Whenever I hear “social media should be real, transparent, and audience focused,” I find myself nodding and wondering at the same time. I agree. It should. But why stop there? All communication should be that way. If it were, it would be way more successful.

Fresh from graduate school, where all I studied was communication—how we humans communicated, what worked, what didn’t—I approached every marcom project as a communication vehicle. My view: it didn’t matter how snappy the writing was or how cool the design looked, if it didn’t resonate with audience—if it didn’t communicate—the chances of success were slim.

Fast forward 15 years, and the mantra of “real, transparent, and audience focused” is heard everywhere—but only for social media. It’s a start, and I love it. But let’s make it the mantra for all communication.

Know Thy Audience

It’s not enough to focus on your audience based on your best guess. You need to know your audience:

• Who are they (customers/prospects, peers, influencers, mentors, others)?
• What do/don’t they like?
• Where are they?
• Why should they care?
• How do they like to interact with you and how can you help them?

I know, “Duh, obvious.” Yet, we don’t’ always communicate this way. Why? Because we’re most comfortable talking about what we know. And what do we know best? Ourselves. And, of course, there are those who think the best way to sell is to just talk about how great the product or service is, but that’s a topic for another post.

Pick a Tool for Gathering Knowledge About Your Audience

There is a multitude of ways for learning more about your audience, from traditional to social:

• Query existing and past clients/customers/patients
• Ask your social media followers what they think
• Be a “lurker”:
  • Find discussion groups and communities in your focus area by doing keyword searches and investigating different sites
  • Follow the same process to find other blogs in your focus area
  • Conduct similar searches on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook, etc.
  • Keep up on your audience’s interests using social media monitoring tools like Facebook Insights, YouTube Insights, Google Insights for Search, Google Trends, Quantcast, etc
  • Conduct old-fashioned market research

Once you’ve done your research, be adaptable and open to feedback and changing any approach that isn’t working. Most importantly, focus on helping your customers. No one wants to be “sold” to or pressured or bombarded with marketing messages. They want information. They want assistance. They want to laugh.

While preparing course materials for the new social media campaign class that I’m teaching at SFSU College of Extended Learning, I had the pleasure of revisiting several great campaigns from the past year or so: Old Spice Guy and Old Spice Guy Responses, Live Off Groupon, DEWmocracy, and MTV/Foursquare’s GYT to name a few.

What do these campaigns have in common? They’re:

• Unique
• Human
• Interactive
• True to brand
• Multichannel (social and traditional)

Imitation May Be the Sincerest Form of Flattery—But Going Viral Isn’t Likely

It’s good to study and learn from great campaigns, but use them for inspiration vs. a blueprint for designing your own. Remember, these campaigns succeeded because they were unique and the organization stayed true to their brand.

Think about your audience, your brand, your goals—and let your creativity flow. Old Spice is a great example. Personally, dare I say, I thought the first video silly when I saw it at the movies (good decision on Old Spice’s part to show it there, too). BUT, I no longer thought of Old Spice as just for my grandpa. And because it was different and entertaining, it got people talking about Old Spice.

Can we learn from Old Spice? Definitely. Are there best practices to take away from this and employ in your own campaigns? Sure. Mashable does a nice job of outlining the lessons learned and best practices employed by Old Spice imitators:

• Interact with consumers
• Leverage influencers
• Revitalize brand image
• Make your brand shareable

Five Sure Ways to Strikeout with Your Social Media Campaign

Audi’s 2011 Super Bowl campaign had all the makings of a home run. It was unique, interactive, true to brand (but looking to change things up), multichannel, and human. But—and that’s a big BUT—they mucked up the follow-through.

We should be thankful for campaigns that do this occasionally, because the lessons learned are often more beneficial than the ones garnered from home runs.

So what did Audi’s campaign teach us?

• It ain’t over ‘til it’s over—don’t forget the follow-through
• Be transparent—always
• Respond
• Be fluid not rigid in your implementation
• Own up to your mistakes

Ryan Kawailani Ozawa on Hawaii Blog analyzes Audi’s campaign in detail in “Audi’s Social Media Fail.”

What do you think? Did Audi tank? Did Old Spice kick butt? What defines success? As Jeremy Scott writes, “viral success does not equal money.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Avery Horzewski Named Program Advisor and Instructor for First College-Level Social Media Certificate in Bay Area

San Jose, CA – March 14, 2011 – AVE Consulting (AVE) today announced its participation in a new Social Media Marketing (SMM) Certificate Program at San Francisco State University’s College of Extended Learning. AVE President Avery Horzewski was named program advisor, along with Susan Barnes, and will teach the program’s course on social media campaigns.

“Social media is no longer a fad, but rather a bona fide communication tool,” said Horzewski. “Whether you like social media or not, if your audience does, you need to consider it —seriously. This program gives marketers the information and tools necessary to manage this communication channel effectively and integrate it into their overall marketing strategy.”

The groundbreaking SMM program, which kicked off in January 2011, is the first college-level certificate in social media offered in the Bay Area. The six-course program provides a solid foundation in the ever-morphing world of social media and gives students an array of skills and tools that they can immediately apply in the workplace. Courses in the program include:

• The Power of Community: An Introduction to Social Media
• Mastering Social Media: 3 Essential Tools for the Business Professional
• Engaging Your Community: Creating an Effective Social Media Campaign
• Social Media in the Real World: Successful Applications of Social Media Strategies
• Social on the Go: Trends in Mobile Technology
• Integrating Social Media into the Overall Marketing Strategy

“A lot of courses show participants the successes of others, but offer no opportunity to apply that knowledge,” continued Horzewski. “All of the courses in San Francisco State’s SMM program are highly interactive with plenty of opportunities to put into practice what’s being learned—and receive feedback on the plans, tools, and ideas developed during each course.”

Added SMM Program Director, Lauren Vanett, “We’re excited to be at the forefront of executive education for marketing professionals with this new program here in the Bay Area, where such key social media players as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter were launched and many media luminaries are located.”

About AVE Consulting

Based in San Jose, California, AVE Consulting (AVE) is a marketing and customer communication company that helps businesses communicate with their customers. Whether assessing existing approaches, developing strategies, or executing strategies, AVE brings an audience-focused perspective to the process that results in authentic interactions that truly engage customers. Clients have included such companies as Adobe Systems, ACT Medical, Borland, CareFusion, Cooley Godward LLC, E*TRADE, Exordium Group, Hitachi Data Systems, Logitech, TD Ameritrade, SAP, and Xerox DocuShare.

About San Francisco State’s Social Media Marketing Program

The Social Media Marketing (SMM) program, an offering of San Francisco State’s College of Extended Learning, is designed to provide participants with a solid foundation in the basics of social media marketing, as well as skills that can be applied immediately on the job. The program is designed for working professionals and offers a Certificate in Social Media Marketing, as well as the opportunity to earn continuing education units (CEU) for courses taken on an individual basis. For more information on the program, contact San Francisco State at 415.817.4247; to register, call 414.405.7700, press 5, or go to www.cel.sfsu.edu.

Press Contact:
Renee Maler
PhilosophyPR + Marketing
For AVE Consulting
925.968.9495
renee@philosophypr.com

Entrepreneur’s Advice Featured in 2010 Woman’s Advantage Calendar 

San Jose, CA – Avery Horzewski, president/CEO of AVE Consulting, a marketing and customer communication strategy firm, was selected from over 3,500 submissions to be featured in The 2010 Woman’s Advantage Shared Wisdom Calendar. The calendar, released in September, provides advice for women business owners from influential women leaders across the U.S. and Canada.

The Woman’s Advantage 2010 Calendar includes sound bites on key business issues including: organization, promotion, sales, and human resources. Horzewski’s sage advice sums up her personal business philosophy, “Approach everything from your customers’ perspective. It’s not about what you think is important.”

“Avery Horzewski’s quote was selected because it was powerful yet easy to understand. Her idea is relevant to almost every woman in business today.” says Mary Cantando, growth expert of The Woman’s Advantage. “Women business owners and those who dream of starting a business will learn so much from the advice provided by Avery and the other successful women quoted in the calendar.”

About Avery Horzewski

Avery Horzewski is president and CEO of AVE Consulting and president-elect of Women in Consulting (WIC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping consultants and small business owners build strong businesses. She helps clients develop and refine their communication strategies and regularly speaks about social media to groups interested in learning more about this new communication medium, its impact on business, and best practices for implementing. She also regularly shares ideas on the AVE Consulting Blog, WIC Consulting Blog, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

About AVE Consulting

AVE Consulting works with companies of all sizes, across a variety of industries, to develop compelling, persuasive, and effective customer communication strategies and marketing communication deliverables that encompass everything from websites to social media to print collateral. For more information, visit www.aveconsulting.com.

About Mary Cantando

Mary Cantando is a nationally recognized expert on women business owners. She is the developer of the successful Woman’s Advantage line of products, geared specifically to women entrepreneurs. A member of the National Speakers’ Association, Cantando provides keynotes and workshops for women who want to grow their businesses.

About The Woman’s Advantage

The Woman’s Advantage is a line of information products, including books, workbooks, audio CDs, and calendars designed exclusively for successful women business owners. For more information, call 919-841-0401 or visit http://www.womansadvantage.biz/

Welcome to the AVE Consulting blog — a blog that focuses on all things related to communication.

My name is Avery Horzewski; I’m a marketing and customer communications consultant. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved everything related to communication.

While taking an interpersonal communication class at De Anza College, I discovered there was a degree in speech communication. And I never looked back. Bachelors, Masters, and a bit of a Ph.D. later, I’m now putting my communication insights to use helping companies craft effective messaging and engage their customers.

Topics

I see the AVE blog as an extension of the work that I do with my clients, covering a wide variety of topics from marketing writing to messaging to website and social media strategy. But more importantly, I want this to be a place for an open dialogue about communication topics — both within and outside the business world. The more we understand communication, the more we explore different perspectives and insights, the more we can use it effectively to build relationships and not walls.

Comments

Visitor comments are encouraged — in fact, the more the better. I believe that everyone benefits from discussions, constructive feedback, and different perspectives. It’s that communication thing that I like.

Please keep comments open, honest, respectful, and relative to and consistent with the topics, and don’t include irrelevant links. Relevant links are welcomed and encouraged. As long as the comments meet these requirements, I’ll allow them. I’ll review, post, and respond to all comments in a timely manner. Depending on the content, not all comments will receive a response.

Note that all comments will be reviewed prior to public posting. Comments containing derogatory or defamatory comments, spam, profanity, or inappropriate language won’t be published.