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Comment by Kim Randall on December 26, 2009 at 7:31pm

Just to clarify, I personally have never made a DIME from the Internet. (Just wanted to throw that out there) I do believe that there are traditional forms of advertising that should still be used, but I can tell you that when I go out, attend functions, networking offline that people know me in the area because of what I do and who I am Online. It isnt about selling that pizza Online, its about creating a positive presence Online and being there to see what people say about you and your company. If you truly loved what you do then answering 50, 60 or more @replies would feel like more of an honor and less of a hassle. I respond to each and every @reply I get INCLUDING those that are spam. I simply thank and block. I am social and you will never see a billboard on the side of the road with my business on it because I do believe that it is a waste of money and a distraction to drivers.
2010 in my eyes will become more social, more personal and more about the face that goes along with the brand as well as video.. it is going to a year for vlogging I do believe. I also do believe that now that we have all gotten Social Online its time to merge traditional face to face networking and Online networking. Just my opinion, but if you really loved what you do then no one would see any problem with engaging the Online community of fans etc... This entire post was to deter brands from simply spitting out spam and using sites improperly because they do more harm than good.
Like I said tho, this is all just my opinion. Everyone has room for their own and what works for me may not work for you.
Traditional marketing does work but more and more people catch their favorite tv shows on Hulu or like sites. More people throw away their weekly ads from the mail.
Only time will truly tell.
Thanks again for commenting :-) Hope you had a great Holiday!

Comment by Charlie Profit on December 26, 2009 at 7:07pm

Kim, I do understand what you are trying to convey. No disrespect intended, but I think a lot of social media people tend to operate from a defensive stand point: "old media doesn't work anymore". Keep in mind I too am a social media evangelist. I know of the benefits, however I am realistic and also attentive to what my clients need.

Of course old media still works! It always will too. The reason those billboards are empty, or have outdated ads are because the company doesn't have good sales people, not because they don't work. You notice they are empty, you would notice if there were ads too.

I personally have never bought ANYTHING through Twitter. Maybe I will someday. But for the near future, I wouldn't unless it was from a major brand and they were advertising a coupon. Oh, I've signed up for various newsletters from very good marketers, or signed up for another social media network from seeing what others were saying (like Seesmic - awesome!), but when it comes to actually spending money...nada (not even through those newsletters I signed up for...many of which I have also unsubscribed from). However, I am still looking at the latest store flyers, listening to radio and watching tv ads. And so are most of the 30 plus demographic. That's what we were brought up on. It will take the old media companies to get the audience to embrace the new media as a valuable resource for finding good deals, instead of the weekly flyers. I wrote a guide for radio professionals on how to use Twitter last year. Radio still doesn't completely get it.

As for the younger demographic, yes you've grown up with the Internet but you are also used to everything being free: gmail, FaceBook, etc. Everything isn't free, and in order to sell one must advertise. You might prefer seeing a friend say they ate at Smith's Pizza and loved it. But are you and/or your friends REALLY going to do all the advertising for companies you like, for free, all the time? Yes, word of mouth is the best form of advertising, but do you tweet about EVERY good experience or every bad experience? Do people want to read these free ads/criticisms all day long?

Consider: "Just had the BEST Bordon Milk in my Fruit Loops cereal for breakfast"..."Just had the BEST Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookie for a snack"..."Lunch was AWESOME, just ate at McDonald's and had a Big Mac"..."Boy I love my Nike shoes, glad I bough them on sale last month"..."Took a shower, used the BEST soap ever! Ivory is 50% off this week too!".

Can you see how ridiculous this type of communication can get? I don't want to read those types of tweets. Sure it's nice to know occasionally when someone enjoys a product or service, but not always.

What you have outlined is actually very time consuming. You have to understand the businessman's perspective. For you, it's easy because it is what you spend your day doing. For someone that makes pizzas, it's not so easy. First of all...he has pizzas to make, all day long. That's what puts food on his table. Then, he has his store to worry about; any repairs needed? After that, employees to manage; are they doing their jobs? He has to make time to pay bills, create his specials, deal with telemarketers and customer phone calls. Small business owners are busy people. Even if you consider having a small follower base of 500 people on Twitter...does a small business owner really have time to answer his social media conversations? Sure, using Google Alerts and other brand management services can make the job easier. But "time" is the issue. Even answering just 10 percent of his followers can be time consuming. If we are conservative with our numbers and say it takes 1 minute (not 30 seconds) to respond to each (including reading and thinking of a meaningful reply), that would be 50 minutes for 10 percent of a 500 follower account! If the business owner is at work for 12 hours a day already, and that is pretty normal...and if he has a family, and maybe a gym membership to stay healthy...well, taking an extra hour to handle social media just isn't a high priority, especially if what he is already doing with "old media" is working.

Why not just hire people to handle the social media aspect? Mostly because they already have tight budgets. And now having to consider higher taxes for things like Obamacare, or stimulus packages, etc. there just isn't the money to pay for such luxuries.

Social Media "experts" have been touting "it's all about the conversation". In one way that is true. But I think 2010 and beyond will show a slowing down of Social Media and it will not be about conversation, but about the community. People will be more interested in online communities that reflect their day to day real world lives (less Twitter and more Facebook Fan Page type communities) . And advertisers will capitalize on that type of audience by finding new ways to engage the members, without really having a conversation. It will be participation through interaction, but not so much about exchanging words as it will be about rewards.

To be really successful in new media, you have to understand old media because old media has been measuring audience behavior for decades. Now the Internet provides better tools for such monitoring. But the Internet has a long way to go before "old media" becomes irrelevant. Understanding your clients needs and market will help you be more fruitful then telling them social media is the only thing that works, or old media is a thing of the past.

Comment by Kim Randall on December 14, 2009 at 3:04pm

Hey Charlie, thanks for commenting. Yes I do agree with some of what you have put out there, however the world is changing when it comes to marketing. Traditional or "old school" ways are becoming a thing of the past. How many billboards do you see without advertisements on them or outdated advertisements? Me? I see many and the reason is because businesses are finding new avenues to market, brand and advertise.
Now, I am not saying that Nike should thank every one of their customers that bought a pair of their shoes this past weekend personally, why should they? They are already well established. They could post a flier on everyones car and people would already be inclined to buy and thats because they are a pre-existing successful company.
My point is that say Smiths pizza wants to use Twitter as a platform to promote their grand opening and all they do is send out spam filled Tweets like "Come check out the cooolest pizza place in town ____
Now with that said, say I got that Tweet and I responded by saying "I was there and the pizza is awesome, everyone in the are MUST go try it". Now with that posted the ball is in their court. Do they respond to my message? Do they ignore it? Thats where many businesses (small and medium) trying to find a place on the Internet go wrong. It takes a total of 30 second to read, respond and hit send. So my question is, why are many businesses NOT doing it?
Why do I hear negative remarks that businesses arent finding what they need Online? Well some of that would have to do with SEO, but most would have to do with how they are viewed and how they present themselves.
In order to build trust Online you have to show some form of quality content that makes me want to trust you.
People want to so badly focus on numbers (followers, friends, hits etc...) but these mean NOTHING if you arent creating a positive presence.
Breaking it down:

*Retweet others on Twitter?
If the Twitterer for Smiths Pizza retweeted my @reply to them, that not only makes them appear to be more social, but it allows their followers to see that someone has been there and loves the pizza.

*Thank people for commenting on blogs?
You have a blog about turtles and you sell turtle food. Do you thank people for commenting on your content? If you thank them you might be closer to a sale you may never have had before.


*Ask questions and interact on Social Sites?
Back to the pizza scenario, to generate eyeballs moving to your content you could easily ask your followers what their favorite topping is. You aren't straight out advertising, but we all have opinions and love to hear our voices heard. Maybe a follower just had a baby. Does it kill you to type in a simple congrats? Probably not and chances are you just took the first step to a potentially new customer.


*Monitor what people are saying about your brand and respond?
Say someone that you arent following happened to have your pizza and commented that they had just finished. You can use simple search function through TweetDeck or even Twitter.com/search to see these comments. Post an @reply. Ask them how it was. It isnt all that hard.

*Form real relationships Online with those that follow you and your brand?
That has to do with everything on here. If everyone were on sites to simply bust out an affiliate link well then I would still be teaching and wouldnt care about the Internet, but the point is that they arent. You yourself wants to follow real people so why should it be so difficult that your followers want the same from you. We dont want spammy Tweets, recycled Tweets or even auto generated Tweets. That means you arent really there and you only want me to purchase your product and should I have an issue with it you probably would care anyways.

*Attend Networking events off of the Internet putting a face to the avatar Online?
Yes, get out from behind the computer and shake a few hands. Show your face. It's always good to put a face, handshake and a real life memory with a Twitter name.

*Return the retweet and comment favors?
So you are just starting out in your business and DM me asking for me to RT you and I do so without hesitation. The question is that in a few months when I need something will these spammy accounts with one-sided conversations do the same? The answer is about 99% NOPE!

No matter who you are or what you do, you always have time to be social Online. If you are using Social Networking only for friends and family, well this wouldnt apply to you anyways.
As I stated before, established corporations are the exception. They already have a trusted brand and a name to back it up.
I truly see where you are coming from, however I hope you see what I mean too.

Comment by Charlie Profit on December 3, 2009 at 8:55am

I'm not a Gary Vaynerchuk or a Chris Brogan either, however I respectfully disagree...on one point, and I'll explain.

I don't believe there is any wrong way to use Social Media. It all depends on what you expect to get out of it. If you are into relationship building, for long term clients, then what you have explained is one correct way to go about it. But if you are an affiliate seller, whose interest is just to throw mud at the wall and see what sticks, then what you have explained does not apply.

Consider that you just moved into a new town, and you got a flyer on your car in the mall parking lot to try a pizza place. This piece of marketing was fairly inexpensive to produce. So you go in to the restaurant, and like the food and service. Over time, the owner builds a relationship with you for being a valued client. Yes, this can be considered the "old way", but it is still one of the biggest, most profitable. It cost the owner very little, kind of like an affiliate marketer throwing ads out there on Twitter, or Google Ads. When he makes a sale, he follows up and hopefully builds a long term relationship with a loyal customer.

In Social Media, we are insisting that business owners build the relationship first. This is very important, and relevant especially in the B2B world. For example I have worked in the radio industry and sales are made based on relationships, and on the sales person solving a problem for the client. But sometimes, when cold calling you find a client that is already ready to buy, and if you have a solution that fits their budget, then you have a sale. Of course, this is all generalities just to give a basic explanation of the sales process. Social media is not about taking cold calling away, it is about building trust for your brand, and creating long term relationships where if you can't solve a customers problem, you have people in your trusted network who can.

Also, if you are only interested in using Social Media for social purposes within your current, real world social circles, then some of what you explained may not apply. We will have conversations with our friends because we get satisfaction out of it, but not because we seek anything from it other than the simple social act. I have many friends, on FaceBook for example, that are not interested in selling anything, or building up a client base. All they want to do is be social. So, I would not advise them that they are using social media wrong. They are using it for the purpose they desire.

There are many ways to use social media. We shouldn't pigeon hole everyone into one method. It is best to ask what they want or expect from Social Media, and also what kind of commitment they are willing to make. Because, one entrepreneur or business professional may not need social media to increase his business while for another it may help to increase her market share. Sure, as social media evangelists we want to bring people into it, but we should be more interested in using the tools (real world and online) that will actually increase our clients ROI. It is not enough to be a Social Media Strategist, one needs to be a Marketing Manager and that includes understanding old media as well as new.

Social Media is a new business tool for established businesses as well as new entrepreneurs, but it is also simply a social tool. Just as there is no one way to be social in the real world, there is no one way to be social on the Internet. While Social Media is showing signs of being a model businesses should want to be a part of to grow their customer base, it is still new and is constantly evolving. As such Social Media strategy will continue to evolve.

I hope my reply has been helpful.