Lessons on Social Media Marketing from Condoleezza Rice

I had the privilege and the honor to see former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speak last week at Connections 2013, a digital marketing industry conference hosted by ExactTarget. Politics aside, I expected a great talk from her (because she’s Condoleezza Rice), but her speech was more than great; it was inspiring, educational, intelligible, and funny.

I also realized that even though Condi’s speech was primarily focused on leadership and foreign relations, it contains quite a few hidden lessons for social media marketers. And yes, she did let the moderator call her Condi, and soon after #callmecondi could be found on tweets from the audience:

Agreed.

Ignite Marketing with Social Media

The topic of social media was briefly discussed during Dr. Rice’s speech and the subsequent Q&A in which she says “Technology and social media are really accelerates of underlying trends.” In this context, Dr. Rice is speaking about the global impact that technology and social media have on the 24-hour news cycle and how quickly things can spread.

The idea of social media being an accelerant was a theme I heard a few times throughout the three-day conference. One session, The Power of Content Marketing, likened social media to gasoline. Content is fire and social media is gasoline, this highlights the power of cross-channel marketing.

Formulate your social strategy by mapping your social objectives to your business objectives, and then take a look at these six metrics all social media marketers should be familiar with and see what’s working and what’s not.

Social Media Marketing and Brand Essence

Social media marketing provides brands with the opportunity to engage with their audiences on a much larger scale but also in a much more personal way then ever before. It’s important for brands to align their social media marketing with the core values and mission of their brand. Keep this in mind when defining your social voice and community promise. Be genuine.

Community Management and Customer Relations

As social media continues to evolve over time, one thing remains constant when it comes to your business: the ability to connect with and serve your customers will always be crucial to your success. Creating that direct relationship with your customer community using social tools is becoming a fast and cost-efficient way to build a significant customer service experience.

In 2012, nearly 62% of customers have used social media for customer service issues, including both positive and negative feedback. And let’s face it, the social interactions aren’t always positive, but if done correctly, brands can leverage social media to its advantage to turn a potential negative situation into positive sentiment.

Read more about 16 brands that are properly using social media as a customer service tool.

Real Time News Events and Social Media

“Today’s headlines and history’s judgement are rarely the same.” In my opinion, this was one of the more memorable quotes from Dr. Rice’s speech.

Brands should share timely content and leverage news and pop culture events with their social media communities, but only if the topic aligns to the brand’s community promise and social voice. Some brands have nailed this approach (the infamous Oreo Super Bowl Tweet, while others have found themselves in the proverbial hot-seat (AT&T’s recent tweet on 9/11).

Oreo and ATT

The number one factor to consider in using today’s headlines in your social media marketing mix is relevance.

I’ll end with words of wisdom from Dr. Rice: be genuine, be relevant, and be twice as good as your competitors by working twice as hard.

That’s how your brand can become a leader using social media.



Ignite Social Media