The Anti-Corporation

Time and time again I have sat in boardroom upon boardroom listening to people refer to social media as if it were some exciting new buzz word for them to knock around like a tether ball. I smile and nod while letting them believe they are impressing me with their severely misguided knowledge of the social space. Try not to judge, try not to make them feel stupid, but secretly inside I loathe their reasons for wanting to “get social”. It has nothing to do with getting to know their customers, wanting to be a better company, wanting to listen, act or change. And is only to do with money.

I feel sick inside when this happens. And it does happen.

I’ve always believed that social media is inherently the anti-corporation by its very nature. It goes against everything that a corporation stands for really. It’s risky, it’s socially conscious, and it’s fair. The reason why marketers and companies are embracing social media now is because they realize that they will soon need it to survive. It’s a different landscape out there and guess what, nice guys FINISH FIRST not last. So the companies with the best hearts will have the fattest bottom lines.

It’s no longer about the product, the service, the name, reputation, the years in business. My generation and the ones beneath me are tech-savvy, conscientious, intelligent buyers. We want to know everything about the products we consume. We have a conscience about our consumption. I am the best of both worlds. A Gen Xer who remembers life pre-internet, an early adopter of technology, but still cynical about trusting the corporation. I am also a marketer. The perfect storm. I understand both sides of the coin. I share my inherent distrust with my peers, but also fight to earn trust for my clients among my peers.

Watching corporations get social is a bit awkward. Almost like watching a group of leather-clad bikers try their hand at ballet. It’s anything but graceful. But it’s happening, and will continue to happen.

We are at the same point now that we were at in the 90s when companies started realizing “oh crap… the interenet is real. I guess we do need a website”.  Most companies recognize the value in word of mouth endorsement. Not all companies belong in the social space yet, but there are so many ways to have a social presence without looking like a biker taking ballet. This will continue to evolve as do our views on marketing and trust.

Soon, like having a website, having a social presence will be the norm for all companies. You will be watched, rated on, reviewed, and have your business out in the open for all to see. If you don’t conduct yourself with integrity and honesty, it won’t fare well for your business. So you can start now, by asking yourself what you can do to be better. How can you connect with your customers? What can you learn from them? How can you raise the bar on value?

If you want to start a social media program, I urge you… make it about something other than your bottom line. A healthy ROI will be a natural byproduct of a successful company who is listening, sharing, and trying to do the right thing. There are dozens of examples out there of this. Just look at Zappos!

Basically what I’m saying here is don’t act like a corporation… Even if you are one.

Humans come first.

Facebook Acquires FriendFeed

Twitter was buzzing today with a huge announcement that Facebook has acquired FriendFeed. With over 250 Milion users worldwide it is an interesting move on Facebook’s part and will be even more interesting over the next few months as their intentions become clear. It is no secret that a huge portion of FriendFeeds content is driven by Twitter posts, so it could be an attempt on Facebook’s part to get closer to Twitter.

While I use FriendFeed, I really don’t see the value from an engagement perspective. From my standpoint it is basically a “catch all” for my social activities online. I don’t ever log in or comment through FriendFeed. The only time I do is if I need to change or add something. I do see value in having a “catch all” place for people to keep up to date with your social activity, however, I am not sure what Facebook would do to change that, or even if they would want to.

Time will tell what happens, but it is something that I am sure a lot of folks will be watching closely. Hopefully Facebook will clean up their privacy issues and win over the non-trusting demo of anti-Facebookers who enjoyed sites like FriendFeed as an alternative.

Over 300 Examples of Social Media

I was over at Radical Trust and noticed that Collin is hosting a 5 Gems Meme for Social Media to expose campaigns that deserve a bit more attention, are worthy of sharing, or are just so clever that they have to be shared. The idea was spawned from this post by Peter Kim, which is a crowdsourced list of social media marketing examples. I followed Collin’s link and was absolutely floored when I saw this massive list. It represents such wonderful diversity in Social Media and is a great tool for any nay sayer that says Social Media isn’t for everyone!

Make it Remarkable

Seth Godin, my favourite marketing guru and agent of change states that in order for advertising to work and be successful in today’s market, it must be remarkable. And by that he means, that it must be both amazing and initiate “remarks”, thus creating dialogue.

This is the one thing that I constantly struggle with. So often, clients are afraid to take a risk, afraid to try something different out of fear of failure. They may be worried about stocks and share holders, they may be worried about taking on something new and experimental before it’s been tested to death (by which time it will probably be dead) and they just don’t want to try.

Well… isn’t doing something “average” failure in itself? Isn’t doing something the same way you’ve always done it, in a sense a failure? A failure to innovate, a failure to change, and a failure to create really great content that is mandatory for survival on the social web.

Doing something “good” is not okay. Doing something the same way you did it last year, because it seemed to go well, is not okay. Where’s the innovation in that? The market is different than it was last year.

Social Media has changed the way we view and perceive advertising. The whole approach has changed, and yes, even in a year! There are companies out there who are not afraid to change, who are not afraid to innovate and who are taking risks in Social Media that other companies are simply too slow or too fearful of taking. These are the companies that will succeed.

The one thing you can count on is change, so why resist it?!

The Problem (?) with Social Bookmarking

Having major success with social bookmarking & sharing sites is definitely not easy. And unfortunately (for marketers), there is no trick, strategy, or tactic that will see their content rise to the top page bringing in traffic in the millions.

The ONLY way to ensure your content gets spread, shared, dugg, stumbled, and bookmarked… is to CREATE GREAT CONTENT!! That’s right folks… Great content. Not a boring press release, a new product page, or the equivelent of you standing on your soap box shouting through a megaphone.

Forget the Ps of marketing, it’s all about the Es now. Experience, Engage, Everyplace, Exchange and Evangalism. Burn these into your mind, because nothing else matters. Nothing will get shared on Social bookmarking platforms unless its WORTHY of sharing. What does worthy of sharing mean? Unfortunately for marketers it means un-biased, useful, non-branded, content that people are happy and proud to discover and share. The only time this changes, is if you are a large consumer brand. Then, there is a bit more luck with product launches, company news, and other content being shared among social bookmarking users.

Another thing marketers need to be weary of. You must be engaged in a community in order to post content there and have anyone see it. If any random spammer could just come along and blast crap into the filters of these platforms, they wouldn’t be as popular as they are. The content at the top is there for a reason.

So what all this means at the end of the day, is that us marketers have to think more like humans and less like sales people, we must think about human connection and values because in the end it is these traits that will triumph.

Conversation is Key

I came across a relevant question asked over at Social Media Club. The question was “What is the biggest ethical we face in Social Media today”?

This question sort of continues my thoughts with my last post about the responsibility marketers have to be ethical with their Social Media campaigns. I love the fact that individuals are increasingly more aware about the brands they advocate and the products they buy. It’s tough out there for a company to win over customers. It’s no longer about the art of persuasion, companies have to have something compelling to offer in order to gain trust and confidence from their customers.

Creating a dialogue is a powerful tool that companies can employ in several ways, however, they must be aware that not all opinions and experiences are going to be positive… But that’s okay.

How can we, as marketers truly learn what works and what doesn’t without those falls, without those mishaps, or customer complaints. This sort of feedback is integral to the success of a brand. Opening your doors and making that dialogue easy to conduct is key.