Wednesday
Dec152010
What Buddy The Elf Taught Me About Social Media
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 7:22AM 
The Most Important Thing About Social Media Is Being Your Customer’s ‘Buddy’
If you ever needed convincing that social media was the way to market your brand, consider that almost one quarter of internet usage in the U.S in 2009 was dedicated to social networking. With sites such as Facebook and Twitter providing businesses with an incredible marketing opportunity, the question is: what social media strategy does one utilize when trying to grab a piece of the pie?
Well, your company could sit down and discuss the way forward over coffee that has been sitting in the percolator for about four hours, each suggestion becoming more bland than the rancid tasting caffeinated beverage. Each member of staff could rigidly point to charts and graphs illustrating how they intend to make their mark. This is one method, another involves actually having fun. What would you say if I told you that behaving like a fictional elf was the way to succeed in social media marketing? The most likely answer is that you would think I am the craziest person you have heard of since George III of England.
Yet Buddy the Elf can teach you a host of things about social media and how to behave. In the movie ‘Elf’, Buddy turns out to be hopelessly inept when it comes to creating toys, at least in comparison to the other elves. Rather than be downbeat, Buddy’s joie de vivre enabled him to find his true calling: spreading the spirit of Christmas to all those he met. The lesson you can take from this is that being bogged down doing something we are unsuccessful at is a dead end. We need to be aware of our strengths and play to them. Think about what your brand stands for and how it best serves the customer rather than wasting money on a plan that is doomed to fail.
1. Ask Questions! Throughout the movie, Buddy was extraordinarily inquisitive and constantly asked questions about humans because he genuinely wanted to understand the human race. As obvious as it sounds, if you want to know your customers, ask questions. Find out what you can about your consumers. If you know what they need and expect, it makes it a lot easier to deliver the right marketing strategy. Call it a pre-emptive strike.
2. Stand Out! As Buddy is not actually an elf, he is gargantuan in comparison to his pseudo-kin. How does this relate to a social media strategy? It means you have to stand out from the crowd like Buddy does. He is exciting and a curiosity at the same time. You need to make your target consumer group ask themselves: who are this group and what can they do for me?
3. Be Quick with Compliments! Buddy is kind-hearted, willing to help others and always quick with compliments. Your company needs to be the same and provide impeccable customer service with the desire to go the extra yard to fulfill the consumer’s desires. You also need to make the customer feel good about your product (snuggling is optional). If they enjoy what you do for them, it is likely they will refer you to others.
4. Be Reliable! Finally, Buddy wears the same outfit every day. This doesn’t mean your employees shouldn’t change clothes (the smell would put off clients). It just means you have to be reliable like Buddy. Everyone knows what he will wear and you need customers to have a sense of certainty about your products. Of course there is a fine line between dependability and predictability so thread carefully.
So there you have it. An entire blog about emulating the actions of an elf and not a reindeer or rotund man dressed in red in sight.
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