I went to the Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings game last Sunday. In addition to pitting two strong NFC teams against one another, the game included an interesting milestone – Brett Favre’s NFL record-tying 283rd consecutive game.
283 NFL games. In a row. Except for sleep and breathe, I’ve never done anything 283 times in a row – impressive stuff for Favre, regardless of your opinions on his Cher-like series of comebacks.
Grab the Lunchpail
In sports, we revere those that come to work every day. The “iron men” of athletics are held in incredibly high esteem. Sure, Favre and Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken, Jr. are/were great players, but they’ll be remembered most for their incredible durability and consistency.
Lots of players have one or two great seasons – sometimes even an MVP-caliber season. But the players that make the Hall of Fame are those that can sustain a very high level of accomplishment over a long period of time.
The same is true in social media.
Social Media is a Process, Not a Project
Making your company or organization social – truly changing the nature of the relationship between you and your customers – isn’t something to tackle in a month or a quarter. It’s something that must be sustained forever.
Once you start being social, you can’t stop. You can’t tell customers “yeah, we experimented with customer service on Twitter, but we didn’t like it, so you’ll have to go back to emailing us.” Good luck with that.
Social media isn’t about being an overnight success, (great content from Chris Brogan) and don’t fall into the trap of over-promising with regard to social media timelines.
Be The Tortoise, not the Hare
A lot of corporate executives are going to be pounding their fists in early 2010, driving marketers to get on the social media train like never before. “We’ve got to get rolling on social media,” they’ll shout.
I agree that if you’re still on the sidelines, pretty soon your social media silence is going to be deafening. But, jumping in with guns blazing, and trying to “do” social media all at once is entirely the wrong social media strategy.
Realize that the social media success equation isn’t big moves on the chess board, it’s little moves made every day that eventually add up to a major shift.
As a marketer, your goal needs to be to understand what will drive kinship with your brand, then engaging with customers in a way that fosters that kinship in small chunks, every day.
Winning consumer hearts and minds steadily and wisely is the way to succeed in social media. And the ability to go slow, not fast is what separates long-term Hall of Famers from short-term MVPs.
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What Brett Favre Can Teach you About SM Strategy via @jaybaer: [link to post] (sorry @cubanalaf
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RT @sonnygill: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About SM Strategy via @jaybaer: [link to post]
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Brett can teach you how to be a hard working SOB. That never gives up. Period!
.-= John Paul´s last blog ..6 Simple Steps To Increase Blog Traffic =-.
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Anytime sports are thrown into the mix its a win RT @jaybaer What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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What else can Brett teach you? To make a decision and stick with it. Once you decide you’re going to get into social media, keep moving forward. Don’t make the big announcement until you’ve got your programs in place and know how they’ll work. Otherwise, it’s like trumpeting your retirement announcement and then trying to work a new deal.
Love that analogy Janet. Keep your mouth shut until you’re ready!
Seriously Jay, did you really have to rub it in about how bad the Vikings stunk it up on Sunday?!
The funny thing is that I was pondering a post back when Farve was ‘waffling’ on un-retiring, about how he could have been using social media to go directly to his fans about his decision making process rather than having all the speculation and rumors bubble through the main stream media for weeks.
In any case, I do really like your analogy about the race being more of a marathon than a sprint – and congrats to the Cards for playing the crap out of my Vikes.
.-= Eric Hoffman´s last blog ..Mobile Compatabilty =-.
I did the post before the game started, and trust me, I thought it would be the other way around! I’m hoping Favre crowd sources his retirement plan at season’s end!
Wouldn’t it have been cool if Farve had done a Ustream or Qik to announce his comeback, or perhaps created a Facebook Fan Page where fans could get updates from him as to what he was doing – coaching high school football or whatever. In any case, I agree with you, he should definitely crowd source his plan for after this season!
.-= Eric Hoffman´s last blog ..Mobile Compatabilty =-.
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What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy: [link to post] (@jaybaer)
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RT @jaybaer What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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haha RT @sonnygill What Brett Favre Can Teach you About SM Strategy via @jaybaer: [link to post] (sorry @cubanalaf
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Gag me. RT @sonnygill: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About SM Strategy via @jaybaer: [link to post] (sorry @cubanalaf
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YES! (wish we had won th game, Jay) RT @sonnygill: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About SM Strategy via @jaybaer: [link to post]
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[link to post] 2/2
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RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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RT@jaybaer What Brett Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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RT @mitchellhislop: RT @sonnygill: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About SM Strategy via @jaybaer: [link to post]
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RT @jaybaer What Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post] [WI is leery of the Favre reference, but good ideas]
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I don’t follow sports but this makes a heap ‘o sense RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach U About SM Strategy [link to post]
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RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post] ME: Great piece, Brett who? #bitterpackerfan
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R U ready 4 some Football? How about soc. media RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach U About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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RT @jaybaer: What do you think? Is social media a project, or a process? [link to post]
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There is no question it is a process, it is hard work, there is no quick fix or easy answer. We talk about the Social Media Lifecycle a lot (Signal, Engagement, Analytic and Action) because I believe it takes all 4 elements to be successful.
The upside is, once you bake in all four they become a self-reinforcing feedback loop. Customers are more engaged because you act on what they say. Acting on what they say gets you more loyalty, more engaged customers/prospects/fans.
.-= Brian Roy´s last blog ..Social Media’s Big Problem – Marketers =-.
Exactly. It’s a circle, not a line. There’s a post in there somewhere. Want to write a guest post ?
Love to. When will you be down this way?
.-= Brian Roy´s last blog ..Social Media’s Big Problem – Marketers =-.
Great analogy Jay. Social media is definitely a process that is tweaked, refined, and improved over time. A project typically has an end date. If a company is truly interested in building and sustaining a lasting relationship within the community, it doesn’t put an end date on the relationship. As always, keep up the great work.
Best,
Kelly Kearney
@kellykearney
.-= Kelly Kearney´s last blog ..Online monitoring results show Mangino falls farther than Woods =-.
Thanks Kelly. I was going to go with “arm strength helps in social media” but that was a stretch.
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Wonderful post, great analogy! RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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RT #4! @halverk Wonderful post, great analogy! RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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Good stuff RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy [link to post] #CRE #socialmedia @CoyDavidsonCRE
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Brett Fav…va ruh. RT @jaybaer: What do you think? Is social media a project, or a process? [link to post]
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“soon your social media silence is going to be deafening” RT @jaybaer Thoughts? Is social media a project or a process? [link to post]
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RT @jaybaer: What do you think? Is social media a project, or a process? [link to post] – Slow and methodical= Process!
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Def a process. Love the vlog/blog. RT @jaybaer: What do you think? Is social media a project, or a process? [link to post]
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Interesting analogy and insight Jay RT @jaybaer: What Brett Favre Can Teach you About Social Media Strategy [link to post] ^W
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That @jaybaer dude. Wow. Inspired to do vid/blog at Cardinals-Vikings game. [link to post] Cards won = icing on the cake
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What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy [link to post]
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What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy, [link to post]
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What Brett Farve can teach you about social media strategy @jaybaer – [link to post]
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Love the tortoise and hare comment, too funny that I wrote a blog post on the same “concept” http://mikepascucci.com/2009/12/07/tortoise-beats-hare/ on the 7th.
Mike
.-= Mike P´s last blog ..Tortoise beats Hare =-.
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RT @MackCollier: What Brett Farve can teach you about social media strategy @jaybaer – [link to post]
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Good thinking @jaybaer on what Brett Favre can teach us about social media strategy — it’s a process not a project [link to post]
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@jaybear @mackcollier Social media is a process not a project. Yes! [link to post]
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I like @jaybaer’s stuff so much . Here, he does the “football to business” thing well- [link to post]
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Brett Favre! RT @chrisbrogan: I like @jaybaer’s stuff so much . Here, he does the “football to business” thing well- [link to post]
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RT @chrisbrogan: I like @jaybaer’s stuff so much . Here, he does the “football to business” thing well- [link to post]
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RT @chrisbrogan: I like @jaybaer’s stuff so much . Here, he does the “football to business” thing well – [link to post]
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Very good analogy. I also think sometimes the STAR player who does NOT have a team no matter how much MVP status he has will not win the championship. I guess with out a strong strategy and a team in place who will support you. You are the MVP but with out a team. So what good is being the MVP if you are NOT going to get past the first season??? These things I wonder.
With out good leadership is another way your social media plan may fail. They might opt out too early or hire the wrong person. When these things happen it is as bad as drafting the wrong player or relying on players who can not do the job properly. Which intern can be fatal.
I am full of sports analogies… I guess my hockey love runs deep.
.-= Jamie Favreau´s last blog ..Social Media to Save the NHL (Last installment a bit late) =-.
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RT @jaybaer What Brett Favre Can Teach You @ Social Media Strategy [link to post] I love people passionate @ authentic sm engagement
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What Brett Favre Can Teach You About Social Media Strategy, by @JayBaer – [link to post]
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Was this written for me??!!
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Excellent article! I will be sending folks to read this – it really does take finding an analogy that resonates with people. They can get this. Well done. Thanks!
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RT @TomMartin: Great advice from @jaybaer you gotta bring it every day to be great in business [link to post]
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Great advice from @jaybaer you gotta bring it every day to be great in business [link to post]
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