The career of Manuel Guedes has always developed in the world of digital strategies and online communication. In addition to having launched its corporate agency in 2003, since 2006 it has created strategies in digital media for Coca-Cola, Microsoft or P & G, among others; From agencies like Universal McCann.

Manu, your career has evolved at the same time as the social networks in our country.

The truth is that the comparatives are hateful but very good to improve and find the most appropriate strategy in our Social Media Plan.

Let’s say that if we compare it with other countries at the investment level has nothing to do with what is intended for social networks in the UK, USA, Japan or Brazil and that we have almost the same big brands. If we compare with the level of creativity we are almost the same, and I do not think it is a problem of our creative but the level of freedom that is given. But there is one thing in which we are very different and for good, we are a world reference of how users navigate social networks, the high level of permanence, the engagement they generate and the level of penetration in our country. I think this should be much better used by advertisers and I speak with knowledge, I know that those who do get a high level of virality, engagement and redemption in their campaigns.

As for the point where we are, let’s say that the 10 km of our marathon in the Social Media. We still have a significant advance in investment, both advertising and technology to achieve greater interactivity with our consumers, And at the level of creativity, I dream of giving more space to the creative ones to really make actions much more fun; I know that now many proposals remain in the drawer, for whatever reasons, and as long as we continue to be afraid of innovating, we will not reach the end of our goal.

 Do large corporations have well-defined social media strategies?

From my point of view, and professional experience, few are clear and include it in their business road map. The sectors of tourism, elearning, leisure, startups and few more are the ones that are doing better. To do Social Media Marketing that marries Social Media Strategy you have to understand, feel and participate in the conversation raised by the consumer and not all are willing to invest time, staff and money in it. I am sad to see so many good professionals in the digital sector that pose great changes to large corporations and listen to them, but they do not listen to them and therefore generate few reactions. I believe that all those involved in this digital change in advertising really do, with conviction and analytical results behind their backs, no one invents the clicks, “I like you” Or user retweets. The data is there and they speak for themselves.

And how is the social media of SMEs? Can you compete from you to you with big companies?

Ah! The pymes! SMEs and the new self-employed are super creative, but they still need more closeness on our part. In some workshops of entrepreneurs that I have given the big question is: how do I get to know people in the Social Media sector to help me without charging me as a great advertiser? To the digital agencies I encourage you to create a business line for SMEs, that is the “real tail” that we face and the largest business fabric is made by this type of business. The most important thing for me of an SME is that I think every day as a startup. There are many cases of success, all very local, but with data so small compared to the big brands that often the local media themselves do not breastfeed and talk about them. And if we talk about the self-employed, I have no words,

Look, to compete with the big companies and their big budgets there will never be color that defines it. But it is true, that many times they have less margin of reaction and are in a very mature market. I tell SMEs to do nothing like what they are doing until now, to innovate, to make mistakes and to succeed. And you will tell me! Manu, you’re crazy. Why? I also have an SME project in progress, a family project, and I know, because I live it in my flesh, which is not having a euro to invest in everything you would like; And have to pull free platforms, ask friends to do retweets, free analytics, etc … but if something good have the digital professionals is that almost all help each other. So for me, The question would be How can I compete against the advertising noise of large budgets? Well with the 3P’s rule: ask, ask and promote. Ask all you know to help you, involving them in your project; You have to believe in the law of 6 degrees, there will always be someone else who can help you, guide you, give you advice. Ask all of them to give you their best, with the only promise to be part of your business in a totally altruistic way; Remember that you do not have a euro and you will not have it unless you move. Promote all your learning to those who have helped you to improve your business, to make it survive and share with all of them your shortcuts, which is not the same as your project secrets. If we want a better, more digital and more accessible world for all,

 Tell us a little about Social commerce is it possible to sell on social networks?

It is possible, but it involves investing money, as in everything. The dilemma is whether you invest money in setting up your own eCommerce store on your website or putting up a sales tab with an application on your Facebook fan page. They are two different things but what will help you to decide, roughly, is the volume of traffic you have in each one. If you have more traffic on your website, set up an online store, and if you have fans and movement on your Facebook fan page do it there because you will not have to do any traffic redirecting campaign of any kind. It is possible to sell with Social Commerce, but its way of selling is different, it carries more catalog update, special offers for the fans or greater volume of promotions;

One of the most innovative hotel chains, which is not the largest or the most expensive, earns 1% of its revenue through Facebook Commerce, and do so taking into account the social profile of its fans. Ask me 1% is too much or too little? For them it is enough that 1% of their total reserves have been made for facebook because there are special prices for their fans but have managed to make the% of engagement and repeat purchase higher than that of the tour operators. I think it’s a big step, both for SMEs and for big brands, to make the leap to Social Commerce, but I insist that everyone who does it is to stay and bill more than before. The level of profitability and amortization of an application for Facebook Commerce, for example, doing the content well,

What is the key to having a good presence on the Internet?

I am a digital strategist, and I always say that without strategy you are like a bottle in the sea, adrift. What do the waves bring you? Of course, but sooner or later you’ll end up on a deserted beach, where if you’re lucky someone will read you and throw you back into the sea. It’s a metaphor that I use a lot to explain the difference between letting go of the current or targeting and paddling towards it. For your personal branding you must have a mini strategy of its own and as all strategies have a series of keys, steps to follow:

1. Start by analyzing your competition, see how other professional profiles like you, how they are on social networks, how they communicate, what they share, ….
2. Are you clear about your goal, your horizon, where do you want to go, what do you want to become, where do you want to paddle? Many times that one of the symptoms that make us lost.
3. Specialize! There is no such thing as apprentice of much, master of nothing.
4. Make time for your social networks, for your social contacts. If you do not take care of them, they will not do it with you.
5. Stay updated. No one said that this was easy, or that it was not going to change every day. You will have to dedicate time to your personal brading as much as you dedicate yourself to your hobbies.
6. Follow the Munito Rule by Hour (Minute / hour). I recognize that this is another of my “crazy rules”, but if you spend one minute every hour of your day to update, talk or share content on your social networks you will always have them active and that will talk about you, your personal brading.

It has been commented on many occasions that the figure of the community manager is devalued. What do you think this is due to? 

For to which brands or companies are believed to be “men orchestra”, “which serve both for a broken and for a peeling,” as they say. I have mentioned it in other articles that I have written on the subject. The Community Manager is a profile that should be part of the organization, it is the face of the brand, the company and you can not leave it in the hands of someone who is not well trained and informed of what your company does, how Wants to communicate and how it should treat its fans, not customers; Since in social networks the way of communicating to us is very different from that of a call center, for example.

A Community Manager is a key player in our online communication and is not devalued, we have devalued it by using non-professional or digitally trained profiles. That’s the biggest problem, the involvement of companies with their employees, their fans, their customers and those who have understood it are being praised by them and becoming “brand loves”.

Leaving aside the “social” or media fever of community managers and the crisis we all talk about; I think the digital stands are the most demanding right now, not because of its novelty, but because of its necessity. From Online Communication Managers, Digital Planners, Online Brand Managers, Developers, App Developers, Computer Engineers, Social Media Strategies, Social Media Planners, SEO’s, Analysts ….. and an endless list of specialized profiles for the many Human Resources departments are not prepared to interview, but in the new startups they have a lot of space and understand these profiles as skills and added value to their projects.

Where does Social Media evolve?

For me it is evolving towards integration, Social Media Integration; The limits of their data and analytics are increasingly being tested and social networks are asked to integrate with WiFi systems at points of sale, global data from a cross media campaign or with mobile data Marketing and real-time geo-positioning. It’s a whole world, and the more we demand the more we get and with better results. It’s not that I’m optimistic, I know it sounds like that, but I’ve seen it with great campaigns and colleagues in the industry that I’m wondering about, too.