12. Southern Christmas Show
Southern Christmas Show is a Southern
tradition, with a strong traditional media
presence and loyal fan base.
Besides email marketing, they use social
media to offer information and tips, get
feedback from customers and build
community.
Other the last three years, their SM
presence has been primarily focused on
Facebook. That's where their audience is.
13. In the last three years...
1. The number of “Likes” has nearly tripled.
2. Rate of engagement has nearly tripled.
3. Number of check-ins has doubled.
4. Number of questions has remained about
the same... but they are answered quickly.
42. Contests: Follow The Rules... Keep It Simple
DO follow the
guidelines for
hosting contests!
DON'T make it
complicated.
People are more
likely to upload
a photo than make
a video!
Seminar description: This seminar will review the essential strategies and best practices a business or organization should understand in order to successfully get started with social media marketing. We will talk about: What social media marketing really is and why it’s important; Various social media networks and tools: how they interact, ways to leverage their strengths, and how to evaluate them for best use for your business or organization; How other businesses are using these low-cost tools to gain visibility, develop relationships, and drive sales and engagement; How to incorporate it into your business life without losing productivity.
Local Experts: please include: Your photo Your email address Your URL Your social media handle information Feel free to include/delete those tools you are not actively using.
In today’s seminar, we will learn: What is Social Marketing? Why Market Using Social Media? How to do it well: Best Practices for Social Media Marketing for Small Busineses Managing your activity and time Note to LEs: You can describe the agenda in three simple words: Manage, Monitor, and Measure. Major themes throughout are: SMM is about “reach, with endorsement” SMM is about “social word-of-mouth”
Topic: What is Social Media Marketing and Why do it?
Everyone markets for the same reason: they want more of something: more customers, more volunteers, more donors and members, but most of all, more time in the day.
There are 5 stages in a relationship, or 5 types of people: (Click) Raving Fans : Customers with a high level of loyalty, trust, & engagement. They willingly refer others to you and your business. (Click) Customers : Those buying from you already. These are people who have engaged as a customer at some point in the past. May be willing to try alternatives if encountered. (Click) Prospects – those that have a connection to you via a person, product, or service, but may not know of you yet. A connection exists for you either directly or indirectly through a Raving Fan or a Prospect. Is likely to need the services you provide in the future. (Click) Suspects – These folks are inclined to do business with you someday, but no connection exists. No direct or indirect connections exist. Is likely to want or need the services you provide in the future. (Click) Disinterested – those that have no interest and who will never buy a product or service from you. It’s better to build credibility here and direct them to what they’re interested in It makes sense to use your marketing resources wisely… with the people who count! Now you can resourcefully apply new tools to acquire, connect, engage, and grow new customer relationships. (Click) Social media marketing uses your Raving Fans to acquire and engage new customers, [Click] connect with prospects, and begin fostering deeper relationships
Social Media Marketing is: building your social network fans, followers, and connections, using relevant and interesting content that allows you to reach and engage more people and drive more business.
If you have concerns, you’re not alone. Many small businesses think: (Click) Social Media Marketing looks interesting, but… I will never have a million customers or even 5,000…. (Click) Using new, inbound marketing tools sound great, but… I will never write Thought Leadership articles…. (Click) Paying close attention to what’s being said on social media sounds useful, but… I’ll never have a dedicated staff to do it right… (Click) I hear about new networks everyday, but… I just don’t have the time to stay current
What you do have is powerful! You can successfully market your small business or association because you have… Loyal, happy customers An excellent customer experience Interesting and important things to say!
Topic: Doing it Well – Best Practices for Social Media Marketing Basically, it boils down into 3 “C”s –Connections, Content, and Conversations Connections: Kick start your following, and use content that inspires engagement Engaging Content: Creating a presence Conversations: Practical monitoring and measurement
Set reasonable goals and expectations. As a small business owner, set reasonable goals that match expectations and investments of resources and time. The more time and resources you devote to Social Media Marketing, the greater your yield! Realistically, accept that Social Media Marketing is not instantaneous. You do need to invest some time and resources before you reap rewards, and not all of your customers will engage. However, you can: Drive engagement (action/commentary/feedback/sharing) with your base of passionate customers Encourage repeat business Encourage referrals Get online endorsements Reach new customers through online, word-of-mouth marketing.
Let’s look some examples: (B2C) In a Pickle’s objective was to increase sales, get customer feedback, and build community. In A Pickle is a local favorite restaurant in Waltham, MA They are everywhere on the social web: Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, YouTube, etc. In A Pickle sends a weekly email newsletter to update customers of special deals, new menu items, and events They use social media to experiment, push on-the-fly specials, get feedback from customers & build community They credit email as the hub that brings everything together
Section Break: Connections
Intro: “Raise your hands: how many people here already using Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? Etc.” (Effect should be: several using Facebook, less using LinkedIn and Twitter.) Let’s talk a little but about some best practices surrounding creating a presence using Social Media Marketing. First, decide where you should be. There are hundreds of social media tools and networks. Popular social media networks make it easy for small businesses and organizations get started in the social media marketing work in cost-efficient (often free!) and resourceful way. Today we will focus on the “big three” – Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. For the small business or organization just getting started, (click) it makes sense to start on Facebook. After that, the most important thing to do is ask your customers. We’ll speak to ways to do that later in the presentation… Today’s seminar will mention several of these popular tools. To get more comprehensive information about specific tools or social media in general, I encourage you to visit the Social Media page/tab on Constant Contact’s website: http://search.constantcontact.com/social media There, you can find everything from: blogs, guides, Hints & Tips, podcasts, Frequently Asked Questions, and webinars that will answer all your tool-specific questions.
There are easy ways to discover which social media channels are your customers’ preferred channels. (Click) Remember: your contacts, customers, and prospective customers want to keep in touch with you on their terms, so dive in and learn the nuances of the more popular social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Your audience, marketing objectives, and available resources will dictate which social media is right for your business or organization. Another easy idea? (Click) Add social media icons to your next email marketing campaign or website and measure the number of new fans, followers, comments, etc. You will quickly be able to assess which channels are the most popular using click-through information available within Email Marketing reports or website analytics .
Announce your new presence in your newsletter with a clear Call-to-Action Include standard links in every email campaign Always include a share bar in every email. Make it effortless for your network to share your great content
Make sure your presence looks good: make your profiles polished and professional-looking. Complete your business profile with a: description, clear contact information, your website URL, and a Join-My-Mailing-List tab/information; Include your website URL Brand the presence: add your business logo, pictures, and a background Add starter content! It’s important to populate your social media profiles with interesting, relevant content before you begin inviting folks to fan, follow, friend, and link to you.
NJ’s Blog.
Focus your social presence. Make your social presence a reflection of your business / organization. Don’t blur personal and professional use. Be transparent. New users should immediately identify what you do “ Stick to Your Knitting”. Deliberately choose your expertise and areas of engagement. Be firm and clear about who you are and what distinguished you before you dive into social media marketing. Put the social in the media. Be more broad and informal… and have fun! Social media is a much less formal communication type than, for example, standard Email Marketing content. LE Note: Often at this point the question arises: Q: I made the mistake of blurring my personal profile with my business profile. What should I do? A: The best course of action is to go ahead and create a Facebook Business Page, and begin to direct all business-related activity to this page, only. Unfortunately, there is no pushbutton solution for this, you will need to spend the time to create the page. One idea? Send an email to your contacts on Facebook, and ask those business contacts to offically “Like” your business page. Constant Contact actually offers specific email templates for this purpose: to get the word out about your newfound Business Page and/or social presences.
Section Break: Engaging Content
Wondering what kind of starter content you can use to populate your profiles, today? Information, tips, and practical advice Questions asked by your customers Or links to: Archived Email Marketing newsletters Polls and Surveys Event Homepages and registration pages Blogs (yours and others) Websites (yours, and others in your area of expertise) Product or service reviews Thought-provoking discussions that inspires debate and dialogue Rich media: relevant videos, photos, podcasts
NJ’s You Tube page.
Write great content once, then broadcast it. Create “sound byte” for shorter media. The best content inspires sharing: a word of advice or one sentence can go a long way! Original, personalized content is important (but you don’t need too much). Reuse your great content. When you add one or more social media networks or a blog to your marketing mix, you do not necessarily have to come up with exclusive content for each network. Reuse articles from your newsletters to prime the social media pump. In turn, your blog or others’ blogs content can be used to feed your email newsletter and social network channels. Less is more! Short content is best, one idea at a time. You can always include a links to more in-depth information. Examples: “Stay Cool this Summer at Jack’s Ice Cream (URL)!
Speaking of starter content, one of the best ways to reuse content is by repurposing email marketing newsletter content. Most Email Service Providers such as Constant Contact provide a Share Bar at the top of emails which will allow both you – and your recipients – to share your content across social networks. Whenever possible, add Social-sharing capabilities to your content to provide customers and prospects alike an effortless way to share it within their networks.
A personal page is different from a Facebook Business Page. On Facebook, you should have two identities: one for you and one for your business or organization. You can establish a page that promotes your business, where friends and fans may “Like” you. The Wall is “the conversation”.
Let’s talk a little bit about the basic anatomy of a Twitter Feed. Twitter acts as a dynamic “feed” which update you in real-time. Basic Info, Link, Description: again, be sure to write a clear, concise description of your business and expertise Avatar – Logo or Photo: Brand your profile with your logo or personal photo Handle: this is your Twitter “username”. As a best practice, make your handle short yet recognizable (since “tweets” are character-limited to 140 characters). Feed: Most recent or past tweets by you; Followers and Following: a listing of folks who’ve “subscribed” to read your tweets, and those who you have decided to “follow” Recent Images: You can post images through Twitter; this shows the 4 most recent ones you’ve posted [Aside: For Halloween 2010, Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Content
Let’s take a look at how to establish a profile on LinkedIn. Your name, location, and basic statistics - simple contact information and geographical location Your Photo or Your Logo – Like a Facebook or Twitter, include a professional photo or headshot Work Experience, Now and Then – Think of this as your online resume and be as descriptive as possible. Information you Share – This can be about your business, non-profit, or personal expertise. It is customizable to your business objectives Communications Options – Using these functions, you can connect with other users, send an in-network email, write or request a professional recommendation, etc. Network Information: This section displays the degree of connection to others, quick links to your recommendations, etc.
You can build your social network in a variety of ways – both online and offline. In short: be creative and visible everywhere your customers are! Send an invitation to your Email List Add interactive Social Icons to Your Website Email Campaigns (in a sidebar, in the footer) Outgoing Email Signature Business Card Printed Collateral: mailers, flyers, invoices, etc. Put a sign in your storefront window Add a message to your voicemail Include a note on Point of Sale receipts and house coupons
Section break: Conversations.
When getting started with social media marketing, be the expert! 1. Focus on the content - share knowledge so people care It’s not about you It’s about what you know 2. Trade useful information for attention Will they talk about it when out with friends? Will they look forward to your next communication? Will they be inspired to share/tweet/comment on this information? 3. Filter out the noise by narrowing focusing on creating a stream of relevant, interesting content Be an expert Clearly convey the mission. It’s OK to deviate at times, but stick to a 90/10 rule of thumb
Once you are actively monitoring for social media channels, you will encounter both positive and negative comments. Positive comments are a perfect opportunity to interact and help spread your messages and other content. Social networks are a convenient way for people to share interest and excitement, but more importantly… relationships. So what should you do? Comment back. A simple sentence to show you are interested in what they have to say demonstrates that you are listening to your customers, and those prospects that are lurking. Whenever someone says something positive about your business, simply say ‘Thank you!’ online – publically – to reinforce continued engagement and show prospective customers that you are listening. Answer questions. Clear and helpful answers to questions posed by your customers is a hallmark of excellent customer service. The benefit of answering them on your social media network is twofold: 1) odds are others have the same question and will be helped- or chime in for more information, and 2) you can then repurpose your answer (content!) by including it in your Email Marketing, Tweeting it, etc. This graph shows aggregate rankings of businesses reviews on the most popular ratings and review sites as of September, 2011. This As you can see, the majority of online feedback is positive.
You know what conversations to start – they’re the same conversations that you have when you speak with a new customer, member or prospective client. Draw from your experience and expertise to facilitate conversations and exchanges amongst peers. Starting informal conversations will help you learn what is meaningful to your customers – what engages them! A simple way to begin? We’ve said it before: just say “thank you” - online, publically - to anyone to says something nice about you.
What NOT to include in your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Updates: Don’t pitch Don’t overtly self-promote Don’t offer incentives to get reviews or sharing Don’t stray from your areas of business into: Don’t post personal information, politics, sports, religion etc. Always provide value. Remember why your network is following you – be the expert.
Make online conversations a part of your presence. You can invite direction and feedback from your customers, and really listen to what they have to say. In this example, Boloco jumped at the chance to correct a poor customer experience. They offered a promotion on Superbowl Sunday, but a went to one of their locations and the restaurant didn’t offer the special. In a little over an hour, they offered to put a free meal on the customer’s Boloco membership card. A little later, another customer was charged for their meal through their membership card instead of getting the promotion. The CEO responded to this one, apologized and offered to replace the free items on the customer’s membership card.
Negative comments are inevitable: social networks can be a convenient way for people to vent any frustrations. Remember that social media marketing is about creating positive relationships through many-to-many (not one-to-one or one-to-many) engagements. Rather than fear negative comments and a tarnished reputation, look at every negative review as an opportunity to engage with the dissatisfied customer, resolve their problem, and further delight them with an excellent customer experience . Study after study shows that if you can resolve a problem, a customer will be more likely to buy again and recommend you than someone who had a pleasant experience the first time around. And since most content that is shared on social networks can be seen by others, your engagement with both positive and negative commentary will inspire credibility and trust with both old – and new customers. [Note: see in-slide example. Boloco asks both complaintive customers to Direct Message them his Boloco member card number so that they can remedy a poor experience, a.k.a., give them a free burrito on-the-house. Notice that the interaction took place on Twitter, offline, in a Direct Message (DM), but Boloco publicly and graciously responded so that Boloco’s quick action to satisfy their customer is transparent to all Followers). 1. Always reach out to the customer, ideally offline! Pick up the phone if possible Use a private message, email, or DM 2. Let your network know that you are addressing the issue. [See Boloco example above] Don’t be afraid of publically addressing a negative comment on social networks. Delight the customer to turn a negative experience into a positive one they’ll tell their friends about!
Section Break: Managing your Time and activities
Do you need to spend a lot of time doing social media? Good Advice from Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact: “ Keep your time spent in-check; doing social media right does not mean doing it a lot.” It is important to stay active: 15 minutes a day, 3 times a week is more than most small business. Probably the biggest mistake those new to social media can make it to be inconsistent with engagement. Schedule and commit time to engage with customers and prospects. If you tweet too much; people might not think you are serious about your business Note to LEs: the statistics on the right contradicts the best practice we mention – explain this by mentioning that we at Constant Contact are anxious to dispel this myth that social media marketing done right means spending more and more time. Doing it right means NOT spending a lot of time doing it. For larger companies, the former may be true, aggregating various departmental objectives and efforts. However, for small businesses and nonprofits, we believe it can be done in significantly less time, especially when using time-saving tools like NutShellMail.
What should you monitor? Monitor the activity of all your social presences, including: Your Brand. Think about all it’s possible spellings / configurations. For example: Far And Away Bicycles, Far & Away, Bicycles, Bikes, etc. Your competitors. Spot successful tactics being used by others in your industry (and the not-so-successful!) For example: Does the pizzeria down the street tweet daily? Do the other consultants in your area of expertise have LinkedIn profiles? What do they look like? 3. Categories, topics, and keywords of your business. For example: Pets, Dog Day Care, Cat, Dog, Pet sitting, Animals, Rescue etc. Take a few minutes to make a list of the main topics you’re monitoring, and then make a list of three or four subtopics. If you think about it, when you’re focused on your reader and your expertise, most of what you’re going to be monitoring falls under five to seven main topics. Set these topics up in Google Alerts or Twitter to begin to get a pulse on the conversations happening and content being distributed. 4. The experts and influencers in your business. Watch not only what they’re saying, but what they’re sharing, which events they’re choosing to promote, who they’re following, etc.
When you’re just getting started monitoring and listening to what is being said about you, there are several easy and free tools at your avail: Google Alerts: Google Alerts allows you to “save” keywords. Google Alerts will then send you an email anytime your keyword matches with new content found on the web. HootSuite: a social media dashboard for teams used to gather intelligence, search, etc. TweetDeck: a real-time browser, connecting you with your contacts across multiple social platforms such as: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Buzz, etc. RSS: Real Simple Syndicate. Use a web reader (such as Google Reader) to “pull” new content to you in real time. You can apply an RSS feed from newspapers, blogs, and most content distribution channels. Last but note least: NutshellMail: (more in the next slides)
NutShellMail offers you an efficient way to monitor all social media marketing activity: in a daily email digest, sent at the time and frequency you choose based on your schedule. This means that you don’t need to go to each separate social media site to manage your activities. NutshellMail allows you to see your mentions, new followers, comments, and your newest connections in your summary. You can then share, comment, tweet, reply, retweet, and message without leaving your inbox! And, since you control the frequency and timing of your NutShellMail, all of this engagement occurs on your time, according to your busy schedule.
NutshellMail from Constant Contact is an easy, free way to monitor all your social media activity in minutes a day. NutshellMail is a free monitoring tool that brings a summary of your social network updates to your inbox in a single email on your schedule. NutshellMail allows you to easily monitor and track your page insights (how many new friends, fans, followers, comments, Likes, etc.) You can get all your Facebook Birthdays, Photos, Friend Requests, Wall Posts, News Feed, Event & Group Invites, and Messages all in one interactive email. This means that you don’t need to go to each separate social media site to manage your activities: it allows you to see everything in one summary. You can then engage without leaving your inbox! Constant Contact's NutshellMail supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, Foursquare, Citysearch, and MySpace.
Section Break: Measuring Success Defining Social Media Marketing Success for Small Businesses
It can be tricky to add up the value of relationships. As you begin to establish your measure the impact of your efforts, look at: What is being said about you? Are you seen as an expert? How well are you engaging with existing experts? Are you reaching new customers en masse? How are you reaching specific customers? Depending on your business or organization’s unique objectives, you can also look at specific growth measurements such as: Overall growth in your network, i.e. # of new fans, friends, connections, followers Email List growth, i.e., # of new subscribers Email Campaign click-through, open rates # of mentions # of retweets # of reviews (positive and negative) # of customers who’ve utilized social promotions # of questions answered by your network # of #mentions on Twitter Aggregate ratings scores SEO rankings…