how to improve customer engagement with social media

Social Media Strategies

to Attain New Levels of

Customer Engagement

Dr. Ammar BakkarAmmar.Bakkar@mbc.net

September, 2010

Have you met “The Joneses”?

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Steve and Kate Jones are a seemingly perfect couple who, along with their equally perfect teenagers, Jenn and Mick, move into a new home in an affluent city suburb. Friendly, confident and good-looking, they're also loaded with the coolest, newest stuff and it's not long before they've triggered a wave of aspirational envy amongst their new neighbors. But the Joneses are hiding a sinister secret.

In the past, Word of Mouth was a

“dream”..

But it was not practical

• Hard to talk to the mass

• Hard to create the agent

• Hard to measure it

Then we got “Social Media”..!

And it is all about “Engagement”

Based on research on Top 100 Brands in the US:

• Social Media Engagement is directly related to financial KPIs.

• Social Media Engagement must be deep and wide. Depth can be measured.

• Engagement differs by industry

• As the number of channels increase, overall engagement increases at a faster rate

• Starbucks has the highest level of engagement, while iPhone is the world’s most social brand.

Source: Altimeter Group (July, 2009)

Social Engagement & Brands:

1) Deeply engaged on a large number of channels, such as: Starbucks and Dell . They have dedicated teams and clear strategy

2) Presence widely (many touch points) but with no depth, such as: American Express and Hyundai .

3) Deep Engagement on a selected number of channels, such as: H&M and Philips

4) Limited Engagement on a limited number of channels, such as McDonalds and BP

Source: Altimeter Group (July, 2009)

Why would people “get engaged”?

1) Love at first sight!!

2) For the sake of Engagement

3) Because they are motivated

Engagement needs MOTIVATION!

So what MOTIVATES people on

Web 2.0?

1) Giveaways

Prizes & Extras from the brand

2) Information Everywhere!

Fast Facts

Interesting Style

Everywhere!

3) Living a new experience

Engineering a Web Social Experience

that is:

Creative

Social & Engaging

Meaningful

4) Interacting with

Very Interesting People (VIPs),

Brand Social Ambassadors (BSA),

or Experts

Celebrities representing your brand

Made-to-be a VIP / BSA

Experts in the subject matter related

to your brand

Engineer the Social Personality of your

BSAs to match the Brand Personality &

Identity

Create the team that supports them with

information & answers

Empower them to serve “above the law”

5) Matchmaking

• Sponsor “Friendship”

• Create Communities

• Reward “Friends of Friends”

6) Influencing the Brand

• Social Engagement should work both ways

• Your customers should change the brand

behavior on the smallest details.

• Example: MyStarbucksIdea.com

But do not forget

the “Rules of Engagement”?

1) Prepare for the engagement

Lip service can actually harm

you. A learning environment

based on change should be

created.

But: Dare to be Weak!!

2) You need to understand the

communities through the

“Social Spies”

3) You need to change your

strategies and plans based on

information & community

dynamics!

4) Do not let the Social

Enemies fool you

5) Stand United

The whole organization

MUST

embrace Social Engagement

6) Support your allies. Let them

protect your back. Send out

the supplies.Example: Dell Blogger Reach Program

7) Synchronize information

among all channels

MBC Group & Engagement

Thank You!