Getting more from what you give

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY READER

Food for thought gathered from around the web and served fresh to you.

Food for thought gathered from around the web and served fresh to you. This week: How to build a better social media following, what makes content to boost your credibility, why the yellow pages aren’t dead yet, and a look back at Super Bowl ad winners and losers.

Your following equals your giving

Brand marketers want consumers to follow them to build buzz and engagement, but social media users often desire something in return. What they’ve come to expect is a good deal, but many consumers—including the most active users of social sites—are also interested in deeper engagement.

A truth more powerful than your own

“Consumers create content for two reasons: 1. the company failed to adequately answer the questions they have and/or 2. they’re excited (positively or negatively) about the company’s offering,” says Bryan Eisenberg. That’s why consumers are more credible than the company. It is only because companies have spent so many years hyping up their “value” that the consumer B.S. meter has gone into overdrive, and we count on advice from others like us that we can trust.

Rules for ideas worth spreading

Here’s a bonus gem: Seth Godin’s random rules for ideas worth spreading. My personal favorite: “Are you a serial idea-starting person? If so, what can you change to end that cycle? The goal is to be an idea-shipping person.” Which are you?

Tradition teetering on irrelevance?

Every year, a new telephone book, usually weighing a few pounds, lands with a thud on my front steps. While it’s estimated to consume millions of trees a year to produce, the question is: who uses it? Since most Americans now carry mobile phones, do we still need printed phone directories?

How many winners will play Super Sunday?

It’s not just the most-watched television event of the year; it’s also the one day when people actually sit down in front of the TV specifically to watch the commercials. The pressure to be among the best — or most noticed — has led to some of the biggest fumbles in advertising history. Thanks to the Internet, such embarrassments no longer fade away after the final touchdown.

Are you running for cover or running to win?

Two salesmen are sent to a newly discovered tropic island to sell shoes to natives. The first one writes back, “situation hopeless: no one wears shoes.” The second one writes, “Amazing opportunity: everyone needs shoes.”

It’s an old joke, but it illustrates the different view two companies take of yet-to-be defined land of social media. Which comes closer to reflecting your online engagement?

Clorox: call the attorneys

According to AdAge Magazine, Clorox has “taken the unusual step of advertising for a full-time in-house legal counsel to focus on social media — a rather surprising sign of how entrenched social-media marketing is becoming even for relatively established household products.”

It turns out that a survey of entries on Twitter and Facebook regarding Clorox are for off-label purposes. The possibility of such an entry causing harm and being traced back to a company employee was all it took for Clorox to prepare for the worst. There’s also the unthinkable risk of someone advancing their own interests with the unauthorized use of Clorox.

The company recently ramped up their social media efforts with creation of the Understanding Bleach blog. It’s squeaky-clean (no pun intended) and hobbled by ad-speak and self-serving video. There’s nothing warm or human here–unless you find it amazing to learn what can be cleaned with “Clorox® Regular Bleach.”

P&G: put the best Facebook forward

That same issue of AdAge carries a story about Proctor & Gamble’s opening of an office in California’s Silicon Valley to better leverage social media–especially Facebook. The company’s goal to reach 5 billion social media consumers worldwide makes Facebook the obvious step.

“P&G sees the value of digital and social media in consumers’ lives and we want to connect with consumers in the environments where they are spending their time,” a P&G spokesperson told the magazine.

While Twitter allows what the company sees as a one-to-many vehicle more akin to television, they see Facebook as a relationship deepener. For example, Tide is offering vintage shirts for sale on their Facebook page with proceeds going to their Loads of Hope benefit for Haiti relief. The brand is plugged into what matters to their customers, allowing them to make a difference.

Clorox, meanwhile, is a sea of “we-we” that sees the world through a lens of how their product can be used. Even as flu season abates, Clorox continues running a flu-prevention promotion that offers an in-school appearance by an American Idol finalist.

Posture drives headcount

P&G’s Tide brand alone has 310,263 Facebook fans. Meanwhile, Clorox has 69,792 fans for it’s three listings combined. The point is larger than Facebook fan counts; there is a fundamental difference in the approach used by each of the companies and it shapes the relationship being built with their customers. One sees natives in need of shoes while the other is taking precautions against getting kicked. Which approach is reflected in your advertising posture?

Clueless is as clueless does

Tell me you haven’t found yourself at one end or the other of an exchange like this. I’m experiencing it with a company I’ve known for years. It’s a case of how a business’ effort to engage in dialog can be worse than not engaging at all.

Talking too much? Or, saying too little?

“People listen when you have something to say. But, they’ll tune out when you talk too much.” Sage advice for living delivered to me by Stu Roberts, program director at WCFR, Springfield, VT where I worked at in my 20′s. Today his advice has become a life-or-death directive for your advertising.

It’s not about being interesting. You have to be more interesting than what’s going on in your customer’s head already. And, nothing sells like self-interest–your customer’s self-interest.

Here’s an example: At least twice a week (often more) I see Facebook posts by a company I know well. I could care less: every freakin’ post exists to promote a sale item at the store. No tips on using the product. No customers experiences stories. No human element. Come see. Come buy. It’s all shill all the time.

The topper: a post on Christmas eve promoting a sale price on an office product that day only till 3pm–a great deal for Ebenezer Scrooge, maybe.

A double-dipped waste of time

Next to forwarded “send this to ten friends or bad things will happen” emails, nothing irritates me like a self-serving Facebook/Linkedin/Twitter post. The business wastes time sending it. I waste time seeing it. They don’t connect. I don’t come buy. A relationship fades.

No post would be better than an all-about-us post. Same goes for blogging: you do it to create a dialog. You write, they read. They respond, you respond. How meaningfully you respond determines growing life or lingering death for the relationship.

Sit on the other side of the table

I own a fancy schmancy Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. It records what I write and transfers it to my computer. Love it. Think everyone should get one. Just like that other company, I get emails and Facebook posts from them too. Difference is, Livescribe provides updates on new feature upgrades and examples of more effective use of the pen–and only an occasional sale message.

They’ve invested in me: helping me get more out of my purchase. I’ve invested in them: probably selling a dozen of these things when clients see how I use it. That’s a solid social media relationship.

Extend the dialog in your advertising

Apple caught social media whispers about iPod Nano users tuning out of their iPod in favor of the radio. While controlling their music experience was important, core iPod customers were seeking out new music by listening to the radio. So, Apple put an FM radio in the latest iPod Nano.

Social media flagged the interest. Apple tested it, produced the product, advertised it. The dialog circle was complete. Nano sales are up.

Intelligence unused is stupid

Advertising’s two-way dialog means your advertising will work better when you provide for customer interaction. Whether it’s emails, blogging, or a survey, give your customers a way to interact with you beyond the basic buying decision. Then, listen. Address concerns. Apply what you learn.

Customers want to help you improve the buying experience–if you’re willing to listen and respond. Information becomes intelligence only when you apply it.

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