Top 10 Tools of the Social Media Swiss Army Knife

If you've shown up here, why don't you mosey on over to my new blog? Yeah, I just soft launched The BrandForward Blog. It's at http://michelletripp.com. You can find all the same posts you can find here. But it's a bit more pretty.

Yeah, go on! Scoot! Nothing to see here!

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You may not like today's post.

I'm not laying into ghost tweeters. I'm not telling Domino's where it's at. I'm not even going to say a single word about big media. Really.

Today I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm going to whip up an informative post. (gasp!) Something you can actually use. Today I'm going to talk about social media. And what the heck you're supposed to do with it.

So let's get to the thing. A lot of people out there are trying to figure out what to make of social media. How to use it. How to master it. How to turn it into something that doesn't scare small children. Companies are trepidatiously calling their agencies. Talking to their buddies on the golf course. Acting all cloak and dagger in the break room as if they're talking about tampons or hemorrhoids. Asking the same question. All in hushed tones.

"What exactly is this whole social media thing anyway?"

"What is Twitter?"

"How do you get your kids to friend you on Facebook?"

Well you could ask a social media expert. Or you could just pull out that Swiss Army knife you've got stuffed in your shirt/pocket/purse/glove box.

Because social media is essentially a Swiss Army knife. And a Roman legion of social media experts can't tell you more about social media than a simple Swiss Army knife can.

Social media is a tool.

A tool to get something done. Just like you'd pull out the multi-appendaged knife's shiny corkscrew to pop open a bottle of wine three minutes after the boss leaves on a Friday. Or flip out the nail file to dig leaky printer ink from your fingernails before meeting with the CEO. Or open up that handy 2" mini-blade to fend off a savage bear attack.

This is social media. Nothing fancy about it. You can sprinkle fairy dust all over Facebook and MySpace. You can pretend Second Life is going to go mainstream. You can daydream about the 19,530 Twitter followers Gary McCaffrey promises to get you in 30 days. Right. And all the wealth and riches that supposedly goes along with that.

But at the end of the day, social media isn't magic. It's just a tool, a multi-functional, albeit bright red and shiny tool. Waiting for a purpose. And without clear objectives and ultra-sharp strategy, using social media is like trying to cut a rope with those cute little Swiss Army tweezers. Not the right tool. Might make a dent but ultimately it's not going to work. And certainly isn't going to be efficient.

Yeah, I could have walked away right now and left this a neat, tidy little sub-1500 word post that might not eat up a whole lunch break. But why have a Swiss Army knife if you can't take it out and play with it. It has so many nifty little pieces.

So here's my collection of social media Swiss Army tools. Each for a specific use, each with its own capability. Just like the Swiss Army knife, social media packs a whallop. But it’s only effective when each tool is understood and used for its proper purpose and executed within the confines of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

1. Social Media as an Account Planning Research Tool
When used as an account planning tool, social media helps a company connect to the pulse of the consumer market and gain insight into how to speak with consumers and how to influence them more relevantly. Social media account planning complements traditional primary research methods and gets closer to raw opinions and of-the-moment brand conversation.

2. Social Media as an SEO Research Tool
Social media can also complement SEO research. Granted, there are a lot of great SEO tools out there that can tell you which search terms are trending for your specific market, as well as what's being overused or underused, and a whole slew of other fun toys. But adding social media research to the mix allows you to do some of the digging yourself so you can see first-hand the keywords in the context of real-time conversation, get a feel for trends by reading blogs, and experimenting with the results of long tail search terms. It's kind of like the difference between getting a creative brief in your IN BOX vs. hearing all the nuances from listening to the client speak about the project. I always prefer the latter. A lot of SEO practitioners will probably say that analyzing link juice, page rank, search terms, and evaluating reach and exposure is naturally social media. I'm just saying it can be used in a truly social way, where a warm body is doing the research as opposed to a search engine algorithm.

3. Social Media as a Public Relations Tool
Social media is a way for traditional public relations counselors to execute their strategies in a more proactive way, building even stronger relationships with bloggers, news brands, and online journalists. It also opens the window on getting brand exposure in more venues than they've ever had access to. Purposing social media for PR uses strategies similar to traditional PR, but using this new set of tools allows for more proactive innovation in the execution. A social media twist can be spun on press releases, corporate communiqué, reputation management, or awareness programs. And on and on.

4. Social Media as a Point-of-Sale Tool
As a virtual point-of-purchase tool, social media can serve as the catalyst for a buying decision. This can be anything from having a sales agent manning the Twitter feed to being proactive about forum interaction on your website. Or creating a virtual sales agent on your website ready to interact in real-time. Or a strategically-placed banner ad. The key is having a proactive presence at the virtual points where customers are likely to be making final purchasing decisions.

5. Social Media as a Customer Service Tool
Social media can be used to field customer complaints and questions, or to direct customers to the appropriate point of contact for specific needs and requests. Or to educate. Or just to have a (gasp!) real conversation. Using social media as a customer service and customer relationship management tool (thanks @AlexnNYC!) lets brands get closer to the customer when the customer needs them most, which in turn influences brand trust and provides brand assurance.

6. Social Media as Direct Sales Tool
Yeah, it's pretty obvious. There are those wonderfully high-minded folks who've discovered that social media can be used as the least appreciated form of marketing: door-to-door sales. Load up an auto DM with a "free e-book" link or the URL to your product website and you're treading a really thin line. When you don't have the time, budget, or marketing know-how to launch something subtle, strategic, and targeted, or you're pretty sure the only way to make a sale is to overwhelm the consumer with big promises and TMI, there's always social media as a direct sales tool. You've seen it around. You know who's doing it. You're probably ignoring it.

7. Social Media as a Direct Marketing Tool
This is a tool that allows marketers to quickly identify and qualify leads and blanket large numbers of potential customers with highly-targeted or loosely targeted direct messaging. Consider it a kinder, gentler form of spamming. Which means when it's used in social media it probably has a tiny bit more relevance than those Viagra and Mexican pharmacy emails that just won't go away. But not much.

8. Social Media as an Advertising Tool
In place of television, radio, outdoor, and print are YouTube, podcasting, banner ads, and blogs. Social media as an advertising tool is so massive I can't even begin to lay out the land without upgrading my hosting package. (okay I'm still on blogspot, just go with me here). The key is that social media as an advertising tool seeks to achieve similar objectives as traditional media, but the tactics and path to sale are different. Requiring a whole new set of strategies. And a very different looking media department.

9. Social Media as a Brand Positioning Engagement Tool
I love brand positioning. There's just something about getting to the core of a product, service, and company that makes my day. Truly brilliant advertising/marketing is founded on solid brand positioning. Getting to the core of what matters to the client and what's true about the company and product. Social media is a phenomenal tool in this respect. It's two-pronged. First, it allows a brand team to delve into the blogosphere, twittersphere, socialsphere, and googlesphere to uncover hidden consumer realities and motivations that ultimately drive brand positioning. On the other side, it gives a brand the chance to be authentic in its connections. When consumers interact with a brand in social media they walk away with a more saturated, lasting brand aftertaste. Social media as a brand positioning tool makes a connection that can ultimately be even more powerful than the connection made through traditional media. And man. Is that hard for me to say. Because one of my greatest passions is harnessing the power of a core value to make a tangible brand connection using something as flimsy as TV/radio/print. But social media ramps that ability right up to 11.

10. Social Media as a Community Tool
I started to lump this with Brand Positioning. But I needed a 10th. And because growing a social media community hinges on crafting a brand experience from the “promise” perspective. And that's branding, baby. But because of this new and interesting animal we call "co-ownership" it creates a need to manage the brand community. Let's just say community picks up where brand positioning strategy ends. Oh and you can expect your customers to now have the title of Brand Manager. You no longer own the brand nor do you control it with an iron fist. This gives you the chance to build customer loyalty in a fresh, new way. Or fail in a fresh, new way. So you better do a good job. With customers. Not just at the awards show and on the blogging circuit. Because people will talk. And that's why today, protecting your social media community is just as essential as protecting your trademark. Only not as easy.

The Difference Between Marketing and Social Media
Okay, just because you can head out into the hinterlands with nothing but a Clif Bar and a Swiss Army knife and still come out alive, a brand cannot survive with a social media Swiss Army knife alone.

Pack the whole bag.

Integrate. Realize that "marketing" is that 5000 cubic inch Kelty backcountry pack you've had strapped on for many an adventure. It holds a lot of gear. You need that gear. A social media Swiss Army knife is just a part of it.

Are there more social media Swiss Army tools? You betcha. We haven't even gotten into the Strategic Alliance tool, Referral Marketing tool, and I'm sure there's someone out there working on a Timeshare Marketing tool. Lord help us. But the point is social media is a tool that has a lot of different purposes. And none of them should be used just because they look pretty. Yeah, a Swiss Army knife is a beauty to behold. It's even got a place in MOMA. But unless you're MacGyver you really shouldn't expect it to launch rocket ships.

Okay, so as much as I'd like to go on and on and map out which social media networks work best with which tools, and go into the mix and match uses of blogging, video blogging, podcasting, webinars, Yelp, and Yahoo Answers, this isn't a white paper and that little man with the stick is jumping up and down. Apparently I've exceeded the time limit. They want me backstage. Now.

Your turn. What are the social media Swiss Army tools you're using? How are you using them? And why. Let's pack this bag.




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The term "Swiss Army" is a registered trademark owned by Wenger S.A. and Victorinox A.G.

Forget the Ad Degree, Watch Mad Men Instead.

When the heart of good advertising can be captured succinctly and brilliantly in a three-minute YouTube video, it kinda makes you wonder about the actual value of spending four years sleeping through advertising classes.

And kinda makes me glad I didn't bother.

One of my favorite bloggers, Edward Boches (http://edwardboches.com) posted a link to one of the greatest moments in television history. Nope, not James Harrison's 100-yard interception return. Although that definitely could qualify. But of all the moments in TV history that I could watch over and over and still need a Kleenex the 50th time I see it, an episode of AMC's Mad Men takes the honors.

What made this clip such a great moment was how it took a critical (and oftentimes forgotten) advertising philosophy and executed it in a way that reminds me why I got into advertising in the first place. It's about getting to the truth and communicating what's real. It's about connecting with the consumer at the deepest level. It's about not just getting into the consumer's head, but also into their heart. And when the stars align, into their soul.

I've seen both creative and account people get lost in a sea of analytics, deadlines, billable targets, and executional mandatories and forget what really matters. What makes advertising matter. When we do our job right, we can turn a simple product or service into an emotional experience.

As advertisers we add a magical ingredient that no tangible product could ever have on its own. We tell a story that makes a connection. We help the consumer see value beyond the price tag. It's no longer something they can own, it's something they can live. We take a product that exists in the outer world and make it a part of their inner world. As humans we're driven to define ourselves through association, and we begin to LOVE the products we choose, because they fulfill our need for identity.

As advertisers we help inanimate objects and everyday services gain entrance to a special place in the consumer's heart and mind where the identity lives. We help build a consumer's "brand family," the group of products and services a consumer is connected to, has an emotional bond with, and will have a hard time abandoning.

I love how Mad Men demonstrated so eloquently the difference between agencies that create advertising and agencies that build that amazing connection. The difference between agencies that build powerpoints and agencies that build evangelists.

We all want to make a difference in our world and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the value of what we do. Thanks to Edward for digging up a reminder that as advertising "inventors" we bring something powerful and beautiful to the table. What we do doesn't just create revenue and profits. We don't just create ads and reports and powerpoints.

We create MEANING.



Watch the YouTube clip of Don Draper's presentation to Kodak. It's three minutes well-spent.

I'm a PC: Microsoft's 60-Second Masquerade Ball

Hey kids, here's your lesson for the day: The first rule of the schoolyard:

"TRYING TO BE COOL IS UNCOOL."

That's why I'm perplexed that Crispin Porter + Bogusky seemed to forget this simple principle when they developed (or as I sometimes like to say: "shat out") the new "I'm a PC" commercials for Microsoft.

The French have a word for the natural way some people can look cool without trying, and ultimately draw others to respect and admire them. It's called "sprezzatura." The sad, painful fact for Microsoft is that Mac has this in spades. And the new "I'm a PC" commercials make it clear that Microsoft wants it. Really, really wants it. Which means they really, really don't have it. If Microsoft wanted to emerge from the quagmire of doltness, they should have developed a campaign that takes what's great about themselves and pwned it. Not try to own what's great about Mac and throw a 60-second masquerade ball hoping no one will ask to see what's under the costumes.

In grand fashion, the Microsoft "I'm a PC" commercials try to establish the company as "a cool kid, too," but unwittingly erect a flashing neon arrow that screams "I'm a wannabe! Don't you wannabe a wannabe just like me?" Right. Um. Yeah. And then let's go hang out behind the band hall during lunch. With Ballmer.

Sorry, folks in the CP+B research department, but the whole "I'm a PC" concept comes off looking like a Cincinnati defensive tackle. Shame on the creative team for coming up with this testament to desperate miscellany. Shame on Account Planning for letting it slide. And shame on whoever approved the crowbar shunting of celebrity cameos. To say they were "awkward" is being nice. When Eva Longoria and Tony Parker popped on screen - the ick factor was oozing beyond the bandage. It felt like the dorky kid's big sister marched out onto the playground to scold everyone into being nice to him. Yes, and the minute she walks away someone will be rolling him around in the mud and dying his hair pink in the boys' bathroom.

Oddly enough, the celebrity presence didn't raise my respect for PCs. It only lowered it for the celebrities. I was embarrassed for them. I was embarrassed for Microsoft. Was there no one in this whole creative process who stepped back and pointed out the obvious? It was like Michael Jackson was about to have another plastic surgery and everyone in the room was either nodding and saying "sounds like a great idea!" or just looking the other way with a smirk.

The best part of the "I'm a PC" commercials is the irony. The spots reinforce in rainbow colors Microsoft's position of being on the outside of the cool crowd looking in. And Apple didn't even have to pay for it. Microsoft is trying so hard to connect with culture and humanity, but just like Data's quest for humanity in First Contact, Microsoft's "I'm a PC" is little more than clumsy attempts to graft bits of human skin onto robotic limbs. Is it a coincidence that sci-fi's iconic android has more personality than the PC world's own humanoid icon? There's really only one thing worse than trying to look cool when you're not. It's trying to look human when you're not.

At the end of Microsoft's "I'm a PC" masquerade ball, the costumes will come off, the poser will be exposed, and the kids on the playground will show no mercy.