Spredfast eBook the Social Experience

8/14/2019 Spredfast eBook the Social Experience

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2 | THE SOCIAL EXPERIENCE

Features Great Social Experiences

20RadioShack is Giving Customerswhat they LikeThe electronics retailer is driving in-storetraffic with Facebook Offers, tying loyalty

to business impactByCosmin Ghiurau

16Going Local with Social: How WholeFoods Builds Engaged CommunitiesDoes your brand treat customers asequal partners in social conversations?

Here is why you shouldBy Natanya Anderson

The Social Experience is broughtto you by Spredfast.

Editors-in-ChiefCourtney DomanJordan Slabaugh

Art DirectorAmanda Donaldson

Copy EditorsBrittany EdwardsAdrianne Gallman

Contributing WritersNatanya AndersonJay BaerSam DeckerCosmin GhiurauSandeep GillAnn HandleyJackie HubaBrian MarksJon Sander

Andy SernovitzJennifer StaffordBrian Stokoe

Please send us your commentsand suggestions to @Spredfast

18U.S. Cellular is Answering the Callfor Social Customer CareWhat does it take to make social caregreat? Sonny Gill outlines U.S. Cellulars

approachBySandeep Gill

8Constructing Content that DrivesAwareness and LoyaltyCATs Brian Stokoe reminds readers thatgreat social content serves both the newfan and loyal followerByBrian Stokoe

21Why Being Helpful is Better thanBeing AmazingThe difference between helping and selling

is just two lettersheres why those twoletters make all the differenceByJay Baer

22Incorporating Social into your SalesToolkitSee how IBM and others are using social

media to drive demand and connect withB2B prospectsByJon Sander

9A Cautionary Tale on Authenticity(Or the Lack Thereof)Why it isnt worth it to write fake reviewsonline. (And why it is to respond to thereal ones.)ByAndy Sernovitz

135 Ways to Wreck your ContentMarketingContent is a huge opportunity for brands insocial mediaavoid these 5 pitfalls on yourpath to successByAnn Handley

26An Inside Look: The 3 Keys toARAMARKs Social SuccessInsider tips to turn your social presenceinto more of a social business and less of asocial activityByBrian Marks

11Paid, Owned & Earned: MarketingsNew Triple ThreatTrying to align your converged mediastrategy? Take note from these three bigbrandsBySam Decker

24Would you Like your Own PrivateIsland?HomeAways approach to testing and

measuring content is maximizing fanengagement and growing awarenessByJennifer Stafford

7Ask Jackie: Customer Loyalty is theHoly GrailJackie discusses the importance ofcustomer loyalty with a marketer makingthe case for more social TLCByJackie Huba

6Letters to the EditorsWhy is your brand social? We asked socialpractitioners from todays top brandsseewhat they had to say
https://twitter.com/Spredfasthttps://twitter.com/Spredfasthttp://www.spredfast.com/


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1. Natanya Andersonis the Director of

Social Media and Digital Marketing at WholeFoods Market. She has been working with

new media for over a decade with a focus

on both strategy and execution, helping

organizations change the way they engage

and communicate with customers. Through

her non-profit work with the Austin Food

Blogger Alliance, Natanya is helping shape

the future of social content creation, as well

as brand/blogger relations.

2. Sandeep Gillis the Social Media

Manager at U.S. Cellular where he helps

lead social business and marketing

strategies. While at U.S. Cellular, hes

helped develop & implement its social

customer service and customer advocacy

programs. Sonny has been immersed in and

evolving the marketing & social industry

for over eight years, with experience in

telecommunications, higher education, and

automotive.

3. Jackie Hubais the author of Monster

Loyalty: Creating Customer Evangelists, and

Citizen Marketers. Named as one of the 10

most influential online marketers, Jackie

co-authors the award-winning Church of

the Customer blog. Her work has frequently

been featured in the media, such as the

Wall Street Journal, The New York Times,

Businessweek, and Advertising Age. She

was a founding Board Member of the Word

of Mouth Marketing Association.

4. Cosmin Ghiurauleads the Social Media

Practice at RadioShack Corporation with over

6,000 locations and 35,000 employees. Prior

to RadioShack, Cosmin established and led

Samsung Mobiles Social Media practice that

led to record-breaking profits and standing

for Samsung Mobile within the Mobility

space. Cosmins experience spans retail,

telecommunications, automotive, agency,

and non-profit work.

5. Brian Stokoeis the Social Media

Strategist for Caterpillar Inc. With 10+ years

in various traditional and digital marketing

roles for Caterpillar, Brian helps define the

way customers in very diverse industries

perceive and interact with Caterpillar across

Blogs, Forums, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,

Google+, and many other social networks.

6. Andy Sernovitz teaches word of mouth

marketing and social media. He is the

New York Timesbestselling author of

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart

Companies Get People Talking. He leads

SocialMedia.org, the community for social

media leaders at the worlds greatest

brands, and WordofMouth.org, where

marketers and entrepreneurs learn to be

great at word of mouth marketing.

1 Natanya Anderson | Director of Social Media and Digital Marketing, Whole Foods @NatanyaP

2Sandeep Gill | Social Media Manager, U.S. Cellular@sonnygill

3Jackie Huba | Author, Monster Loyalty @jackiehuba

4 Cosmin Ghiurau | Director Social Media & Digital Strategy, RadioShack@cosguru

5Brian Stokoe | Social Media Strategist, Caterpillar Inc@Brian_Stokoe

6 Andy Sernovitz | CEO, SocialMedia.org@sernovitz

CONTRIBUTORS

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4

2

3

5

6
https://twitter.com/NatanyaPhttps://twitter.com/sonnygillhttps://twitter.com/jackiehubahttps://twitter.com/cosguruhttps://twitter.com/Brian_Stokoehttps://twitter.com/sernovitzhttps://twitter.com/sernovitzhttps://twitter.com/Brian_Stokoehttps://twitter.com/cosguruhttps://twitter.com/jackiehubahttps://twitter.com/sonnygillhttps://twitter.com/NatanyaP


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7Sam Decker | CEO, Mass Relevance @samdecker8Ann Handley | Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs @MarketingProfs

9Jay Baer | President, Convince & Convert @jaybaer

10Jon Sander | Digital Strategy Director, Mason Zimbler @thejonsander

11Jennifer Stafford | Social Media Manager, HomeAway@jennstafford

12 Brian Marks | Senior Manager, Social Strategy, ARAMARK @bmarks

CONTRIBUTORS continued

7

10

8

9

11

12 7. Sam Deckeris Co-Founder and CEO of

Mass Relevance, a social engagement

platform that discovers, filters, and displaysreal-time content anywhere. Prior to

Mass Relevance, Sam was founding Chief

Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice, the leader

in Software as a Service (SaaS) social

commerce technologies serving over 1,000

brands, where he was responsible for

building the companys brand, products, and

platform.

8. Ann Handleyis a veteran of creating

and managing digital content to buildrelationships for organizations and

individuals. Ann is co-author of the best-

selling Content Rules: How to Create Killer

Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars

(and More) That Engage Customers and

Ignite Your Business.

9. Jay Baeris a hype-free marketing

strategist, speaker, and author and

President of the social media and content

marketing consultancy Convince & Convert.

A digital marketing pioneer, Jay has

consulted with more than 700 companies

since 1994, including Caterpillar, Nike,

Visit California, Allstate, Petco, Columbia

Sportswear, and 29 of the Fortune 500.

10. Jon Sanderis the Digital Strategy

Director at Mason Zimbler, a Harte-Hanks

company, an international creative demand

generation agency. He is responsible for

leading the overall digital strategy and

social media plans for a B2B client-base that

includes the likes of IBM, Sage Software,

and CenturyLink Business.

11. Jennifer Staffordis the Social Media

Manager at HomeAway.com. She has

worked at HomeAway since 2007 in both

SEO and social media, and managed social

media efforts for the 2010 and 2011 Super

Bowl ad campaigns. She manages social

media strategy, advertising, analytics,

vendor and social network partnerships,

global corporate communications for social

media, and the employee social advocate

program.

12. Brian Markshas over a decade of

experience working with businesses to find

solutions for their web, digital, and social

media efforts, using these channels to

help meet business goals and objectives.

Brian leads a digital center of excellence

at ARAMARK for social media, sharing and

building resources, designing strategies

and success measures, and developing

scalable tools and rules of engagement for

the companys businesses. He also builds

and executes live and online social media

training sessions for the enterprise.
https://twitter.com/samdeckerhttps://twitter.com/MarketingProfshttps://twitter.com/jaybaerhttps://twitter.com/thejonsanderhttps://twitter.com/jennstaffordhttps://twitter.com/jennstaffordhttps://twitter.com/bmarkshttps://twitter.com/bmarkshttps://twitter.com/jennstaffordhttps://twitter.com/thejonsanderhttps://twitter.com/jaybaerhttps://twitter.com/MarketingProfshttps://twitter.com/samdecker


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LETTER fromTHE EDITORS

Tis belie is oundational toeverything we do at Spredast. Weare energized to be in an industrywhere the nature o communicationbetween brands and theircustomers is undamentallychanging. And we see a hugeopportunity or brands to createsocial experiences that are useul,

unique, un, touching, or otherwisemeaningul, because we believethe sum o these individual socialinteractions is greater than its parts.Its about better relationshipsmoreopen, more loyal, and with more

valueor both your customers andor your business.

Tere are a seemingly endlessnumber o questions that brands

ace as they continue to expandtheir social programs. Whereare we going to build presences?On what channels should weengage? What are our campaignsgoing to look like? Who insideo our organization is going to

Courtney Doman & Jordan Slabaugh@cjdoman, @jordanv

work on social? How do we standout creatively in a sea o socialconversations? How do we measuresuccess?

In the pages o this eBook, wehave gathered opinions and insightsrom todays leading social brandstrategists and visionaries thataddress many o these questions.

Like Natanya Andersons eatureon how Whole Foods Market isthinking about engagement at thebrand and local level that discussesnot only where the brand is present,but how messaging changes atthese touchpoints. Or Jay Baerspassionate argument on whymarketing that is useul is betterthan marketing that is amazing.

And Brian Marks recap o threeways ARAMARK has made socialimpactul to its business.

We believe great socialexperiences build lastingrelationships. Its our mission atSpredast to provide products

Great social experiences build lasting relationships.

and services to our customersthat help them achieve this withtheir customers, as well as livingout this pursuit in all we do asa brand and a business. We areocused on creating those greatsocial experiences with ourcommunities, which we believedrives lasting relationships as we

move our business orward withour customers.

We are thrilled to share theperspectives o our customers andriends with you in this eBook andhope your reading experience willbe both great and social. Wed alsolove to hear your thoughts on theideas presented here and why yourbrand stays social.

Were only a tweet away.
https://twitter.com/cjdomanhttps://twitter.com/jordanvhttp://clicktotweet.com/dDF9zhttps://twitter.com/jordanvhttps://twitter.com/cjdoman


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We believe in standing orsomething beyond a product.We believe in cultivating a ullerrelationship that consumers cantrust outside o the snack aisle and

in their everyday lives.GLOBAL CPG FOOD BRAND

We believe the next generation oscientists and engineers will usesocial to share and collaborateand we want to add to this dialogue.ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

We believe that social inorms,involves, and empowers our

viewers.

TV NEWS NETWORK

We believe that engaging ourinvestors, clients, and potentialclients inspires money managementand helps inormed clients to meettheir goals.

GLOBAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION

We believe that social buildscommunity with our customers andriends around values we share withthem as a brandthus increasingtrust and interest and adding value tothe customer experience.

NATURAL AND ORGANIC GROCER

We believe that providing relevantinormation in social mediaincreases the likelihood o renewaland builds loyalty to the brand.

NATIONAL INSURANCE PROVIDER

We believe that we can inspireoutdoor recreation and memberloyalty through digital engagement.

OUTDOOR CONSUMER COOPERATIVE

We believe our customers want toengage in a dialogue to co-createa better dining experience. Socialallows us to meet them wherethey are and build somethingmeaningul.

AMERICAN FOODSERVICE, FACILITIES, AND CLOTHINGPROVIDER

We believe that our missionin social is to be the best salesassociate, in the best store, on thebest day o the year. Were the nextgeneration o service.

ICONIC AMERICAN CLOTHING RETAILER

We believe that ood is an integralpart o the community. Using socialallows us to sit at the table with ourcustomers and understand thembetter.

UNIVERSITY FOODSERVICE PROVIDER

Weve proven that the more active& engaged customers are in oursocial communities, the more likelythey are to purchase new products,repeat purchase, and reer us totheir colleagues.

ENGINEERING SOFTWARE & HARDWARE PROVIDER

Why is yourBrand Social?

We asked social practitioners from todaystop brands to tell us why their brand is social.Here is what they had to say:

We believe that we can enhancethe ownership experience o ourcustomers. In addition, socialallows us to create brand advocatesand can persuade aspirationalowners to buy our products.

LEADING AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURER


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, I am working to grow social programs

at my company and my CMO is hung up on Fan andFollower metrics above all other things. I am trying to

explain to her that while (network) size matters, it is just

one important measurement of social program success.

I am pushing to invest more in providing great social

experiences for our existing Fans and Followers, but I

think she is too focused on the size of the forest and not

the individual trees. How can I help her understand the

importance of building relationships for our existingcustomers on social channels?SMART MARKETER IN ATX

DEAR JACKIE Q & A

It is five timescheaper to keep acustomer than to

get a new one

Customer Loyalty is the Holy Grail Jackie Huba@jackiehuba

,

Its really easy or someoneto like or ollow your brandon social media. Whats muchharder is developing an emotional

connection with that customersuch that they keep buying yourstuff, give it as gifs, and telleveryone they know about you.Tats called customer loyalty, andits the holy grail (or it should be)or all marketers. I say shouldbe because many marketers aretoo ocused on acquiring new

customers to worry about the onesthey already have.

In a 2011 study by ForresterResearch and Heidrick & Struggles,CMOs were asked to name their

current top three marketingobjectives. Fify-nine percento CMOs said acquiring newcustomers was one o their toppriorities. What about currentcustomers? Only 30 percent oCMO respondents said they wereocused on retaining customers asa top priority. Just over a quarter

o respondents, at 26 percent, saidbetter customer lietime value andcustomer satisaction/advocacy wasa key objective.

I believe these CMOs have

gotten it wrong. According to thetried and true research rom ARPWorldwide, it is five times cheaperto keep a customer than to geta new one. Te CMO prioritiesheavily ocused on new customersdont add up. And this ocus isofen at the expense o existing

customerscustomers who, i youretained them, would help bringin new customers just on the basiso customer satisaction and wordo mouth. Social media allows usto connect with people who wantto start a relationship with us.

Smart marketers are leveragingthat initial connection to deepenthe relationship through amazingservice, remarkable products, andengagement with brand employeesonline and offline.

Good Luck!
https://twitter.com/jackiehubahttp://clicktotweet.com/Esbb6https://twitter.com/jackiehuba


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Trust is First

When we have great tools oranalyzing social data, its easyto find ourselves ocused on thequantity o conversations about ourbrandsbecause we have the abilityto do it.

But smart marketers know thatno matter what the tools are, greatword o mouth and social mediamarketing is grounded in trust.

Without trust, nothing else matters.

Have you ever thought about planting a shill in

online review forums to get people talking about your

business? Wordofmouth.orgs Andy Sernovitz provides

a word to the wise on the importance of authenticity

and disclosure in social media.

A Cautionary Tale on Authenticity(Or the Lack Thereof)by Andy Sernovitz

@sernovitz

WordofMouth.org

Word of Mouth Cant Be Faked

Word o mouth marketing canonly succeed when people trusteach other to talk honestly aboutwhat they like and dont like.

You cannot ake word o mouth.It just doesnt work without thetrust. You might be able to ool aew people or a little while, butin the end, people will figure outthat you aked it. Ten you getembarrassed, you make enemies,and you lose sales.

Lets say a restaurant posts akereviews to a website. It will getnoticed. No matter how good youare, website operators are great atsniffing out ake reviews. Its theirjob to keep their reviews clean andcredible. I they didnt police them

and pay attention to what is being

posted, no one would trust their

sites.On a bigger scale, i you post

the same review to a bunch oblogs or message boards, peoplewill catch you. You can try to hideit, you can try to vary the message,you can use a bunch o usernames. Youll still get busted. Itstoo easy to search or and comparesimilar posts. Te more you post,

the more people know you areposting. As soon as one bloggergets suspicious, theyll look you upand see that youve been postingall over the place.

Guess what happens? All othat positive word o mouth thatyou were hoping to create turnsnegative. Te very same audience

that you were hoping to reach with
https://twitter.com/sernovitzhttps://twitter.com/sernovitz



your ake posts will eel deceivedand lied to. And they will out yourcompany all over the web. Youlllose ar more business than youever could have hoped to gain.

Just Be Yourself Problem

As a marketer, you can commentonline, you can post on message

boards, and you can do it a lot.Participation is welcome in the newworld o online communicationsand communities. But you have todo it the right way.

Te difference betweendeception and honest participationis disclosure.

You can be an eager participantas long as you do it in your own

name, clearly identiying who you

are and what you stand or. Also,insist that any relationship betweenyour business and the people whospeak or you be clearly disclosedrom the beginning, whetherthey are employees, customers, or

volunteers.

Disclosure is a positive thingwhen done well. Smart marketersunderstand that disclosure makes

messages more powerul becauseit makes them more trustworthy.Disclosure gives status toparticipants in a word o mouthprogram, giving them credibility.

Disclosure is good. Demanddisclosure.

Word o mouth is about genuinecommunications. Always be honest.Its the right thing to doand it

works better.

continued

Why the RealDeal Matters

Honesty really is the bestpolicy. Why bother postingfake reviews when thereare so many benefits toresponding to the real onesas your brand? Shopperswho read helpful brandresponses to reviews showa 186% higher purchase

intent and 157% strongerbrand sentiment. Shoppersalso find reviews withbrand responses up to 15xmore helpful than userreviews without responses.

purchase intent

brand sentiment

more helpful withbrand responses

Bazaarvoice, The Conversation Index Vol. 6

Smart marketers know that no

matter what the tools are, great

word of mouth and social media

marketing is grounded in trust.
http://clicktotweet.com/tg6fd



The new world order of media and advertising demands thatbrands find new ways to drive consumer engagement. Theymust now look for ways to optimize paid, owned, and earnedmedia, and the trifecta is integrating all these sources of media

into a single, consistent brand experience.

Paid, Owned & Earned:Marketings New Triple Threatby Sam Decker

PAID MEDIADisplay or broadcast adsthat require a media buylike banner ads, PPC, or

social ad units.

OWNED MEDIAA brands content assetssuch as websites, blogs,and social media

presences.

EARNED MEDIAMedia mentions anduser-generated contentsuch as consumers social

media posts.

Converged media reers to acompanys paid media buys, owneddigital properties, and earneduser-generated content working inconjunction to inorm and involvethe user. A good converged mediastrategy makes the end user want toconsume and partake; meanwhile,the brand is reaping the benefit ounobtrusive advertising.

See how three brands areimplementing successul convergedmedia strategies.

Incentivize participation bytapping into user curiosity

In order to increase affinity and

buzz around their brand, Hollisterrallied consumers to unlock apromotional product via socialinteractions. Fans tweeted the#InHollister hashtag to release thebrands special deal or the day.

Hollister leveraged witterpromoted hashtags to increasecampaign exposure. Te hashtagdrove consumers to the socialexperience, where they generatedearned media. Tis earned contentsubsequently directed people backto Hollisters owned destination

thus completing the paid, owned,and earned loop. Te strategy washugely successul, earning Hollisterover 40,000 #InHollister weets

ABOVE: HOLLISTER INCENTIVIZED PARTICIPATION ON OWNED CHANNELS BY PROMOTING THE #INHOLLISTER

HASHTAG TO GENERATE EARNED UGC.

@samdecker

Mass Relevance
https://twitter.com/samdeckerhttps://twitter.com/samdecker


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and driving a 600% increase inmentions. Tis exposure translatedinto conversion as Hollisters sitesales increased by 45% rom theaverage day.

Leverage paid advertisingto align your brand with anexperience

One way that brands are enteringthe converged media space isthrough social sponsorships. Brandshave seen value in spending addollars on sponsorships as a way otying themselves to inormational,unobtrusive advertising that doesntdisrupt the user experience.

A& did just this through

their sponsorship o AmericanIdols #IdolAgree/#IdolDisagreeexperience. Tey leveraged Idolsactive built-in audience to engagewith their brand in a way thatenhanced the viewing experienceo the event. O the total volumeo weets around American Idolduring the eatured week, 27%contained one o the two voting

hashtags, sponsored by A&.

Enable and inspire amplification

Free Cone Day is marked on thecalendars o ice cream loversaround the world. o generateglobal awareness and buzz,Ben and Jerrys utilized thehashtag #reeconeday to inspireamplification around the specialevent. Scaling across multipletouchpoints, Ben and Jerrys wasable to successully generate earnedmedia by asking ans about theiravorite flavors.

Using witter PromotedProducts, Ben & Jerrys was ableto own the social conversationsurrounding the campaign bytargeting the right audiencewith a brand-specific hashtag.Tis resulted in a massive socialreach generating brand exposure

globally to about 10% o the worldspopulation.

Converged media is now theultimate marketing imperative.You have an audience and they aretalking about your brand. Its timeto make the valuable parts o thisconversation visible across multiplechannels to allow or urther user

interaction and amplification.

TOP: AT&T USED SOCIAL SPONSORSHIP TO ENGAGE AMERICAN IDOL VIEWERS

BOTTOM: BEN & JERRYS GENERATED EVEN MORE EXCI TEMENT ABOUT THEIR FREE CONE DAY CAMPAIGN BY

AMPLIFYING AWARENESS USING THE HASHTAG #FREECONEDAY

continued


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5 Ways to Wreck your ContentMarketingby Ann Handley

Your content is about you.

Tis sounds obvious, doesnt it?

Shouldnt your content marketingocus on your products andservices? Not quite. Your marketingshould ocus on what your productsand services do or your customers.Its a subtle but importantdistinction: the ormer is corporate-centric, the latter is customer-centric. ake yoursel out o yourmarketing, and put your customer

at the heart o it. In other words,make your customernot yourcompanythe hero o your story.

Content has always been part omarketing, o course. But advancesin technology and the rise osocial media bring new and (Ithink!) exciting opportunities

or organizations o any size.Increasingly, the social and onlineinteractions we have with oneanother are leading us to brandsits no longer simply brands leadingus to their products.

I dont use the wordopportunity lightly, because itsgargantuan. But whats key to takingadvantage o its gargantuanness (Is

that a word? I say yes.) is that youhave to retool your marketingnotdo the same-old, same-oldbut,

@MarketingProfs

Marketing Profs

You market to yourself.

Dont mistake yoursel or beingyour target customer (unless, ocourse, you are). You can skew

your marketing i you makeassumptions about your customersbased on your own preerencesand behavior (or that o yourriends), and not those o thepeople you actually want to reach.Your marketing could well end updiscordant with your intendedaudienceout o touch with theirtrue wants, needs, preerences, likes,

behaviors, and so on.

rather, shake things up and embracethis whole brands as publishersmindset.

So you get that. You know thatworld-class marketers in this new

era consistently create and shareinormation that is useul, inspired,and honestly empathetic in orderto attract customers, as we wrotein Content Rules.You work hard tocreate a social brand and a crediblereputation, and to generate positiveword-o-mouth to build yourbusiness.

But are you unwittingly

undermining your own effortsby making some classic contentmarketing mistakes like these?
https://twitter.com/MarketingProfshttps://twitter.com/MarketingProfs


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You market by committee.

Marketing is ofen like parenting:everyone is resolutely secure intheir belie that they know how todo it effectively (especially those

who dont have children). We talkabout this at MarketingPros all thetime, but the best way to neuter theknow-it-alls is to ensure that youvegot the data to back up your plan:you know who your customers are,you know how to reach them, andyou have insight into their mindset.

You dont have customer data.I know I pretty much already said this.But its so important that its worthrepeating. Research, not opinion orgut instinct orfeel,should be theoundation o your marketing program.

Tat doesnt mean art and creativityarent part o it. But think o data andresearch as giving you the necessaryinsights into new opportunities, and asthe oundation o marketing thats trulyinspired.

You arent shaping sharedexperiences.

In our newly social world,

marketers are no longer thesole influencers o purchases.Nor is traditional media. Manyconsumers today rely on theconnected social web o theirpeers with similar interests. So thequestion becomes; How are youenabling those connections? Areyou encouraging and supportinginteractions by rethinking the way

you market to reach customersbeore they identiy themselves toyou as prospects? I so, that meanslistening on social media, havinga search and content strategy,and engaging with your potentialcustomers on those channels(among others).

continued
http://www.marketingprofs.com/http://www.marketingprofs.com/


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There isnt just one way to provide great social experiences to your

communities. From rewarding loyal fans and followers, to providing a new

level of customer care through social channels, to delivering the right

content at the right time in the right places, three leading brands share

how they are building lasting relationships with social.

Great Social ExperiencesBuild Lasting Relationships

20

RadioShack is GivingCustomers what theyLikeBy Cosmin Ghiurau

16

Going Local withSocial: How WholeFoods Builds EngagedCommunitiesByNatanya Anderson

18

U.S. Cellular isAnswering the Call forSocial Customer CareBy Sandeep Gill

Does your brand treat customersas equal partners in socialconversations? Here is why youshould.

What does it take to make socialcare great? Sonny Gill outlines U.S.Cellulars approach.

Te electronics retailer is drivingin-store traffic with FacebookOffers, tying loyalty to businessimpact.


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EXPERIENCE

Going Local with Social: HowWhole Foods Builds Engaged

Communitiesby Natanya Anderson

Acombined brand plus localapproach to social mediaprovides an opportunity to

explore different approaches

to engagement with the

same customer base. It also

allows us to effectively tell

the same story to customers

based on the different types of

communities we are building

at the brand and local level.

@NatanyaP

Whole Foods Market

Finding the right channel fit

For every engagement we wantto create, we first assess i its abetter fit at the brand level or thelocal level, or i its appropriate toshare at both. rying to orce-fittransactional store messages intothe brand level rarely succeedsand similarly, telling too manyliestyle stories at the local leveltends to reduce engagement. Wehave to honor the relationships ourcustomers want to have with usthrough our different communities.

To create cross-channelstrategies

When an engagement is appropriateor both brand and local channels,

we work to create a complimentaryapproach instead o a redundantone. At the brand level we look orthe inormation or inspiration inthe story and highlight it strongly.At the local level we work to stripthe engagement down to the mostuseul inormation to encouragethe customer to take what theyvelearned into the store to support

their purchase.

Brand and Local EngagementsAre Fundamentally Different

We have ound that at the brandlevel our customers are lookingor a liestyle-ocused relationshipand they appreciate engagementsthat are ocused on inormation,inspiration, and aspiration.Conversely, at the local levelcustomers are most attractedto engagements that support

their in-store experience. Sales,events, special products, and teammember stories all help connect thecustomers social experience to theirnext in-store experience, enrichingit with useul inormation they canuse when they walk through ourdoors. We apply this understandingo how customers engage with ourcontent at the brand and local levels

in two ways:

We have to honor the

relationships our customers

want to have with us through

our different communities
https://twitter.com/NatanyaPhttp://clicktotweet.com/Klscehttps://twitter.com/NatanyaP


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A Real World Example:Blueberry One-Day Sale

Troughout the year we offer ahandul o compelling one-daysales available at every store in thecountry. In our business modeleach store is able to choose theirown products and create theirown promotions, making thesesales a significant retail event. Wealso typically eature a compelling

product aligned with our qualitystandards and the type o productscustomers regularly look to us toprovide: grass-ed bee, organiccherries, organic whole roastingchickens, and avocados just toname a ew.

Tis summer, at the height oberry season, we offered organicblueberries or $1.99 a pinta deal

so good we had customers lining up

outside o the store to buy flats oberries. o promote this content in

brand channels we ocused on waysto select and cook with berries.

Tis approach drove engagementaround avorite ways to cook withblueberries, options or reezingand preserving them, and evenmemories involving blueberries.Even though we werent overtlypromoting the sale in every post,and we didnt eature sale signage,the inspirational approach to theblueberry story kept them top omind or the customer.

At the local level, we worked tocreate a glimpse into the blueberrydisplay in the store, showingcustomers exactly what to expectwhen they walked into our producedepartment.

A stronger product ocus and

the rom the store floor visualcreated a connection or thecustomer between their Facebookengagement and their storeexperience. While asking a questionto generate discussion, we keptthe primary messaging ocus onthe sale price, which was key todrawing the customer into the store.

Engagement (Still) Starts withthe Customer

Our experiences with differentengagement successes at the brandand local levels are an importantreminder that customers are equalpartners in social conversations.Te more we can understand whatis most interesting and helpul tothem in any given social channel, the

stronger our engagements will be.

Customers are equal

partners in social conversations

WHOLE FOODS USES LIF ESTYLEFOCUSED CONTENT AT

THE BRAND LEVEL AND CONTENT THAT SUPPORTS THE

INSTORE EXPERIENCE AT LOCAL LEVELS.

continued
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In the last two years, U.S. Cellularhas embarked on a journey toprovide customers with a levelo service on social media thaturther enhances the experiencethey are accustomed to receiving intraditional mediums. Te questionwe asked ourselves was, How dowe build an efficient and sustainableprogram?

First, we analyzed our Facebookand witter communities todetermine the current state ocustomer service requests. Whatwere our customers asking or helpwith the most? What answers did

they need? Knowing the answers tothese questions helped us determine

U.S. Cellular is Answering the Callfor Social Customer Careby Sandeep Gill

@sonnygill

U.S. Cellular

how to approach our strategy.

Our analysis revealed thatour customers wanted technical,account, and device related support.Tis led to the realization that theprogram needed to live within our

call center where our customerservice reps were the subject matterexperts in these areas. Logistically,we connected with our cross-unctional teams within customerservice to develop resource andstaffing models to build theappropriate team, provide training,and map out operations.

Next was the technology.

Selecting Spredast allowed usto scale our program through aplatorm that provided solid teamworkflow and perormance eatures.Knowing the technical capabilities,we were able to build two importantaspects o our social care program:

EXPERIENCE
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Fast orward to present day: weveseen tremendous growth in oursocial care program. Starting inbeta, we had just 5 associatesworking normal business hours.We worked out the kinks with thissmaller team. oday, we have 11associates working 7 days a weekand into the evenings.

Tis expansion reflects theincreased activity o our service

channels o Facebook and

witter. Customers have becomeincreasingly aware and accustomedto contacting us in social and itshows. We saw over 29,000 serviceinquiries in 2012 alone, a 205%increase rom 2011, and that trendhas continued in 2013.

In answering these thousandso monthly requests, our socialservice team has met and exceededour social SLA o < 1 hour. Tishas been an important metric as

we continue to evaluate team andindividual effectiveness, along withoverall program efficiency.

Social customer servicecontinues to be an integral parto organizations today. Its anopportunity to better understand,connect, and service yourcustomers and a program thatcontinues to grow and evolve or

U.S. Cellular.

continued

Customers have become increasingly aware and

accustomed to contacting us in social and it shows.Weve had over 29,000 service inquiries in 2012

alone, a 205% increase from 2011.
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As most brands ocus on

acquisition and content afer theyhave listened and engaged theirans, at RadioShack our growth ledto a deeper study o the behaviorsand psychographics o our ans.Doing this allowed us to betterunderstand the type o contentthey will engage with personallyand when the highest likelihoodo engagement happened in order

or us to deliver content that

RadioShack is GivingCustomers what they LikeThe electronics retailer is driving in-store

traffic with Facebook Offersby Cosmin Ghiurau

@cosguru

RadioShack

EXPERIENCE

BY TESTING VARIOUS DEALS AND CREATIVE ELEMENTS, RADIOSHACK WAS ABLE TO OPTIMIZE ITS FACEBOOK

OFFERS TO DRIVE REDEMPTION

Social media marketing at RadioShack has gone through multiplephases since the first social channel was started in April2009. In 2012, there was a strategic focus to acquire a larger fanbase for key social channels, specifically Facebook and Twitter as

these channels consistently led in overall conversation around

RadioShack, its products, and heritage. From May 2012 to the end

of December 2012 we saw our fan base grow 2x across all of our

social channels.
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continued

had a higher virality to producemaximum earned media awarenesso our brand and relevancy.

Once we understood our ansbeyond the Like and Follow,we tested multiple offers viathe Facebook Offers product tolearn what and when the bestoffer resonated with our ans asa reward or their engagementwith us as a brand. Tis approachallowed us to understand the rightoffer or our ans and produceloyalty that extended beyond thetraditional social engagemento likes, comments, and shares.We converted our ans into loyalcustomers that sought out content

rom our social channels on aconsistent basis.

Te offer that produced thehighest return was that o $10 off

a $40 purchase. We saw consistentlif on claims in our Offers monthover month as we shared it with ourans via a GIFacebook Campaignover the course o 3 months with a7% redemption on all claims. Notonly did the offer drive redemption,also drove a significant increase inbasket size which was key or us toprove the success o the offer and

showcase loyalty.

RADIOSHACK HAS CONTINUED USING FACEBOOK OFFERS, UPDATING CREATIVE TO KEEP OFFERS FRESH AND

RELEVANT


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Consumers are being subjected to an invitationavalanche, with every company of every size,shape, and description asking people to Like them,

Follow them, friend them, click, share, and +1 them.

Please engage with our company, we plead, again,

and again, and again. At best, it wears thin. At worst,it does more harm than good to brand equity and

contributes to the distrust of business.

Tere are only two wayscompanies can differentiatethemselves within this din andderive meaningul business results.Te first is to be disproportionately

amazing, interesting, human, wacky,irreverent, or timely. Tis is whereadvice to humanize and engageusing social and new media stemsrom. Its also the wellspring thateeds the quest to deliver knockoutcustomer experiencesdoing socreates buzzworthy momentsthat boost awareness and loyalty. Ibelieve in the premise o amazing,

interesting, human, wacky,

Why Being Helpful is Betterthan Being AmazingBy Jay Baer irreverent, or timely so much that

I cowrote a book in 2010 (Te Revolution) that is partially devoted

to itespecially the human andtimely components. But heres thetruth: Ive worked with more than700 companies as a marketingconsultant and Ive come to realizethat while be amazing can work,its also extraordinarily difficult.Te marketing o be amazing isthe marketing o the swing-or-the-ences home run hitter. Tere are

two byproducts o that approach:an occasional home run, and manystrikeouts.

You can do better. You can breakthrough the noise and the clutterand grab the attention o yourcustomers by employing a differentapproach that is reliable, scalable,unctional, and effective.

What i instead o trying to beamazing, you just ocused on beinguseul? What i you decided toinorm, rather than promote? Youknow that expression, I you give aman a fish, you eed him or a day;i you teach a man to fish, you eedhim or a lietime? Well, the sameis true or marketing: i you sellsomething, you make a customer

today; i you help someone, you

make a customer or lie.

I call this Youtility. Not utility,because a utility is a acelesscommodity. Youtility is marketingupside down. Instead o marketingthats needed by companies,Youtility is marketing thats wantedby customers. Youtility is massivelyuseul inormation, provided orree, that creates long-term trustand kinship between your companyand your customers.

Te difference between helpingand selling is just two letters. Butthose two letters now make all thedifference.

@jaybaer

Convince & Convert

If you sell something, you

make a customer today; if

you help someone, you make

a customer for life.
https://twitter.com/jaybaerhttp://clicktotweet.com/em6G6https://twitter.com/jaybaer


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Can we use social media to drivedemand and connect with B2Bprospects?

Three years ago, when IBM askedthis o us, it was both a simple

and somewhat terriying question.It was June o 2010, well beoresearching the term social sellingwould yield any Google results.(Tat didnt happen until August2011.)

At the time, I wasnt sure we hadan answer to the question, and I

even remember joking around withmy boss that i we actually pulledthis off, we would break socialmedia. At that time, posting aboutsomething other than Justin Bieberor what you ate or dinner wassomewhat rowned upon.

Hindsight has proven that wecould absolutely use social mediato help IBM achieve their business

goals. And by partnering with their

innovative sales leaders, weve builta social selling program that nowspans across North America and

EMEA and a sales orce o 1,700,plus IBM Inside Sales Reps. Asrecently as October 2012, upwardso 15% o all wins or IBMs InsideSales Public Cloud ComputingGroup were being directlyattributed to the current socialselling effort.

A true social selling effortincludes more than just a LinkedIn

profile and a best practice guideo how to engage on witter. Itinvolves not only activating yourinternal sales orce to integratesocial media across their broaderdigital sales kit, but also using socialmedia as another way to stay tunedto your audiences pain points andleverage key insights to inormuture content creation efforts to

drive leads.

Working with IBM and othercomparable organizations, Ivepicked up a number o valuabletips or implementing and scalinga social selling program withinan enterprise organization. Teollowing elements are essential togetting things started:

Training & Enablement:Prior to kicking off any socialselling effort, take the time to assessyour sales organizations socialselling maturity. How many oyour reps are novices? How manyhave experience with social sales?Knowing this will inorm the levelo training and enablement thatneeds to be done prior to a ull

launch across the organization,as well as reveal the social sellingtactics that your organization cantake on immediately. raining andenablement can include anythingrom activating sales reps socialaccounts to upgrading LinkedInprofiles to social CRM-tooltraining.

Social Listening & Analytics:

Implement a social technology set

@thejonsander

Mason Zimbler U.S.

As recently as October 2012,

upwards of 15% of all wins

for IBMs Inside Sales Public

Cloud Computing Group were

being directly attributed to the

current social selling effort.

Incorporating Social intoyour Sales Toolkitby Jon Sander
https://twitter.com/thejonsanderhttp://clicktotweet.com/4TdnNhttps://twitter.com/thejonsander


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that helps you listen to both internaland external conversations or yoursocial selling program and spansacross your organization.

INTERNAL CONVERSATIONS:

What are your employees saying?Are they on target with yourbroader marketing strategy? Arethey talking about the right topicsand engaging with the right type oinfluencers and prospects?

EXTERNAL CONVERSATIONS:

What are your prospects andknown audience talking aboutin the social graph? What canyou do to make your next socialengagement with them as timely

and relevant as possible whilemaintaining credibility?

Tools & Technology:

Tere are certain capabilitiesthat you need within your socialtechnology that help enable anenterprise social selling program.

SOCIAL LISTENING AND ANALYTICS:

You need a tool to tap into the

current conversations in the socialgraph in order to align a socialselling editorial calendar.

SOCIAL COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT AND CRM:

You need a tool thats scalableacross your inside sales orce soyou can get consistent governance,workflow, and reporting to measuresuccess.

WEB ANALYTICS:

You need a tool that connects toyour social CMS/CRM in orderto better understand where youredriving top-o-the-unnel trafficrom and how successul theseefforts are at converting unknown-to-known lead opportunities.

Location, Location, Location:

Aside rom a socially active salesorce, you need a destination orprospects to land on. One thatoffers valuable inormation thatallows them to do their ownresearch first and/or contact youthrough more traditional meanson their own terms. Tis is theequivalent o a social sellingrep page and can be used as adestination site to acilitate utureconversions.

Measurement & Tracking:Connecting your social sellingefforts internally to an existingCRM solution to track the total

volume o social leads andopportunities is vital to trackingsuccess.

continued


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Our testing strategies vary acrosssocial networks, but have includedengagement and traffic-drivingexperiments such as: day o weekand time o day combinations; postlength; photo and call to action

variations; types o site content thatreceive the most traffic rom socialchannels; and content categoriesthat drive traffic versus engagement.

HomeAway uses other data suchas social sharing and inbound linktrends, as well as seasonal andpopular content trends to help buildout our content testing plan.

Afer defining a strategyor ongoing and test content,perormance measurement isessential to ensure that weregrowing reach, engagement and

traffic, as well as keeping content

At HomeAway, weve takena ocused approach to

content testing and perormancemeasurement in order to builda strategy that maximizesengagement rom both our ansand those who are not alreadyconnected to our social accounts.Over several years, weveidentified content categories that

consistently perorm well, and haveincorporated those into monthlyeditorial calendars in order to haveboth our high perorming and testcontent running concurrently. ogrow a social program you haveto know your audience, whatcontent they respond to, how toblend engagement and businessmessaging, and the expected results

rom your various messages.

Would you like yourown Private Island?HomeAways Approach to Testing

& Measuring Engaging Contentby Jennifer Stafford

@jennstafford

HomeAway

HOMEAWAY CONSTANTLY TESTS CONTENT TO DETERMINE THE TYPES THAT RESONATE MOST WITH THEIR

AUDIENCE
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resh. Developing a consistent

set o reporting that measuresengagement weekly, and looks ortraffic and strategic content trendson a monthly and quarterly basis iskey. Reviewing engagement weeklyenables us to quickly identiypositive and negative trends incontent, which can then be adjustedin our daily editorial calendar.Monthly and quarterly data reviews

enable us to adjust our overallcontent strategy throughout the year.

One example o our testing andmeasurement results can be seenwithin our Aspirational contentcategory. Troughout 2013 wevetested various aspirational vacationrentals such as castles, oceanrontmansions, and private islands

on Facebook and Pinterest to

determine which is most engaging.esting revealed that private islandsare our best perorming contenttype in this category; our mostrecent post received over 17,000points o engagement. Based onthese results, the decision was madeto begin eaturing island propertiesas a separate content category, and amore requent topic in our editorial

calendar.

With a continuous testing andmeasurement approach weve beenable to increase content engagementby 74% year over year. Social mediareerring traffic is also up almost100% in the June to August timerame, year over year.

continued

To grow a social program you

have to know your audience,

what content they respond

to, how to blend engagement

and business messaging and

the expected results from your

various messages.
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You have made social

media a priority at your

company. Great. It all starts with

commitment. But its 2013how

are you going to get your social

presence to be more of a social

business and less of a social

activity? Here are three simple

ways we cut through the mudand started seeing real results.

thought leadershipeveryonewins. Know your audience andunderstand what it takes or yourbusiness to be successul. Ten use

Facebook or witter or LinkedIn tohelp reach those goals. You will seeresults and executives that buy-in tothe madness o your methods.

We worked together.

At the end o the day, youre allon the same team. So why dontcompanies do more to work bettertogether? At ARAMARK, tackling

social media was a collaborative

An Inside Look: The 3 Keys toARAMARKs Social SuccessBy Brian Marks

affair, one that allowed us to workacross all o our businesses andunctional areas. Tis allowedeveryone to learn more about socialmedia and see what success reallylooked like. Our marketers didnttentatively dip their toes in theydove in headfirst with confidencein leveraging social media, buildingstronger strategies, and creating ateam that spanned all o marketing.

@bmarks

ARAMARK

We made it practical.

Te truth is that execs will alwayshave a hard time getting behindposts eaturing cute cats, crazy

memes, and everything else that hasnothing to do with your productsor services. And why should theysupport that when value has beendifficult to track even in the besto campaigns? But when youreactually using social media as a toolor doing your businessadressingcustomer needs, presenting offersthat incentivize customers to

visit your locations, or generating

We used the right tools.

Big new initiatives usually mean big,new shiny objects. And big, newshiny objectswell, they quickly

become rusty old relics if theyre notbeing used correctly. Know the gapsyour community managers have inmanaging social media and equipthem with the best tools that will allowthem to be successful. If you cantbuild adoption, it will be because thetool wasnt valuable for the peopleusing it.

THE ARAMARK TEAM WORKS TOGETHER TO MAKE SOCIAL BUSINESS MEANINGFUL AND CELEBRATES THAT

SUCCESS
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THE FINAL WORD

odays top social brands know that by investing in great social experiences, they are building longer lasting andmore meaningul relationships with their customers. We hope that the contributions rom social brand strategistsand marketing visionaries in Te Social Experience have given you ideas and inspiration to create great socialexperiences or your own customers. Share them with us @Spredast.

Thank You

For more information about Spredfast,visit: www.spredfast.com

For webinars, case studies, and socialmedia resources, visit:www.spredfast.com/social-media-resources

Stay Social with us:

Please send us your comments andsuggestions to @Spredfast
https://twitter.com/Spredfasthttp://www.spredfast.com/http://www.spredfast.com/social-media-resourceshttp://www.spredfast.com/social-media-resourceshttps://twitter.com/Spredfasthttps://plus.google.com/+spredfast/postshttp://www.linkedin.com/company/spredfasthttps://twitter.com/Spredfasthttps://www.facebook.com/Spredfasthttps://twitter.com/Spredfasthttp://www.spredfast.com/social-media-resourceshttp://www.spredfast.com/social-media-resourceshttp://www.spredfast.com/https://twitter.com/Spredfasthttp://www.spredfast.com/

Spredfast eBook the Social Experience

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