Experts Talk About Social Media Training

With the sudden explosion of attention businesses have begun giving social media, many are jumping into the social sphere without understanding how to use it to its fullest.

I mainly blame a lack of training and an abundance of sub-par resources.

To try and help people find a better way to get started with and understand social media marketing, I asked five other Social Marketers for their thoughts on the subject.

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Meet The Marketers

Lisa Barone: Lisa is an established blogger, search engine optimizer, and social marketer. She is currently the Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, a firm specializing in SEO, SEM, Content Creation, and Social Marketing. You can find her blogging on the Outspoken Media blog as well on Twitter @LisaBarone.

Jason Falls: Jason is a successful social media and public relations consultant. He’s worked with a number of Fortune 100 companies through his own consulting firm, Social Media Explorer LLC. He shares his thoughts at Social Media Explorer and through Twitter @JasonFalls.

Tamar Weinberg: Tamar is a social media specialist and author of The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web (O’Reilly, July 2009). She blogs at Techipedia, is Community and Marketing Director of Mashable, and is on Twitter @Tamar.

Jeff Quipp: Jeff is President and CEO of Search Engine People Inc; a full service SEM, SEO, and Social Marketing firm based in Canada. He often writes on the Search Engine People blog and is on Twitter @JQuipp.

Brian Wallace: Brian is President of NowSourcing, a Social Marketing firm, and author at NowSourcing and Collective Thoughts. He also guest posts at Mashable. You can follow him on Twitter @NowSourcing.

List of Questions:

Question One: Social media marketing pretty much started out of nowhere. One day someone realized “Oh I should sell things by talking to people online!”. How did you get thrust into social media? What did you do to get started?

Question Two: Everyone has their secret resources, the places you go to get the answers and insights which mold your strategies. Fess up, what do you recommend new marketers read?

Question Three: Sometimes people just need a place to start. When learning how to best use social media, what is the number one thing someone needs to know?

Question Four: Social media isn’t something you just start with and get right away. Somehow you have to find the time to keep up with and test new ideas. Aside from not sleeping, what’s your process to ensure you’re always perfecting the technique?

Question Five: So you’ve got a new hire, they’re smart and understand what social media is, but they have no idea how to make the magic happen. How do you get them started, how do you help them learn?

Question Six: One of the best ways to learn is by making mistakes. Aside from agreeing to do this interview, what is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made, and what did you learn from it?

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Question One:

Social media marketing pretty much started out of nowhere. One day someone realized “Oh I should sell things by talking to people online!”. How did you get thrust into social media? What did you do to get started?

Lisa Barone: I don’t think it started out of nowhere. Social media is exactly what people have been doing offline since the beginning of time. It’s people talking to other people about their needs, wants, likes and dislikes. Now we just have tools that facilitate the process online. We have blogs and Twitter and all the other social networks that bring people together and make their voices louder. And on top of that, businesses can now find where their offline communities are hanging out online and reach out to them there. I don’t think it’s so much new as it is we’re finally realizing that the Web has a pulse.

I’m part of the generation that grew up in social media. I had a blog at 14. I had a MySpace page early on (it’s defunct. Age brings taste, thankfully.), a Facebook page, other accounts. In February of 2006, social media became part of my job and that’s when I really started to look at the opportunities out there for businesses and how it could be used to foster conversations and build site communities. It’s been a major part of my life ever since.

Jason Falls: First, I think social media has been around forever. People have conversations about products, services, recommend things to others and have for centuries. Only now has the technology existed to make those conversations take on a documented life of their own. The barrier to entry for the web is lower than it ever has been. That’s just magnified and accelerated what we see now as social media.

I wrote a newspaper column for my hometown newspaper in 1997 but the newspaper didn’t have a website then. I found a way to publish my column online where I invited feedback from readers, then published their comments with answers the next week. When the newspaper fired me early in 1998 (I have a demented sense of humor they didn’t appreciate), I was technically blogging. I was also an early adopter on Classmates, MySpace and a couple of other social networks. But all that was my personal interest. I was a PR guy in college athletics for a long time, learned some basic web development and taught myself some code and this and that. Still, it took me until 2006 to realize I could use my fascination with communications via technology to help clients reach customers. Because I’d been playing in social media so long, I knew it without really knowing I knew it.

Tamar Weinberg: I’ve been on “social media” since I was a little kid. I remember getting on AOL and conversing about different topics in the chat rooms of yore. Back in the old days, AOL had a variety of niche communities. I remember playing Bingo in the casino (known as “RabbitJack’s Casino”) and serving as a chat room host within kids’ communities. I loved meeting people on these communities and still have friends to this day that I met there. When I was in junior high school, this was further localized; my county’s public library offered free subscriptions to its local BBS. There, I met an environmental activist who I communicated with for years and then invited to my high school’s Earth Club.

I was an early adopter of most social media channels. I always liked its appeal. I was raving about Twitter long before people even signed up. And I lived on Digg for awhile at first — I understood what Digg was all about and became a top 100 user in a period of about 3 months, so people started asking me how to use the site to directly (or indirectly) market their products. That’s how I got “trained” — by being an end user who never stops learning while in the practice.

Jeff Quipp:I got thrust into social media, because as a company we realized that social media was a valuable seo tool. At first, I tried assigning it as a project to people internally, then each major social site to specific people, but none of them took the ball and ran with it. That’s when I decided to take it on as a project myself, and throw myself into it.

To get started, I talked to lots of others to find the biggest and the best sites that I needed to focus my time and energy on. I then threw myself into them … full time. To start, I watched a lot. Then, began to participate, and really learn!

Brian Wallace:I’ve always been a web kinda guy – got started in 1994 and haven’t looked back. So it was a natural evolution of sorts. I’ve been building communities online (think everything from Intranets to IRC to forums) in a variety of capacities, way before we had cool buzzwords for it. Been blogging since 2001 and really saw opportunities in social media around 2005-2006.

Question Two:

Everyone has their secret resources, the places you go to get the answers and insights which mold your strategies. Fess up, what do you recommend new marketers read?

Lisa Barone: I read a lot of marketing blogs. Some of my favorites include 10e20, Graywolf, SEO Book, Copyblogger, John Andrews, Andy Sernovitz and of course, I hear there’s this awesome blog at Outspoken Media. You can learn a lot from blogs, but at the end of the day, too much blog reading will make you dumb. You need to get out there and start doing.

Jason Falls: I go to the other popular bloggers in the industry, along with some other writers I admire. Valeria Maltoni, Chris Brogan, Todd Defren, Brian Solis, Seth Godin and Jeremy Pepper immediately come to mind. Amber Naslund, Geoff Livingston, Brian Clark … there are about 15-20 folks I read almost religiously. I also admire the thinking behind Malcolm Gladwell’s work. But more than anything, I try not to follow. Use the expertise you can glean from folks like those I mentioned and make your own path. That sets you apart, even if the path is wrong.

Tamar Weinberg: I love Brian Solis (briansolis.com). He’s one person who you must follow in this space. His lengthy posts are brilliant. And I may sound biased as I work for them, but there are some great pieces of content on strategy at Mashable. I also really value the content from Valeria Maltoni (conversationagent.com), Jason Falls (socialmediaexplorer.com), Chris Brogan (chrisbrogan.com), the guys at Top Rank Marketing (toprankblog.com), Lisa at Outspoken Media (outspokenmedia.com/blog), Rebecca Kelley at 10e20 (10e20.com/blog), and others. I also think that new marketers should read “The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web,” but I may be biased again there too.

Jeff Quipp:Wow … there is so much good information out there to read. The reality for me is, doing is much more productive than reading. If you focus too much on reading, you’ll suffer “paralysis by analysis”. Instead, delve in, make friends, participate, and watch what the successful people in each site do. Make and support your friends submissions, and always submit great content, and you’ll be successful with social media.

Brian Wallace:I’m pretty partial to my Collective thoughts friends. Andy Beard and Dave Harry tend to be the most active of the bunch. I also try to find anything to do with neuroscience/HCI, the kinds of things that Kathy Sierra would write (http://headrush.typepad.com/) – if she would blog again

I’m a firm believer that new marketers should know some history and see what’s been said and done already. Start with your base and grow from there.

Question Three:

Sometimes people just need a place to start. When learning how to best use social media, what is the number one thing someone needs to know?

Lisa Barone: They need to know that six months ago most of the “experts” using these social media tools were at the same point they were. The tools we’re calling “social media” are still pretty infantile. We’re all still figuring them out and coming up with the best strategies and methodologies for our clients. Don’t think you’re that far behind the curve. You’re not. Just jump in, test the waters and get started. And focus on the right stuff – finding your audience, forming real relationships, participating in conversations. That’s what matters. Inflated follower or friend counts mean nothing. Don’t get blinded by what doesn’t matter.

Jason Falls: It’s all about the customer. See the brand, the product, the communications through their eyes. If you see it correctly, you won’t screw up too much.

Tamar Weinberg: Realize that it’s all about the people — your communities. You marketing message comes after that. Understand the people you’re talking to and study what they’d want (or what they don’t like). I don’t care what it sounds like to you — you’re the business owner or the marketer. You need to think about them and how they’ll see it. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and don’t shove the messaging down their throats.

And understand that it’s a time commitment.

Jeff Quipp: PARTICIPATE!!!!!!!!! Sure there is more to it than that, but lack of participation is the #1 reason people fail in social media. They want to use the site to promote their content, but not have to invest anything into it. Succeeding in social media isn’t a part time gig … its full time! Get involved in the community. Add value. In the end, you get out of something what you put into it, and social media is no different.

Brian Wallace:Prepare yourself for total immersion. If one wanted to learn a foreign language, it is suggested to move to a country and learn the language integrating yourself into the community. This is how a newbie should approach social media too. It isn’t about which site to start on or how many Twitter followers you have. People obsessed with Twitter followers need a better hobby Followers, friends, interactions, sales, and the like all come with time, effort, learning, and persistence.

Mind you, if a newbie is not prepared to take the time, they should hire a social media consultant. The consultant’s role should be to offer up strategies and practices that best fit the client’s time, ability and preferences. One could also be successful with this kind of “borrowed ladder” approach/ramp up.

Question Four:

Social media isn’t something you just start with and get right away. Somehow you have to find the time to keep up with and test new ideas. Aside from not sleeping, what’s your process to ensure you’re always perfecting the technique?

Lisa Barone: You just have to keep testing stuff and keep your involvement level high. You can’t simply chase what’s hot “right now”. You need to have your fingers in everything, be constantly toying with things and to put metrics on what you’re doing so that you can look back in a month, 6 weeks, three months and see what you’ve gotten out of it and what you can do to see better results. There’s no magic science behind these tools and no “one way” to use them. Get in there, find what works for you, and do it as loud and as hard as you can.

Jason Falls: Well, you got the not sleeping part right. Heh. You just have to be diligent in trying the new tools and platforms. I get 25-30 pitches a week these days. I read them all, discard the irrelevant or non-eye opening ones. I put the rest in a to-do folder. I try to make an hour or two available every week to play with them. The ones that really stand out, do so right away. They get reviewed first. The others sit there until I have enough time.

But you also keep an eye on other blogs and what other writers are mentioning as tools they’re trying. I was on Posterous.com for six or seven months before I really tried it out. I was inspired to do so watching Steve Rubel talk about moving his blog to the blog/microblog hybrid with Posterous. Once I re-visited and realized how awesome their multimedia handling was, I was hooked. (jasonfalls.posterous.com)

Tamar Weinberg: I’m not sure there’s a systematic “process” for this. It’s important to always be receptive to feedback and use that to your advantage. If you get negative feedback, make adjustments and try again. Don’t shy away from it entirely.

Jeff Quipp: More and more, social media is about quality content. Accordingly, I spend a whole lot of time testing different content ideas and concepts. One great technique I personally use is to test content using StumbleUpon Ads before launching full out to other social media. StumbleUpon Ads shows me what percentage of people like it, and dislike it. Then I can tweak and refine it, to ensure the content we release is the best it can be.

Brian Wallace:Always have an open mind. Even if I’m going to do what seems to be the same kind of social media campaign for a company, I always try to start with a fresh set of eyes. There may have been something in the past that I missed along the way, and different social sites always have components changing. Community memebers come and go, so it’s really a moving target.

Question Five:

So you’ve got a new hire, they’re smart and understand what social media is, but they have no idea how to make the magic happen. How do you get them started, how do you help them learn?

Lisa Barone: You re-teach them how to be human. You break down that cold wall they’ve developed when talking to people, you eliminate the corporate speak, and you make them human again. It sounds really dumb and simplistic, but to me, that’s really what’s missing from most social media attempts – the humanity. We’re so used to looking at the Web as this cold device that we use to sell people and we’ve forgotten how to talk to our customers like they’re people. We’ve forgotten how to hold real conversations, to create relationships and to talk to one another in a real way. I think that’s what needs to be taught.

When you start speaking with your customers like they’re real people, that’s when the “magic happens”. When you start going out of your way for them, when you’re helpful, when you help them answer their questions and you just act like a real person. That’s when these great relationships are formed and when you can then leverage them to do really cool stuff. That’s the magic in social media – the people.

Jason Falls: I make them read not just blogs, but blog archives of the thought leaders in the industry. I make them write blog posts every day, even if they aren’t posted, just to get in practice of producing compelling content. And then I coach them to go wear out software platforms, looking for hidden features and thinking through the use cases for them from a fresh angle. Every time I’ve asked someone to play with Delicious or Yelp or some other tool and report back, they come back talking about a feature I didn’t realize was there. The fresh eyes are always useful. Plus, they get to see the tool for themselves and make their own decisions about what it can be used for.

Tamar Weinberg: Get them reading those influencers. Let them shadow you and follow you to see what you’re doing and let them contribute to the project too. I almost was a computer programmer, but I never succeeded by leaning by a book. The way I learned how to program (though don’t ask me to code for you!) was by studying code, understanding what it did, and creating new projects based on the code snippets I learned. Similarly, you should be learning by doing.

Jeff Quipp: I can guide them, but in reality here’s the process I would set forth for them:

1. Set up an account and PARTICIPATE … vote, comment, rate, save, etc.
2. Make friends, and support those friend’s submissions
3. Slowly start submitting GOOD content (after participating for 2-4 weeks), and not always your own. I like the ratio of at least 7:1 … the content of others (especially your social media friend’s content) versus your own
4. Track and monitor … who is being a good friend, and who is not. Drop those who are not, or at least don’t spend time supporting their stuff
5. Look for new friends with similar interests, and who are active
6. Study the content that works, and the content that doesn’t. Learn, and adapt.
7. Help others!

Brian Wallace:One thing you’ve got to understand about my background is that I’ve managed teams, hired and fired people and even spent some time doing IT recruiting. That said, my approach to new hires is a bit different from the traditional approach.

Usually, a hiring manager says to the prospect “so, tell me about yourself.”
I usually say to the prospect “so, let me tell you everything I know about you so far ”

Kidding aside, the point here is that there is no magic formula, but there is a certain skillset/personality type/learning capability that I look for in individuals that show a predictable outcome for them to perform well. It’s not about experience so much, more about learning how to learn.

Question Six:

One of the best ways to learn is by making mistakes. Aside from agreeing to do this interview, what is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made, and what did you learn from it?

Lisa Barone: See now, that’s hard only because I’ve made so many mistakes. For me it’s always an issue of being responsible with my words.

There was an incident not too long ago where a quick mouthed Twitter comment was taken the wrong way and resulted in Outspoken losing out on a really great opportunity. Basically, I made a quick joke without thinking and it was taken much differently than I meant it. It was a good reminder that, even if you don’t realize it, people are always watching and listening. I’ll never be the type of person to sit on an issue that I feel strongly about or to hold back an opinion, however, sometimes I do need to think before I throw something out there. For me, it’s not really about losing clients or offending people, it’s more about responsibility – realizing how weighted your words can be and not being careless with them.

Jason Falls: I think I would say the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in social media is taking on too many responsibilities. When I was with Doe-Anderson, the ad agency I worked with for three years, I just kept taking on more and didn’t say “no” often enough. It got to the point where I had so much to do, my work suffered. The last few months there, I was a pretty lousy partner for our clients. With my consultancy, that’s priority number one: Only take on the amount of work you can manage and still deliver great value to your clients. I never want to feel inadequate in the value I provide again.

Tamar Weinberg: I remember when I first started using social media news sites and didn’t really grasp what it would do for me. I simply submitted content that I thought would work BEFORE meeting the community members and studying what they liked. If you saw my first Digg submissions, you’d see that it was rather embarrassing. But eventually, it just clicked.

I learned from this experience that it’s super important to know that you’re dealing with people and that the communities won’t adapt to you — you need to adapt to them. Again, this is a very time consuming process but you’ll reap the benefits of it by playing by the rules.

Jeff Quipp: Wow, I’ve made so many mistakes over the years, but its only because I try. I guess the reality of the matter would be that the biggest mistakes anyone could make would be (1) being afraid to make mistakes, and (2) repeating the same mistake twice, and failing to learn from it.

I therefore don’t think of mistakes as negative … but rather as positive. That said; the biggest mistake I made (which became a tremendous opportunity) was to leave it with someone else to figure it out for me (and Search Engine People). In the end, the mistake was recognized, I learned from it, and took it upon myself to become a social media expert. What a great process!

Brian Wallace: Feels like I’m on a job interview now

Tough call here. I’d have to say that setting reasonable expectations is most important. I once worked with someone that we did good work for but they did not heed our web hosting recommendations, so whenever we did “well,” the site would not perform. You cannot win in a situation like that, and it made me take a hard look at managing expectations.