{"id":27933,"date":"2011-12-03T13:38:13","date_gmt":"2011-12-03T13:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=27933"},"modified":"2011-12-03T13:39:02","modified_gmt":"2011-12-03T13:39:02","slug":"social-media-isn%e2%80%99t-about-winning-%e2%80%a6-it%e2%80%99s-more-important-than-that-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/social-media-isn%e2%80%99t-about-winning-%e2%80%a6-it%e2%80%99s-more-important-than-that-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Isn\u2019t About Winning \u2026  It\u2019s More Important Than That"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n                     google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">The following is by G. A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm', 'Marken Communications']);\" ><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">Marken Communications<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and the <strong>opinions of the rest of the ABT staff.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> \u2013Mark Poppin,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Socially Yours<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Untitled-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27935\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Untitled-1.jpg?resize=238%2C219\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Business has been built on the foundation of selling stuff.\u00a0 Hopefully, lots of stuff \u2013 products, ideas, services \u2013 to lots of folks.<\/p>\n<p>The latest tool new-marketing experts are promoting to management is social media.\u00a0 You know, putting your products, your ideas in front of the masses to buy.<\/p>\n<p>Most social media efforts today \u2013 Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube video program \u2013 are implemented, tested and measured to push what your stuff to retail (brick and mortar or ecommerce) to keep the cash register ringing.<\/p>\n<p>If the bottomline is black, the people who recommended and ran the program say, <em>\u201cSee, it works!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If the bottomline bleeds red, another social media team is brought in.<\/p>\n<p>Social media, the internet, smartphones, ecommerce, mobile to in-store signage and friends digital coupons put you in front of the customer.<\/p>\n<p>If it\u2019s a bad product, bad process or the business-as-usual model hasn\u2019t changed to align with today\u2019s new environment; social media people and tools won\u2019t produce the results you want and need\u2026a sustainable business.<\/p>\n<p>Digital marketing and social media programs that are implemented on top of the same old business model to move the products\/ideas are too obvious, too easy to see through.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re about as transparent as Morgan Spurlock\u2019s recent documentary, <strong><em>The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The business of yesterday was tough.\u00a0 The business of tomorrow is even tougher; and only a few will be willing to be sit there and be told what they want and must buy through psychological manipulation and repetition.<\/p>\n<p>The business of today isn\u2019t the same as it always was.\u00a0 It\u2019s different.\u00a0 It\u2019s better.\u00a0 It\u2019s tougher.\u00a0 And it isn\u2019t going back.<\/p>\n<p>Intelligently implemented social media can be an important tool to use in getting back in the center of the marketplace and can help your team rethink and rework your business to become a part of the customers\u2019 universe.<\/p>\n<p>Get over the idea you control your brand.<\/p>\n<p>Hasbro doesn\u2019t own their brand\u2026Apple doesn\u2019t own their brand\u2026Ford doesn\u2019t own their brand.<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t control it, you can\u2019t protect it, and you can\u2019t reshape it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lead by Following<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The customer community owns the brand.<\/p>\n<p>Social media give you the tools you need to listen and learn what the brand is\u2026not to hype\/promote it.<\/p>\n<p>Social media strategists who spend all their time crafting their posts and sending out their tweets are so into themselves they don\u2019t have time to\u2026shut up and listen.<\/p>\n<p>The power of the individual, the power of the crowd shapes your brand. They make your success.<\/p>\n<p>Asking questions, responding to the community and being a good steward of the brand are all important parts of your social media success.<\/p>\n<p>The marketplace \u2013 partners, retailers, influentials, customers \u2013 have already taken over the control of your brand; now it\u2019s your job to help them help you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Race to the Top<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Apple\u2019s iPad isn\u2019t the cheapest tablet available.\u00a0 LeapFrog\u2019s LeapPad won\u2019t be the cheapest children\u2019s tablet.<\/p>\n<p>Neither firm is in a rush to be the lowest-priced product in their category.\u00a0 But they are in a rush to define to help their customers understand why their products are unique and special in their product category.<\/p>\n<p>The LeapPad is designed for tykes to use but the selling proposition is clearly focused on parents who want to give their children an edge.<\/p>\n<p>Both tablet producers focus on the value, the benefits they are offering, not the lowest price in town.<\/p>\n<p>Both organizations are using social media to help their loyalists, their customers, their users show and tell others why their solution isn\u2019t just cooler but better; and, in fact, a greater value than anything else out there!<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s your job too\u2026make your product\/idea better, more interesting, more innovative, more useful for the consumer\/user, not cheaper than something else.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re not trying to make them buy the product; you want them to bond, identify with it.<\/p>\n<p>Social media is an ideal way to help people take and make your brand theirs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Untitled-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27936\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Untitled-2.jpg?resize=257%2C203\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Market to One, Market to Many<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The digital world is a microcosm of the real world.\u00a0 It is individuals having a conversation with a few people with millions listening in, coming in\/leaving the conversation, moving to new conversations and sharing\/modifying that information with others.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a web of information, ideas and entertainment that people can search for and share.<\/p>\n<p>As Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image, has written, we are now no longer separated by six people to everyone else in the universe; we are separated by six pixels.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re writing a blog post, responding in a forum thread, leaving a blog comment, communicating on Facebook, Google+, Twitter or whatever, you\u2019re focusing on one person with a mob looking on, listening in.<\/p>\n<p>As long as you\u2019re participating in the conversation and bring value to the conversation \u2013 listening and responding \u2013 people will stay as part of the audience.<\/p>\n<p>Listening, being honest, candid, helpful and entertaining usually works in the real world and attracts an open, friendly, interested crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Confrontational or hostile conversations attract a virtual audience just as they do in the real world; but the tone, temper never produces positive results\/relationships.\u00a0\u00a0 If the discussion becomes confrontational or unique to the individual, take it offline to resolve the issue\/problem as best you can.<\/p>\n<p>No one wins arguments\u2026everyone wins conversations.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s goal is \u2013 or should be \u2013 to have people appropriately building an audience online for the company, the brand, the product.<\/p>\n<p>The more honest, more candid, more open, the better the audience and the more they contribute and share with their audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Authenticity, interest always works best.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Help your online employees be people \u2013 transparent<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ensure they sound like people \u2013 tone<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remind them to act like people \u2013 adding value<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Communicate like people talking with one and millions listening<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Listen like people interested in the other(s) inputs, ideas<\/p>\n<p>Social media isn\u2019t a new, exciting, cheap marketing project\/plan.\u00a0 Social media is strongly people-centric, integrating into every fiber and phase of the company if it is done right.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a mindset transition.<\/p>\n<p>Done right, customers and employees are important contributors to the organization\u2019s direction, products, success\u2026not an intrusion.<\/p>\n<p>When customer ideas and recommendations are incorporated and\/or taken seriously, that customer has an investment in the success of the brand that will take you into tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t expect your business, your brand, your product, your market, your corporate culture to change overnight.<\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t fake social media activities; you can\u2019t simply give it lip service.<\/p>\n<p>Show your team you can listen and they\u2019ll listen.<\/p>\n<p>When they listen, they are able to connect your company, your brand, your success with an audience.<\/p>\n<p>An audience builds your market\u2026that\u2019s what they want, that\u2019s what you want.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s more important than a winning campaign, beating the competition.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"># # #<\/p>\n<p><strong>by: G.A. &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> President<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> Marken Communications Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <a href=\"mailto:Andy@markencom.com\">Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; 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A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of Marken Communications Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":27936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7],"tags":[4996,4995,4997,3943,4998],"class_list":["post-27933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-technology","tag-branding","tag-digital-marketing","tag-product-identification","tag-social-media","tag-value"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}