Tag Archives: social media

December 15, 2014 · 1:53 pm

It Ain’t Me Babe

You might think from the title of today’s screed that I’m going to get into another Dylan rant. Nope. I’m just borrowing a song title from him because it was the first thing that popped into my head when I read something.

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(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I realize that research can be boring but here is the factoid that blew my mind: 40% of Facebook accounts and 20% of Twitter accounts claiming to represent a Fortune 100 brand are unauthorized. That comes out of a research report from the good folks at Nexgate. They analyzed the 32,000 social media accounts associated with the Fortune 100 between July 2013 and June 2014 to compile their State of Social Media Infrastructure, Part 2 report. The findings are disturbing, at least to me, and should be a warning to anyone in business who manages a social media account.

It found that the average firm had 320 accounts on various platforms, but that many were false. How exactly any company, even these very big ones, can keep up with 320 accounts is beyond me although I suppose you could convince me of the need for very granular Twitter accounts, for example, with which to do customer service. 2.29 accounts per firm indicated that they had probably been hijacked, while social spam on accounts grew a staggering 658% since mid-2013.  Links to porn, malicious software, and worse are rampant.  I suspect that using the excuse that “it wasn’t us; it was an evil person using our good name” isn’t going to cut it.

Obviously the first thing any smart business should do is to  create an inventory of legitimate accounts.  From that you find the other accounts and ask that they be taken down.  It’s also important not to just “set and forget” what’s going on within the real accounts.  People do manage to hack their way in and spammers have figured out ways to hijack threads.  In other words part of “listening” is hearing yourself as part of the conversation and taking action when your own voice seems inauthentic.

Make sense?

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October 21, 2014 · 12:39 pm

Whistling In The Dark

When we’re afraid of something but want to put on a brave face, we’re said to be whistling in the dark.  I suspect that many marketers are, or should be, doing exactly that.  It seems, you see, that the level of mistrust of what brands are putting out there is so high that a significant portion of online users trust a stranger’s opinion on public forums or blogs more than they trust branded advertisements.

source: images.jupiterimages.com

The Forrester folks found that nearly a third – 32% – of people feel that way.  One response, therefore, might be to consider a shift to content marketing.  As I’ve written before, since much of that sort of marketing is what one might term “sneaky” I think it compounds the mistrust situation.   Maybe the right answer is to find and engage brand advocates – someone who enjoys your product or service so much that they’re eager to tell others about it.  It’s not hard to find them – see who is engaging with the social content you’re putting out there for starters.  Maybe offer them a discount.  Maybe give them “insider” access or let them know what’s in the product pipeline.

Most of what you’re trying to do is to make them feel special because they are.  They are a trusted resource to their networks and what they say is more believable to many than what you have to say as a brand.  Of course that also means you can’t lie to them or mislead them.  The stakes become higher since they can tear you down just as quickly as they can help you grow.  Then again, since we’re always trying to be consumer-focused, open and honest in our marketing, this should not be an issue.

We can whistle in the dark and pretend all is well or we can think about improving what we’re doing every day without hanging on to legacy thinking.  Your call.

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October 15, 2014 · 8:27 am

Brand Actions And Words

I’ve mentioned in this space before that brands have a lot less – if any – control over how they are perceived by consumers due to the rise of connectivity among those very same consumers.  That contention is supported by some research from The Society For New Communications Research which conducted a study on the topic of Social Media and Societal Good.  Main conclusion?

The reputation of a company is no longer defined by what they “report” or what they “say” they stand for. Instead, they are increasingly defined by the shared opinions and experiences of socially-connected consumers.

You can read the study here.  It’s interesting although not particularly surprising.  While the vast majority of people still rank the quality of products and services are the most important reason behind how they form impressions about a brand, some other traditional factors are ranked way down the list in importance.  Only 43% say that a company’s ads are either mildly or very important in forming impressions while  76% cite family and friends that way.  While many brands are obsessive about their social media presence, only 28% of consumers use that to form impressions.  Interestingly, since 78% mention the customer care program as important, perhaps the social media emphasis needs to be more about caring and less about sharing.

So while word of mouth matters, so too does how a company behaves in the world as a whole.  We don’t yet seem to be at a place where consumers research a company’s social and societal impact before doing business.  However, when a company’s behavior comes to their attention – maybe through a news story, maybe through a friend – news of the negative societal impact of a company has impact and more so with women than with men:

When quality and price are largely equal in a purchase decision, nearly three in five people report a moderate to strong positive impact on likelihood to purchase when they discover information on the positive societal impact of a company. 61% report a moderate to strong negative impact on likelihood to purchase when hearing news on the negative societal impact of a company.

So let’s behave, people.  We are what we do, not what we say we are or will do.  Our customers are paying attention.  Are you?

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