Calls to Action. Subtle ones, tasteful ones, and the other ones.

Maybe it's a personality thing, maybe it's a universal mindset (doubt it), but the last thing I want is to appear pushy and overbearing when asking a customer to do something.  

In the biz (yes I said it), it's the call to action. In social media, it's a dangerous game. If there's an obvious sell, then the community runs for cover. In my own experience, and in viewing other firms' pages, engagement drops significantly when there's an obvious product placement or solicitation for a )

purchase. (In fact, Facebook has guidelines against obvious sales for Cover Photos, among other things.)

Heidi Cohen from Social Media Examiner breaks down effective calls to action like this:

1. Know what you want them to do.

2. Create a great hook.

3. Motivate toward action.

4. Optimize your C2A

5. Lots of Landing pages

6. Test, test test (to see what's working)

7. Measure

I agree with it.  I think it's really helpful.  I also think it's incredibly easy to seem like I'm begging for a response of any sort.  Enter Seth Godin's blog post on April 23, "You don't have to pander."  Now, he is the opposite of pandering.  Seth doesn't allow comments on his blogs. He doesn't need or want them.  And, in my opinion, he's not selling something...

[This is me searching for a clipart lightbulb]

...but he IS selling something.  Himself, his books, his speaking engagements. But he wins because:

1. Seth knows his audience.

-Trust me, every blogger thinks it's so cool and brave and boss that he doesn't do comments.  

2. Seth tells a story.  

-Not about his books or brand.  He just tells stories by writing like he would talk.

3. Seth is consistent. 

-He blogs every.single.day.

4. Seth's content is really, really good.

It's that last one that really gets it for me. It kind of takes the Apple mindset (back when everyone still loved Apple) in that you are left searching for ways to interact and buy from them.  Their stuff just seemed that good.  Their website was clear and didn't have prices and sales and tricks all over it (looking at you, Best Buy.)

So are we leading with content?  And are we leading with the content that people are expecting?  If people go to your site to buy insurance, don't make it hard to buy insurance.  You need to be intentional and make sure everything is on purpose, that what your prospect ends up doing is what you wanted them to do. Be intentional, be consistent, be transparent, and provide the absolute best content that fits your audience.

Simple concept, profound implications

The more reason you give someone to do something, the more they will do it.

The easier you make it for someone to do something, the more they will do it.

White noise and ROI

Welcome to the blog.  Full disclosure to anyone else who might stumble upon The Passman: I'm finishing up my MBA, and this blog's genesis was basically a class requirement for Social Media Marketing.

I don't want to create a rubbish blog, though, so I might as well write about things that intrigue me about the online communities in which we interact and maneuver.

As a marketing guy, I have had the privilege of diving into the social networking world, particularly on the nonprofit side.

Here's what bosses love about social media:

1. It's cheap.  

In fact, a lot of the stuff you can do is free. But even paid advertising on Facebook or with Google is significantly cheaper than, say, a television ad.

2. It's quick. 

Social networks give firms a flexibility and nimbleness that many wouldn't have otherwise. Anything from special offers to responses to national tragedies is on the table with social networking.

3. Its reach is instantly global.

The fact that a single post or ad can instantly go out to anyone on the planet makes it (hopefully) a very efficient and economical tool.

4. It's relational.

For companies that understand this, the potential is limitless. Most firms feel about as personable and relatable as Mitt Romney on the campaign trail. Social media provides an additional touch point to not only talk to customers and partners, but also to listen.

5. It's sharable.
Nothing makes a CFO smile at the Marketing department like hearing about free advertising.  If your customers can become your cheerleaders, then you have the power of the word of mouth advertising. Corporation meets grassroots.

Here's what bosses don't love about social media:

1. It's hard to monetize effectively (accurately?).

Hopefully this is something that will get figured out in the next few weeks of my course.  While PTAT and engagement (and overall exposure) is great on Facebook, the relationship to ROI is not linear or direct, and it's hard to pinpoint the value of social media.  Blogs can do it if done well and tracked, but many firms go to Facebook before starting a company blog. Which brings me to my next one:

2. How much time is this supposed to take?

Obviously, this flies in the face of the whole "It's cheap" point I made above.  Because when you calculate time and effort, it's pretty expensive. This is a loaded topic that I'll go into in another post, but people can really tell the difference between firms that do this well and firms that said, "Well, we should probably have a Pinterest account, right?" Because of the lower-budget nature of social media marketing for most firms, and the difficulty in monetizing its effectiveness, it's hard to justify a salaried social media position if your company is not huge.

So, social marketing often falls to either the VP or Director, who already has no spare time, or a low-level employee (intern) who shouldn't really be trusted as a front door to the entire online population.  Mistakes are a lot more visible and dangerous, because they have a tendency to go viral.

There are more things I could go into, but my main questions moving forward:

ROI
What's the best and most accurate way to measure ROI?  It seems like every solution is some new software, but I don't know how they're measuring it, other than applying traditional advertising calculations and tweaking a couple of things.

Differentiation vs. White Noise
Because it's so instant and global, there's an absolute deluge of content and competition out there, no matter what industry you're in.

Think about it: Joe, a microbrewer from West Virginia technically has the access to the same channels as Budweiser. This presents unique opportunities for expansion for Moonshine Joe, but it also presents the challenge of effective differentiation for both firms.

Simply managing an account or paying for ads is not enough in the social networking sector anymore.  Everyone is there. Marketing efforts in social media can quickly go the way of direct mail (or email), where most of it is ignored and resented.

So, I think there's a lot that can happen, and I don't think social media is going anywhere for a bit. In many ways, I think the digital age has moved marketing to the forefront of many businesses' strategies, and rightfully so.  Particularly in the online world, a customer or client is asked to make a choice (buy, subscribe, or find out more) without actually having anything to hold in his hands.  It's up to the marketers to know their targets and their strategies, and be able to maneuver with the quickly changing environment of social media marketing.