7 Mistakes Companies Make on FaceBook and how to Avoid Them
Facebook is big and getting bigger with over 300 million active users of which over 50% are active every day.
While Facebook is clearly an engaging platform for users to connect with friends, marketers have struggled with how to use the massive audience on Facebook to build their businesses.
Here are the top mistakes that companies are making on Facebook.
1. Not Starting with a Strategy
Where most people go wrong with Facebook is not starting strategically. Like many social media tools (and any kind of marketing for that matter), a solid strategy at the outset is key to success. Who are you trying to target, what is your message, how will you reach them and what is in it for them?
To Overcome This: Take time before starting the page to understand exactly who you are targeting and what your message is.
2. Focusing on the Number of Fans/Friends/Followers
Despite its lack of real relevance, many people focus on the number of fans or group members that they have. Get over it. I have met with a number of clients who have said “we need to get on Facebook because our competitor has X number of fans and we hardly have any”. The number of fans doesn’t matter – it is how you engage them.
How to avoid this: Don’t let your manager use numbers as a key metric. It isn’t difficult to get fans or followers, but it isn’t relevant. Explain that a balanced approach helps measure what really matters based on your strategy.
3. Lack of Creativity
It isn’t just about creating the asset – the page, the event, the ad campaign. It is about the creative execution. To engage on Facebook you need to have a strong creative execution. What is the content for the page? How does it ad value? What is exciting or interesting for your fans/friends/followers?
A successful Facebook strategy requires a great creative execution – run contests, communicate with members, share photos and videos, do something interesting.
A great example of this is the Petcentric fan page – they have photo contests with voting that keeps fans coming back for more.
How to avoid it: Do creative brainstorming. Spend some time and energy coming up with an exciting creative plan for your Facebook assets. Build a content plan. Create promotions.
4. No Fan Engagement
Lack of creativity leads into the next point – no fan engagement. Many companies create a fan page, invite their friends or buy ads and then forget about the page. An effective Facebook strategy actively engages fans.
To Avoid This: Build a content plan that is relevant and engaging to your audience. What will you post when? How will you engage and encourage your fans to post? What is in it for them. Build an engagement plan, not just a page.
5. Not Monitoring Discussions
Nothing looks worse than fan pages where the company is not active and responding to their fans. Monitor your fan page for activity and respond to relevant questions or comments.
I was once on a fanpage where fans were questioning the company policy. The company didn’t respond and looked weak.
How to Avoid This: Monitor your facebook page regularly and have someone who is empowered to respond on behalf of your organization.
6. Not Owning Your Fan Page
A number of companies have issues where their fan page is created and administered by an actual fan, and not the company. The issue is that fans assume that fan pages are run by the company, and expect the company to play an active role.
While having a real fan own your page may not immediately present issues, you can’t predict when, why or how issues will arise.
How to Avoid This: Contact the fan who created the fan page and try to get the page back. You can always work through Facebook, but that may upset the original owner (who is your biggest fan afterall).
7. Not looking at Analytics
Facebook fan pages now have insights and analytics. You can see how engaging your page is. This is a great tool to understand what is effective and to continuously refine and improve your Facebook fan page.
Analytics will help you understand what is working and what isn’t.
How to Avoid this: Look at analytics and make changes based on them.
Where We’ll be This Month
Bootcamp Digital attends and participates in a wide variety of industry events. We wanted to share with you where we’ll be in the coming month.
Come out, meet us and say hello!
PRSA Media Day October 19, Cincinnati- This looks like a great event with lots of interesting speakers. Krista will be speaking on a panel about Social Media with Jory Des Jardins, Co-Founder of BlogHer, Jon Cronin, Director of Digital Marketing Strategy at DeVries and Michelle Lentz, Blogger.
Ad:techNY November 4 – 6, NY- Ad:tech is one of the premier conferences (and a client) in the advertising and marketing industries. We’ll be at ad:tech tweeting, learning, networking, photographing, video interviewing…… Come out and say hello!
PubCon November 10 – 13, Las Vegas - Pubcon is one of my favorite conferences and has a wide variety of programming for internet marketing people. Great panels on Social Media, SEO, Site Optimization and much much more. Krista will be at pubcon speaking and moderating a number of panels. Join us in Vegas for a fun time and great learning and networking.
The Circuit November 20, Cincinnati- Krista will be presenting to the “IT Association of the Cincinnati Region” about how to use Facebook for marketing. This morning meeting will help marketers understand how to better leverage Facebook as a marketing tool.
November promises to be a busy month for Bootcamp Digital. Drop us a line and let us know if you’ll be at any of these upcoming events.
Bootcamp Digital Presentation – Emerging Trends in Mobile Marketing
A few weeks ago we were honored to be able to present at the 2009 Cincinnati Digital Hub Initiative Non-Conference – an event put on jointly by the Cincinnati AMA, AdClub Cincy and a number of other local organizations.
My presentation was on emerging trends in mobile marketing. I know “the year of mobile” has been predicted for the last 10 years. The reality is that mobile has continued to grow in importance, and perhaps, rather than a sudden “year of mobile” we will continue to see mobile grow in importance over time.
The presentation that I shared is below:
A few of the key points:
- Phones are getting smarter – Smart phones sales continue to be among the quickest growing and most desirable, with 47% of consumers wanting a smart phone (who wants a dumb phone after all?).
- Location is key – Knowing location is a key factor in what makes the mobile internet so interesting and powerful.
- Mobile Changes Search – Search on mobile has the potential to be much more targeted and accurate due to the proliferation of apps (which provide better more relevant results for common searches) and location (which can provide more relevant results).
- Iphones – The iphone changes the potential of mobile, but the results may not be able to be extrapolated out to the rest of the market… the Blackberry app store was a big disappointment for example. There remains significant opportunity to drive sales and actual results through apps when approached strategically.
What do you think? What are the most important trends in Mobile Marketing?
10 Reasons You Should Create a Corporate Blog
Blogs were hot a few years ago, but their popularity with marketers has been lagging lately as focus shifts to twitter, facebook and now iphone apps.
But blogs have tremendous potential to play a key role in your marketing strategy. Most organizations can benefit from a blog and often blogs have benefits beyond what you may initially think. Some reasons to consider a corporate blog include:
1. Search Engine Optimization
This isn’t something that a lot of organizations consider when they start blogging, but blogs are one of the best things that a company can do to increase their traffic from search engines.
Search engine traffic is based on two things: 1) Your site and how it is structured, the content and how often it is updated and 2) People who link to you and how they link to you. Blogs are a great source of both – they typically include lots of keywords and relevant content and they are also updated regularly. In addition people often link to your blog posts which further helps your search engine traffic.
2. Build Positive Equity – Be Someone who Really Cares
Blogs can also help position your organization as caring about the issues that are important to your clients or customers. You can take up their causes, talk about things they care about, offer free advice, etc.
A blog allows you to build equity for your organization, which can lead to positive mentions online, recommendations and ultimately sales.
3. Content for Social Media Syndication
Blogs are a great “hub” for your online presence. Publishing blog content gives you something to share with your customers on other social sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. All of these social sites can be great sources for lead generation, and publishing engaging blog content provides you with something relevant to share.
4. Position Yourself as a Thought Leader
You can use a blog to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. If you are a b-to-b company you can highlight your knowledge of the industry and relevant issues. B-to-C companies can show consumers that they really know their stuff by sharing knowledge and expertise that matters to customers.
For example a laundry detergent manufacturer could share information about how to remove stains or keep clothes looking new. A furniture company can talk about the ergonomics of different furniture and how to select the ideal desk/chair/bed/couch for your body size and use. Options are endless.
5. Humanize Your Brand
People like people. They like to work with people. They like to do business with people. A blog can be a great way to showcase the *real* people behind your brand and put a human face to it.
On your blog you can share videos and photos from your organization, and you can also have real people from your people talking like real people (not like commercials or sales people).
Blogs can be a great way to build stronger relationships with customers by humanizing your brand.
6. Respond to Issues and Problems
When a crisis hits, organizations often scramble to figure out how to respond. The most effective responses are transparent, authentic and genuine. Official PR releases and comments from PR people don’t typically make people feel better or reassure them.
When a crisis hits a blog can be a great place to post a real response from a real person. The message doesn’t have to deviate from the official response, but using more natural language can help people understand. Using your blog you could post a human response, and share a video of the CEO apologizing and explaining the situation. This can go a much further way with your consumers than a canned press release.
7. Build Newsletter Content
Email and newsletter marketing continues to be a great way to stay in touch with your customers. Rather than sending an email newsletter full of promotions you can send insightful and relevant articles from your blog.
This can increase your email distribution list and ultimately lead to more sales over time as customers give you permission to interact with them.
8. Let’s Give them Something to Talk About
You probably have fans – either officially on facebook or unofficially. Writing great blog content allows your fans to interact with you.
They can talk to you and share their opinions. This can help you get even closer to your consumers and allows them to feel like they have a voice with your organization.
It gives them something to talk about.
9. Communicate with Customers
When you have corporate news you may issue a standard press release, but the release may not make it out to most of your audience. A blog lets you communicate with your customers right on your site. You can also talk about things that aren’t press release worthy – like new features, a policy change or fixing a glitch in the system.
A blog is a quick way to get messages out to your customers – especially if you are not currently doing email marketing.
10. People are Tired of Marketing – Blogs Add Value
These days people are inundated with marketing messages – on their phones, their computer, their social networks, TVs, Bathroom stalls, billboards, subway adds, napkin ads, and so on. Most of us have learned to ignore most of this advertising, and we may completely tune it out.
A blog allows you to create a connection with a customer based on providing them with inherently valuable content. I read a blog post once about how to take better pictures that was posted by a photo website. After reading the great post I went and checked out their site.
Great content that is relevant to your audience can get you in the door without accosting them with marketing messages.
What other reasons do people have for creating corporate blogs? Share your ideas in the comments.
Internet Marketing – Get the Most with a Solid Strategy
Over the last 10 years almost every business has either built some form of a web presence – a website, social media profile, online display ad campaign – or their customers have built one for them – online review sites, comments on twitter, review sites, online directory submissions, social media comments, blog reviews, etc.
The problem is that many companies don’t approach their internet presence with a solid strategy. They may start with building a website and then invest in a variety of other areas – pay-per-click ads, social media, search engine optimization, adding e-commerce, creating a facebook page, display based adds, etc. This results in a variety of internet marketing activities but no solid strategy.
Often times this results in a suboptimal investment strategy and suboptimal results.
To correct this there are a number of steps that can be taken:
1) Invest in Analytics
This is typically an investment of time vs. dollars (unless you want to outsource it). Learn how well your site is currently working, where your traffic comes from and where you might have problems. Understand if people are taking your “call to action” or where people are abandoning your cart. Spend some time understanding how well different traffic sources are working for you.
2) Evaluate your Call to Action
Your site (and every single page on your site) should include a clear call to action. This means that you have a specific action that you are driving a web visitor to take. Do all of the pages on your site clearly encourage visit
ors to take some sort of action? Evaluate your site and the action that you are encouraging visitors to take. Prior to optimizing for search or using social media to get traffic you want to be sure that your website it effectively converting visitors.
3) Landing Page Optimization
What are the most important pages on your site (if you have an analytics program you should be able to measure this). How effective are these pages in driving action? Are they effective? Spend some time optimizing the most important pages on your site and leverage them to drive your users to take action. You can get complex and do A/B split testing or simply look to implement best practices.
Either way, be sure that your landing pages are optimized so that when you do get traffic you are getting the most from it.
4) Evaluate Quality of Traffic Sources
Look at your current traffic sources and evaluate which ones are providing you with the best “quality”. Depending on your site there are a number of ways that you may evaluate this – time on site, bounce rates, page views, sales, clicks, email signup, etc. The key here is to know how effective your different traffic sources are. This will help you prioritize your marketing spending. For example, if you notice that people who get to your site from search are more likely to buy than people who get to your site from twitter, you may choose to adjust your investment.
5) Strategically Invest
After assessing all of the above you will be in a good position to make strategic investments. Rather than investing randomly in various areas you’ll know that your site is working for you and how valuable different traffic sources are. This will allow you to invest strategically on the areas that really matter.
Boot Camp Digital CEO Krista Neher Interviewed at Search Engine Strategies Toronto
Boot Camp Digital CEO, Krista Neher, presented on a panel at Search Engine Strategies Toronto on a panel called “Social Media, Do Big Companies Get It?”.
You can view the social media presentation and notes on her blog.
In this interview Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviews Krista Neher about some of the challenges that companies face when engaging in social media.
At bootcampdigital we work with large companies like Procter & Gamble as well as small businesses and start-ups. Large companies face a number of unique challenges due to their organizational structure and risk factors.
Enjoy!
Presentation: Introduction to Social Media for Executives at the European American Chamber of Commerce
This is a presentation that Krista Neher, CEO of Boot Camp Digital gave to executives at the Cincinnati European America Chamber of Commerce.
Here are some of the key ideas of the presentation.
Social Media is about:
- Conversations – It is about people talking to people. Be respectful of that.
- Amplification – Voices are amplified online. People have the ability to spread messages to lots of other people.
- Control – Brands are losing control over their marketing messages. Consumers are gaining control.
- It Matters – Social media is big and growing. It isn’t a trend that is passing. People trust people. Eyeballs and time spent online are growing. You can connect with more people faster with social media.
The Basics on Social Media Channels
Blogs
Are big and growing. 77% of internet users read blogs. Over 26 million americans have started a blog.
You have two options to participate (they aren’t exclusive):
1. Start a blog as a way to connect with consumers.
2. Reach out to bloggers and build relationships with them.
Twitter is big and growing. It is predicted to have 18 million users by the end of 2009. By 2010 over 15% of US adults will have a twitter page.
There are lots of different opportunities to build your brand on twitter – and real results. Dell has transacted over $2.5 million in sales. JetBlue answers customer support.
People are probably already talking about you on twitter. Find them. Talk to them. Participate in shaping your brand online.
Has over 300 million active users. It isn’t just for young kids – the fastest growing demographic is 35+.
Your customers are on Facebook and may want to connect with you there.
One company in the room was surprised to discover that they had a facebook page. They were even more surprised to see that customers had been using the wall post section to post questions.
Some of your customers may want to use facebook to connect with you. Be there and participate. Give them service where and when they want it.
LinkedIn presents a great opportunity to connect with prospects and find specific people or companies. It is search friendly – so you can use it to look up specific people and see how you are connected to them.
The key to success on LinkedIn is to do more than just create a profile. Be active, use groups and questions to build your network.
The Job Boards can also be very effective – you can post jobs and get fantastic applicants.
Soooooo……….
The key to success with social media is to be strategic – start with clear goals and objectives. Be disciplined – don’t let Facebook and Twitter become time drains – use them strategically and clearly set and define the amount of time you are willing to spend on them.
Questions/Comments?
9 Ways to Use Twitter for your Business
Marketers all all-a-flutter over twitter – as it continues to grow and gain popularity more and more businesses are flocking to twitter. Despite all the hype, many businesses struggle with how to actually use twitter for their businesses.
Why? They don’t start with strategy or business purpose. Just like any other marketing tool, a sound strategy is required to be successful. It isn’t as simple as “joining twitter” – that would be like saying the key to advertising is to “get on TV”. Success requires a strong strategy and a great execution of the strategy.
So, when considering getting started on twitter and considering different business purposes, here are some examples of how twitter can be used to build your business. These uses include examples of companies using twitter effectively.
1. Customer Service
Customer service is a popular way for companies to use twitter. People on twitter often talk about the problems and issues with different products, and by responding directly on twitter and solving the problem, companies can earn a lot of goodwilll from customers.
Companies who do this well include:
@jetblue – a typical tweet may include “@melissaleon TrueBlue points are not transferable, but the True Passes are!”
@wholefoods – uses the account for multiple purposes, one of which is customer service and responding to people who mention their brand. In addition to traditional customer service they provide resources for general comments. An example of a typical tweet includes
“@theseason Which store do you shop? I’d love to pass your feedback along to our IT team so we can look into your issues w/ the system.” or
“@richh41 Thanks for your interest in having a Whole Foods Market in your town. Please leave feedback at http://bit.ly/suggeststore. Thanks!:
2. Selling Stuff
If you sell stuff online twitter can be a great way to drive sales. There are a number of different ways that companies do this. Some share deals and special offers and others search for people talking about their category and offer a solution.
Some examples:
@delloutlet - the delloutlet has sold over a million dollars by tweeting about specific deals and discounts for their users a typical tweet may include “15% off any Outlet Studio One 19 PC. Enter code at checkout: ZG193MHV517SF7 http://bit.ly/Tuuk6 Exp. 9/21 or after 500 uses, whichever’s 1st”
@debbas uses his twitter account to both communicate with people and to selectively promote his products and company. By combining personal and soft-selling business he has grown a large twitter following. Sample selling tweets include “We have launched a new affiliate program, join it here : http://bit.ly/18CcAY”
3. Building Equity
Twitter can be used by brands to build equity – to talk to consumers about things that they are passionate about surrounding their brand, not just talking about their brand. Social media is conversational, and people may not want to talk directly about your product. Brands can build equity and engage with consumers by talking about things that their customers are interested in beyond the brand.
Some examples of brands that do this well:
@ford – ford uses their twitter account in a variety of ways; to respond to and interact with customers as well as to share information that may be of interest to drivers. An example of a typical tweet is “Some interesting statistics on gender differences in parallel parking here. How do you stack up? http://bit.ly/3WA3S“
@homedepot also does a good job of this by sharing tips related to home improvement. This is an example of a typical tweet “Flood Tip: List of resources & Where to Turn for Flood Help http://bit.ly/129VTO (via @ajc)”
@freshbooks makes great use of their twitter account by communicating with their customers and positioning themselves as a brand that really cares. A sample tweet includes “We’re pretty laid back around here, but sometimes we just gotta dress to impress (ourselves): http://twitpic.com/i7j1w” or “@ivynova Hilarious! Did you know that Joey was too young to have his driver’s license and nearly ran over the rest of the New Kids?”
4. Positioning as a Thought Leader
This is related to equity but slightly different. Brands and people can use social media and twitter as a way to position themselves as a thought leader in their field or industry. By sharing thoughts and perspective on relevant industry events this can be a powerful tool to both build equity and awareness.
Some examples include:
@empowermm – A local ad agency that tweets about interesting industry news and trends, showcasing their knowledge and expertise in the area. A typical tweet may include: “New study: Video games are the fastest growing ad market http://bit.ly/8Tk7N (via @eMarketer)”
@unmarketing - Scott Stratten from Toronto joined twitter and quickly built a large following and a strong reputation by tweeting about interesting trends in the industry. He has used twitter to build a strong reputation for himself. Typical tweets include “RT @mashable Top 5 Business Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them http://bit.ly/18×03R“
5. Building Awareness
Twitter is a broadcasting tool – you can send messages to a large number of people. In addition, unlike typical social networks like Facebook, Myspace or LinkedIN, twitter allows you to communicate and connect with people outside of your network. Examples of brands using twitter to generate awareness include:
@threadless - Threadless runs contests from their twitter account which allows them to meet and engage with new users. A sample of a twitter contest includes “Goodbye summer, HELLO #ZIPTEMBER! All threadless hoodies only $30 all week! (please RT for a chance to win one!) http://thrdl.es/“. By having their fans retweet the message for a chance to win they are able to generate awareness for a new product. Threadless now has over a million twitter followers.
@photojojo - This photo blog and newsletter uses twitter to build awareness with twitter contests like this tweet “We’re giving away 10 sweet Kodak Cameras this week! Check out http://bit.ly/25KnH9 for how you can win today’s giveaway.”
@kodakcb (kodak chief blogger) uses their twitter account to run promotions and talk about things that are of interest to the photo community. Examples include: “Is selective photo cropping fakery? Interesting thoughts. http://bit.ly/13rLL3” and “The Kodak SmileMeter is up to 285 on Facebook today – we need more smiles! http://bit.ly/11Vcy8“
6. To Communicate with your Customers or Members
Twitter can be a great tool to use to communicate wit\h your existing customers or members. This can increase loyalty and ultimately drive sales or encourage word of mouth. An advantage of communicating with existing customers via twitter is the extended reach – every time they talk back to your brand they are publicising your brand to all of their followers.
Some examples of brands doing this well:
@cincinnatiama – Tweets about upcoming events to help drive attendance. A sample tweet may include “Come to “Northern Kentucky B2B SIG” Friday, September 25 from 7:45 am to 9:00 am. The Business-to-Business SIG… http://bit.ly/i1Gga“
@allstate - The allstate twitter account focuses on their new products and promotions and keeps people who are interested in allstate informed. A typical tweet includes “Are you prepared for the bad weather? Free Allstate Home Inventory Software http://bit.ly/BCjuA” or “Have you listened to Allstate’s new Vehicle Vibes Radio show? Listen to past shows and see schedule for guests here: http://bit.ly/G9LWD“
7. To Syndicate your Content
Twitter is a great tool to syndicate content and drive readership. Many bloggers report twitter as one of their top sources of traffic. Beyond your initial tweet of your content twitter can result in many retweets.
Some examples include:
@nytimes - The NY times recently said that : “At its current growth rate, Twitter is, or will soon move into, the top 10 in terms of referrals to NYTimes.com.” The NYTIMES only uses twitter to syndicate content – they don’t respond or @reply – it is just a feed of news articles. Sample tweets include “Census Data Show Recession-Driven Changes http://bit.ly/4ltTO6“
@adrants uses their twitter account exclusively to syndicate content – it includes headlines from the blog like “Kleenex Lectures Us on Brand Identity With Grammar Fail: Love the comments we get from readers. http://bit.ly/179OYk“. AdRants writer @stevehall has his own twitter account which is used to communicate with friends and industry members. “Oh yea. It’s an ad week party! http://twitpic.com/in26r“
8. To Reserve Your Name for the Future
Some people and companies have set up “placeholder” twitter accounts to reserve their names for possible future use. If you are using twitter as a placeholder it is important to communicate the intended use so as not to confuse users. Examples include:
@sethgodin – The bio on the account says “Seth is not active on Twitter. This is a placeholder”.
@amd - This is a guys name, and he got it before the company AMD tried to get a twitter name. A recent tweet from him reads: “Note to twitter : “amd” is my name. Don’t take my account, please.”
9. To listen to consumers and learn about issues
Twitter is a great tool to use to listen to consumers and learn about their issues. Many of the clients that we work with have learned about issues that they weren’t aware of by monitoring twitter. Examples of this include:
@sharethis uses twitter to respond to technical issues that consumers are having. A typical tweet may include “@campmobile Thanks for the heads up. Our dev team is looking into it!” or “@ThePhoenixSun we are aware of some issues and are working through them. Can u email feedback@ShareThis.com with details of your issue? Thx!”
The best way to use twitter for companies is a mix
Most companies that successfully use twitter use it for a mix of purposes. Twitter accounts don’t have to be singular in their purpose, and most accounts include a variety of equity building, awareness and self-promotion.
Do you have other examples or experiences with companies using twitter effectively?
7 Myths of Social Media Marketing Revealed
Social media is the shiny new toy that every marketer wants. And why wouldn’t they?
Myth #1: Social Media is Free
Fact: You should expect to invest in social media.
Whether you are spending employee time or paying an agency or consultant, the reality is that social media isn’t free. What’s more, to be effective in social media a great investment in learning and research is required. Most social sites are free to join, but using them effectively takes time and sometimes money.
Social media isn’t free – remember – Time is Money! Doing it right isn’t as easy as signing up. Be prepared to invest.
Myth #2: Younger People “get” Social Media
Fact: Social Use of Social Media is NOT the Same as Employing it as a Marketing Strategy
It would be like hiring the kid who watches the most TV to write your ad copy. Sure it might work out (there are some examples of brilliant consumer created ads), but most of the entries are garbage. The reason is that it takes more than exposure to the medium – it takes strategy, marketing know-how and great creative execution.
Young people are often more active on social sites like Facebook and Myspace, but don’t confuse this with the ability to use these tools to build your business.
Myth #3: Social Media is Easy
Fact: The Barriers to Entry are Low, but Getting it Right is Harder
It is easy to sign up for twitter or start a blog, but using it effectively to build your business isn’t quite so easy. Many marketers focus on “getting a fan page” or “starting a twitter account” but creating a social media account is only the first step (although arguably it should be the last step – after developing a strategy and evaluating options and resources.
Many companies fail witht their social media efforts and give up. Since the barriers to entry are so low, anyone can join, but to be successful dedication, knowledge, strategy, creative and research are required (to name a few).
Social media may be harder than you think – failure rates in corporate blogs are high and many corporate twitter accounts lack any real engagement (sometimes by both the company and consumers).
When using social media to build your business be prepared to roll up your sleves and do some work.
Myth #4: Social Media is Fast
Fact: Social Media Takes Time
Social Media takes time – both to listen and understand the communities as well as to figure out how to use it effectively.
Getting it right in social media is difficult, and it takes trial and error. TV ads have great ROI but marketers spent decades perfecting the ads down to a formula. When entering social media be prepared to try different things and measure results. There isn’t a magic formula – different things work for different audiences and in different communities.
Seeing an ROI from social media takes time.
Myth #5: Social Media Can’t Be Measured
Fact: Social Media is Measurable – But Measure More than just Followers and Fans
Marketers struggle with measuring social media since it doesn’t always result in a direct transaction – especially if you don’t sell products online. What is more, many people focus on the wrong metrics – like fans and followers – versus effectiveness metrics like engagement and sentiment.
Measuring fans and followers is like using only reach to evaluate the effectiveness of your TV or print ad. Effectiveness is a combination of how good your creative is times the number of people who see it.
There are a number of effective ways to measure social media beyond just looking at followers and fans. What are the click through rates to your corporate site from social sites? How many key influencers in your audience have you connected with? How many people retweet you? What is your score on Twitter Grader or Klout? How many of your fans visit your page? How many bloggers mention you? What is the sentiment of your brand comments online? These are just a few, and the right metrics will depend on your goals and objectives.
You can also set up campaigns to specifically measure twitter. Create a specific coupon code or run social media specific promotions and measure engagement.
Myth #6: Social Media is for Everyone
Fact: Consider Your Strategy First, then Choose the Tool
There are a lot of surprising success stories with social media – companies that you think would have a tough time using social tools that are actually extremely effective.
That being said, social media isn’t for everyone. If you don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to it you may end up wasting your time completely. Creating an account that is later abandoned may end up having negative impacts on your organization and can signal that you don’t really care.
Creating an expectation that you will communicate with consumers by a social channel and then ignoring them may create more problems than it solves.
Be sure that you have the right resources before diving in, and set clear expectation about how you will communicate. If you decide to abandon a social channel, communicate it clearly and provide alternate channels for people to get in touch with you.
Myth #7: Social Media is a Great Way for me to Talk
Fact: Social Media is an Effective Tool for Listening. Talk Later.
When entering social media, the first question many people ask is “what should I say?”. The first question should be “Who should I listen to?”.
Prior to entering a social media, spend some time listening to the people that you want to connect with. What are they interested in? What do they talk about? What makes them mad? What are the acceptable norms of communication?
Companies often jump in and lead with a heavy marketing message versus listening, understanding the community and really joining the conversation. By listening first companies can more effectively participate in social communities. Remember, they are social (it isn’t just a clever name).
What do you think?
Welcome to the Boot Camp Digital Blog
First, thank-you for stopping by. We really appreciate it and we’re working hard to continue to make it worth your while.
As you may know, I have had a number of personal blogs for a long time – my main marketing blog is The Marketess, where I share my insights and thoughts on marketing. I also have an older and far more random personal blog – Kribaby (read at your own risk).
We decided to launch the Boot Camp Digital blog as a way for us to share our thoughts and insights on social media marketing and digital strategy with you.
On this blog you can expect to see hints, tips and tricks on social media marketing and digital strategy.
We’ll also share what is happening with our business and around the office so that you can get a feel for who we are and how we operate.
I hope you find this blog useful, and if you have any thoughts, ideas, comments or feedback please do not hesitate to share them. We would love your feedback – our goal is to make something great for you.
- Krista Neher
CEO, BootCampDigital
