I first connected with Mark Schaefer about a year ago. We bonded on Twitter over his blog post The social media country club and my subsequent post, Social Media Marketing Needs to Grow Up which was inspired by his. Mark has grown an online community that is remarkable for its vibrancy. His blog {grow} consistently inspires comments from his loyal readers. I attribute the level of engagement primarily to Mark’s great posts and approachable nature.
Mark was kind enough to be my first interview subject. Below is the interview I conducted with him via email. I hope you enjoy learning more about Mark Schaefer. And if you haven’t already subscribed to his blog, I highly recommend you do so!
Mark, what is your business background?
I’ve re-invented my career several times. I started as a journalist, then went into B2B PR, sales, marketing, new product development (I have seven patents!) and eCommerce before starting my own business several years ago. I’ve had the honor of working with some amazing companies like Coke, Nestle, Anheuser-Busch and Alcoa. I also have a Masters degree in organizational development, so that adds a little spice to things!
OK. I’m pretty curious about the patents. I’d love to hear more about those…
They were primarily along the lines of packaging innovations although one of my patents is used to embed holograms in softball bats. I’m eclectic!
How long have you been doing social media work and how did you get into it?
I’ve been exploring the social web in a significant way for about 18 months. It was a little hard to ignore! I teach and consult so I figured I better get immersed. I was skeptical at first but the more I learned and studied it, the more I became convinced of its power and potential.
What were you skeptical of at first? What have been the biggest surprises or changes in your opinion and tactics?
I cut my teeth on industrial marketing. There’s no patience for wasted effort or wasted funds. So I initially regarded the social web as pretty light-weight stuff. I’ve come to realize that the social web is a perfect tool for B2B marketing. It’s great for creating consistent touch-points over the long buyer purchasing cycle.
What kind of social media work do you do? What do most of your clients hire you for?
Although my blog is best-known for its social media theme, I don’t consider myself a social media consultant. I’m more of a pure marketing consultant and strategy is really my sweet spot and passion.
My clients hire me to set them on the right marketing course. You see, many companies are overwhelmed trying to consider all the marketing possibilities, but when you really look at their true situation, the ideal marketing options are really limited by their market position, competitors, entry barriers, etc. Getting my customers focused on these fundamental elements and how they influence strategy is very rewarding for me.
Have you found any patterns among b2b companies in different situations?
Marketing is a data-driven discipline and the data will largely determine the strategy. You have to be very disciplined to hear what the market is telling you and create a unique strategy in a niche. The strategy is determined by a number of factors including competitive position, unmet customer needs/wants, and channel innovations.
What are the biggest challenges working with your customers, regarding the social web?
My customers are generally medium-sized, regional or national companies with limited resources. Carefully selecting the right opportunities and focusing resources is a challenge. And naturally there are still issues with awareness and training.
What are the biggest challenges your clients have?
I think the biggest marketing challenge for any customer is finding that relevant point of differentiation and then nurturing it and maintaining it in a dynamic, competitive environment. That is really the key goal of marketing, isn’t it? You can never let your guard down for a moment.
If you had to name three or four marketing basics that people tend to forget when they start trying to use social media for marketing, what would they be?
That’s easy and I can narrow it to one. They don’t have a solid marketing strategy to begin with. You have to align your efforts with a vision of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it or you’re going to be very frustrated!
What do you tell your customers about how to “converse” or use social media as a marketing tool for their company? How do you suggest they connect with customers while staying focused on their real marketing objectives?
I’m a practical guy and believe that every activity in a company should directly or indirectly contribute to increasing shareholder value. The social web provides many ways to do that – improved customer service, product research, and business intelligence to name a few. And undoubtedly it can be used to “sell” too. Just not in an annoying way! LinkedIn, for example, can be a very legitimate way of creating leads that result in sales. Blogs, YouTube, Twitter … they can all be used to support customers in different stages of the purchasing decision process.
What would you recommend as the best sources of information for a new person who wants to read or learn about social media?
Blogs deliver great information as well as the passion of the people behind them. Some of the true marketing bloggers out there who really get it are Jay Baer, Jason Falls, Brian Solis, Jeff Bullas and Christina Kerley.
What’s the funnest thing about working with your customers on social marketing initiatives?
I think it would be the many “ah-ha!” moments I create. It’s a lot of fun to see the light bulbs come on.
Where do you see social media going?
I think some of the main platforms are starting to settle out. That’s huge because people only have so much bandwidth to devote to this stuff.
I think mobile is massive and we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg there.
I also think there are a lot of key privacy and behavioral issues that are not being addressed, but they will be. We had a massive oil spill and now attention is focused on the oil rigs and how something like this could happen. There will surely be an oil spill on the social web, too. Perhaps it will be a stalking crime, or maybe research on how the addictive nature of these platforms is harming our kids. But look for something along these lines in the next 18 months.
I love that analogy! I’ll watch for your prediction to come true. What do you see as must-learn/must-do’s for people in the field? For companies?
If you want a career in social media marketing, you need to understand the fundamentals of marketing. Those fundamentals are not changing, although the communications channels are. Slapping a Facebook page up for a company is not marketing. You need to keep coming back to defining customer wants and needs, responding, innovating, serving … and then cycling through again. The social web gives us amazing new tools to do that by the way. This is probably the most exciting time to be in marketing ever!
Mark W. Schaefer is a nationally-recognized author, educator and business consultant. Mark has worked in global sales, PR and marketing positions for 28 years and now provides consulting services as Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He is an adjunct marketing professor and has advanced degrees in marketing and organizational development. You can follow him on Twitter @markwschaefer or on his blog {grow} at www.businessesGROW.com/blog.
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