When was the last time you bought something from a remark, review or reference you saw somewhere on social media? I do it all the time with clothes, cosmetics, household goods, even food! I’m moving towards becoming vegan … the gluten-free variety and there is always a LOT of amazing information, recipes, and ideas from regular non-marketing folks who just love cooking and talking about food prep!
ANYWAY, (I digress) the point is, we all have been influenced in one way or another on social media from consumers, not necessarily the marketers. The people are more influential than ever now, therefore …
CUSTOMERS ARE RUNNING OUR MARKETING!
My marketing mind was blown when I listened to one of Jay Baer’s podcast episodes of Social Pros. The guest speaker Jay had on, Mark Schaefer, (author of Marketing Rebellion) has done a lot of research for his latest book and shared his findings.
There were MANY intriguing aspects to Jay and Mark’s interview, but my two biggest takeaways were:
- any business that is using social media and ISN’T being as human as possible (e.g. limits on the AI, VR, etc. etc.) won’t WIN right now — AKA “THE BRAND THAT IS THE MOST HUMAN WINS”
- customers are the ones running our marketing; NOT our marketing
These two concepts, truths even, truly shook me. If we, brands and business (or those we run) are not making every effort to care for and nurture our online community (and offline for that matter) then we’ll be lost. Marketing occurs THROUGH consumers; more so than ever before in the history of social media marketing! By this, comments (via social media), reviews, and referrals. These happen by the millions daily AND PEOPLE ARE PAYING ATTENTION.
Be human, speak in non-marketing ways, as it’s those brands that humanize themselves that will rise above in today’s social and digital space.
I do my best to break it down here in this week’s Successful Social Media Marketing podcast episode:
I encourage you to have a listen to Social Pros episode “Can Social Media Succeed without a Big Dose of Humanity” as it’s very eloquently expressed and explained.
“Your brand and branding was something that you told people. Today, a brand is what people tell each other.” — @markwschaefer.
If you need help with pushing those buttons or telling your story in any way, please book a free 15-minute time slot with me over on my Facebook page. Just click the big blue button that says Book Now to set your appointment. I’d be happy to guide you in ways that you’re unsure of with your social media marketing.
Thanks for spending some time with me, friends of the internet. I really do appreciate it!
