Live from OMS: Is Your Company Social?

Posted from the Online Marketing Summit for the Online Marketing for Marketers blog. Is your company ignoring social media? Michael Weisfeld, Sr. Social Media Strategist at BusinessOnLine, wants to know. But instead of criticizing you, he’s going to educate you. Here’s some social media knowledge… To start, 93% of Americans expect companies to have a social media presence. Companies that don’t might be resistant to change, others might not understand what social media’s all about. And there are likely many other reasons companies haven’t yet got involved, but the bottom line is that social media is simply a new way of meeting the same marketing objectives (brand awareness, communication with customers, etc.) The several lists to follow will give you insight into what variables you need to consider when starting or managing a social media program… To determine your current social media state:

• Review your business goals and objectives
• Understand your target audiences (conduct a survey, determine what they’re talking about, identify influential online individuals, pinpoint commonly-used keywords and topics)
• Conduct a competitive assessment to determine how your company stacks up in terms of brand awareness & reputation, and identify gaps or opportunites
• Analyze trends and patterns in participation, consumption, adoption, seasonality, critical mass, etc.
• Identify topics to talk about. Look for potential content in customer service logs, FAQs, recommendations, success stories, and other internal information that comes straight from the consumer.

Make Data-Driven Decisions that will help you determine the direction of your social media program by:

• Using key findings to develop your social media tactics
• Differentiating between a campaign and a program–the success of a social media program will rely on your efforts to humanize the approach, which is a long term strategy, not a finite project like most marketing campaigns

Process for getting started: Is your company ready?

• Does your company have the man power? Remember that not anyone can become an influential blogger, and that social media is time consuming
• Define your social media team, including an executive program champion, internal community manager, and team of content contributors and community moderators

Traits to look for in your social media team members:

• Ability to empathize with others
• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to hold a conversation
• Analytical and critical thinking
• Develop the potential in others
• Manage online detractors in a tactful way
• Desire to meet new people
• Easy to talk to and form a connection with

Building a social media playbook–The Elements:

• Know your strategy and objectives
• Have a social media vision
• Determine theme/messaging in advance
• Determine brand guidelines
• Produce creative elements
• Establish participation policies and protocols
• Map your content
• Choose the best technology/platform

Determine costs–variables that contribute to social media program costs:

• Technology and custom development
• Bandwidth and infrastructure
• Team training
• Continuous program management and maintenance
• Participation and moderation
• Content enhancement
• Social media platform fees

What are the key elements of a good social media program?

• Creators: Content produceers
• Critics: Commnt on a blog/forum
• Collectors
• Joiners
• Spectators: People who listen but don’t participate
• Inactives: none of the above

What are the phases of a social media program?

• Phase One: Active Listening. The opportunity for you to assess what’s going on and get the “lay of the land.”
• Phase Two: Participation. ONce you have a sense of what’s going on, you can decide where you want to get involved
• Phase Three: Energize & Motivate. Ignite the social media atmosphere with your company.

What constitutes success? It must be measurable to measure ROI. And it is:

• Quantitative data: number of page views, responses/comments, content downloaded/embedded, number of shares, RSS feed subscriptions, and many, many more.
• Qualitative measurements such as corporate reputation, negative/positive relationships ratio, customer retention, etc…
• Social media efforts can be held to familiar KPIs: Frequency, reach and impact.

Is there business value? Yes, in a big way:

• Especially in this economy: “Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media campaigns look like the pretty girl at the bar.”
• Only 14% of people trust ads, whereas 32% trust bloggers’ opinions on products and services
• Use social media to get a direct connection with your audience and make company-wide improvements based on this dialogue
• A singly effort can multiply greatly
• Remember that whole Obama social media campaign? Umm, yeah.

And speaking of Obama, what did we learn in 2008?

• It’s not enough to just throw up a web page and call it an online platform
• You have to participate in relevant and active communities
• There’s not one “right” platform
• You should integrate across platforms to connect and cross promote
• Understand there are different types of internet users
• Measure metrics like frequency, reach, and satisfaction

Other notes:

• Social networks allow members to share the elements of your program to other locations, i.e. they’re very efficient word-of-mouth marketing engines.
• Make sure there’s an appropriate call to action. “Hey, don’t forget to sign up for our webinar next month.”
• Integrate several social media platforms. An effective campaign defines the interaction between platforms.

The end. Time for drinks!

About Channel V Media

Welcome to Channel V Media (CVM). We’re an award-winning PR and communications agency, founded in 2008.

We build market momentum for Fortune 500 and emerging companies, advising and executing on Communications Strategy, PR strategy, and digital marketing. We specialize in breaking clients into new markets and categories, rising to the top of crowded conversations, and reinvigorating enthusiasm for long-standing companies as they compete in new areas.

CVM builds awareness for companies and their products, develops C-suite leaders into industry visionaries, positions clients to be among the most vocal in high-value conversations, and drives inbound leads.

Some of our clients include Sopra Banking Software, GFT, Penn Mutual, IBM, Bluecore, Grapeshot + Oracle, Fortune & Frame, and others.