Ask first.  It can help frame the social marketing conversation

Over the last month or so I have been having many conversations about social marketing ranging from friendly one on ones to more elaborate presentations.  Some of those were philosophical in nature, others designed to present a base understanding, and other to clients and potential clients to offer our current thoughts as marketing pros so they could decide whether to use social marketing in their marketing mix.

As I have spoken or presenting I have been reminded of something I learned during my days at The Martin Agency, the ad agency that created the Geico Gecko and “What can Brown do for you” for UPS.  Even though I worked on the PR side of the house, on many occasions we were involved in a new business pitch or client presentation with the ad folks.  We would spend days, sometimes weeks, getting ready for that presentation to get it right.  We’d do research, have brainstormings, come up with creative both on the ad side and for the PR portion.  We’d practice and even semi-orchestrate the final pitch. 

However, the most important time would come at the beginning of the presentation.  Instead of just launching into “the deck” the leader of the presentation would greet the client and then ask the client some questions.  Maybe it would be something like “we put a wonderful presentation together but before we start, we want to make sure nothing has changed since the last time we talked,” or “we’re assuming that the most important thing you want is national media attention but before we start we’d like to verify with you and see what else is important.”

In my last post you may recall that we asked the VCU students about their use of social marketing platforms before our brief discussion with them of social marketing.  Just a few basic questions framed that conversation.  It also shows the audience how much you value THEIR experiences.

Magical things would happen sometimes in the client’s answer to those questions.  Whole presentations would be adjusted on the fly.  Not because we didn’t do our homework but because sometimes you just don’t know what’s most important, or for that matter the level of understanding of something before you get in the room and actually just start talking to people.

I find the same thing happening as we talk about social marketing.  You can’t just come into the room with a deck and “tell” people what it is.  You have to first take the time to ask them some questions to know where they are starting from.

This will help you tailor the subsequent conversation based on their level of knowledge, interest and even willingness to learn.

You can’t launch into Twitter without explaining to someone who has never seen it before what it is at a very basic level.  By the same token, you can explain how Facebook can apply to businesses to someone who currently uses it for personal use.  These questions will also help you know whether your client or perspective client is even ready for some of the challenges presented by social marketing.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

I’ve seen too many presentations become DOA quickly when the presenter makes some basic assumptions about the people in the room and their level of knowledge and interest.

Have a basic presentation ready.  Be prepared to show social media platforms in action (I find it best when you can show “live-action” examples on a computer).  But be ready to be flexible based on the questions you ask folks at the beginning of the presentation.  This will help you meet their expectations and in the end it will also help you reach your goals whether they are basic education or trying to convince them that you are the best person to guide them through the still murky waters of social marketing.