’m developing. That alone is worth the investment of time.
Nice to finally see you by the way! Boy your daughter is the spitting image of you…love the photos of that dramatic girly-girl
Best,
Laurie
Webconomist 08.13.08 at 5:30 am
Some good thoughts Landon.
1. Your getting responses here, that’s an indicator of interest; it’s how you take it/work it from here. Social Media is an ongoing effort, like SEO. It’s not a one-hit and wow, you’ve got sales.
2. It’s about relationships and engaging in a conversation which over time builds loyalty. Build loyalty with clients and you get recurring revenues, product feedback and insights that lead to innovation. You start marketing “outside/in” instead of “outside/in”
3. It’s About Where/What/Why as well - People use Social Media in different ways. Some use Facebook, others don’t. Those of us in the business are “always on” in “many spaces” but it’s like good old Market Segmentation, those rules apply in Social Media. Maybe your market is on Twitter but John Doe’s market is on Plurk. Social Media has many flavours and we’re all people and we like different flavours to suit our lifestyles
Just some quick thoughts. Hey, there is no Rule Book for Social Media, it takes some figuring. But the critical mass is there…Tipping Point!
Marc Meyer 08.13.08 at 6:01 am
Landon, I feel your pain, but it does not jibe with your blog title, or your company’s business model. As a marketer of any ilk, you should embrace and run with anything that will drive traffic and sales and roi. Social media can and will and does all of the things that you and your company need on a day to day basis to succeed, or at least extend the no into a yes.
“When you can snatch the pebble from my hand Grasshopper, then you will be ready”
Marc
David Archibald 08.13.08 at 6:16 am
Landon,
Thank you for getting my thougths down. I have wondered in the Business to Business marketing and working at the Executive level hwo much time should be invested in Social Media. I concluded if your market isn’t there you don’t have to. Pretty basic, but sometimes we have to remember that just because it is great doesn’t mean it will work for us.
David
Ines 08.13.08 at 6:31 am
It’s interesting to get the “take” from other blogging industries. I’m in Real Estate and during a slow market where regular print marketing was costing more than making money, I turned to blogging and it worked. Social Media came later and have to tell you that it ’s not for everyone and it does take a jump start - but honestly, if I was looking for a marketing expert, I would look on-line and how up to date they are with all the web2.0 world.
I guess it has to stem from a need to change something that’s not working or from the need to be at the top of the game - who knows where we’ll be in a year and what will be HOT then.
Landon Ray 08.13.08 at 3:41 pm
Well, I’ll say one thing… I’m maybe a week into facebook and twitter and I’ve already found nearly 100 friends, and somehow have ended up with 18 followers. So, it’s seeming like not an impossibly painful challenge to get in the flow of the conversation. Am thinking doing a 5 month social media challenge: go all out with twitter, blogging, etc till the end of the year and see what I end up with.
Webconomist: Wonder how you’d ‘work it’ from here. Any specific strategies/tactics you’d use first? I suppose to determine the goal, huh?
Marc: I don’t agree that one should embrace anything that drives traffic and sales.. that’s sort of the point of this post. I mean, I could go knocking door to door and drive some business, but at what cost? It looks to me like a serious social media commitment will take an hour a day, minimum. For me, that’s a SERIOUS time commitment away from a lot of other stuff I need to be doing, including playing with my kids.
But, I do get that you’re a vote for ‘YES, social media works.’
What would you do with an hour a day for five months, with a goal to create a conversation that’s significant enough to clearly be worth the time it takes?
Webconomist 08.13.08 at 4:43 pm
Hey thanks for asking Landon!
I’m on Twitter as Webconomist as well. I’ll search for you.
My experience with corporate clients that has worked has been very much the same principles as any marketing campaign with a Social Media twist:
1. Determine the target market (audience)
2. Determine what your “goal” is: pick your topic you know best or at least a theme so you can defend it when necessary.
3. Define what “success” means to you
4. Participate in the Social Media channels that are relevant to your audience (Facebook in the U.S./Canada is better than Bebo which is HUGE in the EU/UK.)
5. Evaluate/Measure and determine if/how you proceed.
Not saying this is perfect, but it’s worked for us with some fairly large organizations and government departments. Anyone else have some approaches that have worked?
Marc Meyer 08.14.08 at 5:05 am
Landon, I like webconnomists little list, but I would add that you should listen first to get a feel and a flow from some notable voices in the social media space before diving in.
Landon Ray 08.14.08 at 7:06 am
I like Webconomists little list, too.
Seems to me steps one and two are a no-brainer for most folks: we’re in the business we’re in, after all.
But step three… what’s a reasonable goal?
If you make your goal ‘to sell stuff’ I’d think you’d naturally end up creating a pitch-fest, which can’t work.
If it’s to gather an audience, what kind of numbers can be expected for a startup blog? So many blogs - even well written and updated ones - are dead dead dead. And what kind of numbers are significant?
Not that I’d ever consider monetizing with ads (I’ve got my own business to promote), but does anyone have any idea what kind of audience you need to make an ad model work? Seems like that would be a potential measure of ’success’.
You’ll know you’ve developed something of value when… ?
Paul Chaney 08.15.08 at 7:32 am
Landon,
As a marketer in a small web content management software company I’d like to know what has been working for you.
Allow me to also mention that I tweeted your post several days ago and several of the people who commented here did so because of that tweet. That goes in the “for what it’s worth” department I suppose, but it does serve as evidence to support a central tenet of social media marketing — that it’s about engaging people (customers, prospects) in conversations that lead to business relationships. We’re all still trying to figure it out, where, how and why it works.
I can tell you blogging has been very good to me. And I’ve seen it serve beneficially for many others as well. In your case, I believe using your blog as social media headquarters and establishing your thought leadership is certainly a way to gain attention for your company. It’s personal brand building that leads to brand awareness for the company as well. (Kind of meme going around now.)
Landon Ray 08.15.08 at 10:42 am
Well, thanks for the tweet, Paul. That’s an interesting bit of info.
Engaging people. Have you seen http://www.Pearsonified.com? That site only has a few dozen articles on it, but wow. If you’re a blogger, he’s really got a candystore there… every article is something you want to read with valuable, actionable info. No fluff, no whiny opining.. just quality goods. And he’s got the traffic that proves he’s onto something.
Thinking he’s got a good model there. I, for one, am pretty tired of reading ‘editorial’ from a bunch of folks I don’t know… a million little soapboxes.
Am looking at a strategy around this. Thanks for your thoughts.
Webconomist 08.15.08 at 2:38 pm
It was Paul Chaney’s Tweet that brought me here; and Landon, your content was thoughtful, well put and insightful - so you got a conversation.
As Paul says; we’re just trying to figure it out, see how it works and how we can all benefit in positive ways. Cool stuff. Good questions, and we’ve all come back a bit…