Is everything we know really wrong?

I came across this slide deck a few weeks back and thought it has some pretty interesting statistics about Advertising/Digital/Marketing.

It makes for some pretty interesting reading with good stats to be used and some quality quotes, none more so that a client who says

I love this work. It’s on brand and on brief. Let’s move straight to research.

Or the very true point that we often measure the wrong things (especially in digital) and therefore

Many confuse quantifiable social stats with channel effectiveness.

Anyway, have a read, digest and plagiarise!

No, thank YOU!

As part of my yearly resolutions I decided that I should try to read more – at least a book per month.  And I intend to do it.  It won’t always be a “work” related book, but it keeps me in the habit.

A couple of months ago, I heard about Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book ‘The Thank You Economy”. The book is essentially a call to arms to all businesses to join and use social networks/social media to promote and sell.  It goes through the caring & commitment needed, tips, ideas, case studies and statistics about doing so.  It’s the only way to re-humanise business.  We have moved too far from local community shops where everyone knows everyone, to a time where companies are faceless; where your relationship with your local shops only extends to a ‘Hello’ or ‘Goodbye’.

I’ve always been quite interested in SM and Gary is an infectious speaker; full of energy and passion (see this video).  I decided that I would give it a go. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Vaynerchuk defines TYE as (essentially) a throwback to the 50s, where businesses knew their customers personally, knew their needs intimately and delivered diligently. They knew that if they didn’t people would go elsewhere.  He believes social media gives us the opportunity to create that one-to-one relationship enjoyed by our elders.

He takes us through a brief history of how we have come full circle to a place where customers demand individuality, appreciation and authenticity from the people they do business with.

He goes through objections to social media (and provides arguments to counteract them) and what businesses need to be aware of/need in order to make the most of this opportunity. He also notes the biggest mistakes companies make with Social Media:

• using tactics instead of strategy
• using it just to put out fires
• using it to brag
• using it as a one way communication vehicle
• just retweeting other people’s content
• only pushing product
• expecting quick results

Lastly, and this is where the book gets really interesting, he goes through several case studies where people have used social media to good effect for their business – in a variety of sizes and a variety of industries.

Do I believe in it all? Not all of it, but a large extent.  I think bigger, more established companies will always struggle more to ‘get with the times’ &  make it work simply because of the bureaucracy and hurdles involved in making things happen in such monolithic organisations.

Nevertheless, all in all, this was a really enjoyable book with many valid points, perspectives and arguments. I think anyone involved in social media would benefit from reading it – especially if only just starting their business and looking for a cheap (but time consuming) way of promoting it or companies who are just starting to dip their toes in the water.

Below are some quotes from the book (some salient to social media, others just amusing) as well as an illustrated version of the book (courtesy of Ogilvynotes).

Real business isn’t done in board meetings; it’s done over a half-eaten plate of buffalo wings at the sports bar…

In 1984, you’d get stuffed in your locker for gloating over your new Apple Macintosh; in 2007 you could score a hot date by showing off your new iPhone.

There’s only so low you can go on price. There’s only so excellent you can make your product or service.  There’s only so far you can stretch your marketing budget.  Your heart, though – that’s boundless.

Everybody counts, and gets the best I have to give.

But they’re not going to give me that chance unless the other guy slips up.  And even then they’d probably give him a second chance, because forgiveness is the hallmark of a good relationship.

..if you wait until social media is able to prove itself to you before deciding to engage with your customers one–on-one, you’ll have missed your greatest window of opportunity to move ahead of your competitors.

The customer you should be scared of is the one who has a bad experience, doesn’t say a word, and never returns.

It remembered that behind every B2B transaction, there’s a C.

Making what I’ve done look pretty (&) interesting

Sometimes it’s really hard to make a list of everything you’ve done look interesting.  Which is why Wordle is so cool.

Just types in the words you want and BOOM! it’s yours.  I’m trying to work on an infographic and this is one of the elements I think I will incorporate into it.

So as a trial I thought I’d make a list of the things I’ve done, media I’ve worked with, areas I’ve managed etc.  This is by no means exhaustive.  I’m half tempted to put it in my CV.

Try it for yourself

Two quick thoughts on Social Media and ROI

There’s an awful lot of criticism bandied around toward Social Media around ROI, but is it fair?  I’ll admit I’ve often wondered about the monetary value of SM.  Everything businesses do needs to be geared towards making a sale.  If it’s not happening then it’s pointless.

But, we’ve stopped asking those questions of TV.  Why?  Is the value of a TV viewer any better known than a Social Media ‘follower’?  I think not.

This has led me to two thoughts:

1. ROI isn’t only a Social Media issue.  It’s an advertising one.  Very rare (it exists but it is rare in the grand scheme of things) is the activity where you can say ‘This tactic got me this many sales and this much profit’.  This is true of radio, TV, Social media, (most) DMs and eDMs.
2. ROI calculations are a fallacy. The human race is too complex to be influenced by only one piece of communication. And often seeing it is one step removed from buying it, meaning that you may be affected by other messages, by their mood when they see it, by great sales service, etc. In which case, where do you attribute that sale? Customer Service investment, advertising investment?

We’ve become so focused on ROI that we’ve made it too important yet superfluous. Any activity now needs an ROI justification, yet because sometimes sales cannot be attributed to it we measure fans, response, intention to buy.  Intention to buy will not keep a company in business. 

My hypothesis as to why this has happened is that sales are easy to track – they are there in black and white. Most C-level people will have a sales background (a legacy of the boom years of 80s and 90s) so they like numbers.  Marketing depts therefore have to justify their activity with hard numbers and ROI became the norm.

Now, I think companies need to know if their activity is moving the needle over to the right or not so some form of effectiveness tracking is needed for businesses.  But companies need to measure marketing/advertising as a set of complimentary activities rather than individual tactics. 

We need to measure its effect as a whole rather than silos.  

What do you think?