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All or Nothing: Lessons from Leaving Social Media for a Month

August 29th, 2009 by Andrew Swenson in Marketing, social media

I’m often asked how much engagement is necessary in order to see measurable results from social media marketing. Although I’ve always had an answer, after a month unplugged I have renewed passion for the subject.

At the end of July I went through a move (from NY to STL), job change, hours of new employee orientation, and the task of writing a business plan for 2010. Since my last post, I’ve checked my Twitter account about once a day (if that), and read only a handful of blog articles.

Being offline has brought new clarity to how I view the business use of social media. So here goes:

How much engagement is necessary in order to see measurable results from social media marketing?

If by “results” you mean making more money right now, don’t bother.

Social media engagement should be driven by building stronger relationships that will eventually lead to sales.

If you focus first on money, your goal is a short term transaction. In this scenario, wallets are more important than people. If you focus on relationships, your goal is a long-term connection full of multiple transactions. In this scenario, people are more important than their wallets.

Social media engagement is NOT a campaign.

If you think social media is a campaign, you’re doomed for failure. As Kneale Mann is fond of saying, “Let’s create experiences, not campaigns.”

A campaign is a short-term battle plan with little room for expansion or adaptation. Engagement is an organic process of give-and-take, of need-and-response. I’ll bet you can guess which has a more lasting influence with customers.

How engaged do you want your customer service center to be?

You want your customer service representatives to be present and responsive to your customer’s needs. When you enter the social media sphere, you’re taking customer service to another level—instant 24/7 connection.

Imagine that when customers called your company they didn’t have an option to speak to a real person, but could only listen to a recording that told them about your latest product offerings. Sounds foolish, right?

I don’t think this is much different than putting your company on Twitter or Facebook and not following or responding to your customers.

All or Nothing.

Sure there’s always the issue of time. But I can say from experience, when you minimally engage with the social web, you get very little back. The more time you invest, the better relationships you build.

…and with better relationships come higher sales in the long run.

So my 2 cents on social media engagement? All or nothing. Get 100% engaged or don’t do it at all. In the end it’s the best use of  your time and your customer’s time.

-Andrew

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  • @knealemann Nice quote from you! RT @dvautier: All or Nothing: Lessons from Leaving Social Media for a Month -word post http://bit.ly/Hfmii


    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • All or Nothing: Lessons from Leaving Social Media for a Month | word post http://bit.ly/Hfmii


    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • BTW interesting to see that everyone who commented thus far has a blog...I have a theory about that. :)
    .-= Abby Wambaugh´s last blog ..What the Eff is Marcom? =-.
  • Abby,

    First, yes I really did miss it. I missed interacting with smart people the most. I feel a total brain drain because I've been away.

    Second, I was almost scared to come back, feeling afraid that I had lost too much traction (an irrational fear for sure). But in the end, I really believe that there's value in humans connecting to other humans online.

    Thanks again for commenting!
  • Thanks for this Andrew! If my job would allow me I would love to fast from SM for that long. I seem to go back and forth on worth of SM, healthy level of engagement, SM ROI, etc etc. All that to say, it's encouraging that you stepped away and came back seeing the value. I agree with the all or nothingness of it, which can make it difficult to obtain previously mentioned healthy level of engagement. So here's my question, did you really miss it? If so, what did you miss the most? Do you feel you've "lost traction" from being away for so long?
    .-= Abby Wambaugh´s last blog ..What the Eff is Marcom? =-.
  • I've recently set up a Twitter account. I don't use it, but I wanted to 'claim' my name as an account. Could this be why some companies are setting up social media sites for their companies, but aren't actively using them yet? They want to maybe have the potential in the future to grab onto this opportunity, but aren't ready for it yet. It is perhaps flawed as you may lose people as they realise you aren't active in that space.
    .-= Anthony´s last blog ..Been there a while? Must know what you’re doing… =-.
  • Anthony,

    You bring up a good point, but what I was talking about was not just the infamously parked "Coming Soon" orgs, but those who use SM as a broadcast platform.

    Either way, IMO, showing up in the SM sphere without a long-term strategy is never a good idea.
  • Loved the post Andrew! All very true.. Oddly, was thinking of some of the same thoughts recently.. wondering WHY some businesses set up a twitter account and then make little or poor use of it. Or some individuals for that matter.

    Loved the @knealemann quote too!
    .-= Beth´s last blog ..Are you a Betty or a Veronica? (or Why Nice Girls May Not Always Finish Last..) =-.
  • Thanks for the props.

    As I've been processing why orgs just park their name, I think it has to do with the fact that (1) many still don't get how SM works (not that people have to be experts to use SM, I'll be the first to admit I'm still learning!), and (2) sometimes orgs want to engage in the space, but don't commit enough resources to the project.

    And, sometimes, I guess that decision is justified. In essence, if an org is comfortable with a minimal level of response from minimal SM engagement, that's okay—but the bigger worry I have is that they will turn off some customers who expect engagement in SM sphere.

    So in the end, I guess it's really my point that SM "results" are directly proportional to the amount of strategic involvement you have in the SM sphere.

    And since I'm a relatively passionate person, I tend to go for broke on everything—so for me, it's all or nothing.
  • Great post Andrew. Now to figure out how to do "all" in SM while also trying to do "all" in every other aspect of my life & business! :-)
    .-= jen howver´s last blog ..My Soapbox: You Need a Press Room =-.
  • Jen, it's a daily struggle for me to do all in all.

    I think for me it comes down to a high level of discipline with regards to time management. But some days, life just gets in the way.

    That's why I think orgs need to think about social media teams instead of just pushing off the SM task onto one person who already has a full plate.
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