Social Media Marketing: An Interview with Andrew Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer, Volterra Stephen Shaw 6 months ago <span hidden data-amp-original-style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-heig<P><STRONG>HT:</STRONG> 0;” data-mce-type=”bookmark” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span><span style=" class="amp-wp-a0319c3"><strong>HT:</strong> 0;” data-mce-type=”bookmark” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span><span data-amp-original-style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-heig<P><STRONG>HT:</STRONG> 0;” data-mce-type=”bookmark” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span></iframe></p> <h3><span style=" class="amp-wp-d496082"><strong> Andrew Jenkins is a leading expert on social media marketing and the author of “Social Media Marketing for Business”</strong></span> <p>We are nearly two decades now into the social media era – time enough to assess its net impact on society at large.</p> <p>The harms of social media are well known. The social divisiveness. The rampant spread of misinformation – of toxic content – of rage bait. The undermining of traditional media. Blatant privacy violations. The atrophying of attention spans. And worst of all, the insidious effect on the mental well-being of youth whose epidemic levels of depression and anxiety compelled the U.S. Surgeon General to call for a warning label on social media. Social media it turns out is not that social.</p> <p>While social media has failed to live up to the Pollyanna hopes of its early proponents – who once hailed it as a liberating force for free speech – it has made it easier for people to connect with each other. There are, after all, five billion users around the globe spending a good part of their day on social media. It has become an integral part of everyday life. In some parts of the world, it is the only way for people to message one another. Pick a subject – a hobby – a pet peeve – and you will find a niche group or community who share the same passion. It has enabled social activists to organize. It has helped expose corporate chicanery. And, as Canadian grocery giant Loblaw recently found out to its chagrin, it can facilitate nationwide consumer boycotts.</p> <p>From the start businesses have understood the importance of having a presence in social media, viewing it as a natural channel to reach potential customers at a fraction of the cost of a standard media buy. Today more money is being diverted into social media advertising than ever before, eclipsing every other media option. Where companies have struggled, however, is using social media in the way it was intended – to conduct a two-way dialogue with people. Brands still use social media largely as a “buy now” promotional tool. And while most businesses are spending on average up to 20% of their marketing budget on social media, nobody is ever able to prove conclusively that greater social engagement turns into actual sales, no matter how many followers they may have. Social media teams continue to operate as junior partners in marketing, staffed by entry-level employees who are viewed by their bosses as overhead. </p> <p>Today social media is at a cross-roads. The platforms are under pressure to make their platforms safer. People have become wiser to its addictive properties – its algorithmic manipulations. Others are becoming more protective of their personal data which is the lifeblood of the walled garden platforms. Legislators are tightening their restrictions on data use and clamping down on the freeloading of content sourced from mainstream media. TikToc has upended the playing field through its Svengali-like algorithm. And just beginning to take shape is this alternative concept called the “fediverse” built on an entirely different protocol which allows users to own their own data and share content without having to create multiple identities and accounts. </p> <p>As social media evolves, maybe to eventually become a private decentralized ad-free network, businesses will have to adapt and respond, recognizing that we are long past the incubation stage of social media. They will be forced to make a far greater commitment to it as the primary means of connecting with people. But to do so successfully, argues the longtime social media expert Andrew Jenkins, they will have to focus on generating better content to rise about the noise and put greater effort into building engaged communities. They will, in fact, have to make social media more social.</p> <p>In his book “Social Media Marketing for Business’” Jenkins lays out a practical step-by-step blueprint for implementing and scaling an effective social media strategy. The Founder and CEO of a social media management outsourcing service, he has been active in social media for most of his career, and is widely recognized as one of the world’s a leading authorities on the subject.</p> <p>I started by asking Andrew how he got his start in social media.</p> <p><strong> Andrew Jenkins:</strong>: So I had left Bell Canada in 07, late 07, and in 08 I had started doing consulting. I had made a connection on LinkedIn in 07 and continued to nurture that relationship for no other purpose than I just liked corresponding and communicating with this person. They were in the UK. Some months after our initial connection I was in the UK, met with them in person and then as all part of that sort of networking. And fast forward a few more months into 2008. And I had reached out to them for some advice, and they said oh by the way, we have a project here and we had you in mind for it and that was to conduct research on all of the predominant social platforms at that time. And so I wrote a report, a research report on all the predominant social platforms at that time. And I looked at them from user demographics, from economics, culture, you know, ethics, a whole variety of fronts because they were an innovation – the organization was the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts in the UK. And for those in Canada who are, or more specifically Toronto, that are familiar with MARS – Nesta is very similar to MARS, that facilitates collaboration between academia, the private sector and the public sector. And so Nesta was funded by government grants, and they wanted to explore this idea of whether or not social media was the new city. And so I looked at all the social platforms from this lens of how are they similar to a city and how are they different? And so it’s a long winded answer to your question, but basically I got paid to become an expert on all the predominant platforms of social media at that time. And then I just started parlaying that expertise into – I was already doing consulting and strategy consulting and started incorporating social media strategy into those engagements. </p> <p>And then over the years I got frustrated with strategy engagements where, came in, situational analysis, strategic recommendations, strategic plan, here you go. And then watching them not do it, not do it well, or you know, struggle. And so after a while started saying to clients if it was affordable, would you like to outsource it to my company and have it managed for you? Oh yes, we would be interested in doing that. And that is now the bulk of our business. We just focus on social media management, the clients outsource to us.</p> <p><strong> Stephen Shaw:</strong>: I’m going to come back to that subject because I was interested to read that. And you’ve been at this for a while. You’ve seen a ton of change in that time. Obviously, from the moment you did that initial analysis to today. How would you describe the state of social media today?</p>
