34 Social Media Truths in a Nut Shell

The Social Media Truth series is based on a keynote presentation I did at the Rochester Institute of Technology last year. I have been writing on the core concepts since then and it has served as a foundation for much discussion. I used the content as a test project to practice what I preach, build and execute an integrated plan around one solid piece of content.

The return on investment (ROI) on doing such has been high and something I will do again. Below I share a few of the statistics and approach I took on the project and leveraging of one slide deck to help meet business goals for a year.

As I bring the series to a close to work on the next similar segment I want to share all 34 of the social media truths as originally written.

The marketing nut community and loyal followers will probably see many familiar quotes and concepts. I hope they have inspired you, educated you and provided you value over the months we have discussed and debated them! I look forward to many more great conversations and debates in the coming months!

This post includes the following: 

• Snapshot of approach used to leverage content of one presentation deck for one year as part of an integrated marketing program.
• Bullet list of all 34 social media truths
• Embedded Slide Share deck of keynote presenatation.
• Video overview summarizing approach and results.
• Offer to opt-in to our email list and be notified of upcoming webinar to walk thru all 34 social media truths.

Note: Funny thing is I just now realized there is a typo in the deck used as the source for the series and in reality there is only 34 social media truths. Thought we would clear that confusion up first! ;)

Approach: 

1. Created keynote presentation deck for Rochester Institute of Technology #SMACSRIT event.

2. Focused content on topics I was teaching, researching and planning to write about.  Most are backed up by industry data and case studies and / or real experiences our team has had with clients.

3. Developed an integrated plan aligned to our own business goals and objectives to best leverage the content for a series of months.

4. Integrated plan included:

• Videos
• Email opt-in list (grew list by thousands)
• Email content sent to subscribers
• Blog posts
• Tweetchat topics for #GetRealChat Twitter Chat
• Facebook, Google+, and Twitter posts and discussions
• LinkedIN polls & discussion
• Training with local Chamber of Commerce groups, Clients, Associations, Non-Profits and more
• Created video training webinar shared with clients as part of client on-boarding program.
• SlideShare deck published today. In less than one hour it hit Slideshare top decks for both LinkedIn and Twitter. Less than 12 hours it had 2,000 and just over a week later now has 12,000+ views.
• Generated high quality leads, clients and sales from all of the above. It was not one single thing that drove results. It was the integrated platform and plan aligned with specific business and marketing goals.
• Webinar to walk thru entire deck and all 34 social media truths. Sign up to be notified of webinar here–>> Free Webinar

Now that's what I call ROI. What do you think?

34 Social Media Truths 

1. People don't buy things, they join things.
2. Communities Create Markets.
3. Be Your Own Social duck!
4. It's not about the next big thing.
5. Lead with results.
   Welcome to the inspiration age. (Heartbeat of social media)
   Social Currency = action.
6. It's what happens after the Facebook like and follow that matters most.
7.  Don't do social, be social. Changed later to “Don't do social or be social, be socially relevant!”
   Social media plugs into your business. Your business does not plug into Facebook.
8. SMART Objectives and goals are key to success.
   Align social media with top business goals where social media can have an impact.
9. Be realistic.
   Objectives differ by level and role. (Tips for communicating with internal and external stakeholders.)
   Assess business readiness to be social.
10. Stop Random Acts of Marketing (RAMs)
11. Tools are the tactics, not the path.
    Evaluate each initiative based on priority, risk, impact and alignment.
12. Sum of all parts is greater than the individual tools (learn the ecosystem).
13. Social relationships are the life raft for technological changes.
    It's about the people, stupid!
14. Only guarantee is change. 
15. Deal with the hard stuff NOW!
16. Skeletons will fall out of the closet.
17. Social media will not fix your broken business.
18. Slow down to speed up.
19. You will tick people off.
20. You might even get fired!
21. Your kid may be ugly. (i.e., website, blog, Twitter profile, Facebook page)
22. Ya' gotta start somewhere. Embrace imperfect perfection.
23. Understand your audience.
24. All conversations are not created equal.
25. Hang out with 9 brokes, you just might be the 10th!
26. You need friends.
27. Stop using interruption marketing tactics.
28. Know your audience.
29. Use social media to solve your customer's problems.
30. Talk to me like I am human.
31. It's not about YOU!
32. Measure the right stuff.
33. Take time to tame the social media beast.
34. Shape up or ship out!

Got ROI for your content? 

Remember, social media is not about the next best thing. It is not a band-aid for a broken business. The only way you are going to see results is if you align the investment in social media to real business goals and objectives.

If you don't know how to do this, you know who to call. If not me or my agency, then find someone that can help you. Doing what you have always done will get you what you have always got. Make today the day you do something different so you can be somewhere different next year at this time. It's your decision, not mine!