Almost daily, we talk about, preach, practice and prove that social media is truly important and significant. The evolution of it is remarkable, and it only continues to provide more and more each day.
As of late, the focus has been on the money making – or saving – one can do with these services. Several new offerings have hit the social scene, presenting opportunities to further market and sell products and services. Moreover, consumers can reap the rewards of the special deals.
Twitter recently released @Earlybird, a new service that gives followers exclusive deals from Twitter’s advertising partners. This is the social media platforms take on the recent upsurge in online deal offerings.
An equally beneficial sales driver, yet slightly different concept by Facebook developers, called Payvment, is a social network ecommerce platform that allows users to set up a free storefront. This application is a one-stop shop, allowing all the marketing, sales and administrative functions to be done within Facebook.
And we would be completely amiss to leave out Groupon, with its daily deals via email and Twitter, customized to your geographic locale. Additionally, it was just announced that Groupon will now be customizing its offerings to the specific users, treading into customer relationship management waters. The daily offerings will start to be geared more towards each individual’s specific interests rather than the entire audience.
These services parallel each other in terms of an overall goal – the utilization of existing social networks to market and sell products. What better way to drive sales and market products than directly with the relationships that are already established.
Making – and saving – money via social media channels is simple and essentially free. See what kind of ROI your business can get with these great tools.
A few weeks ago, I was visiting St. Paul with some friends, and we were looking for a new dining experience. I had recently downloaded the Yelp application on my BlackBerry and thought we should give it a try. After going through the broad list of restaurants and reviews, we came across the perfect place with around 30 reviews – a trendy, Asian fusion eatery called Señor Wongs.
The food and overall experience was rather incredible, and I believe that can largely be attributed to Yelp. But, this accolade leads to a larger discussion – is there value in consumer review sites and applications, such as Yelp and Urbanspoon?
These utilities are undoubtedly valuable to restaurants for a number of reasons. First, it gives restaurant operators a way to gauge the popularity and overall quality of a restaurant experience for patrons. If a restaurant is doing a satisfactory job, it will be reflected in their ratings.
Second, restaurant owners and managers receive feedback they might not otherwise get. And with that feedback, they have the ability to respond to both positive and negative reviews, publically or privately.
The majority of the reviews and ratings are favorable towards the restaurant, but pleasing everyone all the time is virtually impossible. Negative reviews happen, but following up on the business end can truly turn a reviewer’s poor experience into a modified rating or even a second chance. And if a restaurant falls short, there is an opportunity to remedy the flaw and improve operations.
If I had I not utilized the Yelp application, we probably would have eaten at a predictable, standard chain restaurant. Restaurant review sites allow smaller, hidden treasures to be discovered.
For the individual chain or franchise restaurants, Yelp and Urbanspoon help them to stand out and differentiate themselves from the overall chain image by highlighting their exceptional service, atmosphere or local specialties.
I strongly urge consumers and restaurants to start searching, reviewing and responding on these sites and applications. Using these tools can transform an average dinner from mediocre to amazing in minutes.
Practically everyone – and everything – has a Facebook page now. From your grandparents to your favorite restaurant and even “campfires,” it seems there is a page for all of our interests and connections. So, why does my bank seem to be missing from Facebook?
I decided to look into a few banks in the area, and my findings were rather unexpected and startling. The presence of local banks on Facebook is somewhat lacking.
A bank’s presence on Facebook makes perfect sense. What better way to connect and build relationships with customers, both current and potential. When engaging on a different, digital level, other than within the banking establishment itself, consumers will feel like they have a deeper relationship with their financial institution.
The amount of time people spend on Facebook is significant and growing every day, so there is a great opportunity to spread the word about your bank’s products and services. Let consumers know about the latest offerings, incentives and news going on with your bank. Get them talking, give them feedback and learn about their banking desires.
I personally want to do business at a bank that embraces technology and change, stays on the edge of the latest advancements and services and really shows that they want to build a deep, understanding relationship with me as a consumer.
U.S. Bank has a strong following and does a great job connecting with consumers online, offering polls, encouraging conversation and linking to services such as mobile banking and careers.
Charles Schwab facilitates discussions, informs consumers of their corporate social responsibility efforts and connects to its other social media presences on Twitter and YouTube.
Another active social networker, Citibank, offers news of its latest offerings, connects to its blog and asks consumers to help in changing Citi for the future.
Local banks need to start building up their online presence, as Facebook is not just a fad anymore. With over 400 million active users, the service will be around for a while and only continue to advance. The benefits of a social media presence may be surprising.
As the long-awaited news breaks on Twitter and Facebook that a possible end might be coming to the leaking oil catastrophe that has plagued the Gulf of Mexico for months, I thought it might be an appropriate time to reflect on the significance of social media during the BP oil spill of 2010.
These days it’s hard to keep anything secret, and even harder to contain bad news. With the ease of expressing opinions and conversing with others via social media platforms, any news—especially bad news—seems to spread like a rash. This has definitely been the case with the BP oil spill. Everything from mobile applications to Facebook fan pages and YouTube video channels have been created in its name. These social media platforms have provided an area for people to reveal horrifying images of animals soaked in oil, share their opinions on the event and on BP as a company, and, of course, bash those in control.
BP has weathered an exorbitant amount of criticism for the spill and their lack of crisis management on the logistical side of things; the company was also not prepared to communicate with or respond to troubled Tweeters and Facebookers online.
So what digital lessons can be learned from this mess? Well first, crisis management must expand further than traditional media. Companies must be ready to respond online. A good way to do so is to hire a person or delegate the task of social media monitoring and responding to an individual who is currently in your organization. This way there is one person that is always staying on top of the latest comments and conversations taking place online about your business—and they can be the social media point person in case of a crisis.
Second, create multimedia press releases and other online content that can be shared on various sites. Online video viewership is beginning to surpass views of popular news programs on TV. So companies should be sure to cover their bases by spreading video content online.
In today’s world, the public appreciates transparency. Even if there are no good excuses for a company misstep, sometimes telling the truth can go a long way in diffusing a bad public relations situation. And with social media, people are bound to find out whether you tell them or not, so it’s best they hear it from the source.
Though it may be difficult to foresee worst-case scenarios, make sure you are thinking digitally when preparing your crisis management plan and remember to take action online as well.
Before my morning stop at Starbucks or even brushing my teeth, I immediately roll over in bed and turn to my BlackBerry. I of course check any missed calls or texts, but then go straight to my email, followed by a quick Facebook overview and glimpse at Twitter.
It is a habit – one that may seem slightly ridiculous. However, it’s becoming a habit for more and more consumers. A recent report by ExactTarget sheds a little light onto the behavior of online consumers and what this means for marketers, as well as our tendencies as consumers.
Online consumers can be grouped into three different categories: subscribers, fans or followers. Subscribers opt in to emails from businesses, fans “Like” businesses on Facebook and followers do exactly that, follow businesses on Twitter.
When a consumer goes to email first, they are said to be more apt to interact with brands online, looking for offers, promotions and information on new products or services. A vast majority of online consumers are subscribers, coming in at roughly 93%.
Those who initially go to Facebook, about 38% of online consumers, are said to be more interested in entertainment or showing support of a brand, rather than obtaining promotions and deals.
Only about 5% of online consumers are followers on Twitter. These individuals are most likely to engage with brands via Twitter.
So, what does this mean for marketers? Consumers using email, Facebook and Twitter are interested in brands and companies they like. They want to see offerings, promotions and be engaged by the content provided on these services. Finding a good balance of deals, consumer interaction and brand advocacy is crucial across all social media channels.
It is wise to cross-promote your business through the different social media services, beings consumers utilize the different services for different reasons. Getting a Facebook user who has “Liked” your company to opt in to your emails could drive more sales when you offer great deals via email.
Mashable, the mecca of all things social media, has declared June 30th Social Media Day. They figure there’s no better way to celebrate the birth of social media then to get together with fellow social media enthusiasts and well … socialize! In person! With other people!
Anyway, to help rally social media users, Mashable will be hosting meet-ups in New York and San Francisco. Don’t feel left out if you don’t live in either city, though, Mashable is encouraging communities to set up their own Social Media Day gatherings throughout the country, and even offers a handy organizing tool called Meetup.
Several cities and towns throughout the country are indeed organizing their own Social Media Day celebrations. Some communities are hosting speakers, while others are holding networking events. You can check Meetup to see if something is already scheduled in your neck of the woods.
Social media has revolutionized the way we live. It has changed the way we communicate, share our lives, build relationships and perform our work. Love it, hate it or remain confused by it, but social media has touched every single one of us. So it’s probably appropriate (if not more than a little ironic) to celebrate it at a personal gathering with a large group of your “friends”.
May 31st was the official “Quit Facebook Day” according to quitfacebookday.com. Facebook has been under some intense scrutiny regarding its privacy policies in the last month. According to the site, there were about 35,000 people committed to quitting, but with more than 400 million active users, Facebook had nothing to worry about with the Memorial Day attempt.
Quitfacebookday.com also says “Having peer support helps, but the way to quit Facebook is not to start a group on Facebook about leaving Facebook.” Good point. With that said, I of course went on to check Facebook and there actually is a Facebook page named “May 31: Quit Facebook Day” with over 7,000 members who “like” it. After reading the posts on it is apparent people are following this page just to monitor the movement and have no interest in cancelling their Facebook account.
The media (and several lawmakers) would like Facebook to be more transparent in their privacy practices. We surveyed participants in the L&S Research Panel to see what those locally thought of this hot topic. We found that generally people are not aware of what Facebook is actually doing with their information, and they are not concerned about it right now. It appears the lack of concern can be attributed to users feeling they are in control of what is being shared with others. Not one participant was concerned with their information being shared with marketers, which is the main criticism privacy advocates have had with Facebook. So, users are either unaware of what Facebook has been accused of sharing or are indifferent.
We found that:
70% of those surveyed do not feel any differently about Facebook despite increased scrutiny of its privacy policies.
Only one person on the L&S Research Panel has actually committed to quitting Facebook.
Participants were also asked to describe their Facebook usage. Here are some of my favorite comments…
“I use it to stay in touch with friends. I like that I have myself completely hidden from those that I don’t want to share information with. I don’t like that I have to keep checking my privacy settings.”
“I am a little obsessed with it (Facebook), admitting it is good, right? ”
“(Facebook helps me) Stay connected to friends and family. I control who sees what information.”
“(Facebook is an) easy way to communicate and receive communication in mass. I do not like a couple of technical details and I think they need to be very careful with change. (Changing Fan to Like was not a good move IMO.)”
“It’s the surest way to reach many people because they check their Facebook account more often than email. I don’t like all the extra games and apps”
“I use Facebook to connect with friends and family that I don’t necessarily get to see that often. I love the fact that we can connect, but don’t like all of the gaming updates and I am concerned that my information (about me and my family) could get out there for anyone to see. If that is the case, I would delete my page.”
Anti-Facebook groups will continue to surface, but for now average users seem content with the privacy policies and continue to enjoy the company’s services.
This weekend marks the unofficial kickoff to the summer season. Grilling, outdoor get togethers, family, friends & socialization are all components to the Memorial Day weekend festivities. I have assembled a little “how to” guide for this weekend’s holiday – social media style.
Read through some cooking blogs to figure out the latest trends in grilling or summer desserts, such as grillmaestro.com, getyourgrillon.net or simplyrecipes.com.
Wish all your Facebook friends a “Happy Memorial Day” or set up a Facebook event to celebrate the weekend with those friends.
Hit up the Memorial Day sales, but first make sure to print off all of those email coupons and offers.
Check in to the various locations you visit over the weekend via Foursquare.
Share some of the highlights of your weekend by posting photos or videos on your Twitter account.
Most importantly, take some time to disconnect, relax and really enjoy the kickoff to a great summer season!
Keeping 400 million people happy is no easy feat. Mark Zuckerberg, the mastermind behind Facebook, can certainly attest to that. Zuckerberg has to brace himself for a great deal of heat after each and every little tweak made to the site.
Facebook is an ever-evolving social platform that has an unbelievably strong and widespread user base. However, each time something is added, changed or moved around, an almost inevitable - and usually ridiculous - outcry immediately ensues.
This go around, the issues are regarding privacy. I have personally observed several status updates in regards to deleting accounts or being upset over these issues. But, in all actuality and rational mindedness, we need to take a step back and look at what we opted in to and have been putting out there.
Facebook is a FREE social networking utility, one where you post information to be shared with your peers and connections. Users need to be aware that what they post is certainly not private, nor should they have posted it if they intended it to be.
A large portion of the privacy issues relate to businesses marketing to users based on their conversations, interests and discussions. I feel this is brilliant and love having this personalized messaging based on what I do and say. It really is no different than Amazon suggesting books related to past purchases.
Technology, including social media, is all about evolution and change. Being a part of it involves embracing and yearning for new offerings and services. The progression I have seen on Facebook in my five or so years with the service has been smart, strategic, innovative and user-focused.
I eagerly anticipate what is to come with the platform and hope that at least a few more of the over 400 million users do as well.
In the ever evolving realm of social media platforms, Google has just launched the latest utility – Google Buzz. This new platform has ease of use and convenience in mind, not to mention the extensive following and familiarity Google already possesses.
Similar to Facebook and Twitter, Buzz is a platform where friends can connect, share thoughts, photos, videos, chat and link accounts with other social media sites. But there are a few distinct characteristics that set Buzz apart from the rest. One being that Buzz is built directly into Gmail, giving it approximately 150 million immediate users from day one. This gives users a social media component in addition to full service email in one convenient stop.
Another delineating characteristic is Buzz’s slightly more advanced and selective privacy features. Users can switch from a public conversation thread to a private chat via Google Talk in Gmail. Furthermore, lists can be created that allow users to control which friends see certain content, while blocking others from that specific buzz. Users also have the option of making their Buzz public or just for friends.
After investigating my own Buzz, I found the convenience of the instant connections and only one login for Gmail and Buzz to be a nice component. I have not witnessed much activity yet, but I am sure that will soon change as users start to learn of this new utility and its many features.
Google’s omnipotent power and presence in the search engine and email markets will only add to the growth that Buzz may potentially see. As we all know, social media is advancing and gaining momentum daily. Keep your ears open as the “Buzz” is sure to spread.
Since 1999 Search Engine Strategies (SES) has been presenting one of THE best conference series on search engine marketing. Doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or an expert, interested in search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) placement, digital PR or analysis of a campaign’s ROI, SES offers a wealthy of information.
Robin Temple, Director of Digital Marketing at Lawrence & Schiller attended the most recent SES conference (San Jose). In this episode of The Extra Minute, Robin discusses what’s new in search marketing now and what we can expect in the future.
The San Jose SES Conference also provided an opportunity for Lawrence & Schiller to step up to the speaker’s podium. Billie Jo Waara, Director of Account Planning and Research, spoke on “Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy.”
For all the talk about Twitter and Facebook you’d think everyone is America is tweeting and updating their status. But the reality is nearly two thirds of American adults have never created an online profile and joined a social network.
If you’re part of this silent majority, it’s time to start managing your online identity. Here are three simple steps you should take to claim your virtual territory and protect your personal brand.
1. Investigate
Go to Google and search your name. Can you find yourself? Who’s listed before you? What line of work are they in? If someone is searching for you, who might they mistakenly find?
Go to Facebook and search for your name. How many matches are there? Do the same on Twitter .
Now that you have an idea of how competitive the online space is for your name you’re ready for the next step.
2. Build
Stake a claim to your online territory by setting up accounts in the top digital properties.
Whenever possible use the same profile name. I typically use “DaveHaan1″ (e.g. www.Twitter.com/DaveHaan1) because someone beat me to the punch and starting using “DaveHaan” before me. Admittedly this variation isn’t as good as my regular name but it’s close and consistently used.
Enter enough information into your profile so people can find you. Uploading a picture of yourself and sharing your city, where you work and the name of your alma mater is a good place to start.
Set up a profile in each of the top social categories. The names will change as new players enter the game but today the top sites are:
Domain name = Go Daddy (register your name for $10 or less)
After setting up your accounts, use them! Find people with similar interests. Listen to their conversations and join the discussion.
3. Monitor
Just because you’ve established your online identity doesn’t mean the job is done! Now is the time to start listening for comments, feedback, anything that mentions your name.
Set a Google Alert for your name and profile name. An email will be sent each time your name shows up in a blog post, news story, web page, etc.
Social Mention is another free service that will listen for your name. It will even say if the mentions are positive, negative or neutral.
Tip: learn more about social media monitoring from Week 3 of the Lawrence & Schiller Social Media Boot Camp webinar series.
According to Pew Internet research, nearly half of us have searched online for information about ourselves. Unfortunately only 3% do it on a regular basis! Once you’ve established your online identity you won’t be able to manage it unless you monitor on a regular basis.
So you have started to monitor to the conversations and social activity after Week Three of our Social Media Bootcamp, and you have an idea of what conversations are happening, where people are postings, and what the tone of the conversations are.
But like everyone else, you’re looking direction about how to engage and become part of a digital community’s conversation in an effective and acceptable manner that can help your business without alienating the passionate members of the community you’re trying to reach.
What is a digital community - a communication system of social networks whose participants share a common interest, idea, task or goal that interact in a virtual society across time, geographical and organizational boundaries and where they are able to develop personal relationships.
Growth cycle of a digital community: Tend to grow slowly at first – people are more motivated to provide content and contribute as the size of the community grows. As potential audience increases, so does attraction of writing and contribution.
Who are the citizens that make up a digital community?
Peripheral (lurker) – observes. An outside, unstructured participant. Usually visits community in response to the prompting of others.
Inbound (novice) – newcomer, just beginning to engage in community. Starts to provide content. Tentatively interacts in a few discussions.
Insider (regular) – fully committed participant; consistently ads to the community discussion and content. Interacts with other users.
Boundary (leader) – Recognized as a veteran participant. Connects with regulars to make higher concepts into ideas. The community grants their opinion greater consideration.
Outbound (elder) – Leave the community due to new relationships, new positions, new outlooks; community may have moved in direction they don’t agree with.
Why you and your company should be engaging with Digital Communities:
1. Education
Get the inside scoop – be the first to know what is going on
Ask and answer questions – participate in the conversation
Stay up to date on your industry trends
2. Networking
Meet like-minded people
New hires/staff
Business opportunities
3. Public relations
Know what people are saying about and how reacting to your brand
Respond to press quickly
Plant a story/lead
Influence public opinion
4. Fundraising/Philanthropy
Tie into a cause – ask to join
Special offers for those that participate – Incentives
5. Brand Awareness
Around events and sales
Reviews, ratings
Tell your story
6. ROI
Can track web traffic, click-throughs, RRS subscriptions, offer redemptions, digital mentions/conversations, downloads, customer surveys, subscribers, referrals, links
FINDING the communities you want to engage with:
Great tools listed in Digital Bootcamp Number Three: Trendrr, Quarkbase, Social Mention, Technorati Search, Google Alerts. Will help you locate the places that your customers are congregating and begin monitoring conversations before you choose to try to leverage it to your advantage.
BEFORE you jump in:
Remember – utilizing a digital community for marketing is a tricky business that requires you to proceed carefully has sensitive boundaries, doesn’t suffer intruders well. When dealing with a digital community, it’s all about discovering what your audience desires and finding a way to align your brand to their desires.
Have established goals – know how this will align with your existing voice/messages/identity and your goals – and be prepared to monitor results to make sure you achieve it
Try to anticipate all possible reactions (good and bad) and have a plan for responding
Challenges of marketing to digital communities:
Be prepared to commit the resources – time, people, authority to respond
TRANSPARENCY is crucial
Remember – your community will trust you – do not lose their trust
Be aware of what is going on around you – timeliness can make or break a campaign
Build off of your existing equity – current platforms and marketing tools;
Web site
Email
Database
Let Them Play in Your Yard
Best way to monitor the conversation is to host it by adding social interaction to your website.
Poll, debate, question, leave links and opportunities to search
Many brands need to align themselves with subjects people are interested in or passionate about
Things to remember:
Remember that more than half of all fortune 500 social media campaigns have failed – the business community is struggling to keep up with the rise of the digital community.
If you set up a Social Media tool for your company – then use it.
Social media expert, Jeremiah Owyang, provides a glimpse into his Forrester Research study on the Future of the Social Web. He interviewed 24 of the top social media application experts across the nation - leaders from Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Looking at the next 4 years, Jeremiah presents five eras of the social web:
Social Relationships (fairly mature) – connect with others online and share information – MySpace, Facebook, Twitter
Social Functionality (current) - social networks become like operating systems allowing you to add applications to social networks and perform activities beyond sharing static information. Multimedia / Multi-platform collaboration. Example: Facebook and LinkedIn. This era is not at all mature, much growth ahead.
Social Colonization – wherever you go online or with your mobile device, your friends can go with you. You can make decisions based on this peer review wherever you go. Also, you’re constantly connected to people.
Social Context – now that we have portable identities in our devices or online, you can exchange parts of your identity for more relevant content. Personalized content, even to the extent of personalized television and multimedia content. Demographic, psychographic, preferences, previous buying behavior and social context (people you know) will affect the kind of content you will have access to. Because you control your identity, registration pages will go away. Lead tracking will be reinvented.
Social Commerce – Communities will work together to define the products/services that they will buy. Product feedback will become part of the product development process. Again, a new level of customization. Brands will bid for their information. Community buying.
Great perspective – watch the video to hear Jeremiah firsthand.
Some might say there are no rules of conduct within the realms of social media. And they’re right. Hard and fast rules haven’t been adopted.
At the same time expectations of etiquette clearly do exist. 57% of the people attending Week 4 of the Lawrence & Schiller Social Media Boot Camp webinar series say they consider etiquette every time the post online. The remaining 43% think about it occasionally.
What are the behaviors to avoid? What things must you do? And what workplace considerations should you take into account? Click on the player below to view the recorded archive of “Social Media Dos and Don’ts”. Or scroll down for a brief recap along with poll results collected during this webinar.
Social Media Don’ts
Social Media isn’t show & tell. Don’t use it to brag about, or worse yet, exaggerate your experiences and accomplishments.
Don’t be pushy. No one wants to be spammed or read a post stuffed with keyword phrases or follow as your status is updated every five minutes or be invited to every Facebook group under the sun.
Don’t be a headcase. Social media can be a place to vent (in moderation) but it isn’t therapy. Not a good place to complain about your boss or swear how much you hate your job.
Don’t be sinister. Don’t try to hide behind someone else identity and be careful with the party pictures. Snapshots uploaded after you’ve had too many shots will come back to haunt you.
Don’t be offensive. “Funny” is subjective. Your sense of humor may not translate well online. Don’t cross the line into offensive. When in doubt, don’t do it.
Social Media Dos
Do showcase your personality. This is what makes you interesting and fun to follow. Remember there is a difference between showing your personality and giving out too much personal information.
Do consider limiting the number of groups you join. If you can’t keep up with all of them, it may be time to scale back.
Do manage your tools. Take advantage of the applications which connect your blog or tweets to Facebook… IF your audiences are similar and the message is appropriate for all destinations. Learn more about Connecting the Dots in week 7 of our webinar series.
Workplace Considerations
There is no privacy. Especially if you’re using a workplace computer.
You represent your company online even if you’re posting on your personal account.
If you work for a publically traded company, your tweets and blog pots can fall under SEC jurisdiction.
The FTC is proposing guidelines for online marketing.
Bottomline, if you wouldn’t say it in person to your boss, you probably shouldn’t say it online.
Admittedly, we first have to ensure there is dialogue. If you participated in the third part of the L&S Social Media Boot Camp, then you know that we experienced a couple minor technical difficulties – but luckily @markmorgan was able to join the conversation for questions and answers at the end. Thanks to @courtneylotzer who continued through like a champ and our participants who stayed with us during the bump and if you missed all the excitement, you can watch the updated version of the webinar here or use Twitter Search and query for #TheExtraMile.
Here’s a brief overview for those who missed Tuesday’s webinar.
Where to Start? Listen. There are numerous tools and online resources to measure and listen to all sorts of conversations online. To start listening, to help filter all the noise, we suggested a few free tools that we find valuable.
These are all great tools for providing a snapshot of what people are saying in the online space. Trendrr is probably the most comprehensive (look beyond your initial confusion, just stick with it for awhileJ), Google the easiest and others are fun to play around with if your geeky like our team is!
Lawrence and Schiller uses these tools in addition to our subscription based tool, Radian6. As a company we looked at many different options for our social media monitoring tool of choice. We debated between Radian6 and Sentiment Metrics. We liked Sentiment Metrics because it automatically assigned sentiment to each post. After researching it further, we came to find out that statistically, the sentiment metric was only correct up to 40% of time, so we chose Radian6 because of its ease of use and functionality.
With the Radian6 measurement platform, you can find your brand on millions of blog posts, videos, reviews in forums, sharing of photos, twitter updates. It is real time monitoring of mentions about your company, product, issues and competitors, and has the ability to quickly find the most important relevant conversations.
Free tools are great for initial competitive review, building broad insights of topics from a general audience and checking your “gut” instincts. We prefer to use an in-depth tool such as Radian6 for trend analysis and quantifiable ROI measurement.
I’ve listened. Now what? Define your goal, then the tool. We can’t say it enough. Social media should always start with understanding, and agreement, of what you are trying to accomplish with your overall marketing and/or communication efforts. Measurement of social media is the same. Understanding your goal is the key to defining and selecting an accurate metric for ROI.
And finally, start engaging online and offline (use traditional marketing to promote your online efforts). If you don’t engage on behalf of your company, someone else will. If there is a void someone will step up and fill this role when there is a need for it.
Deserved or not deserved a single negative review or mention can taint a brand for a long time. It’s important to take a more proactive role in protecting your brand before it’s too late. You have the tools, now you can start monitoring the digital space for mentions of your brand, either positive or negative, and it’s the best way you can actually cultivate relationships, too.
Well it depends on if you joined Tuesday’s (4.21.09) webinar or not, L&S Social Media Boot Camp: Twitter Demystified. We had great questions from the audience of over 120 participants and you can follow the online conversations as well via twitter search, #TheExtraMile.
There were a number of requests for the information presented, so here’s a quick hot sheet as presented by @awayken and @robintemple.
In case you were wondering, L&S likes to describe Twitter as an open forum of short dialogue. Twitter was designed to be compatible with mobile phones and extend text messaging type posts to a larger audience. Think of it as a cross between text messaging and a chat room. Oh by the way, its always changing too – watch the horizon for new innovations and Google’s role.
How To Use Twitter 101:
1. Don’t use the website…use a Twitter application!
5. Twitter is for Conversation. Take the time to respond to people and be a part of a conversation
6. Utilize multiple accounts. Segment your audience (sales versus service) and your conversations, ie Dell, Wells Fargo.
7. Follow interesting people.
Wefollow: Connect with new tweeple who share your interests
8. Promote: Your account should be in your website, in your email byline, on your tshirt, etc. If people don’t know your twitter account exists, it’s not going to do you much good.
9. Retweet (RT) but give credit where credit is due.
10. Don’t over-use. Be relevant.
Let us know if you have other questions or comments to share! Looking forward to next week’s session!
Join our in-house measurement experts, Courtney Lotzer and Mark Morgan, as they lead Part III of Social Media Boot Camp and you’ll walk away with the best social media measurement practices to help your bottom line.
L&S Social Media Boot Camp: Part III
Measure the Digital Dialogue
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
10:00 a.m. CST
The Lawrence & Schiller Social Media Boot Camp is a free 10-week webinar series that focuses on a variety of social media topics for today’s digital marketing environment. Each Tuesday morning, join us for an in-depth discussion and a review of available tools and best-of-the-best showcases from across the country. Social media is inherently social; likewise your comments and questions will be included in the one hour online conversation.
For a complete schedule of upcoming topics, click here.
Register here for Part III of the Boot Camp, “Measure the Digital Dialogue
We invite you to join our upcoming Social Media webinar series. We will focus on different social media topics each week for 8 weeks beginning Tuesday, April 14th.
Week One: Social + Media = What Exactly?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
10:00 a.m. CST
Recent Nielsen findings stated that social networking is more popular than email. Are you a game changer or are you still wondering what social media is? Either way – you know that social media plays a major role in advertising and marketing to your audience. Join L&S for an in-depth discussion and web conference series. The L&S Social Media Boot Camp kicks off on Tuesday, April 14, 2009, with “Social Media Orientation: A Crash Course for Marketers.”
Digital Marketing Director, Robin Temple, and Billie Jo Waara, Account Planning & Research Director, will provide an initial overview of available tools and best-of-the-best showcases from across the country. Social media is inherently social; likewise your comments and questions will be included in the one hour online conversation.
I have read many articles lately with headlines like “Social Media will Save your Business” or “Social Media is the Best New Business Strategy”. This may seem foreign to some – as if you need to launch a whole new line of business or an entirely new effort. Good news: for many people – it’s just doing what you do on a personal basis and applying it to business. You’re using social media tools, but is your content really social-worthy? Is it applicable to a large group of people? Is it content that positions you as a thought leader or provider of tools that will help others in their line of business? It can’t be a sales strategy – it needs to be a relationship strategy. Remember, the reader is always thinking to themselves “what’s in this for me”… and the takeaway can serve a variety of purposes: educational, professional development or pure entertainment. It just has to provide an “ah-ha” moment so that they, in turn, add it to their social dialogue.
What you’re doing:
How it becomes social:
1. Blogging
You blog about something original and interesting by expressing an opinion or providing useful tools or resources. If it’s noteworthy, people will talk about it – either on their own blog, via a twitter post, or they’ll use social bookmarking to promote it.
2. Tweeting
You tweet about an interesting blog post, tools or resources you’ve found, a news story or an opinion. The tweeters that I like best are the people who have found the perfect balance between value-added business-type posts and social comments. They’re sharing intelligence, thus making my job easier, but they’re also fun people.
3. facebooking
You facebook. Mostly to network and re-connect with people old and new, but the community also provides a great platform for group interaction and cause marketing.
4. LinkedIn
You have a professional network, now take this digital by connecting to your trusted contacts and you will then gain extended access to their contacts. The power of relationships at work.
5. Multimedia Sharing
You post photos and videos to YouTube, but you also watch videos on YouTube. Add a rating or comment, if warranted. These comments in turn link back and promote your YouTube channel.
6. Commenting
You like to read industry blogs, but reading isn’t enough – you need to join the conversation. This accomplishes two social media goals: it positions you as a member of the online community and it also helps build digital relationships with others in your field. This will, in turn, encourage them to read and post on your blog. Be
real – show interest in others digitally and they will show interest in you. Relationship building at its core.
7. Bookmarking and Rating
You are doing all of the above, which will lead to social bookmarks to your digital content. For example, if people find your blogs and videos interesting, useful and cool – they will bookmark them. Do the same yourself. You scratch their back, they’ll scratch yours.
It’s the interaction and dissemination that makes content social. There’s no recipe, you just need to join the conversation. It’s fun. The key – keep it real. Oh, and don’t be boring, be social.
My sister in-law picked a fight with me. No provocation. Just wound up and hit me with a big, nasty leather pillow. Highly unusual behavior from her. She’s a grandmother for cryin’ out loud. So I retaliated. Smacked her right in the Facebook. The Pillow Fight War of 2008 had begun.
Pillow Fight is a Facebook application that encourages…well, I’m not sure what it encourages. It may just be electronic silliness, but it got me thinking. What was originally the domain of the Millenials has quickly become a part of day to day interaction among those of us who have a little more life experience (or more than a little more).
The interesting thing is the difference in how we use it. Rather than a “here’s-what-I’m-experiencing-this-very-second” stream of consciousness, we treat it more like an electronic bulletin board. Or digital Post-It notes on a universal fridge.
Pictures of high school classmates at their kids’ weddings. Vacations. Reunions. Dog training tips. Birthday reminders. Lists of wines that go with beef jerky. And pillow fights, of course.
Makes me wonder how we’ll use it in thirty or forty years. Maybe something like this:
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We invite you to join our upcoming Social Media webinar series. We will focus on different social media topics each week for 8 weeks beginning Tuesday, April 14th.