Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

This post isn’t exactly ‘publish or perish,’ but it is definitely born of a push to publish. It’s been weeks since my last confession here. I’m hoping an explanatory post will help those who’ve:

• Been awaiting a response to an overdue email from me
• Gotten used to a certain rhythm of tweets
• Been wondering why I’m almost impossible to schedule these days

…to understand why. But mostly, this post is to help me feel better about finally being back here, blogging.

Full-time Focus

It seems I’m a contrarian once again: millions are leaving corporate work. I’ve just taken a five-month, full-time assignment within a corporation.

Just as social media has heated to the point where I have been invited to speak almost every week on the subject; my focus has shifted (for the past few weeks anyway) to traditional marketing strategy and best-practices in communications.

And I must say, I love the pace, the practice, and the product. (And, apparently, alliterations.)

I’m reticent to say exactly whom I’m working for yet - especially in such a public forum. But I shall “let the cat out of the bag” as soon as possible. I’m just awaiting permission. I hold client trust and confidentiality dear. I’m not one to speak about any client without express permission. Patience, please…

Missing Social Media

As a result, I’ve lived almost completely off the social media grid for weeks. It’s been an interesting hiatus. As time has gone by, I’ve gotten increasingly twitchy about my social interactions.

Not so much on Facebook or Twitter, but here. On my blog. Which has surprised me.

I’ve spent more time on Twitter recently, and have really appreciated the discipline and creativity of 140 characters. And (as a business tool) I’ve been a huge proponent of clients exploring the possibilities of the micro-blogging platform. So those who’ve listened to me for years might be surprised at the fact that I’m really

Missing my Blog…

My blog! I actually have been:

• Visualizing the date listings down the side of the page here, each day wondering when July 2009 will show up in the Archives… list.
• Trying to imagine what I’d write about next that would make George Dearing want to syndicate another post over on his Content Management Connection blog. (He’s got fabulous taste, and is selective, so this one won’t show up over there…)
• Ruminating mostly, though, about my readers; two of whom encouraged me to just get back to writing. (Thanks again, Jeremy and Georell!)

Turns out my blog is a real relationship… Between me and my thoughts. Between me and my readers. It’s sometimes a conversation, and sometimes a voice in the wilderness. But it’s a relationship I’ve nurtured for almost five years now.

So tonight I feel better. Not for the Archives… list being updated. Nor for the content (or lack thereof) of this particular post. I feel better for my reconnection to this relationship. This is a purely selfish post.

Sometimes, simply doing the thing you really miss is enough.

There’s a kerfuffle brewing about censorship at eMusic over on TechDirt, which covered a very stupid move by eMusic - editing people’s comments on their blog post.

“We just wrote about the PR nightmare facing eMusic for announcing both a price increase and its first major record label signing at the same time — leading many to assume that the price increase was due to the Sony Music deal. Some in our comments pointed out that eMusic subscribers were protesting in a variety of places — including on Twitter, where they were using the hashtag (used to designate a unique cause or event): #emusicfail. And, as usually happens in such situations, many of the hundreds of commenters on eMusic’s own blog post on the deal mentioned the Twitter hashtag, and encouraged others to start using it as well, while making their protests public. So, how did eMusic address these angry customers?

It apparently made them disappear.”

Now I’m the first to tell any business their blog is their living room, and they can control who comes there and comments. But to actually edit the comments themselves? Epic #Fail. Epic #emusicfail.

You either publish a comment or not. It’s your choice. But don’t edit a comment. And you sure as heck better not edit it after the fact! And when commenters are customers? For fun, have a look at the comments on the TechDirt post. It’ll give you an idea of what people think about the act.

And for even more fun, check out the original post over on the eMusic blog - there have been (so far) 867 comments, many with salty language that hasn’t been removed, so they’re extremely selective about their editing.

I hear this question a lot when talking to companies about social media:

“What if someone says something bad about me?”

It’s a practical question that too many Social Media Experts take lightly,

“Well, wouldn’t you rather know they’re saying bad things?”

Um. Sure. That’s helpful. Thanks.

But seriously. If someone says something bad about you in a social media realm, take some advice from a gal who was called ‘pond sum’ by a jealous competitor…

Ignore it if you can.

Assuming the following caveats:

1. If it’s true, apologize immediately and then get to the bottom of it and take care of the source of the complaint. Then let the world (and the complainant) know via social media means - your blog, etc. - when you’ve fixed the problem.
2. If it’s not true - based on thorough research, let it go. But be mindful that (as the Social Media Experts say) you should listen for negative feedback, as you might eventually catch symptoms of internal issues you may not be aware of and need to watch for… A complaint might just be a canary in a coal mine…
3. Do not make public claims that you’ve been wronged by the social media site - like Yelp or Facebook - as they’ve protected themselves well from you and your customers. That will only fan the flames, and there’s nothing like a bully with a bullhorn, once they realize their comments evoke a response.

In my experience, if you’re in the right, it’s best to ignore occasional negative feedback, and let your loyal customers and partners come to your defense when it happens.

Never ask your PR agency to come to your defense, though, unless they do so with full disclosure. Attempts to hide a vested interest will be outed and will certainly fan the flames, and then you’ll have a bigger problem on your hands.

It’s wonderful to encourage your regular customers to write about you on Yelp and review sites like it. Let everyone know:

“We value your feedback. Let us know of your experience with us. And then let the world know, we love our customers to pass the word along.”

A Social Media Fact

The social media realm - especially communities where people vote on others’ reviews - is self-cleansing. A contrarian will likely be known (to anyone who cares to read the accumulation of their reviews) as just that… a contrarian. And sometimes it’s best to have some less than glowing reviews to legitimize a plethora glowing reviews.

A Business Fact

Your best defense against bad reviews is to deliver the products and services you’d be proud to have reviewed. The rest will take care of itself.

As I mentioned in my last post, so called ’social media experts’ are crawling out of the woodwork. I have certainly noticed a proliferation of individuals and agencies who’ve positioned themselves as such, and have met with many ’social media experts’ in the course of doing business.

I have also supported many agencies in developing social media skills internally and delivering social media expertise to their clients.

With thousands swarming to social media, how do you tell who’s really a ’social media expert’ from one who’s not?

In BusinessWeek’s Debunking Six Social Media Myths, author B.L. Ochman reviewed Robert Scoble’s (a real social media pioneer and very very nice guy) Twitter followers using Tweepsearch and found:

• 4,273 Internet marketers
• 1,652 social media marketers
• 513 social media consultants
• 272 social media strategists
• 180 social media experts
• 8 social media gurus
• 58 Internet marketing gurus

Ochman asked: “How many of them have actually created a successful campaign for clients using social media tools? I bet you’d be hard-pressed to find half a dozen with real track records.”

I’ll bet you would fine a few more than half a dozen… but believe me when I tell you:

Comparatively few of us have had real social media experience - the kind that thickens your skin, gives you real-world perspective and toughens your resolve….

As you’re contemplating getting help in the social media realm, ask your ’social media expert’ for proof of their social media expertise.

Here are a few questions I’d throw out there:

1. Tell me about your experience when something went wrong for you or a client in the social media realm
2. What did you do about it?
3. What did you learn from it?
4. How have you seen social media marketing change over the past few years?
5. What is your methodology for social media readiness?

As you look at social media options, look hard at your internal and external resources. And do not trust an expert who can’t back up their claim with real-world experience. We’re too early in this game, and there are too many mistakes yet to be made.

Most brands still need real sherpas to help us all up the social media climb.

As many of you know, I’ve been creating and executing social media marketing strategies for the past couple of years for clients. The crowds are swarming, and interest - in the days when program dollars are being cut to save jobs - is growing from all sorts of organizations. I hear some very common questions from a wide swath of interested parties, and would like to clarify how to approach social media.

We need to start by recognizing that social media marketing is not free.

BusinessWeek, in their excellent February article called Debunking Six Social Media Myths, exposed this brilliantly as Myth #1, and stated that $50,000 is a beginning point for a two- to three-month social media campaign. In my experience, I believe that’s about right. In spite of the free tools out there, every brand needs a strategic approach to social media in order to gain any traction.

In my experience, a strategic approach to social media success takes five phases:

Phase 1 - Discovery…

In this phase, we explore three variables:

1. People: Who are your prospects and customers, and how do they feel about your brand, service and products? Are they talking about you online? If so, what is your online reputation? (Positive, negative, neutral?)
2. Competition: What are your competitors doing online? Where can we leapfrog them? What is their online reputation?
3. Spiders: How easy is it for you to be found by an average searcher who may be searching for your products online? (Keywords, site optimization, Search Engine Optimization [SEO], etc. come into play here.)

Phase 2 - Strategy…

In this phase, we explore the opportunities and establish the objectives of a social media plan - based on the lessons we’ve learned in the Discovery phase. Questions include:

• What do you want your prospects and customers to think of you, and how do you want them to experience you, once you’ve begun your dialogue?
• How is this different from their current perception?
• How might we further pay off your brand promise, and distinguish your customer experience from competitors?
• … and many more

This Phase is usually highly collaborative; and involves key players from around an organization, not just the marketing folks.

Phase 3 - Skills…

Once we have developed a Strategy, we’ll review an organization’s internal resources to identify gaps.  Whose skills need building? How might we best train participants?  And to what extent would it be wise to train the employee base about what to expect?

(Hint: I always recommend getting everyone up to speed on any social media program - when I was at Marqui, that turned out to be one of the most valuable things we did in support of, and preparation for, one of the most controversial, viral programs I’ve ever managed.)

In my experience, getting your employees up to speed on social media marketing usually requires a couple of training sessions held on-site. These are generally in-depth training sessions tailored to select audiences in the company – e.g. your marketing and PR teams, your customer service folks, your executives and the entire organization.

Phase 4 - Execution…

As we prepare to implement our strategy, we determine which tools to use, how they interface with your existing infrastructure, and ensure the processes and platforms are properly tied together. We explore the following:

• Are your systems all operating together as desired?
• Is there a crisis communications plan in place? Do participants know what it is?
• Are your company policies updated for blogging, texting and IM and other social media tools?
• Are your employees aware of your policies? If not, do we need to train them?
• Will your CRM system interface with your social media tools? How will you move people into your sales process? etc.

Phase 5 – Maintenance…

After the launch, Maintenance becomes key.  In this phase, I make myself available for whatever comes up; checking in weekly with the team, make suggestions on content, make reminders for activities, and generally ensure the organization is thriving online.

Any experienced social media expert (and we’re crawling out of the woodwork these days, believe me) will have a stepped approach and methodology to launching an organization safely into the social realm.