Activating social media for your brand March 22, 2011

Overview

•  Define your objectives •  There are many reasons to engage in social networks, be clear on what yours are

•  Know your measures of success •  Be sure that you’re using the right metrics to measure the success of your efforts

•  Listen–and learn •  Find the social white space by observing your consumers and competitors

•  Define your role, offering and behavior in this community •  People are looking to feel valued and find value (social currency). What do you have to offer?

•  Plan for contingencies •  Things don’t always go as they should

•  You’re a media brand now, resource (and budget) appropriately •  Must-have items before you start

•  Be social, flexible and open to change •  Collected wisdom on best practices

•  Measure, monitor and optimize •  Data will show how the story is unfolding. Here are some things to watch.

There are many reasons to engage in social networks, be clear on what yours are

New consumers?

Customer service?

Build relationships?

Discover opportunities?

Define your objectives

Know your measures of success

New consumers?

Customer service?

Build relationships?

Discover opportunities?

• Likes/follows • Brand and social metrics • Conversions

• Reduced costs at other service channels, e.g., call center • Improved sentiment in reviews

• Repeat visitation • “Unlikes” (unsubscribes) v. likes • Commenting, content engagements and shares, etc.

• Actionable ideas to improve or enhance products and services

Be  sure  that  you’re  using  the  right  metrics  to  measure  the  success  of  your  efforts  

Listen – and Learn

•  Who are the people you wish to reach (big picture)?

•  Who are the key influencers? •  Where do your targets spend time online

(in what communities) – •  –And when are they online? •  What do they care about/talk about?

What do they do online? •  Why do they care about those things?

•  What are your competitors doing?

Find  the  social  white  space  by  observing  your  consumers  and  compe;tors  

Define your role, offering and behavior

•  What value can you provide your community? Why should they engage with you?

•  How will you engage people and key influencers?

•  What is your brand voice in this context? •  What kind of content will you offer – and

how often? •  How should your presence here integrate

with your other channels? (e.g., drive to website, etc.)

•  PS: It’s not all about you

People  are  looking  to  feel  valued  and  find  value  (social  currency).    What  are  you  offering?  

Plan for contingencies

•  Complainers, bashers, trolls, etc. can disrupt when you least expect them

•  Establish policies so that teams know how to respond – and approvals can be streamlined

Things  don’t  always  go  as  they  should,    be  prepared  

Resource (and budget) appropriately

Things to have: •  A content strategy outlining who you’re

engaging, how you’ll engage them and on what schedule (among other things) (see p. 6)

•  An engagement plan for how your social network presence will interact with your other online channels

•  A community manager who behaves like a brand steward. He or she should be able carry on a fluid and authentic exchange with your audience.

•  IOW: It’s probably not the intern.

The  need  to  offer  consumers  fresh  and  relevant  content  and  experiences  in  social  networks  are  forcing  all  brands  to  behave  like  media  companies  

Being social: Some best practices

Successful brands: •  Grow their Facebook fan bases (“Likes”) by offering exclusive content and deals

•  Consumers can only obtain them if they “like” the brand

•  Have “news” on an ongoing basis, targeting a range of interests •  They engage their target consumers on an ongoing basis by continually finding ways to be fresh and

relevant (i.e., coupon offers and product tips are good but not enough) •  Contests, events, challenges, exclusive video, etc.

•  Practice good conversational techniques •  Soliciting – and engaging with - consumers’ own news, opinions, perspectives, and content •  Allow consumers to initiate their own posts on brand wall

•  Help consumers look smart or “cool” and entertaining in front of their friends •  A.k.a. “social currency”

•  Make general participation easy; make challenges fun •  Attract, elevate and empower hand-raisers

Be flexible and open to change

•  As interactions progress, you may find that your audience is bringing you topics, ideas and opportunities that you didn’t anticipate.

•  Be prepared to adjust course.

Measure, monitor and optimize

•  Community growth (likes/follows) •  Activity and engagement:

•  Content views and completions •  Application usage •  Commenting and content sharing (retweets

and similar) •  Repeat visitation

•  Impressions and “social impressions” •  Conversions •  Brand mentions and sentiment in online

chatter

Data  will  show  how  the  story  is  unfolding,  here  are  some  things  to  watch  

Questions?