Would you hire "Buggy Whip" makers to design your CAR?

Forrester Research just released a report this month that will no doubt be somewhat controversial but needed to be discussed - who do you use to help lead you in the new "Revolution" of Social Media?  It isn't who you think...

Just like in the old days when the Buggy Whip manufacturers ruled the transportation industry, they were at the top of their game for a very long time and the envy of all businesses.  If only they, too, could be in the buggy whip business life would be grand.  You were probably among the elite if they took you to the big events in town like the town hall dance and the live entertainment in the saloons - life was grand. And they did everything in their power to persuade you NOT to go with this new thing called an automobile.  Sound familiar, they might be better known in the marketing world as AD AGENCIES...

Forrester's report, The Future of Agency Relationships, is a great analysis of how this new phenomonen of social media is not only going to change your life as a business leader but is going to significantly change the landscape for Ad Agencies going forward.  They said,

"In this era, mass media is no longer the foundation of marketing communication, forcing yet another change in the expectations of what marketing agencies can and should deliver."

 From our experience, the issue is simple.  You are asking an existing, traditional media based organization to cannibalize their solid, comfortable revenue stream for a much lower cost, more nimble alternative.  How many agencies do you think will be in line to sign up for that program?  You're right, none.  On the other side of the table, what Marketing Manager inside the organization (who is currently getting all the perks of free tickets, gifts and elite treatment) will want to give up their special treatment by these ad agencies to take up the cause for this new leading edge form or marketing called social media?  About as many as there were ad agencies - none.

So our question for you, and you can leave a comment on this post if you like, is who do you turn to when you are seeking help in "guiding" and "leading" you through the noise of social media.  I just hope you won't turn to your ad agency.  In some of my next posts I will give you some thoughts about who to turn to and who not to turn to besides the agencies.  For now, suffice it to say, beware of the "Buggy Whip" manufacturers and the wolves in sheep clothing...

To be BIG you have to think SMALL...

Want to build thousands of followers and have lots of people talking about about you?  Then start thinking small.

That's right, in the world today, if you want to build a tremendous following of the "right people" you must start by thinking small.  Social Media is most powerful when you start with a small group of "Advocates" and allow them to spread your message - true "Word-of-Mouth" marketing.   When we talk about "Word-of-Mouth on Steroids", many initially think we are asking them to "blast" their message out to thousands in the hope that someone will like it and talk about them.

That is OLD SCHOOL thinking and those that believe that are still clinging on to the last hopes of Traditional Media - it is either dead or dying very rapidly.  There was a great quote by the marketing guru himself, Seth Godin, when he said, "The Internet (Social Media) lets you take really good care of 100 people instead of harassing 2000."  We couldn't have said it better.  Find the 25, 50 or 100 people who are your Advocates and turn them loose with using social media to spread the word.  This will get you to the higher numbers of "real followers" faster than anything you have every used in traditional media.

Also, it is important to remember that people know other people like themselves.  If you go after the right group of people, those who you want as customers or donors or members, they will lead you directly to others just like themselves.  This is the closest thing to shooting fish in a barrel when you do it right.  People will spread the word about you to others just like themselves and they will then in turn start to follow you and hopefully become your advocate as well.

So the bottom line to getting thousands of followers is to start taking really good care of your loyal customers, turn them into your advocates.  This will pay off big time in your marketing efforts and is at the core of how social media really works.  STOP broadcasting and START building solid word-of-mouth.  This will get you to your goals a whole lot faster than harassing thousands.