It’s not every day that an algedonic situation of a Mouse, a Lion and a Tortoise coming together at a crossroad happens. Actually, it was the Mouse and the Lion that came there while the Tortoise was enjoying something.

The Mouse churns out tales to avoid being eaten by the Lion; the Lion spins his yarn because it wants to eat the Mouse, and the Tortoise….. Well the Tortoise just wants a bit of peace and quiet to eat her lovely lettuce sandwich.

That’s exactly the case with the latest fad called social media. There are people, businesses, organizations and companies busy churning out stories to outsmart the Lions and then there are Lions, bigger firms, clients, negotiators, spinning the yarns to eat the Mouse. And lastly, there are people who are there for no reason, except that everyone else is there, but to enjoy the ride. You need to find your way through those lettuces leaf and sandwich crumbs to reach the right audience, and this happens every time you Log-in to any of those social media sites.

Above discussion happened when I was interacting with the CXO of an emerging business when he queried about “How-To” of social media. That was the time when an episode from the AMC’s Mad Men came to my mind and I explained the basics of the social media to him, though in words of Dr. Miller.

The wind and the Sun once had a dispute as to which was the stronger of the two. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: “I see a way to decide our dispute.”Let us both try our strength on him, and let the one who can first strip him of his cloak be the winner.” The Wind began first. He blew a blast which sent the leaves flying through air; he raised clouds of dust in the road, bent the tops of the trees to the ground, and even tore up one sturdy oak by the roots. But the traveler only drew his cloak the more tightly around his shoulders, and kept on his way. At last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.

: Moral of the Story: Kindness, gentleness, and persuasion win where force fails”.  These words are important to remember as you are conversing with others via social media.  You will achieve greater results if you “share your warmth” like the sun, than trying to “impress people with your strength” like the wind.

Take away:

  • Create honest and complete profiles- People want to get connected with people and not crooks or Ghost

 

  • Share your knowledge and interests but remember to promote others more frequently than you- it’s a social media and not only your media

 

  • Listen and engage the community with respect- no one likes “bully”

 

  • Don’t keep on posting anything, as did the wind, for the sake of posting and being there. If it’s not adding any value then it isn’t worth mentioning.

 

 

The traditional one-way media is replaced with two-way social media where an individual can respond to your message in real time. Conversation is the new marketing and if your business isn’t offering a conversation space then be prepared to get erased from the people’s mind. Don’t try to push like the wind, but pull like the Sun. And while we talk about social media marketing/planning don’t confuse it with the strategy. Strategy doesn’t lie in the plethora of tools you use for a social media platform, but in utilizing those tools to map your customers, analyzing the conversation and the content to design an effective tactical plan. Once done, don’t forget to design an execution plan and utilizing the same tools to monitor result.

Yes, social media marketing isn’t similar to social media strategy. The former is the concoction of tactics for reaching a business goal, while the latter is an experiment to iterate the improvement in overall business vision. Make sure you have a social media checklist to gather information necessary to make smarter decisions about how your organization can incorporate social media in your marketing and communication mix.

Next, one can always raise a question about social commerce. The best way to answer the question is in the words of “Lee Odden”-

Social Commerce:  Question – What’s the ROI of Social Media?  Answer – What’s the ROI of having a phone system in your office?  That phone systems facilitates communications for a wide variety of reasons that are important to the functioning of the business from product/service inquiries to hiring new employees to customer service. Social media in a business sense is technology that facilitates communications, sharing and connecting brands with customers.  For the most part, people buy from those they like and social media helps build, maintain and improve those relationships.

What you need to have is an advanced social media strategy and plan to go beyond the usual. And why only social media when an entire suite of digital marketing is at your disposal, something top-of-mind for any marketers.  You need to do it right, not to end up blaming the social media, and audit your social media requirement to find out if there exist an untapped brand evangelists, rock star features, and ways to engage your resources in conversation.

If you need help with your overall digital strategy, social media in particular, then feel free to reach us and get your business audited to learn about your requirement and How-To incorporate those strategies within your existing plan and model. And yes, you do everything to gain an attention and the importance of attention could be read below. Thank You.

A long time ago a farmer wanted to buy a mule from his neighbor.  He asked the neighbor if the mule had any problems. “Not a problem,” the neighbor said.  “This mule will do anything you ask.  All you have to do is ask him nicely.”  The neighbor added, “Just make sure you never mistreat my mule.”

The price for the mule was fair, so the farmer bought the mule.  The very next day the farmer wanted to plow his field.  He hitched the mule to the plow.  The mule had no intention of pulling that plow!

The farmer said, “Get up!”  But the mule paid no attention.  The farmer tried talking nicely until his face almost turned blue.  It did no good.  So, he called his neighbor over. The neighbor came right away.  When he heard the problem, he walked over and picked up a two-by-four.  He hit the mule right in the head.  Then he whispered in the mule’s ear.  That mule started plowing back and forth the field, turning the soil over without anyone standing behind the plow.

“I thought you said never to mistreat your mule,” stated the farmer.  “You said all that I had to do was to talk nicely to him.”

“Well,” answered the neighbor.  “You just have to get his attention first before talking to him.”