Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Category: Social Media

  • Outsourcing Social Media: It’s About Time

    If you don’t have time for social media, outsourcing it is a good solution. But there are caveats. You have to do it wisely.

    Time. Time is money. We’ve heard it all of our lives. In business we also talk about sweat equity. It’s a real thing. Yes, if you don’t have money, you may have time. But at some point you will have to evaluate how you spend your time.

    I wrote extensively about why outsourcing is financially advantageous here. In this post, I’d like to discuss some common misconceptions or thoughts I hear about social.

    “My team would be good at social media if they weren’t busy.”

    There are a few things wrong with this statement.

    Firstly, it presumes that social media is a low-level skill that anyone can learn. In many ways, it can be learned. But more about that later.

    Secondly, social media isn’t a team sport. Not to say you don’t work with a team, but committees are where social posts go to die — or never have a chance at life at all.

    Thirdly, I absolutely believe that your team could be excellent at some parts of social media. In fact, my preference is to teach social media, rather than do it for you. Why? Because no one knows your business like you.

    Great. So now we’ve decided you could be good.

    What now?

    Either you get training for them to do it or you outsource it to an agency like mine.

    If you train your team to do social media, you will be taking them away from their primary duty. Does it make sense for a CEO or Manager to tweet? From a time and cost standpoint, no.

    “Social Media is something everyone feels like they can chime in on.”

    Yeah. No. So much no. A seven-layer bean dip of no. That’s the snark version.

    Seriously, viewing social media as a low-level skill is dismissive at best. It’s not data entry or factory line work. Even those jobs require skills that not everyone can excel at.

    When you don’t view a skill as an area of expertise, you don’t respect it as a profession. Sure, everyone has an iPhone, that’s not a qualifier.

    Social media isn’t just about posting. It’s about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of posting. It’s about timing. It’s about reading the audience. It’s about discernment. It’s about silence sometimes. It’s closer to comedy in many ways.

    [bctt tweet=”Social media is about timing. It’s about reading the audience. It’s about discernment. It’s about silence. It’s closer to comedy in many ways.” username=”BridgetMWillard“]

    Social media requires basic understanding of psychology, tech, marketing, and copyrighting. It’s not for everyone.

    “Social Media is a waste of time. It doesn’t work anyway.”

    This one. I forget about this one all of the time. I could give example after example of how this isn’t true.

    Here are some examples right off the top of my head.

    1. Amy Donohue donated her kidney because of a tweet. That was in 2011.
    2. Because of a video I created for Riggins Construction, they got a net profit of work from a single client in 2015 that paid for my salary for half a year.
    3. In September of 2015, one of our Thought House Franchise Development clients got four (yes, four) first-click leads from Twitter.

    And this doesn’t include the people you meet (human ROI) or the knowledge that you learn from consuming content.

    Social Media works if you work it.

    Relationships are always valuable to business; especially if your business model relies upon referrals.

    Being social in any venue, online or off, pays off if you are a kind, generous person. Your brand has an opportunity to present itself online as that person. Why wouldn’t you take that opportunity?

    If you don’t have time to do it, outsource it. It’s that simple.

  • Automation Removes Intimacy

    In Cincinnati, in a hotel elevator, I recognized someone I’d been following on Twitter.

    Jason said, “Wow, Bridget. You know everyone.”

    Right. It’s my job.

    The Siren Song of Automation

    Hardly a week goes by where I’m not pitched the newest, shiniest version of a social media tool or automation service. And I’ve not been shy about my feelings for the subject. The poor dead horse is being abused at this point.

    That said, there are dangers of automation. Removing yourself from understanding your customers and even knowing who they are can remove that feeling of intimacy.

    Intimacy just means hands-on or being close. There’s a revival in the crafts movement — people want to create with their hands. They are making their own bread, beer, and beading their own jewelry.

    Even in the business world, there’s a movement to go back to working in your business instead of on it. Yes, in your business — in the craft. Being hands on.

    So, why would you want to automate the most important part of your business — customer relations?

    The Power of A Name

    When I applied to be a Happiness Hero at Buffer, one of the prerequisites was to read the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. No doubt you’ve heard of it or read excerpts if not the whole thing.

    What stands out most is the power of using someone’s name. I’ve been practicing this a lot lately. In fact, I think it was misunderstood last night with our waiter as flirtation, but there is a risk in everything.

    Twitter Lists

    So, one of the most important part of my social media strategies — especially on Twitter — is listing. So, you can write a script that will add people to a list depending on the keywords they use in their bio or hashtags that they tweet. You can sign up for the brand new service that promises you’ll never have to lift a finger to tweet. But you may miss out on a lot.

    One of my rituals is reading bios and adding people to lists. When I’m notified that I get a new follower, I check out their profile, follow or not, and put them on a list. This is the first level of intimacy.

    Oh. Okay. John Doe just followed me. He lives in Orange County and is a social media marketer. I’ll put him on my Social Media list and my Orange County list.

    Whispering In Your Ear

    Back in the day, I worked at a church. The pastor could never remember anyone’s name. So, I’d stand next to him and when someone approached, he’d ask me their name and I’d whisper it in his ear.

    So that worked for a congregation with about 150-200 people which fits right in the Dunbar number if you believe that’s our social limitation.

    But will the new fancy tool do that in person? Sure, they promise the world online, but what about when you meet said follower at a conference?

    WordPress and WordCamps

    For our industry, WordCamps are our trade shows. There is at least one almost every single weekend. As a marketing manager for a WordPress Plugin Development Shop, attending these conferences and knowing our customers is important.

    Knowing your customers by name is important for a few reasons. Let’s start with common decency and manners. That should be enough.

    Let’s not forget the power of someone’s name. Is it better to greet someone as “Hey there bro” or “Hey, friend?”

    Or is it better to say,

    “Hi, Paul. How was your trip on the train?”

    It shows that you care. It increases loyalty. It is the beginning of a relationship. If you truly care about people and building up a culture of community, this is tantamount — required as a baseline.

    Knowing your customers has never been a bad thing.

    Automation Removes Intimacy

    Back to the title, “Automation Removes Intimacy.” The intimacy you have with your customers on social media is important for in-person meetings. It’s important for keeping that relationship going online.

    Social media is about connecting, as humans, to other people. Whether it’s for friendship or to increase the lifetime value of a customer, being social can never be automated.

    Well, if Science Fiction catches up to us, perhaps you can get a protocol droid like C3PO.

    Until then, be cautious when automating. You should want to spend the time getting to know your customers.

  • Why even spend time online? Human ROI

    I’ve been criticized ever since my online journey began back in the days of dial-up and AOL. (True story: I attended my first Bible study online in an AOL chat room.) Why do you spend so much time online?

    It’s become such a common occurrence that I try to never use my phone in person, save a couple of selfies.

    Case in point: A Birthday Party Tonight

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BMIp-hXAjsS/

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BMIqDkJgLYg/

     

    And, you know me, I have to grab a sunset.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BMILFv1AQ9t/

    The point is this:

    All of the time I have spent building relationships online has always come back as a return — in humanity.

    Human ROI

    Relationships matter because people matter. The more you invest in people the more they will invest in you. This has never failed me.

    Tonight, I was invited to a surprise birthday party for SMMOC co-founder (with his wife) Bob Watson. This group has been instrumental in my career change and path.

    Last week, I told Bob as much and he recorded a small video on his Instagram account.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BL4R_xng_eC/

    Of course, I wanted to join in the fun, see old friends, and wish Bob a very happy birthday!

    Hugs Galore!

    Though I knew I would be surrounded by my social media friends,  I became nervous (would anyone greet me? etc). So, my very good friend Jen Miller said she would be my plus one and it would be fun.

    You know what? It was fun.

    I had great conversations with people I haven’t seen (in person) in months or even  years. Yet we’ve been able to stay connected, and dare I say not superficially, online.

    I engaged in personal conversations, was part of a running birthday joke, ate dinner, drank Diet Coke, cracked jokes. I felt like me.

    You know why?

    Because I was surrounded by friends. And they weren’t fake.

    I was hugged by everyone. Because they’re real people. Real relationships. Real friends.

    Why do I spend so much time online?

    I spend time online because my friends are there. It’s not a chore. It’s not something I need to be unplugged from. It’s something that helps me feel connected to this world. Maybe I’m weird. But I think people value that time.

    Spend time on social media creating, maintaining, and deepening relationships and you’ll always get back Human ROI.

    Promise.

    😉

  • Trust & Communication: Foundations of Any Relationship

    Relationships take on many forms. We have business relationships with coworkers, employees, bosses, supervisors, vendors, and clients. We have family and spouse relationships. We have friends and people that we meet through mutual friends.

    Each category of relationship has a different level of intimacy but the same basic element is required in them all: trust. Trust comes from communication — both big talk and small talk.

    Communication in the Workplace

    “In management settings, trust increases information sharing, openness, fluidity, and cooperation.”

    It’s easy in this age of technology to take communication for granted — to presume communication. In decades past we overly relied upon in-person meetings. They were deemed a waste of time. And then we moved to conference calls, which have become a total joke. And now, we’re expected to develop relationships and collaborate on projects  solely with text-based tools like Asana, BaseCamp, Trello, and Slack.

    I read an article this week called “Let’s end the ‘schedule a call’ culture.” In it the author says,

    “I’m not entirely sure how we’re going to replace the schedule a call culture. Collaboration tools is probably the easiest answer, but …  Maybe we all just put our heads down and wait for the AI robots to take our jobs. But first, let’s discuss this schedule a call culture — albeit briefly.” Ted Bauer

    Toxic Communication*

    “In a relationship, it typically takes five good interactions to make up for a single bad one.”

    If you see warning signs early on in the relationship of unwanted behavior (badmouthing, gossip, indiscretion, inconsistent statements (lying), rudeness (especially to wait staff), irritability, tardiness, addiction, etc.), those red flags should be noted, especially if you notice a pattern.

    People don’t improve their behavior as they get to know you; rather, they feel more comfortable and become more “themselves.”

    Red flags are warnings to us all. We would be wise to heed them.

    Nonverbal Communication

    But how much communication is really verbal? This is wildly debated, but I would argue that if you only rely upon the written word you miss a lot.

    “One way of increasing your accuracy is applying the 3 C’s of Nonverbal Communication: context, clusters, and congruence.” Psychology Today

    In this world of text messages, email, and Slack, it’s a good time to talk about how much of communication is actually verbal — regardless of where you land on the research — there’s more to communication than the actual words.

    So how do you project warmth and build relationships in a primarily digital age?

    Open Communication

    Trust comes from open communication. Open communication occurs when people feel safe. We like to think it’s more complicated than that. It’s not.

    “You see, if the conditions are wrong, we are forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other, and that inherently weakens the organization. When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents and our strengths and work tirelessly to face the dangers outside and seize the opportunities.” Simon Sinek 

    How can you make people feel safe?

    In their article called “Connect, Then Lead” on Harvard Business Review, authors Amy J.C. Cuddy, Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger say:

    “A growing body of research suggests that the way to influence—and to lead—is to begin with warmth. Warmth is the conduit of influence: It facilitates trust and the communication and absorption of ideas. Even a few small nonverbal signals—a nod, a smile, an open gesture—can show people that you’re pleased to be in their company and attentive to their concerns. Prioritizing warmth helps you connect immediately with those around you, demonstrating that you hear them, understand them, and can be trusted by them.”

    Communication & Culture

    Culture comes from how a group relates to each other. This can be good or bad. So, intentional community building is all the rage these days. Companies who are intentional with their culture protect their culture. They seem to do this in one of two ways: either they all work in-house or have regular meetings on video (Buffer, Automattic are two examples).

    “There needs to be no advantage to being in the office, and no disadvantage to being out of the office.”” Joel Gascoigne, Buffer (They have since gotten rid of their office in San Francisco.)

    Regardless of your preference, company culture is definitely top-down.

    When asked how a middle manager can affect company culture, Simon Sinek gave this advice:

    Treat those in your realm of influence as you believe important. Meaning, do what you can where you can.

    If you feel uncomfortable at your workplace, perhaps it’s time to look elsewhere.

    It’s up to you.

    Sometimes, believe it or not, it’s difficult to engage in conversations with people. If you want a better relationship, perhaps it’s up to you.

    Maybe you need to be the person who asks how they are doing, if they watched [insert sports game here] last night, or patted them on the back (verbally, with emojis, or giphys in Slack) for a job well done.