How Social Media Marketing Works

Everyday in Zimbabwe, and really, all across Africa, businesses are finally waking up to the opportunity of social media marketing. Facebook especially. Problem is, most people and companies just have no real clue about how it really works, so that even large brands with large followings on Facebook or Twitter for example, just don’t really see much in the way of bottom line results. So…what to do? How does it work? What’s the best strategy?

Tell Me A Story.

 

 

You know the story of the ‘three little pigs’ right? No one ever wonders if the 3 little pigs really did build those houses, or if the big bad wolf really was that bad, or even if he really could huff and puff a house down!

Why not?

Because as soon as you say “once upon a time”, I enter a world in which everything you say, no matter how crazy or amazing, is true. That’s the power of a good story, i don’t evaluate it with my conscious mind – I don’t even bother with logic half the time. A Story is a marketer’s best friend.

Now how can you use that for your business?

• 1)     Pick a quality, a fact, a truth you want people to know about you.
• 2)     Pretend you’re not allowed to use the word that defines that attribute. So no saying “high quality”, “excellent service”, “most affordable” etc
• 3)     Ask – What does my market believe about how a ______ ‘your chosen attribute’___ would act/ look like, sound like etc

An example: Is yours the friendliest service in the world?

Then fill my head with stories of how friendly your staff are to customers. How Mary over at reception ended up married to one of your customers because they got a long so well. How Peter at the door has now knows over a hundred customers by name in a few short months. How the boss is not available at lunchtime because yet another customer has taken him out for lunch– 3rd time this week!

People can argue with facts, question them – but stories…unique, engaging stories that match my world view… I can never argue with.

And better than that, I remember stories, I forget facts. I feel stories, i just think facts. So tell me a story.

 

Social Media and that Horrible ‘P’ Word

Developing a powerful presence in the social media space is not an event, it’s not even a campaign. It’s a process, it’s long term. It’s not a matter of launching a Facebook fan page as much as it is about developing a mindset and cultivating a following, and building a tribe and other boring things that will require the Horrible ‘P word’.

Before I talk

“Follow Me as I Follow Cash – Oops, I mean Christ”

Question: What do Church Leaders and Business leaders have in common, besides being leaders?

Answer: They both need and want as much money as possible.

The difference of course is that a Pastor will get crucified, while a business leader will be

How Much Is Your Marketing Degree Worth?

I’ve been saying this for years now, and I’m not going to stop. “If you allow traditional, institutional academic education to be your only source of learning, you’re in trouble”

Marketing is one of the areas in which this is especially true.

For example, It amazes me that

How To Abrogate Confusion Simultaneously Avoiding Obtusity In Communication.

Abrogate, it means to do away with something. It’s easier to say ‘get rid of’. Problem is, when people are misguided on how to impress an audience, they sometimes lean on $100 words, when a $1 word would have done just fine. It’s obtuse (unintelligent.) as far as effective communication goes.

Company profiles are still full of it

“Boy Do I Have Something To Say”

Boy do I have something to say! Ok, not really, but sort of. I will say this though. No silly, I don’t mean I’ll say “this”, I mean I will say this (in the following paragraph)

How To Make A Bad Argument About Shona and Other Things!

So two days ago i posted a post about how Shona has lost it’s relevance. Almost immediately i became a victim of not following my own advice as was demonstrated to me in the comments section of the blog as well as my Facebook wall.

The point of the post i wrote was about how much relevance matters and how many brands and businesses in Zimbabwe are losing it daily…no one disagrees The illustration i chose to use on the other hand (Shona)

About Being Specific – Daily News Says Thanks

So how do you make a statement more believable in marketing? One way is by being specific. Generality, besides being boring usually, also lends itself, quite easily exaggeration.

Compare the Herald’s advert which claims that

Pastel Payroll – When NOT to Use A Picture In Advertising

Pastel in Zimbabwe published an advert a few months ago to get you to attend their Payroll & HR Free Seminar. Now Pastel is a great product no doubt, but there was a huge problem with the advert… one we see all to commonly in Zimbabwe advertising…the wrong picture.

Pretty as she is, the picture of the girl makes no sense, whatsoever. Then when you read the caption