Strategic insights
Did You Bring It All?

Many companies are struggling to make a difference in the social world. Their social profiles are nothing but a slow trickle. The ROI is so low it cannot be measured (because of not enough statistical significance), and it seem that nothing they do really makes a difference.

In most cases, the reason for the lack of results can pretty much be summed up by the picture below. It was taken during the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, by @lemanssensation.

Note: follow the 24 Hours of Le Mans with my social Le Mans 2011 LIVE Tracker.

Isn't there something missing here?

They got the skin, the packaging, the graphics, and the logo with the gold color - and they even got a cute girl standing in front of it all. All the marketing is there, and a lot of people are just walking by.

So why doesn't it work? Why are people not stopping? Why are they not buying?

Obviously, the car, in this case, is in the garage being worked on by the mechanics, but you probably get the point.

People do not connect with the skin, the packaging, the logo, the colors - or even the cute girl. That is not what this is about. People want to see the car. They want to hear what the mechanics have to do to make it work. They want to hear the engine roar. They want to see it drive. They want to meet the drivers, the real users of this product. Not some model standing in front with nothing to share.

This is the mistake that most companies make when they start to embrace social media. They show up with all the bell and whistles, but they forget to bring the product. They talk about all the things around the product, and they bring in people who have nothing to do with the product, but just looks pretty.

Social media is about meeting the product, experiencing the product, connecting with the people who created the product, hear why they made it, and see what other people do with it.

I'm not saying that marketing isn't doing an important job. But you have to make it about the product, and the people who make it work.

Social media starts with your product team.