What are they doing wrong? Well primarily, there is a misconception about social that “if you build it, they will come,” which couldn’t be further from the truth. You can have a killer website, a great-looking Facebook page, Twitter and YouTube branding—the works. But if you’re not reaching out to comment on other people’s posts, sharing other people’s good content, actively helping where you can, and generally joining in the conversation on these channels, then what you’re doing is like sitting on the side of a busy highway with a “Please Like Me” sign over your head. Lots of luck with that.

If you want more from your social media activities, then give your customers and prospects a reason to take the time out of their busy lives to like you. They’re “up to here” with ad messages. Those fall on deaf ears. They’re looking for answers to their questions, solutions to their problems, and they’re also looking to make real, one-on-one connections with real people (Hint: It’s called networking).

For marketers, however, thinking about approaching social media from a networking aspect rather than a marketing aspect can be difficult—especially if you’re used to traditional marketing and measuring return on broadcast messaging (one-way, convince-and-convert messages to your audiences on TV, Radio, direct mail, email or online ads). You may have heard from ad agencies that social isn’t really all that different—it’s just another kind of media. That’s precisely the wrong approach—people who spend time on social channels do so to network, build relationships, engage and interact. To be successful on social channels you need to be engaged and offer value!

There’s no lazy way out of this, folks. If you want the eyes and ears of your prospects focused on you, then take a leaf from physical networking experts and develop a “giver’s gain” philosophy when using social media.

For instance, traditional networking groups are a prime example of physical, one-on-one networking that really works. By making a commitment to show up to weekly meetings with fellow business owners, listening to their needs, and making a concerted effort to bring them referrals and help them get more customers, participants gains referrals in return. The amount of referrals they get tends to correlate directly to the amount of “giving” they do—which requires them to develop relationships with each other and develop trust. Those that attend only to blather about themselves don’t last long—it’s the deep relationships that develop over time that really produce results.

Developing fruitful relationships in social channels requires the same “giver’s gain” philosophy, and takes the same amount of dedication and work:

• Get to know your customers/prospects by actively listening to their needs in social channels
• Reach out to others without waiting for them to “Like” you first
• Contribute to conversations where you can provide value (not a sales pitch)
• Always be thinking of ways to help others solve problems
• Introduce people when appropriate
• Be genuine in your responses and outreach
• Don’t expect reciprocation, but always strive to give it when someone reaches out to you

In many ways, networking on social channels is like “going back to our roots” as physical networkers. Both are about building relationships. However, those who take themselves out of the equation and focus on the needs of others can expect to get a better Return on Relationship™.  

Brands need to attract customers, but breaking through the clutter is challenging. Stand out by “Liking” them before they “Like” you. 

Originally published at Collective Bias

You know what I say to that? Phooey!

The number ONE reason some marketers fail when they try to use social media is that they DON’T take into account important traditional marketing lessons from the past—and I’m talking Plain Jane, Vanilla Manilla lessons that should be the bread and butter for any marketer. Social media doesn’t supplant traditional marketing practices and tenants. In fact, it enhances it when handled correctly.

Sure, social media is a different animal from traditional media. People use it for different reasons, there are unspoken “rules of conduct” for different platforms, and it’s a two-way street for communication, not a one-way advertising platform like TV or direct mail. But people are people, as they have been for thousands of years. They buy for the same reasons now as they did when they wore animal skins and lived in caves—because they want something or perceive a need for it.

Contrary to popular belief, people don’t suddenly sprout two heads when they sit in front of a computer monitor or pull out their mobile phone to look something up. In fact, just look at history. They didn’t sprout two heads when radio came along—or television—or cell phones—or any other communication medium for that matter. We didn’t re-invent our species; we just learned to communicate using different channels. We’re still motivated by the same buying emotions.

So here are Three Key Marketing 101 Lessons I think we need to remember when using social:

1.    You are NOT Your Customer—Do Your Research:  One of the most important lessons every marketer should remember is to market to your target—not yourself.  Yet how many times does your inner voice tell you “They’ll never buy that…?”  Don’t spout information YOU THINK your market wants to hear. Listen to your prospects first—and social is just about the greatest listening tool ever invented.  It’s focus groups on steroids! Use social media to listen to who your ideal customer is and what she wants before you start messaging.

2.    Frequency Isn’t a Bad Thing: Social reach and frequency are tangential to good marketing, as long as your content is relevant to your market. How many times does a potential target need to see your message before they convert? You might as well ask how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop (remember that old TV commercial?). Some will bite after a dozen licks; for others, it’s three—depends on where your audience is in a given moment when they see your message. And remember, you’re not just talking to one person here—you’re getting in front of your audience’s friends and their friends as well. The more the merrier. So do not forget about good ole “reach and frequency.”

3.    Story is Important: Remember the power of storytelling, and use it in your communications. People can’t resist a good story. It’s an emotional connection bridge that is built into our human DNA. Social enhances it by allowing more consumers to share more stories about more of the products they see, buy and use.   Another thing to remember about stories is that people are already having conversation about your brand, and you can’t necessarily control that. Companies who try to stem the tide of a bad story by trying to control the message find this out the hard way. However, you can INFLUENCE the kind of stories that are told about you by being involved in the conversation, transparent in your use of social media, and responsive to the needs of your customers, both online and offline.

These are just three lessons for now. There are many more that have been shuffled aside. Personally, I think every college student graduating with a marketing degree, every graduating MBA student, and those in the marketing department of brands, agencies and anyone responsible for marketing and especially social media, should have to re-learn Marketing 101. From here on out, social is going to play a principle role in doing business—but that doesn’t mean we throw out the baby with the bathwater

Originally posted at Collective Bias

Almost four years ago, I was attending SXSW with the Walmart Elevenmoms group.  I was learning about social media from the people that were doing it by immersing myself in the culture.  Having spent the previous 14 years of my life as a brand and retail marketer, this was all new to me and I believed I was looking at the future of marketing.  Of all the new platforms and technology I saw, none had an impact on me as profound as Location Based Services (LBS).

Foursquare, Gowalla and Whrrl were all the buzz at the event.  At the “All Hat, No Cattle” party, I was introduced to John Kim, one of the leaders of Whrrl and spent some time understanding how the platform worked.  It occurred to me that the implications for retailers and brands were profound.  It seemed logical that Shopper Marketing, the branch of marketing that focuses on consumers along the path to purchase, would be well suited to integrate LBS to provide insights, ideas and inspiration for shoppers.

A few months later, Amy Callahan and I started Collective Bias with an investment from Ken Barnett, CEO of shopper marketing firm Mars Advertising, and the first technology partnership we built was with Whrrl.  We believe that LBS will be a critical part of how social comes alive for shoppers both inside and outside the retail environment. We watched with interest as the category developed and new marketing models began to develop.  Foursquare became the category leader, Whrrl was purchased by Groupon and Gowalla was just purchased by Facebook (after its own efforts with Facebook places met with disappointing results).  More recently, Kevin Rose of Digg launched Oink Builder, a great LBS app that highlights local discovery in food and culture.

As with any new technology, the key to understanding is usage.  For example, I use Foursquare daily to understand what is possible with the platform but more importantly, how would I use it as a consumer.  There is a ton of great new shiny technology, but if it ultimately does not provide utility, consumers won’t use it.  I would argue that QR codes have the potential to fall into this category unless they can offer more than a simple connection to a website or other content.  Google is rapidly developing technology that mimics its mapping service and works inside a retail environment that will turn the entire store into a QR code.

LBS has multiple benefits in the Shopper Marketing arena including Path to Purchase insights, content generation and syndication.  I don’t know of another technology that can provide real time shopper insights the way location services can.  By aggregating location information from check-ins marketers not only get demographic information but much more valuable behavioral input as well.  As passive check-in like Foursquare Radar begins to become more mainstream, consumer engagement nearer to the point of purchase will evolve in new and different ways.  Consumers will rapidly increase their usage as they discover beneficial outcomes.

So… Is LBS Ready for Prime Time?  Relevance for Consumers Lies in Delivering Value.

Macaroni Kid Publisher Mom Meetup_Ted Rubin from Eric Cohen on Vimeo.

The deciding factor will be whether or not enough brands and marketers are willing to go beyond just talking about relationships … to actually building and sustaining those relationships with consumers, peers, employees, and others in their social graph.

How many of us believe in the business value of relationships enough to put in the effort required to turn a one-time contact into an ongoing meaningful interaction?  How many of us even believe that “business value” and “authentic relationships” even belong in the same sentence??  I do, because I have seen this play out time and time again.

As CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics (EyesLipsFace.com) from 2008-2010, I pioneered a program to develop and utilize blogger relationships to exponentially increase and sustain the e.l.f. brand visibility, and because of the blogger energy, talent, and networks,  the program provided the e.l.f. brand with a unique approach toward not just beauty, but also accessibility, interactivity and consumer engagement.   At that time, the jury was still out on the business value of social media, but the success of this program confirmed for e.l.f. (and a few other previously skeptical businesses) that building relationships with consumers is absolutely of value to the company.

That e.l.f. experience is what formed my ROR (Return on Relationship™) philosophy, and with each conference I attend, each new interaction I have with bloggers, and all the stories I hear and see about the impact of social media in influencing purchases… I see confirmation that it really is all about relationships.    The key to continued success for any brand/retailer/etailer is building relationships and identifying with the customer.

So how do we create those relationships quickly so we can move on to other things?  WE CAN’T.  And if we WANT to move on quickly away from a consumer relationship focus, we might as well not even make the effort.  Relationships take time and effort to build (believe me, with over 60,000 Twitter followers and almost 3,000 Facebook friends, I know!), and we must have a real desire to commit our resources to building and sustaining those consumer relationships.  That’s the only way you will see a high ROR.

To build relationships online, you (as a brand or individual) have to offer value in return.  How?  Following are my top 3 focus areas for building relationships online:

1.     Relevance:

No matter how perfectly or brilliantly worded your message is, it will not make an impact if the content itself doesn’t matter to (isn’t relevant to) your audience.  First think about and first address what matters most to your audience.  Give them a platform to show you what they need, want, are interested in, and expect.  Whatever matters most to them should become what matters most to you!

2.     Engagement:

Start by asking (relevant) questions and proposing (relevant) ideas, and you can begin to engage your followers in such a way to give them the ability and reason to respond. Then when they do respond, interact with them to solidify your relationship, lest it fade away. Directly acknowledge their response, ask follow-up questions and share their insights with others. Follow me on Twitter (@tedrubin) and you’ll see what I mean. The more responsive you are to your audience, the more responsive they’ll be to you. That’s the kind of engagement that builds and sustains relationships.

3.     Service:

Ask your consumers “How can I serve you?” – and mean it!  They will recognize in a heartbeat if you are simply trying to get something from them – and they will not stick around.  I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to want anything from your consumers, simply that there must be a give to go along with every take.   If you truly want to make an impact, aim to always put more energy and attention in your “give” column than in your “take” column.  It will pay off.  It will give you a high Return on Relationship

Consider the impact brands and marketers can have on the global economy … and international relations … if we all commit to seeing each consumer as an opportunity for relationship rather than just an opportunity for a sale.  The sale will be a natural outcome of many of the relationships, and in the process, true interconnections can be formed in a way that brings together great minds, great ideas, and great products.  The possibilities for exponential Return on Relationship™ is endless!

Don’t let “relationship currency” fade into a buzzword list – commit your resources to building consumer relationships as you Think Holistic, Act Personal.

Originally posted at Think Holistic Act Personal

cb.socially, headed by Ted Rubin, Collective Bias’ Chief Social Marketing Officer, offers brands management and development options for popular social media platforms, specifically targeting Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Flickr outreach along with integration of emerging social tools such as Instagram and Pinterest. Clients receive expert social management from a team of professionals who work with their marketing and communications staff to build audience engagement and message amplification.

“The rate at which brands and retailers are jumping on the social media bandwagon continues to accelerate. cb.socially is about helping brands to increase the effectiveness of their social media efforts by developing a strategic and evolving approach when it comes to identifying and engaging with their key audiences,” said Mr. Rubin. “Which is exactly why we’re excited to be working with Webtrends – the pioneer in unified mobile, social and Web analytics and customer engagement – to amplify its message and brand awareness throughout social networks and among customers worldwide.”

“As a global company heavily invested in providing leading-edge social media tools including apps, ads and optimization, Webtrends is always looking for smart, informed ways to promote our own social media practice,” explains Hope Frank, CMO, Webtrends. “Ted Rubin and Collective Bias have a proven track record in social media program success; we are looking forward to working with them to drive additional awareness to the Webtrends brand.”

As consumer usage of social media skyrockets, brands and retailers are seeking ways to connect on a one to one basis at scale. “cb.socially is a services group that is powered by our Social Fabric™ community,” said John Andrews, Founder and CEO of Collective Bias. “The new division gives our clients a turn-key management tool and helps them to develop their brand voice across the social sphere.”

About Collective Bias
Collective Bias, LLC, facilitates the creation of real shopper media by connecting groups of social media influencers to the brands and retailers they use in their daily lives. Our Social Fabric™ community drives conversations on a wide variety of social media platforms in order to build consumer engagement and brand loyalty that ultimately lead to sales conversion.

About Webtrends
Webtrends is the global leader in mobile and social analytics. We help marketers create, measure and improve campaigns for more than 3,500 global brands including: The New York Times, Microsoft, BMW, RIM, China Telecom, China Mobile, CCTV, Tencent QQ, Hitachi, The Associated Press, HSBC, Barclays, Vivo Cellular and Petrobras. Our leadership extends beyond the web analytics industry we founded to the measurement, optimization and integration of all digital content and customer intelligence, including web sites, social media, mobile and paid-search advertising.

Webtrends is a registered trademark of Webtrends Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

The panel will cover:

• Energizing Brand Advocates: How to harness your brand’s fans into a powerful marketing channel
• Real-World Case Studies: How leading brands are leveraging WOM and social media to drive customer acquisition
• Measuring ROI: How to measure the ROI of WOM and social media
• Best Practices: The do’s and don’ts of effective WOM and social media marketing

Chicago Brand Advocacy Series Details

Register now

• Date: Wednesday May 11, 2011
• Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
• Location: River East Arts Center, 435 East Illinois Street, Chicago
• Sponsor: Zuberance
• Twitter hashtag: #CHIBAS

Featured Panel:

• Stephen Strong, Global Director of Interactive, Alberto Culver
• Lauren McCadney, Senior Segment Marketing Manager, CDW
• Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Moderated by: Brian Quinton, Editor, Chief Marketer, Promo Magazine, eMarketer

New York Brand Advocacy Details:

Register now to attend or watch online

• Date: Tuesday May 17, 2011
• Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
• Location: Big Fuel Headquarters, 40 West 23rd Street, 5th Floor, New York or online via Livestream
• Sponsors: Zuberance and Big Fuel
• Twitter hashtag: #NYBAS [https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23NYBAS]

Featured Panel:

• Morgan Johnston, Corporate Communication Manager, JetBlue
• Umang Shah, Social Strategiest, Microsoft
• Avi Savar, Founder, Big Fuel
• Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance
• Moderated by: Michael Learmonth, Senior Digital Editor, Advertising Age

Email cara@zuberance.com if you have any questions. Hope to see you there!

Social media is quickly changing the way we need to think about our brands and marketing. We can no longer expect to be successful if we just focus our marketing efforts on telling our target market how great our own brand is. What we – the brand – say about ourselves is no longer what matters. It’s what OTHER people say about our brand and their experience of our brand.

Brands have a challenge having effective external conversations with consumers and then truly activating them as advocates unless they evolve internally into a socially-focused organization.

Advocates are your goldmine! They are the people who go out there and “sell” your product simply because they want to — by passing links around, posting product reviews, getting the word out through all of their social media channels.

A quick way to become invisible as a brand (or worse yet, highly visible for negative reasons) is to keep your organization internally-focused. You can work 24×7 talking within your marketing group about what makes your product so fantastic … and then creating all those ads and marketing materials to try to convince everyone else the same… but unless people outside your organization are talking up your product, your work (and time!) is wasted.

In this age of social media, it’s relationships that matter: your brand’s relationship with its customers, with its customers, friends and colleagues, and with the entire social network of anyone who believes in your brand.

Why? Because good relationships naturally lead to people wanting to share their excitement about great products with their friends and the rest of their network. Good relationships – those built on trust, transparency, and honesty – create your brand advocates.

And conversely, bad relationships (or nonexistent relationships) naturally lead to people wanting to share their frustration about poor products. Be careful!

If your organization doesn’t evolve with the marketplace into a socially-focused organization, you will be left behind (if you haven’t been already).

Evolve. Your brand depends on it.

Originally Posted at: ZuberRants

Richard Bashara says: Ted I’m going to agree with a “but,” look at Facebook. Zuck’s had how many chances to sell FB? You can’t deny that Groupon has set a trend. Perhaps trying to stay on top of the wave could pay off.

And if Google doesn’t buy Twitter, I’d be quite surprised. Who knows, maybe Twitter will try to stay independent though. As a publishing tool, it’s clearly becoming more active than Digg or Reddit.

Ted Rubin replies: Twitter is incredibly concerned, as they should be, about how to sustain and monetize what they have. Google is incredibly worried about Facebook and how to penetrate and participate in Social Media/Marketing. Solves a critical problem for both.

As far as comparing Groupon to Facebook, I think the projectory of their growth is where it ends. Facebook competitors have many more barriers to entry than competitors to Groupon, and they control the hearts and minds of their members. Groupon exists only as long as they can provide such unsustainable discounts. With Google… the value of their local search and local relationships/workforce came in to play and made them much more valuable than as a stand-alone. IMHO

Richard Bashara says: Ted How many Internet companies started without a profit generation model? Google is perhaps one of the bigger examples of this in practice. I agree that Twitter needs to get its rear in gear to monetize, so perhaps Google+Twitter=success. I have to remind myself that most of the net (read: those outside of the Twittersphere) view Twitter as a joke, and a bad one at that.

Re: Groupon staying on top… Google’s foray into eCommerce has always been a good idea waiting to happen IMO. Perhaps Groupon is the missing link, and I’ll admit the space allows for more competition, but in the end the majority will go where the users are. If Groupon can establish a solid base (check), good deals (check) and get the word out effectively, they can last for as long as needed. Let’s not forget the ability to adapt. I don’t know that we’ve seen what Groupon can do long term yet. Perhaps they have a few tricks up their sleeve (a partnership with something like Shwowp would be a real plus, don’t you think?)

That being said, I doubt Twitter or Groupon will stay their own entities for long.

Ted Rubin replies: I agree Most in the marketing community (outside the social media world) misunderstand Twitter due to a lack of understanding of how Twitter works and what is has become …when used wisely, it is not a broadcast tool or a standalone tool for marketing, it’s an enhancement to your marketing strategy and an extremely valuable networking, experimenting and seeding tool. While it allows you to provide a broadcast-like tweet to all your followers, most will never see a single tweet and the real value is that it also allows you leverage the social graph of your followers, and to interact directly with one person in plain sight of thousands of people and allows them to pass along to others in their network. Think about how much we learn about someone by watching their interactions with others, and you can understand how this feature of Twitter quickly creates (or destroys!) trust throughout your social network. But I am sure I am preaching to the choir here.

I am not saying that Groupon will not survive, and they certainly have a business model, although their sales for the year seem to be grossly overstated in many circles. I simply believe passing up what was offered by Google showed tremendous hubris and that I believe they will come to regret the decision… even if they never voice that regret or remain successful. Like Gilt Groupe they rely on tremendous discounts which garner large audiences very quickly but are difficult, at best, to maintain. I think Google, beyond the ridiculous sum they were willing to pay, offered incredible synergies with regard to audience, local advertising (which in essence is what Groupon offers) and commerce.

Richard Bashara Tweets: Man, @TedRubin really broke down the Google/Groupon deal. Gotta say, I’ll agree with you mate: http://goo.gl/EyWsn

Richard Bashara says: So I guess the new question is, who would you sell to if you were Groupon?