What the tweet is social media?

What the *Tweet* is Social Media?…and what can it do for my business..TODAY!?
Kewaunee County Economic Development – 9.29.09

Dana VanDen Heuvel
Dana is the founder of The MarketingSavant Group and a widely recognized specialist in emerging marketing technologies such as blogging, social media, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices and speaks regularly on these topics at industry events. Dana is the creator of the American Marketing Association “TechnoMarketing” training series and the author of the AMA’s Marketech ’08 Guide To Marketing Technology and the recent e-book, Social Networking: MySpace, YourSpace and TheirSpace.

If you don’t like change,
you’re going to like
irrelevance even less.
General Eric Shineski,
Retired Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

SOCIAL MEDIA IS AN UMBRELLA TERM THAT DEFINES THE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES THAT INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL INTERACTION, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS, PICTURES, VIDEOS AND AUDIO.
http://www.wikipedia.org
Social Media: Defined!

More Simply Put:
“Social Media is people having conversations online.”

How people use decentralized, people-based networks to get the things they need from each other.
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
BOTTOM LINE:
Social media isn’t just a list of destinations.
It’s a new standard of expectations.

From Monologue to Dialogue
The old communication model was a monologue.
We’ve entering (or, area already in) the market dialogue, or market conversation!

How Well Do You Know Your Customer?
“I’ve changed, and you haven’t.”
“We don’t even hang out in the same places anymore.”
“We don’t talk any more.”
From Microsoft’s “Bring Back The Love” ad campaignhttp://bit.ly/thebreakup

*
Who Participates in Social Media?

Your Customers Have Done it All
Source: Universal McCann Social Media Tracker Wave 3

Social marketing research

Best usage

Marketing spending trends

Social Media is About ROI!
The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are in fact more financially successful. So now we know it pays to be social, but it is important to note that by “social,” we’re talking about deep engagement, not merely having a presence. (Altimiter ENGAGEMENTdb study)

It’s Time to Stop Shouting

Only 18% of TV ad campaigns generate positive ROI
90% of people who can skip ads do
76% of consumers don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements
100% - The increase needed in advertising spend to add 1-2% in sales
96% of Millennials have joined an online social network

How do YOU participate online?

;-)

10 Questions For You
Do you read blogs? Which ones?
Do you have a personal blog? What's it about?
Do you participate in at least one social network? Which one?
Have you ever uploaded a video online? What did you use to do it?
What's your favorite search engine. Why?
Have you ever used an online classified service like craigslist?
Besides making phone calls—how else do you use your mobile phone?
Have you ever registered a domain name?
Do you use social bookmarks or tagging?
Do you use a feed reader of some sort? Which one? Why?

“The Toolkit”

The conversations are powered by…

Blogs
Widgets
Micro Blogs
Online Chat
RSS
Social Networks
Social Bookmarks
Message Boards
Podcasts
Video Sharing Sites
Photo Sharing Sites
Virtual Worlds
Wikis
Local Search

(…just to name a few)

Top 10 Tactics and Tools

Immerse yourself in the conversations.
(any or all of the above are a good place to start!)

The Social Media Restaurant
Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse is a single-location restaurant in Northampton, Mass
Using a website, local ads, blogging, video, Twitter, MySpace and other digital tools to drive business

Caminito’s World…

Learn to Converse (Blog)
Foundation of content/consistency/ connection
Metaphor for Social Media & networking
Transferable skills to video & social nets…
Transferrable benefits to SEO, SEM & TLM

Evolution of a Multiple Blog Strategy

Micro Blogging (Twitter)
Monitor conversations
Use for promotions
Live ‘twittering’ from events
Source for breaking info
For the hyper-involved

Customer Community
Small business focused credit card company is changing the business financing discussion through ideas

Created ideablob.com to stir the conversation about what it stands for
Positioning itself as the most helpful credit card company to small business
Involved in other small business related causes to help developing countries
Online resources for small business owners just getting started

What Community Does for You!
Reducing Sales and Marketing Expenses
Creating Brand Loyalty
Developing New Products
Peer Based Customer Support
Creating Social Networks
Creating Evangelists

Community ROI
Decreased cost of customer retention
Higher purchase amounts by community vs. non-community (30%)
Higher frequency of purchase by community
Lower cost of customer service (repeat customer familiarity)
Increased customer satisfaction
Decreased cost of acquisition (advocacy driven)
Lower cost of product development (using feedback loop)

Harness the Power of Social Networks
Connect with your customers in their network.
Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc…
Build applications for them in their networks.
Assign someone in your organization as the ‘community manager’.
If you build it, they won’t come – put together a sound seeding strategy

Create a Page!
Start a Cause
Enlist Supporters
Recruit new hires
Feedback from fans
Add MEDIA! (photos, video, etc.)
Facebook

LinkedIn
Create a group & discussion
Connect with peers
Connect with customers
Ask questions
Answer questions

Collaborative Idea Generation

Leverage the wisdom of crowds/customers to improve the company
Submit, vote, watch, see what gets put into action
Integrate into other TLM activities
Dell
Oracle
Starbucks

Social Bookmarking & SMO
Thought leadership through links
SEO Links (bookmarks travel)
Brand exposure
Socialize your content
Virally enable your site
Can be active or passive

Podcasts & Vodcasts
More human & emotional than blogging
Be found on Google
Low investment
Easy distribution
Differentiator
Share more than text

Share Things
Like Photos…
…and Videos

It’s All About “Getting Found”
Search provides a strong, highly measurable ROI for marketing dollars spent.
Search garners click-through rates that exceed all other forms of online advertising.
Search offers marketers the potential for immediate sales online, as well as for online and offline sales at a later time.
Search can even enhance brands.
Over 80% of consumers and businesspeople engage in on a regular basis

Search is Integrated…so Integrate It!
(almost) Everything digital/web based can contribute to search
Integrate search components into ALL of your marketing (PURLS, “Google This”

Blog
YouTube
MySpace
ebay Store
Integrated Social Media Strategy Goodwill Repositioning

A Few Good Stats
http://dcgoodwillfashions.blogspot.com/
Over 11,500 unique visitors to the virtual fashion show 9/12 launch
Over 42,000 page views
16% of fashion show visitors have been converted into online Goodwill shoppers
Fashion Show Visitors from 31 countries and 48 states plus DC
48% of fashion show visitors are from the DC, MD, VA region (the area we serve)
Blog is averaging between 600 & 700 visitors a week
5.6% of blog visitors are being converted into online Goodwill shoppers
Blog visitors from 77 countries and all 50 states
Brick & mortar stores during the two weeks following the launch of the fashion show:
Customer count               + 6.6%
Rack sales (clothing)       + 16.5%
Total sales                        + 8.275%

So, Now What?

Balance Risk & Reward

Social Media Strategy in 8 Parts
Part 1: Learn to Listen
Part 2: Join the Conversation
Part 3: Start a Blog (or… Be the Media)
Part 4: Tap into Your Community
Part 5: Crowdsource Your Next Big Idea
Part 6: Harness the Power of Social Networks
Part 7: Share Photos and Videos Online
Part 8: Measure Your Success Online

Learn to Listen
Where are your customers online/offline?
Blogs, Social media tools (e.g. LinkedIn Answers), Discussion Forums, Twitter, etc…/Events
Monitor these conversations:
Find your brand using Google Alerts, Keotag.com, Boardreader.com and Technorati.com
Use a central tool to track the different conversations happening around your company. Most online conversations are RSS enabled, barring a few Yahoo! groups that don’t support RSS. Use a RSS reader (e.g. Bloglines.com) to gather all these conversations into a central repository and create a folder that you check on a daily basis.
For Example: Best-in-class organizations pursue social media listening as a daily discipline and have a response strategy to engage in the conversation if necessary.

Join the Conversation
Be transparent. Be open and honest in all communication.
Be ethical. Live by the WOMMA Practical Ethics Toolkit
Be relevant. Share information and perspectives that are valuable to the online community
Personalize and be personable.
Address negative discussion head-on.
Court evangelists & advocates.
Even if you’re not ready to join the conversation, it pays to have a sound strategy for dealing with any social media conversation taking place about your brand.

Be the Media (or, Start a Blog)
Feature a link to the blog on your company home page.
Employ a team of bloggers.
Provide guidelines to bloggers.
Share company news and thought leadership.
Post a combination of written word, photos and video.
Link generously to other digital influencers.
Allow moderated comments to foster a two-way conversation.

Tap Into Your Community
Community members can be worth 30% more
Tap the power of your customer base
Increase long-term lifetime value
Involve them in something meaningful
Know what customers really want to buy

Crowdsource Your Next Big Idea
Define an idea management process.
Design and develop the online community.
Promote the community with your customers.
Invite them to contribute.
Post questions to spur their thinking.
Celebrate great ideas.

A Crowdsourced Business
Seventh Generation, a leading green consumer products company, used a crowdsourcing approach to design an eco-friendly diaper bag as part of its Wee Generation campaign. Mommies, children and leading environmental experts collaborated to design a state-of-the-art, limited edition bag, which Seventh Generation now sells.

Harness the Power of Social Networks
Connect with your customers in their network.
Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc…
Build applications for them in their networks.
Assign someone in your organization as the ‘community manager’.
If you build it, they won’t come – put together a sound seeding strategy

Share Photos and Videos Online
Create a brand channel on YouTube.
Upload your company’s videos to your YouTube channel
Adds to your search results
• Promote your company’s YouTube channel or specific videos on your Web site, emails, newsletters.
Engage your audience by encouraging them to add comments, rate videos, share video.
Update your content frequently to keep it fresh. This is critical to keep people coming back.

Measure Your Success Online
The value of social media presence can be calculated by simple methods:
ReachHow many people are influenced by our social & digital media efforts?
AcquisitionHow much of their attention have we acquired through connections, website visits, and time spent engaging with us?
ConversionHow many have we ‘converted’ toward the ultimate goal (subscription, sales, leads, registrations, evangelists, etc.)?
RetentionAre we reducing customer churn, lowering our overall cost to serve, increasing the purchase value/volume/frequency, and growing the lifetime value of our customer base?

RACR (Reach, Acquisition, Conversion, Retention)

“Every brand needs to be relevant and part of a community. They need to open a dialogue with their consumers, but they also need to be prepared for what could be negative feedback and I don’t think all marketers are ready for that.”
- Bob Ivins, EVP, comScore

Top ten obstacles to new media
Inadequate resources (time and/or money)
Disconnected employees
Resistance to change
Desire to control communication/fear of unknown
Not convinced of benefits
Perceived lack of IT capabilities
Resistant culture
Senior management won’t allow it
Legal/governance/regulation issues
Would require too much training

New Media Homework!

Find blogs in your area of interest
Seek out podcasts for marketers (or whatever you fancy) in iTunes or Podcast Alley
Sign up for a free RSS reader (Bloglines, Google Reader) and consume feeds
Join LinkedIn
Anyone not visited YouTube yet? Look for your favorite things there too

New Media Extra Credit