Why Would I Write a Book About Social Media and More Importantly, Why Should You Read It?Why Would I Write a Book About Social Media and More Importantly, Why Should You Read It?
by Dan Kennedy
Everyone’s talking about it, but nobody knows what they’re talking about.
As pervasive as this nonsense is, the buzz is becoming quantifiable, and more businesses are feeling pressure to join the social media bandwagon. But what are consumers’ purchases really telling us about social media’s influence? And what mistakes can you hope to avoid without falling victim to the buzz?
An unbiased, independent poll conducted by Gallup in May and June of 2014 revealed that 63% of consumers are not influenced by social media regarding their buying choices, and only 5% claim social media has significant impact on their buying decisions.
I have no love affair with social media. In broadest context, I consider it a “cancer of narcissism” destructive to society, a way for people to feel important with zero reason or merit, thus removing essential motivation for a creative and constructive work. It brings other ills, too, with which I won’t bore you.
As a marketing and sales media, I lean toward Tupperware CEO Rick Goings’ characterization of it as “anti-social media.” I see enormous waste of time and money by people creating small and unscalable traffic but also, in some cases, huge traffic to YouTube videos, Facebook sites, etc., with little monetary results.
But with all that said, I hold stock in a tobacco company, so I am not above making money on things I would not personally consume, and even consider a plague on society.
I also know smart people who manage to consistently use social media for real lead generation, and produce directly creditable sales results.
So despite being a giraffe on a tricycle about all this, I’m in it. The reason I tell you this is to make the point: There are times in your life you are going to feel like, maybe actually be, and certainly be looked at like a giraffe on a tricycle.
Sometimes you volunteer for this—like my early days in speaking. “Awkward” doesn’t even come close. Sometimes it is pushed upon you. My corporate and personal bankruptcies all those moons ago. “Humiliating,” “depressing,” and “frightening” are inadequate adjectives.
When asked how he arrived at his brilliant discoveries, Einstein said, “I grope.”
Much has been said and written about trying to abbreviate the qualities and characteristics and behavior of top achievers, mostly in futility. There are no correct simple answers to anything, but if you had a gun against my pet—The Million Dollar Dog’s cute little head—and demanded the ultimate abbreviation, I’d say, resilience.
Which includes a lot of groping. With the new, with the difficult, with problems.
For at least as long as I choose to keep working at my trade, I must agree to some groping and coping. It’s all okay. It is never what you bungle that need define you or your success.
Robert Downey Jr. is today a hugely successful and extremely rich actor. Only a handful of years ago, he was in and out of rehab, unbankable, uninsurable, and written off for dead by most in Hollywood.
Two real estate crashes ago, Donald Trump was fundamentally bankrupt, bedeviled by multiple creditors (including Chinese bankers), publicly embarrassed, and written off as dead by much of the media—the same media that genuflects today. Such stories are THE true stories of the rich, and most of the rich and famous.
The fact of the matter is, I decided it was important to coauthor a book about direct response social media marketing because no matter what I say, you are most likely still going to move forward with it. And in fact, some of the time, I recommend that you do.
I do have clients getting direct, profitable results, and I do see legitimate marketing being done in this venue. If you venture into social media, handle it with care. Do not be peer-pressured to follow how others are using it. I’d say 99% of them are doing it wrong.
The Wolf of Wall Street is a bad movie, ridiculously long and pretentious, and beyond vulgar—yet it is worth watching if you focus on the warning that fakers and fraudsters exchanging mysticism and nonsense for money will circle around you like vultures around road kill. What you see from a distance, what you see glorified in business media, is often not what it purports to be. Men with briefcases steal more than men with guns.
One of your best defenses is to stay grounded about profit.
Not gross revenue. Real profit, as the only proof of sound strategy or (as an investor) of capable management. I actually sat in a corporate boardroom and listened as a board member urged the small company’s leaders to copycat a Facebook strategy, using a big name company (in a different, unrelated industry) as the shining example to emulate—despite there being no evidence of any kind of profit derived from its grandiose exercise.
Incredibly, the others took him seriously. They should have burned him at the stake.
This is not to say that online or social media can’t be made to disgorge profit. Chris Cardell, a client of mine, described his uses of this media to earn great profits. My co-author Kim Walsh-Phillips is also creating real, measurable, and profitable results from social media for clients I know personally—and people I know can count.
This is why I wrote this book with her. She uses direct response marketing principles to drive real results and profit for her clients.
This must be your standard—money math—and no other.
Unfortunately, most businesses proceed without caution and make a lot of mistakes in the process. Proceed with extreme diligence to ensure you are not in the majority. Once again, that isn’t the wise place to be.
Data Speaks Louder Than BeliefsData Speaks Louder Than Beliefs
by Kim Walsh-Phillips
My darn shoes kept coming off. He was walking quickly and I couldn’t keep up, especially because my shoes kept sliding off. They were supposed to be my power shoes, but instead they were decreasing my power by the second.
My husband had bought me a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes for my birthday as a momentous celebration of the success I had earned. I am a shoe nut, and Louboutins are the pinnacle of footwear. (And yes, I have the pinnacle of husbands.)
I was wearing these “Power Shoes” for what was to be one of the most important meetings of my life. Dan Kennedy had introduced me as a potential social media marketing provider to Charlie Lathrop, Chairman of GKIC Insider’s Circle, the organization Dan had founded. Charlie and I were walking to a quiet meeting spot in the midst of one of GKIC’s biggest events to talk about the possibility of working together.
When my shoes came off the third time, I thought, “Screw it,” and I took them off. I am only 4’11”, and Charlie has to be at least 6’3”. There I was, walking beside him through the hotel venue barefoot with fancy shoes in hand. I was already shaken with nerves before the shoe issue so I was a bit of a wreck as our conversation began. (At least on the inside. By that point, I had been in enough hairy business situations to keep my fear hidden.)
As we started talking about the possibilities of what social media could do for his organization, I relaxed. I was in my element. I had been a member of GKIC for two years and had followed its social media path closely. I knew what it was doing and what it could do better.
I detailed strategies I would start with, like targeting unconverted membership leads and creating “Look Alike” audiences with the same characteristics as its best members. We talked about its main lead magnet, and I suggested strategies to break it apart into bonuses we could test on different audiences. We discussed celebrating its members’ success stories on the GKIC newsfeed and leveraging social platforms to access its members’ circles of influence.
Thankfully, Charlie liked what he heard and suggested that GKIC’s staff leadership continue the dialog. Their leaders asked great questions about my past experience—what I thought I could do for them and what I wanted in return.
Admittedly, they were quite skeptical. These were brilliant marketers who live and breathe GKIC’s marketing strategies. However, they had yet to come across social media marketing that could show results worth supporting. Eventually, they agreed to work with me and my firm, but under a big cloud of doubt.
When I was awarded the contract, I too had mixed feelings. I was ecstatic to work with an organization I so admired and had learned from… but holy incredible pressure, Batman!
I would be doing direct response social media marketing for an organization founded by the Alpha Male of No B.S. Direct Response. Not only they, but all of their members’ eyes would be on everything my firm did. And Dan Kennedy himself would be watching. We better bring our A game. (Is there any other way?)
We started slowly, with only a few hundred dollars in advertising, but as results scaled, so did the social media marketing spend. The more members our social media marketing brought in, the stronger our relationship has become. We brought GKIC measurable results, and we have earned the position as one of its largest vendor contracts.
For GKIC, the first 180 days of an individual’s membership is worth about $600. Through Facebook marketing, new members are now being brought in for under $200 each at the high end and only a few dollars at the low end.
One of the most successful campaigns takes cold traffic and turns it into warm traffic, then pushes it through a sales funnel, which converts at 50 to 60%.
A snapshot of how it works:
FIGURE I.1: Send Cold Traffic to a Blog Article
1. Cold traffic is sent to a blog article (see Figure I.1). Cost-per-click is $0.29 each with a click-through rate of 2.247% for one of the cold traffic audience segments.
2. Next, an offer is sent to those who visit the blog within two days of their visit (see Figure I.2 on page xxii). This ad has a 2.156% click-through rate. In one ad from this subfunnel, 100 people ordered the lead magnet at a cost of $6.36 per conversion and a conversion rate of 45%. This meant GKIC obtained 45 members for $14.13 each—from cold traffic, including the blog click. Holy Batman, indeed!
FIGURE I.2: Follow Up with an Offer within Two Days
Admittedly, this is one of its better funnels. Some are closer to that $200 mark and a few have been duds. But overall, even including my firm’s fees and GKIC’s shipping costs, it is still getting a 3 to 1 ROI.
Don’t get me wrong. GKIC is no longer a doubter! But these results don’t fall out of the sky. My company isn’t doing daily optimization of this account. We’re performing hourly optimization and adjusting ads and campaigns accordingly. We monitor Facebook’s changing algorithms 24 hours a day, and test and measure everything.
The more you spend on marketing, regardless of the channel, the more you need to monitor results. With social media, you must be nimble and always, always, always test.
Ninety-nine percent of companies are doing social media wrong. Throughout the rest of this book, Dan and I will detail what the minority are doing. We will share stories and tactics of the small percentage of social media marketers who are driving real results.
Whether or not you plan to do this work yourself or hire out, take a cue from the leadership team at GKIC. Arm yourself with best practices and keep a doubter’s watch over the results. Only let profit change your mind and nothing else.
After all, social media marketing still carries the same rules as all other marketing—results rule. Period.
#NoBSsm Tweetable Takeaways#NoBSsm Tweetable Takeaways
Note: Throughout the book, you will find a synopsis of key points. Use them to post on your social media networks and be sure to use the hashtag #NoBSsm. We will be monitoring this hashtag and will jump in to reply, continue the conversation, and give out prizes. Go ahead and post one from the list below now.
One of your best defenses is to stay grounded about profit. #NoBSsm
Let profit be the true measurement of results. #NoBSsm
Arm yourself with best practices and keep a doubter’s watch over the results. #NoBSsm
Social media marketing still carries the same rules as all other marketing—results rule. Period. #NoBSsm