Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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October 28, 2009

9 Things I’ve Learned About Social Media

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:30 am

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Guest Post by Tom O’Brien

photo by Tom O'Brien

photo by Tom O'Brien

Two weeks ago I was on a panel for the AC Nielsen Center for Marketing Research at UW talking about social media and market research to executives from Wal-Mart, General Mills, Kraft, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson and 50 or so others. I was asked to share some lessons learned about SM – from the perspective of a brand marketer.

Here are my lessons learned personally and professionally over the last 10 years of heavy involvement in this space.

1. What people say to each other is more important than what we say to them.
2. People no longer rely on brands for information.
3. Advocates are more important than influencers.
4. Brand mentions are just the tip of the iceberg – somewhere between 5% and 30% of the relevant category conversation. You should listen to the whole conversation.
5. If you want to participate be helpful, human and humble.
6. When you participate, put the community’s interests & motivations first.
7. Connect to existing passion, don’t just make stuff up.
8. If you want new ideas, look beyond your category.
9. Brand advocacy is the most important metric today – are people recommending your brand to others.

Of course I could elaborate – for a LONG time on each of these, but I think you will get the gist.

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Tom O’Brien is CMO at MotiveQuest LLC He also writes for A Human Voice. You can find him on Twitter as TomOB

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Yeah, Tom. Those points are familiar and could take volumes to explain and discuss. Hope we get to have that conversation one day soon. Thank you!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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3 Comments to “9 Things I’ve Learned About Social Media”

  1. October 28th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
    Ms. Freeman said

    #8 is something I find myself doing often; we all need a little inspiration even if it is off topic.

  2. November 1st, 2009 at 4:26 am
    carol said

    7. Connect to existing passion, don’t just make stuff up.

    this is so true. I’ve had my share of marketing mishaps and the only lesson I have learned from it is to share something of yourself. this is the only way people will take notice of your point.

    great post! :)

  3. November 3rd, 2009 at 7:07 pm
    Nathan Hangen said

    Look beyond your category, so true! I’m trying to do a better job of that by reading magazines, spending time in the bookstore, and talking with people outside my sphere of influence. Thanks for the good post.

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