On October 5th 2011, Jim Gilbert, President of Gilbert Direct Marketing presented The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing to a packed house at the Direct Marketing Association's annual conference and exhibition in Boston. (DMA2011). This presentation is the culmination of the last 5 years of research and execution of social media marketing programs for multiple clients. Included in this presentation is a caste study of how Jim Gilbert built the social media marketing program for a consumer diet business from the ground up. Reach Jim at jimdirect@aol.com

1. 9 Immutable Laws ofSocial Media Marketing Presented by James Gilbert, CEO October 5th, 2011

3. CEO, GDM

4. Board member – FL DMA

5. Professor Direct Marketing

6. Author Target Marketing Group

7. Return on Intelligence Blog

9. No Paradigms!

10. Orientation (What these laws are really about!) "There is only one valid definition of business purpose – to create a customer. Companies are not in business to make things… but to make customers.” -- Peter F. Drucker

11. Translation? One Word...

12. Engagement! Fulfill the DM Promise of true 2 way communications

13. Social Media Law # 1 The deeper the level of engagement, the deeper the trust/bond with your company! Nothing happens without engagement! How engaged are your social media fans?

14. The Law of Engagement! The goals of every social media marketer... Engage! Draw them out! Get them involved! Tug at their heartstrings Tell a story!!!! Create drama!!!!

15. Case Study – The Fresh Diet About The Fresh Diet Focus on Facebook

16. Level of effectiveness = 0 November2009: 94 fans

17. Level of effectiveness = 100 December 2010: 24,195 likes That’s a lot more than nutrisysem!

18. Level of effectiveness = 1,000 October 2011: 66,000 likes That’s a lot more than nutrisysem!

19. Building our brand via Facebook Our facebook page is our calling card. Many times we prefer to send to FB over web More powerful than our website People see engagement and want to join in People see happy customers and order! Beyond our “likes” thousands of people check us out on FB daily.

20. Don’t be an info pusher!

21. How we got there – Goals! Main goal! Put a human face on the nameless faceless corporate entity Distinguish ourselves from big corps We are real people, promoting a healthy lifestyle People respond to real

22. How we got there – Goals! Build relationships - Build engagement Speak in a real voice Develop trust Give to get world Time spent on site = engagement Engagement = Sales Sales + Engagement = Advocacy I tease people, draw them out, call them out, etc

23. How we got to 66K – the basics Call center Collateral Material Mailers Email signatures Email newsletters Any place we can think of

25. Effective in driving targeted traffic

26. Target by:

27. Geography

28. Interests (dieting, kosher)

29. Work (where)

30. Education type

32. Contests mean to us A way to seed the market with food A way to have people come back and give positive feedback An engagement tool Fun – draws people out

33. Contest examples Plate your favorite meals

34. Contest examples Halloween costume contest

35. Contest examples Motivation poster contests

36. Contest examples Fresh Diet-ize a Beatles Lyric (in honor of John Lennon) Fresh Diet-ized Haiku

37. Contest examples Video contests This contest coined the phrase, “the fresh diet delivery fairies?

38. Contest examples Ultra secret contests My excuse to give away food Any old contests Banner ad

39. Contests Recipe winner

40. Any Excuse for a contest

41. Social Media Law # 2 Brand + Channels = Revenue. The more channels a consumer interacts with your brand in, the more likely they are to buy. Offering multiple engagement channels allows for consumer self selection of preferred channels. Being in the right social media channels based on your market increases channel interaction.

42. Building Traffic – Fans and Likes Ad.ly network allows you to buy paid tweets from celebrities Gained 400 fans in one day

43. Building Traffic – Fans and Likes Tie ins with other sites drove major traffic and likes We did this one in conjunction with a freebie every day.

44. Building Traffic – Fans and Likes Tie ins with other sites drove major traffic and likes We did this one in conjunction with a freebie every day.

45. Building Traffic – Fans and Likes Paid tweets from Heidi Montag promoting a contest drove fans and contest entries

46. Building Traffic – Fans and Likes Using the @ sign drives traffic This post ran on TFD and Holly Madison’s FB page at the same time

47. Social Media Law # 3 Brand + time + channels = advocates. Consumers spending time in multi channels breeds customers more likely to become brand advocates and influencers. This is the new multichannel marketing model for the 21st century. Social media creates brand advocates and turns peers into your best salespeople.

48. Engagement, our customer take over In a social media driven world – people buy from their peers!

49. Engagement our customers take over In Orlando Customers ran contests, promoted specials answered CS Q’s Our customers would walk through fire due to the trust we have built. We ask people from FB to do interviews, show up at events, etc… even be on TV.

50. Customers take over Fresh never frozen

51. Social Media Law # 4 The exponential search factor. Social media increases your search engine rankings, and when combined with your website drives additional traffic via organic search.

52. Social Media Law # 5 The new-fangled customer service factor. Consumers choose their contact preferences. Brands not having multiple channels for customer service risk losing customers. Consumers expect instant gratification and social media delivers.

53. Facebook as a customer service tool Our Sales and CS people inhabit our page Customer service is no longer limited to the call center!!! When questions get asked, we answer ASAP Speed and agility in a social media world If we don’t answer fast enough, we get grief

54. Facebook as a Customer Service tool When issues come up we must address them with speed, agility and accuracy, otherwise we will get skewered

55. Facebook as a Customer Service tool When issues come up we must address them with speed, agility and accuracy, otherwise we will get skewered We took a beating due to the snow in the NE

56. Social Media Law # 6 The behind the scenes factor. People don’t buy from brands - they buy from people. Social media puts a human face on the faceless corporate entity. The biggest opportunity around social media is to allow people to connect with your employees as peers.

57. The days of “big anonymous corp.” are over!

58. Bio’s of our employees bring customers closer to the company

59. Build involvement and trust Be Transparent Go behind the scenes

60. Bringing our customers closer Image done by one of our customers of our CEO Zalmi Duchman. He is officially Zman or Zuperman to our fans

61. Again, we do a lot of video

62. Social Media Law # 7 Trust is the new black. The aforementioned laws allow consumers to build or rebuild trust if done correctly. Social media harkens back to the days of the corner store where consumers and brands had a cordial relationship. Social media builds relationships over time.

63. Trust? Our involvement devices Delivery fairies Fearless FB leader Overgiving We let our customers run and judge contests Brand everybody Make fun of ourselves Have all get involved in company Ask questions, involve customers (bag, slogans)

64. Building Trust – Random Freebies Every day we give food away randomly on FB. Other times we just give it away for no reason Is it expensive? Sure, but the rewards are enormous People are always promoting us to our friends Another way we seed the market and drive positive reviews

65. Build involvement and trust

66. Give to get – Random Freebies

67. Social Media Law # 8 The online reputation factor. Whether you like it or not consumers are talking about your brand. Social media is the great neutralizer. It allows your company to seek out negatives and turn them into positives via reputation management and communications.

68. Rep is everything

69. Rep is everything

70. Social Media Law # 9 The time spent factor. Customers are not always ready to buy. Social media’s eight other immutable laws prepares customers over time.

71. Social Media Law # 9 Engagement + time + trust = revenue. When we run sales on FB sales come! Use promo codes to track Customers do the selling for us. Must try this!

72. Get a copy… Drop me a business card and I will send you a copy of this preso! Feel free to pass it along too!

73. Thank You!How to reach me…jimdirect@aol.com @gilbertdirect561-302-1719Don’t forget linked in!