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The Core Steps a Business Can Take to Engage Social Media

WEBBIZIDEAS ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

Get Started with Social Engagement P a g e | 2 WebBizIdeas.com – (800) 993-2249

This report will give you the main steps to successfully

marketing within social media.

This report is designed to give you a foundation approach to the steps necessary for a

successful social media engagement strategy. It is not designed to delve into what social media

is, the benefit, or why social media is should be one aspect of your overall marketing strategy.

CONTENTS Social Media Engagement ............................................................................................................... 4

Setting Goals ................................................................................................................................... 4

Family, Friends and Fun .............................................................................................................. 4

Intent and Selling ........................................................................................................................ 5

I Don’t Have the Time ..................................................................................................................... 5

Who Owns Social Media? ............................................................................................................... 5

3 Core Elements of a successful social media engagement ........................................................... 6

Acquisition ...................................................................................................................................... 7

Segmentation .............................................................................................................................. 7

Key Questions for Acquisition: .................................................................................................... 8

Examples of Acquisition .............................................................................................................. 8

Ford Went Social for Release of New Explorer ....................................................................... 8

A Whole Strategy for Twitter .................................................................................................. 8

Engagement .................................................................................................................................... 9

Key Questions for Engagement .................................................................................................. 9

Engagement Examples ................................................................................................................ 9

Steel Buildings are Social?..................................................................................................... 10

Watch a Video Get a Free Night ........................................................................................... 10

Even Paint Can Engage? ........................................................................................................ 11

Wait a Refrigerator? ............................................................................................................. 11

Monetization ................................................................................................................................. 12

Key Questions for Monetization: .............................................................................................. 12


Examples of Monetization ........................................................................................................ 12

Rite Aid Video to Coupon ...................................................................................................... 13

Social Coupons for a Mexican Grill ....................................................................................... 13

Create a store right on Facebook.......................................................................................... 13

Target On Tea ........................................................................................................................ 13

Putting it Together ........................................................................................................................ 14

Tax Service and All 3 Elements ................................................................................................. 14

What to Do Now? ......................................................................................................................... 15

Fast Track your Social Engagement .............................................................................................. 15

Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 16

About WebBizIdeas:

Ideas—Our MISSION is to help startup and established businesses build better websites,

marketing online, and engage effectively in digital media.

WebBizIdeas.com is a new media development firm based in Minneapolis Minnesota. We offer

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OUR PROCESS: Learn more about our web development process.


SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT Social media is a new paradigm of marketing, it’s requires a different approach to marketing.

It’s ‘always on’ and contains elements of instantaneous communication. What we call social

media should be more accurately termed social communication. Humans are social animals but

what changes is how we communicate with each other. Social networking allows us to

communicate instantaneously across the world in a matter of seconds. It also offers a direct

one on one or one to many connections that has never existed before.

SETTING GOALS Before embarking on any social media marketing campaigns, it is essential to set your goals and

define your prospects or target audience. Without a

clear understanding of what you want to achieve and

who you want to reach, your promotional campaigns

will not be focused and the results may be fragmented

and weak.

What are the goals of your organization? Do you want

to build your brand and increase the number of

targeted visitors to your website?

Do you want to improve communication among

customers, employees and other stakeholders? Do you

want to strengthen your relationships and increase profitability?

Determining exactly what you want to accomplish through a social media strategy will drive

prioritization of your actions.

FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FUN

If there was one thing that is important to know about social media it is this--the core reason

most people spend time within social media is to connect with friends

and family.

Consumers put social media squarely in the entertainment column.

The old interruption approach to marketing simply does not work

within this channel of communication.

This means that people spend time to talk to friends, family,

associates and have fun. Knowing this one element will ensure that

The companies that harness social best look at it as part of a loyalty programloyalty programloyalty programloyalty program. They use social to manage and build better relationships with their most profitable customers.


you have success in your efforts with social engagement. Keeping this in front of your mind and

interactions will be the key to making sure your communication, updates, and messages

resonate with your audience.

INTENT AND SELLING

create interest in our product or service. Very few people log into a social network to

purchase something. The purchase or decision to purchase or even consider a product is a

byproduct of the activity.

I DON’T HAVE THE TIME This is the number #1 item of feedback I get when I present the best practices

to marketing in social media. It usually goes something like… “I’m already busy

enough” or “we are bogged down with day to day stuff already, how do we add

this on top of it?”.

Here is my quick and easy answer…

First, just like everything else in your business if you find it worthwhile and it generates results

you will find time. What we really are talking about is

priorities. The second thing is focusing on getting strong

foundation in place. What follow below is the core

elements to a successful social engagement plan. Also

some examples on how other companies are making it

work for them.

WHO OWNS SOCIAL MEDIA? The short answer is every department in your organization

can benefit from social engagement. Depending on the size

of your organization different departments or people will

play a more central role. Collaboration is the key. When

the IT department can talk to the PR department and when

the R&D side learns that they can access the vast element of general knowledge, real time

conversations, and actual thoughts of the target market that’s when the proverbial light bulb

flips on.

Shoving marketing messages down people's throat doesn't make much sense, so you have to

jump in and accept the good with the bad. Things may blow up, as they did with Southwest and

When you have any amount of people connected to your page, it becomes your own private network that you can prime any way you want. You can, as a brand, bypass traditional media companies and activate those people for free.

Get Started with Social Engagement

Nestle recently, but the two-way communication channel you can build up far outweighs [the

potential for negative consequences]. Social is not just a marketing channel

development, customer service and even HR.

3 CORE ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESS

ENGAGEMENT There are 3 core elements of s

loosely but these elements are each in action at the same time but have to be siloed off to be

effective. These three elements are

Quick note: Please not that there

something you do for primarily engagement might drive acquisition, or a

might also double as an engagement element.

Get Started with Social Engagement P a g e | 6 WebBizIdeas.com –

way communication channel you can build up far outweighs [the

potential for negative consequences]. Social is not just a marketing channel -

development, customer service and even HR.

LEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA

There are 3 core elements of s successful social media engagement campaign. I use campaign


e elements are Acquisition, Engagement, and Monetization.

there is overlap between these three elements. For instance

something you do for primarily engagement might drive acquisition, or a monetization

ble as an engagement element.

(800) 993-2249

way communication channel you can build up far outweighs [the

- it's PR, product

FUL SOCIAL MEDIA

social media engagement campaign. I use campaign


, and Monetization.

between these three elements. For instance

monetization strategy


ACQUISITION

THE THINGS YOU DO TO ACQUIRE A FAN,

FOLLOWER, SUBSCRIBER, READER, ETC.

It’s important to define what you acquisition strategy per social channel.

Your acquisition strategy for Facebook, Your Blog, Twitter, or LinkedIn will each have its own

strategy and pull points.

When amassing fans I always say go with quality over quantity. Your social presence should be an

extension of your brand's voice. To build that

foundation, establish and invite your core customers.

Begin by communicating to your existing database

and announcing your brand's places of contact

(Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Etc.) via e-mail. In

addition, link to your profiles and pages on your

website at every opportunity.

At retail, include the URL on receipts and checkout

counter cards. Provide an incentive for your current

customers to "follow" your brand, such as exclusive

content, discounts or sweepstakes.

SEGMENTATION

An important point when engaging within the social

space is asking whether or not you need an

inherent segmentation strategy.

For instance, Apple has an Itunes Facebook page

and an AppStore Facebook page. When you

segment out your product bases like this it allows

you to easily craft messages and follow the three core steps we outline below.

It also does another very important thing. It allows your audience and customer to segment

themselves out. If someone is just a fan of one of your products then they only care about that

product. With Apple if you only care about Itunes and Music you join the Itunes page where

you get special music related content. If you care about applications you join the AppStore

Facebook page.

Tell Them What They Get

A great illustration of this concept comes

from a radio commercial I hear from time

to time. This commercial is about a chain of

weight loss centers. Towards the end of

the commercial you hear the announcer

say…

“you can now find us on Facebook

and Twitter”.

What would be more effective and still fit

within the space available is something

along the lines of “find us on Facebook and

Twitter for exclusive weight loss advice”.

It’s not enough to state that you can be

found within social media—you have to go

that extra step and clearly state the benefit

someone gets for following you.


KEY QUESTIONS FOR ACQUISITION:

EXAMPLES OF ACQUISITION

The examples of acquisition strategies provided below contain main elements that drive

obtaining an audience. Remember the most effective strategy for acquisition contains large

elements of integration. You integrate you message, your drivers to content, and the key

reason why someone should follow you.

FORD WENT SOCIAL FOR RELEASE OF NEW EXPLORER

Ford Motor Company released the 2011 Ford Explorer to Fans of the Ford Explorer Facebook

page. Starting mid-June Ford slowly released news, pictures, and content with the final reveal in

July. This was only available to Facebook fans. (htt). This campaign not only resulted in higher

fan acquisition but received press throughout the media as well.

A WHOLE STRATEGY FOR TWITTER

Wholefoods goes farther with Twitter and segmentation. They have a @WholeFoods where

you get global updates, or three topical accounts @WFMCheese (about cheese),

@WFMWineGuys (wine and beer experts), @WholeRecipes (an automated recipe feed). They

go beyond that as well each major metro area has it’s own twitter account such as Chicago at

@WholeFoodsCHI but each store has it’s own Twitter account as well.

• Why should someone follow you or your company?

• Intimately know your target market—then ask yourself how does social media play

a role into my target markets life?

• What can you offer or what are their expectations from you?

• What are the acceptable offers within this channel (think Facebook, Twitter,

LinkedIn as channels)

• Is this channel strictly inbound or outbound?

• How do I integrate my other marketing channels to support and acquire an

audience within the social space?


ENGAGEMENT

THE THINGS YOU DO ONCE YOU HAVE AN

AUDIENCE.

This is actually the step where you get permission to move to the next

step. First and foremost you must ensure that you deliver on what you promised in your

acquisition strategy. If once someone has started to engage with you and they do not get what

they expected they will leave or worse yet tune out. Just as the advent of timeshifted TV has

allowed consumers to skip commercials if you don’t deliver value your audience will abandon

you as well.

KEY QUESTIONS FOR ENGAGEMENT

ENGAGEMENT EXAMPLES

Engagement can arguably be the most important step. Without proper engagement you simply

would not be effective when moving onto the next element—monetization. The people and

companies that successfully engage can then prime their audience towards offers, purchasing,

and other elements of the sales funnel. Below I’ve included a few great examples of companies

that are engaging within social media.

• How can I add value to people that follow me or the audience that I gain in the

permission marketing space? (email in addition to social is permission based)

• What are the acceptable forms of engagement in this channel?

• What is my engagement schedule?

• Who is responsible for engagement items?

• What are the unique ways I can engagement this channel that will set me or my

company apart?

• What does my target market expect from me?

• What are my competitors doing?


STEEL BUILDINGS ARE SOCIAL

SteelMaster a manufacturer of prefabricated steel buildings

way. You wouldn’t guess that there would be much affinity to a steel building. First they found

that Facebook is a great place to post pictures of

These pictures not only engage existing customers

what is possible. Since the backbone of Facebook is pictures this plays well in this platform.

They also use Twitter to get exposure and create demand in vertical markets they had little

traction in, such as chicken farmers and woodworkers.

WATCH A VIDEO GET A F

Rogers Smith Hotel uses twitter to give away free nights of stay (


OCIAL?

SteelMaster a manufacturer of prefabricated steel buildings engages Facebook


ook is a great place to post pictures of customer’s buildings.

These pictures not only engage existing customers—they also tell a story to potential customers



traction in, such as chicken farmers and woodworkers.

FREE NIGHT

Rogers Smith Hotel uses twitter to give away free nights of stay (click to see tweet

(800) 993-2249

engages Facebook in an unusual


they also tell a story to potential customers



tweet below).


EVEN PAINT CAN ENGAGE?

IdeaPaint does a great job with their blog. This is the launching pad of their engagement plan.

IdeaPaint turns virtually anything you can paint into a high-performance dry-erase surface—

every 3 year olds fantasy.

Their outreach typically starts with a great video post that shows the product in action. Telling a

story each time it also gives potential customers what is possible with their unique product.

From there they engage within YouTube, Twitter and Facebook connecting with their core

market.

WAIT A REFRIGERATOR?

Subzero (maker of appliances and high end refrigerators) whose core customer is a woman age

45 or older focuses on the essential element of adding value to its affluent customers’ busy

lives. They do this by sharing seasonal recipes, wine pairings, and cooking tips. They also

spotlight hot kitchen designers. Facebook is the third-top-referring site to SubZero.com.

Sub-Zero then engages their audience rewarding their affluent followers with exclusive news,

discounts, videos, and pictures. This gave the follower the feeling of being on the inside. One

recent question posed by SubZero has garnered over 200 responses or close to a hundred for

the simply question what’s for dinner tonight?


MONETIZATION

It’s important to note here that monetization in social media is

different for each company or individual. For some companies it will

be very apparent—such as a T-Shirt company it would be acceptable to put a store on Facebook

page.

Also we mentioned this before but understanding how your product, brand, or ser

relation to intent. Remember that people do not fire up a social network with the intent on

purchasing something. Will your followers tolerate your monetization strategy?

The good news is that for certain verticals special offers and coupons

monetization strategies) is the number one reason people follow a company or brand.

KEY QUESTIONS FOR M

EXAMPLES OF MONETIZATION

Remember more than one department owns social media and when we give examples of

specific monetization items the first two steps of acquisition and engagement came first.

• What does you target market expect?

• Is there purchase intent?

• How often are you able to monetize your audience?

• Are you able to monetize your audience in the network or does it require you

driving them off the channel? (on channel is best).

• How can you create a monetization strategy that involves Acquisition and

Engagement?


ONETIZATION

HOW YOU MAKE ROI ON

R

It’s important to note here that monetization in social media is


Shirt company it would be acceptable to put a store on Facebook

Also we mentioned this before but understanding how your product, brand, or ser



The good news is that for certain verticals special offers and coupons (one of the best


MONETIZATION:

ONETIZATION



What does you target market expect?

Is there purchase intent?

How often are you able to monetize your audience?

you able to monetize your audience in the network or does it require you

driving them off the channel? (on channel is best).

How can you create a monetization strategy that involves Acquisition and

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ON TIME AND

RESOURCES

It’s important to note here that monetization in social media is vastly


Shirt company it would be acceptable to put a store on Facebook

Also we mentioned this before but understanding how your product, brand, or service falls in



(one of the best




you able to monetize your audience in the network or does it require you

How can you create a monetization strategy that involves Acquisition and


RITE AID VIDEO TO COUPON

At the same time, Rite Aid unveiled its Video Values program, featuring informative,

educational and, in some cases, entertaining videos. By watching videos, customers earn video

credits for savings on products.

For example, viewers of a clip for a Brita Water Filtration product earn a $2 coupon off one of

the Brita items offered. They must print the coupon and present it at the store.

When they rack up 20 video credits, they receive a $5 Rite Aid Bonus Coupon. Rite Aid reports

that it is averaging between 500,000 and 600,000 video views each month. Redemption rates

average nearly 20%, depending on the coupon. (Fredricksen, 2010)

SOCIAL COUPONS FOR A MEXICAN GRILL

Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, a West Coast chain of 195 restaurants, started placing coupons on

Yowza this summer to reach people searching for a lunch spot. Larry Rusinko, the chain's senior

vice president of marketing and product development, saw a 4 percent redemption rate on

coupons offered through Yowza, four times what he was getting through direct mail or ads in

the Sunday paper. (Tiku, 2009)

CREATE A STORE RIGHT ON FACEBOOK

Storefront with Payvment: Payvment is an e-commerce application that allows for the

development of a retail store on Facebook. Using the PayPal X global open payments platform,

customers can shop from multiple vendors in a single shopper cart, turning FB into what could

be considered the ultimate shopping mall.

The application uses PayPal’s new Adaptive Payments APIs and is built on the company’s

existing shopping cart Web service that turns any online page into an e-commerce page with a

single line of code. Another e-commerce app that lets users post products on FB is My Merch

Store from Zazzle. Create and post products for sale on Zazzle and share them with people

visiting your pages on FB.

TARGET ON TEA

Organic tea brand Steaz needed to generate nation-wide awareness and drive sales at Target

stores -- and quickly. The brand felt that if it could get moms talking about Steaz in social media,

the sales would follow. The campaign generated interest and results above expectations,

thanks to blogs, email, and social media activity.


We were confident that we would generate 50,000 coupon downloads, 1,000 new

fans/followers. Our goal was to get Target to notice the little tea brand it had just adopted.

Actual results were 250,000 coupon downloads (with a 20+ percent redemption rate), 6,000

blog and social network mentions, and more than 3,000 new fans/followers. Steaz's December

sales were double its previous best month ever. And Steaz shelves in Target stores nationwide

were emptied. (Magnani, 2010)

PUTTING IT TOGETHER As with any framework of marketing creating a plan and an

implementation strategy are the keys to success. The power of social

engagement is it allows instant feedback. Often times you can see

immediate results and get immediate market intelligence.

The most effective campaigns contain not only specific elements of

each step but also mingle the three elements together. Campaigns that

create an incentive for your audience to help you acquire and thus drive engagement.

Most of the examples given in this paper do cover all three elements here is a more illustrative

example of putting this into practice…

TAX SERVICE AND ALL 3 ELEMENTS

A few weeks before taxes were due (right in the middle of tax season) Jackson Hewitt Tax

Service ran a ‘Big Check’ contest where people would submit their plans for how they will put

their income tax refund to use. The contest winner would be awarded $3,000 and selected by

votes from visitors to the contest page on Facebook.

Let’s dissect this a bit and see why it was effective. First it drove Acquisition because in order to

submit a story you had to ‘Like’ the company. It also provided a strong incentive for people who

submitted a story to go to their social circle. Imagine that you submitted a story and you

wanted to win, would you go to your friends on Facebook and ask for their votes?

The key elements of the contest, entering a story, plus voting all drive Acquisition and

Engagement. The monetization came in by pushing traffic and supporting page copy to landing

page on the corporate website. With this campaign being ran in the middle of tax season it also

fit into the front of mind model. (PRNewsWire)


WHAT TO DO NOW? The steps we covered should be elements that are in place for each vertical market you intend

to engage.

1. Segment out these steps for you and your business.

2. Plan how each one of these plays a role both in your existing marketing plan but in your

daily business activities

3. Plan each step individually (Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization) per channel and

integrate this into your marketing

4. Take each network and plan them individually

Also use this platform to truly know your target market. Once you understand your target

market its needs, wants, and how social media plays a role in their daily lives you can then start

creating specific strategies to acquire, engage, and monetize.

FAST TRACK YOUR SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT One of the things WebBizIdeas can help you with is coming up with a rock solid engagement

plan that gets to the heart of your target market. Not only do we help you with ideation and

creative concepts we also know how to implement and put into practice all the step necessary

to have a successful social engagement plan.

We focus on results and what is going to make a difference for your business. We follow and

have created a four phase process to social engagement. To learn more about our social

engagement strategies visit our Social Media Engagement Page.

To Get Started Contact WebBizIdeas:

To get started now fill out our Contact WebBizIdeas Form

Or give us a call directly: 952-935-4852 - Toll Free: 800-993-2249


BIBLIOGRAPHY (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/06/09/ford-will-give-facebook-

fans-the-first-look-at-the-2011-explorer/

Fredricksen, C. (2010, 06 16). Rite Aid Case Study: Using Video to Drive Loyalty and Sales.

Retrieved from EMarketer: http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/rite-aid-case-study-

video-drive-loyalty-sales/

Magnani, P. (2010, 04 30). Case study: Doubling sales through social me. Retrieved from

IMediaConnections.com: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/26634.asp

PRNewsWire. (n.d.). PRNewsWire. Retrieved from Final Days To Enter Jackson Hewitt(R) 'Big

Check' Tax Refund Tale Contest: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/final-days-to-

enter-jackson-hewittr-big-check-tax-refund-tale-contest-90363329.html

Tiku, N. (2009, 12 01). How to Boost Sales with Mobile Coupons. Retrieved from Inc.com:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091201/how-to-boost-sales-with-mobile-coupons.html

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