MarketingSherpa's Creating a Social Marketing Architecture
1. Constructing Your
Social Marketing Architecture
How to Build A Bridge Between
Social Marketing Strategies and Social Media Platforms
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2. Constructing Your
Social Marketing Architecture
Jeanne Hopkins Sergio Balegno Jen Doyle
Director of Marketing Research Director Research Analyst
HubSpot MarketingSherpa MarketingSherpa
@JeanneHopkins @SergioBalegno @JenLDoyle
The State of Social Media Marketing
A Practical Method for Mapping Your Social Marketing Strategy
Social Marketing Architecture to Bridge Strategies and Platforms
Case Study on Integrating Social Marketing with Other Tactics
Research based on MarketingSherpa’s
2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report
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3. The State of Social Marketing
Social Marketing Benchmark Study – what we found
Social media has created new world of marketing opportunities.
But marketers are exploring new terrain without a compass
Captivated by hype and ease of implementing social sites
Ignoring proven practices, launching without a plan/purpose
Thinking tactically rather than strategically about objectives
Momentous change in the use of social media is taking place
Social marketing is maturing – methodologies are emerging
4. ROAD Map – Research
1. What do we Need to Know?
Gather intelligence on audiences,
social use and competition
Monitor dialog, social behavior and
platform preferences
Profile target audiences by social
characteristics – silent majority / vocal
minority / social authority
Benchmark quantitative and qualitative
social metrics
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5. ROAD Map – Objectives
2. Where Are we Going?
Define objectives aligned with target
audiences and metrics
Segment, prioritize and select target
audiences
Focus on hard, measureable and targeted
objectives to win support
Align objectives with metrics traceable to
ROI, rather than qualitative measures
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6. ROAD Map – Actions
3. How do we Get There From Here?
Create a social marketing strategy
with a tactical plan of action
Roles, policies, procedures
Campaign tactics and timetables to
execute strategy
Integrate social media with other
tactics in the marketing mix
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7. ROAD Map – Devices
4. What Tools do we Need?
Roll out platforms that fit tactical
plan and social architecture
Platform agnostic to this point –
so strategy will outlive technology
Construct a social marketing
architecture to connect audiences
with content, landing pages and
conversion points
Roll out platforms sequentially
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8. Deploying Social Platforms
Professional or social networks
90%
(LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)
Which platforms does
Microblogs (Twitter, Jaiku, etc.) 71%
your organization use for
social marketing?
Company branded or managed blog(s) 64%
Focus on “fast and easy”
Multimedia content sharing sites
63% rather than tactical fit
(YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare, etc.)
and effectiveness
User forums or discussion groups 41%
Many organizations
Social bookmarking sites (Digg,
Delicious, etc.)
32% deploy social platforms
with no plan or purpose
Company branded or managed wiki(s) 22%
Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded Nov 2009, N=2,317
9. No Purpose. No Architecture. No Results.
AKA – Random Acts of Social Marketing
10. Constructing a Social Marketing Architecture
Target audiences are
prospects and customers
for Cisco collaboration
solutions
Each platform added to
the architecture must
have a clear and
manageable purpose
Multi-directional
channels connect
audiences with content,
landing pages and
conversion points
11. Collaboration Solutions Website
Hub of the marketing
strategy for collaboration
solutions
Periodically updated
content with marketing
information on solutions,
services, news, etc.
Primary point of conversion
– registration forms, etc.
12. Collaboration Solutions Blog
Hub of social marketing
strategy for collaboration
solutions
Frequently updated and
shareable content and
commentary relevant to
collaboration solutions
Search engine optimization
factors increase live and
universal SERPs
13. Collaboration Solutions Community
Users “join conversations
and share best practices in
collaboration.”
Technically-oriented
discussions, tools,
opinions and member-
only events
Adds value through
customer service and
product development
14. Collaboration Solutions on Twitter
Share 140 character
tweets with “followers”
for quick engagement
Searchable by brand
(#cisco) or solution
(#collaboration) hashtags
Adds value to relationship
by connecting customers
and prospects to relevant
content
15. Collaboration Solutions on Facebook
Building a community of
users and “fans” for
Cisco Collaboration
Solutions
Fans engaged by sharing
commentary and
opinions to posts
Posts drive traffic to
content on other Cisco
social platforms and
website
16. Collaboration Solutions on YouTube
Videos are “most
engaging” and
entertaining media
YouTube is searchable
video content sharing site
Links and drives traffic to
and from other social
platforms and website
17. Cisco Pics on Flickr
Photos are “most used”
type of online multi-
media
Flickr is searchable image
sharing site
Links and drives traffic to
and from other social
platforms and website
18. Collaboration Blog RSS Feed
RSS a tool to “broadcast”
content to subscribers
Links and drives traffic to
source of feed and other
social sites and website
Example of strategy
outliving technology –
being replaced by
Twitter alerts and other
social site notifications
19. Social Marketing Architecture Constructed
Hub sites (website and
blog) for original content
and linking users to
social platforms for
engagement
Social platforms building
relationships and driving
traffic back to hub sites
for conversion
Clear objectives and the
channels for achieving
them
20. Integrating Social Media With Other Tactics
Yes, but we
integrate with Does your organization
OFFLINE tactics integrate social media
only
1% with other marketing
No, we don't
Yes, integrated
with ONLINE
tactics?
integrate with
other
and OFFLINE
tactics
83% integrating with
marketing
tactics
52% other online tactics
16% The reason – ease and
effectiveness of social
media integration
Yes, but
integrated
with ONLINE Follow Conversation on
tactics only
31% Twitter #SherpaROAD
Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded Nov 2009, N=2,317
21. The Payoff of Integration - Effectiveness
Very effective Somewhat effective Not effective
How effective is social
Website 39% 56% 4%
media integration with
Email 33% 61% 6% other tactics you use?
Search engine
32% 54% 14% Integration with online
optimization (SEO)
tactics prevalent because
Public relations 32% 60% 8%
easily accomplished: link
Online display ads 15% 62% 23% Online integration also
Direct mail 14% 58% 28%
enables tracking from
initial engagement to
Paid search (PPC) 12% 57% 31% conversion
Broadcast ads (radio / TV) 12% 39% 49%
Print ads (newspaper /
10% 58% 33%
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Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded Nov 2009, N=2,317
22. MarketingSherpa Case Study:
Integrating Website, Search and Social Tactics
Caturano and Company
One of New England’s
largest accounting and IT
consulting firms
Marketing objective to
increase client base during
recessionary economy
23. Situation Analysis
Traditional outbound
marketing methods more
expensive / less effective
Growing number of
prospective clients are
using the web, search and
social media to find and
assess professional firms
Challenge to transition
from traditional marketing
to integrated inbound
marketing strategy
24. Campaign Tactic – Website Marketing
Website redesigned as
the content hub and
conversion point
Recruited partners as
subject matter experts
and thought-leaders to
create relevant content
Added lead conversion
capabilities by requiring
registration for content
25. Campaign Tactic – Search Marketing
Optimized website for
keywords in copy, titles,
metatags and other SEO
elements.
Created a partner
program to build links
Posted thought-leader
articles on blogs creating
search engine desirable
content, links and listings
26. Campaign Tactic – Social Marketing
Joined and actively
participated in LinkedIn
discussion groups on
topics of client interest
Facebook brand page
building community of
“fans” (clients / prospects)
LinkedIn discussions and
Facebook postings
channel members and
fans to website content
and conversion points
27. Results
68% increase in unique
website visitors
First page SERPs for 25
targeted keywords
10-15 new leads
converted per month
Significant % website
traffic from social sites
28. Lessons Learned
Social media has created a new world of marketing opportunities
but many are exploring this new terrain without a compass.
You need a practical, step-by-step method for mapping an
effective social media strategy – Social Marketing ROAD Map
You need to build a bridge between social marketing strategies
and social media platforms