Social Event “How Do I Find The Time?” Recap Part 2

Posted by Analisa, Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 5:39 pm, under Social Marketing.

HyperArts hosted a social media event on Oct 22nd, at our offices in Jack London Square. This is the second post of 2, recapping the presentations given by our wonderful guest speakers. See the first post here.

Tisha Winters, who manages social media for Numi Tea here in Oakland, presented at our last event and spoke on the topic of “How do I find the time for social media?”

She started at Numi as an intern and soon became a full-time employee. She has helped convince her superiors that social media is worth her time by building a dynamic and active Facebook page and Twitter account for Numi. She interacts with fans daily but also has a large list of other tasks to fill up her work schedule. She can relate to the dilemma of trying to find the time to develop, manage and monitor a business social media presence.

Here are some of her insights:

1) People care about VALUES.

Numi has a core philosophy and cares deeply about reflecting their passions in all aspects of their company. This attitude made it easy find an audience that had same values. Tisha simply expressed the core tenants of the Numi mission statement as written by the company founders and this transparency attracted a large group of loyal fans. Transparency is key.

2) Be clear and consistent.

If you have a clear vision, it won’t ever be “hard” to share your message via social media; you will always be able to find the time since sharing that message matters to you.

Since Numi’s values are all about that relaxing moment of drinking a cup of tea, they can repeat this concept in their daily interactions and develop a reputation and a coherent brand image.

3) FOCUS.

Find out where the consumers are, and then narrow that pool down to the ones that actually care.

Example: On Twitter most people will follow @NumiTea for the free giveaways. Tisha has found that Facebook allows people to share their opinions in depth, like their favorite teas, quotes, and conversations relating to their passion for tea.

Numi realized that they are not able to fit their message into 140 characters so easily. So Facebook and Twitter have very different functions in their social media routine. Their “Relax” message is better for Facebook, and that is where Tisha will focus if her time is crunched.

4) Promote your industry.

Don’t spend all of your time promoting your own brand and products, that is advertising, not engaging.

Tisha makes sure to share relevant links and quotes that reflect the Numi values. This is an easy way to promote your industry in general, and you will establish yourself as an expert not just in your own company, but in your field.

5) Share your passion.

Try to have fun when using social media, or else it WILL feel like work and you will never “find the time”.

Example: Tisha asked Numi’s fans a simple question, “If you could BE a tea, which flavor would you be?” LOTS of people responded. The dialogue happening might not always be about selling your product or promoting your brand specifically, but it keeps your fans as friends, not just manipulated consumers. They stay loyal because it’s fun and not just advertising all the time.

6) Let the community talk.

Sometimes all you have to do is provide the spark, and a fire will grow. Ask a question and let the dialogue happen on its own.

Example: Tisha’s Facebook wall post of the day on Gandhi’s birthday invited fans to share their favorite Gandhi quote, which incited a genuine flow of sharing and discussion. Most importantly, people ran the conversation themselves. Numi only hosted, and with little effort, benefited from the conversation that was happening on their page. The message was not “Buy our tea!” but something more meaningful and, therefore, more appealing to consumers.

Find NumiTea online:

• Blog
• Twitter
• Facebook

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