Digital Marketing Book - Chapter Five

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5
Chapter
Social media marketing
We’re excited about the potential of social media marketing! It’s one of
the biggest opportunities in marketing we’ve seen for years. But, if it’s ad
hoc or unmanaged, it won’t be fully effective and can even be damaging.
It definitely cannot be ignored and warrants its own strategy. That’s why
we’ve devoted a separate chapter showing you how to create a
structured plan for social media marketing.

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5.1 What is social media marketing and why
is it important?
Social media is the term commonly given to Internet and mobile-
based channels and tools that allow users to interact with each
other and share opinions and content. As the name implies, social
media involves the building of communities or networks and
encouraging participation and engagement.
(CIPR, 2011)
Social media marketing Focuses on social media to achieve
marketing objectives
Protecting and extending the brand
Social media encourage audience participation, interaction and sharing.

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5.1 What is social media marketing and why
is it important?
Figure 5.1 Social media marketing radar
Source: Chaffey and Sosomworth (2012)

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5.1 What is social media marketing and why
is it important?
The Forrester POST methodology (2007)
Developing a social media strategy for businesses
People
Objectives
Understanding the adoption of social media by an audience.
Setting goals for different options to engage customers across the
customer lifecycle from customer acquisition to conversion to
retention.
Strategy How to achieve your goals.
Technology Decide on the best platform to achieve your goals.

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5.2 Benchmarking and setting goals for social
media marketing
Set business goals for social media using the 5Ss
SELL
SPEAK
SERVE
SAVE
SIZZLE
Using Smart Insights RACE Planning framework
To encourage ongoing engagement and dialogue to find out more about product, to
communicate brand perception and key messages, updates about new products and
offers, reputation monitoring and management
To provide information to resolve customer-services issues
To identity discussed customer issues and resolve them
To encourage web self-service including collaborative self-service
Cost savings are a less relevant part of the 5Ss since managing social media has
incremental costs for which budget will need to be found from elsewhere.
Cost of social media marketing activity – relatively easy to define
Outcomes achieved through social media which can occur on your site or offline
Value of outcomes online or offline; i.e. leads or sales influenced by social media

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5.2 Benchmarking and setting goals for social
media marketing

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5.2 Benchmarking and setting goals for social
media marketing
Review consumer demand and engagement for social media marketing
Figure 5.1 Social technographics for US and EU, 2011 Source: Forrester (2012)
• Alternative approach to the
Ladder of Engagement

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5.2 Benchmarking and setting goals for social
media marketing
Review consumer demand and engagement for social media marketing
Benchmark competitor use of social media
• Alternative approach to the Ladder of Engagement
• Share of voice
• Sentiment
• Network size and growth
• Social sharing
• Engagement
Reach and influence KPIs
Engagement KPIs

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5.3 Create a strategy and plan to manage social media
1.Listen and manage reputation
2.Transform the brand through social media
3.Acquire new customers
4.Deliver customer service
5.Harness insights to develop the brand using social media
optimization (SMO)

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5.3 Create a strategy and plan to manage social media

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5.4 Social listening and online reputation management
Social monitoring
Social research
• Market understanding
• Brand mentions
• Influencer identification
• Partner development
• Content and campaign ideas
• Negative comments
• Sale opportunities
• Product and service development
Brand conversations about you
Competitors conversations
Market conversations
Listen to… With…
Search engines
Specialist social monitoring
and analysis
Customer communities

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5.5 Develop the content marketing and
engagement strategy for your brand
Key content marketing principles (Pulizzi and Barrett, 2010)
1. Content must have intrinsic value
2. Understand what content customers value
3. Content marketing strategy may completely or partially replace traditional
advertising and marketing
4. Get your customers to participate
5. Make it easy to buy
• Do we have an overriding purpose for our content to deliver commercial goals through
delivering relevance for the audience?
• How do we differentiate from the bland pack by having a perspective, a position, or if
appropriate, a real attitude?
• Can we develop a personality that can shine through our online content, but really
irrespective of the media?
Chaffey and Bosomworth (2012)

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5.6 Define social media communications strategy
Structuring your social media communication strategy around PRACE
Chaffey and Bosomworth (2012)
Plan Management of social media marketing including reputation management
and defining a content strategy.
Reach How to increase the reach of your content that is shared.
Act Encouraging interaction and participation within our own blogs and sites
and within social outposts.
Convert How to make the transition from customer brand engagement with social
media to generating more leads and sales.
Engage Ongoing communications with consumers

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5.6 Define social media communications strategy
When new content is
created, it should be
automatically syndicated to
the different social
channels using these
tools.

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5.6 Define social media communications strategy

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5.7 Define approaches for the core social media
platforms
Developing
independent
communities
• Review your strategy for brand-related
communications across social platforms
• Select the social media platforms to prioritize
on/find customer interaction preferences
• Profiling the audience for different social platforms
• Define the proposition for your social outposts
• Getting the sell-inform-entertain balance right
• Don’t forget the other popular social networks

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5.7 Define approaches for the core social media
platforms
Creating an
editorial plan for
social channel
communications
• Do our social messaged add value to the audience?
• Is each channel offering its own unique value?
• Are our profile pages communicating this value?
• Is our profile findable?
• How valuable are our messages compared to competitors?
• Are we interacting?
• Is the frequency right?
• Is the timing right?
• Do we send reminders about the good/important stuff?
• Are we using the facilities of the network for a viral effect?
• Are we integrating channels?
• Are we using the right tools to make us efficient?
• Are we using the wrong tools/approach?
• Are we responding to customer comments?

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5.8 Social media optimization (SMO)
SMO Structured approach to improving social media through a ‘test-learn-refine’
approach
1. Create shareable content
2. Reward engagement
3. Proactively share content
4. Encourage the ‘mashup’
Five rules
Bhargava (2010)
A/B testing
1. Test effectiveness of sharing and content types on
business outcomes
2. Review how well your content marketing supports
SEO
3. Review preferences of different audiences using
different social media platforms to convert and share
different types of content and offers
4. Optimum frequency for initiating sharing
5. Best methods for identifying influencers and seeding
content
6. Approaches to integrate sharing of content through
different social platforms, web, mobile, and email
channels

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Chapter summary
• Social media encourage audience participation, interaction and sharing.
• Social media marketing can be defined as “Monitoring and facilitating customer interaction, participation
and sharing through digital media to encourage positive engagement with a company and its brand
leading to commercial value. Interactions may occur on a company site, social networks and other third-
party sites” (CIPR, 2011)
• Social media marketing should start by listening to online conversations and should be driven by customer
needs and business goals rather than the social platforms. The Forrester POST mnemonic emphasizes
this.
• The Forrester Social Technographics Ladder suggests you should develop strategies to engage users
according to their level of interaction with social media.
• Social media marketing, social business and social CRM require a transformation in many staff.
• Ensure appropriate tools are in place to listen to and follow up on different ‘social mentions’.
• Social media engagement should be based on a sound content strategy
• Use the PRACE framework to help develop a social media strategy.
• Success in engaging an audience on each social network involves finding the best range of content and
frequency for each network.
• SMO is a structured approach to increasing engagement and sharing within social media marketing.