Social Media Marketing Interviews - Lou Tisler

Lou Tisler is the executive director of the Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland

MZ: Describe what projects/organizations/activities you have marketed using social networking?
Lou Tisler: NHSGC uses social networking for job postings via LinkedIn. We use FB for press events, classes, local-regional-statewide-national issues that we think are important for achieving, preserving and sustaining homeownership.

MZ: What social media sites have you used for marketing?
Lou Tisler: LI for job openings, FB for all other, Twitter - we have accounts, but only so others don't squat on them; we don't have a Twitter strategy yet. We also use Leaders for Communities due to our national affiliation.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been most effective?
Lou Tisler: Issue-oriented notifications. NHSGC tries not to use FB as a brag book.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been least effective?
Lou Tisler: We continue to have difficulty in engaging those that we reach out to. Many of our posts asks for input, but though people are reading and understanding, they are not taking the time to engage further.

MZ: What is the most important thing social media marketing provides that traditional marketing doesn’t?
Lou Tisler: Cost effective outreach across a broad spectrum of demographics, geography and sectors.

MZ: Have you experienced any drawbacks using social media for marketing?
Lou Tisler: at times, it is interpreted differently than posted. Case in point, when we did a posting it listed Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland Convicted of Mortgage Fraud. The headline link was "Convicted of Mortgage Fraud" and we had a banker ask why we were convicted, where we were really pointing to the story.

MZ: How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts?
Lou Tisler: We have 1,700 friends, which we would prefer to have more local, statewide and national, but having colleagues in meetings tell me that they saw or knew of something we were doing shows that our message is being received.

MZ: What is the one most important quality necessary for a successful social media marketing plan?
Lou Tisler: Commit to it and don't do it half a....

MZ: What is the one most critical thing to avoid when using social media marketing?
Lou Tisler: For us, it is don't inundate, don't pat yourself on the back all the time, raise all ships with praise of accomplishment (of others)

MZ: Do you have any other advice for an individual or organization attempting to use social media marketing?
Lou Tisler: Be succinct, show you care, look at your lists and see who you are really writing to.

Socia Media Marketing Interviews: Gina DeSantis

Gina DeSantis is a Cleveland area ceramic artist.

MZ: Describe what projects/organizations/activities you have marketed
using social networking?
Gina DeSantis: As an artist I market my classes, exhibits, festivals and web shop. This includes marketing events/classes that I teach at local non-profits.

MZ: What social media sites have you used for marketing?
Gina DeSantis: I use Twitter, Facebook. I am looking into Mail Chimp for email blasts.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been most effective?
Gina DeSantis: I have been able to reach a wider audience of out of state shoppers. I also have been able to run classes at my studio with little to no paid advertisements which is helpful with my overhead costs. Facebook event pages have proved to be a fantastic free advertisement space for our open studio events. When 40 artists each invite 300 plus friends the benefits of this service can be as effective as paying hundreds of dollars for ad space.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been least effective?
Gina DeSantis: I find social media can be a lot of "radio noise." Its a sounding board for opinions and thoughts rather than a way to engage and interact. By definition social media should be making us more social and not the other way around.

MZ: What is the most important thing social media marketing provides that
traditional marketing doesn’t?
Gina DeSantis: Its free and it reaches a modern audience that doesn't necessarily rely on print media anymore. It also puts you in control of your brand. It also connects me directly to my customers and galleries.

MZ: Have you experienced any drawbacks using social media for marketing?
Gina DeSantis: I find people treat it in a more personal matter then a professional one. For example, do not use Twitter as a sounding board for your dislike of a certain organization, media outlet or person. It will get back to them. It will be in print. Social media marketing should be focused on connecting and not severing.

MZ: How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts?
Gina DeSantis: I am still trying to figure out the benefits of Twitter. At this point Facebook has been more successful in my marketing of artwork and classes coupled with studio events. However Twitter connects me better with galleries. I'm trying to find a balance between the two along with getting out behind the computer and connecting in person at shows and events.

MZ: What is the one most important quality necessary for a successful
social media marketing plan?
Gina DeSantis: I think you need to discover your niche market. Once you figure what types of businesses and individuals to connect with you need to decide how to brand yourself or business. Again it should be professional and not personal if you are trying to market something.

MZ: What is the one most critical thing to avoid when using social media marketing?
Gina DeSantis: Again, professional and not personal. Don't put anything in print you might later regret!

MZ: Do you have any other advice for an individual or organization
attempting to use social media marketing?
Gina DeSantis: Realize that once you put yourself out there on the internet you will become extremely accessible to a large market. Try to find your voice as an individual or an organization and engage your followers in dialogue to move forward.

Social Media Marketing Interviews - Sally Whitwell

Sally Whitwell is a musician that lives in Australia.

MZ: Describe what projects/organizations/activities you have marketed using social networking?
Sally Whitwell: I have been promoting my new album "Mad Rush - Solo Piano Music of Philip Glass", and events associated with it.

MZ: What social media sites have you used for marketing?
Sally Whitwell: Facebook and Tumblr

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been most effective?
Sally Whitwell: Sharing of audio and video has been very effective, also personal interactions with Tumblr followers and Facebook fans.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been least effective?
Sally Whitwell: Text blogging. I find that my followers engage the least with even short articles that I write of my experiences. Maybe it's the demographic? It could also be subjective to the nature of the Tumblr blogs generally, which are very skewed towards pictures, video and audio. At any rate, I like to keep the blog a bit 'mixed' in terms of the type of posts - and I've had quite a few comments from people who like that aspect of it (that said, those comments come from the people who read the text posts!)

MZ: What is the most important thing social media marketing provides that traditional marketing doesn’t?
Sally Whitwell: Direct connection with my listeners.

MZ: Have you experienced any drawbacks using social media for marketing?
Sally Whitwell: It does take a constant time commitment to make it effective. I check for blog/facebook interactions at regular intervals.

MZ: How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts?
Sally Whitwell: Album sales, which are measure here in Australia by ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) charts and the iTunes Australia charts.

MZ: What is the one most important quality necessary for a successful social media marketing plan?
Sally Whitwell: A regular chunk of time to commit to it and a willingness to engage directly with fans and followers.

MZ: What is the one most critical thing to avoid when using social media marketing?
Sally Whitwell: Distance from your fans and followers.

MZ: Do you have any other advice for an individual or organization attempting to use social media marketing?
Sally Whitwell: Don't be too distant or appear to be surrounded by an entourage of 'people'. Direct connection is super important.

Social Media Marketing Interviews - Sweets by Maggie

Sweets by Maggie! sells "Made from Scratch Gourmet Cupcakes and Custom Cakes" from their Amherst shop.

MZ: Describe what projects/organizations/activities you have marketed using social networking?
Maggie: We used Facebook as our main marketing tool since we opened in Nov. We use it daily to list our flavors, have contest periodically and let people know what is happening with our business!

MZ: What social media sites have you used for marketing?
Maggie: Currently using facebook and just starting to get our feet wet with twitter

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been most effective?
Maggie: Since we run different flavors daily, people flock to the site just what we have that day. Our contest, mostly trivia, have had an amazing response! We get a weekly report from FB detailing traffic to our site. You see a major increase when you allow people to interact! We've also taken pictures of cupcakes and had fans name them! It has produced one of our most popular cupcakes and people always seem to remember it because they participated in the naming of it!

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been least effective?
Maggie: Free marketing on any level is good! Even if it doesn't take off, someone has seen it, and hopefully it made an impression

MZ: What is the most important thing social media marketing provides that traditional marketing doesn’t?
Maggie: Instant access to many people!

MZ: Have you experienced any drawbacks using social media for marketing?
Maggie: Unhappy customers are able to voice their opinions to the masses...

MZ: How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts?
Maggie: My "page insight" which is sent weekly to the administrators of the page! Stop in and I'll show you!

MZ: What is the one most important quality necessary for a successful social media marketing plan?
Maggie: I can only speak from our point of view and that would be to have fun with it, keep it entertaining, and try to get people to interact!

MZ: What is the one most critical thing to avoid when using social media marketing?
Maggie: Trying to over sell. If all you post is your menu and such it tends to get stale and people don't visit as frequently... As I said before keep it fun!

MZ: Do you have any other advice for an individual or organization attempting to use social media marketing?
Maggie: Get to it! in my opinion this is the single greatest marketing tool we will see in our lifetime

Social Media Marketing Interviews - CHIKARA, Inc.

CHIKARA is an independent pro wrestling organization based out of Pennsylvania.

MZ: Describe what projects/organizations/activities you have marketed using social networking?
CHIKARA: All things CHIKARA, a touring live-action pro-wrestling company.

MZ: What social media sites have you used for marketing?
CHIKARA: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been most effective?
CHIKARA: YouTube, most of all.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been least effective?
CHIKARA: Probably Twitter. There's no real way to know how many people your message reaches. Like whispering into a canyon.

MZ: What is the most important thing social media marketing provides that traditional marketing doesn’t?
CHIKARA: Free coverage, free exposure. All the other benefits are far out-weighed by the fact that it is free.

MZ: Have you experienced any drawbacks using social media for marketing?
CHIKARA: Not yet. But the day is young.

MZ: How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts?
CHIKARA: For us, the cause and effect relationship is easy to monitor. We post on Facebook that we have a new item for sale in our store - how many of them move in the next 6 hours? How much traffic can we drive to one part of our site if we Tweet it out? Does a YouTube video hyping a single event move any tickets within 24 hours of its release?

MZ: What is the one most important quality necessary for a successful social media marketing plan?
CHIKARA: Does it stand out, or does it get lost in the massive amount of information out there.

MZ: What is the one most critical thing to avoid when using social media marketing?
CHIKARA: Saying irrelevant things. No one wants to read your corporate spam.

MZ: Do you have any other advice for an individual or organization attempting to use social media marketing?
CHIKARA: Engage on all fronts. No one avenue or method is enough.

Social Media Marketing Interviews - Eva Lucien

Eva Lucien is the MySpace Manager for the Women's Flat Track Derby Association

MZ: Describe what projects/organizations/activities you have marketed using social networking?
Eva Lucien: I am MySpace manager and social media team member for the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Our team markets WFTDA's news and events to nearly 200 WFTDA  leagues around the world, in addition to fans and non-WFTDA skaters.

MZ: What social media sites have you used for marketing?
Eva Lucien: We use MySpace, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, with most interaction taking place through the latter 2 platforms. We haven't yet begun talking about Google Plus, but it looks like a good candidate for future consideration.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been most effective?
Eva Lucien: Highlighting skaters & leagues of the month has usually attracted the most interest from our fans--it's personal info that they seem to like the most. We also use social media to funnel people into our website, which has really boosted traffic.

MZ: What aspect(s) of your social media marketing has/have been least effective?
Eva Lucien: Our social media campaign got off to slow start because, in the beginning, there was little communication between the managers of the different social media platforms and WFTDA management. So there wasn't oversight about what was posted and when; there wasn't any coordinated effort to market a specific product or announcement; we lacked up-to-date info about what to post, so news was often leaked by non-WFTDA sites; and we didn't have the central goal of driving visits to our website.

Since we've integrated our social media team into the management structure, there's been a lot more coordination among the different platforms & WFTDA.

MZ: What is the most important thing social media marketing provides that traditional marketing doesn’t?
Eva Lucien: Personal connection in real time. That's what people seem to be looking for with social media--not just a way to get information, but a way to discuss info and interact with other people who share their interests. It adds a personal face to a brand that is more difficult for websites and other types of marketing to achieve.

MZ: Have you experienced any drawbacks using social media for marketing?
Eva Lucien: It's been a little difficult predicting what social media sites are going to be popular, knowing when to invest in them, and knowing when to remove ourselves from others that are becoming defunct. As an organization that has recently gone international, too, it's difficult to know what's popular in other countries.

MZ: How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing efforts?
Eva Lucien: We track web traffic coming from specific social media sites and resulting ticket/merch sales/click-throughs.

MZ: What is the one most important quality necessary for a successful social media marketing plan?
Eva Lucien: I'd say there's 2 equally essential components: 1. Knowing what you're trying to achieve using social media and being focused on those goals. 2. Investing the time to keep it current & interactive.

MZ: What is the one most critical thing to avoid when using social media marketing?
Eva Lucien: Aside from not being focused and interactive... It's easy to veer to the opposite side of the spectrum and post too many updates. Unless a user is a huge fan of a company, they aren't going to want to see 10 posts a day from that company. 3-5 posts per week has been a good average for WFTDA, though what is too much versus not enough varies among the different platforms.

MZ: Do you have any other advice for an individual or organization attempting to use social media marketing?
Eva Lucien: Help your organization write a plan or policy that guides members' use of social media. In addition to identifying the goals of your social media campaign, this plan should also cover how employees/members of your org interact with your organization's social media sites. What material are they authorized to post about your org? Can they answer questions from customers, or should they refer those questions to management? And so on.

Social Media Marketing Interviews - Introduction

In July 2011, I interviewed via email a variety of people and organizations about how they used social media as part of their marketing efforts. It was a fairly diverse group. I was pleased about the quantity and quality of the responses I received. The responses were thoughtful and provide valuable insight about using social media in marketing.