Let’s face it, social media is about conversation. It is about spreading a message, an idea or a story. But at its foundation it is marketing, because what is marketing but spreading an idea, a story or a message.

Unfortunately, most people are spreading manure and pumping up their own egos. How many were not very good at traditional marketing? Ego doesn’t work well in marketing because it isn’t about YOU, it’s about THEM. The Client. The Customer. The Ratepayer. The Prospect.

Marketing is about getting attention. That’s why people talk about eyeballs and the number of followers or some other metric. It is about Engagement and Listeners. Jeffrey Gitomer asks, “Would you rather have a loyal wife or a satisfied one?”

The same with your followers. Sure, 10K people following you strokes your ego, but if no one is listening or responding or re-tweeting or commenting, what’s the point?

There is a story about 1000 customers being profitable. And 2000 customers makes you lots of profit.

There’s also the mental limit of about 250 – that’s about all the people we can effectively remember and engage with. People with a network of more than 5,000 will tell you it’s possible but I’m going to stick with you can have a Rolodex of thousands, but can only maintain a relationship with about 250.

That brings us around to sales: in sales, it’s about the relationship. They have to like you and trust you to buy from you in most cases.

We forget in this digital age that pre-Internet, PR, marketing, advertising and branding were not always done under one roof. There are still many firms that just handle publicity. Still others only handle branding; while others just do advertising. It’s all under the Marketing umbrella, but they are different arms of that octopus.

Remember too, that in traditional advertising, there was a media buy component and a creative piece. The creative piece was the charge to come up with the campaign – whether it was the story board for the commercial (TV or radio) or the billboard and newsprint ads. The firm created the story that would resonate with your target audience. (Unless it was just a cool ad to win an ADDY, which also happened. A lot.)

The firm would do the media buy for a commission to get your ad on the radio – on the right radio station that hit your demographics; or on the right TV channel, on the targeted TV show, aimed at a targeted demographic. Or the same with a newspaper or magazine ad: who is the target demographic and what do they read.

We seemed to have forgotten all that in the online marketing world. We don’t story board or check where the demographic is or target like a sharpshooter. Instead, we aim for numbers and noise and throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. If you are going to spend the time, the effort and the money, do it right. The Internet has a long memory.

Case Studies of Social Media – a collection by Peter Kim. [Master list # 3]

SMB companies are finding that they are losing money on social media because it takes much longer than they thought. (see WSJ article)

On B2B Social Marketing: ‘Asked to rate the effectiveness of specific social media sites in their marketing efforts, more than one-half of respondents said that Facebook was “extremely” or “somewhat” effective. Somewhat fewer said the same of LinkedIn, and just 35% considered Twitter effective.’

Bonus: 48 Guerrilla Marketing Tips.

There are a number of factors that go into web design, including why are you building the web site? That’s first and foremost. Why? To sell something? An online brochure?

It can not be all things to all people because it will end up being nothing to anyone.

In an upcoming session in Orlando, we will be examining websites for design flaws. But luckily we will tell you how to improve it!

Seth Godin would say that is your lizard brain yelling at you. It’s creating excuses, throwing up obstacles. I say, “Just do it.”

You can’t write, but you can if you practice. You can if you are writing about something you believe it. (You believe in your company’s products and services, I hope.)

You have to make time. Marketing costs money or time. Either hire a marketing firm or schedule some time – regular appointments when you are freshest is best.

What do I write about? I have answered this numerous times. Tell stories about your customers, your community, your industry, your employees, your charity. What do you talk about at networking events? Write a short post about that. (It’s a place to start!)

You are a lousy writer – now. With practice (and maybe some editorial help) you will get better. But to do that you have to get started!

If you don’t want to write — audio and video work too!

I ended up coining this term during a twitter discourse with Jim Alexander (@tweetmaker) about whether or not this practice was good or not, and whether it should be transparent.  The point about social media that I like is that it needs to be both authentic and transparent.

Apparently, many companies hire tweet-makers like Jim to do all of their social media for them. If it is not disclosed, when (not if) it comes out, you will have lost some integrity.

Consumers understand that press releases are written by a firm.  Customer service can be done by an outsourced company – as long as the company is actually delivering service (which today sadly doesn’t happen enough). There are other tasks that can be outsourced.

But the conversation that you have with your customers, the dialog that builds a relationship, should be authentic. And by that I mean, it needs to come from a stakeholder – an employee, an owner, a shareholder, even the owner’s spouse. That’s the voice of the business.

When the CEO hires someone to blog for him, why bother?Just issue press releases. It’s about the same idea. The good blogs from executives offer insight, a story, a look inside, a personal touch. A good example is the Bear on Business blog from Zayo CEO Dan Caruso.

Do you think that Steve Jobs can hire someone to do the Apple presentations? Nope. The Mac-heads would freak out. Their relationship with Apple and Jobs is what gives the company that cult-like feel.

Do you think that Tony Hsieh at Zappos could have outsourced his social media and still built a $1B business?

Dell could probably have outsourced their Outlet twitter sales, but I bet it wouldn’t have worked as well or been tracked as accurately.

Can Rubbermaid outsource its forums and blogs? Probably not because it’s the tone and voice (and continuity) of the blog that keeps readers coming back. They come for the story from the storytellers that they know.

There’s the other side of the coin: companies complain that they don’t do social media because they can’t control the message. How do you control the message by outsourcing it?

I will say that in relationship building, it would be difficult to outsource. And the relationship would be damaged when it comes out that the conversation wasn’t with the manager at company X but their social media mercenary. And it will come out. We live in an age where privacy is disappearing more and more every day. It’s just a matter of time before that brand gets damaged due to a lack of transparency or authenticity.

And for Jim who says that his small business clients can’t find the time: I call bull sh!t. Employees are on social networks all day anyway. As a SM mercenary, my job is to get them all to spend 15 minutes per day on social networks for the good of the company. That’s a little harder than just doing it for them, but you can fish for someone or you can teach them how to fish.  (Of course, there’s more money in just fishing for them).

At the very least, these social media mercenaries need to be transparent. There needs to be a disclaimer that it is the agency not the actual company.

Would you hire someone to go to a business networking event for you? “Hey, Jim, here’s $40, go to the Hotspaces event and meet people for me and collect business cards. Hey, give them my card too.”

Would you hire a stand-in for a cocktail party?  These are the analogies I hear for social networks – cocktail parties and online networking events. How do you substitute?

Google them. If not much comes up, then they are all talk no action.

Review their Twitter profile. If it is updated multiple times every day with @ replies and RT retweets as well as his/her own tweets – daily – then they are just giving it lip service.

Read their blog. Is it current? Is it updated multiple times per week? What do they talk about?

It’s not about the number of followers. It’s about the number of people listening. It’s about the number of people you are engaging that makes social media so powerful.

Gary Vee says it is the platforms to utilize for personal branding. He’s right. Marketing is marketing. The key today is to tell a compelling story that will interest your audience. Publishing that story is the magic pixie dust of social media because you can publish it for free on many platforms.

So before you plunk down money on social media training, make certain that the person in the front of the room is actually utilizing social media – and utilizing the way that you might want to.

In addition, if they talk about the number of followers, walk away. It’s about the message (the story, the content). It’s about having a conversation with the marketplace.

To do that, the expert should help you with your strategy, your goal for each platform you will be active on, and identify who you are targeting and where they hang out. (No sense in being on MySpace if you aren’t targeting teens and musicians).

Don’t listen to just anybody. You didn’t for your offline marketing, did you?

Gary started in retail at the age of 6 with lemonade stands. That’s right: plural. He had others working for him over the summer. He understood early that business is about eyeballs.

We agree on 2 points:  (1) Storytelling is the key to business. (2) Social media is just a marketing tool like the printing press. It isn’t about the tool; it’s all about the story to the market.

Gary says that if you don’t get Twitter or Facebook, get over it because millions are using it. That’s where the eyeballs are, so you better be there. But doing what? It isn’t about Talking. It’s about Listening. (Which btw is a huge lesson in sales. Two ears, one mouth; listen twice as much as you talk

Too many businesses draw a line in the sand. You have to see trends and go with the flow. “Business is  a game of change.” If billions are on FB – but more important, if your target market is on FB or Twitter – then you need to be there to. Listening, engaging, telling your story. The World Wrestling Entertainment is about storytelling. Disney and Pixar are all about stories. Branding is about the story that the consumer has heard about your brand – the sum total of story, experience, WOM (word-of-mouth), and emotional tag. How you feel about Dunkin Donuts or Nike is the branding.

Another point he made has been made by Seth Godin: You have to know what business you are in. During Q&A (which was half the night), Gary kept asking people these questions:

• Who are you?
• What are you selling?
• What’s your story?
• Where are you going?
• What are your expectations?
• What do you expect to happen?
• What do you want to happen?

His answer to most questions was Content. That translates into Personal Branding online. Buy the domain yourname.com. Start a blog. Video, audio, text – doesn’t matter. Start producing content (and stories) about what you are passionate about, what you have knowledge about. But do it in your own voice. This is your online presence, your home on the Internet – just 15 years old but changing everything everyday.

He spoke over and again about Transparency. Basically, be authentic, because if you aren’t, you will be caught and outed. In a similar vein, remember that everything is recorded for posterity today. Cameras are everywhere. Everything you put online is permanent. If you aren’t authentic, it will come out.

When it comes to What are you selling, be Honest with yourself. It’s okay for it to be about the Benjamins. Just make certain that you know what you want and expect, so that you know where you are headed.

Gary Vee’s BHAG is to own the NY Jets. It’s what guides his actions. Having a seven month old child may have changed that just a little bit. He’s all about “Crushing It” – working smart and hard. He works 19 hours per day. (He is cutting back to 15 now). What’s yours? What guides your business decisions? What is  your Goal or Vision that keeps you motivated?  (It’s a key part of the equation).

Note: Lack of self-esteem and laziness is destroying business value.

Gary mentioned that WOM converts to a sale 70% of the time. Advertising converts 12%. Today, with online personal branding your job is to create fans, who will spread the word (re-tell your story) about your business to prospects, who will become customers.

We are becoming more connected and more documented every day. So the days of chasing the quick cash might be coming to an end.

Gary thinks the Wal-Mart Era is almost over and it will become the Niche Era. We will win next. Oops! There will be 2000 to 8000 of Yoga Chicks in your area. You better have the skills and the work ethic to beat them. YOU are the Differentiating factor.

Here’s why Gary thinks the Zappos story is so important: because it is the story about how Culture and Service won (not price). Zappos cost more than other online shoes stores, but the Culture was to make the customer happy. That won out (when its competitor, Amazon bought Zappos for $1B)

The other thing to notice is that customers are going through an Expectation Shift. Instant Customer Service will be expected or you will become a commodity (and lowest price will win).

BTW, that social media thing? It takes time to work, so be patient.

UPDATE:  Fellow Tampa blogger, Deana Goldasich, has  a great write-up about the Gary Vee talk here.

One strategy is to use Facebook for contests. That drives traffic.

Another strategy is polls. There is nothing better than customer feedback.

Oh, wait, there is: Customer reviews, photos, and stories posted right to the fan page.

Target used its fan page to let customers determine the charity. If you have a corporate giving strategy, a fan page is a great place to let your customers (and the public) know about it and maybe engage about it. By engage, I mean, join in – dollar matching, blood drives, food collections, etc.

But using Facebook to collect your boring ass posts, blogs, and tweets isn’t a strategy. That’s aggregation of your content.

And for those that tweet to Facebook: you probably tell the same jokes at every cocktail party.

Like a TV commercial, you need to grab the audience in the first 3 to 5 seconds. But it’s more than just the attention grabbing. Your message has to be powerful, memorable, and concise.

The rule of marketing is the same for online video, offline media or social media. These vehicles only work if the marketing works. [The marketing being that you have a powerful, concise, easy to share message. The more memorable or emotional it is the better it can resonate with your audience.]

At the AMA Tampa Bay meeting on Online Video, there were some good examples of video messaging. One was Julia Gorzka’s use of video to get the story out about Tampa’s own tortilla factory (savethetortillas.com).

Another example was Ken Donaldson, who is a relationship counselor. He spoke about the ease of video to get the message out and how he has built his practice through video and blogging.

Like any medium, if the message is boring, you won’t get a response. In today’s frenetic attention deficit society, you not only need your marketing to be ON, but your video better be on some fast servers and load quick!

“”I believe that one of the key things that keep small businesses small is that the owners maintain a small business mindset. For many, being small is just fine. They don’t ever want to be anything more than a mom and pop operation. But others dream big and want to see big goal accomplished but continue to struggle to “make it big.” They can’t ever seem to get over that hump that propels them out of small-time territory.”

“If you don’t want to be a mom and pop operation, or you want to be more than the small business you are, then it’s time to start thinking not like the small business you are but like the bigger business you want to be.”

The author then goes on to talk about Online Marketing. (I am bringing in a team to present on that in-depth in Orlando in March, 2010).

What it doesn’t talk about is even more important: Marketing 101. It all starts with the Goal. What is the goal of your marketing?

Be specific. To get sales is way to general.

1. What are you selling?
2. Who are you selling it to?
3. Why should they buy it from you?
4. How can I reach my target market?
5. What will I say to them to get them to buy/contact us?

Doesn’t matter if this is online or offline marketing. The same questions apply. The answers should be all about the Customer Experience, not about some feature.

Think about how restaurants advertise. Carrabba’s radio ads describe a recipe of a delicious main course that is available for a limited time. It paints a picture. It tells a story. It has a call to action (go to Carrabba’s soon before it’s gone). McDonald’s uses a similar ad for McRib. Limited time. People love them. Come get it.

The hype with Online Marketing is that it is easy and instant. Not really. It is certainly trackable and measurable. But easy and instant notsomuch. (Nothing is).

Back to the opening paragraph, what is your Goal, your vision for your company? It’s November with December fast approaching. I will be spending a day reviewing 2009 and planning my goals for 2010. How much revenue do I want to make? How will I make that revenue? Where will I find my customers? Where do I want to speak? What will the follow-up look like?

I suggest that you take the time to review your year and plan for 2010. If you need help, call our office at 813-496-2122. Thank you.