Don’t Just Let the Intern Do It - Sean Moffitt on Social Media Commitment at #SMCV11

“Social media is not a three month campaign,” warns Sean Moffitt, the co-author of Wikibrands. “You have to commit.” Luckily, his presentation at Social Media Camp 2011 provided some powerful tips to help your company truly commit to building a social brand in 2011.

Here are some highlights.

Think inside the box.

Don’t just stab in the dark. Set some rules and overarching principles for building your online community. To act properly, though, you need rules that empower you versus dry, prescriptive rules.

Look to leaders at creating communities for some models. Some great examples of community builders, according to Moffitt, include Amazon, Firefox, and Kraft.

Speak to your fans. Not the crowd.

Don’t just blast messages to the crowd. Focus on finding 1000 real fans. Support them. Be present for them.

Word of mouth marketing is more than luck. It’s about connecting with your core, small, group of connected, passionate, and informed fans.

Put some sweat into it.

Word of mouth doesn’t spread around nothing. You need the proper language, content, and outreach. Aim for 3 blog posts per week. Participation and action from your customers doesn’t come easy. It requires sweat. Work hard. Be consistent.

The absolute worst thing you can do.

Be socially deaf. It’s the biggest Wikibranding sin. Consumers have a voice in the brand conversation. They won’t placate themselves with passive consumption. They need, demand, to be heard. You can’t ignore them. You have to involve them in co-branding.

The intern can’t do it.

If you feel that social media is an obligation (the competition is there and so, I guess, we need to be), you are missing the point. “Let the intern do it.” That’s a strategy that will get back just as much as you put in.

Crowd-sourcing is not cheap labour.

Letting the crowd do your work isn’t cheap labour. Turning to the crowd goes much deeper than that. If you can get the crowd to move, you understand something more than just the ability to move product. You understand that humans are hard-wired social animals.

In other words, customers trust and act on decisions made in their social circles. It’s not free labour or another contest that rewards attention with the lure of a prize. The future is tribal. So design your brand for socialness.

For more Sean Moffitt visit him at www.wiki-brands.com.