A Guest Post by Jonathan Lansner of the Orange County Register
Trust the customer. It’s never been truer than in the social media world.
This summer, I started collecting for my newspaper’s on-line audience a sampling of lessons learned from folks who ventured with their professional personas into the social media world. While there’s ton of expert opinion available of what works in social media, to me it’s often most valuable when the lesson learned comes from folks using the tools in the fields.
Here’s a sampling of what I’ve learned, and told my “SMagazine” readers at the OC Register Social
…
1. Foremost, it’s really about listening to others. Marty Furman of penmaker Pentel gives a great example of market research gleaned from the social networks, like Twitter: “We’ve heard that Bible study groups use this (eight-color) pencil to highlight areas they’re studying. We’ll tweet to let Bible study groups know about the pencil.” ( @PentelOfAmerica)
2. Yes! What you do write, can be problematic. Tracy Marks of Souplantation
says of the restaurant chain’s social media efforts: “We know we can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time, but we’re finding ways to please the majority. But that piece – about not pleasing everyone all the time – is important to learn and understand; and let happen.”
3. Don’t be pushy. Corin Ramos of the National Fibromyalgia Association tells me: “Don’t keep reminding your (Facebook) fans to help you get more fans. Pages who do this come across as whiny, needy, ungrateful and, well, annoying. Remember: The page really belongs to the fans, not just to your organization.
4. Embrace criticism. Jennifer Seaton of the Transportation Corridor Agencies says the toll-road agency had to learn how to deal with critical posts made to their Facebook pages. “We tend to respond if there is a question, or just leave the post if it doesn’t include a question. We try to be open, provide information requested and allow negative posts to become part of the dialogue.”
5. And, sometimes, you have to give in. Matt Paulso, marketer of two professional beach volleyball tournaments, admit that “I did find that the things that don’t offer prizes, i.e. polls, don’t really get much response.I was hoping simple intellectual engagement might elicit responses.”
—
Jonathan Lansner is a columnist/blogger for The Orange County Register
newspaper, where he writes SM Magazine, http://ocregister.com/social and the housing blog, http://ocregister.com/lansner You can find him on Twitter as @jonlan
Thanks, Jon! Great points every one.
Bring us more. 🙂
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
