Opinions And Ramblings By Adam Kmiec On All Things Media

A few weeks ago I shared with you a list of 5 brands that were succeeding without an investment in social media. This week, I want to share with you a list of 5 brands that are doing poorly despite their investment in social media.  The following is being written with sarcasm – please take it as such.

Delta Airlines

Let’s hope the merger with Northwest helps things. A recent Airline Quality Rating Report has Delta ranked 12th. Ouch. The stock price is hovering just over $7.00..sad when you compare it to the $20.00 + it was at 1.5 years ago. But, hey they’re on twitter, YouTube, and have a blog so that should ease the concerns of analysts and shareholders…right?

Target

Sales were down 6.3% in March…but that exceeded analyst expectations. When doing bad is perceived to be “good” you know things are bad. The 2008 holiday season didn’t pull them into the black and they recently had a few rounds of layoffs. But, don’t worry, they’re on Facebook.

Segway

A shining of example of hyperbole. Inventor Dean Kamen lauded Segway, “will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy.” Only 30,000 Segways were sold between 2001 and 2007. Considering Segway thought they’d sell between 50,000 and 100,000 in the first 13 months, that’s pretty bad. They still aren’t profitable, but they do have their own community network, a blog, Facebook page, and twitter account.

Starbucks

They have a site dedicated to consumer ideas and engage consumers on twitter, yet they continue to close stores left and right. 3 years ago the stock traded above $35, but today it sits at $12. New leadership, new decor, and a new menu haven’t helped. Maybe a blog could be the answer

Home Depot

As you’d expect, a soft housing market and declining economy haven’t helped them grow. Their stock has decreased nearly 40% in the last 3 years which isn’t surprising when you consider that both revenue and profit are both down significantly. But, maybe their YouTube page will be the tactic that turns that tide.

The sarcasm above is with good reason. Social Media seems to be the recommended solution for all companies. The reality is it takes more than an investment into Social Media to make a business work. Social Media isn’t for every company and even the companies that it’s right for need more than a presence on twitter to be successful.

I hope this dose of reality was helpful.

The Project 100 is a great initiative.  Jeff Caswell got the idea to bring together 100 contributors across the interactive and social media landscape to share their thoughts on “Marketing in the Social Media Era. Building Dynamic Consumer Relationships.”  The book is available for purchase now and honestly it’s something you should seriously consider ordering.  For roughly $25.00 you’ll have access to 100 great minds offering their thoughts and opinions in the social media space.

I first learned of the project from my colleague Melissa Clark. She came across the initiative via Paul Isakson’s blog and thought I’d be interested in becoming a contributor.  After learning about Jeff’s mission and vision I was hooked.  Not only was the topic something I’m passionate about, but all the proceeds were going to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

It took me about a week to settle on theme and then another 4 days to craft my contribution.  The following is my contribution in its entirety.

You Have a Role to Play in the Community

Why didn’t we see this so called revolution coming? Consumers have always impacted our decisions. Remember “New Coke?” More importantly, do you remember how quickly consumer backlash lead to the reintroduction of “Coke Classic?”

Consumers keep us employed. Without them, there wouldn’t be focus groups to conduct, IRI data to salivate over, nor products to package. I’ve often listened to marketers lament the inability to know exactly what the consumer wants.

Well, we still can’t read minds and crystal balls aren’t very reliable. However, we do have unprecedented direct access to our consumers. Yet, despite that level of transparency, social media frustrates many classical marketers. The concept of investing in something that isn’t predictable or controllable is frightening.

Today, more than ever, consumers are in control. We need to look, listen, read, and take notice. And, it’s easy to do all of that, because today, consumers are openly inviting us into their lives.

The landscape is changing and we need to embrace that change. The Internet is amplifying our voice; making it stronger and letting it reach people across the world. Tools like Facebook, WordPress, and Flickr are accelerators offering platforms for self-expression.

We’re talking less, but interacting more. We’re not just interacting with our friends; we’re interacting with people we don’t even know. We’re seeking, creating, and joining communities.

It’s the people, not the technology, that drive social media. It’s about you, your friends, your family, and strangers intersecting on your terms. Each of us has a role to play in the community. As marketers and brands we need to provide a value to the community…a benefit.

That’s what good marketing has become: marketing as a benefit. The benefits we provide enable consumers to become extensions of our brand. They become the advocates we’ve always wanted them to be.

Simply put, if you want to find success in social media here’s what you need to remember:

• @All_Marketers Social media isn’t a strategy or tactic. Stop questioning it. Embrace it. Your consumers will thank you.
• @All_Agencies Stop the buzzwords. Think beyond Facebook. Be responsible in your recommendations. Your clients will thank you.
• @All_Consumers You have a voice. You have power. You have influence. You can affect change. Demand accountability from brands.

Keep the consumer at the center of the community, provide a benefit, and remember to actively participate. You just might find social media success becomes predictable.

The Image I Submitted

If you liked it, great.  If you think I missed something, please let me know.  While the words above will live forever in the book, I can always make enhancements to what I wrote via this blog.

I want to give a big thanks to Jeff for inviting me to contribute.  He took on a heck of a task in setting up and coordinating this effort.  His commitment should be applauded.  Please spread the word about the book and Jeff’s mission.  The more books we sell the more we can contribute.  My submission was only the tip of the iceberg.  There are 99 other fantastic points of view to read through.  Enjoy.

I read a lot of blogs, sites, twitter feeds, and a hell of a lot more!  Separating good blogs from bad blogs ain’t easy.  It takes a lot of time.  Sometimes you’ll come across a GREAT post, only to find out you’ve been tricked.  Tricked you say?  Yes tricked, because though there was that one great gem, it takes weeks and multiple posts for another gem to show up.  With that in mind, here’s my favorite blogs.  These are blogs that I visit frequently, recommend to friends, and hold in high regard.  Hopefully, you’ll find them useful as well.

1. Matt Dickman’s Techno//Marketer blog – Matt’s smart.  His content is solid.  There’s always value.  He takes on tough tasks too, like putting together one of the BEST overviews on Facebook out there.
2. Jason Falls’ Social Media Explorer site – Wow, this is such a GREAT site.  If it’s happening in social media this is the place to be.
3. Seth Godin’s blog – You can be guaranteed to get 1 post just about every day.  The posts are fun, though provoking, and interesting.
4. The Die Line – I’m a lover of package design.  You can spend hours going through their archive of great, new, and bad packaging.
5. Steve Rubel’s Micro Peruasion blog – Steve doesn’t always time for long posts, but he does make time to list out links that interest him.  It’s one of the things I really enjoy about his blog.
6. Avinash Kaushik’s Occam’s Razor site – If you love metrics, this is the blog to read.  Who better to learn web analytics from than the guy who literally wrote the book.
7. Ogilvy’s PR Blog – They team at Ogilvy do  GREAT job of providing interesting points of view.  By having multiple contributors you get some variety that’s often lacking on other blogs.
8. Michael Arrington’s Techcrunch blog – I enjoy his blog more than I do his tweets.  The blog covers startups, technology, and everything in between.  You’ll really enjoy the witty and sometimes scathing comments.  For the most part he’s brutally honest.  I just wish he’d be a little more willing to call his “friends” out when they’re wrong.
9. Zeus Jones’ Blog – I worked with Rob White, when I was at Fallon.  I thought he was smart then and he’s even smarter now.  The Zeus Jones blog has multiple contributors from different backgrounds who offer unique points of view.
10. David Armano’s Logic+Emotion blog – Sometimes a bit to preachy and at times hypocritical, but you can’t dismiss how smart he is.  I find his graphics to be much better than the copy.  You’ll find yourself using them often because of how simple and relevant they are.  The blog is MUCH better than the twitter stream.