8 tricky social media marketing questions from clients, answered by Dave Evans
By Palin Ningthoujam on Jun 26, 2009 in Online PR, PR2.0
I attended a social media workshop by Dave Evans of Digital Voodoo and author of Social Media Marketing, An Hour a Day, earlier this week at Delhi organised by 2020 Media, and I loved the way he talked the new marketing cycle with the emergence of the social media. Dave also talked about how organisations need to identify various touchpoints that define their products, brands, or service and analyse the performance of each touchpoint in the social media space, how important is each touchpoint, how consistent is their delivery, and how talk-worthy are each. I wanted to have a chat with him at the venue but given the number of people waiting to talk to him, I quickly exchanged cards with him, and requested his inputs on few questions I would later send.
I sent Dave eight tricky questions frequently asked by clients. His answers are below. (Thanks Dave for taking the time out of your busy schedule, I realise you have a workshop in Mumbai today)
Q1. I have an auto client who says their sales are going fantastic. And though there are auto forums and auto blogs talking negative and positive about the company, there hasn’t been much effect on sales. Why should they now venture into social media and perhaps stir up a hornet’s nest?
Positive and negative comments will always exist: they do not risk “creating” more negative comments simply by participating. Instead they are able to bring perhaps another dimension to the story (offsetting some of the negatives) and more importantly show that they are responsive to potential customers As far as auto sales go, attention to customers is on high on the list of consideration points.
Q2. Would a company officially venturing into forums and discussions actually tempt people to come up with negative comments coming from people with a new ‘let’s get them now’ attitude?
I don’t think it’s ever wise to stir up negative comments. Instead, a better approach is to participate in a neutral, informative way unless of course a strong opinion is actually expected in that blog.
Q3. There is a client who wants to hire a group of young people to open profiles on social networking sites, user review sites, and forums, to post and respond positively about the company. This sounds simpler to them than going out in the open. It is wrong but tempting. What’s your take?
It is wrong, and unfortunately all too common. Writing your own blog, and working with a fully disclosed, authorized agency that manages this process just as your communications agency might is the better way to go. Paying someone to purposefully sway a conversation is disrespectful to your readers, and eventually you will get get caught. Then, you have a big problem.
Q4. How can pharmaceutical companies start to engage with social media, given that so far most of them have chosen to stay away from it because of regulatory issues?
This is a complex issue: as it has to do with claims made around efficacy. A reasonable approach is to let the CEO or someone similar blog about industry and consumer issues, thereby establishing a presence, while avoiding blogs for now that deal directly with the use of specific products.
Q5. Who should manage social media in an organisation? Corporate communications or marketing? What are your takes from your US experience?
Generally one of these two–communications or marketing–is tapped initially as this is the natural starting point. However, management social media–because it involves multiple stakeholders within the firm, almost always ends up as a cross-functional program, managed by someone from marketing, communications, operations, or executive management. Any of these are good choices.
Q6. There seems to be a lot of competition brewing up in the social media marketing space with ad agencies, PR agencies, traditional web marketing agencies, specialised social media marketing agencies, and bloggers. How do you see this settling down?
These business partners are all part of it, for sure. I see more firms joining the fray, not less, as the operations and business consulting firms get involved as well. Social media is complex, and goes beyond any one of these.
Q7. What are the best digital marketing activities that organisations are using globally? Is it outreach with social media participants and bloggers, building communities on networks, applications development, contests & virals, SEO, SMO, microsites, or anything else?
It is all of these, put into practice in accordance with business objectives and audience characteristics. By understanding these two, you can pick from the channels available and develop the most effective mix.
Q8. Corporate blogging is one of the most used social media approaches. One question corporates ask is that when there are so many blog failures, would ours be any different? How can we make ours stick out?
A blog does not have to be different to be successful — it is not an “us or them” game. Becasue readers subscribe via feeds to multiple blogs, they do not have to choose “yours” over :theirs.” Instead, your blog must simply be relevant: That it is what will get it read, and what wil build your subscriber base.
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On Jun 26, 2009, Puneet Taneja said:
Thanks Palin for the insight. I think a lot of the above make up for practical situations which we face on a day to day basis.
The only question whihc remains in my mind still is the fact that is it ethical to hire people/org to post positive/negative comments for a corporate?
On Jun 26, 2009, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Thanks Puneet, doesn’t your question gets answered in Q3 above? or do you mean something else?
On Jun 26, 2009, bhawna said:
good insight, but, was expecting some elaborate responses.
On Jun 29, 2009, jacelin said:
Superb!It is really an informative and useful one.
On Jun 30, 2009, Michael said:
Marketing is a tough project to do for anyone.
But sites like http://invetrics.com can help you with the financial markets if you are interested.
On Jul 2, 2009, quick quid said:
Good read and strong and practical advice on social media management.
On Jul 3, 2009, Ankur Vyas said:
This was a really thoughtful and insightful article on SEO. Check out http://www.scribd.com/doc/8500800/Royal-December-January-Issue-. Thank you.
On Jul 9, 2009, Keyword Service said:
Hey Palin that was a really good interview you gave with Dave Evans, I know my from own experience, that I got alot out of this interview!
-Kevin
On Jul 11, 2009, woody said:
There different ways Social Media Marketing can be done. One such method is using channels like web comments in right forums. This channel can be quite effective. For Eg, Advertisers can use tools like commentino whose writers can promote business in right forums keeping intact the forums objective and makes forum participants aware of more product choices. For commentino details follow link
http://snipr.com/mf6jo
On Aug 14, 2009, rahul said:
can u help mi socail mrkting
On Aug 20, 2009, classroom222 said:
nice………………..
On Sep 3, 2009, Shivalika Raj said:
Sir,
I am impressed with the answers given by David Evans to your questions. I think these questions should be put as FAQs. Even i was under going these very dilemmas for a company’s website. Thank you so much for clearing this cloud. I now know what exactly I have to do….:)
On Sep 4, 2009, classroom said:
gud
On Sep 7, 2009, indyaz said:
Really good article as mention 2020 media.. nice
On Oct 31, 2009, Mantra said:
Sir
i am new to journalism,
how to write a news story
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