ISA Marketing & Sales Summit

By now, fellow marketers, you’ve undoubtedly picked up your fair share of knowledge about social media strategies and how they relate to you and your business.  You’ve at least dabbled in Twitter, set up a company blog, Facebook page,  LinkedIn profile and YouTube channel.  You’re using Google Alerts and Social Mention alerts to keep track on what people are saying about your brand, your products, and your competitors.

So I know that you’ll understand where I’m coming from when I say that Netflix has broken not one, but two of the fundamental rules of social media marketing.

You lost me at, “We’re increasing our prices”

For those of you who haven’t yet heard, Netflix has decided to change its pricing plans.  Instead of offering a combined streaming and one-DVD-a-month plan for $9.99, there will be a choice of two different plans:

Plan 1: Unlimited streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, one out-at-a-time (no streaming) for $7.99 a month

Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand that a business must sometimes increase its prices to survive and grow.  My problem is with the way in which they suddenly dumped the news on their customers and apparently don’t care whether they like it or not.

If you’ve checked out Netflix’s Facebook page or Twitter mentions, you’ll have seen the mountain of negative comments about the hikes.  The Netflix blog post announcing the price increases currently has 5,000 comments – most of them from decidedly aggravated customers.  And, the most striking thing?  Netflix is not responding.

As social media connoisseurs, you’ll know that this is a big faux pas.

The 2 fundamental rules of social media marketing

1. Listen
Find out what people are saying about you.  Learn from your fans what you are doing right and your critics what you are doing wrong.  Make amends when necessary and be sure to convey to your customers that you have done so using the appropriate avenues.

2. Engage
Listening and not engaging is like talking the talk but not walking the walk.  Communicate with those who open up to you.  Make them feel important and that they matter.  Because, after all, isn’t that what we all want to feel deep down?

Netflix, you should know better.  Shame on you.

PS. The next #industrialmarketing tweetchat is tomorrow, Friday 14 Jul 2011 at 4pm EST.  Join me.

This post originally appeared on the Telesian Technology blog and is reproduced with permission.

Social media is hot and for good reason. There’s a ton of activity on the social networks, public and private.  Here’s a great overview designed to show senior management why we need to care about the new media:

More and more, companies are working to find ways to participate in social media conversations. But there’s a problem. Most social media programs are missing a crucial component…STRATEGY. Social media programs need to be aligned with the communications and business strategies of the company or mixed messages and inefficient implementations ensue. For maximum effectiveness, social media needs to be part of an existing strategy, whether that’s marketing, PR, customer service, HR, etc.

Social media isn’t just another communications channel. It’s a disruptive resource, like the Internet and Web. And it has tremendous possibilities. Don’t just think about the technology. In fact, that’s the last thing to determine when developing your social media strategy. You need to look at the cultural shift that is happening and how people’s priorities have changed over the last 5-10 years:

- We all must do more with less
- Most of us have less patience; some of this is a direct result of working with the Web as our expectations about easy access to information have changed
- Most people want 24/7 access to information so they can help themselves when it is convenient for them
- We are consuming more video, and doing more texting, less phone
- Virtually all business people are now globally aware

It’s no wonder social media has caught on so quickly. So let’s make sure we do social media right. We’ll start with a brief overview.

6 STEPS FOR DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY:
Who, What, Where, When, Why, How

WHY?
Everyone needs to be on the same page. Is your social media presence an experiment or the beginnings of a full program? What is your business strategy? Innovator, fast follower, best value, etc.? A business social media program is all about sharing expertise and building relationships. Don’t pump sales messages into this medium all day as it will just turn people against you.

WHO?
From an external perspective, who are you trying to reach with social media? What industry or job functions? Do these people already know your company or is this a first contact? What social media networks do they use? From an internal perspective, who in your company will be sharing their expertise? Product managers, engineering, sales, marketing, customer service?

WHAT?
What is the conversation that you want to join or help create? What is the message? Forget about “messaging,” though. Focus on solving problems. This needs to be a natural and less formal conversation. Rule of thumb: 20% of your messages can be about your brand, 80% should be relevant off-brand discussions, such as industry news, new technologies, etc.

HOW?
How will you share your expertise? Do you need different voices for different markets? Who is on the social media team? What role do your company’s execs play? How will you share results, such as a social media dashboard. How will you let your guard down and talk in a less formal fashion? What creative resources are required for development, design, and editorial? What will the editorial calendar look like — who will be participating and what will they be contributing?

WHERE?
Now you can think about the technology and networks. Everyone reading this should start with a corporate blog, then expand into relevant networks: LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. If you have enough momentum, you might even want to start your own custom community. But make sure you have the activity to support it or it will be DOA.

WHEN?
What is your timeline for launch? Make sure you allow for system setup; development of company policies, job descriptions, and accountability; and training. To succeed, this can’t be a one-off effort. Regular updates are required on all the media; the frequency varies according to the network. With regard to response times, note that most people will give you a 24 hour window to respond. But expect that to shrink over time.

Coming next, we’ll talk about measuring social media success.