Listening in on Social Media

This weekend Neville Hobson (@jangles) posted a great interview with Scott Monty (@scottmonty), Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager at Ford. Among other things at Ford, Scott champions creative uses of social media. Most recently this last week he used twitter as a crisis management tool, to help keep folks up to date as he dealt with a misunderstanding that was being propagated across the internet. Now much of his success in this effort was due to the network Scott has built on twitter, it's almost 6000 strong. Notice I say network, not following. Scott, in my opinion, is using twitter the "smart" way. He's building relationships. He's interacting on a daily basis with colleagues, with clients, with media. He, like me, manages multiple corporate twitter accounts as well, which are used for other purposes such as customer support, or b2b marketing. In this capacity though, he is also building relationships.

As the resident social media guru at BluePoint, clients often ask me for advice on social media strategy. The question I am asked most frequently is, "How do we chose between all the social media tools and groups out there? Why would we chose to be on twitter, versus facebook or linked in? We can't do it all!". My response is:

You know your audience. Where do you think they hang out?

Marketing and PR may have changed a lot in the last 10 years, but one thing remains the same. You need to reach your audience. In the age of social media, I would argue that this is becoming easier, not harder. Instead of just sending out direct mail or e-mail and waiting for a response, you can get online and find your customers. You can listen in on their conversations, or grievances. You can speak to them directly.

So as 2009 rolls around, don't let yourself get overwhelmed by the multitude of options out there. You know your audience. Take a look at the communities that you think might appeal most to them. Then join a select few, and LISTEN. (I have my friend Kyle Flaherty to thank for this piece of invaluable advice) Don't worry about broadcasting a message or making yourself known right out of the gate. You will learn a lot if you just listen. You may learn that your customers don't hang out on twitter. You might be surprised to see them already talking to each other on a Facebook group. You may even have the enjoyable experience that I had over the weekend of meeting a new colleague, while listening in on twitter!

Is there anything we CAN do anymore?

With the advent of the Internet, many marketers dropped dollars devoted to traditional methods like direct mail in favor of online ads and email marketing to reach their audience immediately. When the Do-Not-Call list made it into the law books, even more marketers turned to email. Then anti-SPAM laws made it nearly impossible to use email as an effective marketing tool, so we reverted back to tried-and-true methods, and direct mail made a big comeback. This proved to be an effective method to get response as long as marketers were creative in their messaging, offers and packaging to break through the clutter. But now, state legislators around the US are lobbying for a “Do Not Mail” law which would effectively end direct mail as an option for many marketers. AK, CO, CT, HI, MD, MI, MS, MT, NJ, NY, NC, RI, TX, VT and WA have all considered establishing a “Do Not Mail” registry.

In hopes of abating this, the DMA (whose very existence depends on the aforementioned marketing techniques) has issued new guidelines designed to help marketers. Many of these guidelines are practices that companies already have in place to comply with email marketing rules. Although geared to consumer marketing, there are lessons that can be applied to B2B marketers, including:

- Provide customers with an opt-out of future mailings
- Upon request, notify recipient of how their address was obtained
- Update your lists frequently to remove undeliverable and opt-out requests

You can already block broadcast ads thanks to DVR and satellite radio, and avoid any type of online advertising by subscribing to RSS feeds to receive your favorite site’s content. Before we know it, magazines and newspapers will be ad-free! Direct mail is one of the few remaining vehicles we have to get creative and make our message stand out. In times when regulations and things we can’t do seem endless, let’s hope this is one law that isn’t passed!