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I’m not sure if you are at all familiar with the classic TV sitcom “The Brady Bunch.”
If you are, skip this brief explanation. If you are not familiar with The Brady Bunch, I’m slightly worried about you.
Basically this family has six kids, three of which are daughters. The eldest is named Marcia, and the middle child is named Jan. Marcia is the supreme sister. Everything seems to always be about Marcia, and at times Jan just can’t take it:
How does all of this tie into Social Media and the world today? Everyone seems to be talking about SOCIAL, SOCIAL, SOCIAL.
As with any hot topic, there is the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good: It is a fundamental shift in marketing. It is exciting and hopefully fun (most of the time). It can be an unsolicited focus group online. You can learn about the pulse of your product, gain insight into a business and better understand your customers.
The Bad: With massive amounts of buzz comes confusion, misrepresentation and misguidance.
The Ugly: It can be overwhelming. What is the ROI? How do I measure success? Should I engage? When do I engage? Who does it right in this space? Who does it wrong? How do I start?
The best advice I could give anyone is quite simple. Start from the beginning and take baby steps. you need to realize that you don’t know what you don’t know! Seems simple enough, right?
Step #1 –LOOK at your organization. Look at your employees. Are they happy? How is your customer service? As a whole, is your organization social? Do they want to be? Do you have a hidden social rock star? Does your company do GOOD business? With the megaphone your customers have in the social sphere, the good can be great – but the bad can get ugly. So you need to truly assess your company.
Step #2…LISTEN! Tap into a vast, unsolicited focus group. What are people saying about your brand? How are they reacting to your products, services, marketing campaigns and customer service?
Step #3 – LEARN from what you see and hear. Look at the existing data that your company has on their customers and see if it matches what people are saying. Is there a disconnect? Is it in line with your traditional market research? What information can you share across your organization to improve your relationship and consumers’ view of your brand?
Companies are under an even bigger microscope in the social space, and doing good business is a necessity now more than ever. Each employee is a potential champion (and at times a liability) for you. At the end of the day pulling people into your world can be a phenomenal shift in how you do business. Have you integrated social media into your business, and what challenges did you face? Who do you think is doing this particularly well?
Thanks for the useful tips, much appreciated. And fun to read too in your comparison to Marcia, Marcia, Marcia..
Great post Amanda. I’d say the fourth step is to engage. After looking listening and learning a brand should be armed with enough information to appropriately engage with their target audience within the platforms that they are already talking (and feel most comfortable). Unfortunately there are too many brands that jump right to the 4th step (or at least try to) and end up failing and throwing their arms up and saying “social media doesn’t work”.
Look -> Listen -> Learn -> Engage -> Measure -> Optimize
Talk to you soon
Mike