Loyalty Truth

Speedbumps are everywhere.

They’re in my neighborhood, at the mall and also on the internet.  If you’re in new environs, speedbumps can by definition be mileposts of learning. Ever fly down the street in an unfamiliar area only to discover speedbumps the hard way? It’s not pleasant for you or your passengers and can do damage to your vehicle depending on your velocity at impact.

Web 1.0 had its share of speedbumps, coming in the form of viruses, phishing schemes, and deals that seemed too good to be true from deposed Nigerian princes. Web 2.0 has a different set of annoyances and the more comfortable we get with building virtual networks and storing data in the cloud, the more vulnerable we will be to connectivity outages.

My modest goal in joining the social media landrush is twofold:

• Understand how to best incorporate the social media tool-set to communicate with customer loyalty program and frequent shopping club members
• Reach the Millennial generation in an effective way to build brand loyalty

If you are paying attention to the space, you will understand when I say that there are an inordinate number of social media “experts” and others who claim to be able to build brand awareness and increase customer engagement, all leading to greater customer loyalty for profit. If you’re not involved but observing from the sidelines, trust me on this one – they are ubiquitous to say the least.

In my book the “experts” you want to associate yourself with, and trust your future online loyalty marketing efforts to, are the ones who have been playing the game, taking some lumps, and learning by doing. I’ve been at it long enough to hit a few bumps and thought it was time to share a short list of cautions to consider as you build a corporate or personal social media marketing strategy:

• Concerning your blog, Facebook, and Twitter, add value with everything you post. The criticism that Twitter is a waste of time because all people do is update about their last meal shouldn’t bother you because you won’t be posting this sort of garbage (will you?).

• Remember that everything digital has a life similar to a cockroach, i.e. longer than most of us will live. Be ever so cautious about posting anything that you might regret later. My SM muse told me at the outset to write,read, proofread, and do it again, before pressing the update button. You’ll sleep better and won’t get fired when your legal department reads your Facebook page.

• Reveal personal information with the same care you take with your wallet. Would you let strangers look through your billfold while checking out at Walmart? Didn’t think so. Why then would you post highly personal information online in the interest of being more “human”? There are others ways to accomplish this goal.

• Speaking of being human, do attempt to create conversations, don’t just blast information at the ether and expect people to respond positively. If you equate SM with digital public relations, you are missing out on better tools for that purpose, and are inviting attrition from your fans, followers and customers.

• Balance openness and immediacy with common sense. You are fully within your rights to moderate comments on any blog you are responsible for, and the practice is highly sensible. You are not obligated to approve comments that have only tangential relationship to the topic or are little more than personal rants.

This list is equally applicable if you are building a personal brand, establishing yourself as a subject matter expert for your firm, or are the corporate officer responsible for setting social media policy across your associate base.

Some brands have adopted the viewpoint that they will hold-fire on their social media marketing strategy until they have it all figured out. Surely this approach will mean that they will have less scars than yours truly, but I’ll also be willing to be that they will be so late to the game that they will wish they had started earlier.

Be cautious, use common sense, and learn from others. If you do this, you’ll achieve your objectives with social media and also be able to recognize a true expert when you see one.