Supposedly there’s some ultra-mega-super-awesome secret to social media marketing. FACT! That’s not really, 100% true. It’s a lot simpler than that. While kicking ass at social media requires an investment of time, effort, and ambition (maybe even passion). I wanted to give you three easy ways to get ahead on social media and make it an effective outlet for your brand and marketing efforts.

Be valuable

(I give the worst, best advice, ever.)

Your network looks to you for a reason, or vice versa. Whether you are creating content, aggregating from other sources in order to provide a hub for valuable knowledge and thought leadership, or you’re simply driving thought provoking conversation, your network has a certain expectation of you.

If you’re providing value to your audience you know what they want. Whether it’s articles relevant to marketing, entrepreneurship, small biz, or how to create awesome web designs you will know. Nurturing relationships online is one of the most valuable things you can do for yourself and your network online.

Automate some stuff, not everything.

I automate.

The bane of existence on social media. It’s supposed to be personal, and engaging, and stuff……right? Well, it is. There’s no harm in posting an interesting article that you found the night before, or during the day for a later time. Allow people to engage with content you have found on your time & schedule. Or, even better, automate to match your audiences schedule. Use tools like Argyle Social, or Crowdbooster to monitor interaction levels with your tweets an to find the best times to tweet according to your audience.

Embrace competition

You’d be surprised, or not, at how much content is recreated, repurposed, rephrased, reused…the list goes on. Your competition is a source for many things. Amongst others they can be a news source should you not be the leader. I read other blogs and huge content creators every day. As a matter of fact this blog post was an amalgamation of thoughts from multiple blog posts. It happens, but the thoughts and opinions are still mine. I still tell you how I think about them and I choose which ones I believe work best, and recreate them here for you.

There are three easy ways for you to kick ass at social media. If you have any more, please add them in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.

Image Credit - Tattoo_Lover

Yes, ROI matters. There’s nothing I can say that will disprove that ROI is a huge aspect of marketing, business, and sales. The reality comes down to: Does ROI matter to YOU?

Find what is important to you and track that.

What matters are your KPIs. Key Performance Indicators. In an older Argyle Social article there were four KPIs addressed. The KPIs that I choose will not be the same that you choose for many, many reasons. Here’s an example: my KPIs have nothing to do with conversions, or leads, or sales. My KPIs should be indicators of: what are people reading on my blog? How long are they reading these articles? Do they opt to learn more about me?

These indicators tell me whether or not my content is applicable to my readers and if what I am doing is providing value to them. Values that you choose can be tangible, monetary value or value can be knowledge. Either way, a value must be given to your readers or visitors.

Stop thinking about ROI and think about the people.

A Harvard Business Review article brought up a good point from a study that was done about 50 years ago by Ernest Dichter. Essentially, what it all comes down to is Word of Mouth. Now, we’re all going to pretend that we’re smart and that we knew this already (which we did, obviously). I may just be naïve, but I believe that we’re trying to track and put a monetary number on something that just doesn’t matter.

Word of mouth is a part of any product, service, business, blah blah blah (insert whatever it is you’re marketing here). I don’t deny that it is an extremely valuable aspect of marketing to track. But! Do we really need to add a dollar value to it? Thik abot the conversations around what you do.

Sentiment, maybe? Are there concerns? Are people trying to understand more about you?

Stop measuring start talking.

The bean-counters want their numbers. Give them the numbers. The key to marketing, PR, and advertising today online, isn’t about whether or not you have an effective campaign. Marketing today is about being a part of the customer’s interaction online. The consumer wants you to answer their questions. Consumers want companies to give feedback, give help, or even just give them a pat on the back sometimes.

The only thing I ask you to do when you become “a part of the conversation”: Don’t sound like a damn robot!

Be yourself. Build relationships. And give back to your customers, leads, and even random people talking about you online. Be a person, it doesn’t hurt.

Image by – Socialspice.de

In case you haven’t noticed, the trend today in marketing is going one way. Back to the roots. Now if you’re like me you question things, and you ask yourself: “What the hell are the roots?” In my perspective there’s one root to any form of marketing. It doesn’t matter if you’re using social media for marketing, if you’re using print, TV ads, whatever.

When I look at marketing I tend to try to ask myself one question:

What is the value of what I’m giving these people?

This seems like a fairly straight forward question. But the reality is so many marketers aren’t answering this question. It doesn’t matter if you choose Facebook, Twitter, a Blog, etc. You absolutely must provide some sort of value to your consumer.

As an online marketing dude, specifically my blog – I know that the value I attempt to provide is knowledge value. The ability to give my readers the opportunity to think about what they’re doing in their online marketing strategies.

So I ask you if you’re reading this, to leave a comment and tell me: What value are you giving your blog readers, your consumers?

Image Credit – James Cridland

I’m going to hop on the bandwagon here and establish the fact that I am not a fan of certain terminologies that have made their way around the social sphere. Terms like Guru, Ninja, and even on the occasion, Expert.

I am none of these and neither are you.

With the constant evolving, changing patterns online a person can migrate their skills and abilities from one platform to another and get to a level where yes, they have a proven track record of improving a brands social media and maybe have monetized it. But the reality is, expertise takes time. Quite simply social media hasn’t been around long enough for anyone to become “the best”. Sure the likes of Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Scott Stratten and plenty others have made their mark online and have a sense of status.

But what makes them more of an expert than anyone else? More money in their pocket? More speaking gigs? When do I become a Guru?

Honestly, we are always constantly learning in today’s online atmosphere. Trends change, behaviors repeat themselves, and patterns emerge. In truth though, the same concept that applies to X may not apply to Y.

Learn. Adapt. Change.

Every client or opportunity is a chance to learn something new. Whether it’s a new strategy or technique, you have the opportunity to learn and find out new information, expanding your horizons. The online community is a constant learning curve. From industry to industry, network to network, “we” as community managers, marketers, or Public Relations managers consistently have opportunities to find something new, and expand upon that.

Don’t let Gurus & Ninjas take all the joy. Honestly, what I’ve found is that these self-proclaimed “experts” are probably the most likely to give you some black-hat method of getting quick, one-time results and not giving you a tangible strategy that can be leveraged in the future.

Stop Being an Expert, Be A Student

In a matter of a week and a couple of days I will no longer be a College Undergrad. But for the rest of my life I will be a student. For the rest of my life I will be learning. So should you.

Image by – Krisuuu

In social CRM, Marketing, Community Management, or whatever aspect of online networking you are a part of there is always one thing that matters. The people that you interact with, the people you talk to, Retweet, however you decide to be “a part of the conversation” are all potentials. A potential client, a potential friend, really the potentials are huge.

Nurturing your online relationships is just like handling any other relationship. Online or offline the way we compose ourselves and handle situations is a genuine reflection of character. As someone who works mainly in maintaining these online relationships – even with people whom I have not met in person – is a trait that I take pride in. As many others can vouch, the relationships will build translate for business, long-term friends, or maybe even more.

The point that I’m hoping to drive home is that if you’re changing personas from what someone knows of you online into someone completely different (multiple personality disorder?) then whatever relationship you have built with that person online essentially gets shattered when the “IRL” meeting happens.

I Tweeted a few days back saying that I will do my best to never bullshit anyone. I do my best to be truthful, honest, and if that relates to sometimes coming across as hostile, for that I apologize.

The relationships that one manages every day, matter. As people connected in a social, online atmosphere we’re entrusted to be the same person wherever we are, whoever we interact with. One of the best, and possibly funniest examples I have come across recently is by my friend Phil Buckley (@1918). Read the comments on his post. As more people chimed in for the comments, the true reality of online relationships became more and more apparent.

As relationships get built, so does trust; what relationship ever works without trust? Build trust, build relationships, build social.

Image Credit – Bikingbettie

Every now and then I will come across a post that redefines the 4 P’s of Marketing, or changes from P’s to some other random letter of the alphabet-creating some other mnemonic device-but the reality is that the 4 P’s have been developed, studied, and analyzed day in and day out but thousands of people. I will say, unfortunately that this post was somewhat inspired by a couple of Beth Harte’s posts. One which re-evaluates the 4 P’s, and another which creates the 4 C’s-addressing the 4 P’s from the customers’ perspective-.

Now, I’m all for breaking “the rules” and sticking out from the mold that has formed from years of research in marketing. Sometimes though, things just work, like the 4 P’s. Beth makes a good point when elaborating her customers’ perspective.

I don’t think marketers are ready to shift away from the marketing mix—it’s what is taught as marketing theory. Until marketing textbooks make the move from internally focused to externally focused marketing (which I am all for, by the way), it will be what new marketers understand and the cycle will never be broken.

I would like to suggest that the Four C’s become the precursor to the marketing mix. Figure out first what it is customers need and/or want and then satisfy it. The beauty of customer-centric marketing is that a company is continually providing products and services that satisfy customers, which leads to loyalty.

I, personally, have no bearing on the thoughts and opinions on someone else, but can merely pose my own in reply. Beth is extremely insightful, and makes excellent commentary for her opinions. However, I believe that what she is getting at is redefining what is an industry standard.

Generalizations Are Okay

General consensus is forging the opinion of the 4 P’s as “Out-Dated” or overly general for the evolving marketing perspectives; I promise you though, that’s okay. On one hand there are already enough definitions, acronyms, mnemonics, etc. for every nit-picked detail of marketing-even business as a whole-. Should we sit here and re-define terms that encompass a whole of marketing for the sole purpose of establishing specifics? Probably not.

While technologies change, and updates are made, the overall perspective still applies. I believe that what Beth is getting it, is establishing these ideas from a separate viewpoint in a way that allows us, as marketers, to better understand the people we deal with. She does a fantastic job at elaborating how her Cs would apply for different markets, but I feel that she remains in a purely technological point of view that only becomes more restricted with her redefinition.

Keep the Cs

I fully agree that the consumer is gaining strength in control over suppliers, especially in a mass media setting. However we must see these 4 Cs as a part of the Marketing Mix, not a replacement. Continually think of her 4 Cs. But don’t forget about the important aspects of marketing that should be generalized.

Being too focused can lead to a close minded viewpoint of the product/service and the companies objectives.

Image Credit – Scott1723

There are marketing campaigns and there are marketing campaigns that play with your head. Nowadays it’s not surprising to find a marketer whose background is in psychology or sociology or maybe even has degrees and expertise  in two of those fields.

The Message

When you create a strategy, perception is everything. The adage that “The medium is the message” only holds a small part in the overall communication. Communication goes two ways; There’s a sender and a receiver. If anything gets broken in the process, the message is lost. To give you an example, a classroom was asked to put punctuation marks in the following phrase, “Woman without her man is nothing.” The men of the class punctuated as, “Woman, without her man, is nothing.” The women responded differently, “Woman: Without her, man is nothing.” Two completely separate messages, just by changing punctuation.

Wording, phrasing, and imagery are all parts off the communication message you’re trying to promote. On platforms like Twitter, where you only have 140 characters to express yourself, wording and phrasing matter. Especially when there’s an intention. It’s the difference between sounding pissed off or sounding kind and empathetic.

Don’t let the means clutter the message.

Disclosure: I used to work with Argyle Social, however I received no compensation for this post and I did it because I think they’re bad ass.

Update: Since yesterday, Eric Boggs has emailed me with the new Argyle Social logo, and updated Goals video.

When OneForty, Brian Solis and JESS3 debuted their new (amazingly awesome, might I add) graphic regarding the Twitterverse, I must admit that I was kind of shocked not to see an Argyle Social logo overlapping about three different lines. Between Social CRM, Stream Management, Communication Management, Relationship and Dashboard, Argyle Social was nowhere to be found in this infographic.

This post really hit me when my good friend Brian McDonald wrote about shortening your own URLs with YOURLS. I said, “Wait, Argyle Does this, don’t they?!” Sure enough, they do! And the more that I poke around OneForty finding new tools, like a URL Shortener (custom or not) which integrates with TweetDeck, a CRM tool, an Analytics tool or a tool that lets you integrate a RSS Feed, I realize that not one that I have used compares to Argyle Social and even better: why use multiple tools when you can have just one!

Among other things, Argyle’s UX is top-notch. The simplistic layout and smooth colors make doing anything as easy as possible. By integrating Facebook and Twitter, Argyle Social brings conversion tracking, Web Analytics integration, and in-depth reports to your social media strategy. Their forté is easily link tracking with a focus in Goal Conversion tracking. I have yet to see a tool that integrates this easily and effectively as they do.

If in doubt, take a quick peek at the Demo for Argyle Goals:

Give Argyle a shot, you won’t regret it.

Personal Branding is a unique aspect for anyone considering to launch one. Here I’m going to give you a short list of tools, and tips for starting up your personal brand on Twitter.

Before You Post a Word

Twitter is all about understanding the system and the way it works. The most consistent questions that I get always have to do with, “What do I put on there? I don’t want people know what I’m doing all the time.” Part of that comes because of Twitter’s original tag line, “What are you doing?” Which is naturally misrepresented for anyone who has used twitter for a while.

The best way to learn is by Trolling. The problem is that this term is confused negatively, with being obnoxious and irritating to existing users. That’s not what I mean. By trolling, I mean finding users with similar interests (See the Tools section to see tools for finding people to follow) and simply “listening” or following them for a time to get a grip on what’s being talked about.

Harder than anything is getting your first 100 followers and to keep the number of people you follow to those following you consistent, as to not look like an automated account. By keeping your Bio filled out with details about your industry or interests, you will be able to be found easier through some search tools, not to mention that you give a more “human” element to your Twitter profile.

Your First Posts

If you have a blog, that may be the one and only thing I will ever say that should be automatically posted to Twitter, your new posts. Aside from those, every Tweet should be an honest, typed post. After trolling and following a select group of people, you should have a good idea of what kind of conversation and information they engage in. Relevant posts should include:

1. @ Replies to topics that interest you. Make your comments relevant and on target, this lets your opinions get ReTweeted or Replied to in return.
2. ReTweets of common ground. If your interest is analytics, then you should be consistent. Stick to analytics or topics closely related. If you have character space to do so, add [ ] and inside the brackets add your opinion and a way to express that that is your opinion, like “/G”. G being your initial.
3. Honesty. Without honest opinions, posts, or conversations the whole principle of Twitter gets shot down. The reason people (who don’t use Twitter) believe that it’s all about “What you’re doing?” is because there are people that ruin it. With automated spam, ridiculous comments and simply not being the person your mother taught you to be, kills it.

Find People to Follow

My top three tools for finding new people to follow are:

1. Twellow – Simply put, is the Yellow Pages of Twitter. A directory of literally thousands of users based on their focus. Anywhere from Business to Health or whatever fits your fancy. Browse based on your interests. I highly suggest looking for the users who don’t come across as bots. Keep an eye out for how often they reply or ReTweet.
2. Listorious – Listorious unlike Twellow is a collection of lists. Which lets you find whole groups of users that share similarities. For bulk adding like users, this will get you further than Twellow.
3. Search.Twitter.com – Simple, yet extremely powerful. Search for keywords relative to you and your topics of interest and keep an RSS feed of them. You are bound to find people worthy of following. Bonus if you use the advanced search.

Constant Monitoring

My friend Eric from Argyle Social, is great at reminding us to, “Beware the Tether.” The tie that we have to the online world as we become more and more engaged in our online profiles. We get to the point where we can’t disconnect. But for those of you who are looking for a good set of tools for monitoring, Janet Aronica has put together a great comprehensive list for PR Students.

I hope that this is useful for anyone looking to start using Twitter, especially upcoming PR/Marketing/Communications graduates.

If you feel that I missed, or overlooked an important aspect to starting up on Twitter, leave a comment, I’ll update this post!