Social Media Audits and Strategy

So like buying a home is all about the location locations location so it is with marketing and advertising.  Strategy Strategy Strategy! Sure you have a message, sure you want to connect with your consumer but why?  First the WHY then the how will reveal itself.  Or you'll have to figure it out and we are glad to lend a hand.  Strategy is so important in any medium-- marketers know this but they tend to forget it when it comes to social media.  You would never spend TV money with out a strategy but you might then why do it with the Social Media?

Remember Facebook -- not a strategy. Twitter -- not a Strategy. Foursquare -- not a strategy. Gowalla is way more of a game and not strategy. But what these things are is tools.  And they are only as effective as your strategy and the workman swinging the hammer.  So to speak.
"What kind of relationship do you want to have with your customers?"   To quote Jay Baer on this video. What do you want to accomplish?  Remember, be of help to your consumers, don't be the Amway salesmen dude.  We all hate him. lol

One of the things I’ve been involved in recently is a Social Media Audits.  We do some research to discover who is talking about you and where they are talking about you?  Where is the right place to engage your customer and what are they saying about you today and during the last 30 days or so.  You need to know this before you dive into the very necessary strategy development.

But remember Social Media is only a part of your marketing plane.  Interactive reaches your consumer where they play and shop and TV and Radio might be right for your marketing plan too.  But above all you have to continue to be interesting to entertain or to assist or you will never reach your consumer in any medium.  They will ignore you and you will be sad.  lol

Enjoy the interview with Jay on Social Media.

Jay Baer Interview from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo.

Change perception, change your brand.

Here is a great little speech by an Ad Guy (Rory Sutherland), who makes the case for perception change over real change.  In advertising that is what we do.  We don't reinvent the product, we don't do the R&D, we rely on the companies to do the real product heavy lifting.  We are happy to do the whole change perception thing. Call it candy coating or a spoon full of sugar or what ever but it is just words, music mixed with (on good days) ideas that can change perception of a brand. 

So marketers and CEO's and CMO's  taking care of how your brand is seen and perceived is the expertise of the ad guy.  Making a product that is worth changing perceptions for, is yours.

It makes what we ad guys do seem a little shallow but it is what we do. We help clients change or perpetuate perceptions.   It's branding. If your brand is a energy drink, a car or a 15 year old boy who needs a date to prom.  It's all the same.  Affect the perception of your brand and the consumer (or 15 year old girls) will follow.  

Ad value with out changing the product?  The Shreddies "case study" in the video below is gut busting.   (TED now has an iphone app you can get to see all of your favorite videos.) 

Mr. Sutherland is right "poetry is when you make new things familiar and familiar things new."   that is what we do, or at least try to do again on good days :)

So take a Listen and get ready to smile then figure out how right  Mr. Sutherland is.