Social Media is Changing the World! Will You Get Onboard on Have Regrets?

Social Media is Changing the World! Will You Get Onboard or Have Regrets? Presented By: Francine Allaire, Revenue Acceleration Strategist

The New Landscape
101 million web users read blogs – Comscore
17% of time online is spent on social networking and reading blogs/reviews – Nielsen
70% of bloggers write about brands organically, almost half post product reviews – Technorati
65% of blog readers access blogs to get an opinion – Synovate
92% of people trust user reviews over sales people – Penn Shoen and Berland
52% of readers said blogs factored into the critical moment they decided to buy – Jupiter Research
78% listen to someone else when it comes to buying not the company – Forrester Research
70% of people turn to family & friends for advice when making a purchasing decision – Nielsen
Fact or fiction? Most customers seek out deals, discounts, promotions online – CIO Magazine
Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

“ New” Customer Decision Cycle Harvard Business Review – December 2010 Enjoy, Advocate and Bond Enjoy, Advocate Bond Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011 Evaluation Stage = Seek Input from Peers, Colleagues, Friends, Fans, Followers, Reviewers, Industry Experts BUY ~ Most powerful influence is someone else ’s advocacy Consideration Stage = Selection of Multiple Brands

Why Social Media?
Engage, educate and energize your audience / community to fuel the conversations, the experiences, the recommendations
Plays a critical role in building relationships and in creating a bond with your brand
Brand awareness and value creation make it easier for your customers to find you, to trust you and to recommend your products or services to others
Provide the ability to demonstrate your expertise, thought leadership and differentiation
Ability to attract new customers, skilled employees and strategic partnerships
Generate sales, improve customer service and reduce support costs
Help foster brand and customer loyalty

Why Social Media?
Go to market, communication and marketing strategies must evolve because people and companies are buying differently today
Buying patterns and customer dynamics have changed – companies/people look at the Internet, read blogs, check forums, online groups, get feedback on Twitter or other tools, ask friends, peers, colleagues, industry experts and other trusted sources on social networks
Social media is not a fad. Conversations are happening with or without you, are you listening? Better yet, are you participating, igniting the conversations? The debate as to whether or not you should.. is over! The Question now is how?

The Money Statistics
Companies are now building their own audience – from traditional rented audiences (print, radio, TV…) to owned audiences (Blog, Social Media…) to match the behaviors of the businesses/consumers
Top 25 newspaper readership 12M people, market share 16% year
Coke Fan Page has over 24M Fans 22% per month
Cost 80K for a full page ad in the NY times – finite shelf-life where the value diminishes over time, digital media has a long trail effect and the value increases over time
310M people in the U.S. 200M on Twitter, 100M on YouTube, 600M on Facebook
70% of people search online prior to making a decision/purchase

Your Company - Social Business In the Network Economy Everything is Intertwined !
Your business ecosystem of customers, prospects and partners together are very powerful and should be leveraged. Make your customers talk to prospects. Make your partners evangelizers of your vision. Let your alliances speak for you. Let your suppliers help you. Hire passionate/caring employees and entrust them with doing the right thing.
Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011 PARTNERS EMPLOYEES CUSTOMERS/PROSPECTS SUPPLIERS

Make Social Your Business™!
IBM conducted a study with 1,600 CEOs worldwide
Number of CEOs who are now crowd sourcing with partners and customers, outside of their firewall, has increased by 60% over last year
50% of the outperformers leverage their ecosystem of partners, customers, suppliers and employees
The net net: when you go outside of your firewall your build higher brand loyalty, increase your level of influence, add value and gain a competitive edge

Challenges to Social Media Adoption
Social media takes time and requires new skill sets
The emphasis is on near-term cash generation and survival “not community” (especially for public companies)
Lack of understanding in the power shift happening in marketing channels, customer dynamics and behaviors and their full impact on your business
Lack of an effective social media marketing strategy and integration into an overall communication, marketing and business strategy
Measuring and proving the ROI of social media programs
Getting the budget and resources social media deserves
Finding experienced and proficient social media marketers
Management resistance to sharing information online “we need to control our message”
The myth that social media works only for startups, lifestyle or tech brands

Campaigns to Conversations
Caring and connecting = Profit
From self-proclaimed marketing messages and campaigns to Conversation marketing – transparent, two-way talk which creates an emotional bond with your product or service
Change the focus of your marketing efforts and where you spend your marketing dollars
Allocate less resources building awareness through advertising and promotions and make marketing investments of time and money that help your customers navigate the evaluation process, engage with them to build trust, continuously improve on your customer experience to foster loyalty - customers will reward you with their wallet and by spreading positive word of mouth

Turning Customers into Advocates
According to an IBM study of online retail consumer buying patterns:
Advocates ’ share of wallet is 33% more than that of customers who aren’t advocates
Advocates spend about 30% more dollars with their favorite online retailers than non-advocates do
Advocates stick around longer, proving themselves less likely than other customers to switch to a competitor even if it offers similar products at similar prices
Advocates have significantly higher lifetime value than regular customers, for not only do they spend more now, they are more likely to keep spending, and even increase their spending, as time goes on

Wowing Your Customers Pays Off!
According to the Customer Experience Impact 2010 Report, sponsored by RightNow ®, consumers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience and switch brands if there are getting a negative experience.

82% of consumers have stopped doing business with a company as a result of a negative experience
55% became a customer of a company because of their reputation for great customer service
40% began purchasing from a competitive brand simply because of their reputation for great customer service
66% said that great customer service was their primary driver for greater spending
85% of consumers said they would be willing to pay between 5% to 25% more over the standard price in order to ensure a superior customer experience

Setting the Stage for Social Media Success
Develop a comprehensive strategy – don ’t jump in without proper research / listening
Don ’t fixate on technologies but on defining clear objectives
Set guidelines and policies for using social media http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php
Use internally first to train and teach people - ROI internally to Showcase the value of social
Don ’t treat social media like a campaign - with a beginning and an end – social media requires consistency and commitment
Listen, Monitor and Analyze before doing anything else
Measure, Evaluate and Adjust constantly
Think of Social Media as leverage, influence and adding value

Social Media Success Marketing Cycle YOUR COMPANY BRAND, PRODUCTS SERVICES YOU Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Your Success Depends on … 80% THE PLANNING, STRATEGIES, OBJECTIVES SET, PRIORITIES 20% TECHNOLOGIES, NETWORKS, TOOLS Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Nail the Strategy first to:
Give yourself direction and help you see the big picture
Set clear goals, objectives and priorities
Establish a baseline for where you ’re at right now
Align your online efforts with your strategic objectives, corporate and marketing initiatives
Spend budget more efficiently and effectively
Reduce overwhelm & keep you focused on your goals
Help you determine what works and what doesn ’t work – measure and adapt based on results
Avoid choosing the tools based on popularity
Recruit your social media team – resources from product management, marketing, communications, sales, customer service
= integrate social media into your traditional marketing and PR

Your Core Message / Ideal Customers
Every day you introduce your business to the millions of people on social media platforms .
It is essential to present a clear core message to attract your ideal customers
It ’s imperative that you know where your customers are “en masse”
Clear Message + Ideal Customer = Visibility, Credibility, Marketability, Profitability

Unique Value Proposition
In one sentence or two max, what does your business offer that is unique and solves a problem that your market is willing to pay for? Remember that you need to be able to substantiate the value you provide.
80% of companies believe that they provide value but only 8% of their customers agree .

Your Keywords
positive characteristics
pain points
problems your product/service solves
What words would you use to search for your company, product or service on Google?

Listen, Monitor and Analyze
Establish a baseline, analyze the landscape
Listen to what your customers are saying about you, to you and for you - Spend 50% of your time listening - be aware and mindful of the conversations
Monitor #Hashtags
Observe and Monitor - create a list of search phrases, keywords and influencers:
Major customers, competitors, industry experts, your brands, products, companies…
Segment, Profile and Rank Your Customers to craft messaging and programs that would please and benefit them

Listening is Free Monitoring the Marketplace is Priceless!
The good, the bad and the ugly ( let ’s hope not ), You NEED to know.
SocialMention.com GoogleAlerts.com Tweetbeep.com Search.Twitter.com Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Communicate Authentically and Add Value
Use the best medium for engaging with your audience – create content that is helpful, useful and interesting. WIIFTM
Blog is the Hub
Tell Stories (text, audio, video)
Create Irresistible Content
Create Your Own Channels: YouTube, Blog Talk Radio, Ustream.TV

Links to your blog posts or articles about your industry
Inspirational thoughts to attract your ideal client
Tips that show how much you know & love your business
Valuable advice your network can use, even without you
Share new resources that you discover
What to Post? Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Create a Facebook profile & business fan page
Build a LinkedIn Profile & Business Page
Create a Twitter Account
Begin a blog using Wordpress or Blogger
Set up a G-mail account for Google Alerts/RSS Feeds
Platforms to engage and participate Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright ©2011

Measure Success
Create a Social Media Dashboard (free or use paying tools like: Radian6, IBM/Cognos Consumer Insight)
Track # of inquiries, leads from social campaigns, from Twitter and other social sites
# of leads provided to sales
Measure engagement and loyalty –how much does your audience engage, how many conversations/comments/reviews/testimonials
Track sentiment
Track Conversion to sales revenues

Social Marketing Objectives and Metrics
Social Marketing Objectives
Increase number of leads
Increase engagement
Increase product awareness
Improve brand reputation
Increase product education
Increase information sharing
Increase number of participants in events
Increase traffic
Social Marketing Metrics
# inquiries/leads/qualified leads
# of new discussions/comments
Reach
Track Sentiment
# of content downloads
# RSS, tweets, posts, comments of blog posts, RTs
# of registrations/
Inbound links, sharing
# of unique visitors,
RSS feeds

Create a Social Media Dashboard Blog Metrics : # of posts per week Comments/posts (your company vs. competitors) Estimated Audience New RSS Feeds Unique visitors Facebook Fan Page # of Wall Posts Comments and Likes Fan Page Comments – Tuesday Daily Likes – Tuesday/Thursday Page Views – Thursday Impressions versus post times – end of day … Measure Everything Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Strategy – Action Item #1 Buy your own domain name www.FrancineAllaire.com ($10year - GoDaddy.com) Use it to host a blog, or simple one page “ ABOUT Me ” Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Register your Facebook & LinkedIn unique URL
Strategy – Action Item #2 Before  Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011 http://facebook.com/francine.allaire http://facebook.com/RevenueAccelerationStrategist http://facebook.com/RedCarpetStrategies http://linkedin.com/francineallaire

Write a short professional bio highlighting your differentiators, your skills, experience…
Ask yourself “what will someone gain by hiring or working with me?” what would they be searching for to find me?
Make your bio Keyword rich to make it easy to find you in search engines i.e. Business Development Executive, Marketing Executive, Leadership Development Executive
List this Brand Bio on all your social media profiles
Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011 Strategy – Action Item #3 Build Your Brand BIO

Remove any posts, pictures that don ’t show you in the best light
Remove posts from people who use your wall to promote their stuff or games
Un-tag yourself in friends ’ photos
Join groups & pages to grow your network and offer value
Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011 Strategy – Action Item #4 Clean up your existing profiles

Connect with other brands and professionals
Show interest in their company by
Posting on their Facebook business pages
Congratulating them on new product launches
Sharing their news with your network
Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011 Strategy – Action Item #5

The good, the bad and the ugly, You NEED to know.
SocialMention.com GoogleAlerts.com Tweetbeep.com Strategy – Action Item #6 Manage Your Reputation Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Give away your best information,
Share your thoughts on your industry,
Answer questions and give feedback in blogs and groups.
This could lead to quality referrals, job offers, speaking engagements and top-notch clients .
Strategy – Action Item #7 Become a Thought Leader Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Use video to make an emotional connection, if pictures are worth 1000 words than videos at priceless.
Videos can bring you instant credibility and expedite the know, like and trust factor .
Strategy – Action Item #8 Create an Emotional Connection Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Resources - Case Studies
Jive Software – B2B http://www.jivesoftware.com/customers/case-studies
Womma http://www.womma.org/casestudy/
Social Marketing Results from 93 companies (Book $19.95) http://www.socialmedia-marketing-results.com/Social-Media-Marketing-Results-from-93-Companies.html
Very comprehensive list of books, sites and case studies http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/social-media-examples-superlist-17-lists-and-tons-of-examples/
Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/category/case-studies/

Companies, Blogs
Few companies to look at: Cisco, Intel, IBM, Dell, Martell Home Builders, Zappos, GiantNerd, Ford Motor, Cree, San Chez Bistro…..
Great blogs to follow:
Sandy Carter - Vice President, Software Group Channels at IBM http://socialmediasandy.wordpress.com /
Michael Stelzner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ /
Social Media Today http://www.socialmediatoday.com
Mashable http://www.mashable.com
Brian Solis http://www.BrianSolis.com
Chris Brogan http://www.ChrisBrogan.com
Francine Allaire http://www.FrancineAllaire.com
Red Carpet Strategies http://RedCarpetStrategies.com
Social Media Academy for Women http://SocialMediaAcademyforWomen.com

Social Media is Changing the World! Will You Get Onboard on Have Regrets?

by Francine Allaire

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 6

Statistics

Social Media is Changing the World! Will You Get Onboard on Have Regrets? Presentation Transcript