What I learned at Social Fresh STL: Don’t be a Zombie!
On Monday I attended Social Fresh, a social media conference for marketers that took place right here in the great city of St. Louis, my hometown. It was a day full of keynotes and panel sessions from some pretty well known folks in the social media space such as Jason Falls (@JasonFalls) and Jay Baer (@JayBaer), just to name a few. But it was Amber Naslund’s (@ambercadabra) keynote that really made me sit up and take notice.
First, she captured the audience’s attention with the YouTube sensation, Zombies in Plain English video. A tough feat, considering her keynote immediately followed the lunch break. She began by tackling two of the most commonly asked questions she hears from marketers considering social media for their company:
1) Can you show me case studies?
2) What is the ROI?
Are there case studies? Yes, there are some, and Amber even gave us a link to her library of social media case studies. But in her speech, she questioned the overall need for case studies. Why are we (marketers) so dependent on case studies? Are we all zombies? Do we always have to wait for someone else to make the first move?
I think of it this way: every weight loss program or product I’ve ever seen advertised shows testimonials from people who have tried the product and lost weight. We see the before and after photos and we think, “Hey, if I buy this, I will have the same results!” It doesn’t matter that no two human bodies are exactly the same, and that there could be any number of factors that play into someone’s success, or lack thereof. So when we try it and it doesn’t work, we blame the program or product, not our differences or our execution.
The same goes for social media. No two companies are exactly alike and there are so many different factors that play into a company’s success (or lack of) when it comes to implementing a social media strategy that case studies are essentially irrelevant. There is no cookie cutter approach. There isn’t a magic number of Twitter followers, Facebook fans or blog comments that – once achieved – means you’ve achieved success. As Amber said, when it comes to setting goals and determining the right strategy, “it all depends.” The recommended approach, according to Amber, is to “be your own case study.” Create a plan that makes sense for your brand and build something unique. Then track and measure everything you can, and analyze your own results. Be a leader and take a chance. Don’t wait for someone else to do it first.
As for the whole ROI debate, the question we should really be asking is if the time we spend is worth it, because ROI and justification are not the same. Amber gave a great example of this by saying, “You don’t go golfing with your client and then try to calculate the ROI. You have to build.” Again, this all goes back to first determining what you’re trying to achieve with social media because that will determine the level of importance ROI plays in your social media strategy.
So go forth, and be your own case study!
Jason Keath // Apr 23, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Great take Liz. I love the dieting analogy. Really puts a full picture on the case study conversation. I would say those testimonials serve to motivate, to make things real. To inspire. Same with case studies.
Thanks for coming out and supporting the event.
Danielle // Apr 23, 2010 at 4:27 pm
This was great, Liz! I feel like a lot of people take the case study and ROI debate too far. I think the bottomline for both of these points is- there is no end all, be all right answer in social media. There isn’t a ‘correct’ way to do it, or a ‘correct’ way to measure it. Sometimes that freaks people out. I had totally forgotten about the ‘you can’t measure the ROI of an afternoon on the golf course’ point, so thanks for reminding me! That was so smart!
If you’re interested (inspired by @JasonFalls!), check out my post on Social Fresh at the Atomicdust blog: http://www.atomicdust.com/blog/single/ten-things-i-learned-at-social-fresh-in-140-characters-or-less/
-Danielle, Atomicdust
Amber Naslund // Apr 23, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Hi Liz,
Thanks so much for being there, and for the kind words. And I’m glad you enjoyed the keynote!
One point of clarification, though. I don’t think case studies are wholly irrelevant. I think they can be great idea catalysts, great reassurance for some, even sparks in the right direction.
What I struggle with is the practice of looking at a case study and then trying to replicate it, tactic for tactic, in hopes that it will return the same or better results. And while that sounds patently silly, I can tell you that companies do it all the time. It’s a shortcut, and easier to blame the model than the execution.
So largely, I’m hoping I can inspire people to do just what you say, and be their OWN case study. Use the information that’s out there and learn from it, but for heaven’s sake go forth and do something. The only way you’ll ever know for sure what your business is capable of is to go out there and do it.
Carolyn Chiang // Apr 23, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Completely agree with your highlights, Liz! Amber’s keynote really stood out to me as well.
One other point that I love is the misconception that social media is not for B2B companies. As Jay put it, WOM and social media can be even more important in B2B. These companies have fewer customers, so each customer’s share of voice is greater. It really is all about finding the right channels to meet the business objective.
Brad Hogenmiller // Apr 23, 2010 at 6:37 pm
I love the fitness comparison and think it’s an accurate one. You could even go crazy (hey, it’s Friday) and take it a few steps further:
-Social Media is like joining a gym, there is no substitute for the work. Signing up doesn’t get you much. Buying a book gets you even less.
-Dieting implies a temporary change. Make small changes in the way you approach roadblocks (read: biz problems) to live more healthy (read: socially). Slow growth > rapid change.
-Take an iterative approach like you do in exercise (or software development). Plan, execute, evaluate, adjust… rinse and repeat.
-Brad (@JavaSTL)