Social media consultant and Chief Content Officer with The 60 Second Marketer, Jamie Turner, and co-author with Reshma Shah, Ph.D., of the straight talking and results oriented book How to Make Money with Social Media: An Insider's Guide on Using New and Emerging Media to Grow Your Business, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about the book and its ideas.
Jamie Turner describes what makes a successful social media campaign, how to avoid the pitfalls that await many social media marketers, and how to measure the results of the campaign.
Thanks to Jamie Turner for his time, and for his very comprehensive and informative responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.
What was the background to writing this book How to Make Money with Social Media: An Insider's Guide on Using New and Emerging Media to Grow Your Business?
Jamie Turner: Dr. Shah and I have known each other for years and get along famously. We were always looking for a good topic to co-author a book on and when social media started getting hot, we jumped on the opportunity presented to us by Pearson/Financial Times Press.
For someone seeking to make money with social media, how important is to understand what social media is and is not?
Jamie Turner: We wanted people to think differently about social media. It's such a new animal that we were afraid people would be using a 20th century mindset on a 21st century medium. So, we decided to write a section that described what it's NOT, as a way to help people wrap their minds around it.
Jamie Turner (photo left)
How should a business person set themselves up for success with social media?
Jamie Turner: There are three key things they should do. The first is to assign the appropriate manpower to it. Many companies think you can do it in 15 minutes a day and that's simply not the case. The second is to think strategically before you think tactically. What are your objectives? What's your desired outcome? And the third is to measure what you do. After all, the reason a business person does social media isn't to be social -- it's to make money.
What are the most common causes of failure in social media campaigns?
Jamie Turner: The two most common causes of failure are 1) not measuring a social media campaign on an ROI basis, and 2) setting unrealistic expectations for the campaign. The truth is, social media takes a lot of hard work and if you're going to do it, you'd better put some real manpower behind it.
What should business people know and understand about the many social media platforms?
Jamie Turner: If you're just starting out, focus on the Big 4 -- LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. After that, you can start incorporating blogging, email marketing and location-based services like Foursquare into your campaign. If you're really advanced, you'll be creating mobile apps as another way to be social with customers.
How is mobile social media changing marketing?
Jamie Turner: Fundamentally, marketing has changed from a push approach to a pull approach. Instead of pushing your message on a passive audience watching TV, you're pulling them into a conversation with your brand using social media. When you're having a conversation, you're not pushy or sales-ey. You're just a nice brand that's trying to help a customer prospect solve a problem.
How can social media be integrated effectively into a marketing plan?
Jamie Turner: Yes, absolutely. In fact, it has to be integrated, otherwise it's just an island. Any good social media campaign will have the look, feel and tonality of the brand. It'll also fit nicely into strategic goals laid out in the marketing plan.
Reshma Shah (photo left)
How can a person establish goals, objectives, and strategies for social media?
Jamie Turner: Yes, and it's pretty simple. For example, in business, your goal is to generate a profit, your objective is to drive revenue to your company, and your strategy is to use social media to engage customers and differentiate your brand from others. If you lay all those things out on the table, then they can be used as a roadmap to guide you to your ultimate goal which is to sell more stuff.
How can a person measure the return on investment of social media marketing, and how do the metrics compare to traditional measurements of success?
Jamie Turner: Social Media ROI is calculated by understanding a concept called Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Your CLV is basically the amount of revenue a typical customer will bring to your company over the course of their engagement with your company. So, if you're a lawn care company and your typical customer spends $100 a month with you and they typically stay for 3 years (on average), then your CLV is $1200 per year x 3 years = $3600. Once you know that, then you can calculate how much it cost you to acquire a new customer. If it cost you $360 to acquire a new customer and your CLV is $3600, then you're in great shape.
Given all that, your social media campaign will need to drive new prospects to sign up for your company. If 1 out of 100 prospects driven to your company website actually becomes a customer, and it cost you in total $360 to get those 100 people to the website (resulting in 1 new customer), then you're golden.
Make sense?
What is next for Jamie Turner and Reshma Shah?
Jamie Turner: Dr. Shah is focusing on her work at Emory University and her consulting practice. I'm working on the 60 Second Marketer (my online magazine) and a new book on mobile marketing which should be out early next year.
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My book review of How to Make Money with Social Media: An Insider's Guide on Using New and Emerging Media to Grow Your Business by Jamie Turner and Reshma Shah.
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