An interview with The Product Poet

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This is the second installment of three exclusive interviews with attendees of this year’s Social Media Training Bootcamp. We asked each attendee the same questions about social media, marketing, and the relationship between brands and their consumers. Today’s Q&A is with the mysterious Product Poet.
ProductPoetGraphic
Q. How did you get involved with social?
A. I used to be a CEO of a social networking related-entity. I knew many brands were struggling with using Twitter to create a short, concise message. Therefore, I created The Product Poet as a way to understand how brands were using Twitter and other social media platforms.
Q. Do you think there is a big gap between brands and their audience?
A. On certain social networking sites there are big gaps. A fair number of brands have been drinking the “Facebook Kool-Aid” because they’re comfortable with it. Brands are missing out on other networks where they can interact with their followers quickly, like Twitter. Some brands are even late to the game and missing out completely on networks like Instagram, Foursquare, Snap Chat or even Vine.
Q. What do you think is the biggest challenge for a brand first starting a social strategy? 
A. Listening. By far listening. That means listening to both the positive and negative. There have been a lot of studies shown if you complain on Twitter you get a response rate of approximately 30% of the time. When you complain, brands listen, and it shouldn’t be that way all of the time. Praise those that love your brand. Don’t be afraid to retweet positive message with user-generated content.
Q. What was the one thing you wanted to take away from this bootcamp?
A. I thought the content strategy is the best part so far. For me everything is real- time marketing so I don’t plan anything. Even most of my poetry is a real-time, “poetry slam”, where I’m responding to a follower or brand. That’s magical. That’s called being social.
Q. What do you think brands will be doing on social media 7 years from now? 
A. There is a huge evolution that is going to continue to change. You will see more brands embrace user-generated content, which is a hot topic right now. More will start to use UGC and see the value in it. Many brands I’ve interacted with that use UGC can get additional penetration into new markets or social networking sites.
Q. Pick one celebrity, historical figure, or athlete from any time period to tweet as for one week and why?
A. The real Edgar Allan Poe as Edgar would be the quintessential person to utilize on Twitter. Also, Chester Cheetah would be a brand I would love to take over for the week. I mean, who doesn’t love Chester.
 

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Background on The Social Lights
The Social Lights® is a social-first agency headquartered in Minneapolis that partners with clients to grow their business through strategy development, creative production, media buying, and social media management. Current clients include General Mills, Ecolab, Cargill, Caribou Coffee, Kwik Trip, Polaris and Massage Envy. The Social Lights was founded in 2011 and is a WBENC-Certified Women Business Enterprise. Learn more at The Social Lights.

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