Finding your blogging voice
Businesses need to fight the social media fear, writes Rob Stock. BECOMING SUCCESSFUL
TO BLOG, or not to blog.
It’s a very modern question faced by small and medium-sized businesses.
But it’s one they should all think about, say American blogging experts Dan Morris and Rachel Martin, who arrived in New Zealand for a whirlwind lecture tour in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch.
The word ‘‘blog’’ means many things to many people, ranging from the real lives of housewives to attack-dog nipping at the ills of politicians and society.
But Morris and Martin say there are many businesses that can learn skills from bloggers, skills which have the power to transform their bottom line.
The duo operate Blogging Concentrated, which educates businesses in how to use social media to improve their business, and to communicate with their customers.
They were brought over here by Creative Agency Secrets after its chief executive, Rebecca Caroe, saw Morris present at the giant US Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas last year.
Caroe earns her money helping small businesses build their marketing strategies. She feels New Zealand small enterprises are split between some very smart ones who have a voice, get blogging and get on social media, and those who don’t.
The big end of town, like banks, airlines and insurers, have teams to craft their social media presence. Some smaller companies, particularly tech companies are adept at it too.
‘‘In the middle there is a big void,’’ says Caroe.
Morris and Martin recommend a ‘‘hub and spoke’’ approach to social media, with the company’s website at the heart of everything. Facebook, Twitter, email newsletters and LinkedIn are all tools to draw customers and potential customers back to the hub.
Regular blogging and microblogging can build conversation, tell customers what you are doing, engage them, and drive sales.
Businesses can surprise themselves when they start learning the ends social media technology can be turned to.
Morris gives the example of the ‘‘Baltimore Roofer’’, a guy who used to fix roofs in the US city. When he went up on people’s roofs to assess what needed to be done, he started filming it, and uploading the film to YouTube. The customer could then see with their own eyes what needed doing. It built trust, said Morris. It also built him a profile.
Now the Baltimore roofer only does site inspections. He’s got so much business, he subcontracts out the work of fixing the problems he finds.
There is a dark side to social media. Mistakes can go viral.
Take Cheerios, the US cereal brand that launched a campaign allowing people to use an app to put their messages on to digital images of Cheerios packets.
What seemed like a great idea resulted in anti geneticallymodified organism protesters hijacking the campaign with their own messages.
Such examples mean it may feel easier, and safer, to stay off social media, but Martin says just because you aren’t using social media doesn’t mean you are not appearing on it.
In some instances, social media mistakes can lead to nationwide, and even global, media scrutiny as happened just this week when the owner of Wellington fastfood joint Ekim Burger launched an online tirade against the types of customers he did not like in response to a private, politelyworded complaint.
An authentic response perhaps, and Morris and Martin put great store in business owners creating authentic social media voices.
The burger van owner told media he did not expect his outburst to harm his business.
That may be true. Martin and Morris are huge fans of US shockjock Howard Stern, who has an authentic voice that outrages many. ‘‘Out of every 100 that tune in to his programme, 93 tune out again,’’ Morris says.
Over time the strategy has worked, and he has 50 million-odd fans who tune in regularly.
Fear of making social media mistakes is no reason to avoid exploring the potential of blogging and social media.
Morris advises business owners to trust themselves, and to trust their people.
Don’t tie their hands with social media codes: ‘‘There aren’t enough words to say what not to do,’’ Morris says.
But do have a strategy for what to do if things go amiss though.
‘‘There aren’t enough words to say what to do.’’
As late as August last year, a survey conducted by Yellow indicated as many as half of New Zealand’s small businesses had no website.
But how do small business owners go about building their spoke and hub system?
There are no hard and fast rules, but Morris, Martin and Caroe shared some tips. A Set your goals: You will develop your strategy as you go, but before paying someone to set you up a website, and taking to social media, decide what you want to achieve. A Outsource: If you are unsure of yourself, consider getting some advice from an expert, or some education. And don’t assume you need to do everything yourself. Decide what you can do yourself, and work out what you need help with. Choose wisely. A website designer is not a marketing expert. A Don’t assume you need to be active on all channels: Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, and your website can seem like a daunting challenge to take on in one fell swoop. Work out what works for your business, and that means working out how your customers want to be communicated with. A Determine your own voice: Finding your authentic voice is key, though an authentic voice can be a crafted one. Codeifying your social media strategy is a good idea. But Morris warns against trying to assume an identity that just isn’t you. ‘‘A perfectly crafted voice is hard to keep up.’’ A Don’t be bashful: It’s easy to assume that putting your messages out there will make you seem overbearing. Morris says that’s wrong, especially if you have a core customer base you serve. If what you do is their hobby, Morris says, the conversation is welcomed.