What social media marketers can learn from Bill Hicks
During some downtime today, I got a text from a friend who’s, how shall I put this, not exactly a fan of marketeers and marketing. He likes to tease me, in a friendly way of course, about what I do.
Today he reminded me of the late, great comedian Bill Hicks and his less than positive opinions of advertising and marketing bods. A quick spot of YouTubing later and I was chuckling at Bill’s observations, albeit a little uncomfortably beneath my devil horns.
Joking aside, most people – I hope -don’t feel quite that strongly and appreciate the benefits of marketing done well. That’s the key word: well. The trouble is, particularly in terms of social media marketing, so many organisations still seem to be doing it so badly.
The traditional perception of marketing professionals being aggressively salesy and pushing things down your throat is not helped by a lot of companies’ social media strategy.
Assuming you’ve got some fans and followers, never talking about anything other than your company and its products is the quickest way to lose them. Consumers are increasingly sceptical of companies’ motives in the social media realm, and nobody likes a spammer.
Never talking about anything other than your company and its products is the quickest way to lose fans and followers”
Engagement is the word that’s trotted out again and again when talking about social media strategy. Screaming about your product or company on the social web is frequently likened to going to a party and yelling how great you are from the edge of the dance floor.
The chances are, nobody’s going to listen to you. People will most likely think you’re boring, unresponsive, probably drunk, and certainly not worth engaging in conversation. You can scream until you’re blue in the face and nobody’s going to pay attention to you.
Most people know that SHOUTING ON THE INTERNET DOESN’T WIN YOU ANY FRIENDS! If anything, it scares customers, fans and those with a potential interest in your organisation away.
So engagement, then, is the skeleton key that will open many doors to you in the mystical world of social media. Talk to your customers; understand what makes them tick. If they have problems and complaints – and they will – act promptly to try to resolve them.
Everyone has at some point been frustrated by a company, service or organisation that doesn’t seem to be doing its job properly (I can think of three of my own I have a beef with right now).
It’s very easy, in the heat of the moment, to blast out a criticism or complaint on a social network. More often than not, if you can respond quickly and personally (automated, standard issue responses should be avoided at all costs because your customers will see straight through them) you will be able to placate the complainant, even if you can’t instantly solve their problem. When the problem is solved, you might even get some positive comments on social networks thanks to your helpful attitude.
Of course, to know what’s being said, you have to employ some monitoring tools. A range of free and paid for tools give you different options to monitor the conversations and mentions that your company is getting.
Talk to people. Respond to questions and ask questions of your own. Post interesting content that people really want to read and share.
Again using the party analogy, it’s always best to be sure you have something to say before opening your mouth, lest you end up with your foot (or should that be cloven hoof?) in it.
Here is the fabulous Bill Hicks in action – warning, this video does contain some instances of strong language.
Do you agree? Have you got good or bad social media marketing stories? Share them with us by leaving a comment below.
