6 social media resolutions for 2011
Fine-tune Karma for businesses: one of my key phrases about successful social media is “Everything you need to know about social media you learned in Kindergarten”, and what I really talking about is using social media in a way that means you help others. While you see many personal brands doing this, few corporate accounts are really doing this. For example, you often see corporate accounts/brands with thousands of followers, who follow only a few people. Some view this as a status symbol – I view it as a missed opportunity and also poor Karma. First of all, listening is more than just watching for key words, if you really want to get to know your customers or clients, listen to what they are talking about when they AREN’T talking about your brand. Its the most amazing corporate research a company can do – and yet, so few embrace this idea. But its more than that – if the only thing you deliver through your corporate social networking accounts are discounts and promos, are those people really your brand advocates or are they opportunists? This year, in 2011, I vow to really hammer home delivering value to followers in social media…even when its (gasp) altruistic of the company to do so.
Beyond Follower Numbers: I have to credit another blogger, David Armano for really making me think about this. Focusing on helping others build social media programs that have serious growth potential is going to be my goal for my customers in 2011. I want to help them find ways to create campaigns and programs that put the power back to the people – their customers – and give the customers the voice they crave while at the same time allowing them to build on their personal interaction in social media. Building more programs that are scalable only makes sense and takes social media to the next level; that’s where I want my customers to be in 2011: growing.
Tell the story better: I started getting into social media because I love the stories of people, of companies, of the collective “us”. I write stories on my “other” blog, but this year, I vow to bring my passion for writing stories to this blog and the other projects that I work on. In some cases this year, with a focus on delivering ROI, I admit, I sometimes lost the story. No more. I vow to develop the story of a company from day one, I vow to demand that my clients participate in the conversation and vow that the story we tell will be interesting and exciting…even if my client is selling trash bags.
Write more: Part of my commitment to this blog to “share what I know”. Over the last year, several people have told me that after reading my blog, they have been inspired to start a social media program. Talk about satisfying. That’s why I write this blog. My sometimes, I don’t write as often as I like, I try to write at least 1X a week and its usually closer to 3X a month, so next year, my goal will be to follow my own advice and create a more structured editorial calendar to write 2X a week with the goal of getting twice as many into social media.
Social media is the farm, not the silo: if you read this blog regularly, you’ve heard this mantra too – but STILL, lots of companies aren’t integrating social media the way that they could with their PR and marketing, customer service and sales. As part of the “scalable” program, I’m going to really develop programs with my clients that help them integrate the power of social media into all their divisions, regardless of their objectives. Who wants to help me create an infographic on this?
Show more personality in social media:Â I envy those who grew up in social media and think nothing of sharing their deepest darkest thoughts in the social media sphere. I guess I am still a little old-school and I typically present a “face” that is purely professional, even in social media. But, that doesn’t show much personality, and you know what I’ve got in spades? Yep, you guessed, it personality. I’ve even been called “a piece of work” and I’m proud of it. I don’t share enough of my personality in social media – that’s going to stop. You’ll start to see more of “me” – don’t be afraid, it won’t hurt – in my social media conversations.
