Social Media: Buy Organic
We were in a pitch earlier this week with a name-brand company. High pressure. After the dog-and-pony part of the meeting, in the afterglow as we were saying our good-byes, we got some candid feedback from one of the prospective client contacts. She said:
“This presentation was different than the others we’ve been hearing. Yes, it’s true that we talked a lot about Social Media, but you guys didn’t break out every shiny marble. It felt more … organic.”
I smiled. That was good to hear. “That’s because we didn’t come here to talk about Social Media for Social Media’s sake,” I said. “We came to talk about engagement for engagement’s sake.”
When evaluating a prospective partner’s Social Media expertise, or when doing your own planning, I advise keeping Forrester Research’s POST methodology in mind. POST stands for People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology.
Put the people first: who are they, where do they hang out, what do they care about, what do they avoid?
Once you know these fundamental attributes of your audiences, the obvious parts of the program (the where, when, why) readily present themselves and all that’s left is a burst of creativity to make the ideas for engagement (the how) really sticky, impactful and fun.
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Social Media Comments
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Putting people first… what a novel idea. RT @TDefren: When it comes to Social Media: “Buy Organic.” [link to post] -
by @NicholasGPorter: A great pitch story and a great #social media strategy over at #PR Squared – [link to post] – via @TDefren -
RT @Boston_PR @NicholasGPorter: great pitch story and a great #social media strategy over at #PR Squared – [link to post] – via @TDefren -
Social Media: Buy Organic [link to post] #socialmedia #news -
RT @TDefren: When it comes to Social Media: “Buy Organic.” [link to post] -
Reading @tdefren Social Media: Buy Organic. [link to post] -
A great pitch story and a great #social media strategy over at #PR Squared – [link to post] – via @TDefren -
Great stuff from PR Squared…RT @TDefren When it comes to Social Media: “Buy Organic.” [link to post]
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I loved this! This was a great reminder: it can be so easy to get caught up in the excitement of all that technology can do, but people and their needs must come first. I like the handy mnemonic.
Time to return to the basics. I was just speaking with a colleague about the emphasis on lead generation–as if lead generation could happen without first:
1) Narrowing your target audience
2) Tailoring value propositions to these individuals’ needs
3) Placing your messages where they turn for information
Yet, many companies don’t have time to do the marketing research needed to get/validate this critical information. The consequence? Expending resources on those that are unlikely to buy–and losing those that are more likely to do so. The greatest causes of lost opportunities related to communications? Value propositions don’t reach those who are likely to buy, do not address these individuals’ concerns, are not specific enough to capture these individuals’ attention, and/or are not communicated often enough to make an impression. The reason given for diminishing sales? No one’s buying or our prices are too high.
Spot on! I find this can be a problem with social media “enthusiasts”, but other groups are guilty of this too. e.g. the pure SEO experts. We don’t do any of what we do “just because we can.”
All the best!
Melissa Paulik
As a future practitioner, it is good to know that the methods we learn about in Journalism school are still recognized and used in the real world of public relations. Also, your post is a good reminder to everyone that public relations is about the people and not necessarily the companies that employ us. Even when we are tempted to get caught up in the technology, we need to repeat to ourselves that people and their needs come first.
So often we can get caught up in social media the trend that we forget about they why. We use social media to engage our audiences, but it only works if the audience we’re trying to engage is actually using, or involved in, social media. Sometimes we just need to take a step back and look at the big picture. Thanks for the reminder to keep it organic!
Tessa Carroll
VBP OutSourcing
http://www.blogs.vbpoutsourcing.com
Goes to show that the main thing about marketing is knowing your market.
As a student of public relations, I am very engaged in the world of social media. Social media has become key for companies and organizations to connect with primary audiences; however, at times I forget that technology should not always be the first step to connect with an audience. As you mentioned, you must first understand the fundamental attributes of your audiences to build lasting relationships. We must keep it organic!