My kids are aspiring actors. This week, the talent agency called and my daughter auditioned for a radio commercial. The agency emailed me the script, we phoned the contact and my little Goofball delivered her lines beautifully. Later that afternoon, three representatives from the Denver-based advertising agency to which our talent agency had referred us would hear I-don't-know-how-many additional auditions. From this pool they will select their favorites for a second round of auditions next week, and bring in the talent fortunate enough to be cast in the part next Friday to actually lay down the audio. For Goofball, this consists of three sentences as part of a single 60-second spot. Then the agency assembles all the elements and goes into post-production...
Certainly, the end client, a Baltimore-based hospital, has assured itself of a quality product that stands a very good chance of gaining approval on first pass and of being well received by the consumer. They've put their faith in reputable consultants and a proven process. Big investment, high accountability, big return.
Conversely, my 20 years as a promotions producer are full of, "You got pipes, you can read, you do the voice over." Need a female voice? Grab the news anchor on her way to the edit bay or see if the lady from PR can do you a solid. This saves time, money, and...er, time and money. Lots. It also provides flexibility, which is especially important in dynamic corporate environments where pricing and messaging points change because the right person changed her mind or because
you have an opportunity to get out in front of a competitor. Re-voice? No problem. Breakeven is exponentially easier to reach. So long as you have the horses in your stable, you can keep running them.
Why is he talking about his kid?
Here's a good article: Five Phases of Social Media Marketing by Janet Lee Johnson: http://socialcomputingjournal.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=789. This is an excellent read for anyone trying to make sense of social networks as a marketing vehicle. Johnson's walk through the approach demystifies the medium by applying steps and tactics fundamental not just to marketing planning but to any targeted effort. Whether you're thinking about launching a new product line, acquiring a competitor, hosting an event or finishing your basement, Johnson's phases: Discovery, Strategy, Skills [identification], Execution and Maintenance are solid pillars for any implementation.
Johnson stresses, "that social media marketing is not free." She cites and endorses the $50K figure cited in the BusinessWeek article previously argued in this blog space (http://mikehanbery.blogspot.com/2009/03/swift-kickin-rebuttal-debunking-six.html). Johnson amplifies and clarifies the argument that effective use of the free tools out there (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Search Engine Optimization of website) requires expertise, which doesn't come free.
This is true. The time and effort you invest are quantifiable. Training costs money. Bringing in a consultant to execute the plan through phases adds time and money to the process in exchange for better returns on the end product. Why do you hire a bookkeeper? Because you're not an accountant. Why don't you fix your own computer? Because you'd only make it worse (and void the warranty). Why don't you construct your own marketing plan? Because it will be worth what you paid for it, fraught with missed opportunities.
Here's another perspective, courtesy of an April 7, 2009, Financial Times article, "Social Media Puts Fizz into Coke (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3b8b4cf2-230b-11de-9c99-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1)":
Liz Miller, Vice President...at the CMO Council...warns that in such a nascent
market there remains a risk of being sold snake oil. "Please don't ever hire
a Twitter consultant," [says Miller].
Get to the point, Mike.
Do you need to be an expert in social media to use it to your advantage? No. Should you get some help?
In the marketplace of ideas, barriers to entry are thankfully low. Experts are not always swimming in the same pond. Some social media marketing experts are working to establish a price point--$50,000--for social media marketing consulting. Now, I'll be more than happy to work for that figure but I don't think my audience has it to invest. For most of the people I see at networking events, who have sat at my kitchen table on Saturday sipping coffee, who delicately walk the line between deliberate pursuit of business growth and alienating friends with the "hard sell," and who invite me to speak to their groups about the social media phenomenon, $50K is a huge chunk of their annual revenue figure, and may well be equivalent to the annual salary an entrepreneur affords herself.
The $50K price point creates a false barrier to entry for small and emerging businesses in an area that provides outstanding opportunities for collaboration, brand recognition, market development and leads generation.
Social media strategies are not an area where absolutes are safely applicable. If you have the resources to take weeks to employ multiple levels of agencies for a single radio spot, you may well benefit from $50K worth of consultants to research, launch and maintain your social media program. If you don't, there are people out here swiftly kicking to help you for less.
In sum...
Even if you don't have $50K, you can--and should--play in the social media sandbox. As with all other aspects of your business, scale your expectations. If you talk to a Twitter consultant who tells you to expect the same results from a self-managed strategy as you would from a $50K investment, swiftly kick that snake oil salesman to the proverbial curb. Just as there are those of us who write, source, voice and turn out TV and radio spots in hours or days rather than weeks, there are social media strategits willing, able and modeled to work on a smaller scale.
But if you have $50K and decide I'm your man, I'm sure Goofball can help me spend it.
About the Blogger
Mike Hanbery (http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikehanbery) is an Executive MBA with
20 years of experience in marketing and media at the national and local level
for startups to Fortune 500. His company, Hanbery & Hanbery, Inc.
(http://www.hanbery.com) works with small nonprofit and for profit businesses in
accounting, business development and marketing. Mike speaks on, trains, designs
and implements social media strategies and is co-author of the soon to be
released book: Connect and Contribute: Creating a Social Business.
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