Allow me to introduce myself, I am Scott Jacobs, I own a marketing consultancy called Harvest Consulting. I am also the co-owner of a blog called The Briefcase Project – an educational blog that serves as a one stop resource for entrepreneurs. Currently, I am developing social media strategies for a client that is launching a line of clothing made from recycled cotton and recycled polyester. Our brand name is Repair The World.
Our goal for this morning’s session is to provide some background on why it is important to embrace social media. I’ll take you through that portion. I’ll also give you some case histories from a small and a large company who have successfully used social media. Robin Throckmorten will talk on how to develop company policies to manage the use of social media, and Gina Kopera will cover ways to recruit and hire for social media roles.
Just to kick things off, can I get a show of hands – how many of you have a Facebook page? Is it for personal or business? How many of you are on LinkedIn? Who’s using Twitter? For the purposes of today’s session I have captured Marketing Sherpa’s definition for social media. The key takeaway for me in the definition is facilitating a dialogue (not a monologue, which is old school advertising), and sharing content
So then, social media marketing is defined as engaging in conversation with the goal of providing mutual value, collaboration, and above all participation – Man, that’s the really tough part! I blog and I blog, but I get no responses.
So, how did we get here? Let’s take a quick look at societal changes. Prior to the modern onset of electronic media (radio, TV), we lived in homes with many family members. Ours was a “social marketplace” – smaller towns. I recently heard that for the first time in human history, there are more people in the world living in cities versus in rural towns and villages. So what happened then, we began communicating and getting info from broadcast sources, and keep in mind, “Broadcasting” is not a listening or conversation tool. It is talking to people, not with people– billboards aren’t even listed here, but take a look now even billboards are broadcast tools, aren’t they? Rotating digital signage, right? The lights are so bright you practically get blinded off the road. Now take a look at where we are. It’s about engaging in conversations, interacting. Oh, btw what social media platform is missing from the top portion here? Yeah – Twitter! And now, in just the past 6 months we have FourSquare.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the social media platform/applications. I came across a survey of roughly 1,900 of both both B2B and B2C marketers: TAKE A GUESS which were the top 4 social media tools. The top four social media tools are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs . Facebook has just exploded it is about to exceed 500 million users (which by the way is roughly half - 1.2 billion of all Internet users in the world). Facebook now earns roughly $1.1 billion in ad revenue and they had earned about $210 million “way back” in 2008. There are 105 million users for Twitter, but 94% of Twitter accounts currently have less than 100 followers. LinkedIn has over 65 million members in over 200 countries. Those who use Twitter say they do so to promote their blogs, bring interesting links to light, and to understand what people are buzzing about. MySpace appears to be virtually dead – the survey participants stated that found that 72% have no plans to use MySpace, and with making Ning becoming a paid platform, many feel it will die also. I know I will be moving my ning site. Couple of other key stats: by the year 2014 $55 billion will be spent by marketers on interactive (display, mobile, email, social, search) channels $15.3 billion – amount marketers spent on search marketing in 2009 $716 million – amount marketers spent on social media marketing in 2009
The survey also had some interesting stats on what folks are looking for - Social bookmarking sites slightly edged out Twitter for the number-one slot. Facebook came in third, followed closely by Digg/Reddit/Mixx/StumbleUpon and then LinkedIn. Although, things change so quickly – I would imagine 4Square had already gotten so many people’s attention, and it wasn’t even on the scene last year. Digg, Reddit, Mixx, StumbleUpon are social news sites
most marketers indicated they were using mobile networking apps (like Facebook on an iPhone) to interact with their fans. Most marketers were interested in learning more about mobile smartphone opportunities. The biggest percentage (73%) were seeking to optimize their websites for mobile browsing.
Let’s take a look at a smaller company and what they did to use social media. Chrome, is a manufacturer and marketer of backpacks and apparel inspired by (and designed for) urban cyclists. They have been manufacturing shoes for about a year. Chrome mostly advertises in magazines that specialize in the urban cycling or culture scene, but it does have a decent size following on Facebook (approx 5794 fans). For you marketers out there, what is one of the most common methods to introduce new brands/products? (Yes, sampling). Chrome decided to giveaway a bunch of shoes and get them in the hands (or should I say on the feet) of potential customers. Get people to try the product, right? Here’s what they did…
They developed this program (I don’t think I can even say this without getting my mouth washed out with soap, right?) On March 17 of this year, at 9:06 a.m., Chrome posted the following status update on its wall – send in a crappy pair of shoes and get a brand new pair of Chromes, and they also stated, For in-store drop offs, you have to bring us your favorite six pack of beer along with the shoes to get the free pair (boy, I think this place after my heart! Chrome employees had free beer for many, many weeks and it wasn’t lousy beer at that – they got Sierra Nevada, six packs of Liberty Ale ). Matt Sharkey, the head of marketing, figured they would probably give out 500 or so shoes. Guess what happened?
After the promo started, Matt was hanging out at home with his kids when his phone rang. It was the president of Chrome and he said… The company received 12 truckloads of shoes. They managed to give out over 5,000 pairs of shoes, which became 5000+ potential customers.
Let’s hear the voice of Matt Sharkey, the head of marketing for a quick download on the lessons learned… Because of the offline nature of the campaign, it was difficult for Chrome to track the people who got free shoes. In retrospect, they would have been better off driving traffic to an online form (data capture – email addresses, etc.) Chrome could have had a better chance to measure the lifetime value it is generating through this program. In my opinion one of the big things to take away from the Chrome promotion was that it was truly buzz worthy… And it did integrate with offline, and had a lasting impression – they plan to further engage with the 5000+ people who sent in shoes by offering them discounts.
Now let’s take a look at a very large company and what they did. For Kodak, the first step they took was to begin monitoring conversations. Take a stab at how many “Kodak” brand mentions they calculated in one year on Twitter alone? Answer is…: 470 million One of the things they noticed was that there is only vague familiarity with their products and competitors were mentioned more than them in certain categories
Here’s what they learned - like many other marketing tools, do a lot of listening and researching before you begin to use a new form of media. once you’ve entered the social media space, you should continue to keep your ears open. So in Kodak’s case, they hired a “Chief Listening” Officer, so does that person a “CLO?” Imagine all the new job titles that have been created due to social media? Kodak has said that this person has a rare blend of marketing, business and social media expertise and the person was not easy for them to find
And here are some of the tools to monitor and continue to listen. Every day I get Google alerts for my apparel client with the key words, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. I monitor what is going on in these areas, get ideas and see what others are doing. Technorati monitors who's up, who's down, and what happening in the blogosphere, TweetDeck defines itself as “your personal browser for staying in touch with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more.” Seesmic is used for helping easily manage and build your community directly in your browser.
Has anyone heard about the current controversy around Pampers Dry Max diapers? Here’s what happened: Around the middle of last month social chatter surrounding Pampers new product release started to ramp up Previously, commentary was about the new product causing diaper rashes – the words changed and people were beginning to say that Dry Max was causing chemical burns. The mainstream media monitors social media as well and AP was preparing a story and then CNN did a piece almost 1 week ago to the minute.
P&G constantly monitors customer conversation and complaints – now through social media. In fact, they have 4 or so dedicated employees as part of their brand listening post. They already new what was being said out there about the brand and new product intro.
Since they new what was being said, and they had data to support the facts (P&G knows that at any given time, 250,000 U.S. babies have diaper rash and they have gotten only two reports for every million of the nearly 2 billion Dry Max diapers it's sold so far they quickly responded with a communications strategy to go on the offensive. They used SEO and have engaged critics on Facebook. I guess we’ll see how things play out on this one…
look for opportunities to add your input to relevant conversations Customers compare products in forums and blogs, and wonder out loud in social channels which product they should buy, they respond to third-party reviews, company’s can provide information to help the consumer decide (and you can see what’s happening here when you take this approach to social media– you’re becoming a part of the conversation) The other thing you can do is respond to social media complaints and listen for misinformation surrounding your products and services
Knowing when to refrain from joining a conversation is just as important as knowing when to add input. Try your best not to reach out in these situations: A conversation between two people, such as on Facebook, is not a good place to add your company’s point of view. Places such as public forums and blog posts are much more appropriate places to add your commentary avoid pitching promotions in social media
strike a balance between having social media participants speak for the brand and having them show their own individual personality. I like Zappos policy: use your own voice and use some common sense (in Zappos case I happen to know that the CEO there works very hard at keeping its corporate culture alive = so I guess you could say that trust is part of that culture, and if you’ve hired right, you’ll have employees whose voice should match up well and collectively become the company’s voice
In Kodak’s case, 60% of their revenue is attributable to businesses customers through their commercial printing, high-speed ink jets, printing plates, and other products. With business customers, they strive to raise awareness and establish thought leadership by: blogging, educating, and providing whitepapers, etc.
Let me repeat it again…Transparency is so important! When engaging in social media, make it easy for consumers to identify with you and your company. transparency engenders trust. Stay consistent with corporate values, and follow other basic marketing fundamentals like not making unsubstantiated claims
So here are some basic first steps you can take when using social media Listen and learn Address the needs social media by assigning internal personnel or outsource it Develop the strategy based on what was heard Develop and maintain a best practices document, and a company policies and procedures manual Execute the strategy
Here are a few other best practices and principles: - Research and build a Social Media Roadmap and a plan involving: Audience, Objectives, Strategy , Tactics, Tools/Technology and Metrics. Successful social media marketing programs involve listening and participation. That participation centers around giving value before expecting anything in return. It’s important to forecast labor hours, who, what, when, how and where with the intention of succeeding, not just experimenting. If a social media effort is successful, scalability will be an even bigger issue if you don’t plan for it.
Be transparent or you may alienate the very audiences you’re trying to connect with. Old habits die hard and there’s a tendency to want to treat social media participation like advertising where the ability to control messaging is the norm. As comfort levels rise with social web participation, companies will see opportunities to encourage participation with communications, especially with brand evangelists.
I mentioned policies and procedures, I wanted to show you Kodak’s website: In Kodak’s situation, they created a formal social media policy for all employees. They have taken transparency a step further by publicly releasing a social media tips book which contains this social media policy. This is a great stopping off point and segue to our next speaker, Robin Throckmorten. Robin is going to take us through how you can go about setting up social media guidelines and company policies around social media use. But before I turn it over to Robin, let’s take a quick listen for where we might be headed with social media in the future…
With that, I’d like to turn it over Robin.
Social Media Wow Where do you even begin? It just began or did it? But it evolves faster than we can blink? Taking in all the facts Scott shared with you… The “adoption” of Facebook – in less than 9 months, had 100 Million Users. Twitter – now at 50 Million tweets per Day – that’s 600 per second. 1 Million Blog Posts per day LinkedIn – 45 Million Users The most important part of social media is the impact it can have on your company’s BRAND both positive and negative All of this has to be considered when you think about “how to manage” social media in your company or “to policy or not to policy” Transition => Let’s consider a few more facts…
81% of respondents view social media as a corporate security risk 2009 Survey by Russell Herder & Ethos Business Law (However - choosing not to participate in social media puts a company at risk of being perceived as either not caring or behind the curve) Productivity decreases about 1.5% within companies that allow full access to Facebook on company time 2009 Survey by Nucleus Research Productivity increased by 9% among people who use the Internet for personal purposes at work. Study by the University of Melbourne 54% of U.S. companies prohibit use of social media on company time for many or all employees Study by Robert Half Technology Transition => Enough of these facts and numbers; let’s talk about how these facts can lead to concerns and legalities Social Media in HR strategic HR, inc. www.strategicHRinc.com
(Note: If management makes a statement about the company, they will bind the company legally especially if on a company account). There are no “social media laws”; however, existing laws are being applied Copyright violations Defamation Transition => Can a simple YouTube video hurt your business? Social Media in HR strategic HR, inc. www.strategicHRinc.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYmFQjszaec 75 billion video streams to around 375 million unique visitors in 2009 Domino’s Case Study (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYmFQjszaec) The video garnered millions of views on YouTube, but the problem was the comments that disgusted customers were posting on Twitter. didn't have a Twitter account and weren't able to respond to the social media public right away. Needless to say they started a Twitter account the next day to start fielding customer concerns. Social Media in HR strategic HR, inc. www.strategicHRinc.com
Discuss Dominos. Discuss Nestle Blog. Zappos, the online shoe retailer, has just a single phrase that serves as their social media policy: "Be real and use your best judgment.“ wow, you talk about culture – it’s all about making the employee happy and they make customers happy They do training on what they do because those are more customers that will buy from them You should see their pictures of employees and offices (furry animals to future employees) Staff are happy and not meant to ever leave unhappy no matter what level they are All about brand Animax Entertainment – Article on Inc mentions they added a few lines that extended the confidentiality agreement to apply to social media Felt once a project was launched they needed employees to use social media to their benefit – some negativity was good as long as they didn’t argue with a customer. Culture is very fun, entertaining Work environment message is trust! staff is creative Brand is critical! Social Media in HR strategic HR, inc. www.strategicHRinc.com
Sites or Tools Who can use What purposes Restrictions (hours – lunch, break) Forms of communication Workplace Survellance / search (human/mechanical) Consequences Write-ups Blocking Access Acknowledgement & Understand Update at least annually Re-acknowledge policy every 60 days Training Social Media in HR strategic HR, inc. www.strategicHRinc.com
MYCA Training strategic HR, inc. www.strategicHRinc.com
Appearances of usernames / email names Honesty Around a long time (can’t delete messages – JobShop) Disclose opinion vs expert advice Butterfly affect) Social Media in HR strategic HR, inc. www.strategicHRinc.com