Captivating Your Social Audience: Lessons From A Subway Ride.

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The other day, someone asked me why I posted something on my social profile—that had nothing to do with my business. I was a little shocked that they asked, because social media isn’t just about selling your services, its about building relationships—and I thought everyone knew that. The funny thing is that post was my highest engagement post of the week—a little humor goes a long way I told them.

What I generally tell my clients when it comes to captivating  your target audience on social channels — think of it like riding a subway to work everyday.  You probably sit by the same people most of the time, and you probably start to engage with them, and build a relationship of some sort.

So lets think about how that relationship happens.

First , the only thing you really know that you have in common with them, is that you all ride the subway from point A to point B at the same time everyday. The  conversations start out casual.  At first it is probably nothing more than a good morning or nod hello. Someone may spill their Starbucks, and you help them clean it up. You may discuss the weather, the commute, late or delayed trains, and gather some information about them-either based on their comments or inferred from their  reponses.

As you begin to get on that subway everyday—you  may expand your conversation to what you  did that weekend, a bad day at work, what each of you  do for a living ,  families, sports, news, or share a laugh or too. (hopefully politics does not enter the conversation) At this point, lets just say that you find out someone  might be an ideal prospect for you. You might start by  sharing information about your company, or your latest product/service. And, then drift off into a conversation about last nights game.  What I hope you don’t do is drone on  endlessly  about your product the whole ride.

The next week , you might share a great article you found about industry information, and another week you might  even share a case study. And, I hope that  you still ask him about his kids soccer game, talk to the others about the commute, and complain together about the late train.

Even when you find out that he  is not ready to “buy”  at this time — you don’t  you stop talking to him, do you?  Do you keep bombarding him with information? (I hope not, or he would probably change seats or trains). Do you still share industry news (yes) or if a new  product release (yes) or something great happens with your company? (yes). One day, he may either be ready to hear your full sales pitch, he may go to another company who needs your services or may refer you to someone who might be interested.

The same is true of social media. You don’t know everything about the people following your social channel, you don’t know where in the sales cycle they are, you don’t know if they have the connections or might be a good referral source. What you do know is building relationships with them is is valuable. They have connected with your channel for a reason. And, like the commuters on the subway, its about sharing information and building a relationship. So, as you plan your social content strategy, keep in mind the golden rule of social media– it’s a relationship tool with real people.  Think about where you are on the subway ride, with each and everyone of your connections. It will make for better engagement, and better social success.

 

The Inside Out Of Social Engagement.

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By Lisa McCarthy, Digital Infusion.

Let’s face it social channels, are really just a new form of communication. But, as a marketer—a pretty revolutionary one.
It seems that  every day  I work and talk with  organizations about their “social strategy” – the focus of conversation is around “external” engagement with clients and customers.
Yes, it is great to have likes on your pages,  and connections on your linked in—but, in my opinion that is not where social should begin.

With all the latest talk around “google and hummingbird” and the “value” of an “engagement” — I often suggest they should look no further than their own offices and cubicles . There greatest success for outside engagement—begins, well,  on the inside.

Getting your employees to spread the message about your product, your service, your company, your culture is the kind of advocacy and sharing that will get notice.

“Face it”, I tell CMO’s—what you say,  really doesn’t hold much weight in the social world of marketing. Fancy brochures, corporate messages , and videos of the CEO talking about the culture are nice and sometimes a must  but if you really want to get everyone engaged on your social channels and ultimately buying your product or service–these message has to come from somewhere else.

What, I find to be the coolest thing about all this,   is that  by engaging your employees first — you will go  beyond  brand building and sales. By  creating a culture and  communicating with your employees, through social channels, you will begin to build a culture and a army of brand advocates.  And ,that is more important then you realize.

While more than 80% of companies today, will say they use social technology on some level, few have figured out how to use it to have measurable impact on the organization as a whole. Once they figure it out and integrate social communication into day-to day work flow, developing greater connectivity throughout the organization—they are creating information and tools to help each and every employee become a brand building, customer service, sales team that will be unstoppable.

Which is why we implemented MI360, a properitary system, with every social marketing program we initate. This tool not only measures responses, sharing, likes etc, it also helps us help enterprises get their employees to share information and measure the responses to that particular content!

The McKinsey Global Institute last year estimated that $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value could be unlocked in just four sectors by products and services that enable social interactions in the digital realm. Although it isn’t easy and will require companies to view social technology as more than just another tool that needs to be implemented and done. Until companies begin to see social media as a enabler of organizational transformation, especially one of internal branding to their own employees—they will never unlock the true power of social creating internal brand advocates that “share” “promote” and “sell” your company to their connections, and that is pretty powerful ! Do the numbers alone, and you will realize the potential for growth and customer engagement is unstoppable. Success is in the hands of those are willing to think alittle different, and not follow the crowd! So how are you looking at engagement: From The Outside In or The Inside Out?

Mi360 Social Media Management Tool

There’s Something New in Social Media – 11-12-13

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Today is 11/12/13
It’s a special day because:
Mi360 is Ready for YOU!

Today we’re proud to announce that our digital marketing technology partner, Massive Impressions, is releasing to the public our secret weapon – Mi360.

We’ve been using this proprietary content marketing & social media management tool for over a year with our clients and all we can say is WOW it’s a marketer’s dream.

In support of our partner, we’re ready to let marketers like you take advantage of it too.

Up to now we’ve been using our secret weapon exclusively in-house. We’ve improved and refined it for years.

Now it’s ready for you to use.

Social Media & SEO Success

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Social Media & Search Engine Optimization Go Hand in Hand

It’s time to get your heads out of the sand and face facts.  Social Media is no man’s island.  Simply re-posting third party content to make your company look smart, or making statements with no inbound links to your website just doesn’t cut it anymore.  Content must be engaging, grow audiences organically, start conversations AND link back to your website.