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Say No To FOMO Marketing

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Often, when a new client comes to us for marketing help, they are overwhelmed by the scope of possibilities and in particular, the social media landscape. Of course, we help them to understand that not every idea is applicable to their business. “But what about x social channel? We see everyone doing it now,” they’ll often retort.

The scope of marketing software and social media channels is indeed vast and overwhelming. But in reality, not everything is right for your business needs. Just because you see GoPro doing some very cool thing on a social media channel does not mean it will yield the same results for you or even that the social channel is applicable to your audience… especially if you’re a B2B company. Marketing strategy built from the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is naive at best, and irresponsible at worst.

Instead of looking around at what everyone else is doing and thinking “We need to be there, too,” step back. Ask yourself these four things before you kick off your marketing brainstorm, and ensure that your strategy makes sense for your needs and isn’t born out of FOMO:

  1. Start with your business goals – marketing is not an island unto itself. It’s there to support the business and help roll out the red carpet for sales. What are the overarching business goals that marketing is supporting?
  2. Analyze the competition – ok, so we said don’t fret over what everyone is doing, but definitely check out what your competition is doing and more importantly, if it seems to be working. Learn from their mistakes so you can avoid making your own.
  3. Understand your customers – in fact, ask them where they hang out online. Where do they prefer to consume content? The answers for a B2C company are likely much different than a B2B company. THIS IS ALL THAT MATTERS – that you’re reaching the right audience, not every audience.
  4. Analyze your resources – what is the size of your marketing team? How many minds do you have to brainstorm great ideas with? How many bodies do you have to execute the work? What is your budget? These questions alone should demonstrate how not all marketing is created equal. Ensure that your strategy and social media efforts are of reasonable proportion to your resources. It’s much worse to start a marketing campaign and fail to execute well because you tried to do too much, vs. taking on smaller efforts that are executed flawlessly.

Starting with these four simple questions can help your marketing team to keep the eye on the prize and not get fearful that they aren’t doing the latest cool thing. Marketing trends come and go. Trust your expertise in knowing your customers and prospects and communicating with them where, when and how they want to communicate and consume content. If they start to demonstrate a change in social channels, you can begin to explore.

Do You Suffer From Marketing Content Fatigue?

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Brands are trying desperately to push out content – a lot of content. And content is great, it really is. Owned content is a smart part of your content strategy, and it’s an exciting time compared to 15 years ago when most companies relied heavily on third party journalists to publish their key messages (and hope they came across accurately). To be able to post, share and spread our content in exactly the way we want, where we want and when we want is a great thing.

But lately some of the content overload reminds us of being at a teenage dance, where kids who don’t quite know who they are yet bumble about awkwardly trying to be funny, cool, cute or smart. They wear too much makeup, have extreme hairstyles and wear clothing that they’re clearly uncomfortable in. They’re trying out everything because they’re still figuring out who they are.

Is your brand an awkward teenager still figuring things out, or do you know who you are? Are you a humorous company, so it makes sense to post cat memes? Or are you a serious B2B company for which informative and resourceful infographics make more sense? Is Snapchat really a network that will reach your audience, or are you just trying it out because you’ve seen other brands – completely different brands – using it? Great, you’ve joined Instagram! How is it contributing to your bottom line success?

Stick to the advice we’ve been giving since brands started to catch on to the social media craze – don’t try to be everything to everyone. Don’t feel like you have to be on every single social network. Stop, calm down and look at your business goals. What are you really trying to accomplish? What other marketing channels are you using? What percent of those should be social? What really works for you, not just the brand next door? Who are you trying to reach and where do they spend their time online?

Too often, companies try to follow suite because “all the cool kids are doing it.” Facebook isn’t sensible for every brand. Twitter might not reach your customers. Some companies don’t have the right resources to use more than one social network and do it well. Social isn’t a broadly applicable strategy – you’ve got to apply it like you would any other marketing initiative – is this [channel, campaign, update] right for us, what will it help us accomplish and how will we measure success?

No one can be everything to everyone. It’s more compelling to know who you are and be confident in that. Share content relevant to your area of expertise and your credibility will stay intact while your awareness grows – among the right audience for your company. In the end, isn’t that what really matters – quality over quantity?

Persuasive Picks – Week of November 30, 2015

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As we close out the year, we are now turning our attention to strategies for 2016. In a piece for Entrepreneur, contributor Sujan Patel takes on this topic as it relates to marketing strategies for small businesses. This article called “5 Marketing Changes Small Businesses Need to Make in 2016” emphasizes the importance of relationship and mobile marketing.

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In an article as part of the MarTech Landscape Series, we look at B2B marketing automation software and what it is.  This article called “MarTech Landscape: What Is Marketing Automation Software?”, we learn about what marketers need to understand before adopting a marketing automation platform.

Digital fundraising is the topic of NPR’s piece called “A Click Too Far: Why Using Social Media Isn’t That Great For Fundraising“. This piece, authored by Alina Selyukh, references some of the great social media fundraising campaigns such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, but goes on to discuss how most campaigns aren’t proven to be all that effective.  Only 3 percent of fundraising referrals came from social media.

 

 

Persuasive Picks – Week of 11/9/2015

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In honor of Veterans Day, PRNewser shared an intriguing piece called “5 PR Lessons to Learn From Veterans Day“. This article, authored by Shawn Paul Wood, offers lessons that PR people can learn including focusing on the cause, not the client and daring to be different.

The Holmes Report asks a thought provoking question to the PR World – “Are After-Hour Email Bans Realistic At PR Agencies?“. This article, authored by Aarti Shah, discusses the controversial topic of banning email after-hours to create a better work-life balance.

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The Next Web covers the ever-popular topic of social media in an article called “4 tools for building a social media empire“. This thorough piece, authored by Mackensie Graham, gives practical advice and directs you towards the latest tools available to help increase your social media presence.

Persuasive Picks – Week of October 19, 2015

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Collaboration is the focus of a Forbes article entitled “Collaboration Could Be Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool“. This piece, penned by Andrew Fayad, talks about how building alliances will help your business and how teaming up with others has its benefits.

In a bold article called “Can PR Firms Lead Brand-Building? These CMOs Are Unconvinced“, a survey suggests that PR firms stick to what they are successful at – traditional PR.  This new joint research study from the PR Council and ANA is particularly interesting as it only polled a small number of participants.

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An Entrepreneur article, authored by Rohan Ayyar, offers tips to social media marketers on how to engage better on social media channels.  This article called “3 Never-Fail Tactics for Superior Social-Media Engagement” recommends email marketing as well as new social tools like WooBox.

 

 

Persuasive Picks – Week of September 28, 2015

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“The Top 7 Content Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2016” by contributor, Jayson DeMers, covers the new technologies available to marketers who want to stay ahead of the curve with their content marketing efforts.

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DMNews offers insight on how marketers should apply neuroscience in order to appeal to customers’ subconscious mind.  This article, authored by Elyse Dupre, is entitled “The Marketing Brain Game” and gives practical tips on understanding the consumer decision making process.

Marketing Land’s article called “15 Digital Marketing Myths CMOs Need To Stop Believing” talks about digital marketing myths including the notion that SEO is dead and that negative comments on social networks are bad for business. This article, authored by Scott Rayden, is a comprehensive look at these and other myths and why you should debunk them all.

 

 

Persuasive Picks – Week of September 21, 2015

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Huffington Post contributor, John Rampton, offers insight and practical tips on how to automate social media for your small business. This article called ” Your Small Business Can Automate Social and PR” simple, yet effective ideas to start automation of your efforts now so you can quickly see ROI.

Forbes once again covers the important topic of social media in an article called “7 Warning Signs That Your Social Media Campaign Is Failing“.  Contributor, Jayson DeMers, offers seven warning signs that your campaign is not effective, including the amount of time spent on the campaign, posts seem self-promotional and your strategy was an afterthought.

Laundry Service CEO Jason Stein Breaks Down Social Media Economics in an AdAge article called “How Much Is A Social Media Influencer’s Audience Really Worth?”  This is part of a digital crash course in the publication focusing on authenticity and great content.

Persuasive Picks – Week of September 14, 2015

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“How Marketing Got More Personal”, written by contributor, Julie Ginches, focuses on how the mobile industry has created a level of intimacy and become more personalized over the years. We are now in the “mobile era” and there is much more to come.

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Ever wonder how most companies define content marketing? This is the focus of Business2Community contributor, Carly Murphy’s article called “Where Does Blogging Fit Into Your Content Marketing Strategy?” Blogging contributes significantly to your content marketing strategy and helps bring traffic to your website

Entrepreneur contributor, Adam Toren, pens a piece called “The 5 Ultimate Content-Marketing Tools”, which offers insight on which content-marketing tools entrepreneurs need to jump start their creative marketing efforts. ClearVoice, HubSpot, Copify and others are mentioned in the top five tools to utilize

Persuasive Picks – Week of August 31, 2015

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“How to Master Social Media to Get Ahead”, written by Amy Elisa Jackson and Levo League, offers new rules for social media from Internet guru Gabriel Sands. This Fast Company piece includes which social media sites matter most and how to tailor your approach to each one accordingly.

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Entrepreneur contributor, Pratik Dohlakiya, covers the topic of “social listening” in his article called “2 Cases That Show How Social Media Can Change Your Business Trajectory”. This thorough and thought provoking article includes examples by Hallmark and Progressive.

Best selling author, Jon Acuff, pens a piece for Time called “7 Lessons I Learned From Taking 10 Days Off Social Media and Email”. This piece offers insight on what happens when you take a break from your phone and social media.

Persuasive Picks – Week of August 24, 2015

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“Calculated PR Move or Embarrassing Blunder? PR Lessons Gleaned From Tinder’s Epic 30-Tweet Meltdown“, authored by Huffington Post contributor, Eric Yaverbaum, covers the recent Tinder meltdown, which was reported as being not only odd and confusing, but cringeworthy. Washington Post writer, Tim Carman, writes about the “MCWhopper” PR stunt by Burger King. In this article called “Why Burger King’s PR stunt fell as flat as a patty on a griddle”, Carman points out why this poorly planned PR scheme fell short of expectations. Joseph Plambeck, writer for New York Times Bits, pens a piece on the popular topic of social media. This Daily Report called “The Ugly and Antisocial Side of Social Media” brings up the recent tragedy involving the man who is thought to have shot two journalists in Virginia and turned to Twitter and Facebook to show a video of the shooting. Another example of how powerful social media is.