The Social CEO:New Rules for Customer Engagement

Elizabeth SheaSpeakerBox Communications

November 19, 2009Presidents’ Forum of Metro

Washington

NOTE: I disclose that to the best of my ability, I have attempted to give every source its proper credit, so if I have misrepresented anyone or anything, it was not my intent, and I am happy to rectify!

So Yesterday vs. So Right Now

YESTERDAY

Faxed press releases

Website optional

Golden reporter rolodex

Wall Street Journal article

Printed “clip” books

Embargoed “exclusives”

Press kits

TODAY

Viral videos

SEO or No-Go

Followers with authority

Huffington Post shoutout

Google analytics

Breaking stories on Twitter

Wikipedia

Introductions…

SpeakerBox Communications is a $2M

technology PR firm (Competing with the new Bud Light

Speaker Box tailgate toy).

Elizabeth Shea: President & CEO of SpeakerBox, founded in 1997

(Competing with Elizabeth Shea, country-western singer, for first page ranking)

For companies, resistance to social media is futile. Millions of people are creating

content for the social web. Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business

isn’t putting itself out there, it ought to be.

- B.L. Ochman, BusinessWeek, February 2009

How to know if you’re NOT ready:

Website stinks

Understaffed for current efforts

Lack of leadership support

Basic SEO has not been done

Website metrics not in place

No communication strategy

No belief in transparency

Crappy product

Sales funnel is broken

Don’t care what customers

think

- Kipp Bodnar, www.socialmediaB2B.com

New Rules: Customer Engagement

LISTEN

LEARN

LEADS!

1.

2.

3.

LISTENAudit yourself: It is every CEO’s job, not just the job of marketing

Google Search / Google Alerts

Technorati.com

Search.twitter.com

Tweetdeck.com / HootSuite.com

Compete.com

What Do You Hear?

At a minimum, the

expectation is that you

are

listening

Case in Point…One Year Ago…

YouTube Video

Fallout...

•Motrin site crashed

•Mothers boycotted

•Motrin pulled ad (late)

•Video backlash posts

•#motrinmoms #1

search

1st Page Search on “Motrin” Today:

Case in Point:

YouTube Video

Gulp…

And it just keeps going…

Still…

And GOING:

Quick search

11/18/09 12:34

pm

LEARNIt has never been easier to give

your customers what they desire.

If you’ve listened, you can learn!

Engagement Varies by Industry

Source: www.engagementdb.com

Learn What Your Customers Want

Social media listening posts help you learn what customers want

Open a channel to see who walks through

Incorporate into your product strategies, customer support procedures, communication strategies

B2B Case Study

Social Media Swami, Hired 2006

Self-described listening post and speaker on topics such as

“Selling Social Media To Your Boss”

4 goals in social media strategy: • Brand/reputation management• Connecting with customers• Community outreach• New business (leads!)

Source: Shashi Bellamkonda

Turn the Brand Around

Turn the Brand Around

Sentiment over time

Jun-

08

Jul-0

8

Aug-0

8

Sep-

08

Oct-0

8

Nov-0

8

Dec-0

8

Jan-

09

Feb-

09

Mar

-09

Apr-0

9

May

-09

Jun-

09

Jul-0

9

Aug-0

9

Sep-

09

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Negative Positive Neutral

LEADS!Search

+ Content + Social

Media = Leads*

* HubSpot, 2009, Inbound Marketing Software Provider

Buyers Used to Solve Problems: Talking to Salespeople Product Literature Tradeshow attendance Reading articles or ads, commercials

©2008 Online Marketing Connect Institute

Now They Solve Problems:

Google searches Online portals and news sites User-generated content and opinions Word of “mouse” Direct to company websites

©2008 Online Marketing Connect Institute

IT ALL

STARTS WITH

SEARCH

Keys to High Search Rankings

Select good keywords

Dynamic site, keyword-centric content strategy

Inbound links from high authorities

You Then Need Good

CONTENT

Content strategy plans

for the creation, publication, and

governance of useful, usable

content.

- Kristina Halvorson, President, Brain Traffic and ©A List Magazine

What Qualifies as Content?

Website

Press releases

eBooks

Blog comments

Twitter feeds

Photos/Videos

Blog Posts

Articles by 3rd party

Surveys

Product Reviews

Whitepapers

Social conversations

Then It’s All About Being

SOCIAL

Twitter Sidebar…

Twitter In Social

Twitter Stats

4.3M unique visitors in August 2008 (comScore)

54.7 Unique visitors in August 2009 (comScore)

Average age: 31 (Pew Internet & American Life

Project)

Fastest Growing Twitter Age Group: 35-

54

BTW: “Teens Don’t Tweet” (Mashable)

Twitter Stats by Gender and Age

Don’t Try to Boil the Ocean

C-level Checklist

Establish your listening posts• Twitter, Technorati, Google Alerts, Search

Encourage/embrace execution by team

Establish your personal CEO dashboard

Give it 6-12 months, determine ROI

Sample CEO Dashboard

1. Compete.com ranking (unique visitors vs competitors)

2. Websitegrader.com rank (tracks website efficacy)

3. # inbound marketing leads (CRM, Hubspot, Leadlander)

4. Authority ranking (Technorati)

5. Lead conversion rate (Eloqua, SilverPop, Marketo)

6. Crisis or social media sentiment (Radian6)

7. Level of engagement (optional)

So, GET SOCIAL!

Thank You For Your AttentionElizabeth Shea

www.speakerboxpr.comTwitter: @eliz2shea

eshea@speakerboxpr.com