Quick Picks on How to Market via Social Media

Stopping in to an overcapacity panel on 'Marketing Without Marketing' at SXSW 2008, I picked up a few great sound bites on how to reach out to customers 'without being skeevy':

Bake virality into your core business

• David Parmet: "There's no such thing as viral marketing, only viral products."

Remember it's about relationships

• Hugh MacLeod: "There's a shift in advertising from 'here's why you should buy X' to making a social gesture...Community isn't a lever you can pull. There are no levers, only people."
• Deb Schultz: "I get frustrated when startups are trying to teach a new behavior, but don't spend enough time with their customers...You'll never have a lower ratio of employees:customers than you do now. Now's the time to bring in human beings who can answer questions. This sounds like customer service, but it's really marketing. If you're a large company, break it down into smaller segments so that you can get to a size where you can connect."
• Deb Schultz: "If you're in a relationship, you can't ignore the other person all year, then just give them flowers on Valentine's Day."

Simple rules for the new marketing

• Chris Heuer: "The brands with the best storytellers win."
• Deb Schultz: "Social media is about marketing, the way Web sites were about e-commerce."

Comments

[Christine]

Thanks for the double-click on attribution. You can still claim some credit in my book for sharing the great sound bite. ;)

[Chris Heuer]

I wish I could claim credit for that quote, it was actually from Fredrick Marckini, the CEO of iProspect.