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Why controversies might be good for brands—study

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:10:00 GMT

A lot of brands have taken flak over taking stands on political issues.

There was Chick-fil-A's flap over the COO's anti-gay marriage statements last summer. Starbucks, meanwhile, has publicly supported gay marriage. Hobby Lobby has chosen not to offer its employees contraception coverage. The list goes on.

Though PR people certainly remember those incidents, most in the public forget them soon after they happen, according to a report from marketing consulting firm WrightIMC. It found that, largely, brands that stick to their positions may face an initial dip in sales in the month or so after a controversy, but soon afterward, the increased attention the stance brought the brand is actually beneficial.

"Because a brand takes a stand, they get attention," says Tony Wright, founder and CEO of WrightIMC. "You can't buy that kind of press."

As long as brands can tough out the initial pain, stay aware of who their audiences are, and don't waffle, the outcome might be positive, he says.

Audience awareness

"In the research, one of the things that was very obvious to me was that there are a lot of people that agreed that a brand's stand affected their purchasing decisions, but not a lot that strongly agreed," Wright says.

What does that mean? People who aren't really passionate about the importance of a brand stance will come back, if what you have to sell is good enough.

"Most of the ones that disagreed with you initially will drop off and forget. If your product is high-quality enough, they'll continue to buy from you down the road," he says.

Wright offers a caveat, though: Certain audiences care more about political stances than others. For example, consumers in the South tend to agree that stances are important, but not too strongly. In the Northeast, passions run a little higher. Age and income can make a big difference, too, he says.

The long-lasting effect of taking a political stand, Wright says, is lots of online articles about the brand. For companies that have a smart search engine optimization plan in place, that means an increased Internet presence that can supersede the controversy, if the right links make it to the top of search engines.

Making the right moves

Before stepping into the political arena, brands should make sure they have the resources to ride out the month or so of media coverage that will come from it. That includes having crisis plans in place.

"Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby, specifically, had more of a framework for how they were going to respond to things based on their culture and their company ethics," Wright says.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure, which revoked its funding for Planned Parenthood, then restored it, erred in doing a complete 180 on its position. That's the worst thing you can do, he says.

"Companies need to have a personality," Wright says. "It's not enough anymore just to be a fly on the wall. Not everyone is going to like you, and that's OK."

With more conversation between customers and brands on social media, consumers have an expectation to hear what their favorite brands stand for.

"If you like a company and like what they stand for, you're much more likely to have a brand affinity," Wright says. "If a company stands for nothing, they very likely do not have passionate brand advocates."

Companies shouldn't force things, though; public stances have to come from the company culture.

"If your company doesn't have a strong opinion on a specific item, I would not recommend taking a stand," Wright says. "The point of the white paper is to not be afraid to take a stand because it's something your company strongly believes."

More research needed

One interesting detail about WrightIMC's survey of 3,000 consumers is that the most common answer-about 35 percent of the total-was that respondents said they "neither agree nor disagree" with the questions.

Wright says that answer likely equates to "I don't know" or "undecided." WrightIMC used Google Consumer Surveys to collect the data, and the questions were a gateway to premium content. Quite a few users probably chose the middle-ground answer to get through the survey as quickly as possible, Wright theorized.

Because of that, more research is needed on the topic-research that doesn't come with the limitations of the tool WrightIMC used.

"I would hope, down the road, that someone else would take this up, maybe in academia," Wright says.

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Why marketers choose certain colors

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:09:00 GMT

It’s no secret that different colors evoke different emotions in us, and that marketers have been taking advantage of this for years.

But which colors spur which emotions?

Perhaps most notably, it is said that red stimulates the appetite. That’s why the color is so prevalent with national food chains like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy’s, Popeye’s and Chipotle.

Blue, meanwhile, is the color most preferred by men, and corporations often use it because it is thought to be productive and not invasive.

These and other color-related insights can be found in this infographic from CertaPro Painters:

(via Social Media Chimps)

Workshop alert: How to easily create compelling videos

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Adding video to your internal and external communication strategies doesn't have to be intimidating or budget-busting.

Discover how to painlessly incorporate video into your communication efforts in our "Hands-On Video Boot Camp" in New York City on June 7.

You'll walk through the video production cycle and get hands-on training with microphones, lighting and cameras.

Find out more about the workshop.

You'll also learn:

The seven elements of storytelling and how to use them to create the perfect script.

The pros and cons of different cameras.

The best way to shoot an interview. (You'll shoot a practice interview to answer questions that come up.)

The equipment you need and how much it will cost.

The best way to distribute your video on social media.

And more.

This one-day workshop will meet all your video needs and answer any questions about making videos. From script writing to publishing videos online, you'll master each step of the video production cycle.

Take advantage of the promotional discount and register today!

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3 Twitter hashtag campaigns to emulate

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:00:00 GMT

Hashtags have become an integral element of any company's participation on Twitter. They've even started to appear offline on billboards and television commercials.

They've been around long enough that most brands are learning how to avoid rookie mistakes and incorporate them regularly into their tweets. But how do you take a hashtag from a word or phrase that trails a pound sign to a social media success story?

These three campaigns were hits for sparking conversation, engaging followers and raising awareness. Here's why they worked so well.

1. The White House: #40dollars

In the midst of a troubled political climate, President Obama's administration took to the Internet to start a conversation about taxes.

The campaign started in December 2011 when the payroll tax cut was set to expire, which would have meant a drop of about $40 per paycheck for many working families. The White House asked those people to speak up, starting with a tweet that asked: "What does #40dollars mean to you?"

The overwhelming response from people who said they couldn't afford to lose that money helped secure a two-month extension to the cuts. In February 2012, the White House revived the campaign and produced enough public support to lock in the cuts for the remainder of 2012.

The lesson here is that your brand doesn't need to shy away from controversial topics. In fact, ignoring an elephant in the room will more likely hurt your reputation—people will label your company as uncaring and out of touch.

The key to tackling an inflammatory subject is to keep the human element at the forefront. Even though the subtext of the campaign was to extend the payroll tax cuts and mobilize public support for the effort, the #40dollars hashtag was first and foremost about the people who would have been hurt most by the program's lapse.

2. Mercedes-Benz: #YOUDRIVE

Interactive content is often a surefire way to get fans excited about and involved with your brand. This smart creation by Mercedes-Benz involved a three-part story that aired on UK television during commercial breaks for an episode of "The X Factor." Each part presented viewers with a choice to vote on how the heroes of the spot would respond during a chase scene. Viewers could tweet one of two actions along with the #YOUDRIVE hashtag to voice their opinions.

Even after that live event, Mercedes Benz made the entire short film available on YouTube, with a built-in interactive option for viewers to select between the driver's choices. This allowed viewers to see all the permutations of the story, as well as the brand name and product for a longer amount of time.

This campaign was a hit because of how it involved the car company's followers. Even though the stakes were low, the ad piqued enough curiosity to keep people tweeting and watching.

3. UNICEF India: #AwaazDo

Celebrity backing was the key to success for the "Awaaz Do" campaign UNICEF India ran in 2011. The phrase means "lend your voice" in Hindi. The campaign aimed to get 8 million uneducated Indian children into schools.

Social agency Buzzvalve managed the program, and contacted two Bollywood stars to ask for their support. In an interview with Mashable, Buzzvalve CEO Rohan Chandrashekhar said explaining the impact their participation would have on the campaign guaranteed the help of well-known Indian celebrities.

By tapping into the fan bases of those popular figures, the #AwaazDo hashtag was mentioned 1,525 times during the three-month campaign and produced 203,248 signups from people who wanted to join the movement.

According to Chandrashekhar, showing the celebrities hard data helped convince them of the importance of participating in the campaign, as opposed to simply giving a formal endorsement.

When your brand wants to forge a partnership around a hashtag campaign with celebrities or other companies, be sure to offer your analytics as evidence. Figure out why it would be beneficial for all parties to work together and present a strong argument. In this case, it was a worthy cause that needed a large audience for better awareness.

What's the most successful hashtag campaign you've seen on Twitter?

A version of this article originally appeared on Sprout Insights.

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5 ways to be a better Facebook community manager

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

If you're a Facebook community manager, you've probably gotten the "Wow, you get paid to be on Facebook all day?" reaction from at least one person.

But you know Facebook community management isn't a walk in the park. It's more than posting a few status updates and responding to audience comments. It takes a lot of skills: writing, editing, customer service, some degree of tech savvy and a knack for conversation, among others.

Do you need to take your community management to the next level? Try these tips, straight from the amazing people I'm lucky to have on my team at V3. Here are some of our community managers' respective keys to success:

Be present

The most important aspect of being a successful community manager is to be present. No matter what anyone says, there's no autopilot or set-it-and-forget-it mode.

It's also important to understand the people your audience. Know when they are online and how they use your online information. Are they looking for customer support, industry news or upcoming events and trends? It goes without saying, but use analytics to determine what kinds of posts get the best reaction and when your optimal engagement times are.

— Jen Bradshaw

Make it personal

If you represent a brand or company, don't forget to be personal. Every business is comprised of people, and you should reflect that personality on your Facebook page.

Have fun, make jokes, be conversational and approachable. Ditch the corporate speak and post content that makes your audience take notice, helps them solve problems and keeps them informed and entertained.

Your company has a personality and story, and Facebook is an ideal platform on which to show your customers, fans and audience exactly who you are and why they should pay attention to you.

— Katy Schamberger

Remember customer service

If a customer is upset, I try to empathize with him. I get in his shoes and remember a time when I had a customer service debacle. I also try to remember that it's hard to understand tone in the written word. I may think a customer is being snippy when it wasn't his intention to come across that way at all.

I realize someone might just be having a bad day, and his interaction with me might be the one thing that turns it around. I never forget that I'm dealing with a human being.

— Jenny Rapson

Listen to your community

Over the last several years, I've spent a lot of time meeting new people and learning about how they interact. One lesson I've learned over and over has been to listen.

A good community manager listens to her community-to the individuals and the group as a whole. You have to be willing to listen to the voices of the individual while also keeping the entire community in mind. It's important to remember you are not the community, but rather the liaison between the brand and community.

— Amanda Henson

Stay engaged

With so many scheduling and automation tools available, it's sometimes hard to stay truly engaged on Facebook. These tools are handy and play a key role in sharing content and information, but if you don't keep up with the day-to-day activity, you'll miss out on the opportunity to engage with fans and build your network.

— Libby Hastert

Although these tips are specific to Facebook, most of them apply to any social network. After all, it's called community management for a reason—you're managing and building a community, which requires daily work and insight to succeed.

What else would you add to the list?

Shelly Kramer is the CEO of V3 Integrated Marketing. A version of this article first appeared on her blog.

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The secret to successful executive emails? Brevity and authenticity

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

This is the second article in a three-part content series on engaging employees via email. This series, in partnership with PoliteMail, offers tips and multiple ways to improve your internal email communication.

Anyone who has worked at a big company has probably received an email in which the "from" line has the CEO's name, but the actual contents were very obviously written by a team of communicators.

There are some giveaways, says Brad Langford, Cisco Systems' manager of business operations for the service platforms group. Among them are fancy headers and big pictures of the executive from whom the message supposedly came.

When Langford was sending out executive emails with all those bells and whistles, "people weren't really reading it," he says. His statistics from the email measurement client PoliteMail bore that out. The emails were going into "to be read" piles, and then possibly never revisited.

"There was too much to look at, too much frosting on the cake, so to speak," Langford says.

So what really gets people's attention when it comes to executive emails? Langford and other internal communications pros offered some advice.

Don't dress it up.

The message should be from the executive, not sent on his behalf. Communicators may set up an identically named executive alias with a slightly different email address as a shared mailbox. That way, the communications team can compose, send, and measure the executive communication, and the exec can monitor that inbox for replies.

"When it's more of an action-oriented message, we've found that just typing it like a regular, short email [works]," Langford says. PoliteMail showed a much higher click-through rate for links on those types of messages.

Langford says his team polled employees and found that many of them thought executives had no idea what was in fancied-up emails.

"It feels so rehearsed," he says.

Once the team stripped them down, employees felt better about the correspondence.

The use of short, to-the-point sentences, bullet points, and highlighted links for action items will make a difference between the email's being read or its being ignored.

Speechwriter and executive communications consultant Ian Griffin agrees that a CEO message shouldn't look all that different from a personal email.

"The CEO's name on the message 'from' line should be sufficient to cause people to open it," he says. "A simple, scanned signature inserted at the end of an email does wonders for personalization. I would not go beyond that in terms of formatting."

Do change it up.

Not all emails are created equal, says Mollie Cole communications director at gaming machine manufacturer WMS. The vice president of a human resources department communicating a new hire or a big promotion should probably be more formal in tone, she says.

"We believe this signals to readers the email carries important information, and is a keeper," she says. "On the other hand, a congratulatory email from the CEO recognizing a winning team is more authentic when the tone is personal and the format less formal."

Try not to waste employees' time.

The best executive email is written using an authentic "voice"—so if executives compose and send the message themselves, with a review and some minor editing, that works best. Employees aren't going to open an email with a subject line that's nothing but jargon, Griffin says.

"'A note on our earnings' beats 'A review of the recent Q2FY14 Financials report to Wall St.,'" he says. "'Good job, team!' is better than, 'Positive feedback to customer assurance front line staff members.'"

Langford says he tries to include words that let employees know that an action is required or desired of them: phrases such as, "action required," or, "please read this." Sometimes he puts those in all caps, he says. It makes the email more immediate, he says.

"If [employees are] going to spend their time reading something, I want them to do something with it," Langford says.

Cole says adding something to a subject line to perk up employee interest isn't a bad thing. "FY '13 results" might not get too much attention but adding "annual bonus-bound" to that will certainly draw in readers.

Cole also suggests sending employees to the company intranet to flesh out news items that require lengthy explanation, rather than putting it all in the body of an email.

Don't overdo it.

Griffin suggests sending executive emails only for significant events. Don't put the CEO's name out in front of employees too often, he says.

"Over-communicating will dull the impact," he says.

Executive emails work best when they tell a brief story about how a worker's effort fits into the company's larger goals. These messages help build a culture of engagement. "In speaking with our customers who measure results," says Michael DesRochers of PoliteMail Software, "when you need a group of employees to understand something or do something, a quick note from the boss with a link to the desired action will generate the highest email click-through rates."

Measure clicks.

Langford says he doesn't worry too much about how many people open executive emails—they may close them immediately. What he really cares about is whether people click on the links within. He says he uses PoliteMail data to determine what the next executive email will look like.

Langford says he and his team funnel what they learn from the data they collect to try new approaches, and then they measure the resulting click-throughs to gauge success.

How you can overcome the Gen Y stereotype

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:00:00 GMT

I'm a millennial. I'm also a recent graduate (two years out) and in the comunications field.

I hear and read a lot about how terrible and frustrating millennials are as they enter and contribute to the working world. I hear: pretentious, entitled, annoying, lazy.

We have (rightfully or wrongfully) garnered the reputation as a generation of kids who don't really deserve what we think we deserve.

It's a stereotype I don't think we deserve, but before you can overcome a stereotype, you first have to understand why it exists. Where did it come from? What caused it? What perpetuates it?

The environment

The workforce today is a hodgepodge of Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y (millennials). What happens when you juxtapose these generations? You get stereotypes.

The loudest and most flamboyant of the sets tend to create the voice for the generation, even if there are serious variations within them.

The generations

Baby Boomers are considered hardworking, serious, fiscally responsible, and technology averse. That makes sense. The Boomers were the product of World War II and had parents who survived the Great Depression. They had to work for what they wanted. Very little was given to them, and they learned to navigate life through that lens. That kind of upbringing normally sets you in your ways and teaches you to value every penny you earn—and every moment you spend earning it.

Gen Xers are considered a little more self-absorbed, but still financially responsible and very hardworking. These are the people who work 14-hour days without batting an eye, but who want to be rewarded for their efforts. They were brought up by Baby Boomers, so that financial stability and work ethic carried over into their psyche.

That brings us to Gen Y. The Millennial generation is an interesting social experiment. It seems that when the latest of the Baby Boomers and the Gen X group starting having children, they starting rebelling against the child-rearing ways of their parents. They decided they would be more present, more aware, more in tune with what their children wanted; over-protecting, over-negotiating, and over-worrying were common.

The by-product

Millennials were brought up being told we can do anything, be anyone, try and fail, because we have the safety net of family. We can move back in when we lose our jobs. We can quit a job just because we don't like a particular thing about the situation. We can use credit cards because we shouldn't have to go without.

That mentality is what created the Millennial Monster.

What can we do to overcome this thinking?

1. Do the work, even if you don't like it. Everyone has aspects of their life and job they don't like. You aren't going to get a job in that corner office when you're 22. You have to work for it, and sometimes it sucks. Sometimes you have to do administrative work. Sometimes you have to deal with a rude co-worker. Sometimes you have to put up with a project no one else wants. You're a millennial, so you're ambitious. Prove it.

2. You're not entitled to life as you knew it. Our parents worked really, really hard to give us the life we grew up experiencing. They didn't fall into it by accident. They worked long days at jobs they didn't like so by the time our adorable faces showed up, they could provide what they didn't have. Work hard, and in 10 years you'll have the life you want. Ten years isn't that long when you think about how long you were in school.

3. Be OK with hearing "no." This is a word you might not have heard much while you were growing up. Believe me—in the real world people aren't afraid to tell you it. It's a big presence in the business world. Not every idea you come up with will be heralded as the best thing they've ever heard. You might be the brightest person they hired, but you're not the best-informed at the company. Not yet. You've got a lot to learn, so speak up but be prepared to be shot down—and learn from it.

Millennials have the potential to turn the business world on its head, but you have to think of it more as a democratic win and less of a hostile takeover. Work with the generations in power, not against them.

Liz Settle is a freelance writer and communications professional working in the consumer finance industry. She's also a millennial and enjoys the opportunity to disprove the stereotype that follows Gen Y around. Follow her on Twitter @liz_settle.

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11 old-fashioned sayings to bring back

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 GMT

My grandma uses wonderful phrases and expressions.

Like most grandmas, she entertains us grandchildren not only with memories and funny stories about our parents, but also with her delightful vocabulary.

A few Christmases ago, Grandma said one of her gifts was so great it was "the cat's pajamas."

She refers to my friends as the people I "chum" with, and when I tell her a story and she can't believe the ending, she'll say, "Well, I'll be."

Vocabulary and slang change from generation to generation, and I know my future grandchildren will think the things I say are funny, too. But some sayings from generations past are too good to go away, and they deserve a second wind.

Here are some phrases—including a few from Grandma—that I think society should bring back:

1. To cut a rug: to dance well

Ex: Uncle Frank cut a rug at the wedding last night.

2. Heavens to Betsy: an exclamation of shock or surprise

Ex: The high today is 100 degrees. Heavens to Betsy, that's hot!

3. Oh, my stars: synonym for "oh my goodness"

Ex: Oh, my stars, look at the time!

4. The bee's knees/the cat's pajamas: the absolute best, a form of praise

Ex: Your new shoes are the bee's knees!

5. To be sweet on someone: to have a crush on someone

Ex: Did you hear that Tommy is sweet on Kate?

6. Not my speed/not my cup of tea: something that is not your taste

Ex: That movie was not my speed.

7. Well, I'll be: an exclamation of shock or disbelief

Ex: You wore those high heels all night, and your feet didn't hurt? Well, I'll be.

8. Golly gee: an exclamation of amazement

Ex: Golly gee, Jenna. Your haircut is cute.

9. Weak in the knees: to feel an emotion so strongly you feel unstable on your feet

Ex: His smile made me go weak in the knees.

10. Whizbang: something that has a startling effect, is top-notch

Ex: He's a whizbang navigator.

11. Freshen up: to clean up

Ex: I need to freshen up before we go to dinner.

Do you use any of these sayings? What expressions would you like to people to start using again?

13 characteristics of human brands

Mon, 20 May 2013 05:10:00 GMT

Just like people, brands come in all shapes and sizes. A brand is not a logo, colors, a fancy tagline, or even a fancy Super Bowl commercial. A brand is not your Facebook page, Twitter background, or set of beautifully designed Pinterest boards.

Your brand is all these things and more: It's what you tweet, post, pin, +1, Instagram, and offer as a call to action. It's what you write in emails and what you don't. It's whether you talk about yourself all day on Facebook or offer real value.

Your brand is what you say, do, and think. It's what your employees do online and offline. It's everything including your privacy policy, your social media policy, and the amount of spam email you send.

It's how you manage crisis or how you don't. It's how well you listen and, most important, how quickly you respond when people request help or engage with you online or offline.

The living, breathing, human brand

The human brand is much like a living, breathing organism. Its true definition is determined by those who love, like, or even dislike you. A brand is made up of humans within your organization and finally defined by those outside your organization.

You can't create a brand with a robot or algorithm. Yes, you can use data, analytics, research, and more as input to develop your brand and its brand promise, core messages, vision, and mission. Yet it's people who select the final colors and tagline. It's humans who post the status updates. It's humans who read them. It's humans who click like, pin, post, and share the content that the humans in your organization write.

On average it takes a minimum of six brand touches for someone to remember your brand. You had better make every touch count. It's humans who decide whether they like you and whether they tell their friends good or bad things about you.

The sooner you can acknowledge the importance of becoming a human brand and the need to truly inspire and connect with your audiences, the sooner you will see results and progress as you integrate social media into the DNA of your organization.

Below are 13 characteristics of the human brand. I could write 100, because it's impossible to define a human or a human brand with a short list. However, if you are wondering what human brands do and think, this is a good place to start.

1. They think like humans. You may be thinking that brands can't think. Well, yes, they can. Human brands have people on the inside who think like humans. They don't think like a cash register or corporate building. They think about things that human beings do, eat, like, and believe.

2. They care about humans. They care about the humans they engage with. They care whether they are happy, sad, satisfied, frustrated, hungry, or full. They care about their needs, wants, problems, and desires and about offering them real value, not just nonsense marketing tactics. It matters to them that they are cared for. They care about all the people in their ecosystem, from customers to the board of directors. They keep them in mind in all their decisions.

3. They value relationships. Human brands value people more than dollar signs. They are not willing to trade a dollar for a relationship gone bad. They know that investing in people is the only way and that relationships are both the cake and the icing of personal or professional success. You won't see the human brand buying fake Twitter followers or Facebook fans. They value real human interaction and authentic relationships.

4. They listen to other humans. Human brands listen more than they talk. They speak when they must but always have an ear open to how their audience, clients, partners, and stakeholders respond. They know their Google Analytics and other website data, and analytics is a gold mine. They use the data to listen and learn about their audience, not only to convert the transaction to a sale. On social media, you're likely to find them listening more than talking.

5. They talk like humans. Human brands don't talk like robots or corporate collateral. They speak in language that other humans read, hear, and understand.

6. They have a personality. What is your brand personality? Is it serious? Fun? Engaging? Inspiring? All of the above? Human brands have a personality that inspires and connects them with their audiences.

7. They show they're "human." In line with their personality, human brands aren't afraid to let their humanity show. They laugh, giggle, sing, dance, talk, and might even get frustrated. They often let you see the people behind the avatars, as they know they are their own best ambassador.

8. They own their mistakes. No human being is perfect and no brand is perfect, because it is made up and defined by humans. Human brands are humble. They make mistakes just like you and me, and they aren't afraid to own it.

9. They are available. Are you available when your online or offline audience wants you to be? Do you respond to questions in a timely manner? Are you even available to answer questions? Or do you hide behind a corporate Web form, and fill your Twitter and Facebook stream with corporate-speak? Human brands make themselves available. Even if they can't be there 24x7, they let their audience know when they are available.

10. They know themselves. They know who they are and what they offer their customers, partners, online community, and friends. They know their strengths, weaknesses, and sweet spots. They know how to talk and listen, as well as what makes them shine. They don't guess what to post or pin as they engage with confidence and pride.

11. They know their audience. They know what their audience wants and how to provide it. They know that if they inspire, connect with, and help their audience to achieve their goals that they will, in turn, achieve their own goals as well.

12. They are agile. Human brands do not sit static; they evolve. Because they are always learning and listening more than talking, they are able to move and evolve with confidence and agility. They don't have to jump on every shiny new object; they jump confidently at the right time. This offers them an extreme level of competitive differentiation.

13. They invest in people. Human brands invest in listening, learning, training, empowering, building teams, and creating a culture that enables their brand to shine. As Sandy Carter of IBM says, "Culture eats strategy for lunch." Even though I am a strong believer in strategy, I agree. Without investing in culture and people, brands can't be human, whether they're internal or external.

Pam Moore is CEO and founder of Marketing Nutz. A version of this article first appeared on TheMarketingNutz.com.

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Common excuses for crappy social media marketing

Mon, 20 May 2013 05:09:00 GMT

Lots of people try to convince me that social media marketing isn't about sales. It's about building a community, interacting with people, showing the fun side of the brand—you know, being social and stuff.

I really want to slap them in the forehead and ask why they're even doing it, then. Pull the plug. Stop wasting resources on it.

Marketing is supposed to influence consumer behavior, but what happens when marketing becomes a two-way conversation and the people who are in direct contact with consumers are not thinking like salespeople? The conversation keeps going, and nobody buys anything. That's a lot of fun, but it won't keep the business in business, which is an important part of business.

There are a million things we do every day that make us feel like we've worked hard and accomplished something. Social media is one of them. Today your social media team connected with lots of people, and you drove conversation and awareness. People commented and you commented back, and all this activity can be measured, even.

What about those sales? Did anything get sold? That's when the excuses start to fly.

1. But social media is only about raising awareness—you know, like billboards.

The difference between a billboard and social media marketing is that if you talk to a billboard it can't talk back. Billboards can't have conversations, answer questions, or talk you into doing stuff. They can make you aware of something, but then you have to do something else to learn more—like visit a website, call a number, or Google it.

2. But the product is crap.

So what? Lots are. Even turds get swarmed by flies. Your job is to sexy up that turd and gather up some flies. If it's really that bad, you shouldn't have taken the job. Find the right audience, and connect with them. Do your job.

3. But it's hard to connect social media data to sales figures.

Then stop trying to do that. Just look at your numbers before you start a social media campaign, promo, launch a video, run a contest, and look at them after. Are you selling more? If not, stop doing it or do it differently. If so, double down on it.

I run a digital agency, and my two biggest responsibilities include making sure new business is coming in and great work is going out. We rely 100 percent on social media for our new business development, so each day when I ask myself and our team what we accomplished today, I don't mean the details, I mean the results. What did we do to move the needle forward for ourselves and for our clients?

4. But social media is just about building interest and demand.

Yup. Then what? Is some other team supposed to swoop in and take care of the sales part? Are you going to wait for consumers to call or email for more info or ask where they can get what you're selling? You have a captive audience. They just need to know what to do next. Make them not only aware of your product or service but also aware of what they can do to get it and the reasons they should.

5. But it's what the client wants.

Maybe the client is wrong. Listen to what the client wants to achieve more than how the client wants you to do it. If their ideas aren't working, show them the pie charts. People love pie charts. They clearly tell the story while simultaneously reminding them of pie; everyone loves pie.

A few years back, my agency was pitching a viral video marketing project for IBM. The marketing director asked me, "Do you have the balls to tell us what you really think, no matter what we say?" You're the expert in the room. Start acting like it.

By the way, I said yes—and we got the job. Now get back to work.

A version of this article first appeared on SuperCoolCreative.

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