Sales v. Personality

It seems like each day I find something new to discuss regarding social media and its place in an organization's marketing strategy.  But there is one thought that crosses my mind again...and again...and again.  And it's a fairly simple idea.


Social media is meant to be SOCIAL!  Show your personality, not your sales pitch.


Far too often, I see companies who have jumped on board with the social media trend, but consider it nothing more than another advertising outlet our client lead generation.


Let me clarify.  The goal of any marketing successful strategy is to drive brand awareness and business.  That's a given.  Without a business, there is no marketing to be done.  It is our job as marketing professionals to make sure the right people are aware of our product/service and the right time, and that they successfully transition from lead to client.  However, social media, while an element of your marketing strategy, cannot be treated like any other advertisement or sales pitch.  It just doesn't work.


The reason social media is such an incredible phenomenon is that it offers businesses the opportunity to step outside of their professional role to show some personality.  People don't like your page on Facebook because you give effective sales pitches.  People like your page because they somehow feel connected to what you're doing and want to be more involved in it.  That is an enormous leap of faith.  These individuals are giving you the opportunity to communicate with them regularly; to have their attention whenever you need it.  All they ask in return is that you offer interesting, relevant, meaningful content and not an outlet for your sales pitch (and of course, don't spam.  But that's another blog entry).


The organizations that truly make social media a successful marketing element are those that allow it to bring their brand to life.  To show the people behind the company name, to offer updates and information individuals may not otherwise get to hear, and to have FUN!


I do many consultation sessions and trainings on social media, and as soon as I say fun, a lot of companies clam up.  "We're in the business of whooseywhatsits.  That's serious stuff.  We don't have time to play around."  Yes, you're right.  Whatever business it is that you're in is serious, and important.  But being serious and important isn't engaging.  It's boring.  I promise you, no matter what business you are in, there is an element of fun to be had.


Part of integrating fun is that it does just what social media is meant to do - allow you to be social.  To build relationships, engage in discussions, encourage feedback and ultimately, convert online relationships to in person relationships.  To turn followers into clients.  But none of that will happen with a stone cold look and a stale sales pitch.

Building an Online Community

While social media was not initially created with the intent of being another tool for marketers, it has rapidly become and integral part of any marketing plan. There are examples of corporations making incredible use of these new tools and establishing themselves as someone worth watching and listening to online. There are also examples of organizations who have done such a bad job with social media that they have become identified as nothing more than someone who wastes the attention you've given them, or worse...SPAMMERS.

Spam.  Not to be confused with Spammers.  Not sure how processed meat became the go-to word for unsolicited email and social media harassment.

Spammers ruin the good intent that so many companies have when venturing into social media. Social media is an incredible opportunity to engage and interact with your customers, leads, employees, and even business partners. When someone decides to become a fan of yours on Facebook, decides to follow you on Twitter, or subscribes to your blog, it's because they think your messages are entertaining, interesting, intriguing or worth aligning themselves with. They are essentially offering their loyalty. They are willing to publicly acknowledge a tie to your organization to their personal connections. That's HUGE.

Unfortunately, along with the companies like Buffalo Wild Wings, who use social media to have fun with their customers, there are companies or independent "experts" who force their opinion and pour their useless information all over you. This is when there is a huge difference between interacting and selling online. The people who are truly successful building an online community are not forcing their opinion. They are doing their best to put out interesting content, interacting on a one to one basis and making their company worth interacting with. Ultimately, their fun little online community will visit their website, go to their store, set up a sales call. These relationships do lead to customers and to income. But you're going about it in a different way.

The people on Twitter who "follow" everyone in the hopes that they will get "followed" back are spammers and as a result, are following 25,000 and have only 300 followers. The people who send out updates on Facebook every 15 minutes urging you to go to their website and buy something are spammers. People whose blog is nothing more than an online sales pitch are spammers. Spammers ruin the reputation of legitimate marketers who are trying to build an online community. Don't fall into the dangerous rut of becoming a spammer yourself. And if you are genuine about your intent to build an online community, heed my warnings.  Don't ruin inbound marketing for the rest of us.