Brad Besancon

Video Transcription

Robert: Hi. I’m Robert Riggs and this is Brad Besancon back for a Clairiti minute.

 

Hi. I’m Robert Riggs and this is Brad Besancon here for a Clairiti clip. OK. Would you go to a social cocktail hour and shove your business card under the nose or into the hand of a perfect stranger?

 

Brad: No.

 

Robert: No. Why wouldn’t you? Why don’t you do that?

 

Brad: It’s just not the right spot and it would be kind of awkward. What’s that all about?

 

Robert: Uh-huh. OK. But every day we see people do this in social media. Like sell, sell, sell. They’re just rude.

 

Brad: Yeah, they’re just putting out posts. You know, one of the things that we talk about is it’s social media. Be social. It’s not just about information and events and some of our clients’ research or data or whatever. It’s being social. It’s, “Hey, I’m Brad. What’s your name?” And being – it’s creating conversations.

 

Robert: Yeah. OK. So Brad, what’s the ROI on that?

 

Brad: Well, that’s the other piece that people get their feathers ruffled about is, well, I’m not getting any business off of this and I’m spending time or you guys want me to come in here and show me how to do all this stuff and the ROI is the actual interaction and conversation one on one that you can have with your audience. In no other place can you do that. You can’t do it on a website blog. You’re just putting out information.

 

Robert: I’m out of television. You sure can’t do it on TV.

 

Brad: You can’t do it on TV. You can’t do it in a print ad, can’t do it on a display ad or any of that kind of stuff. But you can have a one-on-one conversation in a message or on a Twitter feed or on a Facebook post or in some fashion, you know, Pinterest, Instagram. You can create these conversations in communities and that’s being social.

 

Robert: So what’s the value of that? That you’ve got someone you’re having a one-on-one conversation with.

 

Brad: Absolutely.

 

Robert: A prospect that you can start bringing through the sales funnel and you can’t really put a number on that and interestingly, people don’t put those numbers on TV spots. It’s about …

 

Brad: No, and it’s no different than what’s the value of if I come to you and say, “Hey Robert. What doctor do you go see?” Well, I go see Dr. Smith down the road. There’s no value on that either. But because you’re given good quality service at Dr. Smith’s clinic, you feel like hey, I should send Brad there because it’s good. The same thing can happen in social.

 

You can build that reputation up by having those conversations, by being relevant – oh, I hate that word being relevant because what’s relevant to Robert isn’t relevant to me. But by being social and keying in on what really works with your audience and the audience speak and you’re doing the same thing and you’re doing it with – out there in space.

 

Robert: ROI, back on that. If you have a website in this day and age with all the changes with the search engine algorithms, you’re referring traffic. The stuff that’s bringing you traffic is social.

 

Brad: Yes, we hope it is.

 

Robert: Yeah.

 

Brad: Right? If you’re doing it the right way, that’s the whole piece that you’re looking for. So when you’re out there looking at social media, don’t forget the first word. Be social.

 

Robert: That’s the Clairiti clip. Thanks.

 

Brad: Thanks guys.

 

Robert: That’s good.

Video Transcription

Brad: Hello everybody! It’s Brad and Robert again with our Clairiti clip and I want to start off first by just asking Robert what’s your least favorite dessert.

 

Robert: Pumpkin pie.

 

Brad: Pumpkin pie. I don’t like it either. Probably a lot of you out there do. So the point about the pumpkin pie is that you don’t necessarily like it no matter how it’s presented.

 

Robert: Yeah. Whipped cream, dress it up, I still don’t like it.

 

Brad: So we could put on a fine piece of china at a beautiful dinner. You could dress it up, make it look pretty. They always say food is in the presentation as much as it is in the taste. But it’s not.

 

And the whole point is your audience has many tastes and you have to be sure you’re looking at each one of those tastes to be sure that you’re targeting and pulling on those heartstrings of your particular audience and driving that passion to social media.

 

We hear from clients all the time and for prospects we’re talking to and everything and industry people. It’s like, “Well, my social doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work. I don’t see any business off social. How do I get business off of social? We’re doing a lot of posts. We’re putting up this. We’re putting up that.” In fact one person even said – we said, “What’s your objective in social media?” and they said …

 

Robert: To get the word out and I said, “About what?”

 

Brad: Exactly.

 

Robert: You know, they’ve got one recipe and one flavor.

 

Brad: And that’s it. If you don’t like it, then you just go on down the road. We hear again and again and again, “Well, we’re posting up a lot of stuff. We’re putting up information. We got events and we do really good stuff around events and we’re doing this. We’re just not seeing anything coming about it.” We’re back to the plate of pumpkin pie. It doesn’t matter how great you present the pumpkin pie if no one in your audience likes pumpkin pie.

 

Robert: Right.

 

Brad: They’re still not going to walk over to the table and eat the pumpkin pie. So you have to think about that when you’re doing social media.

 

Robert: You’ve got to understand your audience. We practice something called “audience speak”. Are you speaking their language or are you giving the recipe that they enjoy the taste of? And there are a lot of different tastes and then you’ve got to be seeing what’s working off this menu. Just like a restaurant. What sells in here? What doesn’t?

 

Brad: Yeah. I mean you got to look at the analytics behind it and say, “Hey. When we did this, it worked. Let’s try some more of that.”

 

Robert: Yes.

 

Brad: When we put this on the menu, we sold a lot or we got high engagements or there was a lot of likes or a lot of shares or people really bought into that if you will. You have to do the same thing in social and one of the things that you have to remember is we’re close to Valentine’s Day.

 

So one of the things you have to remember is don’t forget to pull the heartstrings of your audience and be sure that you’re driving that heartbeat. I will eat that one on any kind of plate. You guys enjoy the Clairiti clip. That’s Brad.

 

Robert: And I’m Robert and I don’t like pumpkin pie. Thanks.

 

[End of transcript]

Thanksgiving is coming up and many of us will be gathered with family and friends to celebrate and gather around the tables of America.

And of course, we’ll all have to “socialize” our experience across all of our social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

But just how should brands and businesses think about their social media and how can they “dine” with their fans and followers?

Here’s a few thoughts on eating your social media.

Facebook

The best way to enjoy your meal with Facebook is to understand that this platform is all about “setting the table.”

What are you going to serve? Do you have a special you want to feature?

For example, Monday is Mexican food night, while later in the week you serve “Fried Up Fridays.”

This platform is all about the food (subject) you’re presenting and how your followers partake of your meal.

Your brand or business is creating the meal and you’re inviting your followers and fans to come sit at your table and dig-in.

Hopefully you’re serving tasty dishes!

Twitter

If Facebook is your table setting, then Twitter is all about what’s happening in the kitchen.

What’s happening now in the preparation of the meal? Is Grandma cooking her special enchiladas or is dad smoking his famous brisket?

Brands need to grasp the concept of live happenings surrounding their business as well as associated conversations within their audience.

For example, while grandma is preparing her enchiladas pictures and tweets should be going out to your followers showing them “live” preparation of the meal they’re seeking.

Secondly, be sure to listen and know what other conversations are occurring within your audience that relate to your “meal preparation.”

Twitter = “In the Kitchen Preparation”

Instagram

While the table is being set on Facebook, and the meal prep highlighted on Twitter, don’t forget about deliver mouth watering photos to your fans/audience on Instagram.

This is the platform for visual activity of your brand.

Let’s stick with our “Dinner” scenario.

This platform is the spot for photos of those delicious, oozing cheese enchiladas and the brisket perched on the grill as the smoke surrounds it with flavor.

It’s the place to highlight your brand’s voice (AudienceSpeak) through visual teasing of your followers.

Get the picture?

Pun intended.

Pinterest

Time to wrap up our evening of dining through social media.

This may be the easiest of platforms to explain using our dinnertime analogy.

Care to make a guess as to how Pinterest fits?

You got it, the recipe!

This is how grandma makes those enchiladas and dad’s special sauce for the brisket.

The in’s and outs, the mechanics, and the step by step of the making of the meal.

So what about a brand or business?

This is where you share, re-pin, and support your followers.

Give them the “how to’s” and become a source of information that they can use in the “meal prep.”

Best ingredients, what’s the smoker heat setting, and the best wood to use.

Become a source of good recipes and your brand will see it’s cooking amplified through this platform.

To Recap

Facebook: Set the table.

Twitter: Live from the kitchen.

Instagram: Mouth watering photos of the dinner.

Pinterest: Share the recipes.