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Permalink to 4 Reasons Why CMOs Still Think Social Media Engagement is Irrelevant

4 Reasons Why CMOs Still Think Social Media Engagement is Irrelevant

by Angie Sanders|on April 17, 2013 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , |Leave a comment

Lost and Confused SignpostBack in January, Louis Columbus, senior manager, enterprise marketing at Cincom Systems, wrote an article titled “B2B Marketers Need To Get Real About Social Media and Customer Engagement.” “One area I consistently see CMOs of B2B companies divided on in their efforts to compete is the value of social media,” he wrote.

“I think it is incredibly short-sighted of any CMO, whether in B2B or business-to-consumer (B2C) to discount its value and say it is irrelevant to their marketing efforts.  Social media is how the current and next generation of B2B customers are choosing to learn about new solutions and stay current on brands they are loyal to.”

Living in an area like Washington, D.C. that’s uber-connected and social and web-savvy, I often think that other professionals outside the region are as connected and realize the value of these tools as much as I do. But like Louis, I meet others who just aren’t as sold as I am.

Fortune 500 companies were quicker to adapt to social media initially, and they have the budgets to create strategy, execute and evaluate success. But if you’re a CMO of a smaller company, you may not be as enthusiastic about the value of engaging your customers socially. There are probably a few reasons for why this is so:

CMOs and other c-suite professionals still think that their companies’ target demographics don’t use social media to look for their type of product.
If your company sells fertilizer or laser printing paper or some equally non-sexy product, then it’s hard for you to imagine that your target customer would want to engage with you on social media or is using the space to research products like yours. But there are probably some creative tactics you can use to reach your customers, even if it means cross-marketing with a related but non-competing product or finding ways to humanize your company and make your product fun.

They don’t have a good understanding of how interacting with these customers on social media fits into their sales funnel.
It takes a bit of technological know-how and some sophisticated tools to truly track the impact social media has on sales. Sharing data among your company’s web analytics software, customer relationship management software, online marketing software, social media engagement platform(s) and reporting system/data warehouse might not be rocket science, but it can be tough to grasp and execute if you’re new to the idea.

Successes other companies experience doing this aren’t widely shared.
We hear a lot about the successes B2C companies experience while engaging their customers on social media. However, when B2B companies achieve some sort of success doing the same thing, they either guard this information closely or it’s not widely covered in the media for lack of sex appeal. As a CMO, if you’re not crystal clear on the successes others are seeing using social media—especially your competitors—then you’re less likely to spend the time and energy to be a pioneer (unless you’re truly a visionary).

These companies probably don’t have the talent in-house to sell the benefits of social customer engagement or create/execute a strategy.

Here’s the catch: because these CMOs and other c-suite professionals don’t see the value of social media, they most likely don’t have the staff internally who would be champions for digital strategy. As a CMO, where do you begin to understand the value of investing in social media and developing a team to execute a strategy when there’s no one in-house to sell you on the idea in the first place? How do you look to an outside team for help when you’re not even clear on what your company’s needs are?

Share with us: Are you still struggling to grasp the value of a social media investment for your company? Are you a staffer trying to sell social to the c-suite at your company?

Read Blindsided! Why the rapid pace of social media communication and measurement is leaving PR agencies behind

blindsidedIn his Forbes.com article, “PR Agencies’ Lost Year?”, Peter Himler of Flatiron Communications makes the argument that while PR agencies are fixated on the obvious rise of mobile technology and the visual web, they’re missing real opportunities to use creative hybrids of earned, paid and owned media tactics to broadcast client messages to already overloaded audiences. Himler’s article prompted aiellejai to produce this white paper. In it, we explore why the PR industry was blindsided by the emergence of new technology and the choices these professionals will have to make internally and externally to remain valuable players in the midst of the new accelerated pace of communication.

Permalink to Could Brands Fill the Local News Gap Newspaper Deaths Have Created?

Could Brands Fill the Local News Gap Newspaper Deaths Have Created?

by Angie Sanders|on April 7, 2013 |in Content marketing, Social Media |tagged , , , , |Leave a comment

del ray patch credit facebookNewspapers are dying, and the ones that have managed to survive are shells of their former selves, resembling bulletins instead of full publications.

In this internet-charged society, we rely on news websites, Twitter feeds and Facebook timelines for our news. If we were to get around to watching a nightly newscast or picking up a newspaper, we’d be consuming yesterday’s (or this morning’s) news.

And even news websites and social media only give us the broad-stroke reporting on what’s going on in the major areas of our cities.  The most heinous, shocking or quirky local news stories are the ones covered and shared. So if a family’s home on my street is burglarized, if someone in the community dies or if there are issues before small-city government that I need to know about, these stories won’t always be covered through these channels.

We thought that America Online’s Patch would be the web-based, hyperlocal solution to the local newspaper’s demise, but it has long been criticized for overworking and underpaying its staff and pushing for click-bait style content.  In January, Patch President Warren Webster revealed that the company is testing the idea of moving toward a “community hub” in five Long Island towns, meaning that neighborhood residents would be driving and creating content instead of Patch’s journalists.

As a broader solution to the problem local news’ death creates, can we rely on the community, especially in rural areas like say Nathalie, Virginia (Go ahead and check Patch. This town and others like it aren’t listed.), to provide accurate and unbiased reporting about what’s going on in our neighborhoods? Or does this leave the door open for brands, local and nationwide, to step in and fund the local news reporting efforts for us?

Think about it. Car dealerships and grocery store chains were probably some of local newspapers’ most lucrative advertisers. What’s to stop Jim Koons Automotive Companies and Giant Food here in the Washington, D.C. metro area from banding together to create a media company that has a staff of paid reporters that cover various community beats and produces print and online versions of a newspaper based on demographics and demand? This model would provide them unlimited earned and paid media placements for their own companies and generate ad revenue from other companies in the area.

It’s doable. As newspapers continue to keel over, transition their content and ad revenue online, struggle to fund their operations and give in to the trend of pay walls and branded content, grocery, automotive and other companies like these have scrambled to figure out where and how to get the most out of their ad buys when they used to lean so heavily on print.

I wouldn’t be surprised if these brands are tossing around the idea of banding together to become publishers themselves as we speak.

Read Blindsided! Why the rapid pace of social media communication and measurement is leaving PR agencies behind

blindsidedIn his Forbes.com article, “PR Agencies’ Lost Year?”, Peter Himler of Flatiron Communications makes the argument that while PR agencies are fixated on the obvious rise of mobile technology and the visual web, they’re missing real opportunities to use creative hybrids of earned, paid and owned media tactics to broadcast client messages to already overloaded audiences. Himler’s article prompted aiellejai to produce this white paper. In it, we explore why the PR industry was blindsided by the emergence of new technology and the choices these professionals will have to make internally and externally to remain valuable players in the midst of the new accelerated pace of communication.

Permalink to Over Lunch: The digital strategy and execution gap

Over Lunch: The digital strategy and execution gap

by Angie Sanders|on March 18, 2013 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , |Leave a comment

strategy and execution gapOn Feb. 10, we discussed big brands bringing social media engagement and community management in-house. We applaud this new, increased ownership of digital strategy and execution. But what happens when the company’s needs grow and change? Can they scale the efforts of their digital strategy teams to meet the growing demand? In our latest segment of “Over Lunch,” Chief Content Architect Angie Sanders shares a colleague’s concern about this issue within her organization and points out the obvious gap between digital strategy and actual implementation.

6MythsRead “6 Myths Blocking Your Social Media Engagement”
This paper addresses misconceptions that are keeping your company from investing time into tools that will can help increase two-way communication with your customers—current and potential. Print this report. Read it on the train ride home. Highlight key points. Share it with your colleagues. And please, jump in the social media marketing game and get started.

Permalink to 3 Examples of How Graphics and Social Media Create Magic

3 Examples of How Graphics and Social Media Create Magic

by Angie Sanders|on March 17, 2013 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , |Leave a comment

someecardsAs if engagement and metrics weren’t enough to keep up with, guess what? You’ll now have to work on your camera shots and Adobe Photoshop skills.

In January, content strategist and speaker Jay Baer told us that “now, to be a ‘do it all’ social media practitioner you must have some experience and expertise with photography and graphics production.” I totally understand Baer’s point, but what I’m concerned about are a proliferation of purposeless graphics—or cute photos with inspiring, “oh, that’s nice” quotes.

This reminds me of the early 2000s when graphics programs like the Adobe Suite were readily available so everyone thought they were graphic artists.

Graphics in social media only work under two circumstances: if they’re informative (meaning they give us information that we genuinely care about or find interesting) or if they’re funny. Graphics, photography and social can all work together if social media managers put some thought behind what they’re sharing, not just posting photos to get eyeballs or for the emphasis Facebook places on them in the timeline.

Here are three examples we’ve noticed of graphics and photography used effectively in the social media space:

Grammarly (Facebook)
I identify with the graphics on this hilarious Facebook page—especially the one about “The Pop-Up Book of Phobias.” This page makes me feel like more of a word snob than I already am. But the quotes are great and they resonate immediately.

someecards
You’ve seen these on Facebook—the black-and-white drawings next to funny quotes against a solid color background. It sounds pretty simple when you describe it, but what makes these e-cards so great is that the quotes are really funny.

The Oatmeal
Instead of making a desperate plea for all of us to pick up newspapers again, Doonesbury should take a cue from this site. The Oatmeal mixes the hilarious antics shared by Grammarly and someecards with the informative nature of the infographic. With crude but cleverly created graphics, this site actually teaches us something about grammar, technology, food and other subjects.

Share with us: Is there growing expectation on your social media team to become photographers and graphic artists? How do you deal with this while still sharing content that your readers will enjoy and share with their networks?

blindsidedRead our newest whitepaper, “Blindsided! Why the rapid pace of social media communication and measurement is leaving PR agencies behind”
In his Forbes.com article, “PR Agencies’ Lost Year?”, Peter Himler of Flatiron Communications makes the argument that while PR agencies are fixated on the obvious rise of mobile technology and the visual web, they’re missing real opportunities to use creative hybrids of earned, paid and owned media tactics to broadcast client messages to already overloaded audiences.Himler’s article prompted aiellejai to produce this white paper. In it, we explore why the PR industry was blindsided by the emergence of new technology and the choices these professionals will have to make internally and externally to remain valuable players in the midst of the new accelerated pace of communication.

 

Permalink to Brands Are Taking Social Media In-House. Is it Only a Test?

Brands Are Taking Social Media In-House. Is it Only a Test?

by Angie Sanders|on February 10, 2013 |in Content marketing, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , |2 Comments

social inhouse credit searchenginelanddotcomPatrick Coffee with Mediabistro’s PRNewser is noticing a trend of large, well-known brands taking their social media engagement efforts in-house.

“The sneaker king {Nike} isn’t the only company to take a greater degree of responsibility for its own social media efforts in recent months,” Coffee writes. “Competitor Reebok conducted an internal audit of all its social channels after rejecting contract offers from agencies, and Digiday reports that other big names like Ford and Campbell’s Soup have done the same.”

So should contract public relations and digital strategists be worried about this trend? Not exactly.

In a Utopian society, all brands would handle their social networking and community management in-house. After all, who knows the company’s voice better than the staffs themselves? Unfortunately, this isn’t always practical.

Expecting all companies to handle social media engagement internally is like expecting them to handle all writing, public relations and advertising in-house. And that’s just not going to happen. Most of the time, it’s these entities that give and develop companies’ voices and make them resonate with customers.

Smaller brands will continue to struggle with this dilemma. On one hand, they may not think they can afford to outsource their social media efforts. But because they’re balancing social networking with the other daily tasks it takes to run their businesses, engaging customers and other audiences via social media will always suffer.

The big brands like Nike and Reebok are testing the waters and appointing internal teams to handle social media—and they have the budgets to do so. The question are going to be how large are these teams and how is the work being distributed among the members.

In a previous post, we talked about how a small, internal digital team could benefit from outsourced support. This is a prime example. An internal digital team at Nike or Reebok might be able to handle company-wide social media efforts on its own, but what happens when the needs of the company grow or when individual product lines within the company require their own social media management? Will this team be able to scale with the needs of the company and keep abreast of technology that seems to change by the second?

Successful social media engagement requires strategy that aligns with company goals, consistency, awareness of the latest trends and execution. Situations like these are the prime reason why we developed our Monarch product. The packages cover the smaller organization that’s just looking to get its feet wet using social media all the way to the more sophisticated and technologically savvy company that’s looking for a customized solution.

Coffee says that “insiders worry that this industry-wide shift will eventually bring PR/marketing firms’ profit margins down as brands hire more internal social media managers and outsource fewer and fewer tasks.” Only time will tell how permanent this shift will be.

In the meantime, he points out that Nike never said it was planning to “sever ties with all third-party firms.”

Share with us: Does your company outsource its social media engagement or is it looking to bring these duties in-house. If your company manages its social media internally, do you think the support of an external team could benefit your efforts?

 

monarchMonarch is our content marketing and community engagement support product—a resource that backs you up and leaves you to free to do the job you’ve always done successfully. Monarch breaks engagement efforts into four packages that allocate set hours per month for content creation, community building and engagement. When you choose the package that works best for you, you know exactly what you’re getting per month and how much you’re paying for it.

Permalink to What Content Management Systems Should be Today

What Content Management Systems Should be Today

by Angie Sanders|on February 4, 2013 |in Content marketing, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , |Leave a comment

content management credit arnimadotcomWhen you hear the term “content management system” what comes to mind? Probably a web-based system that allows you to log in and manage your company’s website content using a WYSIWIG editor. This editor looks similar to a Microsoft Word document and provides you text editing tools and options for adding links and graphics.

Systems like this gained popularity when everyone was concerned about having a nice website. We all still want websites that are aesthetically pleasing and make it easy for visitors to find the information we want them to consume. But in the past few years, the word “content” has taken on a new life.

Now, content is not limited to the pages on your company website. It includes written content you share via social media, whether it’s actual tweets, statuses or links to PDFs or other pages you share. It includes short videos you’ve shot in-house. It includes slideshows packed with actionable information. It includes the email communication you send out to your customers.

Where is all this content being stored at your company? On an office-wide shared drive? And when you’re creating a piece of content—say a white paper or annual report—how do you control versioning? How do you manage and differentiate the document changes your communications director gave you from the edits your vice-president of marketing provided?

And taking our thoughts of content one step further, how are you tracking how this content is distributed? How do track which segments of your audiences received which pieces of content?

In a business world where the term “content” has not only catapulted in importance but has varied meanings, the technology we use to manage this content must adapt.

In a recent blog post, Marketing Consultant and Coach Jeff Bullas listed 10 characteristics of the ideal “social media at scale technology.” The first two characteristics—one repository and database for all content (including video) and the ability to plug into cloud-based video platforms—are also important for any standard content management system.

See Jeff Bullas’ blog post and his entire list of the perfect social media at scale product.

Share with us: Do you agree with Jeff’s assessment that we’re 2-3 years away from seeing the type of product he describes in his blog post?

retaingo logo

 

 

 

We’ve seen a mad dash toward social media marketing, but did you know that 35 percent of marketers still use direct mail to stimulate sales? Ninety-seven percent of businesses use email marketing to convert subscribers to buyers. More than half of business owners are even interested in sending text message reminders to their customers. To a consultant, a client campaign that encompasses direct mail, email, text and social media can be a tall order. You’re going to need at least four different web-based systems and a small tanker full of time to get it all done, right? Not so fast.

esolutions360 (aiellejai’s parent company) is seeking beta testers for RetainGO, a new automated marketing campaign solution that allows you to manage all four of these tactics within one web-based system. Beta testers get exclusive access to the software and use of features prior to release. They also provide feedback to shape a product that could ultimately help streamline their business processes. Beta testers’ monthly usage fees are waived. For more information, call (703) 229-6249 or email info@retaingo.com.

Permalink to Over Lunch: PR firm vs. Content Creation Consultancy

Over Lunch: PR firm vs. Content Creation Consultancy

by Angie Sanders|on January 24, 2013 |in Content marketing, Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

orgin-of-aiellejaiStrong writing is at the core of every strategic communicator’s skill set.

In this episode of “Over Lunch,” aiellejai’s Chief Content Architect Angie Jennings Sanders explains why she decided to launch the company as a content creation consultancy instead of a public relations firm. “That way, we can serve our clients directly or we work with PR firms to lighten their load,” she said.

 

Permalink to Why Facebook Engagement Beats Television Advertising

Why Facebook Engagement Beats Television Advertising

by Angie Sanders|on October 17, 2012 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

“Brands with more than 1 million fans reach only 3% to 5% of them a day,” Jeff Widman of PageLever, a Facebook page analytics solution, told Fast Company. The magazine labeled this their Unpleasant Truth No. 4 as part of their special “The Social Media Road Map” section in the September 2012 issue.

But is this truth really that unpleasant? Maybe not. Engaging 3-5% of one million fans works out to 30,000-50,000 Facebook fans talking about a given brand. These people may represent a small sample of the total Facebook fans this brand has, but these are people the brand knows detailed demographic information about and has engaged in two-way communication. And 30,000 to 50,000 is a lot of people.

Compare this level of communication, demographics and engagement to television advertising. Lucas Donat—founder of Santa Monica advertising agency Donat Wald—explained in a December 2009 Ad Age article that, “When it comes to measurement, most TV advertisers know audience reach, some demographics and probably some level of top-line results.” This information doesn’t match “the depth and granularity of data we can get for online campaigns, where we know who’s responding to our ads, what they’re doing on our websites, how much time they spend there and whether or not they complete a purchase.”

However, Donat says his agency has developed a method to gather and interpret data from television advertising that fills in the gap between imperfect, incomplete information and a clear picture that communicates the results of an advertising campaign.

“To deal with the relative ambiguity of TV ad measurement, my agency adapts the concept of fuzzy logic into what we call ‘fuzzy analytics,’” Donat says. “Here’s how it works: Find a level of tracking we can do, accept its imperfections, gather data, analyze it and improve our ability to understand it as we go. It evolves into a system that is nearly as accurate as following a click online.”

As an explanation for the “low” Facebook engagement numbers, Widman asked social marketers if they ever visit fan pages as users. “Oh, never,” they replied. This information could be viewed two ways: either social marketers don’t have a clear picture of how to engage Facebook fans because they’ve never visited fan pages themselves, or the social marketer isn’t an accurate representation of the audience set that would visit and interact in this space.

Whatever the reason, these numbers probably shouldn’t be viewed as “low” or a “failure.” Demographic information, two-way communication and any type of engagement and attention from 30,000-50,000 people is a win.

Share with us: How does your company use its Facebook fan page, or does it have one? Can a brand achieve a high number of fans and a high percentage of engagement, too?

This post is the fourth in a series of five posts discussing ideas presented in Fast Company’s “The Social Media Roadmap” section (September 2012 issue).

Permalink to Why a Chosen Few Will Always be Responsible for Company Social Media Engagement

Why a Chosen Few Will Always be Responsible for Company Social Media Engagement

by Angie Sanders|on October 10, 2012 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |2 Comments

In last Wednesday’s post, we gave you 13 key takeaways from Fast Company magazine’s “The Social Media Road Map,” that ran in their September 2012 issue. However, their Insiders’ Secret No. 3, an article titled “What Your Social Media Consultant Should Tell You,” warranted a post of its own.

Anjali Mullany, the magazine’s social media editor, says, “If social media consultants are doing their jobs, they should put themselves out of business. Your company will never be truly social if you silo social activity within a consultant or staff manager.”

Well, yes and no.

Saying that a company isn’t truly social if one person, small team or outside entity handles this function is like saying that that same company doesn’t really perform marketing or communications functions if everyone in the company isn’t doing it, too.

Shared responsibility for the actual act of engagement is a respectable goal, but it may be a bit lofty and impractical. Communications and marketing departments have a hard enough time getting buy-in from other departments to reach out to the company’s audiences outside of social media. Expecting all employees to participate in social may be a stretch.

Plus, by keeping responsibilities for social media engagement with a certain internal team or outside consultants keeps a good handle on messaging within the social space.

Because social media engagement is an external communications tactic, it will probably always remain in the hands of those who are already responsible for external communications—unless the company decides that developing a designated digital strategy team is warranted.

Now we’re not saying that the rest of the company should take a completely hands-off approach to social media because it shouldn’t be taking this approach to its overall marketing strategy. Whichever team(s) is responsible for both marketing communications and social media need support from the rest of the company in the form of free-flowing information.

The only way these teams can tell your company’s story to the audiences that live outside the four walls of your office is if you funnel the information to them that’s necessary to tell this story in a compelling way. This involves keeping these teams abreast of company milestones, achievement and impact.

If there’s a new product launch or breakthrough, new clients or partnerships, client or customer testimonials, video or photos from the field, or any other groundbreaking information affecting your current or potential clients, your marketing communications and social media teams need to know. The success of both these teams depends heavily on your ability to ensure that these teams get the compelling information they need to engage your audience and get them excited about your brand.

Share with us: How does your company funnel information through to your marketing communications and social media teams and out to your external audiences?

This post is the second in a series of five posts discussing ideas presented in Fast Company’s “The Social Media Roadmap” section (September 2012 issue).

Permalink to 13 Key Takeaways from Fast Company’s “The Social Media Road Map”

13 Key Takeaways from Fast Company’s “The Social Media Road Map”

by Angie Sanders|on October 3, 2012 |in Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |5 Comments

Fast Company published “The Social Media Road Map” in their September 2012 issue—the one with The Office star Mindy Kaling {@mindykaling} on the cover looking like a sexy geek. I curled up in bed with a batch of homemade trail mix (dry roasted almonds and dried banana chips and cranberries) to see where this map would take me. So here are my key takeaways from these 19 interesting yet far from mind-blowing pages that paint the picture of social media’s current landscape:

  1. A YouTube home page, half-page auto-play video ad is $500,000—for one day. This ad reaches more than 26 million unique U.S. visitors, but if you’re paying half a million dollars for that, then what’s your total marketing budget?
  2. Lady Gaga stole the title for most Facebook likes from Skittles, but Big Spaceship CEO Michael Lebowitz says there’s no way to tie this this bragging rights title to a bump in sales.
  3. Fast Company, along with a whole gang of other media outlets, really wants Mindy Kaling and her new show The Mindy Project to win, so I guess we should, too. But will realizing how much of a television industry insider she is make me watch her new show? Unclear.
  4. Let’s just set the record straight that it’s officially uncool and generally frowned upon to refer to yourself or anyone else as a “social media guru.”
  5. The women in the sexy photos used for spam bot profiles on Twitter are real people, and those chicks just might ban together and sue you for using their likenesses. Maybe.
  6. What the hell was Kraft thinking when they asked Klout to refer to their scoring as a “fun score”?
  7. There are already whole books about how to use Pinterest. How does it feel to write a book filled with information that’s probably instantly out-of-date upon publication?
  8. There are at least eight services that help you back up your social media platform archives. Never knew there was a need for this, but I guess it’s always good to keep a record of everything you’ve said or shared for future reference.
  9. “We use the phrase ‘social media’ but they’re really communications services, not media properties,” said Bo Peabody, creator of Tripod (the web’s first social network that debuted in 1992). In actuality, we probably refer to the collection of these platforms this way because each of them serves as a medium through which we communicate. And the plural form of “medium” is…
  10. If you want to see some forward-thinking ways of employing social media, then study the fashion industry.
  11. FourSquare’s first major deal was with BravoTV. Tristan Walker, FourSquare’s former business development executive, said the network had great local content which the digital company used to get people “to get out and explore new things, based on shows like ‘Real Housewives’, which felt very much in line with the product but without a sales pitch.”
  12. To support relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake and the tsunami that struck Japan, social gaming titan Zynga created items within their games for players to buy and donated the proceeds to charity. “In the first 24 hours, we generated $1 million, and it got up to more than $3 million over a week or so,” said Zynga Executive Director Ken Weber. “We had people paying for items in the games, but we also had players who don’t ever pay for anything who got their credit cards out to do something good.”
  13. It’s officially uncool and generally frowned upon to refer to any video you create as viral, unless it truly does become, well, viral. “Rather than ideas propagating for generations, almost everything terminates within one degree of the seed,” said Microsoft Research’s Duncan Watts. “If you want something to spread, generate an enormous number of seeds.”

Share with us: Did you read Fast Company’s “The Social Media Road Map”? Was this truly a road map for you? What new information did you learn from this piece?

This post is the first in a series of five posts discussing ideas presented in Fast Company’s “The Social Media Roadmap” section (September 2012 issue).

Permalink to For Businesses, Social Media Means Nothing Without These 3 Things

For Businesses, Social Media Means Nothing Without These 3 Things

by Angie Sanders|on September 26, 2012 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |6 Comments

When I tell people about aiellejai and the services we provide, they’re often surprised to see me sitting in the audience at some social media panel discussion sessions. I like to attend these sessions to understand why people come, what they’re hoping to learn and to hear the questions asked. This helps us keep gauge the pulse of our market and develop products and services to best serve them.

I find that people who attend these sessions fall into three camps:

Do I need to set up a Facebook page?
These are the individuals or business owners who are new to social networking and how to use it to their advantages.

Why am I on Facebook or Twitter?
These are the people who are looking for strategy for participating in the social media space.

How do I measure success and how do I ensure results?
These are the people who are already maintaining social media presences in some sort of strategic way and are looking for ways to evaluate the success of their time and effort.

Most of the people I meet fall between camps two and three. But as they ask their questions and get good answers that still leave them scratching their heads, I suspect that these answers would be clearer to them if they had the following three elements in place:

A clear business model: Some of us business owners—especially those with service-based businesses—aren’t totally clear about the services we provide or the value of these services to our clients or customers. For example, aiellejai usually takes the standard, hourly-rate approach to our service offerings. We recently had to take an objective look at our business offerings, what services were most popular and how to create other products that will best serve the needs of our existing and future customers.

A laser-focused description of their ideal client or customer:  When I ask potential clients who their ideal client or customer is, they often say things like, “small businesses,” or “nonprofits.” It’s especially tricky to identify specific demographic information about your ideal client or customer if you run a business-to-business company. However, when you’re marketing your services, most likely there’s one type of person or one point of contact who you’re trying to attract. Work on identifying who that person is, what they look like, what their challenges are and any other information you can think of that will help you see your clients as individual people instead of whole companies. Visualizing your potential clients/customers this way will help you market to them specifically.

An overarching communications/marketing strategy: Some business owners are having a hard time wrapping their brains around social networking because they aren’t clear on how to reach their audiences outside of the social media space. Once you establish clear communications and marketing strategies and goals you’ll then be able to understand how to use social media engagement—along with other tactics—to reach these goals.

Share with us: How does your company’s communications/marketing strategy influence your social media engagement? How do you define and measure success?

 

 

Permalink to 4 Reasons Why You Can Trust a Consultant to be Productive

4 Reasons Why You Can Trust a Consultant to be Productive

by Angie Sanders|on September 17, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

In February 2010, a nor’easter dumped 2-3 feet of snow on the mid-Atlantic and crippled productivity for at least a week. In January 2011, an ice storm left thousands stranded on highways and roads in the Washington, DC area. They all left work early to avoid the impeding storm, but were caught right in the midst of it.

With each storm, the case for teleworking became that much stronger. However, it seems that employers are still slow to adopt this method of work.

The Harvard Business Review released the findings of a study supporting the idea that remote employees are more engaged than those who are in the office.  “The team members who were not in the same location with their leaders were more engaged and committed — and rated the same leader higher — than team members sitting right nearby,” said Scott Edinger, founder of Edinger Consulting Group.

Some employers reject employee requests to work from home, possibly because they believe these employees will somehow be more productive if they’re under the employer’s watchful eye. And even though these same employers may trust the advice of a consultant over their own employees, they still seem to reject the idea of working with a consultant. Perhaps they think she’ll inflate the working hours on her invoice.  Or, again, employers prefer to keep an eye on those who work for and with them. However, here are four reasons why that same consultant has every intention of completing projects on-time and to the best of her ability.

You’re not her only client. Time management is critical for a consultant, especially if she works on an hourly rate. All of her clients want what they want when they want it. And all their projects are urgent. Therefore, goof-off time is nonexistent.

She has less time to get to know you. You and the consultant have agreed on a project plan that dictates that the job will be completed in a finite amount of time. Unlike an employee, this consultant doesn’t get a 90-day trial period to get to know you and how you work. Instead, she probably only has a few billable hours. A good consultant is efficient enough to get the most out of these few hours to get her job done right.

Her reputation is on the line. And even if she had the wacky idea to goof-off on your project, not put her best foot forward, and exceed your expectations? What would that do to her business? What good would it serve her to jeopardize future work by performing shoddy work for you?

She’s a consultant because she works independently and doesn’t need constant supervision. Consultants excel at what they do because they’re able to multitask and identify problems and solutions quickly.  She wouldn’t do her job any better if you were there to look over her shoulder. Most likely, her performance would be worse. And that would be bad for her and you both.

Share with us: How does your company regard working with outside consultants? Consultants: do you sometimes have to work to overcome the misconceptions potential clients have about how you work?

Permalink to 4 Reasons Why Your Boss Listens to a Consultant Over You

4 Reasons Why Your Boss Listens to a Consultant Over You

by Angie Sanders|on September 10, 2012 |in Just good business, Social Media |tagged , , , , , |4 Comments

My Twitter feed presents me with a number of articles and blog posts that advise readers on how to sell upper management on social media. One post in particular, “9 Ways to Sell Social Media to the Boss” from Social Media Examiner, suggests that sometimes it’s necessary to bring in an outside consultant to make this case more effectively.

The post says “external consultants seem to have more convincing power and more credibility” than company employees that may be social media savvy as well. “…Enlist the services of an external source to help management understand that the conversations are happening with or without them and that they don’t have a choice but to join in.”

In my early days as a W-2 employee, I witnessed my bosses being swayed more by what a consultant had to say than what internal employees did. Now that I’m working on the other side, I understand the influence someone on the outside looking in may have. I don’t think this is a reflection on the capabilities of a company’s employees. Rather, it’s a perception issue. Here are a few things your boss may be thinking that would lead her to trust a consultant over you.

Your boss sees you every day. Because you sit in front of your boss every day, she may take you for granted. Or in her mind, you may not be in the right position on the organizational chart to persuade her. This is where the neutrality of a consultant is valuable. He has no position on the org chart and he’s not clouded by office politics or how things used to be or should be done.  He’s hired to solve a problem and he’s able to see this problem for what it is.

The consultant is seen as a subject matter expert. Social media is new to us all. Chances are, handling social media is a job function that was added to your plate after you’d been working for the company for a while. Although your boss has charged you with this new task, she still sees you in the capacity under which she hired you. The consultant, in this case, is seen as someone whose sole job is develop social media tactics for his clients to reach their goals.

The consultant is costing your employer more money per hour than you are. Salaries are line items built into the company’s overhead budget. However, companies pay for consultants out of department budgets—an expense that isn’t always foreseen during annual budget planning. The difference? For some reason, companies are much more aware of the amount of money that’s shelled out for the consultant than they are of your salary that’s paid out every two weeks like clockwork. And every meeting that consultant shows up to and every phone call that’s made to him is a reminder of that money. Bottom line: your employer is paying good money for him to deliver.

You’re not the only company the consultant is servicing. Consulting is how this person makes a living. He obviously has enough clients that believe in his abilities that he can rely on their fees and not a full-time job. Therefore, your boss sees him as valuable or sought-after. This also contributes to the belief that he’s a subject matter expert. If other people are paying for his services, then maybe we should, too.

Share with us: Have you ever felt the need to reach out to an outside consultant to help argue your point to your bosses? As a consultant, are there other reasons that company directors or other leaders take your advice over their own employees—even if both your ideas match?

Permalink to Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

Are You Really an Entrepreneur? Take this Test to Find Out.

by Angie Sanders|on August 8, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , , |Leave a comment

Shantel, my 16-year-old niece, asked me if I had a job. Why did she ask? Because she noticed that during her visits, I’m usually free to hang out with her on any given weekday.

First, I explained to her that with careful planning, I’m able to get my work done in advance so that I’m free to spend time with her. Then I explained to her that I don’t have a job. I run a company. I’m an entrepreneur. Her uncle—my husband—is too.

We pay life taxes to be able to hang out when family comes to visit, run errands during the middle of a weekday and not have to adhere strictly to the normal 9-5 hours. These life taxes include economic hills and valleys, unrelenting ambition and a willingness to work when everyone else is asleep.

In June, as part of their Startup Month, Forbes.com sponsored a questionnaire from Kauffman FastTrac to test entrepreneurial aptitude. Kauffman FastTrac helps aspiring and established entrepreneurs start and grow companies.

The test, which is by no means scientific, confirmed that I was an entrepreneur. I was pleased. Out of the 22 questions on the questionnaire, five stuck with me the most:

Q: I can prosper in an environment with many questions and few answers.
My Answer: Average
Even when I was a part of the 9-5 world, my career was filled with many questions and few answers. Being an entrepreneur is no different. Although I’m afforded more freedom to find answers to those questions my way, the stakes are a bit higher because I call the shots. I answered “average” because I sometimes get frustrated at first when I don’t have the answers. But I have to remember that it may take a while, but the answers are usually revealed in their own time.

Q: I can hang on in hard times and recover quickly.
My Answer: Needs improvement
This element is especially important, especially given the current economic climate. I answered “needs improvement” because I still work on managing my expectations and realizing what I have control over and what I don’t.

Q: I take responsibility for my own success.
My Answer: Strong
I come from a poor family and from a rural town. So whatever success was coming to me was going to be up to God and me. I’m a firm believer in “God helps those who help themselves,” and I try to do everything I can to help his plan for me along.

Q: I can do the tasks necessary to succeed, whether pleasant or unpleasant.
My Answer: Strong
While I was pregnant with my daughter, I embarked on a cold-calling campaign for aiellejai. I bought a list that didn’t have all the contact information I needed. I performed Google searches to update the entire list—more than 2,000 entries—and locate the communications and marketing staff I needed to reach.

Q: I provide for my own needs with little support from others.
My Answer: Strong     
Although I answered this question with “strong,” aiellejai reaches out to outside content creators and other vendors as our client needs dictate. My answer pertains to the day-to-day operations and client-facing activities.

Take the test and let me know how you fare. Are you an entrepreneur?

Permalink to Are Successful Entrepreneurs Just Born that Way?

Are Successful Entrepreneurs Just Born that Way?

by Angie Sanders|on June 20, 2012 |in Just good business |tagged , , , , , , , |3 Comments

Students in the Program for the Gifted and Talented sat in a row of desks on the right side of our fourth grade classroom. While the rest of us completed the standard schoolwork our teacher assigned, the PGT students worked on more challenging projects.

I’d always thought students were chosen for these programs based on test scores and natural ability. But after a conversation with the owner of a local learning center, I discovered that this isn’t always the case. She told me about a student who’d enrolled for help getting into his school’s gifted program.

“His sister’s in it, so his parents want him to be in it, too,” she said. “I think it’s just a way to give him that extra push he needs to challenge himself.”

This concept of a student’s natural versus learned ability got me thinking about an entrepreneur’s ability to excel in business. Are some people born with business savvy, or is this a trait that’s learned through education and experience? I turned to Black Enterprise Senior Vice President/Multimedia Editor-at-Large Alfred Edmond, Jr. {@AlfredEdmondJr} for the answers to my questions:

We usually hear people being described as having natural business acumen, like it’s a gift. Are these people born with certain traits that make them more successful in business than others?
Some people show more natural ability than others when it comes to business acumen and certain complimentary skills. However, that natural ability is a floor—not a ceiling—on that person’s potential in business. Other elements key to business success, arguably the most important ones, can be taught, including persistence, integrity, resilience, a willingness to work hard and the ability to focus on a specific passion or vision. This is why someone of less apparent natural business aptitude (for example, Oprah Winfrey), can outperform people with more obvious business savvy in the long run. It’s not your natural ability alone (your talents, gifts or the hand you’re dealt), but your time and energy investment (your efforts, focus and how you play your hand) that determines outcomes.

Can business savvy be taught? Why/why not?
Business acumen can be taught just like anything else, but not by everyone. It can be learned by everyone, but not taught by everyone. We all have the capacity to learn, even if we don’t always have the desire; we do not all have the capacity to teach. The latter requires a special kind of dedication, generosity and passion. Everyone wants to receive; far fewer are dedicated to imparting skills and knowledge to others on an ongoing basis.
The latter requires you to put self aside so that others will excel and ultimately exceed you. Most people just aren’t ready to do that.

What does it take for a person to become the next Jack Dorsey or Jay-Z?
Why would anyone want to become the next Jack Dorsey or Jay-Z? Trying to be the next anyone goes totally against the point of pursuing excellence, particularly in the fields of business and entrepreneurship. To excel requires an ability to learn from the examples of others and pursue lessons from your own experiences to bring something of unique value to the marketplace—whether it’s a good, service, idea or lifestyle. We each have that ability, regardless of our apparent natural aptitude in business.

Alfred Edmond Jr. is senior vice president/multimedia editor-at-large of Black Enterprise. He is a content leader, brand representative and expert resource for all media platforms under the Black Enterprise brand. Edmond is also responsible for helping to set and enforce quality standards for the editorial content of Black Enterprise‘s major franchises. Edmond appears regularly on television and nationally syndicated radio and is a highly sought-after public speaker and moderator.