Two key social media levers that have nothing to do with technology

With all the recent buzz about social media, I think it is important to remember that social media is not new.  In fact, there are a few practitioners who mastered social media decades ago and built veritable “competitive fortresses” on the concept.  There are two key levers for optimizing social media and neither one has anything to do with technology although the appropriate application of technology can significantly enhance your “social media” strategy (emphasis on social).

The first is a piece of wisdom from Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics.  When asked the secret of her success her reply was elegantly simple:  “I remind myself every day that every person wants to feel important.”  The second is my all time favorite: “People buy from people they like.” Combine those two and you have a failsafe strategy.   Simple concepts that require no purchase or learning curve.  So, ask yourself each day: “Who have I made feel important today? and what am I doing to help people like me?”  Next week I will introduce you to a funeral director who has successfully controlled his competitive environment by asking those two questions.

Funeral directors are often likable people, what is needed is not a personality change but mechanisms that enable them to meet more people.  Enter Low Tech social media…a social media mechanism.

Many years ago I was consulting with a funeral director who was concerned that he wasn’t getting support from the local clergy.  Knowing that he was a member of NSM (now SIFH), I suggested he get a supply of their “Clergy Preference Forms” and contact the local clergy to get them completed.  A few months later I was working with him again and I asked how the forms had worked.   “Oh, they didn’t,” he said, “I only got one back.”  “What do you mean you only got one back?” I asked.  “Well, I mailed them all out and only one pastor returned it.” was the reply.

There are times when the vocabulary of tact, diplomacy and discretion simply fails us.  I couldn’t bring myself to say: “you stupid, lazy…” so, I was rendered speechless.

Not long ago I did a “Skype” interview with Matt Shannon of Holman Howe Funeral Home in Southern, MO. for the “Best Practice Ideas” section of my website www.alancreedy.org Matt had accepted Event By Wire’s invitation to use their equipment to webcast family holiday greetings to active military and missionaries serving overseas.

As I shared Matt’s story, like the clergy preference forms, people told me, “we tried that and we only had one or two people show up.  It was a real bust.”  They missed the whole point:  It isn’t about how many people showed up; it’s about how many people you told your story to.

What I wanted to show with Matt was that it was HOW he implemented the idea that made the difference.  Matt saw the concept as much more than a great PR idea (which it is).  He realized it was a MECHANISM (an “excuse” if you will) that gave him an opportunity to get in front of key influencers in his community.  The main point of the effort was to create and enhance RELATIONSHIPS.  He didn’t just put ads in newspapers and send out postcards.  He got up off his… and went to see local clergy, the people at the VFW, the local NBC affiliate and others.  I bet he even took a few people to lunch.   I think only  a few families actually came in.  But to Matt it was a great success.  Not only had he made new friends among the clergy, VFW and Media (all influencers) he had actually created some collaborative opportunities to work with their constituents (thus creating an environment where they could get to know and like him personally) The webcasts to missionaries, in my opinion, is genius.

So, dear reader, I don’t know your circumstances so if I use the tactless words stupid and lazy I know you won’t take it personally.  People buy from people they like and everyone wants to feel important are two life axioms that are key social levers with almost limitless power.  Social networking should be about meeting people, finding common interests and giving them reason to like you.  I bet some of the people Matt met with had never met a funeral director before.  Who do you think is going to be on top of their mind next time they have a need?

Unless, of course, you are not likable.  And there is even a remedy for that.  I have met a lot of successful funeral directors in 30 years.  It seems to me that there is often a correlation between success as a funeral director and a personal experience with the greatest social networker in history: “Dale Carnegie”.