Post on 15-May-2015
description
Beyond the BuzzUnderstanding Social Media
Pauline RandallFlorizel Media Ltd
What is Social Media?… and where did it start?
BackgroundSocial networking has been around forever
It’s just that the way we do it has changed a bit
It has got faster
How it used to be Lighting a beacon Word of mouth Writing a letter Making a phone call
How it is Everything on the left
(not so many beacons!) Email Text message Online chat Social media networks
Beware: It’s still a bit like the Wild West out there
ButThe professionals are moving in. Don’t think you can just turn up with your pick and shovel and grab the gold. This time you need a plan.
Main Players
Other Contenders
Advantages Free to join Connects you with lots of
people Level playing field with
large companies (almost) Let’s you hear what’s
going on as well as broadcasting
Disadvantages Not necessarily where
your target audience is Can be expensive if not
done well (time input)
Advantages Free to join Connects you with lots of
people Let’s you share your
profile/expertise Groups Questions – ask and answer Event promotion Company profile
Disadvantages You need to spend time on
your profile Not necessarily where you
will sell directly – more about promoting you
Advantages Free to create page Let’s you create a
community Can have separate content
for people who ‘like’ your page
Your audience can join in and comment, post pictures etc
Disadvantages Not necessarily where
your target audience is – still primarily B2C (although growing B2B in the USA)
Can easily become out of date – needs attention
Need to watch what is being posted - moderation
Fitting Social Media into Your Business
Your business and marketing strategyYou have a plan?Social media should be a part of your marketing strategy which should, in turn, be a part of your business strategy.
Will this complement what you’re already doing?
Social media marketing shouldn’t take place on its own
You need to connect it to your other marketing activities Linking into website Including on advertising Being clear about what you expect it to do
What do you expect from social media? Increase sales? Increase leads? Find out what customers think about your
business? Customer support? Increase web traffic? Raise your company profile? Find out what other businesses are doing?
Who’s going to manage it? The time to ‘do’ social media has to come from
somewhere Do you have multiple departments using social
media? Sales, marketing, HR etc – is there a policy to
connect them?
Business Security IssuesYou should not be afraid of social media but you should be aware that what you say stays out there. Even when you delete it there is no guarantee that it has gone. In fact it probably hasn’t.
So, think before you say.
Make another plan… Have a policy on what you will publish Decide who is going to say things on behalf of
your organisation Include publishing on social media as part of
your organisation’s acceptable use policy
Account ownership Who ‘owns’ the Twitter account? And the Facebook page and the LinkedIn
company profile and your Flickr site and the YouTube channel…?
And what happens when they leave your organisation?
Or get whisked away by aliens? Or fall out with you?
Oh no, not another plan? Be clear about ownership of accounts Ensure that more than one person knows the
login details On Facebook make sure that you have more
than one manager
Know where your customers are
Understanding your customer profile Who is currently buying your product/service? And what about the profile of your target
market?
Male or female?
Age
Employment
status
Income
Location
Education
Employment
sector
Inactives neither create nor consumer social content of any kind
http://www.forrester.com/empowered/ladder2010
Groups include people participating in at least one of the activities monthly except Conversationalists who participate in at least one of the included activities at least weekly.
The Social Technographics
Ladder
Where will you find them online? Forrester Research have a couple of tools which
can help:1. Social technographics tool2. B2B profile tool
Measuring Success
If you don’t know where you’re starting from how will you know when you’ve succeeded?
Is your time online profitable?
If you have a clear plan of what you are aiming to
achieve then you should be in a good position to decide
whether the time you spend online is worthwhile.
Some methods of measuring success The number of visits to your website has
increased The number of enquiries has increased The cost of support has reduced The number of complaints have reduced Sales have increased Brand awareness has increased Media mentions have increased
Tools to help you Many measures can be taken using your in-
house data – sales etc Online measurement tools that you could use:
Google analytics - http://www.google.com/analytics/
Social Mention - http://socialmention.com/ Google alerts - http://www.google.com/alerts Facebook metrics (on your Facebook page admin) Tweetreach - http://tweetreach.com/
What’s Next?
Reviewing strategy What are you doing currently? Will any of these tools ADD value and help you
achieve your objectives? Will any of these tools help you move into new
markets and expand what you’re doing?
Watching from the sidelines Lurk for a while See what other people are already doing If you’re going for Twitter join in a personal
capacity and see what’s going on Create an account with LinkedIn and look at
other people’s profiles, groups (lots are open now) etc
Check other business Facebook pages
… and don’t forget your competitors Do they have a Facebook page?
What are they doing there? How many friends do they have? How often are they posting? What are they posting? Are they getting engagement?
Are they on Twitter? How many followers/following? What are they saying? Are they talking to other people? Are these people potential/actual customers or other sector members?
Have they got a LinkedIn profile? How many connections do they have? Have they completed their profile? Are they engaging on LinkedIn? Do they update their status?
A plan for your business If you decide that social media is right for your business:
Take one of the social media tools Set your objectives for what you want to achieve from
using it Determine if it is possible to do that (refer to Forrester
tools re demographics) Take your current measurements (then you have a starting
point) Do your research (watching from the sidelines) Get follow-on training if appropriate Get started!
Follow-on TrainingCurrent dates for follow-on workshops: Friday, 4th February – Building your Facebook
Community Friday 11th February – Professional networking
with LinkedIn Friday 18th February – Getting started with TwitterTO BOOK: 01592 858333 or email success@impact21.co.uk
Website: www.florizelmedia.comTwitter: @florizelmediaEmail: info@florizelmedia.com
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