Social MediaHow to use it successfully

By starting off on the right foot.By measuring yourself every step of the

way.By rectifying things when necessary.

How do you use social media successfully?

Communication Tools

Let’s look at some history

We started off with just face to face interactions with our clients.

1. Face to Face2. Via Telephone

And after a while, 1 telephoneoperator wasn’t enoughanymore. So we invested in acall centre.

Along came the telephone and all of a sudden customers had 2 ways of contacting you.

This means that customers now had 4 ways of talking to and about you!

So when we had all gotten used to this form of multitasking, the internet and email were added as communication tools.

How quickly to pick up the phone oranswer an email…

How compatible your website should be…

How people should be able to find you…

When to be available…

What to ask for when emailing a person…

But with it, came a whole bunch of new rules:

Well….guess what?

Customers are now reaching out to you on even more channels

And WHY??

Because that’s where they are.

And that is where they prefer to be.

www.bottlingthenoise.com

So what is this thing called “Social Media”?

Media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques.

Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein also define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”

Businesses also refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.

Wikipedia describes it as:

Confused?

Social media(people + content = share)

Media channels that allow people, businesses and organisations to share and receive any type of content with anybody, anywhere and anytime.

So basically, it is like a big braai where everybody stands around the fire and discusses their life, frustrations and happiness.

Let’s simplify it

Because this is one of those conversations around the braai you can listen in to!

But not just you…

Everybody can, including your competitors!

So why care?

And More Importantly

Because they are talking to and about you!

The Facts

So let’s start with the basics

• Worldwide: 645 252 340• South Africa: 3 846 700

• Interesting for you is:

– 40% follow a brand– 51% of brand followers

will purchase that brand

Facts: Facebook Population(Courtesy of socialbakers and digitalsurgeons)

Population: 645 252 340 people

> 2x the population of the United States.< population of Africa / 2> Population of Latin America + the Caribbean> Population of Australia + North America + the Middle East

The Country ‘Facebook’

• Worldwide: 190 000 000 (65m tweets a day)• South Africa: 570 000 (1.5m tweets a month)

• Brands most discussed:– Mobile services– Financial services– IT companies and

brands

*Also referred to as tweeters, twitterers and sometimes twats

Facts: Twitter Community(Courtesy of socialbakers and digitalsurgeons)

*Directly taken from the Twitter blog on Twitter

Interesting Fact:

Charlie Sheen reached 1 million followers in 25 hours and 17 minutes

The impact of Twitter

• Available in 23 countries;

• in 24 languages;

• Gets over 2 Billion views daily

• And is connected to Facebook,

MySpace, Orkut and Hi5

• Has housed great marketing

campaigns and viral videos.

Facts: Youtube Community(Courtesy of onlinemarketing-trends)

• Worldwide: 90m users• An average of 86 400 people

join per day• Connected to other social

media platforms.• Fastest growing social media

platform

• Mostly used for:– Recruitment– Marketing– Leads– Client retention– Recommendations

Facts: LinkedIn Connections

There are hundreds of other social media networks.Some focus on a niche community, others on the general public.

Some of the top networks:– QZone – 200m users (caters for mainland China users)– Habbo – 200m users (caters for teens)– Windows Live Spaces – 120m users – Bebo – 117m users (older than 13)– Vkontakte – 110.5m users (biggest site in Russia)– Tagged – 100m users– Orkut – 100m users (popular in India and Brazil)– MySpace – 100m users– Friendster – 90m users (no longer popular in the

western world)– Badoo – 86m users (mainly Europe and Latin America)

The Others

So, to go back to the discussion at hand:

Is social media right for your company?

Are your customers online? Do you know where they are hanging out?

Are your competitors online?Is your business ready for it?

Is your marketing team on board?

Do you have something interesting to say?

Well, it all depends

Whatever you decide to do,you should at least be listening to what they are saying

about you.

(And this is probably the best place to start for every company)

And this is really nothing new:

If a person walks into the shop, you don’t ignore him.If you get a phone call from a client, you don’t let it go to

voicemail.If you receive an email from a customer, you don’t just

label it ‘junk’.

However…

Information

So where do you start?

How do they feel about you?

What are they talking about?

What do they say about you?

Are they influential?

Are they loyal or disloyal?

Are they credible?

Where do they hang out?

What do they say about your competitors?

What are they interested in?

Volume

Tone

Your Audience

How big is your brand?How big is the budget?How big is your audience?Do people like your brand?Do you have regular campaigns?Are there problems that need to be solved?Are there business processes in place?Have you got resources in house?Have you got anything interesting to say? Can you handle criticism?Would you engage with you online?

You

Or brand awareness?

What do you want to do?

Do you need to encourage engagement?

Do you need to increase sales?

What KPIs are put in place?Where do you want your brand to be?

Or perhaps create loyalty?

What is the long term plan?

Your Goals & Objectives

So how do you get this information?

• SEO audits – how do you rank?• Website audits – how is your website?• ORM audits – how do people feel about you?• Customer engagement• Face to face interviews• Questionnaires

• Existing channels:– Your call centre– Your sales staff– Your marketing team– Your existing customers

Audits

And what do you do with this information?

• Where to be• What to do• What to say• When to say it• How to say it• When to

respond• How to respond• Who to talk to• …

Which includes Social MediaYou define your online strategy

Online should be in line with the overall goals of the company.

It should support the business and work towards the same goals as the overall business.

KPIs need to be put in place to measure the Social Media efforts against business objectives.

Be in line with your business goals and objectives

Your online strategy should

If the majority of your customers is online, 1 person is not going to be able to manage a social media profile.

If your customers complain about services or products offline, expect them to do the same online.

Do not promise something online, but not perform offline.

Be supported by your business processesYour online strategy should

Your marketing and sales teams can make or brake a campaign.

Your teams need to promote your strategy and social media profiles.

Keep your staff in the loop and ask for their opinion.

Put a social media policy in place.

Be supported by your marketing and sales teamYour online strategy should

Don’t be on Twitter if your audience is on Facebook.

Don’t talk to them about products, if they are more interested in your CSI initiatives.

Don’t speak English to them, if they prefer Afrikaans.

Focus on the customers’ preferencesYour online strategy should

Don’t send mixed messages.

Use the same wording.

Use the same language.

Integrate offline and online campaigns.

Talk the same language as all in all your other communication.

Your online strategy should

Offline campaigns can create awareness for online campaigns and profiles, and vice versa.

Direct links need to be set up between the profiles and the website.

Your social media presence needs to be promoted on all other channels.

Customers need to be able to share every piece of content.

Be fully integrated with all marketing effortsYour online strategy should

All crisis mentions should be picked up immediately and responded to where applicable.

Complaints that are voiced offline, will be mentioned online as well. There needs to be an engagement plan in place for these.

For all events that have an offline back up plan, there should be an online version as well.

Have a crisis back up planYour online strategy should

Let people know what they can expect from you on that network.

Link them to a social media landing page on the site.

Make it clear on which other networks they can engage with you.

Let your staff know what they can and can’t do.

Include a social media policy and disclaimerYour online strategy should

Be tracked and analysed on an on-going basis.

Receive the same amount of attention as any offline strategy.

Include customers and prospects.

Be known by all staff.

Include all online marketing tools applicable to you.

Make sense to you

(do you get what you are trying to do?)

Your online strategy should

So, then…

What makes it a success?

Starting off on the right foot.First listen >> Then engage

Analysing the results on an on-going basis.

Measuring yourself every step of the way.

Rectifying things when necessary.

There are of course other factors at play as well

• Customisation of profiles.

• Getting the most out of the network.

• Integration of networks.

• Offline support

• Quick response time (online or offline).

• Linking your brand to credible sources.

• Transparency

• Back up with an online campaign (PPC, SEO,

WebPR)

Thank You

saidWot – Online Reputation Specialists

www.saidwot.com

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https://profiles.google.com/saidWot/about

Carla Jones - Reputation Strategy

Specialist

Mobile: +27 72 111 1720

Email: carla@saidwot.com

Skype: carla.jones1650