Interview with Digital Strategist Marc Meyer
June 04 2010 by Erik Eitel ~ View CommentsI recently had the opportunity to ask Marc Meyer a few questions in regards to social media, internet marketing, and online communities. Marc is digital strategist and director of social media and search at the Digital Response Marketing Group. He also owns his own blog called Direct Marketing Observations.
Me: How did you first become interested in the internet marketing realm?
Marc: A desire to “figure out” as many ways as possible to drive traffic to websites. Early on, I started building websites out of an intense fascination with the possibilities that the web offered and from that I realized that through design, code and text, anything is possible.
Me: How do you think social media has changed consumers’ expectations about marketing?
Marc: You defined it in your question. Social has changed everyone’s expectations now of what their online experience should be and that now translates to what our offline expectations should be from those companies. It has raised the bar in a good way for all companies. Consumers expect to be marketed but now it better be a targeted, two-way, relevant exchange between consumer and company.
Me: Which social media platform do you personally get the most value out of … and why?
Marc: Right now it might be a combination of my blog and Twitter. I use a lot of aggregators to support both but for me the value of Twitter is in the connections that I make but also in the knowledge that I continue to rake in from it. It is truly my RSS. My blog is my platform to express my thoughts and POV’s to a fairly large audience. I use Facebook for personal/family connections and Linkedin is more of a business tool-more of a static network than anything else.
Me: What advice would you give to people who are hesitant or who have not fully embraced social media?
Marc: Usually that hesitancy is born out of something that is not even related to a perception of complexity. Sometimes it’s a perception of value, time suck or that it is fleeting. All of which can easily be debunked. Which leads us back to having to start at the “why” and the “what for”. My advice would be to take a small step; which might consist of either listening first or creating a profile on a “network” and then dip a toe in the water. The reality is when someone talks to us-it’s usually enough of an impetus to stick more than a toe in the water.
Me: What do you think is the biggest challenge brands face when trying to become more social?
Marc: I think it’s a few things. One is ownership at the enterprise level- who will own it? Two- What does it look like? Three- What type of platform? and Four- What level of engagement are we talking about, What will be needed to be effective?
Me: Back in December, you contributed some great thoughts to eWayDirect’s online marketing predictions ebook. One of them was “look for social media integration among the masses to happen at a more rapid pace.” To what extent do you feel this has come true so far in 2010?
Marc: If you recall I also said that we should look for more efforts from Google into the social space, which has happened without much of a ripple, but to your point–look at Apple and the ipad and the fast evolution of smart devices. This is playing into a quicker social integration of the masses into social platforms and networks. Facebook is at 400 million right? Why? It has much to do with mobile devices as anything else-I don’t see that slowing down. As well, 4square and Gowalla and Loopt are driving social adoption as well because of the desire to check in! So I would say we’re pretty much on pace.
Me: How do companies and people balance participation and engagement with promoting products/discounts on social networking sites?
Marc: That’s a great question. The fact of the matter is it’s tough. We say all the time that we don’t want marketers to revert to the old style of push marketing, one way communications and yet we still see in it social settings-which can turn people off. But marketers still have to do their jobs, how? By becoming a part of a community. Which means what? That it’s labor intensive but you know what? Aren’t all good relationships labor intensive? At least the good ones are. Even in social networks, you are not rewarded for cutting corners. Kind of like buying followers on Twitter-At the end of the day it’s a hollow network.
Me: What opportunities do you see around the intersection of search marketing and social media?
Marc: I’m surprised that this aspect is often overlooked and undervalued. I’m also pleasantly surprised that you asked it. The intersection of search and social is so important to everything that is happening now in social. Search drives everything and the fact that social fits so nicely is no coincidence. There is a reason why real time search is tied to social. It makes sense. It’s almost semantic in its nature. I look at the intersection of search and social being the first step in the direction of web 3.0.
Me: If you had one piece of advice for marketers, what would it be?
Marc: Be curious. Experiment. Try something different. Measure it. Think about it. Be the leader.
Thank you to Marc for the time to answer these questions and hopefully provide you with some real life insight into social media, communities, and internet marketing.
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Great interview! Lots of good stuff in here.
Thanks! Sorry for the delayed response! Look for another interview with another great social media/marketing mind coming soon! :)