Content Archives - Page 18 of 21 - Post Control Marketing

Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz has a simple truth to say about relationships, “Nobody will listen to you unless they sense that you like them.” Only then will they be open to hear what you have to say. I happened to read this the day after yet another negative political campaign season leading up to the presidential election where I think it is safe to say we all are worn out from hearing about how much each side disliked each other.

Negative competitor ads can be effective in traditional advertising and we have a couple case studies that prove it, but this is not a recommended strategy for social media marketing. In Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert Cialdini states in an ironic way, that liking is a weapon of influence. Is it too much to ask that we actually like our customers instead of seeing them as an enemy to be conquered?

I think this is where social media differs from traditional. It is easy to hide behind a print ad or TV commercial, in the same way we get so angry at other drivers behind protective car doors. It is different when you are cheek to cheek so to speak. That is why so many marketers are so nervous about social media. It is personal. It is social. Here your consumer is not a target. They are a real person who, if you are going to start talking to on a personal level, you should like.

So how do we get people to like us? A WikiHow article on romantic relationships gives the following advice:

1. Know your mind and heart. Have a positive personality. Know what you want.

2. Develop a respect for others. Who doesn’t like to feel respected?

3. Dress nicely. Even with a brand, appearance counts.

4. Make them feel special. Talk about what they like to talk about. Develop interest in their interests.

5. Give a gift. It doesn’t have to be expensive – tweet a useful article.

6. Talk. Talk positively about life. No one likes someone who is always negative.

This is “How to Get Someone to Like Your for Real.” With the transparency of social media, it is real important. Only then will people be open to your marketing message and give you some important KPI’s such as “likes,” “shares,” or “purchases.”

Are you growing weary in keeping up with your blogs, Facebook and Tweets? I think the key to remember is that technology should help or improve our social and business lives. Blogs were created for an alternative viewpoint outside of the professional press or a place for niche interest communication. It this happening or are we all just reposting what everyone else is saying on his or her blogs? Facebook is supposed to improve or augment your social life, but has it replaced real life with a digital version? Twitter was designed for short spontaneous communication. But sites like Twitip have posted Tweet plans to use with a program that sends out prewritten Tweets “spontaneously” at regular intervals.

Another post talks about the practice of #followfriday. It started out as a good idea. You recommend your favorite Tweets, but in practice people mindlessly flooded long lists of Twitter usernames every Friday – turning a social media into a broadcast media. And NPR recently reported about teens using Twitter to organize flash mobs for illegal activities.

Are we all really meant to generate content? If we all have blogs and we’re all trying to generate traffic to them, yet there is already too much out there how will that ever work? Maybe some consolidation needs to occur like in any industry when there are to many providers of a product or service. Maybe we need to take a lesson from old media and have fewer blogs but more unique contributors to those blogs. Remember newspapers? They attract or used to attract a large audience for dialing sharing of information, but they have a staff of writers responsible for generating that content.

The author of the blog The Nonist closed his blog after 5 years of publishing. From his experience he generated a satire of a disorder called Blog Depression. You can check it out at the link below if you wish. Here are two of his “facts.”

FACT: Meta-bloggers may experience particularly severe blog depression when they realize everyone is continually posting the same stuff, on every other meta-blog, over and over and over, the realization that meta-content is never “owned” can be painfull.

FACT: Blog readers want to be entertained, the vast majority will do so passively, you are like a tiny television network to them, if you do not blog for your own pleasure you’re in for some serious blog depression.

Why do you blog? Why do you Facebook? Why do you Tweet?