Tell us a little about yourself and Scott Monty Strategies.
I'm intrigued by classical
civilization and the great works of western literature. I was a classics major
as an undergrad and it gave me a chance to read and write widely on history,
philosophy, drama, politics, and more. And I've found that the farther I get
from my education, the more valuable it becomes.
My speeches and consulting are
focused on embracing the fundamentals of human communication through the lens
of human nature, history, literature and common sense. The technologies that
we're experiencing now are new and fresh, but human behavior remains
steadfastly constant, and there is much to learn from the past masters.
What digital or social media metrics
should businesses measure to determine the success of their efforts?
This is a favorite topic of mine, because it's one that
can't be completely answered. There is no silver bullet, no single answer that
manages to address this broad-ranging question. The issue is this: before
you've even set out on a digital journey, you need to know what you want to
accomplish. Doing digital and social for the sake of being cute or to jump on a
trend isn't helpful unless it's somehow tied to your business objectives.
Figure out what you want to achieve and determine the steps along the way that
are meaningful and measurable. And then measure for outputs and outcomes, not
likes, comments or clicks.
In your opinion, what is the biggest blunder you see businesses
make when getting started with social media and digital campaigns?
Frankly, I would have hoped that we were beyond this now, but it's a
function of social and digital falling under the umbrella of marketing. And
that is that social and digital platforms are viewed as a place to shout at
people and advertise, while what we should be doing is building relationships.
There's nothing wrong with brands being on social media, but the way they go
about telling stories and sharing things is fundamentally stuck in a "look
at me" mentality. Brand storytelling is fine, but don't make yourself the
hero every single time; make the customer the hero and your product a minor
player. But being completely self-centered won't win you many friends.
How would you advise a business with
limited time and resources in creating a more successful online presence?
You need to have some presence, but you don't need to be
everywhere and chasing the latest trends. Limit yourself to the places where
your target audience is and where you know you can make a meaningful
contribution and impact. Ultimately, it has to map to the culture of your
business. For smaller businesses, there's no reason that all employees can't
get involved in the effort; it shouldn't fall to a single person to do
everything. The more personality you can put behind it, the more excited people
will be.
What advice do you
have for people looking to enter the profession?
Be relentlessly curious. Dorothy Parker once said,
"Curiosity is the cure for boredom. There is no cure for curiosity."
The more you can soak up and understand about all aspects of business - not just
digital, not just marketing, not just customer service - the more you can put
everything into perspective. It takes time to build a strategic understanding
of an industry, but the good news is that there are endless resources out there
to help you discover and learn more.
Scott is speaking at a sold-out event as part of The Center for Digital Engagement monthly breakfast series. If you want to hear and meet other industry thought leaders, see our list of upcoming events. And if you have a question for Scott, connect with him at Twitter at @ScottMonty.
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