Social Media too often is being presented like CSI Miami all color coordinated, high tech and flamboyant, where the wow factor is considered success in Social Media.  However, the real successes in Social Media requires the through behind the scenes grinding work reminiscent of how Law & Order solve cases.

Social Media success is not about a cute marketing video that goes viral, or  a cute location based app that find stores to purchase your products.  However, because of the lack of Social Media planning among businesses and the belief that Social Media is just another marketing channel to serve up the inventory of marketing messages many companies believe that is all that is required to be successful in Social Media.

Yes the Old Spice video got millions of views but it was the work behind the scenes that increased Old Spice  sales by 107% in a one month period.  What Old Spice did was tell people to submit questions on Twitter and other online communities, and promised that their  spokesman would answer them.

What happened next was the implementation of the 3 major points of Social Media, Listen, Communicate and Publish.  Old Spice listened to the conversation from their viewers, Old Spice communicated and published by having the Man Your Man Could Smell Like answer the viewer’s questions via personalized videos on YouTube.

Over three days, Old Spice produced more than 180 videos starring spokesman Isaiah Mustafa. Every video was addressed to an individual, and each was less than 60 seconds in length. What transpired was 32 million YouTube video views and an increase in saless.

This campaign was successful because Wieden + Kennedy employed a multi faceted approach to the Old Spice strategy. they got down to the grunt work of Social Media by listening to viewers, communicating with viewers and publishing  a lot of content that spoke to different groups of viewers. Wieden + Kennedy employed a Law & Order through approach to their strategy instead of the glam no substance approach of CSI Miami.

Don’t look at Social Media as a fancy Facebook Fan page or a flashy app that you move around a giant virtual screen.  Success in Social Media does not come from a 24th century lab where your lab technicians wear the color of the day, drive Hummers and created fancy apps and widgets. Success in Social Media is grinding work as it requires you to knock on many virtual doors ask questions of the occupants and converse with them to show that you actually care about their concerns.   Success requires the use of tools to listen to the conversations about your brand.  Once you know what is being said you have to communicate with your audiences not market to them. The third part requires you to produce relevant content that empowers your audience and sends them out into the Social Media world as your brand evangelists.

To achieve real measurable success in Social Media will require that you:

• Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals (Specific – Measurable – Attainable – Realistic – Timely).
• Establish a strategy of what tools and platforms you will use to achieve your S.M.A.R.T. Goals
• Engage in the three main areas of Social Media (Listen – Communicate – Publish)
• Measure your results
• Be prepared to start all over again.

And after you’ve done all of that you may not find success in Social Media the 1st time out and you may need a lucky break to solve the case of Social Media success.  As on Law & Order every case is not neatly solved and wrapped up in 54 minutes the same is true with Social Media.  However, the grinding work of engaging in Social Media will yield more data that will get you closer to achieving Social Media success than the flamboyance of cool tools and hummers.

As I was reading this morning’s press releases, my eyes widen as I read this release from Cie Games:  “Cie Games Launches ‘Car Town’ on Facebook to Connect Consumers and Brands on the Social Web — Enlists Honda, Dodge, GM, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, VW, Mercedes.“  What an excellent way to involve consumers and the cars we dream of driving, the cars we’ve  driven and currently drive and the classics we’ve owned or own.  This bought back memories of cars I’ve owned and could have owned especially one rag top 1967 Mustang that my sister owned and did not give me the chance to purchase but instead she traded it in for a Monte Carlo. Yes a painful memory of what might have been.

But its those types of emotions that will make Car Town a hit for the automakers.  Here’s an opportunity through social media to examine all of the details of why we love the cars we do. Its an opportunity for us to have virtual fun with autos without the slick car ads in our face a virtual win-win for everyone who loves autos and social media games.

The game works by having players use virtual currency to purchase and customize hundreds of vehicles ranging from vintage Model Ts to AMC Pacers and 1960s muscle cars to luxury and exotics – even fire trucks, ice cream trucks and taco trucks – and store their collections in customizable virtual garages. Owners can take road trips, race against their friends and perform tasks – like delivering pizzas or servicing their friends’ cars – that earn them the points they need to purchase additional cars or car-related products and services, just as they would do in real life.

Cie Games further stated that they designed Car Town to become a significant hub where brands can engage consumers on Facebook. There are 500 million Facebook users globally, and the leading games on Facebook draw 10+ million monthly active users each and drive a significant portion of the time spent on Facebook.

Up until now I have avoided all Facebook games like, Mafia Wars, Farmville and everything Zynga has made primarily because those games just didn’t interest me and I prefer console games like Xbox, Playstation and Wii.  However, I will be adding more time to my digital hour(s) to play with some of my favorite cars on Car Town and the 1st car I’m looking for is a 1967 rag top Mustang. I have a second chance to own a classic.

I was reading this report a joint study by Deloitte and Harrison Group titled, “The 2010 American Pantry Study: The New Rules of the Shopping Game,” when I came up with some winning ingredients for using Social Media in the B2C market.

Before I talk about the ingredients for Social Media success lets discuss some of the key findings from the report.

This study was done to gauge how consumers are reacting to shopping since the recession. The report highlighted that Americans are rethinking and adjusting their shopping patterns. This has resulted in a more strategic, informed, and even calculating approach to shopping which was previously driven by impulse, advertising responsiveness and the fundamental attractiveness of brands.

The key finding here is that Americans are less likely to make their consumer purchases because of a brand’s traditional marketing strategies.  Other key findings are:

• 93% of Americans expect to continue spending cautiously even when the economy grows.
• 89% feel they have become more resourceful because of the economy.
• 55% of those cutting back suffered no decline in income, but simply felt they “should be” cutting back.

The report also revealed that businesses are chasing those resourceful shoppers with the same old tactics that include advertising and point of purchase promotions.  Consumers on the other hand are employing strategies that include waiting for the brand to go on sale at a neighborhood store which means they are dictating the price they are willing to pay, more use of coupons and loyalty cards and purchasing private label brands as an alternative.

There is a real shift in how consumers are purchasing and they are in CHARGE.

How does Social Media assist in the Shopping Game?

An August 2009 report by Razorfish, found that exclusive deals and offers were the

Click the image to see a lareger version

primary motivation of US Internet users following brands on Twitter.  Consumers are following your brand on Social Media because they know you’re going to offer special deals, and discounts that may not make the weekly sales circular.

However, if you’re using Social Media there are opportunities to build brand loyalty and Brand Evangelists where there is more value to following your brand than waiting on the deal of the week.

The 1st ingredient to building an evangelist is to use your social media platform(s) for honest communications with your consumers.

Create opportunities to listen to their praise and concerns and address both.  Addressing concerns will build a Brand Evangelist because once  a person is satisfied they are apt to use Social Media to tell others of their experience. That in turn will create brand loyalty where the value of your brand has risen in their perception.

The next ingredient is educate consumers on what makes your brand the best solution. This is an opportunity to help consumers use your product and create opportunities for your Social Media community to share best practices.  The more versatile uses the Social Media community discovers about your product the more valuable your product becomes.

The 3rd ingredient is to make it fun and engaging.  The recent Nielsenwire report “What Americans Do Online“  shows that Americans spend more time on Social Media and online games than watching online video and email.  Actually there is a decrease in email usage as I reported in an earlier Blog post.

Pepsi is one example of a company that made buying their product an interactive experience with Pepsi Loot.  Pepsi is using mobile phone apps and location based incentives to create consumer loyalty. The fact that Pepsi is using mobile phones for their delivery method shows they see the big picture of where consumers are opting to receive their information. You can read Mobile Behavior for more information on Pepsi Loot and how major brands are planning on using mobile applications to educate consumers and offer incentives.

Using location based services like Foursquare or Gowalla coupled with incentives and a mobile app are excellent toppings for the recipe to creating  a successful Social Media Brand Evangelist.

My last point is this behavior shift in consumer thinking will not only affect the items they purchase for their pantry but it will affect their behavior on all purchases.  So this is a good time to begin planning a Social Media strategy that will allow your brand to:   Listen, communicate, network and publish regardless of what you produce.

Nielsenwire just released a new survey that reported that Americans are spending more time playing games and on Facebook and email usage among Americans are starting to decrease. You can read the full report with a slick set of slides at their website.

I wonder did Nielsen count the number of emails that are sent through Facebook in their survey.  I just recently created a separate folder in my Outlook account for emails from Facebook and my quick survey revealed that my 2,100 friends on Facebook generate about 100 emails every hour.  That’s more emails than I get from all my email subscriptions and client interactions during the same hour.

Considering that time spent on Social Media increased by 43% during the past year,  it’s not unusual that people would use Facebook as their main email account.  I’ve had times when I reached people on Facebook faster by sending a message to them than sending  an email to their corporate email address.

Now let’s be clear I’m not predicting the end of email but I am saying that the strategies you use to reach your market should be measured against new data and if there are trends that are moving away from your avenues then you should be prepared to make adjustments.  Smart companies measure their marketing return every quarter and stand ready to switch directions if the trend shifts.

However, I do predict that texting, purchasing through mobile apps  and mobile web surfing will replace desktop computers and laptops by 2015 and smartphones will be as big as lunchboxes.

So shall it be said, so shall it be done.

Over the years certain products and services became the brand status for the industry.  People choose to say Xerox this document instead of saying photocopy or copy. The same is true of Kleenex for tissues and Fed Ex for overnight delivery.  During my last weeks of Social Media presentations with companies, I’m noticing a similar trend.  When I ask about the company’s social media goals, plans and strategies I get the response we have a Facebook account or a Facebook Fan Page.

When did having a Facebook page become the entire business social media strategy?  Why would a company throw all of their social media eggs in a Facebook basket? Facebook is becoming the sheriff of the social media landscape by their size but they are still just one of many tools to use to reach your social media goals.  If your company’s market is B-to-B then LinkedIn may be the best social media tool to reach decision makers.  If your target market are gamers then Hi5 may be the platform to establish your social media initiative.

Having a Facebook page is neither a goal or a strategy.  If you’re looking for a positive R.O.I. on your social media investment then follow these steps:

• Learn what social media can and cannot do for your business.
• Research what your competitors and industry are doing in social media.
• Create a social media policy (contact us for a template to help get you started).
• Develop social media goals based on what social can do for your business.
• Choose a few social media tools that reach the best percentage of your target market.
• Review often and be prepared to change your process.

My public service message for today is  “There’s a bigger social media world out there  than just Facebook.  Write down your social media goal(s), write a social media policy for your business, implement some social media strategies and get out there and explore.”

This post is in preparation for our exhibition at the 2010 Business Opportunity produced by the New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc. We are the MBE Co-Chair for this event and we have clearly defined our objectives.

If you think your customers are loyal to your product/service you are living a lie.  There is no such thing as a loyal customer and as a small business owner the sooner you accept this the faster you can develop strategies to keep your customers and grow your business.

I’ve always been finicky about who cuts my hair. I’ve had 5 barbers in my lifetime and my last barber was in the neighborhood, cheap at $10.00 for a haircut and good.  However, his shop was an eyesore with fold up chairs that look like they were stolen from a school, hair accumulating on the floor and messy counters where they keep their supplies and clippers.

One day recently my daughter treated me to a an upscale men’s hair saloon.  It was a 180 degree difference from my barber.  This shop is kept clean with a wine bar and big comfy leather chairs.  The woman who cut my hair was pleasant, courteous and a true professional in hair cutting.  To my surprise the price of my haircut was only $19.50. I was expecting to pay $25.00 to $30.00 for that haircut and would have gladly paid it.

I now have a new barber my 6th.  So here’s a shoutout  to my new barber Margret at BBraxton in Harlem, NYC.

Yes I was loyal to my old barber until I was introduced to something better.  And that’s the myth about loyal customers, they are only loyal until  your competitors expose them to something better.

How do you keep your long time customers from jumping to your competitors especially in this climate when businesses are pulling out all of their tricks to stay alive?

Here are several strategies to keep your customers and ward off your competitors.

1st lets be clear that not all of your customers will jump ship because your competitor has lowered their price to compete with you.  There must be other benefits because no business can compete on price alone. Read my earlier Blog “Your Selling Price is Not a Value Proposition.”

The trick is too add value that your customers will appreciate so they can respect and feel good about paying a premium price for your product/service.  My hair cuts cost me more and what’s more I  schedule appointments so I’m getting haircut more often. BBraxton’s offered a lot of value that justified their price and my perception is that I’m getting a bargain because I valued the service higher that what they are charging

To offer true value to your customers you need to know what value do they currently place on your product/service. Yes that means talking to your current customers or polling them. You should know what they think of your product/service and where they see as your strengths and weaknesses.  If you don’t communicate with your customers regularly about you can you improve their use of your product/service then I can guarantee your competitors will swoon your customers with tales of how they will always communicate and assist them with getting the most value from their product/service.

2. Stop doing the same old thing the same old way because it used to work. Change is a good thing and a strength overused becomes a weakness.  Customers today are savvy and are looking for true innovation, quality and real benefits for what they purchase. If you are not approaching each day with how your product/service can be better than yesterday then you are heading for extinction.

Talking with your customers will reveal some of the ways you can implement innovation.  Our company started as a video production company but because of opportunities that was uncovered through conversations with our clients we are now a new media boutique agency developing and executing media campaigns for our clients.

3. Be innovative. Innovation is not a buzz word,  it require you seeing the trends in how your customers can and will use your product/service in the future and meeting those needs.  Finding ways to use social media to assist your customers in using your business is innovation. If your customers are using smart phones then look to develop an App that will allow them to use your product/service more often.  Create a fan page on Facebook so your customers can network.  See what other services/products you can bundle with your service/product to build value.

If you constantly communicate with your customers see the tends and innovate you will hold onto your customers for a long time but believe that they will never be loyal.

Target Marketing – Definition:

Target Marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments.

Target marketing can be the key to a small business’s success.

The beauty of target marketing is that it makes the promotion, pricing and  distribution of your products/services easier and more cost-effective. Target marketing provides a focus to all of your marketing activities

I started off this post with the definition of  Target Marketing because I was listening to a small business owner make  a presentation in front of other entrepreneurs about the cost of advertising and buying a full page ad to attract more business.  Never once did this business owner talk about their marketing plan or who their target market is.

When I looked at this business owner’s industry and their market, I deduced that no amount of print ads was going to increase their sales to make a positive ROI. The business owner has several large corporate competitors that was already controlling major shares of this business owner’s market.  Plus the business owner product was not carried everywhere the competitors was. The business owner couldn’t beat them with ad page buys.  But what we did uncover that by specializing and focusing on several key influence markets and using a combination of marketing tactics the business owner could increase their sells and increase their distribution.

No one marketing platform by itself was going to do the entire job because the key influencers in the selected markets respond to different stimuli. Some parts of the market will respond to how-to-videos showcasing the best uses of the product and real life testimonials of the benefits.  Others in the market will respond to hands on demonstrations while still others will respond to the social media aspects of having a dialogue with the company.

Growing your business is dependent on you identifying a niche market that have a want, need, desire and can afford your product/service. Once you have located and researched that market as to what stimulus they respond to then you can craft a marketing plan.

Buying ads is NOT a marketing plan.  Creating Social Media profiles is not a marketing plan.  Spending time and money on the next hot Social Media platform is not a marketing plan. And most important Social Media marketing by itself is not profitable for your business. No matter how much you invest in Social Media if you are not using other marketing channels to market your Social Media sites then no one will find you.  Social Media is very reminiscent of the early days of the Internet when companies learned that to drive traffic to their websites they had to participate in offline marketing.

How Do You Identify Your Target Market

This information should be in your business plan and I suggest that you take out your business plan and review it to see if there have been changes to your target market and what adjustments you should be making.  If this information is not in your business plan then here is some information to get you started. Additionally the Small Business Association(SBA) has  good tutorial on Target Marketing

Step One – Identify Why A Customer Would Want To Buy Your Product/service

The first step in identifying your target market is understanding what your products/services have to offer to a group of people or businesses. To do this, identify your product or service’s features and benefits. A feature is a characteristic of a product/service that automatically comes with it.  However, remember to focus more on the benefits as to the features. People buy the benefits not the fancy features.

Ask Yourself:

• What products or services are my competitors not offering that I could offer profitably?
• What competitive advantages do I possess that my competitors can’t offer customers even if they wanted to?
• What do my competitors offer that I could improve on?

Step Two: Segment Your Overall Market

It’s natural to want to target as many people and groups as possible. However, by doing this your marketing strategy will never talk specifically to any one group, and you will most likely turn many potential customers off. Your marketing budget will be much more cost effective if you market to one type of customer and speak directly to them. This allows you to create a highly focused campaign that will directly meet the needs and desires of a specific group. Again, this is called market segmentation.

Step Three: Research Your Target Market

There is a lot of secondary data on practically every market segment to assist you with identifying the behaviors and stimulus of your target market.

Once you have compiled all of your data then you will have enough information to plan a marketing course of action choosing the marketing tools that will speak to your targeted audience at a cost that will provide a positive ROI.

Always look the best blend of marketing tools not the latest and widest reaching tools.  I end this post with my favorite definition of marketing

Mar-ket-ing (n) Definition from Investopedia Commentary

Many people believe that marketing is just about advertising or sales. However, marketing is everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them. Even the small tasks like writing thank-you letters, playing golf with a prospective client, returning calls promptly and meeting with a past client for coffee can be thought of as marketing. The ultimate goal of marketing is to match a company’s products and services to the people who need and want them, thereby ensure profitability.

Oh no! Not another company policy. That’s the whispers we hear when we sit with a new client and start talking about their Social Media policy.  We brought you guys in to develop and execute our Social Media strategy not bog us down with another policy document.  That is how the conversation usually goes as we stay the course and discuss policy before strategy and execution.

Why are we persistent on having our clients establish a Social Media policy?

Unlike other media campaigns a successful Social Media strategy and execution can involve the company’s personnel from the CEO to the Janitor so there should be clear guidelines on how employees engage in Social Media on behalf of the company. The downside to not having clear guidelines is having employees making detrimental comments on behalf of the company, slandering people and spending unnecessary time on non relevant Social Media sites.  Having clear guidelines on Social Media activities among employees is having proactive solutions that will protect your organization from reactive actions.

Good Social Media policies are designed to protect and enable your company by clearly outlining:

• What the company will and will not do online.
• What employees can and cannot do online.
• What members of the public can and cannot do on company property.
• Protects your organization by establishing boundaries around what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.

A good Social Media policy will empower your employees by letting them know what the limits are so they can use Social Media without fear of repercussion.

The Different Aspects of a Social Media Policy

There are two different parts to a company’s Social Media policy, the first is internal and is directed toward employees and the other is external and is directed toward prospects and consumers.

The internal portion of  a company’s Social Media policy should cover the general guidelines of engagement through Social Media, employee blogging and clear examples of what employees can and cannot do online.  Some parts of the general guideline may be covered by standard personnel policies.  Some additional general guidelines to consider are:

• Are employees encouraged to engage in conversations regarding the organization. The correct answer may depend on the organizational culture.
• Are employees required to identify themselves as employees when discussing the organization. In all cases employees should identify themselves.
• May employees discuss confidential and fiscal information. The answer to those question may already exist in the company’s personnel policy.

Also the consequences of actions that is in direct violation of your Social Media guidelines should be clearly spelled out.

The policy should state who in the company can engage in the company’s  social Media activities and ensure that those employees understand the mission and internal Social Media strategy of the company.

The external part of your Social Media policy should set the the expectations and boundaries for behavior of people outside of the company.  The policy should be posted publicly on your corporate website and other online properties and it should outline comment moderation and online interaction on the company’s online properties.

Be clear about what you will allow and not allow on the company’s online properties.  Describe what actions the company will take against abusive language, spam commenter, personal attacks, defamation and misinformation. Will the company provide have 24/7 coverage for online conversations? State it.  Companies have been criticized for not responding to issues during the weekend, for example.

Also consider adding these points to your external policy:

• Consider stating that you will take all possible steps to ensure that what you post is complete and accurate.
• Make it clear that if you post something that you discover is inaccurate, you will work to correct it immediately.
• Publicly state that you will not discuss confidential information.
• State that when employees engage in public conversations about the organization, they will disclose their affiliation.

These are several of the things we consider when we draft Social Media policies for our clients. We also use this website for guidance, the Online Database of Social Media Policies. This website has over 80 policies of  corporations, education institutions and military forces.

Once we hand the client our template we ask that they have their corporate counsel review the template and design the final policy based on the company’s standing policies.  Always have an attorney review your Social Media policy for compliance.  Failure to do so can result in legal action against your company.

Once the Social Media policy is in place we then move on to implementing a multi-tiered media campaign which we will discuss at a later date.

What we like about Foursquare is the ability for local merchants to build loyalty programs through the use of location based services. As you check into to your favorite places or discover new merchants you can get discounts that can encourage you to return and purchase more from these stores, bars and restaurants. Since so much of retail sales depend on location, Foursquare location based technology enlarges local merchants location to the online universe while giving social media participants a way to recommend our favorite places.

Then there’s the game, earning points for checking into new locations and finding new places. You’re rewarded with more points for exploring new areas in your city or cities you visit and for checking into several locations in one night, and eventually for the tips other people try and the to-dos you complete.

Mayorship is key. When you check-in at the same location several times, you become the mayor of that location, which is repeat business and viral marketing for the business. Once you become Mayor of a location you might find yourself competing to hold your spot which increases your game stats and is good for business.

We’re excited to be implementing Foursquare for our merchant clients as part of their media campaign and we encourage other merchants to look into using Foursquare as part of your marketing plan.?