One of the areas where social media will excel is in the opportunity to make things our own, to give them our own look and feel. Remember when you got your first personal computer? Remember changing the background picture? Remember when you could change the theme? The world is pushing further and further into a desire for customization, and I think social media gives us a chance at custom communication/interaction.

The photo above are Disney’s Vinylmation toys (note: Hanes brought me to Walt Disney World for an event, but I wasn’t paid by Hanes or Disney for any of my thoughts on their workings or properties). I thought the toys were really clever, but then I found the do-it-yourself ones. Those really caught my eye. Because once you see what others had created, your next thought (or mine, at least) was, “well, what could I do to make it look different?”

Social media allows us to customize our communication. I can talk directly to Jon Swanson, and not to preachers. I can have conversations with Glenda Watson Hyatt and not just people interested in accessibility. That means, if interested, I can talk specifically about things that matter to them, and not to crowds.

Custom is everything.

Look at these flowers. The Disney Imagineers made them for the Hanes event:

They’re made out of socks. First, it’s cool because they look like flowers. Second, it looks like a fun craft you could do with kids. Third, it’s something that didn’t have to be there. And yet, because it was, the dinner looked custom to the rest of the Hanes Comfort Crew and me. Disney SAW us. They knew we were there.

Custom is everything. Do you agree?

Relationships Help Sell

It doesn’t hurt that the product is really good, but what made them come to mind was all the times we’ve chatted on Twitter, and/or seeing their social media conversations unfurl on Facebook and other platforms. They’re friendly. They’re part of the story. They’re here.

It’s not enough, obviously. Being around and chatting with me on Twitter doesn’t help if your product stinks. But here’s where it helped: when I realized that I was almost out of soap, they were top of mind.

How Do You Stay There?

I think this is the meat of most marketing. How do you stay top of mind with your customer? Let’s stick with soap. I’ll presume you use it daily (or mostly daily), but it’s not something that you think about.

In the old days, advertisers kept a brand top of mind by repeatedly pushing ads into our vision. Axe spends tons and tons convincing me that their products will make women go wild if I use them. Dove tells you that you’ll be very beautiful if you use them. Soap, of all products, is well known for working hard on staying top of mind. Remember the “soap” in “soap operas?”

To stay top of mind in the modern space, I think you have to be there. You have to be one of us. At least part of it is that. I can’t see Ford throwing away their campaigns and just count on Scott Monty to build relationships (though he’s definitely wearing the Ford colors in a powerful way). But it has to be both.

The Difference Might Be the “Both”

If you’re Glynne Soaps, you can’t pay for full spread magazine ads and soap operas. You can spend time on social platforms meeting people, talking to them about their stuff (and not just soap). Maybe you don’t pick up the ad campaign for a while, but that would be at an inflection point.

If you’re big, you do both. Ads alone don’t cut it. If you’re Pepsi, you maybe do the campaign, but you also put the humans in the game (like Bonin Bough and team).

It depends on the product, I believe. There are “commodity” transactions where I don’t care. But the other thing is, we all have different opinions on what we care about or don’t. For instance, I don’t really care who changes the oil in my car, but because of my conversations with Sullivan Tire on Twitter, that’s where I’ll probably go because they’re top of mind.

What Can We Do?

I think it’s a choice. I think that if you’re a bigger brand, you have more to think about. If you’re a smaller brand, this almost feels like a “must” at this point, trying out social media conversation channels. You might not get the mix right. You might have to experiment until you find what gets people to respond and take action in a relationship-minded way. But without starting to experiment, you won’t find it.

Will soap companies that make relationships on Twitter clean up? I’ve got a hunch they’ll do better than not. But is it all just a matter of working us up into a good lather? I don’t think so.

Start by observing other brands in other verticals and how they’re getting it done. Then experiment. Try making relationships before trying to sell. And be ready to apologize. You will likely make mistakes. But I think there’s some gold in this, done right.

Want some people to observe? On Twitter, check out:

@Glynnesoaps
@RSHotel
@SullivanTire

And maybe you. Are you a smaller brand building relationships one at a time? Brag it up in the Twitter feed.

I was recently leg-humped at Web 2.0 Expo, by someone I like, and who I think is smart and has a lot of good potential. The thing is, I politely declined a demo, and he persisted. Immediately, I shifted to my back foot. I felt defensive. I rolled up my interest and tucked it away.

This is a relationship. Everything is a relationship. Even if it’s on the transactional side of the spectrum, it’s a relationship. Think of it that way. Think of the protocols of getting into the better parts of a relationship. Julien and I wrote Trust Agents as part of the antidote to doing this the wrong way.

Simply: If you hump my leg, you risk screwing yourself.

Photo credit Tanais Fox

In one example, we created pathways for end consumers to take on some of the in-store process via online tools, because part of the process involved walking into a brick and mortar store, flipping through catalogs, talking with designers, and laying out potential solutions before they even had a sense of the price. We talked about how YouTube would impact this by showing some serving suggestions, and how we could create a lot of blog and/or Facebook content to walk someone through the process so that they saved time before entering the store.

In another example, we talked about how mobile isn’t used enough in social media, and how several of the company’s target audience are very heavy mobile users, but aren’t really desktop/laptop users (in like a 90/10 time ratio of which they prefer using in a given day). To that end, we talked about snackable content and the mobile web and how SMS-enabled technologies would be the right way to drive information exchange.

We talked about putting some faces to the brand, so that people were doing business with Maria and not just “bigcompany.”

None of this conversation was about “you’ve got to get on Twitter,” or “Facebook groups are dead, but fan pages rock.” We talked instead about how people bought from the company, and which tools in my experience would help.

I’m telling you all this so that you can consider how you’re looking at the tools. I look at the tools as a way to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust. We understand the other ways that the revolution will be blogged/podcasted/videoblogged/tweeted, but the way I earn my living is by showing companies how to be human at a distance, and how they can improve their business objectives.

Driving to sales is definitely one way, and with that comes a whole different way to consider how you’re using the tools.

What’s your take? How are you using the tools to drive sales? What matters most to you with regards to social software?

Photo credit dbking

In fact, nothing we did was especially earth shattering.

Except it was.

We asked you to buy the book. We asked you to point out to your friends or colleagues the book if you felt they could use it. We thanked you via Twitter and Facebook and email and whatever other way you reached back to us to tell us you were reading it, that you liked it, that you found the “zbecause” typo on page 125. (**Update: Keith would like for me to be clear and state that we didn’t think ALL of you. We missed some of you. So, thank you, too, even when we couldn’t get to you personally. We love you. It’s us, not you.**).

Evaluate HOW You View Social Tools

A lot of times, agencies and consultants make things complex. We do this because we’re worried that people won’t think what we’re offering is important. Know what’s important? Sales. Basic things like getting the product into the right hands helps. Making relationships that matter when you need them is key.

The tools aren’t cool because they’re the new shiny object. They’re cool because they let you work more closely with people. It’s an opportunity to create relationships that matter, and a chance to do so in a very nuanced and human fashion.

You’ve got some great opportunities out there to help companies (or your own business or organization) move some needles using these tools. Think simple. Think simple first. Work with every tool from the perspective of what you really need to see happen, and then decide which tools accomplish that.

Thoughts?

Photo credit pink.polka

You don’t have to build relationships to sell things. McDonalds is sinking over $100 Million USD into their McCafe program, because they expect sales of those products to account for $1 Billion in sales. Do you think they give a rat’s anus about getting to know me? Not at all. Will their efforts work? I’m guessing yes. Even if they miss that Billion mark, it will be a pretty decent ROI in the end for their efforts. (We like coffee.)

But relationships are a choice. I can choose to build relationships because I want a longer term sales experience with you. For instance, I was talking with @moniquewade on Twitter, and she was asking me if the Trust Agents community on Facebook was just a way to market the book. I replied, “The idea is this: relationships sell better than typical marketing. If you are PART of Trust Agents, it’s better than selling.”

I went on to say, “Exactly so. I’m not selling a book. That’s just the byproduct, the souvenir. I’m sharing access and interaction. For free!”

My Marketing Mindset for Trust Agents

First, pay attention: I’m talking about me, my marketing mindset, and specifically that which relates to Trust Agents, my upcoming book with Julien.

In thinking about marketing this book, Julien and I built a Trust Agents community over on Facebook. It (like a lot of what I do) is an experiment. We wondered if people wanted to talk about trust and how different trust is in the online world. As of this writing, we have over 1500 people participating in conversations, and sharing their thoughts.

Why bother, if all I want to do is sell a book? But that’s it. I don’t want to sell a book. I want to build a relationship that lasts much longer than a book. Yes, I’d love it if you buy a book. Julien and I worked very hard on it. We put a lot of our beliefs into it. We’ve spent months working on it, and we’d love for you to buy anywhere from one to 200 copies. But that’s not the point.

We want to know you. We want to talk with you. We want you to call us out when we’re wrong, and to tell us how to improve. We want to hear how you’re doing, and we want to interact.

Why? Because we feel that a trust agent uses the secret skill that we call being a “Human Artist,” and that knowing how best to build relationships of value is something best demonstrated instead of just being this thing we wrote about in a book.

Relationship marketing takes lots more effort, but I’m banking on the fact that you and I have much more between us than your $20 for our book.

Is One Better Than the Other?

Hell no, and punch the person who tells you it’s all about the relationships. When I drive into McDonalds, I order a large iced coffee with milk and one Splenda. I don’t care what McDonalds does wrong or right. They don’t care about me. It’s just a transaction, and it works just great. I am VERY aware of their new ad campaign, and I’m sure it’s driving more sales. It works great for them.

Could I sell Trust Agents without building relationships? Hell yes. There are lots of ways to mechanically get that book moved. Is that how I’ve chosen to do it? No. I much prefer the relationships.

The point is simple: choose. If you want to build relationships as part of your marketing, that’s very do-able. If you want to have a more transactional approach, that’s fine, too. But don’t attempt relationships and then hope for transactional returns.

And always be clear on your ask. If you’re building relationships ONLY to market, that’s just a longer haul transaction. Be clear if you’re asking someone for something, or if you’re just making friends. It helps on all fronts.

Thoughts From You?

What’s your take?

When it comes down to it, though, I realize that the trick is going to be working with people who might be decent at blogging, who might be pretty good at tweeting, who have a sense of what to do on Facebook, but who might not work from the perspective of this all tying into a sales marketing experience.

I’ve been working on a sales marketing framework for a while. I’m going to release it into my newsletter audience first, and then on this blog. It’s nothing amazing, but it does line up where I feel all the social tools fall into the various parts of a sales cycle. For instance, AWARENESS involves everything from tweeting to blogging to video and podcasting. Depending on how the project is put together, I’d need someone who knows how to use my outposts methodology and then who could create in such a way that it is promoting without being that guy.

In thinking about this, and in talking with others who have started their own social media consulting efforts, I notice quite often that people use the tools in a very standalone methodology. For instance, they build a following on Twitter, but do nothing to reach out to them via email marketing. They use Twitter as a promotional tool, and an in-between conversation tool, but it’s not always clear who realizes how this fits into a marketing plan or any other type of formal business communications experience.

Here’s a sample of what I’m talking about:

Project: Product Launch

Goal: 1000 Signups in the first 10 Days

Secondary Goal: 20 blog posts with links to product site in the first 10 days

Strategy: Awareness through presence, through content marketing, and through blogger outreach.

Steps:

• Start Listening tool topic profile for product, space in general, top 3 competitors.
• Discover related blogging community. Begin commenting and building relationships.
• Build branded Twitter and Facebook presence.
• Build off-site blog to connect with the community of prospective users.
• Build conversion points on that blog.
• Launch face-to-face presence experience (meetup?)
• Bring Flip video cameras. Recommend specific hashtags. Solicit help covering event.
• Launch blogger outreach requests. Track affirmatives. Track for posts. Respond to comments.
• Continue promoting (following the “that guy” rules).
• Measure signups. Measure blog posts.
• Adjust, if necessary. Report all results.

There. That’s a very simple project frame (or a marketing plan, maybe?) for a promotion project.

Is that how you’re building your projects? Are you planning through all the various elements? Have you determined what the real wins are, how you’ll measure them, and how they convert to sales?

It strikes me that this is the next iteration. You understand that the tools are powerful. You get that this is different than traditional marketing. Now, make a difference and move some needles.

You with me?

Photo credit recursion see recursion

The sales organizations of most companies have a similar way of diagramming their sales process. They make these little graphics showing a circle with five or more points along the circle that indicate a customer’s potential interaction with the organization. The points are usually labeled something like this:

• Prospects
• Awareness
• Leads
• Customers
• Evangelists (or sometimes, they use this bubble for “support”)

In writing this up, what comes first? Awareness or prospects? (I think this goes in two configurations.) Person (be this B2C or B2B) is unaware of your product or service. You make them aware. They become prospects, which means you identify which of the people who become aware might actually be a good fit for your product. Then prospects who seem genuinely ready to become customers enter the lead process (where a sales person attempts to close the sale successfully). After this, the person becomes a customer/user/member and experiences the product they’ve purchased. And then hopefully, your customer has had such a great time with the product that they’re evangelists who say great things about it. Companies who are less hopeful mark this bubble “support.” Because it’s a circle, the suggestion is that we will constantly make our existing customers aware of new products and sell them these, as well.

These tools we have like blogging and podcasting and video and the use of social platforms are interesting, but to be useful to a sales marketing process, we have to look at where they make the most possible leverage and value.

Awareness

Here’s where I think the most value lies in using social media tools. Because we have these tools that let us listen for potential customers at their point of need (loosely quoted from Radian6 CEO Marcel LeBrun), we can find potential prospects and make them aware. We can use our podcast or our blog or our YouTube videos to build what we hope is meaningful content. We can strike up conversations on Twitter with people who might find our service or product more interesting. Awareness ranks highest in my sense of what these tools let us do.

Think about how you can get past the typical daily newspaper grind. Think about using email marketing, blogging, and basic presence on Twitter and Facebook to build relationships. It’s much better than the old method of broadcasting and the one-dimensional efforts of traditional advertising. There’s a strong opportunity here for any organization seeking to improve awareness of their offerings.

Prospects

My point on social media and prospecting is this: we now volunteer up lots of information via our social networks. If your prospects are online, they’re donating all kinds of information that’s useful in relationship building. If you want to sell something to Jeff Pulver, for instance, you’ll learn quickly that he loves music, that he loves live bands and karaoke, that he takes having fun seriously, that he travels all the time. If you’re a salesperson, you know how to translate this into openings for other conversations. You know how to pursue Jeff where he roams. It’s clear and obvious the value.

Prospecting using social networks and other social media is obvious, but are you doing it?

Leads

So now you’ve put someone into your lead cycle. You’ve decided you are going to close them for a sale (and remember, let’s use “sale” loosely. Maybe you’re “selling them” on donating to your charity, or watching your video channel. The advent of services like Twitter allow you to mind read from afar. If I’m going to hit up Len Devanna from EMC to sponsor a conference of mine, I’m sure as hell going to read his Twitter stream from the last two days and make sure his dog hasn’t gone into the hospital or that he’s not dealing with a budget cut, etc.

It also allows you to gently touch (without selling) your clients so that they keep you top of mind. Don’t talk to @elizabethhannan about that webinar software you need to sell her. Talk to her about her last few brightkite uploads and ask her how her weekend sporting outings were. It has the same effect: a gentle touch in the process of closing a lead.

Customers

As more and more organizations turn to blogging and Twitter for customer service, still others are building communities of use around their products, and promoting product discussions, member sharing forums, and more. A paid-up customer is not the end of the sales cycle, any good salesperson knows. He or she is a trusted part of your next successful sales, or at least, a referral to other potential prospects. These tools are a great way to connect with customers and keep them feeling important.

Evangelists

Social tools that promote sharing are a great way to transform customers into evangelists. Are you Sony Electronics and you’re trying to sell more GPS-enabled camcorders? Send each unit out with a piece of stationary inviting the new owner to sign up to YouTube (or even better, Blip.tv), and encourage them to use a metadata tag on all their submissions that marks them as part of the Sony family.

Nikon did this famously with Flickr, the online photo sharing site, such that any Nikon pictures uploaded showed off the Nikon logo in the metadata in the sidebar, and identified themselves as such.

If you’re not thinking of ways of connecting your products and services to the online share-o-sphere (all these various social networks that encourage interaction and sharing), you’re missing a powerful opportunity.

My Points In Closing

What is the ROI of adding metadata to someone’s YouTube account? Good luck figuring out the math on that. Do you feel in your gut that any time someone has a chance to experience yet another brand impression on your product, it’s a good thing? I do. And I feel that all the above-mentioned ideas are ways (or at least the start of ideas that I expect you to have AFTER the post) on making sense of how to tie social media tools and methods to your sales process.

Building awareness, maintaining good business relationships, communicating thoroughly, listening, and encouraging evangelists are all ways your efforts in social media will pay off sooner rather than later.

But what about you? Have you had some early success with any of this? What are some other examples you’ve seen or have practiced yourself? What’s your take?

I asked him why we weren’t a sales marketing organization.

Not social media. Not marketing. Not even PR. I wanted to start from the mindset of this: “what if every aspect of our efforts was dedicated to helping people sell?” On the other angle, “what if every aspect of our efforts was dedicated to helping customers buy?”

There are two storytelling teams (whether or not they’re broken out that way) within most organizations: there are those who tell stories about products and services, and there are those who tell the story of the company. Yes, this is “duh”-level conversation, but yet, it’s kind of profound. I think PR tells the story of the company (and by that, I mean the people). What about sales marketing?

Companies like Hubspot are pushing in this direction. They help companies build findable sites, with lead generation mechanisms, and with highly measurable conversion metrics. THIS is what a sales marketing team might consider as a tool. (Disclosure: I’m on the advisory board for Hubspot, but what I just wrote is the reason why I’m on the board.)

I think content marketing and the like are lead generation-focused. I feel that conversions-to-sales is the coin of the realm these days. It’s not enough to brand. It’s not exactly enough to have a wide-area sales funnel (like content). We want to see every effort’s paths back to sales.

Is this the trend? Are companies asking for more sales out of their online marketing efforts? It feels like yes, but I need you to answer that.

Just thoughts on my mind in need of your further germination.

Once we get past the kumbaya answers like “everyone must join the conversation,” we drive directly into the “how exactly does this sell more tractors?” types of questions. The answers, of course, are always variable. It depends how things are implemented, how much karma the company already has stored up with us, and a variety of other factors.

With regards to the Fiesta Movement, some of the participants are our own. Jeremy Tanner, Jody Gnant, Sarah Austin, Natasha Wescoat and several more folks we know are in the game. Will this make someone who knows them feel the project is more authentic? I think so. Will it influence any of us to buy a car? I don’t know.

But what I do know is that the project is much more interesting than watching a typical car ad, no matter what. The participants in the project have to complete missions, starting April 21st. These missions will be more interesting than any car commercial.

I say “yes” to answer Pete Cashmore’s question, and Pete seems to feel that way according to his post. And now, the question of all questions: would social media help your business to sell more whatevers? Are you putting it to the test? Any results to report yet?

Photo credit Kevin Dooley