The Spirit of Engagement

Social Media & Common Sense

Some things in life happen through the right attitude or frame of mind.  Remember when Jack Skelington used equations to analyze and figure out the Christmas spirit in Nightmare Before Christmas? Pretty silly isn’t it? Check out 9:30 in the video clip below

Likewise, analysis can only get you so far when it comes to social media. Many people really miss the point when it comes to engaging online audiences. It has become needlessly complicated.

Getting people to talk about your brand does not result from sheer technical prowess. And nor should it happen automatically just because you’ve built an awesome site.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who seem to believe this.  It’s not that they are foolish.  There is a lot of pressure when money and projects are at stake.

The Business of Online Marketing

Professionals in social media need metrics. Numbers provide a way to forecast outcomes.  They offer a sense of security, although there are many instances when relying too much on quantitative data can be detrimental to innovation.

Business is a serious indeed.  But it doesn’t need to be that serious, especially if it makes brands less appealing to audiences. Formalities shouldn’t result in rigid overly conventional practices. If they prevent “outside the box” thinking, it’s time to restructure outmoded & ridiculously linear ways of doing things.

Providing Experiences

Engaging your audience is about capturing their interest. And just as you can’t come up with a formula for capturing the Christmas spirit, you can’t come up with a formula for online engagement.

Yes you can look at behavioral data to see what types of content get the highest numbers. But anyone can do this. But if you don’t care about the quality of your selection, then no one else will either.

Behavioral data can be used as a general gage to see what your audience is interested in. Take this information and add your own personal touch. Then honestly ask yourself if this is interesting to you. And ask others for help as much as you can for their feedback.

If this sounds fluffy, think again. Social media is about sharing and being social.

With methodology aside, the spirit behind online engagement is about providing fresh and exciting experiences to audiences. All of us are inspired to share and talk about web content that is striking to us in some fashion.

So why not provide the same quality to your own content? Why not become focused on providing great experiences for people who come to your site? Either find a way to do it yourself, or get someone to do this for you.

Sound Advice

If you haven’t noticed, I love to quote Jack Trout. I think a few Troutisms  are relevant here.

* Common sense is your guide
* Research can obscure the obvious. A flood of data should never be allowed to wash away your common sense and your own feeling for the market
* When presented with a simple obvious strategy, many clients are not impressed. They are often looking for some clever, not so obvious idea.

Especially with the economy as it is, now is the time to really consider the importance of creating balanced right brain/left brain strategies.  There really isn’t a formula for tuning into your core audience.  But we all have it in us to connect with each other.  Tapping into this should not be underestimated.

In Search of the Obvious, Words to Live By

In Search of the Obvious by Jack Trout is an eye opening read for anyone in the marketing field. It clarifies the cloudy thinking that many people fall prey to when it comes to marketing goods & services.

I’ve listed my favorite quotes to share with you.

• The search for any marketing strategy is the search for the obvious.
• When presented with a simple obvious strategy, most clients are not impressed. They are often looking for some clever, not so obvious idea.
• Common sense is your guide
• Research can obscure the obvious. A flood of data should never be allowed to wash away your common sense and your own feeling for the market
• Success or failure is all about perceptual problems and opportunities in the market. And it’s all about understanding that the perceptions in the mind of the customer are where you win or lose.
• Customer awareness of a brand does not link to real customer behavior.
• Research may promise to reveal attitudes, but attitudes aren’t a reliable prediction of behavior. People often talk one way but act another.
• How many people really want to chatter about products? Do you really want to talk about your toothpaste or toilet paper? Even people with prestige products tend not to talk about them. All they really want is to be seen driving in one.
• How do you get people to say the right thing or talk about your obvious idea? There’s no way to control word of mouth.
• All these new ways to reach customers are just new tools. You still have to search for the obvious right product, the right strategy and the right differentiating idea in relation to your competition.
• Reaching customers is one thing. Selling them is another.
• All advertising and marketing have to do is supply the obvious reason to buy your product instead of your competitor’s product.
• If you build a differentiated product, the world will not automatically beat a path to your door…news of your product has to have some help along the way.
• Every aspect of your communications should reflect your difference- your advertising, your brochures, your web site, your sales presentations.
• The basic role of an agency is to take that difference [differentiating factor] and make it interesting.
• Branding is all about what makes you different and what the benefit is in that difference.
• On GM versus Toyota: A successful brand has to stand for something. The more variations you attach to it, the more you risk of standing for nothing.

These are the quotes I pretty much live by in my professional life. You’ll probably be seeing them throughout my posts. Not that I am trying to sell copies of this book or anything. But I believe that when you encounter good advice, it’s important to connect the dots to other contexts, including projects and challenges that you are currently facing.

We tend to get quite distracted by fancy terms, new technology and prestigious facades that it becomes very easy to lose sight of the obvious objectives in marketing.

I do have a lot to say on this, but I will write about it all in subsequent posts. For now, I am just happy that someone is helping to clarify fundamental basic truths that marketing professionals and business managers should keep in mind at all times.

If you have this strong, burning impulse to get this book, here is the cover.