Aside from one that pays on time, you mean? (kidding…mostly)

This is a topic that came up while crafting a couple recent RFP responses, both of which were for companies that I think truly fit the bill as a “dream” client for a social media agency.

So what makes a “dream” client for this particular field? They must have:

  1. A passionate user community
  2. An inspiring brand or products
  3. Tons of great content
  4. Some genuine, relatable, interesting characters willing to step into the limelight

A passionate user community

It is called social media after all, right? Social media marketing thrives when it can connect with a thriving, passionate user community around the brand, products, or at least market space. Passionate users are far more likely to be willing to create (photos, entries, videos, etc.), to share, and to line up as early adopters. Every social media marketing program relies to some extent on the most passionate members of the community for success, and if an organization already has a great community built up around their brands, so much the better.

An inspiring brand or products

Hand in hand with the above (and likely a prerequisite for), an truly inspiring brand with strong emotional connections to the wider community is simply invaluable for a social media marketing – any marketer, really. Even if the brand itself is less than shining, say in the case of a conglomerate, if the products are rock solid, with great reputations for reliability, innovation, uniqueness, or whatever, then the way is paved for a fantastic engagement with the user community. After all, you’re coming in representing something they already have strong positive feelings about.

Tons of great content

This came up with one particular prospect. Their brand wasn’t all that well known, nor were their actual commercialized products, but they had access to a steady stream of constantly refreshing, hyper relevant (to their intended audience), and highly interesting content. Surveys, reports, commentary, research, and so on. Why is this important? Because as many have noted, outstanding content is one of the foundations of a successful social media effort – it tends to get shared and retweeted more, and readers come to rely on it, recognizing the real value your brand is bringing to their personal or professional lives on a consistent basis. That’s a pretty strong spot to be in.

Characters

Or as noted in the list above: “genuine, relatable, interesting characters willing to step into the limelight.” These can be executives, and often are, but these can also be individuals who are rock stars at what they do and have outsized voices to match. They’ll come in many, many forms, and if they are right for the “stage” around your brand will depend on a host of factors – what industry are you in, what role do they play, are they active speakers, writers, or bloggers, can they even speak or write in a public forum, do they have something – anything – that makes them compelling to your user community?

In tech fields these are often developers or engineers, in the consumer space executives or even celebrities who have a close association with your brand and are willing to speak for it.

If your client has these characters, and is willing to make use of them, then the dividends within a social media program can be enormous. They can be sources of great content, they help the community connect with your brand on a very personal level, and so on.

The perfect social media client?

Is there one? Even if they have all the good stuff I just mentioned? Unlikely, just like there’s no “perfect” social media agency – each has their own quirks and foibles, and style and personality, just like in dating, are enormously important in finding that “perfect” match. But if you can consistently work for clients who have all, or at least some, of the characteristics listed above, you’re likely bound for a wonderful ride.

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In the world of telecommunications, the “last mile” refers to that last bit of connectivity – be it fibre, wire, wireless – that connects customers to the network.

The concept has acquired its own moniker because it represents a major and ongoing challenge for service providers: you can build the fastest, largest, and most robust network in the world, but if you can’t lay wire down the street to your individual businesses and customers it doesn’t do anyone much good.

The last mile concept also applies to business, and is a great way to evaluate how practical and effective social media marketing plans may become. In this case, activation – that final step that actually kicks off a campaign or concept within the intended community – is the last mile for social media marketing.

You can brainstorm out the most creative, engaging, and exciting social tactics and campaigns, but if nobody knows about them you’re not going to get very far. Sure, your campaign may rely on the social aspect of the idea – that those who discover it will kick off their own word of mouth storm. That’s great, but how are they going to discover it in the first place?

Activation, in this context, can be a blog outreach strategy to influential members of the community you’re seeking to engage. It can be a set of content and links that get distributed through updates to your brand’s popular Twitter accounts or Facebook pages. It can be some strategically tagged videos on popular video networks. It can even be more traditional media activities, such as an online media buy, Facebook engagement ads, or very often radio, print, and TV spots.

The point of calling activation the “last mile” is so you don’t forget about it in your quest to build out amazing social media programs. Social media and word of mouth marketing campaigns may rely on users sharing with others to gain steam and spread, but they still need to get noticed in the first place. Make sure all your campaigns and tactics include a concrete activation plan in order to make that happen.

*photo via Flickr and CC, by zachbass

Four years on, and Techmeme remains one of the first sites I hit each morning to get a sense for what’s happening in the tech world. Aside from having an uncanny knack (or, I suppose, a rather effective algorithm) for surfacing the hot conversations of the moment, and highlighting the posts or articles at the epicenter of them, Gabe Rivera’s invention also nicely aggregates the related online discussion, commentary, and criticism.

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Even better, you could permalink directly to that entire conversation, which was especially useful given the speed at which the headlines and conversations changed. What it lacked what that seemingly ubiquitous “share this” functionality, to instantly tweet or Facebook share the conversation with your friends, coworkers, or general Twitter followers. It’s nice to see that has changed at long last.

But what I really learned today was the difference between the “Share This” button you see everywhere and the “Open Share” button Gabe implemented on Techmeme.

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I always knew the standard green “share this” button was tied to a specific company, but given its ubiquity – kind of like the Kleenex for Web sharing – the thought that it was copyrighted and restricted never really sunk in. So it’s nice to learn about the Open Share icon, and it’s even better to see Techmeme using it.

(Written by me, but originally posted to my agency’s blog. Excerpt reposted here.)

“Brand ambassador” is one of those fungible terms in marketing – it could mean fans who are just really passionate about a brand or product and share their love on their own accord, or it could mean a branded, deliberate program by a company to find, embrace, and engage their biggest fans.

If your brand already has the former, then take a moment to consider rolling out the latter. Tap into all that enthusiasm and help serious fans of your brand to spread the word. How can you get started? One quick way to is learn from one of these great examples of successful, established brand ambassador programs. Each of them takes a different tact, ranging from cultivating technical expertise to rewarding passion to just spreading around some fun. Some are more complex (and expensive) than others, but all can teach valuable lessons.

Read the rest over at the Ignite Social Media blog.

Inspired yet again by something Joe Jaffe said (ain’t podcasts fun?), here’s my thought for the day on social media and agencies:

Watch out for ad, PR, and marketing agencies who grab one senior guy with some practical social media experience, declare him their expert, and never bother to build the bench depth behind him.

In theory it’s nice and easy. Grab a “rock star” who has a kick ass blog and a few tens of thousands of Twitter followers, give him a fancy title, and trot him out as a proof point in front of clients to show “hey look! we get it!” The flaw in that concept is twofold, one tactical and one more strategic.

On the tactical side, that one senior guy can’t know everything about social media, and even if maybe he knows a metric ton-load, someone has still got to do the work. If there’s no depth of social media-savvy talent on the bench behind him, then what? Who’s going to drive the engagements, dig deep into Facebook, and show some love to the crazy-yet-awesome fans of your brand? It’s not him, so make sure you understand how strong the bench is first.

On the strategic side, the “lone gunman” approach should be flashing big red warning signs to any client committed to social media. First, it indicates that the agency isn’t all the serious about social and will likely apply it only skin deep to your campaigns and strategy, bolted on at the end like some third-rate aftermarket fender.

Second, it signals that your agency is willing to play “check off the capabilities” box with you, without truly developing the practice and skills needed to make your campaigns shine in social media. If they’re willing to trot out this old tactic, what else are they skimping on?

So be suitably wary when you see that “Chief Social Officer” tagging along on the next campaign pitch. You may just be looking at the entire social media team.