SocialBuzzOnAir (Ep. 7) 03/16/12 - Why Brands Still Don't Get Social Media with Tonya Hall

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Oh, yeah, we know what that sound means. This is Social Buds on Air. What's happening, everybody? I'm your host, Sebastian Rusk. As always, hey, welcome to the show. Beautiful Friday here in Miami. It looked a little rainy this morning. That did not happen, thankfully. So we got a big weekend ahead of us. It's been fashion week all week, all kinds of neat fashion things happening in town here. We were out and about on Wednesday hanging out with our greater Miami Chamber of Commerce friends at the annual Hype Awards at the beautiful Four Seasons Miami on the pool deck. Great venue. Then we headed over to Midtown to our friends and very lovely owners of the Blow Dry Bar in Midtown for the Art of Blow. Great event, great turnout, and um always something going on in this town, but we like to uh be where the buzz is. Hey, if this is your first time tuning in, hey, thanks a lot because without you, this show does not happen. So, Sebastian, what's social buzz on air all about? Well, we like to talk about social media, we like to talk about things that matter, we like to chat with people that understand the power of social media and they're actually doing something with it. But in addition to that, we want to give you tips, tricks, tools, and everything you need to know in order to make sure your social media strategies in place, or at least you better understand exactly why social media is prevalent in today's market. It really blows my mind that some brands still don't get it. You can pick up a box of Cheerios and see follow us on Twitter, find us on Facebook, you see large brands running contests from traditional media means, which translates to you see a television commercial, it says, watch the end of the commercial on Facebook. You see an ad in the paper, in order to enter into a contest, all you need to do is tweet them. Hello, people. The genie is not going back in the bottle. Social media is here to stay. I believe my buddy Gary V sums it up the best. Social media is overthrowing governments in the Middle East. Do you really have the audacity to think it's not affecting your brand? Come on, folks, it's here. It's here to stay. I completely understand and embrace the fact that you may have been in business for the past 30 years. I get that. I totally do. I totally get the fact that you may be in business longer than I've been alive. I get that. But I also get the fact that times are a changing. You know, Jay Bear was on the show a couple weeks back, founder and brainchild behind Convince and Convert. And what he talked about was You know, there w there was a time where we didn't have to use the telephone for business. We didn't have to pick it up, we'd have to answer it. There was a time that we no longer had to res we we no longer had to respond to our beepers. I guess I just said beeper. There was a point in time that several different ways of communication didn't exist. Friends, understand. We are grossly underestimating where we're at with all this pertaining to social media and the digital space. Grossly underestimating where we're at with all this. Folks, seven years ago, these tools didn't exist. Seven years ago. It blows my mind to think that a short seven years ago the very thought of signing on to Facebook, sending a tweet, electronically connecting with someone didn't even cross our mind. We referred to that as the future. Well friends, we're in the future, and it's only getting bigger and badder. And better. Batter and a and I I don't know if that's a correct saying. Did I say that right? Bigger, batter, right, batter. Okay. It's a sleeping giant, in my opinion. You know, my buddy my I keep quoting my buddy Gary Vee, and if you know who Gary Vee is, follow him on Twitter, Gary V-E-E, or find him on Facebook, Gary V Nurchuk. That guy's crushing it. No wonder he wrote his first book titled Crush It. Because that's exactly what he does, but he really drives the point home that you talk about a thought leader, you talk about somebody that really gets it. He talks about listening. He talks about caring. He talks about really understanding the needs of your community and your customers. His second book, The Thank You Economy, that's what it's all about. He believes every company will eventually have an execu a new executive position entitled CCO. Chief Caring Officer. Not customer service, that's defense. The caring department. Imagine that. Brands caring. Do you care about what people are saying about your brand? If someone walks into your restaurant and says that food sucks, don't you want to know about that? Don't you want to be able to have the opportunity to play defense on that? It really blows my mind to think that brands say I don't need social media. Sorry to take a sip of water there. Getting on a little bit of a social buzz rant here. Hey, if you're just joining us better late than never, this is Social Buzz On Air. I'm your host, Sebastian Ruskay. You can follow us on Twitter, twitter.com forward slash social buzz on air. You can also find us on Facebook, Facebook.com forward slash social buzz on air. You can also, uh if you're listening to the show, hey, in the middle of next week, high five for podcasts. We are now available in the iTunes store for our all of our show replays. You go to socialbuzzonair.com. You can listen to all of our replays. You can also open up iTunes on your iPhone or in iTunes on your computer. Go to the iTunes Store and simply type SocialBuzz On Air altogether. Once you get to our page, all you need to do is you can listen to one episode, you can listen to them all. I highly suggest that you subscribe to our YouTube, or excuse me, YouTube wrong platform, iTunes Podcast. Great way for you to stay connected. That is not a reason or an excuse not to tune in live. If you're in gridlock gridlock traffic right now, it's a good Friday afternoon because I'm about to entertain you for the next 54 minutes, if that's okay with you. I'm going to infiltrate you with social media truth. Not just buzz. Buzz is me talking about what's happening with brands on social media. But really helping you better understand why you need social. I never like to be in the studio alone, but this week it did happen. My trusty colleagues had prior commitments, and that's A-OK. I had to hop on Twitter, hop on Facebook, thumb through my vast network of fabulous people, and I came up with no other than the lovely Tanya Hall from the Tanya Hall Radio Show. I just saw the phone lines light up. She's going to join us remotely right now from Colorado Springs, friends, listeners. Welcome to the show, Tanya Hall. Hey, welcome back, actually.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

Thanks for having me back.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Well, you know, it's always a pleasure because I learned something new every time you're on the show.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

Well, it's there's something new to learn in this industry. I mean, it's a crazy industry that we're in every day. It's constantly changing.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

So you just got back to Colorado. You were at, and most majority of our listeners may not know what South by Southwest is. Uh it's a festival, a three-week festival. Um, why don't you give our listeners a 30,000-foot perspective of what South by Southwest is, and then let's chat about what you were up to over those five days.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

So South by Southwest, well, first I have to say that I actually um want to clear something up. I actually hosted an event from Colorado where we had a man on the street at the event covering different aspects, different conferences. So we actually did uh both we were in Colorado and Austin. So let's be clear about that.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Oh, that well, you know what that's even that's even better, Tanya, because based on your content, it was that rich and that good as usual. I thought you were in Austin. So did that just goes to show that social media can help you put up a uh a legitimate front, if you will.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, it's a crazy event. You have uh so South by Southwest um isn't just interactive. We covered the interactive portion, which is all about social media, digital technology, everything that's happening on the web, um just like your show and my show. And um, so it started uh years and years ago, and there are certainly uh every guest we had, I think, pretty much uh had been there for at least two or three years. This was their third year. This this year I want to say, and I don't have the exact number in front of you, but it's somewhere between 25 and 30,000 people flood in uh for the weekend, uh the first weekend of South by Southwest for the interactive weekend. And it is it is a free, and that's just the people that have registered. There are a lot of people that attend the event uh that do not have a registered registered task to get into the conferences, but there are some free conferences that they can attend, some free meetings and panels. So they kind of try to attend some of those and and go to some of the parties and that sort of thing. It's it's a crazy, fast-paced event with lots of information and mostly a lot of networking.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, and I mean, again, that's what makes the world go round, but I'm I'm told it's it's uh the geek spring break.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Well, if something said I think it's a cross between Mardi Gras, spring break, and it's it's just it's crazy. People go nuts. I mean, uh I think if all the geeks in the world uh go crazy and all the social media people get down there. Well, you've got, if you think about it, uh bloggers, you've got uh tech startups and entrepreneurs, you've got the all these people that to your point, Sebastian, that you know, you talked about you know talking to me over the internet, all of these tech people have promoted and done uh built relationships uh based off of technology. So in many cases, this is the one time a year, or maybe the first time, they've been able to make a face-to-face relationship with somebody that they feel like they've known for a long time. In fact, that's why I attended uh Jeff Polver's conference, the 140 conference, for pretty much the same reason.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah, absolutely. You look forward to, I mean, a lot of relationships start online these days, and uh they become um they they become human in person, uh, which I mean they're human online, but as far as like, hey, I follow you, or we know each other online, or people that you're are you know, I have a lot of people that are in my daily life that I and I communicate with, do business with, um, that um that I haven't even met in person that I look forward to, like you.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Exactly. Well, and I'm looking forward to meeting. We were kind of, you know, talking about how that's gonna happen and and how we're gonna maybe potentially work on an event together. But you know, uh in fact by Clant Dulenoff, who's the chief editor in chief of Mashable, you know, what was the one big takeaway for him from South by Southwest? Now think about think about Mashable as a media outlet. Think about the fact that they cover everything.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

If you're not familiar with Mashable.com, they're the kind of like the CNN for social media technology and digital news, mashable.com, you can check it out just so people know what we're talking about here.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Well, and and and his big takeaway was that just the the one thing that he took he said you take away from this event, it's it's about making the connection and building relationships with people. And and I thought that was a really smart move. In fact, of all the people that we had as man men and women, by the way, on the street, talking about the event, talking about the panels, talking about the conferences, they really said it was still about the networking, it was still about relationships, because many of the conferences um are established very far in advance. Uh, June, I think, is the application date. They they're decided in October. And you know, we said at the top of the show, you said this uh Sebastian is that this isn't a constantly changing industry. So uh a lot of the information that's there isn't necessarily these are the people that have their finger on the pulse of text, so they already know this stuff, but but but the relationships are something that that go on to build bigger and better things. And and we saw brand take a much bigger active role this year as well. Um Chevy had a really big campaign where they had people driving in Chevy cars to the event. Um so they had teams of people all over the United States, all uh driving Chevy vehicles, blogging about it, talking about it, and it was all about charity. They were stopping at schools along the way um and had and raising money for schools. It was it was it was really cool to see how brands were more engaged this year.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Yeah, absolutely. My buddy Nick with On Ideas up in Jacksonville hopped in one of the Chevy's and uh was documenting stopping at schools and all the things they got to do upon that journey, was just um was just extremely stoked about um just being able to be involved with a brand like Chevy and such a large gathering like South By.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

So American Express, another band, you know, you mentioned earlier uh something about the bashables of CNN for social media. Uh one of the big uh you know stories that didn't really come out but uh kind of got leaked, uh, if you will, whether it was intentionally or unintentionally, was about uh CNN purchasing Nashable. I don't know if you've kept up with that.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

I have not. What do you know about that? I want to know more. Wow, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Well, uh so I haven't had an official response, and I think you're still in negotiations. I think what they wanted to happen, I honestly think this was an intentionally leaked story. And I think that uh they hope to have an agreement during South by Southwest. Uh, but I think that it just didn't uh fully flesh out. So I think you're still working on it, and um I believe that we are gonna hear some sort of announcement now. So what does that mean? What does that mean for Mashable? What does that mean for CNN? I think it means it's great news for CNN, obviously. Um it's it's not surprising that P. Caser would want to sell his you know escalated company from a blog into uh you know ultimately, but um so the the reviews are are fairly mixed and and mostly negative that they people don't want to see this happen. Um they're concerned that mashable will end up being a uh a tab, if you will, on the CNN website. But I think that even if it does change mashable and it it is so that may not happen, but if it if it were, it also opens up the door for another tech, you know, media reporting outlet, and so it it it just it it it opens up more entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

And it also strengthens the message of social media is here to stay if CNN is willing to pick up an existing, you know, what what like you said, what what started off as a blog and is now one of the main sources of information pertaining to business, online, marketing, social media technology, um, that just goes to show that, you know, again, the genie's not going back in the bottle. If it was a fad, CNN wouldn't even look at it. In my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

I'm sorry, Sebastian. I just can't imagine even anybody would think that. I mean, it's literally transformed the way that we do business. People have always thought based on relationships, now those relationships are happening faster, and and there's all kinds of data that's tracking uh the success rate of businesses and brands using social media.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah, there most definitely is the numbers are there, and that's what we talk about. Um, and I I learned a lot about that at um at the Social Fresh conference uh last month in Tampa. Uh Chris Penn um really drove home the point of really understanding, you know, the data's there. Why not utilize the data to analyze your customers, your community, and then better market and communicate to them? Because that's where we're at now. Before we would put together an advertising campaign, we would measure the metrics, however, we did that, and then we would optimize the campaign based on what worked and what didn't work, and then move forward. We can do that now, but it's like a thousand times easier and more effective to be able to do it. You just have to, well, do it.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Absolutely. And those brands and businesses, this is funny. I always say, you know, um, Jeff Hazlet was a guest on my show, and I asked him the question, uh, so what would you say to your uh, you know, what do you say to the skeptics? What would you say to those people who say, you know what, um, I just don't think it worked for me or it's not for my business? And he said, I hope they're my competition because I'm gonna kick their butt.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Well, Gary V said, I don't care about those people. So that's kind of right on the same. I that was the last question I asked him when I sat down with him last year. Gary, so what do you what do you what do you tell critics that say, you know, I know I need social media, but the you know the word social media makes my ears bleed? He goes, I I really don't give a crap about those people. In fact, you know, I had people tell ask me in 2007, Gary, how do we get everybody on Twitter? He said, We we don't. The longer we have all of this to ourself, the better off it is. But I'll tell you, for the skeptics out there, I'll catch you on the flip side. I'll catch you in about 36 months with a big fat cup of I told you so. Hey, hey, you're not going anywhere. Hang out with us, we're gonna go pay some bills. Yeah, we're in 2012. It's important to understand that social media isn't going anywhere. It's not a fad, and it's here to stay. Friends, we're in the midst of an amazing shift in the way we communicate. The team here at 880AM TheBiz believes in social media, and we're going social in 2012. Stay connected with us on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash 880 AMTH. And follow us on Twitter at 880TheBiz. This will allow you to stay connected with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for news, updates, show information, and the who what wide aware of what's happening in the social world of 880 a.m. the bids. So find us on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash 880 a.m. thebiz. And follow us on Twitter at 880TheBiz.

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In 2012, it's important to understand that social media isn't going anywhere. It's not a fad, and it's here to stay. Stay connected with us on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash 880 AMTH. And follow us on Twitter at 880TheBids. This will allow you to stay connected with us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for news, updates, show information, and the who what wide aware of what's happening in the social world of 880AMTheBiz. So find us on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash 880AMTheBiz. And follow us on Twitter at 880TheBiz. And we are back, and this is Social Buzz on Air. What's happening, everybody? I'm your host, wild host, over the top, high energy host, Sebastian Ross. Hey, welcome to the show. My good friend Tanya Hall joining us from Colorado Springs. We're chatting about South by Southwest and Austin. We're talking about social media. We're chatting about brands. And uh Tanya, you still hanging out with us?

SPEAKER_03 19:55

I am here and excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Hey, thanks for calling in. So you and I chatted, had a pretty extensive conversation earlier this afternoon, and we were just kind of trading war stories on um just you know where our opinion was on brands that were weren't utilizing social media, but also brands that start to use social media and then stop. What is that voodoo all about?

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Oh, you know, it's very frustrating. And I think here's the thing. Um certainly there are, unfortunately, um, you know, snake oil salesmen out there who, you know, don't really understand how to use social media. So they they're you know kind of misleading people. And what happens is people don't really understand how it works. So they don't they don't they don't understand how it's gonna really drive sales, and that's ultimately what it's all about. We we all are in business because we want to sell our products and services. So you want to make sure that whatever it is that you're doing is gonna result in that. And social media, I mean, there's there's lots and lots of data behind it. You you have to produce good content, so you need to have, you know, um really active and engaged customers and fans. And if you don't, you're just gonna think it doesn't work, but it it doesn't work because it's not being done right.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Correct. Correct. You know, and then and then I you said you mentioned that this afternoon, and I could not agree with you more. Um if you if you as with anything, if it's done incorrectly, it's not going to work. And it listen, if your product sucks or your business is is is falling apart, social media is not going to fix that. Like Jay Bear said, and I continue to drive this quote home over and over again because it's absolutely brilliant. The goal is not to be good at social media, the goal is to be good at business because of social media. So be good at business first, have a strategy for your business first, and then leverage the all the tools and resources that are available with social media to be able to amplify your existing efforts. Do you agree?

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Oh, absolutely. I mean there's there's lots of resources, and and you certainly don't have to do them all. And if you're in business to business, there's just one Strategy, ultimately, you have to identify who is my customer. Where do they live? What do they do? And there's some really simple things that you can do to get started. Bottom line is you gotta do that. You gotta at least get started. You gotta understand some sort of strategy when you do that and see it implemented and and and take it one project or one campaign at a time and so that you sort of can start tracking your results.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

And I I agree with that. And you know, to continue on what what Jay had said, in fact, I I listened to the show from a couple weeks back, it's on socialbuzzonair.com if you want to listen to it. He said if you're a local business or uh a small business and you want to develop your social media strategy and you don't know where to start, take out a piece of paper and write down fifty of the top questions your customers and prospects would want answered about you and your brand. And I thought that was a great back to the basics A B C One Two Three Daddy Oh, wrong song, wrong song, um, way of being able to portray um how you start your social media strategy. So let's say you're you're Tanya's pizza shop. You want to start Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, a blog, and Google Plus this weekend. Set up all the free platforms, because they are free, put some put put your logo on, explain your business, and then get a piece of paper out and write down the top 50 things that you can answer that your customers would want to know about Tanya's Pizza Place. Do you agree with that strategy as as far as an example is concerned?

SPEAKER_03 23:30

I think absolutely. I mean, you know, you talk about pizza. I'm in a one-some now. Thanks a lot for that, by the way. Everybody driving home is probably going to be stopping and giving the takeout pizza.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Steve's Pizza, the best in Miami. I'll free plug. I'll be picking up the check next week, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 23:43

Um, I so business it depends it depends on your business. What is it that your customers want to know to your point? I mean, and it doesn't have to be about your business specifically. So, for example, um, you know, automotive. You know, tell people how to change the oil in their car or how to change out the windshield wiper or safety, things that people need to know about driving or vehicles. What is it that you're interested in? Because think about the one product that you don't purchase every day. It's an automobile. Like it's probably the second most expensive purchase you'll ever make for most people. And but yet Ford Motor, which is a great example. I know you uh you're also a big fan of Scott Monty, you know, 25% of their budget, in fact, even more this year, is spent on social media because they get the value of building that relationship and offering education and advice. Just that's a great way to get started, Smash.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Ford has done an exceptional job. And yes, I am a little biased because I'm a huge fan of uh the gentleman, Mr. Scott Monty, the global head of social media for Ford Motor Company. But they have done an exceptional job, and I had the pleasure of being able to pick Scott's brain last month at Social Fresh, and I that was a very unique opportunity because, you know, let's face it, um, that that's a that's that's one heck of a job right there. He said he wakes up every day and pinches himself. I know why. Um because that's a that must be a fun environment to be in charge of and to be part of. And you understand why Ford is so social now uh when you meet an individual like Scott. And I know you've had Scott on your show recently, haven't you?

SPEAKER_03 25:11

I have. I've uh I've had him on a few codes myself, and you're right. I mean, he's he's an incredible guy, but I think any any business that is willing to to make an effort in social media is seeing the return on their investment. Dun dun dun, the ROI, right? The big you know question. They're seeing it because they're their fans are excited, they're more excited to attend their events, to buy their products and services. It's it's loyalty.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

It it most definitely is. Loyalty, brand ambassadors, uh, brand advocates. You know, Gary V doesn't think that it's about brand ambassadors, brand and brand advocates. It's about people that buy your product. It's about people that buy your product, not for the next week, but for the next 80 years. It's building brand ambassadors um organically, not trying to convert them into that, but they just become that because you were that go-to source. In the interview that we sat down with Gary last year for his Thank You Economy book uh when he was here in Miami, I asked him that. I said, is it is the true ROI of social media is the true way to gauge that ROI by converting your customers into advocates and and ambassadors? And he said, No. It's converting them into people that buy your product for the next 80 years. It's becoming, it's being that go-to source. It's kind of like if your mom and dad ask you to do something, you're not or to ask ask ask something from you, you don't are a close family member, you don't even think twice about that. Or you've got that one friend that you can always call if you need someone. You need to be that person um in business, and your brand needs to be that person. I I personally want to be that person. I want to be the guy that you call when you're in a pickle, the guy that knows a little bit about everything type deal. If your brand is transparent, that is able to provide not just content about where you can buy a Ford, but how you change your oil, details about you know, uh American Idol or whatever the case is, whatever they're involved with on there, they mix it up. It's not just push, push, push, it's pull, pull, pull. They and they do a great job of that. They put together these creative campaigns and they pull their community in, engage with them, and then guess what happens? They don't go anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Absolutely. And not only are they gonna buy your product and service, but to your point, they're telling their friends about it. And you know what? I see it every day on Facebook. Constantly, people are asking, you know, I gotta go to the dentist. Do you guys have anybody you can recommend? I need a new one, who fixed your transmission, or how do I get this or that product or service? People want recommendations. And guess who they're asking? They're asking not just the people in their family anymore, which is what it used to be. They're asking people on social media, and they're more likely, much more likely, to purchase a product service, even if it's advice from a stranger.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

I got an awesome example for that. I was driving, actually, speaking of Steve's pizza, it's quite that trek. Why I say quite the trek, it's about a 15-minute drive from downtown, but it's well worth the drive. It's like a New York slice. I just had one like a month ago. Now I know why people talk about the the slices as why they how why they do. Settle down there, buddy. It's Friday. Um, but I drove all the way up there and they weren't open yet. I guess I was a little early in the morning. I was a little too excited about pizza. It was like 11 o'clock in the morning. So I just headed back. I took a different route home. Uh Biscayne's kind of a main thoroughway down here. And um, there's a place called Dogma. It's a hot dog joint on Biscayne, and um, I don't really know what the street is. I want to say maybe Biscayne in like 68th. Anyway, it's a little hot dog stand, and um I had a friend tell me that um that place has the best hot dogs. And I thought, you know what, I'm not a hot dog fan per se, but I hear great things about this. I'm gonna swing in real quick and grab some lunch. So I did just that, and uh, of course, the huge menu, it's kind of like you walk up to the window, place your order, and then sit outside type deal, but the menu's just nailed to the wall, and there's like 549 items on there. Okay, maybe like 50, but still. So I thought, well, hold on a second. First of all, let me check in on Foursquare. So I did that. I saw that my friend Inez, big shout out to Miamiism.com, uh, had posted on uh posted a tip on Foursquare. For those of you that don't know what Foursquare is, it's not that it's not that game we played in elementary school. It's actually a location-based application that you um download on your iPhone and you can check in to specific places and be rewarded for doing so and becoming a mayor. It's a game per se. You're rewarded for what you do. Anyway, back to my story. I check in, I see that Inez had left a tip saying, uh, my good friends uh Priscilla and Frankie bought this place about a year ago. Awesome hot dogs, but you've got to try the Philly cheesesteak. So I thought, well, we're at a hot dog joint. Am I gonna need a Philly cheesesteak? So I was still up in the air, I was still scratching my head looking at the menu, and the uh Lady at the window was overly friendly, just like, hey, what's happening? What can I you know, what can I help you out with? And I said, Hey, what's really good here? She looked at me and said, the Philly cheesesteak. I go really. So anyway, I didn't happen to get her name, and but uh as I'm paying, um, you know, I order a cherry coke. She's like, that's the best combination for a Philly cheesesteak. I mean, she's really helping me with the dogma experience, even though I'm not eating a hot dog. So I get done and I I I I uh get done ordering. They bring my Philly cheesesteak out, which by the way was off the charts. I I know that the best are in Philly, from what I understand, but this was fantastic. Um, and now I know why she talked it up so much. And then she came out, she's like, listen, we have three other things that we really hang our hat on. Uh it's our Chicago uh Italian beef, uh, it's our one specific hot dog they have, I forget what it is, and then the Philly cheesesteak. And then I happened to ask her name, she said Priscilla. Well, I'm like, wait a second. I look on Foursquare, I checked in, I looked at Inez's tip. It said Priscilla and Frankie. She was the owner of the place. She hadn't even said hi, my name's Priscilla, I'm the owner. She just wanted to make sure that I was getting what I wanted. Um she wanted to make sure that I was having a pleasurable experience. And then after that, I met her, I met her husband, everybody in the kitchen waved by. And when I left, I wrote a tip on Foursquare and told her I was going to go home and write a review on my experience on that Philly cheesesteak. And that was all within a half hour. Now I know that was a little bit of a long story, but businesses, small businesses, local businesses, take that story to heart because I'd never been there. Nobody told me to go there other than a friend saying that place has good hot dogs about two years ago. And I checked in on Foursquare using social media, found out what was good, re uh asked somebody else what was good, that matched what the tip was, made the decision, it ended up being good, and now I went out and told all my friends that I just had the best Philly cheesesteak in Miami. I'd say that's a return on investment for a local business.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

Well, and and and you know what? It absolutely is. And and you're gonna share that just just like you did with all of your listeners, but it but but it but even if you didn't have your own radio shows fashion, you're sharing that kind of stuff on social media sites, and so people are paying attention and it does increase activity for businesses. You you have you absolutely have to have a good product or service. But if you do that and you're engaged in marketing, in this case social media marketing, you're gonna get a return.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Yeah, most definitely. And I'd be surprised. Listen, send me a tweet or a message uh on our Facebook wall or or email me, srusk at socialbuzztv.com. If you go to dogma this weekend and have a Philly cheesesteak or anything on the menu, I just want to know about it. That's all. I just just for just for uh you know for for uh uh what's it called purposes of the conference keep keeping the conversation going. And then I want to be able to highlight that. And again, that you know, I like to always say, Tanya, marketing gets the customer through the door, social media keeps them there.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Absolutely it does. And it it it is about building loyalty and relationships with your customers, getting them to come back to your uh, you know, in the hotel industry, it's butts and beds, in restaurants, certainly it's it's getting people in your door and getting them to order your you know, we we're all in habits of going to the same places and trying the same things and eating at the same restaurants, and we often don't go out of that norm. And the great thing about social media and finding following somebody's suggestion and trying something for the first time is that you may now have that person spending their disposal income at your location, whether it's a retail store, electronic store, or a restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

You know, that's another advantage to having a social media strategy, especially if you're a local business and having Foursquare as part of that. Being able to have a business profile on Foursquare and being able to set up what they like to refer to as deals and offers for people that check into your location has a tremendous amount of benefit. Number one, it's free to do it. Number two, if someone's in the area, they walk into an office, they walk into a restaurant on a Friday night at seven o'clock, it's packed. They got kids that are starving, everybody's tired for the week, they just want to eat dinner, eat a great meal, and go home. But that's not gonna happen because there's a an hour wait. They can look on Foursquare after they've checked in, and Foursquare tells them there's 22 deals, there's 10 deals, there's 15 deals within a two-mile radius of where you're at. So you may have checked into a place that has an hour wait, and they're not giving you anything to check in at all because they don't even know they're on Foursquare. But you are able to have options within that hour instead of instead of having to sit there for an hour of finding out what else is in the area. So let's say you're eating at a steakhouse, you find out there's another steakhouse just a short mile up the street, and if you check in, kids eat free. Now, that in my opinion is a way of being able to reward new customers and gain new customers all at the same time. That's an absolute win-win. The business gets to incentivize the new customer, the new customer learns about the business, and I believe if it's a pleasurable experience and the food's good, the customer's gonna come back.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

They will every time, and and you can eat it in the eating you can offer them something certainly, you can give them some sort of loyalty discount, check in, you know, four different uh times after your fourth time, you know, you get something free. I was in uh Gunnison, Colorado, small town, mountain town, uh, and a restaurant had, you know, check in, they had a barcode like you have on your Facebook page session, and uh and it was all about checking in and and getting twenty percent off your meal that day. I mean, so I felt rewarded and I'm like, wow, I I these this place gets it.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

It absolutely does. Hey, we gotta take a break, don't go anywhere, Tanya. Are you sick and tired of working in noisy coffee shops with slow internet and an endless journey just to find a place to sit down? Or perhaps you're sideways at the thought of working from your living room for one more day. If this sounds like you, the Latitude One Business Center may be the answer you've been looking for. The Latitude One Business Center is located in the heart of Ripple in downtown Miami. Their state-of-the-art class A office space that offers everything you need to just well work. The Business Center occupies the 14th and 19th flooring, comes equipment with a private executive, shared space, a receptionist, a mail room, a break room, a copier, a fax, a phone, the internet, and the vest room. It's all included. Give Jamie Entertainment a call today and set up a tour of the center. We promise you won't want to leave. Call 305 529 at 60229 today. And be sure to find Latitude One on Facebook at Facebook.com forward slash Latitude One Business. This program is brought to you in part by Peabody Real Estate Miami, a full service real estate management company offering a unique approach to helping you with all of your real estate needs, whether it be residential, commercial, or property management, with a team at Peabody Real Estate Miami as you cover. For more information, visit them on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash Peabody Real Estate Miami. And we are back. What is happening, everybody? Hey, if you're just joining us, this is Social Buzz on Air. I'm your host, Sebastian Rusk. Hey, we do this each and every week, Fridays at 5 p.m. live on that drive time home. If you're here in South Florida, hey, if you're tuning in online, high five is supporting us online. And if you're listening to us in the middle of next week, maybe the middle of next month, high five for podcasts and uh replays, huh? My good friend Tanya Hall's joined us calling in from Colorado Springs. Tanya, thanks so much again for hanging out with us.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

It's always a pleasure to hang out with you. And it's Friday, so you know, it's it's Sunday fun.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Tomorrow is um speaking of St. Patrick's Day, you local South Floridians, are you looking to uh looking for a party tomorrow? There's definitely one happening uh in uh the downtown Brickle area. Lucky Clover Irish pub just opened. They reached out to us this week and uh wanted to know if we wanted to help create some buzz for the day of green beer. We oblige to that. So we'll be hanging out till I believe the fun starts about 1 p.m. tomorrow. They shut down the streets. It's absolute madness, it's controlled madness. I've gone for the past couple years. Um I don't know what it's gonna look like this year because Lucky Clover is in the mix. But uh hey, meet me and Brickle, Social Buzz TV will be in there. Lots of green beer, lots of green happening, and hey, a good time. I'm told there's a U2 cover band that goes on about 8:30 down there. So it's a full day of St. Patty's Day fun, and uh we will be all up in the mix. So you and I also talked about uh you being the number one in the influencer uh outreacher on the South by Southwest official leaderboard. Let's chat about that for a minute.

SPEAKER_03 38:13

Oh, wow. That was uh yeah. So South by Southwest had their own uh influencer scoring that that was actually put out by people uh people browser, which is uh their product is Cred, uh which is kind of the new kid on the block. Cloud was the name that I think most people have recognized in the past for campus influencers reach. And um excited that every day it was the number one outreach. I feel actually because they told me. Every child to me is the number one influence. Um it's interesting. I mean, children's ideas is influence and outreach is you know the gamification of trying to figure out you know where where the the people are that are you know contacting the most people, that are reaching the most people, and that have the most influence. The the big difference between clout, I think, and cred is that cred is more about community and more about community relationships versus uh clout, which I think is probably more about brand influence.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

For those of you that may think that uh Tanya's speaking Chinese right now, cred and clout are two platforms that allow individuals like myself and Tanya to be able to have their their exactly that, their clout online gauge. What is our info, our influence, I guess would be a more appropriate word, uh, our influence engage, because as things continue to progress and get bigger and badder and better with social uh and our jobs and our our our responsibilities as social media companies become more relevant, people are going to be they want something to gauge. We always want a number to be able to gauge. Well, Cred, Clout was the first one on the block, Cred's the new guy on the block. They're going to be able to actually provide a specific number. I believe clout's a score of what, one to a hundred, is that right?

SPEAKER_03 39:58

Mm-hmm, something like that. And Cred actually has two ways to identify your outreach. There's the conversations people are having about you. It's a much different algorithm. And the one thing that I really like about Cred, Sebastian, is that they're really open with their metrics. You know, with Clout, you don't really know necessarily how they're coming up with their uh you know, their calculations, but with Cred, it's on their website. You can you can you can see exactly how the measurement takes place. So it's really interesting. I mean, to your point, um, what with influence and measurement of influence to your cred score, for example, is gonna be much like your credit score. It's it's gonna be something that people need to pay attention to.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

I wonder if they're gonna have those funny commercials with guys singing in bands talking about credit scores. Um, but instead it'll be it'll be about cred scores. Uh you're you're welcome, by the way, cred, for the uh creative idea. On the next watch later.

SPEAKER_03 40:48

You should you should talk to Andrew, their CEO, and see if you can make that happen.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

I think that, hey, listen, little social buzz, little cred, I think it could become a reality. Hey, if you're just joining us better late than never, this is Social Buzz on Air. I'm your host, Sebastian Rusk. We do this each and every Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern time, South Florida. It's on your drive time on 880 on your radio dial. You can also listen online at 880thebiz.com. We're chatting with my good friend Tanya Hall with the Tanya Hall show out of Colorado Springs. We're talking about a little bit of this and a little bit of that pertaining to social media, pertaining to business, pertaining to just kind of really the consistent message with this show is why you need social media for your brand. Why you I mean, if you haven't gotten it yet, you need to wake up. Allow this to be a wake-up call. Maybe if you're in traffic right now and you needed that. Hey, wake up. You needed that real quick. So it's not going anywhere. I continue to say that over and over again. And the more that you pick the rug up and continue to sweep under it, uh, the the the more it's going to grow and the more the further behind you're going to fall. Like Jay Bear said, you you can make you I don't believe that every brand has to have a social media strategy in place today. But they will eventually. And eventually is you know, six months, uh, you know, a year from now. Um you can get away with it for a little bit longer without doing any long-term detriment to your brand for not for for not much longer. I mean, you have a choice to not be social, uh, but you uh you will not have the choice um soon enough. Um you will have to or you won't be in business.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

Yeah, and and you know, why wait and let your competition get out there and start building those relationships and building that brand loyalty before you do? You need to really spend some time, and even if that means really sitting down and figuring out your strategy, starting a blog, just getting some content uh out there on the internet.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

Yeah, most definitely. Content is, you know, content is is is is king, as I always like to say. Um, but um marketing is queen and she runs the house, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:52

Yeah, that's right. She wants that.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

I think both of them work together. So um I uh was in the process of uh I've been working on lately here, kind of building the talking about the buzz. People, a lot of people ask me always, you know, what do you do, Sebastian? I you know, the the goal of of Social Buzz TV is to create buzz around brands. Do we handle strategy, setup, maintenance? Of course, we do all that stuff for brands, but my my main goal is to create buzz for brands, to be a a spokesperson and uh brand ambassador, uh chief evangelist, if you will, of your product, service, or brand. Uh I put together recently uh my electronic press kit that I'm extremely proud of. If you go to sebrusk.com, S-E-B-R-U-S-K dot com. You can find out just about everything there is to know about me as far as what I do pertaining to creating buzz about brands, my reels on there, a goofy picture of me with glasses and bow tie, holding some McDonald's chicken bites, no, they don't pay me yet, um, are on there. But check it out. If you need buzz for your brand, if you've got an event coming up, if you've got some sort of um product or service that could utilize uh uh uh a walking billboard uh and somebody that can really get out there, drive the point home, and arrive. And I'm not talking about I'm out selling your product. I'm out there endorsing your product, saying this is the brand to work with because of this, and I sell the relationship we have. So I just wanted to get a g give a quick plug to my to my the all-new electronic press uh kit that uh I've got here for Sebastian Rusk slash social buzz. So I didn't mean to interrupt our conversation there, Tanya, but I I showed you earlier and I guess you know why I'm excited.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

Well, you should be. I mean, uh I think you know, those people who need help and need to understand, I mean, that's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

Most definitely. Most definitely. Speaking of that, you need help. I know I know you you may be driving in your car right now, you may be listening at your desk. You know what? This is why I tuned in because I believe what this guy's talking about makes sense. I got an email this week and somebody told me I was not a believer in social media until I heard your show. Actually, I heard your show and I still wasn't a believer. Then Whitney Houston died, and then the Susan G. Coman debacle happened, and then I was a believer. So now I get it. Now I know it's here to stay, now I want to know more, and when can we meet? So that happened on like Tuesday or Wednesday. So that pretty much made my week. Just to get that email and say, I I did I wasn't a believer in social before. Some drastic things happened on a national level that drew people together, and social media was the core of all of it. And then I matched it up with what I remember you talking about, and now it makes sense. So um I I like to know that my you know, the power of influence is happening with social buzz. That's what I'm here to do. I'm not here to just sell you on the idea of social media. Sell yourself on social media. Let me come in and make sense of it for you. And you do the same thing, don't you, Tanya?

SPEAKER_03 45:37

Well, yeah, and denying that it exists or that it works doesn't make it go away and doesn't make it change. And and certainly there are going to be people that just aren't going to, and you know what? Those businesses will fade away and they'll die in the dust and they'll wonder what happened, and you know, and and it's unfortunate. But that is the nature of being able to play ahead and be really smart marketing your products and service. Because if you have the best bread in town and and you're you're a phenomenal bakery, but nobody knows you exist, then you're not going to have customers. So you have to use marketing. And now today we pay a lot more attention to social media marketing than we do to direct mail that's being mailed to our house. And not to say that you shouldn't use traditional tactics, but it is a blend and you have to make sure that social media is a part of it.

SPEAKER_02 46:26

Yeah, we we no longer look for news and information that comes directly to us. Before our fingers did the talking, now the information just comes right to our fingers. We don't even have to do that. Um that's really the I think it's the it's so easy. And I think that's why we're so uh we we we adapted so quickly. And for those of you that may not want to adapt and may think, you know, you're probably not continuing to listen to the show if you don't agree that social media is prevalent and it's here and it's not going anywhere. Um but you can be proactive now about your social media strategy, or you can be reactive later uh and play that dreadful game of catch-up, which who wants to do that?

SPEAKER_03 46:59

You know, I you know I want to make a comment about something that you said because you talked about the Grammys and and you talked about this this person that was listening to the show and like Sarah Believer now. But to your point, to even elaborate on that. I mean, the Grammys had such huge success. They had more more people tuning in to the Grammys on traditional television that wasn't streaming live on traditional, on CBS, than they've had since 1984. But to even elaborate on that, and that's because of the power of social media, they have a huge social media effort that they put forward, they do better and better every year. And and and if you look at an event like the Oscars, okay, so the Oscars is a much, much stronger, bigger, more televised event. But yet the Oscars did not do well this year at all, and they had major criticism, and a lot of people said they just are becoming less and less interested. So a brand that really all you have to do is continue to promote didn't do well. A brand that people weren't tuning into, you know, four or five years ago to the Grammys, now they are and in drones. They did much better than either the Super Bowl or the Oscars.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

Right, and uh, I know you were you of course you had to bring that up. Um not only is that great information, but um I I lost a friendly wager um with the uh very talented Tanya Hall over this, over a quick tweet talking about is you know, is the Grammys going to trump, no pun intended, trump the uh the Oscars. And I lost that bet, and um here I am admitting it again, and that was that was what I had to do to pay up, was admitted on the air. So I've done it twice now, but I'm glad you brought that up uh in all seriousness, because um it's you're exactly right. And it's you know, it's if you want to if you want case studies of what social media is doing, look at how it's changing behavior. Because guess what? Buying behavior, customer behavior, you the the the you know the development of the customer cycle, these are all be behavior um traits that that are social, that you're able to to track and gauge and then better shape and form your message to to market and and and and and reach out to your community.

SPEAKER_03 49:02

And and it doesn't take a lot to produce content that people that you know take your phone, take your flip, take your little flip camera, take it around your auto shop, and and show people how to change their windshield library. Or or maybe if if you know if you're a bakery, talk about the latest motion that you have. I mean, make a short video that you can put out there that people are interested in. Think about what is it that your customer wants to hear. And it doesn't again, it doesn't really even have to be about your product. It could be if you're if you're a car dealer or or a mechanic shop, it could be about road trips that you like to take. In the springtime, if the weather's been beautiful here in Colorado, you know, where do you want to go away for the weekend? Get people talking to you and with you about the things that interest them.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

Yeah, if you were interested in your brand, what would you want to read about? Is really what it is. Because it's listen, it's not, and let me drive this point home, as I always do. Social media is not a platform for you to shove your message down consumers' throats. It's not here for you to sell, it's not a free billboard for you. So if you're doing that, please stop because you're gonna have people just tune you out. You know that cute little unsubscribe button, that little unfollow button, it's there for a reason so people can tune into what they want to hear and tune out from what they don't want to hear. And guess what? Who wants to walk in a car dealership and get pitched by a used car salesman? Nobody. But that's what happens when you're shoving your message down consumers' throat. Now, does that mean you can't talk about an offer or a new product? No. You most definitely can, but it needs to be a good mix of relevant content that pertains to your brand, uh uh uh uh content that doesn't pertain to your brand that may contain that that may pertain to what's happening in the city where your brand is, and then mix in a little bit of we're running this, we're we've got this special, um, you know, 30% off until the mix it up so that people are engaged in a community, not just an advertising campaign. You were not don't pitch me, dude, as Gary would say.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

Don't pitch me, dude. I have to say I've been sort of pitching, I I'm a little jealous that you've actually interviewed Gary Vee because I've been trying to get him on my radio show and I haven't given up.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

He said yes. I saw him say yes, he said this year.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

He did, but I've been trying I'm actually in the process of trying to get him on for Tuesday on my show because it's my birthday and I wanted to become on my show, and so there was a huge social media campaign. People were tweeting all about it, um, and he hasn't answered. In fact, his answer was I'm not answering yet. So I could use your help to I'm tweeting him as we speak right now.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

It's Tanya Hall's 21st birthday on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_03 51:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:39

And she wants to interview you. And we're gonna we're gonna CC uh his assistant, Phil Toronto. I think that's still his assistant. If not, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_03 51:48

Yeah, I hope so. Hopefully the the the craziness of South Pi, South Light. He was there. That guy is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to South Fi. It's like Disney Land for Gary V. And he had a party, he had a white party. Um, a lot of people were excited. I mean, it is really interesting. Um if you're if you're not a Twitter user, um, you know, I understand there's some uh you know, people are are are not sure about it or they don't know that they're gonna enjoy it. It is slightly addictive if you start using Twitter. But uh but it's interesting to follow the conversations and the things that people are talking about, even if it's not you know your business or your industry because you're learning so much as you're using social media. But um, but there was a lot of Twitter activity um around Gary V. Uh it certainly was a local geek celebrity at the event.

SPEAKER_02 52:35

Most definitely. He uh even did a daily piece. He's been doing a his like almost weekly now of it's called the daily, just a little piece on saying, hey, listen, here's where we're at. A quick two minutes of, hey, here's where we're at. He did it right outside on a sidewalk and got all I could well I heard Gary clear because you can't help it here, Gary, but then you hear the background music and the it wasn't music. It was a guy going, hot dogs, get your hot dogs, and he's going, Listen, people, you need to get it. Here's what's happening. And you know, he the the message actually, what he's talking about was it's not a bubble. This is not 1999. This is not a tech bubble, it's not gonna pop. It's getting crazier and better. So get with it or get with it.

SPEAKER_03 53:12

Well, and I think a testament testament to that is the fact that Southwest Southwest, it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. They actually have just about outgrown Austin, Texas.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

I I wouldn't I listen, I I went to go book a room probably seven months ago. No chance, no dice at all. So couldn't book a room. So next year, um, we're gonna do something real creative, real creative, and um Social Buzz TV will be um will be breaking his uh South by Southwest inaugural visit next year for sure.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

You know, I you know what I think you should do. I think you should get a Social Buzz van and take it down there and do you do your shows from the van and just do some crazy stuff. I mean, lots of crazy stuff is happening, and you would fit in perfectly with that.

SPEAKER_02 53:56

Well, I'm a little bit of a diva, so I'm gonna need an R V. But um, here's what's gonna happen. Uh we're going to um we're we're we're we are gonna get an RV. I don't know how that's all gonna happen, but all my crazy ideas become around. We're gonna come pick you up in Colorado Springs, okay? We're bringing the Tanya Hall show and Social Buzz on Air on the Road next year for South by. So you've been warned 12 months in advance, Austin, Texas. Um the buzz is on its way. Well, hey, listen, we're uh we're almost out of time here. Uh thanks for curving out some time out of your uh busy Friday afternoon to hang out with us. It's always a pleasure. Uh, you and I have been chatting about doing something uh weekly here about recapping what's been uh who you've had on your show and uh what's what topics you guys discussed pertain to social media. So uh let's try to get that firmed up this week and get you back here and uh and start doing that because it's all about again, social media is about content, uh, but what we do as far as educating people and talking about the buzz, um you know, it's a perfect fit here. So I appreciate you and I appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_03 54:57

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 54:58

All right, hey, high five. Enjoy your uh your lovely Friday uh uh afternoon and uh awesome weekend, and I'm sure you and I'll chat or tweet or something next week.

SPEAKER_03 55:07

Absolutely. Find me on Facebook or uh find me on uh Twitter at Tanya Hall Radio.

SPEAKER_02 55:12

Tanya Hall Radio, follow her. You're welcome, by the way, listeners. Hey, thanks again, T. I'll talk to you next week.

SPEAKER_03 55:17

Talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Thanks by prime example that social media works right there. That's my that's a she's my social media BFF, and we haven't even met. How's that go? So uh it's a fit though. She's got a radio show, she talks about social media, I've got a radio show, I talk about social media. Uh we'll probably end up meeting for the first time at South by Southwest in Austin next year, uh if all goes well, if not sooner. But um again, the power of relationships uh is really what it's all about, especially uh with business. It's not just social media, it's the relationships uh that you form now uh because those are the people that are gonna say, you know what, that's the brand that you want to work with, and you'll be able to uh and the that's the long-term relationship that I want to be able to have. Uh if you don't have a social media strategy in place, get one. If you need help, I'd be more than happy to chat with you about it. Drop me an email, srusk at socialbuzztv.com. Direct line at the office is 786-273-7875. Uh, if I don't pick up, leave me a message. I promise I'll call you back and at least help you better understand. If this show hasn't done over the past hour of Tanya and I haven't really driven the point home and you need to chat a little bit more because you have questions, let me know and I'd be more than happy to chat with you about it. Well, we know what that sound means. We are out of time. Hey, listeners, friends online and in your car, thank you so much for tuning in. Without you guys, this show does not happen. I'm Sebastian Rosk signing off from our studio here in downtown Miami at 880 the Biz. Big shout out to Tanya Hall for joining me today. Thanks so much. Hey, everybody, enjoy your weekend, stay safe and blessed, and we'll talk to you next Friday.