I have been fortunate to give a number of talks on social media and web marketing over the past 2 years. My audiences range from internet peers to business people from private industry to colleagues in the promotional products industry. While most people are pretty receptive to change, I have found that some people are downright hostile/scared about this freight train called the internet (and I might as well use the word “internet” and “change” interchangeably).

This post reviews some of the objections I have come across while presenting about social media, along with my typical responses.

1. Twitter is stupid. Why should I care that someone is in line for their Starbucks coffee?

Point taken. However, my view on Twitter (and Facebook, for that matter) is that “you are who you follow”. If you follow people who tweet about stupid and vacuous things, the easiest way to deal with this is to unfollow/unfriend them. Like the internet itself, there is plenty of noise on Twitter, but the magic is finding the gems.

Twitter is full of fascinating tidbits that keep me in the know on a range of topics (a memorable example of this was the Amazon purchase of Zappos).  Twitter is full of links to articles that are highly relevant to my interests (again, see point above). Twitter beats any newspaper as a news source as it’s reported in real time vs having to wait for the paper to be delivered to my doorstep in the morning.

From a business perspective, I get all sorts of insights into my customers (who I follow) as well as potential customers (who I spend time cultivating relationships with). To understand what makes your customers tick just makes good business sense. Tapping into the Twitterverse to gain real time insights into your customers’ daily lives has made us a much more nimble organization. Conversely, people who sell me things always get preferential treatment if they can demonstrate they have done their homework and know a thing or two about RIGHTSLEEVE.

For a longer analysis of Twitter, you can refer to My Take on Twitter

2. Why do customers turn to the internet when they need something, versus just contacting their preferred supplier?

This comment was made at a session I gave to a group of promotional products professionals, an industry undergoing massive change as it relates to how buyers research product information. Here was the tweet that prompted the remark:

“Have spent day on phone with vendors. Looking 4unique event ideas 4 female audience – forget cooking and wine tasting. Need smthg different”

This example sparked a lot of discussion, most of it hostile. The prevailing view was that if a distributor was doing its job correctly, then this person would not have had to tweet their request. True, but only to a point.

In this day of instant feedback, it’s in the customer’s best interest to reach out to their network (before social media, you can bet they called around on the phone asking the same question). Posting such a comment online is valuable as it may generate a flood of relevant responses from peers who have gone through the same thing before. In my position as a vendor, I follow this person and was able to reach out with some suggestions relating to the promotion. We got the order.

The question people need to concern themselves with is NOT why people are using the internet to conduct research, but rather HOW to respond to their queries in a way a that is respectful and relevant to the customer. The customer, not the vendor, is now firmly in control.

3. Social media is for anti-social geeks. The web has ruined personal selling.

I half expect this comment to come from an over-the-hill sales curmudgeon straight out of Glengarry Glen Ross. Needless to say, I disagree with this claim.

People who use social media well are among the most social people I have ever met. Sure you have some exceptions, but any “social media type” I have ever met in the offline world, has been incredibly friendly with a penchant to share a lot of information. I personally use social media to engage with a wide range of people, and when the time is appropriate to meet, I have a wealth of information to talk about. The intersection of the online and offline worlds has made business easier, not harder.  Personal selling, in many ways, has now become more personal.

I can accurately make this claim given that I had run my business for 7 years prior to the advent of social media, and 5 years since. There is no question that a critical part of my business is still “face to face”, but these in person relationships have only been enhanced via social media. In several instances, I would not have even made it in the door had it not been for social media.

4. Who has time for social media? Do I now need to work 24 hrs a day to keep up?

No. I will draw from personal experience when it comes to how I spend my “selling” time at the office. Think of my day as a pie. In the “old days” before social media, I spent 1/2 of my time on the phone/email and 1/2 my time in front of clients. Now, the distribution of the pie is different, not larger. 1/3 of my time is now spent on the phone/email, 1/3 is in front of clients and 1/3 is using the internet/social media. I made this switch as it was in response to the new market reality.  Some customers will now only communicate by Twitter Direct Message!

When email was introduced to the mainstream in the mid 90s, people started emailing more, talking on the phone less and faxing even less. Same pie.

The bottom line?

I understand why there is hostility out there. The internet (and specifically social media) has changed the way we buy, completely disrupting traditional business models. There is a great quote in Ken Auletta’s recent book on Google when the head of Viacom blasts Google’s founders for “fucking with the magic” after learning about their mathematical approach to advertising. The “magic” he refers to is the smoke and mirrors of traditional advertising.

Similarly, social media is impacting traditional business relationships. Relationships that were once forged on the golf course are now being cultivated online and cemented offline. Most people these days don’t have time for a day on the golf course, as their time has now migrated online. Balancing these two worlds is the challenge that the modern business person must rise to.

This blog is only as good as the readers who weigh in. Your comments are, as always, welcome.

I was recently interviewed by a promotional industry publication on why I blog.

I started blogging in early 2006 as I wanted to experiment with a new medium as well as connect with people on a different level. So, 5 years later, I reflect on the what, why and how.

Why do you blog? How do you get the most out of your blog for the purposes you intend it to serve?

I have always enjoyed writing. Blogging gives me a creative outlet as well as platform to express ideas I have about the industry and business in general.

I use the blog to write about my philosophies as they relate to our business, RIGHTSLEEVE. I have found this to be a more genuine way to express an opinion as it comes across as more authentic than publishing a marketing brochure (there is room for this as well, it just serves a different purpose). Clients and prospects read our blog to learn about the human side of our company.

What advice would you give to companies looking to start a blog of their own?

(i) Have Fun

(ii) Be Human

(iii) Write it yourself

What is your overall impression of your blogging experience? Have you found it to be a successful marketing tool? Why or why not?

I have really enjoyed blogging because it has given me a way to connect with people on a whole new level. It is not a direct sales platform, rather it is a conversational platform as people will weigh in on what you write about and this starts a dialogue. I have met a number of new and interesting people via blogging (and other web 2.0 properties like Facebook, Twitter, etc). As with all solid relationships, a level of trust is established which can often lead to sales. As a result, blogging can be a wonderful, albeit indirect, sales tool. 

It has been a very successful marketing tool as it puts us into a smaller group of distributors that have taken the time to maintain a blog. I would guess that 5-10% of the promotional industry has a good blog and it’s always nice to be competing against a smaller number of people who are blogging than the majority that aren’t.

We also operate within a very competitive and commoditized industry with little to differentiate distributors from one another. The standard complaint about our industry is that “you can buy the same products from any distributor.” However, a blog is something that is unique to a company, something that can’t be shopped like a product SKU from a supplier catalog. Anything that is unique like this is a good thing in the industry as it helps sets you apart.

This week I attended the PPAI Expo, the largest and longest running promotional products show in the world.

I was invited to present on how my experiences with social media have allowed RIGHTSLEEVE to grow and differentiate within this industry. I’d be reluctant to ever brand myself a “social media expert” (I am skeptical of the term), rather I like to think of myself of an industry entrepreneur that has dabbled in social media over the past 5 years and has learned a lot along the way, my trail scattered with a mix of failures and successes.

I have drawn inspiration from a number of people whose works I reference in this presentation. The links to their books  can be found here:

Chris Anderson The Long Tail

Clay Shirky Here Comes Everybody

Tara Hunt The Whuffie Factor

Joel Comm Twitter Power

Mitch Joel Six Pixels of Separation