Red Shoes Speaks No. 8 Social media, strategy or communication channel

Red Shoes Speaks No. 8 Social media, strategy or communication channel from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

Jess and Tommy talk about Jess' blog post called Social media, not a strategy or a tactic…a communication channel. How should companies be using social media and incorporating it into their marketing plans? Jess and Tommy discuss best practices for corporate social media use.

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Social media, not a strategy or a tactic…a communication channel

“We want to be in social media.”

 

Does this phrase sound familiar? Is it written into your marketing plans for 2010? We hear this phrase more and more from various companies looking to differentiate themselves from their competition and reach their target audience.

 

Our message to these companies is simple: this should not be your strategy or tactic to reach your target audiences. That’s right, if your marketing plans include social media as a strategy, take it out.

 

Social media and all of the sites that fall into this category are communication channels, not tactics. Social media, as defined by Wikipedia are, “Internet-based tools used for sharing and discussing information among people.” This means that social media is anything that allows people to interact (via comments, ratings, photos, video, etc.) online. Some sites include YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook.

 

Depending on the goals of your organization, social media may or may not be applicable in order to share your story. People are changing the way they connect and interact with people. It is changing the way people receive their news and how they filter it.  

 

If you want to incorporate social media into your marketing plans use it the way these tools were made to be used, for interaction. YouTube wasn’t built for commercial content, Facebook wasn’t built as an external-facing billboard; they were all developed for users to share information and communicate. Many social media sites didn’t even have revenue models built in behind them when they started; they were built for the user and the money came second.

 

There’s no reason companies can’t be involved in this space. After all, people are seeking out your product or service, so why not use the channels they are participating in? Just make sure you do it right by sharing relevant content and interaction!

Tommytrc's Five Key Ingredients for Social Media Engagement

Today's guest blogger is Thomas Clifford, or tommytrc as his followers know him as. Red Shoes PR first met tommytrc via Twitter during the fall of 2008. Tommytrc regularly ranks as one of the top three Twitterers in Wisconsin and top 100 in the world. Tommytrc's presence on Twitter skyrocketed after tweeting throughout the birth of his son. We asked him to share his passion and expertise on social media. Thank you tommytrc!

I come from a very heavy Italian background. My grandfather on my mother’s side was born in Sicily, so eating and food preparation took a major role in my social upbringing.

Social media is like the recipe for Mom’s favorite spaghetti sauce or chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has a recipe and each is a bit different than the next, though the purpose of the finished product remains bringing smiles to the eater’s face!

Like every good recipe, you start by throwing a few key ingredients together, season to taste and Voile! your masterpiece takes shape. The key ingredients to social media engagement are really simple. Your mileage may vary as everyone’s social media engagement “strategy” is different. Here are my five key ingredients to social media success:

Interaction
It’s next to impossible to be involved in social media without interacting with others. Interaction is one of the main ingredients to a successful social media experience. Regardless of if you are using Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, the base for each of these social media services is interacting with others. This may be the hardest work you do. You must get out there and meet people, strike up conversations and do some old fashioned “networking.” People can tell if you are genuine or not, and in social media, the one thing you cannot fake is interaction. While some people may find it hard to strike up a conversation on social media sites, I say just like the first dip into the pool, just do it! Once people start replying to your questions or comments, you will get the bug. And it’s infectious. Interaction feeds on other interaction, and before you know it, you will be a social media butterfly.

Share
As you build your social media recipe, it’s next to impossible to go through your day without seeing something that is worth repeating. Whether it’s a post on Twitter or a comment on Facebook, if you like it, spread the word. Like a telephone operator in the old days, if you see a comment that you feel your network of friends will like, “patch it on in” and pass the good 411 around. On Twitter you would retweet it, or on Facebook you comment on it. That way people in your networks can be exposed to valuable information and find people they normally would not cross paths with. In the Twitter world, the sincerest form of flattery is to be retweeted by someone else. Sharing is critical for true social media engagement.

Listen
Many times, the most important ingredient for your master recipe is also the one that you are most likely to leave out. Kind of like the salt in your mom's favorite chocolate chip recipe, “Why does something sweet need salt??” You may think that skipping this all-too important ingredient will not make any difference, but have you ever tried chocolate chip cookies sans salt? You get the picture.  In social media, the top engagers are also the best listeners.  Its one thing to want your message heard, it’s totally another to listen to other’s messages.  Like a great parent, favorite teacher or counselor at school, what makes them great are their listening skills. Many times it’s not what you say that is important, it’s the fact you give someone a listening ear.

The same holds true to social media. Just like an IRL (In Real Life) conversation, listening is one of those ingredients that can make or break the interaction. A conversation without listening is just like mom’s chocolate chip cookies without salt. Do not forget to listen.

Moderation
A great cook knows when to hang up her apron and leave the kitchen. Likewise, in social media sometimes you just need to log off, shut down and spend some quality time doing something else. I’m not talking about just going to bed either. You cannot be a top engager in social media if you are not engaged in real life. You cannot neglect your local friends. Things like local tweetups, local Twitter meet-ups, are great opportunities to network and build new friends, while also feeding your hunger for social media interaction. Locally, we have a pancake tweetup every other Friday at 7 a.m. This is a great way to put real faces to the Twitter avatars and talk more openly about issues and situations. These local interactions actually strengthen our Twitter relations because now you are true friends with these people.

Family
Like moderation, family time is one thing that you may not expect to hear in a social media engagement “must have” list. But, family is one of those ingredients that will add so much pizzazz to your social media experience. Looking for content to share on Twitter or Facebook? Look no further than family oriented stories and experiences. Nothing builds more credit on the social media networks then someone who shares true blue family interaction. You can’t build good family interaction if you are on Twitter or Facebook all day, which is why the family ingredient goes hand-in-hand with our moderation ingredient. Showing family pictures and stories not only warms the heart of your friends and followers, but also shows you are a real person, which in turn builds your followers and friends. It’s a vicious circle that works.

Now, just because you talk about your family, does not mean you need to give up their identity. Privacy is one thing we all need to be careful of. I talk about my wife online all the time, but instead of giving up her name, she is referred to as “mrstommytrc.” This makes it fun, while also keeping your privacy level high. You can experiment to see what works for you.

Now remember kids, if your initial blend of herbs and spices isn’t exactly right, no need to worry or fret. Social media is your creation and you make it what you want. I know from personal experience that mom’s special sauce was always a work in progress. A little more of this, or a little less of that. Like all great cooks, experimenting to get the blend just right takes time and practice, but once you hit it, you will be a social media engagement gourmet!

 

Connect with tommytrc:
Twitter: @tommytrc

Social Media: My Intro to Social Media for Business

Red Shoes PR is happy to welcome the latest addition to the team, Rachel Wollersheim. Rachel graduated from St. Norbert College in May of 2009 with a degree in English and a minor in media communications. In her role with Red Shoes PR, Rachel will support the client services team through media relations, social media and public relations planning and execution. 

Over the past seven weeks, I have been immersed into the exciting world of social media. While I have had a Facebook account for four years, and joined Twitter and LinkedIn months ago, the way I think about these sites is rapidly changing.

Upon graduating in May, I immediately jumped into my intern position at Red Shoes PR in Appleton, WI. While I have previous PR experience, I have never been in an agency setting, especially an agency that focuses heavily on social media.

As a college student, I used social media as purely a social tool—a way to keep friends from home and family updated on my life, a place to share photos from various events and a way to plan and share my social calendar with friends at school.

So, throughout my time at Red Shoes PR, I am quickly learning and catching on to ways social media can be used beyond a personal social tool, as part of a public relations strategy communications channel for companies and individuals.

One of the many changes I have made to the way I use social media is in who I interact with. During college, I used social media as another way to communicate with people I already knew and already talked to or interacted with on a daily basis. Now, I am beginning to use social media to reach out to people I have only briefly met, or people I have never met at all. I am finding thought leaders in my field to follow, interacting with clients and talking with other recent graduates looking to get into the PR field.

Along with expanding who I communicate with, I am redefining the way I present myself through social media. I no longer present myself as simply a college student interacting with friends. Instead, I aim to show a balance of my personal interests and day-to-day happenings alongside what is going on at Red Shoes PR.

While this new outlook on social media is a bit overwhelming, especially for someone with a quieter personality like mine, it is also an exciting time to enter the PR field. For us recent grads, with a little training and guidance, our vast knowledge of using Facebook and other sites as social tools can be transitioned into making us thought leaders in the social media world.

Working Together in Social Media

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to be a part of a great, energetic presentation about social media for businesses and how it can impact a company’s bottom line. We didn’t end up just presenting one point of view, all of us represented each of our different perspectives: HubSpot, the backend measurement and today’s version of marketing. Red Shoes PR and the art of strategic communication and @tommytrc about how to engage.

One thing I mentioned during my portion of the presentation is that now, more than ever, is the time to “tear down those walls” between a companies’ core competencies such as legal, information services, Human Resources and more.

Social media for an organization should not just be one department such as marketing conducting social media efforts. The beauty of social media is its organic growth and the more people who are aware of their employers’ efforts can contribute with their voice. Think how powerful that can be for your organization. Each one of your employees is now sharing your company story online, in a way that has the potential to reach thousands of others.

Moving forward, together, as an organization to tell the company’s story with the IT Department for insights and measurement as well as making sure legal services and HR are all on the same page can be a powerful internal movement. This content, in turn, can spill over or be pulled by your target audience because they feel compelled to find out more information either online or in-person.

If you feel like you are working in a silo while moving forward in social media ... well, it’s because you most likely are.

Invite others to share your momentum as you move forward. Remember, social media is about engagement and conversations. Two ingredients that need to take place in person, beginning within the walls of your organization.