Social Media

Social Media Insights

Why Social Media Doesn’t Work (and What You Can Do About It)

by Mike Heronime April 11, 2012

giving advertising a nu name

This Numantra Whitepaper was initially published by

SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS

Why Social Media Doesn’t Work (and What You Can Do About It) Executive Summary For many companies, social media has not lived up to the hype.

K E Y

P O I N T

It’s true that social media is being adopted by virtually everyone on the planet. And research shows that the most trusted source of marketing information comes from word of mouth. Utilizing

Social media is just one aspect of an effective communication strategy.

social media to grow a business makes perfect sense so why is it not working for so many marketers who have tried? And what about those marketers who are making it work for their business. What’s their secret?

In this article you will learn: Three things you must have to make social media work for your brand AND… Five engagement strategy idea starters

© Copyright 2012 Numantra. All rights reserved.

PAGE 1

SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS

N O T E D “Facebook is the equivalent for us to what TV was for

Why Social Media Doesn’t Work (and What You Can Do About It) It’s time to face reality. Advertising is a lot harder today then it ever was before. According to Planet Feedback’s “Consumer Trust in Advertising” report, fewer than half the people surveyed trust

marketers back in the

print ads or television commercials. Hardly a third of them trust

1960s. It's an integral

what they hear on the radio. It’s even worse for direct mail and

part of what we do

outdoor advertising. What’s the number one trusted source of

now.”

advertising? Word of mouth!

That’s a huge game changer. Before, advertisers had to convince consumers to buy their product. Now, advertisers have to convince consumers to convince other consumers to buy their product. That is a much harder proposition. Imagine you had to sell your car but you couldn’t sell it directly to the buyer. Instead, you had to convince everyone to sell your car to their friends for you.

It’s no small wonder that advertisers have fixated on social media as the solution. Social media is the thing that all of these consumers are using to share everything with their friends: hobbies, events, humor, and yes, sometimes even information about branded products and services.

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PAGE 2

Social media’s popularity is undeniable. In 2009, Nielsen reported that, “time spent on social network and blogging sites is growing more than three times the rate of overall Internet growth.” In 2010, they reported that, “consumers are spending 43% more of their time on social media than a year ago, making social networking and blogs the top online activity, followed by online games and email.”

This did not escape the attention of the advertising community.

Nike’s chief marketing officer, Davide Grasso noted, “Facebook is

N O T E D

the equivalent for us to what TV was for marketers back in the 1960s. It's an integral part of what we do now.”

“It is like a finger pointing toward the moon. Don't concentrate on the

Meanwhile, Engagement DB studied the world's 100 most valuable brands. They were evaluated by how well they engage with

finger or you will miss

their consumers using social media and how that engagement

all that heavenly glory.”

correlates with revenue. The report stated that companies with the highest level of social media activity increased revenue by 18% in the last 12 months, while companies that were the least active saw a 6% drop in sales.

Everybody got the hint and made social media a priority for their marketing teams. For a lot of marketers that meant setting up a Facebook page and a Twitter feed. But for most advertisers, things haven’t worked out the way they had planned. Their Twitter feeds aren’t moving the sales needle and the value of a Facebook Like seems to be where all the attention has been fixated. It brings to mind the immortal words of Bruce Lee, “It is like a finger pointing toward the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”

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PAGE 3

The reason why social media isn’t living up to the hype is a familiar one. The same thing happened back in the day when advertisers were first told that the Internet was the place to be. Their biggest failing? A build-it-and-they-will-come mentality. Same as now. Too many marketers build a Facebook page and a Twitter page and then become disappointed when no one follows their page.

It’s not enough to simply follow people on Twitter so they will follow you back. And you can’t just tweet about your brand. Your Facebook page can’t be just a collection of descriptions of your products. It’s as if these marketers have all forgotten what makes

A T T E N T I O N

advertising really work in the first place. The problem is the lack of engagement.

Engagement is what made the difference during the creative

Engagement is what made the difference during the creative revolution of 1960’s advertising. The voice and personality of Bill

revolution of 1960’s

Bernbach’s Volkswagen advertising was engaging. The style and

advertising.

design of Saul Bass’ art was engaging. David Ogilvy’s Hathaway man with the eye patch was engaging.

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PAGE 4

What’s different today? Advertisers still have to be engaging.

The difference is that the options available for reaching consumers have multiplied exponentially. This challenge is further compounded by the misperception that social media is replacing other media. The marketing experts that created that misperception made the same mistake when they suggested that the Internet was going to replace television. On the contrary, people aren’t watching television less. They’re just watching television at the same time they are surfing the Internet.

K E Y

P O I N T

The truth is that social media has simply been added to the rest of the constantly expanding media-sphere. And by itself, it’s not

Social media is just one aspect of an

any more important than the rest of the media. The reality is that it’s not about the media at all. It’s about engagement.

effective communication strategy.

The way to make social media work is to forget about social media. At least for the moment. Advertisers must return their focus to developing an effective communication strategy. A good communication strategy will dictate not just whether social media is an option but it will also define exactly how social media is going to work for the brand.

The key point: Social media is just one aspect of an effective communication strategy. So how does that work exactly?

Three things you must have to make social media work for your brand.

An effective communication strategy has three primary aspects.

They are: a content development/message strategy, a media channel strategy, and an engagement strategy.

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PAGE 5

Content Development / Message Strategy. The biggest challenge facing marketers today is the demand on them to be interesting. Their content — their message — has to be interesting in order to be effective. People have so much control over the content they consume, that if it doesn’t appeal to them, they will probably never see it due to pre-emptive filtering that blocks it from ever getting through.

N O T E D

“The biggest challenge

That’s why a strategy is so important. You need to know who it is

facing marketers today

you’re trying to reach and what it is that they are interested in

is the demand on them

and what that has to do with your brand. Put it all together and

to be interesting.”

you have something you can work with. Primary research has never been more important than it is today.

Media Channel Strategy. Working out the nuances of content/message are vital but potentially worthless if the media channel used to deliver it is either inappropriate for the content or the customer. And chances are that social media will be a part of the overall media strategy. But that is not a forgone conclusion.

That’s why strategy is so important. (Déjà vu all over again.) You need to know who it is you’re trying to reach and what kind of media they consume and when they consume that media and where they consume that media. Through this process, you will determine (among other things) which social media channels are best suited for your message and your customer. It sounds easy but most successful brands consult with specialists to pull this off.

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PAGE 6

Engagement Strategy. Your engagement strategy takes everything you know about your customer, their interests, and their media consumption habits and brings focus to those insights. An engagement strategy is an idea-driven solution inspired by the critical information you have assembled. Ideas are as numerous and diverse as the problems they solve. But here are five idea starters:

Five Engagement Strategy Idea Starters

The One Thing Strategy. One approach to an engagement strategy is determining the one thing that will resonate with your

A T T E N T I O N An engagement strategy is an idea-

customers and will be relevant to your brand. For example, you may determine that your brand of data security is fast and furious so you focus your brand engagement on all things adrenaline.

driven solution inspired by the critical information you have assembled.

Volkswagen adopted this strategy with their Fanwagen. Their focus on being fun, hip and cool went into creating a fun, hip, and cool vehicle that integrated everything fun, hip, and cool about social media into retro models of their Beetle and VW Bus. The Fanwagen featured a Facebook newsfeed printer built into the dashboard, relationship status posted on the license plate, and even a camera with a wall for posting photos. The Fanwagen was one-of-a-kind.

Any one could be entered for a chance to win it just by Liking Volkswagen on Facebook.

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PAGE 7

The Zealot Strategy. Another approach is to make your brand accessible to the crowd and solicit their input, ideas, trial, and feedback. For example, you may make fishing lures so you engage your customers on the topics of tricks of the trade, innovations, etc.

A T T E N T I O N

Make your brand accessible to the crowd and solicit their input.

In January 2009, Tourism Queensland adopted this approach when they embarked on a global search to find an Island Caretaker to explore the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland Australia and report back to the world about their experiences. They touted the opportunity as “The Best Job in the World” and turned their blogger recruitment campaign into a massive awareness campaign fueled by the interests of travellers and spread through each of their social media networks as they attempted to blog their way into their dream job.

The Guru Strategy. Another approach is to position the brand as the industry leader or innovator. Whitepapers, blogging, opinion pieces, etc. are developed to express thought leadership to your customers that are interested in following your lead. For example, you are a financial services company so you engage your audience with webinars on investing and whitepapers on diversification strategy, etc.

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PAGE 8

Merrill Lynch did exactly that when they created the Merrill Lynch Advisors. The $20 million campaign, dubbed "The Power

A T T E N T I O N

of the Right Advisor" is built on several key issues that Merrill executives noted over the prior year of research. Retirement is still No. 1 on consumers' minds, but so are liquidity, balancing

Play with your customers.

demand and understanding risk. Merrill Lynch’s integrated engagement campaign included its first YouTube channel, with its own webcasts and panel discussions with experts on subjects such as retirement.

The Gaming Strategy. Play with your customers. Develop contests, promotions, games, loyalty programs, etc.

Fast-food chain Burger King has created "Whopper Sacrifice," a Facebook app that gives you a coupon for a free hamburger if you delete 10 people from your friends list. The "sacrifices" show up in your activity feed. It would say, for example, "Karie sacrificed John Smithson for a free Whopper." Unfortunately, you can't delete your whole friends list and eat free for a week.

The promotion is limited to one coupon per Facebook account.

Facebook ended Burger King’s promotion early because it was too successful — too many people were becoming unfriended as a result of this promotion.

© Copyright 2012 Numantra. All rights reserved.

PAGE 9

The Exclusive Content Strategy aka The See It Here First Strategy. In this case, you have a valuable asset in the form of

A T T E N T I O N

original content that you’ve created for your brand. That content may be an entertaining video featuring a popular celebrity, or it is original music performed by a hot, new band, or it’s never before

Content is

released photography documenting a subject of interest.

still king.

Tom Tom uses Monty Python comedian John Cleese to lure people into Liking the Tom Tom Facebook page. A two-minute video featuring Cleese appeared on streaming video sites. In the video, Cleese is dancing around a traffic jam. The spot ends with the invitation to see more John Cleese video at Tom Tom’s Facebook page. The trick is that if you want to watch the videos, you first have to Like their page.

© Copyright 2012 Numantra. All rights reserved.

PAGE 7

The key to making social media work for your brand is not dependent on how much money you spend on the execution of the strategy. The Whopper Sacrifice is evidence of that. What all of these examples have in common is a big idea. A big idea that is at the heart of an engagement strategy. It’s the big idea that draws people in — that engages people. It’s the big idea that inspires people and creates buzz and compels people to share that idea with their friends.

The reason why social media doesn’t work is simply because

A T T E N T I O N

marketers are thinking too small. When they consider the cost of creating a Facebook page (basically free), then they take a “sure — why not attitude” and their foray into social media

You still have to produce big ideas that engage people if you want advertising to work.

starts and ends with the expectation that they will be getting something for nothing. But it’s not that easy. Advertising is a lot harder today then it ever was before. Or at least it’s still as hard as ever. You still have to produce big ideas that engage people if you want advertising to work.

*If you aren’t currently using social media as a way to build your brand, please contact us for a free consultation. We can show you specific examples of how your business vertical is effectively using social media to build brands and we will work with you to identify specific opportunities for your own brand.

Please contact Dave Evans at 214-635-2220 or at devans@numantra.com to schedule your free consultation.

© Copyright 2012 Numantra. All rights reserved.

PAGE 7

Numantra Notes.

We are a Top 25 North Texas Ad Agency according to the Dallas Business Journal. Our billings were over $26 million last year.

Our agency was established in 2005, the resulting merger of three diverse yet complementary agencies. It was serendipitous.

We are a full service agency. To us that means we have account planning, account service, media planning, creative concepting, design, writing, production management, and technology services all under one roof.

We’re often asked about our technology services. We provide a full host of services including programming, application development, and hosting through our in-house resources.

We serve clients locally, nationally, and globally. Numantra is headquartered in Irving, Texas. Our media buying partners are based here in Dallas. We serve clients outside of Texas in places like Indianapolis, Washington D.C., and Cincinatti. The ongoing work we do for some clients is international in scope and serves offices in London, Australia and Tokyo as well as those in the United States.

giving advertising a nu name

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