Social Prospecting... and why it matters

Everyone around me is always searching for the ROI in social media and asking "How much are we making", " how much is that worth" and "what's the bottom line" while searching for answers online and in white papers. I've been searching for these answers as well, while developing my own perspective on social media ROI at the same time and haven't seen many come up with a good answer just yet.

My take on it is this - while there needs to be focus on the data and the metrics, companies like Facebook and Twitter need to be helping with that, or bigger companies can create some crazy amazing product that tracks everything for us... that's going to take time.

Until they figure that all out, everyone else needs to figure it out on their own, dig a little deeper into their own social media fans to discover who's a fan, who's a spammer, and who are you most loyal activities (who are most likely also spending the MOST money by far) and decide how you want to keep track of what this means to you.

Social prospecting is one of the best ways to do this. Keep track of your most loyal followers, those who scream your name from the rooftops and share every moment of their lives using your product or visiting your store with their followers, and go from there.

Social Prospecting from Katherine Gear

The Necessity of the Social Media Strategist

It seems like in the past year or two, many various industries have decided they all NEED social media strategists, community managers and an actual social media strategy. Virtually no industry has gone untouched by the hands of social media and it has been very interesting to see how not only various industries are responding to the new challenge, but specific companies, both big and small are, as well. 

Every industry also has several shining stars, the incredible examples of a few companies who REALLY get it, and do more than just tweet or post on Facebook. They create campaigns that link throughout many different channels and encourages participation and loyalty to the brand, not just the initial likes. Then there are those who are either so late to the game they just hired the first person who was up for the job or they decided to take it on themselves without looking into it. 

For the industries that deal with consumers on a daily basis, the most successful small and large companies in the social spaces not only try new things, styles or new channels but they also CONNECT with their fans and people talking about them on a one-to-one basis. This is where the gold is for those social media strategists. This is why more than a college intern needs to handle your twitter account. 

No matter how large or small, I think it's been proven many times over the fact that simply responding to people talking about your brand, whether they're complaining or complimenting you can really solidify their bond with your company, create a lasting impression and even convert a hater into a lifetime customer. 

What do you think? Have you seen a rise in social media strategists now that many brands have realized it takes more than one hour a week to really make something happen? 

Are Demographics Dead?

I don't know about you, but I find TED talks to be some of the most fascinating videos and ideas I've ever watched. I absolutely love browsing through their themes and speakers and watching a variety of speakers talk about their ideas for global change, ideas for new companies and everything else you can find in there. This weekend, I was browsing through anything social media related and Johanna Blakely's Social Media and the End of Gender video really caught my eye.

If you haven't had a chance to hear her talk, her basic idea is that not only is social media going to end the age/gender/etc demographics, but it's going to call for the rise of women's input in entertainment and commercials. She argues that because old media companies are starting to realize that age/race/gender demographics aren't extremely relevant, they're turning to monitoring customers on social media. Because of this, they're realizing it's much easier to discover what their customers are interested in than finding out their age and more information about them.

She argues that old media companies and advertisers need to start searching through taste communities and aggregate WHAT people like and talk about in order to better cater to their needs. She thinks that social media will have a huge impact on the way old media companies once created movies, commercials and TV shows.

In a way, I completely agree with her in that I think as more media companies and advertisers continue to flock to social media sites, once they understand WHO their customers are by monitoring their interests, likes and even blog posts, then they'll be able to better cater to their customers every need and customers will respond positively as well.

There's nothing like feeling respected and appreciated, and I think eventually that's what companies are going to do.  I don't know about you but I loathe most commercials, and maybe if more companies monitored what I liked, they would realize what I'm interested in, and I would start paying more attention to what they're trying to sell me. Once this "gender revolution/social media revolution" begins, it's going to help both companies and customers create long-lasting, respectful relationships.