Using Social Media to Connect With Your Customers Online
The MarketingSavant Group www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771 dana@marketingsavant.com
Marketing Seminars for Door County Business Owners The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
About Dana VanDen Heuvel Dana VanDen Heuvel is an award-winning marketing blogger, author of the American Marketing Association's Marketech Guide to Marketing Technology and the MySpace, YourSpace, TheirSpace Guide to Social Network Marketing and the creator of the AMA's TechnoMarketing training series. Dana is a widely recognized expert on blogging, podcasting, RSS, Internet communities and interactive marketing trends and best practices and speaks regularly on these topics at industry events. Dana founded BlogSavant, one of the nation's first weblog and social media marketing consultancies and currently runs The MarketingSavant™ Group, a marketing technology consulting and training firm that helps marketers leverage emerging marketing technology to reach and keep customers. Learn more from Dana's blog at www.marketingsavant.com.
The MarketingSavant Group is a specialist company that focuses on transforming our clients into the preeminent thought leaders and trusted advisors in their industry. Through our thought leadership marketing approach and deep experience in digital and social media marketing we do extraordinary work for B2B clients to move your entire organization beyond the competitive realm and into the unique niche of industry thought leader. We focus on genuine organizational transformation through marketing, innovation, intellectual capital development and not on producing a campaign that’s merely a quickly forgotten flavor-of-the-month tool. We formed MarketingSavant to work with ethical, intellectual, innovative and challenging clients in the Businessto-Business market sector. Our approach and our philosophy are to always put altruism before capitalism. We do well by doing good, and we like to work with clients who share our philosophy. The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
After-Event Slides & Resources • The slides and resource links are available electronically after the event:
www.marketingsavant.com/dced
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
What Will We Talk About? • Fundamentals – Social Media: What Is It? – Social Media Strategies & Channels for Sales & Marketing – What To Do Next… – What’s Possible? (Discussion)
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What is Social Media?
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Social Media: Defined! SOCIAL MEDIA IS AN UMBRELLA TERM THAT DEFINES THE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES THAT INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL INTERACTION, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS, PICTURES,VIDEOS AND AUDIO. http://www.wikipedia.org
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•
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
• How people use decentralized, peoplebased networks to get the things they need from each other. •
BOTTOM LINE:
• Social media isn’t just a list of destinations. • It’s a new standard of expectations. The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Why Should You Care?
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93% OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS BELIEVE A COMPANY SHOULD HAVE A PRESENCE IN SOCIAL MEDIA. Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008
BECAUSE 3 OUT OF 4 AMERICANS USE SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY. Forrester, The Growth Of Social Technology Adoption, 2008
BECAUSE 2/3 OF THE GLOBAL INTERNET POPULATION VISIT SOCIAL NETWORKS. Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
BECAUSE TIME SPENT ON SOCIAL NETWORKS IS GROWING AT 3X THE OVERALL INTERNET RATE, ACCOUNTING FOR ~10% OF ALL INTERNET TIME. Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places, 2009
BECAUSE YOU’RE HERE AND NOT SOMEWHERE ELSE. BECAUSE YOU HAVE GUT FEELING THAT TELLS YOU SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE PLACE YOU NEED TO BE TODAY. Door County Business Owners, February, 2010
If You’re Online…You’re In Social Media
Source: Universal McCann Social Media Tracker Wave 3 The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Social Media is About ROI! • The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are in fact more financially successful. So now we know it pays to be social, but it is important to note that by “social,” we’re talking about deep engagement, not merely having a presence. (Altimiter ENGAGEMENTdb study)
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
But…It Can Be…“Complicated”
It Can Also Be Distracting… • Why you must have a strategy in place • Mobilize your volunteers, donors, advocates and everyone else to help with social media efforts
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Social Media Is Just a Set of Tools… Blogs Widgets Micro Blogs Online Chat RSS Social Networks Social Bookmarks Message Boards Podcasts Video Sharing Sites Photo Sharing Sites Virtual Worlds Wikis Local Search (…just to name a few) The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Evaluate the Social Tools
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Your Website • Your “home base” • Sets the tone, authority and mission – needs to be “perfect” The MarketingSavant Group
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Everything should have at least two homes (if not more) • The first, where it originated, the second the overall home, which is your website/blog • Network tools should connect believers and tell the world where to find your information The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Get Blogging (Transparency) • • • •
You “almost need a blog” Dynamic vs. static content Audiences ‘connect’ with blogs Metaphor for: – Transparent communication – Authenticity – Responsibility – Reputation
• “Connectable platform” (Wordpress, Typepad) The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Why Blogs? • Those who use blogs and social networking sites as an outlet for civic engagement are far more active in traditional realms of political and nonpolitical participation than are other internet users. In addition, they are even more active than those who do not use the internet at all. (PEW Internet – 9/09)
The MarketingSavant Group
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Even if you have great website, consider a blog site. Remember, content and conversation are paramount.
The best organizations connect customers to their website, blog and to other relevant social media sites where your audience hangs out. The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Tap Into Your Community • Community members can be worth 30% more • Tap the power of your customer base • Increase long-term lifetime value • Involve them in something meaningful • Know what customers really want to buy The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Facebook • • • • •
Events Fan Pages Groups Personal Pages of Fans Paid Advertisements
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www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
The MarketingSavant Group
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Facebook Ads • Quick Targeting – Age – Education – Location – Gender…
• Start/Pause/Stop • CPC Basis • Export Reports The MarketingSavant Group
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Facebook Causes • Start a Cause • Raise $$ • Show Fundraising Momentum • In order to accept donations through Causes, a nonprofit must be a 501(c)3 that is also registered with GuideStar • Payments through Network for Good
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Microblogging (Twitter) • Easy, free access to distribution of your marketing tools • Requires little “buy-in” from believers or potential believers • Another way for your tribe to share your message • Search allows you to connect with your tribe • Easy to cross-reference more “in-depth” tools • To try: Twitter, FriendFeed, Seesmic
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Microblogging
Links: 26 Charities and Non-Profits on Twitter The MarketingSavant Group
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Driving Conversations • American Cancer Society • “More Birthdays”
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Social Media Listening • What are people saying about your organization? • Your competitors? • Your tribe? • Your peers? • Services to try: Radian6, TweetBeep, TweetAlert, Google Alerts
The MarketingSavant Group
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Listen to the Conversation • Be transparent. Be open and honest in all communication. • Be ethical. Live by the WOMMA Practical Ethics Toolkit • Be relevant. Share information and perspectives that are valuable to the online community • Personalize and be personable. • Address negative discussion head-on. • Court evangelists & advocates. Even if you’re not ready to join the conversation, it pays to have a sound strategy for dealing with any social media conversation taking place about your brand. The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Free
Scratch the Surface
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Comcast provides support via Twitter
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Using Video Easy, free way for people to really “get involved� from afar. Services to try: vimeo, viddler, 12second.tv, ustream.com, and mogulus. Stream from your computer or invest in a small flip camera.
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Share Things Like Photos…
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…and Videos
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Podcasts & Vodcasts • More human & emotional than blogging • Be found on Google • Low investment • Easy distribution • Differentiator • Share more than text
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Where are all the pretty pictures? • Don’t forget to represent your events, your believers, your workers with pictures. • This is way more important than most people realize. • Stock is stupid. I want to see your FACE. • To Try: Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Facebook, Twitpic
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www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Social Media Overkill?
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Feature: Friendfeed • • • •
Consolidate Simplify Track Comment
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Case Studies
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Case Studies
2:10p The MarketingSavant Group
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Brooklyn Museum/ Integration
• Feature: The Brooklyn Museum
TV and Radio
Integrated Campaigns Online Advertising
The MarketingSavant Group
Magazines Social Media Direct Mail
American Marketing Association Social Media: Marketing and
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Toolkit Blog Facebook fan page YouTube Videos Twitter stream SmugMug photos*
Martell Home Builders uses social media to connect with home buyers The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Martell Home Builders 3 Lessons: 1) Be Transparent 2) Holistic Strategy 3) Human Relationships
The MarketingSavant Group
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Toolkit Blog Facebook fan page YouTube Videos Twitter stream eBay sales page
Goodwill uses social media to increase sales of its high-end merchandise
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Integrated Social Media Strategy Goodwill Repositioning Blog
YouTube
MySpace
ebay Store
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
A Few Good Stats • • • • • • • •
Over 11,500 unique visitors to the virtual fashion show 9/12 launch Over 42,000 page views 16% of fashion show visitors have been converted into online Goodwill shoppers Fashion Show Visitors from 31 countries and 48 states plus DC 48% of fashion show visitors are from the DC, MD, VA region (the area we serve) Blog is averaging between 600 & 700 visitors a week 5.6% of blog visitors are being converted into online Goodwill shoppers Blog visitors from 77 countries and all 50 states
Brick & mortar stores during the two weeks following the launch of the fashion show: • Customer count + 6.6% • Rack sales (clothing) + 16.5% • Total sales + 8.275%
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Goodwill of Greater Washington 3 Lessons: 1) Incorporate Into Marketing Strategy 2) Regional Execution 3) Entertainment + Trust = Desire to Shop
The MarketingSavant Group
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Social & Thought Leadership Toolkit Blog Twitter (rates) RSS feeds Podcasts Business Pulse Survey VOC community center
Nicolet uses a blog and social media to educate and connect with their tribe The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Social Media & Thought Leadership Marketing • Goal/Result: Become the premier business bank in NE WI • Thought leadership POV: Banks should be transparent & here to help businesses grow • Business Pulse universally regarded as the “business barometer” for the N.E.W economy • Measures media mentions, speaking opportunities, customer acquisition & retention, moving into “customer voice” & crowdsourcing space
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Nicolet National Bank 4 Lessons: 1) Leverage Transparency & Thought Leadership 2) Unfiltered Conversation 3) Content Matters 4) Education = Trust
The MarketingSavant Group
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Comcast Cares…Because This Guy Didn’t…
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Toolkit Twitter Blogs Social Media Listening Customer Service YouTube Videos
Comcast uses social media to take care of it’s most vocal customers
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Comcast Cares 3 Lessons: 1) Listen Intently, React Immediately 2) Educate The Team (Internally) 3) Social Media Success + PR = Momentum
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Toolkit Blogs (10 of them) Video RSS feeds LinkedIn Twitter Flickr Indium employs social media to generate leads for electronic assembly components The MarketingSavant Group
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Social Media Marketer Indium Corporation • 25% reduction in marketing spend • Major account wins • Entire organization involved in the ‘community’
The MarketingSavant Group
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Thought Leadership Marketer Indium Corporation “[Being a Thought Leader] is being considered the best, most authoritative, trusted source. It means being the “go to” people. It means being given the first look, being invited into a development project and asked for advice. It means being the organization that others MUST HAVE involved with a project. And it all leads to increased sales, profits, and image or it simply didn’t matter..” The MarketingSavant Group
Rick Short, Indium
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Indium 3 Lessons: 1) Focus on Specific Content 2) Start Small With Commitment 3) Create Dialog Where None Exists
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Social Media Marketer: Adams Magnetic • Goal: Separate themselves as thought leaders in the industrial magnets market to drive new direct business • First to hold the “market conversation” • Building the community around industrial magnets through blogging, conference appearances and thought leadership articles • New leads attributed to TLM activities • Bested their competitors in growing website traffic The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
The Social Media Restaurant • Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse is a singlelocation restaurant in Northampton, Mass • Using a website, local ads, blogging, video, Twitter, MySpace and other digital tools to drive business The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Caminito’s World‌
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Preparing Your Social Media Plan
2:10p The MarketingSavant Group
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Balance Risk & Reward
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www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Claim Your Name! • Go to namechk.com • Type in your district “handle” or “shortname” • Reserve your name on important sites
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Learn to Converse (Blog) • Foundation of content/consistency/ connection • Metaphor for Social Media & networking • Transferable skills to video & social nets… • Transferrable benefits to SEO, SEM & TLM The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
It’s Also About “Getting Found” • Blogs enhance search findability • Search provides a strong, highly measurable ROI for marketing dollars spent. • Search garners click-through rates that exceed all other forms of online advertising. • Search offers marketers the potential for immediate sales online, as well as for online and offline sales at a later time. • Search can even enhance brands. • Over 80% of consumers and businesspeople engage in on a regular basis
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Share, Link and Guide • What will your audience find useful? • Share competitors info – it drives them nuts, and gets them to link to you! • Easy, time-conscious way to stay relevant without creating original content
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Harness the Power of Social Networks • Connect with your supporters in their network. – Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc…
• Build applications for them in their networks. • Assign someone in your company as the ‘community manager’. • If you build it, they won’t come – put together a sound seeding strategy The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Local Coffee Shops Run on Facebook
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Facebook Ads – Hyper-targeting “Local” Facebook Ads
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LinkedIn • Create a group & discussion • Connect with professionals • Connect with customers • Ask questions • Approach prospects The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Customer Community •
• •
•
•
Small business focused credit card company is changing the business financing discussion through ideas Created ideablob.com to stir the conversation about what it stands for Positioning itself as the most helpful credit card company to small business Involved in other small business related causes to help developing countries Online resources for small business owners just getting started
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Tap Into Your Community • Community members can be worth 30% more • Tap the power of your support base • Increase long-term lifetime value of parents & community members • Involve them in something meaningful • Know what your supporters really want to talk about
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Crowdsource Your Next Big Idea • Define an idea management process. • Design and develop the online community. • Promote the community with your customers. • Invite them to contribute. • Post questions to spur their thinking. • Use: LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, Blogs, etc…
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Podcasts & Vodcasts • More human & emotional than blogging • Be found on Google • Low investment • Easy distribution • Differentiator • Share more than text
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Driving Sales With Twitter
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Become HUGE With Twitter
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Tech Support Via Twitter
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Share Photos and Videos Online • • •
•
•
Create a brand channel on YouTube. Interviews, screencasts, customer videos, installation photos, etc… Promote your company’s YouTube channel or specific videos on your Web site, emails, newsletters. Engage your audience by encouraging them to add comments, rate videos, share video. Update your content frequently to keep it fresh. This is critical to keep people coming back.
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Social Media Is Just a Set of Tools… • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Blogs Widgets Micro Blogs Online Chat RSS Social Networks Social Bookmarks Message Boards Podcasts Video Sharing Sites Photo Sharing Sites Virtual Worlds Wikis Local Search
(…just to name a few) The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Toolkit Blog Facebook fan page YouTube Videos Twitter stream eBay sales page
Goodwill uses social media to increase sales of its high-end merchandise
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Goodwill of Greater Washington 3 Lessons: 1) Incorporate Into Marketing Strategy 2) Regional Execution 3) Entertainment + Trust = Desire to Shop
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
A Few Good Stats http://dcgoodwillfashions.blogspot.com/
• Over 11,500 unique visitors to the virtual fashion show 9/12 launch • Over 42,000 page views • 16% of fashion show visitors have been converted into online Goodwill shoppers • Fashion Show Visitors from 31 countries and 48 states plus DC • 48% of fashion show visitors are from the DC, MD, VA region (the area we serve) • Blog is averaging between 600 & 700 visitors a week • 5.6% of blog visitors are being converted into online Goodwill shoppers • Blog visitors from 77 countries and all 50 states Brick & mortar stores during the two weeks following the launch of the fashion show: • Customer count + 6.6% • Rack sales (clothing) + 16.5% • Total sales + 8.275% The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Alzheimer Society/ Twitter • Feature: Use of Twitter for Awareness. A Million Tweets to Remember Campaign
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Brooklyn Museum/ Integration
• Feature: The Brooklyn Museum
TV and Radio
Integrated Campaigns Online Advertising
The MarketingSavant Group
Magazines Social Media Direct Mail
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Define the Plan • • • • • •
Outline Organization Objectives Define The Audience Choose Social Channels Integrate Into Current Program Tie Into Metrics Implement the Plan
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www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Understand Your Organization
Social Media is a NOT a universal answer! The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Take Lessons from Leading Brands • • • • • • • • • • •
Deputize people throughout the organization Understand each channel’s unique engagement Find champions Centralize coordination Be in it for the long haul Pick channels carefully Fish where the fish are Support engagement as an extension of company culture Encourage employees to use social media to get work done Make social media part of the job Modularize and Synchronize across channels (activity streams)
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
For Tomorrow
• Draft your social media policy • Identify your internal constituents: – Identify one opportunity based on listening and address it.
• Implement One Idea – Choose one social channel and implement one idea. Integrate it into your current communications program and measure it.
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
After-Event Slides & Resources • The slides and resource links are available electronically after the event:
www.marketingsavant.com/dced
The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771
Using Social Media to Connect With Your Customers Online
The MarketingSavant Group www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771 dana@marketingsavant.com
Marketing Seminars for Door County Business Owners The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771