The Engaging Brand

Why Social Business will be bigger than Social Marketing

This is no longer about adding social to business, this is about adding business to social!

Business is changing and changing fast. I genuinely don't think that we have grasped how the social media will move from a radical shift in marketing techniques to a radical shift in business models.

Up to now the social has been in essence about breaking down the walls between the marketplace and the business. It has been mainly about communication and if you like social marketing or digital marketing, whichever phrase you prefer!

But for me that is the tip of the iceberg.

Social business is not about CSR or about society and business coming together....

Social business will be about the merging of the consumer with the producer...the merging of the service provider and the buyer.....just think of what is happening

1. The customer is merging with research and development....such as Dell's Ideastorm
2. The customer is merging with legal departments through for instance crowdsourcing the detection of breaching patents
3. The customer is merging with customer service to answer issues and problems in forums etc
4. The customer will soon be able to produce the item themselves through 3D printing - listen to The Engaging Brand podcast in Creating the future of the past

This is no longer about adding social to business, this is about merging and rethinking business models.

Are you thinking about adding social to business, or more importantly adding business to social?

Is there an online risk to social marketing?

Business risk is a given and actually value is created through that risk so you would never not want no risk!

The definition of truth and the definition of business risk are closely linked for me....and that is why I believe social media has a huge part to play in creating the truth and managing the business risk.

Why?

The truth I have always believed is subjective, based on what you know and what you want to see!

The customer service truth as a lies somewhere between what the consumer expects to happen and what actually happens.

The business risk lies between what I say will happen and what in reality happens.

Therefore the truth will always have a risk of error and the risk will always have an error of truth!

But social marketing techniques can help reduce that risk, I often talk to clients who are afraid of online risk...I argue it is the other way round...

If a customer service truth has a risk of error, then

• Why not use social media to either enhance the experience or repair the experience? 
• Why not use social media as a channel to address gaps between expectations and reality? 
• Why not use social media to create the human side of the brand...we accept mistakes from humans much more readily than websites!
• Why not reduce the risk by having a mechanism to hear about the expectation gap, rather than being oblivious to what people are saying about you?

Risk can never be (or should be!) negated but social media for business is a risk management tool as much as a value added opportunity.

How to Use Social Media

Social media is the shiny new tool. Social media for business and marketing in particular is now moving from why to how.....but we mustn't let the how be the starting point....it must remain why...for your business.

The main question I help businesses with...is How to use social media and for me often the social media tools can be a distraction.

The reason? Because social media management is often how to use a tool, rather than how the tool can help achieve the business strategy. 

There are 5 steps which I take businessese through before deciding if social media marketing or indeed social media for any part of their business is right for them

1. Understand what is the company strategy and the key metrics for the next 12 months - you would be amazed at how many don't truly know these!
2. Understand how that strategy is broken down into the functions - again often not known. The best social media training?.....Exploring and listening!
3. Gain an understanding of why social media works, an overview of the tools and how marketing and technology can be brought together for bottom line growth.
4. THEN decide if digital marketing is for you...and if so which tool (or tools) are best to deliver the strategic goals.
5. Measure, revise, measure, revise, etc But not in relation to general social media measurement...in relation to your company strategy and business metrics.

The question for you...is did or are you starting with the tools and creating a strategy?

Or are you critically.....Understanding your business strategy and choosing the tools?

Show 374 - Why Your Business Hides a Myth

This weeks The Engaging Brand podcast is ready! - The free audio podcast for business covering social media, managment and marketing.sponsored today by MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup - for special offer try today!

Bob Frisch joins Anna Farmery to discuss his different approach to business decision making, from Who's in the Room

• How the organisation chart hides a myth.
• Why the size of the business doesn't matter with decision making 
• Is a small team for decision making good or bad for the organisations?
• The need for decision making models 
• The true meeting management that works
• The management skill of knowing who to listen to, before group decision making
• Motivation of employees through understanding the decision making process

If you have feedback for me on the show or topics that you would like me to cover then e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com or join me on twitter, leave a message at The Engaging Brand Fan Page or join me on to discuss it on Google+

Don't forget to try Mozy Pro backup and keep your data safe!

How you can listen to The Engaging Brand

1) You can listen on your PC now without downloading any software just click hear to listen to the latest marketing podcast

2) You can subscribe to the show via iTunes or

3) If you use a different podcatcher then you can subscribe using the following RSS Feed

Why Your Comfort Zone is in a Customer's Heart

It was Jeff Koons who once said

"What people want to do the most, they fear the most"

No doubt we can all relate to that feeling. The strange thing as people, is that we can recognise that feeling on a personal level and yet when we work in a business, we can often ignore what holds us back.

For some it will be the fear of failure.

For some it will be the fear of success.

But all the time we are working on 'comfortable' things, all the time we ignore what is holding us back....then in reality we are we are not standing still but going backward compared to the competition.

The only comfort zone that we need to find....is the one for the customer, the one that makes the customer feel warm and loved!

Find you comfort zone not away from your fears....but inside the heart of customers!

4 Questions For Any Business To Ask

We start a business on the back of a dream, on the back of a desire to create something - whether a service or a product, we are always creating a brand.

After a while we can get submerged by tax returns, by process problems, by IT issues...so much so that we can forget what it is that we were wanting to achieve...so

At the start and the end of the week, ask yourself these 4 questions to remain on track for your dream

1. Why do customers need what we do?
2. What is it that we do?
3. How it works better than what others do?
4. How can we continue to surprise people this week? 

Do you think about your edges?

We all must ensure that our core offering is ...well, spot on!

Yesterday, I mused about The Art of Perfection but this is the baseline for any business...today, now, in this very moment.

However, great companies are really good at redesigning their core. 

How?

1. By identifying what the edges of your industry are doing....eg downloading music
2. By not ignoring them as niche but looking at what needs they are fulfilling .....single tracks not albums
3. By identifying which of these niche areas has a 'commercability' factor....create iTunes
4. By whilst protecting todays core......evolving the core over time to those niche edges which will become your new core tomorrow. From macs to ipods to ipad....etc

Evolution is about creating a revolution without people realising it!

Too many times we are looking for the next revolution, only to realise that it happened when we weren't looking.....

How often do you ignore ideas as fads, ideas as too niche, ideas as silly.....what if you took those ideas and used them as a funnel for your own motivation?

Why give people a couple of hours to go and seek out those edges and tell you which makes sense to think about.....?

 

The Art of Balancing Perfection

Business is a balance between the search of perfection and the desire to put ideas out there so they can evolve over time.

Many people put off releasing ideas because they are not perfect.

Others rush to get ideas out there without that attention to detail.

Its a balance...a fine one. 

But this may help....

The aspects that fit your values, what your brand stands for...no compromise from perfection.

Show 373 - Hiring for Attitude

This weeks The Engaging Brand business and marketing podcast is ready! - Talking about social media, leadership and marketing and sponsored today by MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup - for special offer try today!

Mark Murphy of Leadership IQ joins Anna Farmery to discuss Hiring for Attitude. And why not take the Free Leadership IQ Test!

• What is the definition of great people, of a great hire?
• The top 2 reasons why people fail in their new roles.
• Is it easier or harder to find good people during high unemployment?
• How to choose the right person for your culture - and the culture that you have not what you want!
• How different cultures in different parts of the company can work - how to determine the right person.
• How to develop good interview questions
• Why you shouldn't ask questions such as 'Tell me about yourself', or 'Tell me about a conflict with a co-worker and how you resolved it'
• How the 4 step process can be used for the interviewee to differentiate themselves from other job seekers on job interview questions
• What an interviewee can tell from your general interview questions

If you have feedback for me on the show or topics that you would like me to cover then e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com or join me on twitter, leave a message at The Engaging Brand Fan Page or join me on to discuss it on Google+

Don't forget to try Mozy Pro backup and keep your data safe!

How you can listen to The Engaging Brand

1) You can listen on your PC now without downloading any software just click hear to listen to the latest marketing podcast

2) You can subscribe to the show via iTunes or

3) If you use a different podcatcher then you can subscribe using the following RSS Feed

Are you in a Thinking Rut?

Fact: In a psychological experiment a person shown a photograph of him/herself and then one of a reversed image of the same picture consistently preferred the reversed picture.

Why ? Simply because that was the one they were used to seeing in the mirror !

You know we are all creatures of habit and we can often read the same blogs, listen to the same podcasts, ignore people who don't agree with us.....but that doesn't help to expand our thinking, it doesn't help our personal development.

1. Do you tend to like similar people with similar opinions ?
2. Do you tend to go to lunch with similar people ?
3. Do you like to stick to routine tasks, routine blogs, routine networks?
4. Do you like the way you have always done it ?

Challenge: If you answer positively to any of the above questions, then ask yourself why.....and how can you change these habits....

That way your mind opens up to new possibilities, new thinking, new ways.....yes, that may need that dreaded word change...but that could lead to that lovely word - Success!