If Facebook where a country, it would be the 3rd largest in the world, population-wise that is. It now surpasses the population of the United States — men, women and children. That’s a lot of eyeballs. So if your marketing mix doesn’t include the Big Four (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube), you are going to have to peddle pretty fast to catch up in the coming years (months, really).

To help you put your social media stake in the ground, here are some insights that will help you get your stake sharpened.

Don’t start unless you have a plan. Why exactly are you getting into social media anyway? Too often I see companies jump in with a Facebook fan page and no real plan. Then they flounder around for a while until one day they scratch their business heads and say, “What exactly are we suppose to be doing? What are we going for here?” So first assess your needs, then figure out your short and long term goals and create a social media strategy, and plan of action to meet them. Marketing is marketing.

One toe first. If you are just beginning with social media marketing, pick one channel first and work it. When I first started with Twitter, I spent a month or two just listening to tweets and watching trends. I followed some of the social media rock stars (and met some of them too at digital conferences) and carefully examined their conversations –  what they were saying, and why they were saying it. Very enlightening. I saw what worked and what didn’t, and I followed and unfollowed some tweeters regularly. Before I knew it, I was being followed back regularly. Which brings me to the next point…

Content is still king (or queen, in my case). Creating and sharing great content will always rule in social media. I have been hearing this for years, and yes, it’s still true. Whatever your business is, make it a priority to religiously deliver compelling content and I promise, your fans and followers will come back for more (and tell all their friends too). To develop great content, brainstorm subject ideas, follow trends in your industry, set up Google Alerts with targeted keywords that pertain to your business and interests, and follow other people or businesses that have something relevant to say. Watch what gets tweeted, liked and passed on. See my Facebook fan page Women Of Green to see what I mean. It’s a mix of original content, inspirational quotes, relevant news stories and great conversations around the subject of women and sustainability. By doing this, we very quickly became a “go to” place. You can too.

Serve, don’t sell. Nothing will turn off a follower or fan more than an overt advertising pitch or sales talk. It’s no mistake that social media has the word “social” in it. It’s about creating relationships. It’s about engaging your friends and fans. It’s about helping. It’s about serving. If that doesn’t sound like marketing-as-usual, it isn’t. That’s why you need to listen first. It’s a whole new world out there. Now, that doesn’t mean you cannot make an offering now and then. Businesses do it all the time. But remember, it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it (as my mom would say).

Mix business with pleasure. What I mean by this is show your fans who you really are. Let your personality shine through. What are you interested in besides the product or service you sell? Share that. Social media is about human beings, not corporations or machines. Even Dell knows that. Their Twitter guy is Jim, and people love him. When Dell customers have a problem or an issue, “Jim at Dell” has been known to stay up in the wee hours of the morning handling it. And he does it with all of the love in his heart. Really. I met Jim at a conference. I could tell.

Consistency is the name of the game. There is nothing worse than starting a blog or creating a Twitter account and then stopping after a few months. It sends a message that you are either not committed or not up on your industry or business. In my opinion, it’s better not to begin at all than begin and stop mid-stream. So if you can’t commit fully to your plan, don’t do it –  or get help. If you chose the latter, social media managers or assistants can help you create a presence, build a network and keep you on track. Shameless plug: call me if consistency or stage fright is creeping up for you. I will help you build it, and they will come.

Got an insight you’d like to share?

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A new study by the leading sustainability consultancy OglivyEarth “Mainstream Green: Moving sustainability from niche to normal” provides new insight on how to close the Green Gap that persists between what consumers say and what they actually do around sustainable living. The study notes several imperative steps to allow green purchasing practices to enter the mainstream. These are some of the highlights:

Make it Normal: The great Middle Green is not looking to set themselves apart from everyone else. They want to fit in. When it comes to driving mass behavior change, marketers need to restrain the urge to make going green feel cool or different, and instead make it normal.

Eliminate the Sustainability Tax: The high prices of many of the greener products suggest an attempt to limit or discourage more sustainable choices. Eliminating the price barrier eliminates the notion that green products are not for normal citizens.

Make Eco-friendly Male Ego-friendly: Sustainability must strike a chord with male consumers by considering what works in traditional marketing. For example, automotive brands with alternative fuel vehicles are finding success by sticking to what has been shown to work — sleek ads with an emphasis on speed and design.

Lose the Crunch: Just because a product is green doesn’t mean it must be packaged in burlap. For green marketing to succeed, it must be liberated from the traditional stereotypes to emphasize the most compelling personal benefits.

Hedonism over Altruism: The emotional tenor of sustainable marketing to date has been focused on appeals to Americans’ altruistic tendencies, but our research shows that this is to deny human nature. Wise brands are tapping into enjoyment over altruism.

Do you have other ideas about how to use purchasing power for sustainability and the way to take green spending habits mainstream? Please share them below!

Listen to Carolyn’s interview with Simran Sethi on the Psychological Barriers to Going Green. Eye-opening!

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Recently the New York Times ran two disturbing articles on the same day — Earth Day. One headline said “Green Products Lose Their Allure“. The other stated that consumer confidence was at its lowest level in years and economic depression has returned with an amazing 75% thinking our economic environment is bad and getting worse.

Obviously, these two articles have a lot in common. Green sales historically rise in good economic times and can be one of the first to suffer when money is tight. But I think there is another reason just as fundamental. Most green communications, from products to energy efficiency, have been told as an environmental story and not as an economic or health story.

Many mainstream people still think of green as a sacrifice you have to make to be a better citizen of the earth. They see it much like they see contributing to a charity. Something worthwhile — as long as your have the money.

Think energy efficiency. I hear it spoken about in term of carbon offset and alternative fuels instead of its direct correlation to the bottom line. I even hear people saying, “I know it saves me money in the long run, but I’m running for my life right now.” That’s a message all of us in the green world need to hear and understand.

Since this blog began, we have been preaching a gospel of environmental self interest. Urging marketers to tell their green story in human terms. To stop employing polar bears and icebergs to tell the story, but to simply communicate that better products are better for many reasons.

Just one year after the Gulf Oil Spill, a majority is actually in favor of drilling in the gulf again. It’s soon to be $5.00 gas at the pumps that are driving those decisions. And as soon as Japan fades from our short attention span, nuclear reactors will be on the table again.

What’s really sad is that the decline in mainstream green products and disappointing sales will further deteriorate the green world until it’s back to those Deep Green 19% who always were and always will be. That won’t help change the world or the marketplace.

Too bad something so worthwhile was not given the true intelligence and understanding it needed to succeed. Too bad marketers understood so little about presenting value propositions alongside values propositions. Too bad they didn’t employ green aware people to craft a message that would create sustainable motivation. Maybe then we could have made the green world about making sense, and dollars at the same time.

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Our teleseminar “How Market Research Becomes Market Results: Turning Data into Dynamic Creative in Green Communications” was one of our best yet. Linda Gilbert, CEO of EcoFocus Worldwide, is a market research whiz and many golden nuggets of whizdom were shared between she and Irv. If you want to know the latest consumer attitudes toward green and how to take those findings and create dynamic messaging across all your communications, listen to this.

Presenters

Linda Gilbert is the CEO of EcoFocus Worldwide. She has more than 25 years experience working tracking consumer trends and applying the learnings to brand and communication strategies. EcoFocus conducts ground-breaking consumer research and provides marketing consulting specializing in consumer perspectives on green and sustainable goods and services as well as insights into the health and wellness marketplace.

Their clients include businesses with products and services that touch consumers in their homes and daily lives: foods and beverages; personal care and cosmetics; household cleaning and home improvements; gardening and pest control; school and home office supplies; transportation; restaurants; packaging and recycling, and other consumer and B2B goods and services.

Irv Weinberg is a Co-founder and Principal at Mind Over Markets, a dedicated green marketing communications company, specializes in creating effective messaging in the maturing green market for over 10 years.

He brings with him more than 30 years of senior-level advertising and marketing experience. He has worked for some of the world’s top advertising agencies including Young & Rubicam; Wells, Rich and Greene; LINTAS and Grey Advertising in New York City. Irv has been responsible for heading up the advertising and marketing efforts of Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Club Med, Continental Airlines and General Foods, as well as non-profit organizations and small to medium-sized businesses nationwide.

Inquiry: What marketing topics do you want us to feature in our Green Marketing Masters Teleseminars?

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According to a new study from Cone, Americans continue to misunderstand phrases commonly used in environmental marketing and advertising to give products a greener image than they may deserve. Back in my days on Madison Avenue, we copywriters had a name for these “phrases”. We called them weasel words. Weasel words are words and phrases aimed at creating an impression that something specific and meaningful has been said, when in fact only a vague or ambiguous claim has been communicated. For instance, the phrase “virtually spotless” for dishwasher detergent might make you think that after washing your dishes with Brand X, you will have practically no spots on your glasses. Ahhh, a classic weasel word at work. The word “virtually” means virtually nothing. It’s vague, it’s meaningless, and it’s used all the time in traditional advertising.

Sorry to say that in most green marketing, not much is different. We have our version of weasel words too. The infamous word “natural” is a classic weasel word. It means nothing, yet just stroll down the aisles of your favorite natural foods store and you will see that term used all the time. The truth is 100% natural means 100% nothing because there is nothing needed to back it up. No certifications. No detailed information in-line with the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines. Nothing. No wonder consumers are confused. And marketplace capitalizes on this every day. Not until strict regulations are in place (like “certified organic”) will consumers really begin to trust any claim in green marketing, or any marketing for that matter.

Got a weasel word you’d like to share? Let’s get them out in the light so that consumers can see the light and make better choices.

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They’re back! Our Green Marketing Masters Teleseminars with some of the most progressive, savvy, cool green marketers on the planet. This month, we’re super excited to have Linda Gilbert from EcoFocus as our featured guest. Here’s what’s up for April…

How Market Research Becomes Market Results: Turning Data into Dynamic Creative in Green Communications

When you have meaningful marketing research as the basis of your communication, your messaging will be stronger, highly strategic and more persuasive. In this teleseminar, our presenters will discuss:

Recent research findings in green and sustainability consumer trends

The emerging mainstream consumer targets for sustainability benefits and what is most important to their purchase decisions

How to take supporting data and consumer insights and turn them into a successful communications strategy

Why saving the planet is not longer a primary motivational trigger and where to go next

Special focus on marketing to EcoAware Moms and Dads: The new parenting archetype for the 21st Century

Teleseminar Sign-up

Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011; Time: 9:00 am Pacific time; 12 noon Eastern time (1 hour)

Click Here to Register

Presenters

Linda Gilbert is the CEO of EcoFocus Worldwide. She has more than 25 years experience working tracking consumer trends and applying the learnings to brand and communication strategies. EcoFocus conducts ground-breaking consumer research and provides marketing consulting specializing in consumer perspectives on green and sustainable goods and services as well as insights into the health and wellness marketplace.

Their clients include businesses with products and services that touch consumers in their homes and daily lives: foods and beverages; personal care and cosmetics; household cleaning and home improvements; gardening and pest control; school and home office supplies; transportation; restaurants; packaging and recycling, and other consumer and B2B goods and services.

Irv Weinberg is a Co-founder and Principal at Mind Over Markets, a dedicated green marketing communications company, specializes in creating effective messaging in the maturing green market for over 10 years.

He brings with him more than 30 years of senior-level advertising and marketing experience. He has worked for some of the world’s top advertising agencies including Young & Rubicam; Wells, Rich and Greene; LINTAS and Grey Advertising in New York City. Irv has been responsible for heading up the advertising and marketing efforts of Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Club Med, Continental Airlines and General Foods, as well as non-profit organizations and small to medium-sized businesses nationwide.

Irv is also a well-published blogger on many green websites and social communities including his own Green Marketing Blog. He is a featured author in Reuters’ book for C-level executives called Inside the Minds: Greening your Business.

Join us and send in your questions. Inquiring minds want to know…

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Dear Seventh Generation:

We love what you’re moving towards in terms of your new paper bottle packaging. Anything that replaces plastic with its long tail of environmental no-nos is a welcoming development. And it’s one that sure to set you apart on the shelf.

Word of caution: Be brave.

Don’t do what SunChips did and panic and retreat the first time a package compromises itself and falls apart on a consumer’s kitchen floor. Better, safer, more eco-friendly packaging is an important thing to do, and something our planet, now battling nuclear contamination, surely needs. But please remember your package is only part of the package. It’s what’s inside the package, not the package itself, that really counts.

We all know that green, by itself, is just a part of the story. That means you can’t just tell us what you’re not, you need to tell us what you are. A superior detergent that will get my clothes clean, and take out stains as well or better than conventional detergents.

Now that you’ve gone mainstream and sit on Wal-Mart’s shelves, you need to come clean and tell me why I should vote for you with my dollars? Products that go mainstream need a message that deals with mainstream values like economy and efficacy.

And that’s your next big challenge.

When you have a name like Seventh Generation which means thinking about life 140 years in the future and a focus on mainly green issues, I think you need to reassure us all about today. How you serve us right here and right now.

A recent consumer trend study by EcoFocus Worldwide reveals that younger consumers (18-35) believe that most of the efforts they take to be green or eco-friendly probably won’t have an effect in their lifetime. So why not assure them (and all of us as a matter of fact) that “We ARE the seventh generation” and what we do today matters today. The time is now and we CAN have an impact. Then the fact that you have all this cool new packaging will mean even more.

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Jacqueline Ottman is a woman who has been immersed in green marketing way before green was the scene, before hybrids were hip, before Al Gore was well, inconvenient. Yes, she’s seen it all – and studied what works and what doesn’t.

Fast forward to 2011. According to Ottman, the rules have changed. “’Saving the planet’ is not nearly as effective as ‘saving you money’ or ‘saving your health’ in green marketing,” she says. We couldn’t agree with her more. Our mantra at Mind Over Markets has always been bringing the planetary down to the personal.

So to help you navigate this emerging, ever-changing market, Ottman just released her new book The New Rules of Green Marketing (Berrett-Koehler; February 2011; $21.95) where she provides insight into the changing needs of mainstream consumers, how companies large and small have responded with fresh green marketing strategies, what it takes to succeed, and what the future of marketing will look like.

This comprehensive dive into green marketing is a must if you’re serious about making it here. Ottman goes into depth on subjects such as:

Green consumer motives and buying strategies

Designing green products from life cycle approach

Strategies for eco innovation

Communicating sustainability with impact

Establishing credibility and avoiding greenwashing

Ottman’s new book is chockfull of practical checklists at the end of each chapter, an extensive 25-page green marketing resource guide, and dozens of inspiring case examples of the most successful greener products and companies today.

Whether you are a start-up or C-level executive, you will find Ottman’s book a reliable compass into this fast-growing, and sometimes green grab bag arena. “Meeting today’s consumer needs won’t be easy,” Ottman admits. “Many challenges are associated with sustainable branding and green marketing – and many notable attempts, inadvertent or deliberate, of ‘greenwashing’ abound. But consumers want worthy businesses to succeed.”

How worthy is your business? What are you really contributing?

Listen to “Me First, Planet Later” with Ottman on Women Of Green.

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Simran Sethi, an award winning journalist and an associate of Carolyn said on Women Of Green that organic food isn’t only an environmental issue but a public health one. She emphasized reframing green or environmental issues so that “everyone can understand it”. She’s right in many ways — from consumption to communications. If you’re eating organic tomatoes to save the planet, it’s time to chew on this. You’re not only saving the planet, you are also saving yourself from the tons of toxins that find their way to your table via conventional agriculture. If you’re buying a Prius to be part of the green revolution, that’s great but getting 40-50 miles per gallon is what’s going to move the needle toward green for most. If you’re opting for LED lighting because its easy being green, you’re also getting the benefits of 75% savings on your electric bill.

Bottom line, if the thrust and focus of your green message is purely planetary, you’re actually cheating the green movement of its ability to become the global movement it needs to become to affect the planet in the positive ways you’re intending. The Achilles heel of the green movement is its inability to move out of being a political causal movement to become a public benefit movement. If it falls along “liberal versus conservative” fault lines, therein lies its fault.

When it’s a derogative to be a tree hugger, when its too easy to put “wacko” at the end of environmentalist, then you know something isn’t being communicated well. When the rust belt can become the green belt and provide new industry, new jobs, boost the economy, take us off foreign oil, and clean up our waters and our skies, then it’s more than green. It’s progress.

Green is about starting things, not stopping them. It’s about growth, not stagnation. So, next time you’re in a conversation about green issues or green values, remember the real goal of the green movement is the health, welfare and prosperity of the citizens of the planet, not just the planet itself. A little self-servingness isn’t a bad thing as long as it serves the needs of all of us.

– Irv Weinberg

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