When you think of social media, you think of online.
“Keep it online”
“Time spent on the site”
“Drive web traffic”
“Ads on Facebook should link to a Facebook page”
“Digital realm”
“Avatar”
“Like us”
“Friend us”
“Fan us”
“Reblog us”
“Pin me”
“Check-in here”
But there is a dirty little secret in social media.
None of those really matter.
None.
I’ll repeat. They do not matter.
What does matter?
Real world connections.
You see, social media marketing is a tremendous tool to get in front of people, hopefully convincing them to DO something real.
Buy a ticket.
Come to our store.
Sample our product.
Stop considering the competition.
Make you love us more.
The brands that truly get this are the ones that are doing it right.
I can think of two brands in the past six months, Chobani and Perky Jerky, that successfully connected with me in an effort to change my purchasing habits.
Chobani saw I was Tweeting about their Greek yogurt being sold out at the store and within 48 hours sent me coupons. (First, though, they made fun of me for losing the last cup to an old man. Make me laugh, brand, and I’ll love you forever.)
Perky Jerky is a premium beef and turkey jerky brand. Their price point is higher than their competition, which initially turned me off on their product. But after engaging me in conversation, they sent me some samples. And now I’m a loyal customer, more than making up for the cost of sending me a few free packs in just a few months. Plus, I had my students follow them, propping them up as an example of a brand doing great things online.
That’s the dirty little secret of social media – get the hell offline.
(Mar…
interesting.. we should not forget the satisfaction of the customer be our aim... nice post.. keep posting!
Great customer service is a dying concept for a lot of companies these days!
Great post, Mike-- tell it like it is! Too bad other companies or brands don't want to go the extra mile in translating their social media/online connections into real life connections.