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SMM stands for Social Media Manna

We came up with this concept shortly after a chat with Jim Alexander of Socially Mediated. Yes, it’s that easy – come up with a Social Media strategy for your organization and it will be like Manna from Heaven. Wonderful, tasty sweet bread falling from the sky. Social Media Manna. SMM.

Social Media Manna will not fall from the sky.

Remember Seth Godin? Very smart, uber-marketer, always writing another book? That Seth Godin? He hit the nail on the head — here’s a quote from him:

“The reason social media is so difficult for most organizations? It’s a process, not an event. Dating is a process. So is losing weight, being a public company and building a brand. On the other hand, putting up a trade show booth is an event. So are going public and having surgery. Events are easier to manage, pay for and get excited about. Processes build results for the long haul.” – Seth Godin, 2009.

This is where the Manna test fails for most organizations.

Process: Engaging with customers, prospects, clients, friends, the general public.

Event: Setting up a Twitter account.

Process: The quid-pro-quo of social media interaction – quid of sharing information and having conversations; quo of getting valuable insights from clients or consumers and being proactive about making things happen.

Event: Setting up a Facebook Fan Page.

If you look at the PROCESS of Social Media Marketing – that’s what the “M” stands for, “Marketing” – you’ll realize that the skies will not open, and delicious bread will not fall into your lap immediately.

If you invest time into engagement marketing, authenticity marketing, and know that you have to get real — well, you’ll get your slices here and there. And you might just find out what type of bread people really want.

Attention Social Media Ninjas – Meet Real Ninjas

We like how Google has marketed (or NOT marketed) its Nexus One Phone. Lots of buzz, a good product, etc.: all that’s well and good; but having a certain level of mystery-meets-Google to it is also a fun marketing approach.

Then we saw this video and we thought, to paraphrase Guinness Beer’s pitchmen: “Brilliant!”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ETSvTAo4A&feature=player_embedded

Take a look and tell us what you think about these Ninjas — oh, and whether you think the Ninja term is, well, overdone.

Hi-ya!

The Art & Science of Twitter Success

We have often told folks that Twitter is a large combination of Art & Science.

There’s a science to following, followers, messaging, how often, what to automate, all that fun stuff.

There’s an art, too…to authenticity that you can’t fake, to real-life interactions, to speaking your mind, to asking the right questions.

Witness this: an Area 224 Tweet that became HGTV’s Tweet of the Week.

SO, what’s the point here, besides Area 224 tooting its own horn?

Let me break it down a little for you:

Science: Spending SOME time on Twitter, interacting with people.

Art: Showing your personality – asking questions of others – reacting to their answers.

Science: Automating (using free tools like SocialOomph and Refollow) the process of finding and following people, and allowing those tools to send out some of your tweets for you, at times when you wouldn’t be at your desk.

Art: Being sometimes off the cuff.

Science: Digging into the metrics behind links, followers, time spent on Twitter, and whether or not you got any leads/sold any widgets/maximized your time spent.

Art: Realizing that the things you WANT to get the most publicity out of (read: your blog, your business, etc.) will often be trumped by a random occurrence such as someone from HGTV reading your Tweet and asking you if they could use it.

Does anyone have it all figured out? Neither do we.

BTW, you can find HGTV on Twitter at @HGTVOfficial.

3 Weeks, Times Two…

Lesson We Learned: Explaining Art + Science of Social Media…

Area 224 returns for not one but TWO repeat engagements of 3 Weeks to Social Media Success.

Up there on our site you’ll see it say “3 Weeks is Back!” That’s because we did this program in December and, well, we had quite a few people ask us if we’d do it again. So here we are.

PLUS – this is more laser-focused, less sessions, and some one-on-one time and group time and…we’re really excited.

Add to cart

BUT…what about Real Estate? Don’t you guys have something for that, too?

YES…our Real SMM product has 3 Weeks to Real Estate Social Media Success. Real Estate people – agents, brokers, investors, title company, mortgage people…etc., they can all learn from the experts (we’ve been doing webinars like these ALL through 2009).

Add to cart

So, if you ARE in Real Estate, check out the Real SMM site and sign up there. If you aren’t, see more info on our 3 Weeks program right here.

Cheers!

How We’re Doing – Stamping Out Poseurs

Hi! Back in January, we said we were on a mission. Here’s a recap.

Goal: Stamp Out Social Media Poseurs in 2010.

I’m on a mission. Please join me.

You know what a “poseur” is, right? I don’t have to define it – it’s one of these things, like “art” or good graphic design. You know it when you see it; and, when you see it, in the case of Social Media Poseurism, you don’t like it.

Let’s band together to stamp out Social Media Poseurs in 2010!

If you see any of these 17 behaviors, actions or tweets — report them! Or, better yet, just stop following, unfriend them, and move on. Life’s too short.

Here’s the list:

  1. Calling themselves a “guru.”
  2. Calling themselves a “rock star.” (Actual rock stars may call themselves rock stars.)
  3. Calling themselves a “ninja.”
  4. Tweeting the same 15 things over and over again, usually from multiple accounts. [Editor’s Note: WAIT, I do that! That’s how people saw this in the first place! Must change this, STAT!]
  5. Unable to provide an actual business case study for any social media usage – even if it’s from someone else.
  6. Saying they were a CEO many times, as if you’re supposed to be impressed. (I’m a CEO, have been a CEO. I’m not impressed by my own title.)
  7. 100% self-serving tweets. Twitter is the closest thing to the Social Media Party that your kids warned you about. Talk WITH people.
  8. Any automated “machine” approach to any of this SMM stuff.
  9. Selling you Multi-Level Marketing Crap via Direct Messages or Facebook Spam. [EDITOR: I still can’t stand this stuff.]
  10. LinkedIn LIONs who are Social Media Experts. (I have 10,000 people I’m connected to, therefore I am a Social Media Expert.)
  11. Anyone who calls themselves a Social Media Expert. See 1, 2, and 3 above.
  12. Anyone who has all the answers.
  13. Unable to provide a business example where their assistance has added – be it % of sales growth or more leads or added phone calls to the call center. (Thanks, @mattdollinger.)
  14. USING ALL CAPS TO GET THEIR POINT ACROSS.
  15. WORSE, USING ALL CAPS IN THEIR TWITTER USER NAME. (Sorry, @CHRISVOSS, that’s a foul.) [EDITOR: Guy listed in #15 is also the mayor of a Las Vegas Arby’s on Foursquare. I gave him ribbing in the Winter, and nothing.  So I’ll rib him again, with the goal of engagement.]
  16. On the part of brands, having a “social media expert” on staff and refusing to figure out why they’re there. (Customer Service? PR? Sending out coupons? Have a point!)
  17. Anyone who claims to be a “Word of Mouth” expert and is not using Twitter properly. By properly — at least 1000 followers, following the same number, and engaging 10x a day. Thank you.

Okay, 17 reasons could probably be 170 with a little more thinking. The point here – don’t be lame. We’re all trying to make a buck — myself included. Fine, there’s room for a good many of us to explain this Social Media Marketing landscape to those who want to learn it, have to learn it, or are somewhere in between.

Happy New Year! (Even to the Poseurs; just start being real, okay?)

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