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Social Media Buzz can’t….

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Is it just me, or is it an EERIE coincidence that while the “social media buzz” was still building from New York Fox News anchor Ernie Anastos’ dropping of the f-bomb – SNL newcomer Jenny Slate just “happens” to drop the f-bomb on live TV?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQcBPNyv9Do[/youtube]

While Ernie’s “drop” is resulting in catch phrases being born and literally MILLIONS of YouTube views- Jenny’s slip isn’t getting NEAR that level of attention.  This “phenomenon” seems to have gotten a brief “buzz hit” on Twitter and Facebook – only to quickly die.  Blogs aren’t reporting on this – and it’s barely making traditional media’s radar.  In addition, views on the video are in the low six digits – and the “preferred” clip appears to be the abbreviated one with the poorest sound quality.  That’s because it’s easier to sift through the poor audio is infinitely better than trying sit through the ENTIRE skit.  It’s really, really bad.  It’s positively painful.

Notice the difference – Ernie’s f-bomb has added a new phrase to the Urban Dictionary.  Jenny’s f-bomb is already heading toward oblivion.  She’ll go down in history as the THIRD SNL cast member to drop it – and may set a record for the collective yawn it inspired.

Was this a scripted and desperate bid by SNL to attract viewers? It looks like it.

Unfortunately – this illustrates that it’s impossible to create “viral” without making some kind of connection.  The “biker chick” skit was flat and heartless – PERIOD.

It looks like the SNL writers looked around for what was “hot” – read that the FX show “Sons of Anarchy” is hot and tried to parody something they didn’t understand.

While the SNL skit bombed – the FX series continues to thrive – because the creators of SoA  give the viewer a glimpse behind the scenes.  They “get” that these bikers are human – and have created a show which connects with viewers.  The characters are “real” – they’re not flat and heartless.  Like the HBO hit – the Sopranos – awful monsters are shown to have a human side as well.  The show allows us to watch them live and love just like people we know.  However, we then see them kill and maime without missing a beat.  Viewers are fascinated by the dichotomy and more tune in each week for a chance to make a connection with these characters.

Maybe if the SNL writers had bothered to watch the first season of that hit show before they tried to parody biker chicks – this skit might have had legs.  The dropping of the f-bomb during a well scripted, well performed skit might have created buzz which could have elevated SNL back to the status of “must see TV”.

The moral to the story?  No amount of “buzz” will sell an inferior product.

SNL skits are painful to watch more often than they’re amusing – and that’s why people aren’t watching.  Flat and lifeless are the norm on SNL and you can’t create buzz when people don’t connect and don’t care.

Before you try to create “buzz” – make sure you’ve made a connection.  Your customers will let you know when you’ve connected.  Only then is it time to try to create social media buzz….

Dropping the f-bomb – spreading the word

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Social media has significantly changed the fabric of our society and a recent “slip of the lip” in which the f-bomb was dropped on air by New York news anchor Ernie Anastos provides a great illustration of the power of social media.

In case you hadn’t heard, Ernie coined the phrase, “Keep f#&*ing that chicken” (KFTC) during a live broadcast of local news.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdnXYWSa56w[/youtube]

The video was uploaded to YouTube multiple times and this version has garnered over 2 million views in less than a week.  The new catch phrase “hit” the Urban Dictionary five days later.  You can get it on a T-shirt or a mug -just in time for holiday gift giving. 😉

Within a week of airing, the phrase has officially become part of the American vernacular. My favorite definition:

Expression, 21th century American English

1) An expression to encourage one to continue with an undesirable or menial task.

Steve: I have ton of paperwork to do.

Ernie: Keep f#%&ing that chicken.

Live television has always been fun to watch – because you never know when a slip of the lip may occur. However, Ernie Anastos is not the FIRST television news anchor to drop an f-bomb during a live broadcast.  What makes this “news worthy” is the speed and ease with which this “news” has traveled illustrates the depth and breadth of the impact of social media on our society.

Think about it – if Ernie had uttered that phrase on air even five short years ago – it couldn’t have traveled this fast and this far this easily. Sure, a few Fox news viewers in the local market would have been amused – but the story probably would have ended there.

Think about the difficulty in distributing the video of this “faux paus” even five years ago.  Theoretically, it would have taken a few weeks to reach the likes of Eric Bauman -creator of Ebaum’s World – – one of the first “funny video” sites on the web.   Then, Eric would have uploaded the video to his server and his audience would have viewed it – and it probably would have ended there.  A few thousand views – a few thousand belly laughs- and the phrase would have become an obscure inside joke for a select group.

Fast forward to the “new” world of social media.  A news anchor drops the f-bomb on air and an alert viewer records the slip and uploads the video to YouTube.  Almost immediately, Gawker picks it up.   A day later, the Huffington Post blog “reports” on the slip. The Gothamist calls it an “irresistible catch phrase” and reports that Anastos has not be disciplined for dropping the barnyard based f-bomb.  Two million views on YouTube is just the beginning.  The story is multiplying exponentially online and offline and a catch phrase is being born.

This is the “power” of social media.  Fifteen years ago – television was an all powerful information “gate keeper” as were radio stations and newspapers.  Fifteen years ago – if you weren’t in the NYC area – you would have missed this story.   Fifteen years ago – if you wanted to communicate on a national level – you either had to have a more than a few producers and editors agreeing your message needed to be heard.  If you didn’t have that – you needed to have a LOT of cash to buy air time to distribute your message.

Today – the keys to the information lock have been freely distributed to everyone with internet access.   Got something to say?  Create a video with the web cam built into your laptop.  Then upload it quickly and easily to YouTube – and a couple of hundred of other online video sharing sites while you’re at it.  Tag it and then blog about it and wait to see if it “connects” with people.

The real “magic” is that ANYONE can do this now.  Information distribution is not just the job of geeks and it’s not limited to professional journalists.  Technology has provided the tools so ANYONE can now share information – freely and easily.

There’s something about the KFTC that “connected” with people.  It is naughty (there’s no doubt an FTC fine was levied on the station)- and it’s catchy.   While it’s not telling a customer service story or creating a social media shit storm like Dave Carroll did – it’s still connecting in a powerful way.  The difference between now and then – the traditional information gatekeepers aren’t dictating the path this story is taking – the “everyman” is.

Social Media Tells Customer Service Stories

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transparency in social mediaWay back in 1980 – long before the days of the internet – in a time when “social media” meant a party organized around watching a sporting event on television – executives at Braniff had a problem.  They needed to find a way to differentiate their airline from other airlines.  The question they asked was simple,

“What can we offer to our customers that they will perceive as having high value yet costs us virtually nothing to provide?”

The answer to that question is what we now know as the “frequent flier miles” program.  It was a GREAT idea so  – of course, other airlines quickly copied the concept.   While in Braniff’s case it was a great idea which came too late – other airlines instantly recognized the brilliance of offering repeat customers an intangible which cost virtually nothing yet was valued highly by those customers.

The success of the customer loyalty programs in general is well documented.   Since the cost to acquire a customer is commonly accepted to be from 4- 15 times more than the cost to retain a current customer – finding a way to retain current customers by simply providing discounted fares – on seats that normally would be empty- was nothing short of a marketing miracle. When one considers that a business traveler may spend over a half a million dollars on airline tickets during the course of his/her career – it’s easy to see why frequent flier programs are a staple in the airline industry.   The airline industry as a whole has struggled over the past decade as the dual horrors of market maturity met national security for the sector.   However, while airline executives blame fluctuating fuel costs and labor woes on their troubles- a quick trip around the blogosphere reveals quite a different picture.

With the exception of South West – the major airlines are struggling to provide basic customer service – and customer service woes make GREAT blog fodder.  Dave Carroll created a social media shit storm with his “United Breaks Guitars” music video.  The creation of that video wasn’t the result of a single “dropped the ball” in the customer service department at United Arilines – it was the result of consistent and blatant disrespect of the customer.  No amount of frequent flier miles could placate Dave Carroll. On the heels of that debacle – United’s social media woes continued to make news when Wang Jianshuo – a famous Chinese blogger – documented his horrific experience in flying United Airlines.

Now  however – the customer service horror stories are moving from the plane to the computer and the lack of customer attention is infecting the very lifeblood of a major airline’s frequent flier program.   Matt Cutts documents his own Bad Experience with U.S. Airways Dividend Miles and the post does not paint a pretty picture for US Airways.  The post is acting as a sounding board for others who feel free to share their bad experiences inside a US Airways flight as well.  For those of you don’t know – Matt Cutts is Google’s “front man” who blogs frequently about how to get your web site to get better visibility with the search engine giant.

Talk about a worst case scenario when it comes to social media in action – if there’s one blogger I would HATE to have “bitching” about my business – it would be the man who is the front man for Google’s search.

The PURPOSE of the frequent flier program was to create customer loyalty.  By implementing this game of “bait and switch” – US Airway’s frequent flier program is beginning to look like a shell game.  Matt Cutts is blowing the whistle.  It will be interesting to see (if) how US Airways responds.

If there’s one thing business owners MUST know about social media – it’s the unadulterated view of your business it provides.  You can sit in your office, close the blinds and tunr off the lights and tellyourself that your vision of your business is shared by your customer.. However, a quick trip via social media airlines will give you the “real” picture.  Whether or not it’s a picture you want to see is another story.

If there’s one lesson for businesses big and small to learn from social media – it’s that your customers are talking just as they’ve always done.  However, thanks to social media – you now have an “insider’s view” of what’s being said when the customer service stories are being told.

When social media isn’t enough…

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social media marketingLong long ago, Liz Strauss wrote the immortal words – “Your blog is not your business”.  Recently – I had a conversation with a client who learned that lesson – the HARD way.

“Amy” [not her real name] was referred to my business a couple of years ago.  The story behind how she came to me is very common – at least in my practice.  Years earlier, she had paid BIG money to a web developer to create a web site for her brand new business.  Because she didn’t know a lot about this strange world known as “the internet” she assumed that her web site would cause people to line up to hire her to do work for their business.  When that didn’t happen – she began doing some homework.

When she began doing her homework she learned that the search engines drive most of the traffic on the internet.  So, she typed in some words she thought people would use to find her business.   Her web site – the one she paid BIG buck (five figures) to have developed – didn’t show up.  So she tried some other words and her site STILL didn’t show up – ANYWHERE.  She contacted her web developer and asked what was up – and he told her to be patient.  Things like that take time, he said.  She she was patient – she waited a couple of YEARS and still nothing.

She began talking to other people and eventually had a conversation with one of my clients.  She contacted me and asked me to take a look at her site.  Long story short- even though her page LOOKED great through a browser – it had been cobbled together in such a manner that it was anything but search engine friendly.  Even though the site “looked” fine through a browser – that’s not how the search engines see a web site.  They look at the code – and in this case, it was a real mess.

She told me she loved the site and didn’t want to change the way it looked.  (I later learned the web developer is a friend of her husband’s and I suspect she didn’t want to have a show down with him.)  I assured her we could accomplish her objective in a much more cost effective manner by launching a self hosted WordPress blog to work in concert with her web site.

Her problem: she wanted her web site to be found in Google.  The solution: we launched a self hosted WordPress blog to act as “bait”.  She could link liberally to her “traditional” web site using the blog  and when potential clients found her blog – she could send them to her site to “close” the sale.

When you go fishing – it’s not realistic to expect fish to jump into your boat.  So, you take fishing poles, hooks and various bait to catch the fish.  We were going to set up her blog to act as bait.  Of course, because there is no such thing as “marketing magic”, Amy had to learn how to USE her WordPress blog correctly.  Amy is one of the inspirations for my 8 Week Power Blog Launch product.  Her questions – combined with the questions asked by other clients – are the basis for the “curriculum” in the course.

Page One in Google

Recently, Amy contacted me.  Her blog articles had achieved her objective.  Her content is now appearing on the first page of Google’s results for her desired keyword – a fairly competitive keyword by the way.  However, if you think that the phone call was filled with rejoicing – it wasn’t.

Amy was disheartened and discouraged.  Even though she had achieved her objective of her blog content being found on Google’s first page – her business still wasn’t thriving.  As a matter of fact, she didn’t have a single client – and she had recently had to get a job to make ends meet.  She was ready to throw in the towel.

So, the first question I asked Amy was to describe her business model to me.  She launched into an exhaustive commentary on her marketing efforts.

“Amy, you’ve just listed the various marketing tactics you’re using to promote your business.  What is your business model?  How do you expect to make money from your business?”

“Well, people read my blog posts, go to my web site and then hire me.   I’m getting lots of traffic – but no one is contacting me to hire me.”

What followed was a distillation of my book, Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results In a nutshell – Amy’s business is engaged in making what is known as a Major Sale.  However, most of the “marketing tactics” Amy had been engaging in are only effective in marking Minor Sales.  Most of the sales/marketing advice you find (online and offline)  is geared towards  Minor Sale products, which is why Neil Rackham spent a small fortune and 12 years of his life defining and documenting the difference between Major Sales and Minor Sales.

When I first read Spin Selling – where Rackham documents his findings – I immediately recognized that many popular “marketing tactics” are geared towards making Minor Sales.  I’d been working with businesses on their advertising as an advertising account executive for over a decade when I first read the book – and it was truly an “aha” moment for me.  The Major/Minor Sale definition explained why marketing tactics – from radio remote broadcasts to midnight madness sales-  would work so well for one client, yet fail miserably for another.

Amy had been blogging with the goal of being found in the search engines.  She focused on creating creative blog post titles instead of creating relationships.  She didn’t recognize that once people found her via the search engines, they then needed to form a relationship with her so they could TRUST her.  See,  TRUST is an integral part of making the Major Sale – and social media is a GREAT way to build your business with social media– by establishing a relationship with potential clients and customers.

This  is why I cringe when I see an article which touts “the importance of search engine optimizing your Facebook profile” – or when I read someone touting Twitter or Facebook as the “quick easy way” to build your business.  Twitter, Facebook, and blogging are all tactics and nothing more.  Tactics are great when you’re on a mission to accomplish a pre-defined goal as part of a marketing strategy.  Tactics are exhausting when deployed using the “spray and pray” method of marketing.

When you read that “blogging” is dead – you’re probably reading the rant of someone who didn’t understand the difference between tactics and strategy.  A blog is a GREAT communication tool which – when used correctly.

Social Media’s MVP: Feedback

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social media fansSocial media is new and we’re just now exploring all the things it CAN do.  We’re learning that while social media CAN do many things – it’s better at facilitating some business tasks better than others.

Despite the fact that in the beginning, it looked like social media was going to be a GREAT way to generate sales leads, we’re now discovering that’s not the case.  Even though  social media communication tools are chocked full of various ways to analyze the various interactions we have using – it turns out the biggest lesson may be that  those tools are only able to measure LINEAR movement through the sales process.   We’re learning yet again that the sales PROCESS is anything but linear.

While the results of the big “social media as lead generation tool” experiement may be disappointing – there is a HUGE bright spot on the horizon.

Social media is a WONDERFULLY effective tool for providing valuable feedback.

Customer feedback is vital to the success of any business.   In the past, businesses have had to resort to “unnatural” methods to access customer feedback.  One common method used to this day is to herd customers into a room and watch through a two way mirror as they “openly discuss” the product in question.   Until recently, this was the
“it’s the best we can do” option.   After all, we couldn’t EAVESDROP on actual conversations – so we have to pay people who might be our customers to sit and discuss their opinions.  The fact that in many cases – these people were NOT our customers was just something we had to accept as a flaw we couldn’t address or correct.  People with jobs and families usually won’t take a day off to talk about deodorant with other strangers – so we’ll talk to people who will.

Enter social media – and suddenly setting up a Google Alert allows us to “eavesdrop” on the written conversations of tens of millions of people.   Since it’s happening “naturally” – businesses can rest assured that the conversations happening in social media are the REAL issues – and not one targeted by a planning committee.

Feedback is of critical importance to the health and well being of a business.  Social media makes it easy to listen in – to not only the conversations about YOUR product or service – but the products and services of your competitors.  Oh the gold mine of information that is called SOCIAL MEDIA.

The value of customer feedback was driven home to me a few days ago when I paid a visit to my local health food store.  The shelves were two thirds empty and there was a hand written sign at the cash wrap announcing discounts if you’ll use the green stuff to buy your green stuff (herbs, natural foods and supplements).  Then, I heard a radio ad for the store on my way home.  The owner does her own radio ads and unfortunately – you can hear it in her voice.  Things are not going well at the local health food store.

This local health food store isn’t online in any way as far as I know.  The only “technology” is the cash register – and there’s only one that can process a debit card.  There isn’t a newsletter, or an email list or even a web site. Even though I’m a regular customer – the owner doesn’t know my name or what I do for a living.

The way I formed a connection with the store owner was one day I asked for her advice one.   My life had gotten out of balance (read about that here in Achieve Success While Maintaining a Healthy Work Life Balance) and I needed help getting “back on track”.  While I poked fun at one of her suggestions –  Hemp bagels.. (When You Hear Hemp, Do you Think “Rope” or “Dope”?) overall, she recommended a variety of supplements which I continue to purchase and use to this day.

Notice – I reached out to her but she did not reach back out to me – her customer.  During the two and a half years I’ve been a customer of the store – there’s never been an opportunity for me to offer feedback to the store’s owner.

  • When she stopped carrying the natural licorice my children adored – I told the clerk who rang me up – and nothing happened.
  • When the supplements were “reorganized” on the shelves and I couldn’t find the products I needed – I wasn’t able to offer an input.
  • When I couldn’t find a product which health food bloggers are raving about –  I asked the clerk about the possibility of getting the product. The clerk didn’t even bother to write down the name of the product I was seeking or even PRETEND that there was a possibility of carrying the product.

Despite the lack of input – and even though it was infinitely EASIER to order the products I need online – I feel a certain responsibility towards the owner of this health food store.  After all, I wouldn’t have known about half of the products if she hadn’t personally recommended them to me, so I’ve made the effort to continue to patronize the shop.  However, since my oldest son has now graduated from high school – the health food store is now a trip in and of itself.  So when I made a special trip and discovered that half of the things I needed weren’t in stock – I was disappointed and saddened.

I was disappointed because I have a feeling that the next time I make the trip to the health food store – it won’t be there.  The reason it won’t be there is simple – the store owner was operating without the benefit of customer feedback.

There’s no doubt about it – the store owner has a gift.  I described my symptoms and she darted from aisle to aisle, gathering the various “cures” for what ailed me.  What she  probably doesn’t know is that when she’s not there – no one helps. During her “trip” around the store with me – she placed about $300 into my basket.  The last time I went – I spent $50.  If she were tracking sales by customer – which she isn’t – it  would be easy for her to look at the “figures” and interpret them as, “She spent less because of the lousy economy.”   It would be easy – but it wouldn’t be true.   There were two factors which greatly contributed to my significantly reduced average purchase:

  1. The products I wanted were not in stock
  2. When I asked the clerk to find the products, she simply told me they weren’t in stock.  She didn’t offer an alternative that was in stock – it was “too bad -we’re out.”

The technology that is driving social media has a lot of potential to provide significant and valuable information to businesses.  However, it still takes human insight to interpret that information.  Sure – the process of analyzing the information is labor intensive – and it’s not easily outsourced for $2 an hour.  However, there is truly GOLDEN INFORMATION to be mined using social media.

The true GOLD in social media is the unaltered and natural feedback delivered in REAL TIME from actual consumers.  Feedback isn’t always pretty – but it’s essential to know what customers are saying.  They’ve always been talking – now thanks to social media, you can eavesdrop on the conversations that are happening “online”.

The fact that this tool can ALSO gather and produce a sales lead or two along the way is just icing on an already nutritious and delicious cake.