Getting Right With Your Community Presented by: Khalid Muhammad Group Managing Director
The Social Media Effect
How Has Social Media Changed Our Lives There’s a NEW SHERIFF in town
The older you are, the more uncomfortable you are with technology What used to be either/or has now become both/and Examples
Dad watched TV and uses the internet You watch less TV and twitter on your computer while waiting for a YouTube video to load Dad makes friends at work and the club You make friends in other countries using social media
How Has Social Media Changed Our Lives There’s a new sheriff in town Innovation and creativity helps us do more faster Privacy is dead
Privacy Is DEAD 92% of 2 year olds have an online record Imagine that same 2 year old 30 years from now
Everything from sonograms, emails, text messages and browsing history to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and World of Warcraft use will be archived online Now add geo‐location enabled pictures and videos that others tag them in
The CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, told an audience recently that people will have to change their names in the future to keep their pasts from being found on the internet We must understand that we are the last generation that will know what privacy is and from now on, it will have to be taught to future generations
How Has Social Media Changed Brand Management 40% of Brand Managers feel social media posed new
challenges to the integrity of their brand More than 33% said social networks affected their brands enough to bring about changes in marketing strategy 35% believe that it creates brand loyalty
So Why The Confusion? Brands today understand that there has been a dramatic
shift in how marketing is done but are unclear on how to
Respond to it Become part of it Budget for it Measure it Adjust for it
Why Do Brands Fail In Social Media? Individuals within the organization work independently
of others as what we call silos Organizations fail to do any research or planning to understand what social media is and how it operates Too many organizations believe that social media is about just listening to what others say, rather than being part of the discussion They fail to devise a message for the media making their social media experience seem like an one‐off experiment They don’t take the time to build the strategy to succeed assuring that they will fail
So Let’s Understand What We Are Talking About
What Is Social Media?
Social Media is nothing like traditional advertising or direct marketing
Social Media is about relationships
Traditional advertising is a one‐way process that gets the message to the potential customer Engaging with customers and critics that creates a significant change in the way that people think, act and measure success with a brand Presents a platform for diverse voices, backgrounds and opinions to gather in one location to discuss your brand from every angle
Professionalism and objectivity have been replaced by connectivity and dynamism of an authentic, non‐corporate voice
What is Social Media? Crowd sourcing or “People Powering” is what social
media is about Social Media lets brands interact with customers in a more personal way to build better relationships and more loyalty for their brands and products
What Is An Ideal Social Organization?
It is collaboration Has an open, honest and transparent culture Thrives with teamwork and constant communication Looks beyond internal organization and business titles Equips and encourages employees to engage with the customer outside of traditional marketing and customer service channels It is hungry for new technology that makes communication with each other and customers more efficient
Has a simple social media policy that protects the organization and empowers its people Blends traditional Customer Relationship Management tools with external social technologies to make for a more relevant consumer brand experience Thinks beyond Twitter and Facebook Invites competitors to its own competitors Has no egos or organizational silos
How Do You Do It Correctly?
Getting The Process Right Plan Your Strategy Choose The Right Channels Know Your Customer Schedule A “Social Time” Provide Value Manage Expectations
Devise The Strategy Outline goals & steps to meet objectives Integrate into existing marketing activities
Delegate, Decide, Choose, Review
Keep it simple Define what gets shared, when & how Do a social media audit to determine who in your company is using social medias Develop a process to get the information through to your customers Have a measurement strategy
Can’t improve if you can’t measure
Use it to introduce/reinforce messages while pushing customers to another profile or website
Devise The Strategy
Multimedia Usage
Integrate your offline and online activities
Photos – A picture is worth a thousand words Video – Best for how to and complex explanations Use social media to extend your offline marketing activities
Adapt your message
FAIL ‐> Same message, multiple platforms SUCCESS ‐> Multiple messages, multiple platforms
Localized Social Networks Contests & Discounts
Generate sharing & viral activity Give something back to your community
Choose The Right Channels Social Network
Customer Communications
Brand Exposure
Traffic
Use a keyword search & hashtags to monitor what is being said about your brand
Offers unique opportunities for website integration and to engage with your customers in a viral way
Potential is large, but promotions is an art form – promote too much and lose followers, promote too little and see no results
Great for engaging people that love your brand, want to share comments and participate in contests & giveaways
Facebook brand pages are great for brand exposure. Jump start your brand exposure through Facebook ads.
Traffic is decent and on the rise thanks to share buttons, but don’t expect massive unique visitors to go to your site
Whether you seek to entertain, inform, or both, video is a powerful channel to quickly engage your customers
One of the most powerful branding tools on the web when you build your own channel, promote via high traffic websites and brand your videos
Traffic goes to the videos. Don’t expect a lot of traffic to your site unless you add hyperlinks in the description or allowing others to embed your videos on their pages
Editor-driven and moderated – this should not be a primary focus
Non commercial sites are heavily favored by editors so business sites should not waste their time here
Get in the moderator’s good graces and you can achieve massive numbers – just don’t count on it happening
Know Your Customer Understand who your customer is Join customers where they are rather than hoping they
find you Form relationships based on “social glue” that build online relationships Build “socialgraphics” to understand how your customers are using social technologies Don’t be afraid to “own up” to customers when your brands make a mistake or responding to criticisms
Who Is The Social Customer? Consume information in a different way & learns about
breaking news through Twitter & Facebook trusting what their networks have gleaned as important Learns about new products & brands through social channels & trusts their network to provide honest feedback about it Is savvy and doesn’t respond to spam or overly promotional tweets, but is open to relevant information that meets their needs at a particular moment Expects brands to be present & active in the same social venues where they hang out, listening to feedback, whether positive or negative
Who Is The Social Customer? Expects the brand to listen & engage, not only when its
coincides with an email blast or new feature release, but when they need you Since they can talk to your brand through multiple channels at the same time, they expect everyone they speak to from your brand to have the same background on the issue Owns the relationship and you, as a brand, need to earn their trust and respect
Schedule A “Social Time” Know when your customers are online to better interact
with them
Monitor conversations, join discussions & send out new messages Respond directly to messages, questions & comments Ask for opinions from your community to make them feel more valuable
Create a voice & style sheet so that everyone that
interacts from your brand platform speaks the same language Be a reliable friend by being active & participate in all conversations related to your brand or expertise
Provide Value There must be a value to the interactions for the community If you just broadcast messages about your product and strengths, you are still operating in a one‐way mode Establish your voice by becoming an expert through advice & information Tap into emotional equity – people love brands, let them talk about them
Offer special rewards & deals to your online community Start a program for your most vocal advocates and best social customers
Provide a reason for the community to stay and get involved in the discussions
Manage Expectations
Make sure that your organization understands there are no overnight successes
Don’t be greedy
To become a viral brand requires a great idea, make sure that you have enough ideas to reject so that you get the great one Attempts to find superficial social success leads brands to create a presence that doesn’t fit brand personality or inappropriate campaigns in the hope that they go viral Just because you have thousands of followers or friends, doesn’t mean that they all have something valuable to say
Measure. Review. Revise.
Getting social media right requires regular review to gauge what works and what doesn’t Once you know what works, revise your social media strategy to achieve results long‐term
Questions?