Social Media Tutorial

Watch Out for Google+ and Circles

What do people mean by Social Media? How are Google, Twitter, Facebook and Linked In changing our lives?

Why is SEO becomming so important?

Well what is happening is the empowerment of people to communicate with each other without using traditional media.

So this means that the traditional media are no longer in complete control, and it is this new dynamic which is like a gas escaping from a container, Pandora's box if you like.

So at one level there is a lack of structure and the lack of a plan, and a feeling of technology running away with our lives, but at another level this increase in choice, and freedom from the worlds contraints must be a good thing, It is certainly creating a whole range of opportunities.

So what do we know? We know that :-

  • The world of telling people what they want is being overtaken by a world that invites people to come and be involved.
  • The world is becomming "Permission based" and that permission is coming from the customer
  • Good news travels faster and in ways you cannot control
  • Bad news travels even faster and if you try to control it, it will bite you (Think Sony or The GAP Rebranding Excercise)

So what can we do? Well we should :-

  • Be open in our communications
  • Listen to our customers
  • Demonstrate that we have listened
  • Build TRUST with our customers
  • Share information, knowledge, understanding, and our vision with our customers
  • Make them feel that they contribute to and share in the values of our brand

In fact all the things that we try to do with our personal relationships, and as we all know they need to be worked at constantly.

"But hang on a sec' " Doesn't this all feel a bit like a traditional Loyalty campaign?

Well yes it does and that is the point, it is now ever more important to get the fundamentals of your communications right.

In a way your communications strategy needs to feel a little bit like a visit to Gieves and Hawkes in the 70's

  • You are in a  part of town which, like two addresses, delivers a sense of confidence
  • You are welcomed by a retired Guards Officer
  • He instantly recognises that you are a man of style and savoir faire
  • He asks you what you are looking for, then unobtrusively finds you every variation of your hearts desire whilst skilfully steering you away from the faux pas you might be about to meet
  • You feel like the only person in the shop
  • He could be PG Wodehouse's Jeeves, but he is a Guards Officer and somehow you know that you are safe in his company
  • You have joined a Club, that knows that you are a man of distinction, and that will rise up to defend your rights as an individual, just as we did when we built the biggest Empire the world has ever seen

And all that for the Price of a Tie.

Joking apart, building a brand is about how you make the customer feel. Each time you interact you should try to build mutual respect, trust and a feeling of warmth or belonging.

As the Marketing Director of Eastern Electricity once said to me " It is all about Warm Fluffy Towels" or think "Dulux Dog" or the "Andrex Puppy"

Please see the Case Studies Below for examples

A sample Campaign.

  • Use our Marketing Planner to decide on the benefits to the target markets
  • Write articles for the local papers,( there may be many areas you cover, but make it feel local)
  • Take editor out for lunch, convince him you are a good bloke, will make his life easy, and help improve the lot of his readers, rather than try to sell to them
  • Write press release and ensure that the call to action is to visit your website, hand over your email address and be sent some incentive, information, voucher, teddy bear etc
  • Try to obtain an address or at least a post code for profiling purposes
  • Try local radio
  • Remember, you are not selling anything, you are helping the local community
  • So far apart from your time this has been free of charge
  • Subject to your budget, use direct mail to personally write to named individuals
  • Obtaining names and addresses that match your target market is a skill and with the price of postage you need to be careful
  • Again drive traffic into your website to collect email and post codes
  • See who responds, profile respondees to see if they match your target market, "Learn as you Grow"
  • Try to identify from which forms they fill in on your website which products they are interested in, why, and how they would like to interact with you if at all. Remember your objective at this stage is to get them to give you permission to start a relationship with them.
  • When you have done all of the above, start your email campaign, into responders who have already expressed an interest. If you need to run email campaigns to with whom you have no existing relationship, then at least try profiling the existing responses and source people that match the same profile.
  • Maintain a varied Multi Channel approach to communications, test each campaign, measure cost per response. See Alcon Case Study

So you will now have established yourself as an authority on your chosen subject in the press on the radio and by direct communication with people you think may be interested. You can look at Pod Casts to your email database, but you can also start to "Blog" that is start to express your opinions and advice online. You can then start to build a community of intersted people on Twitter Facebook and Linked In. Why does Steven Fry have such a large Twitter following? Because he is known, credible, talented, informed, and has his own opinions. All of which makes him a good "Guards Officer" (see above) to have on your side.

Search Engine Optimisation SEO

SEO is how you get yourself to the top of the Google Rankings.

There are many ways of achieving this but it should be mentioned that Google dont like people fooling the system, because it makes their search engine less efficient and it stops customers purchasing google ad words

So basically you want to make sure that google can "See" your site in the way you want, which means relevant words on the home page and headings one and naming your pictures and video in a way that Google can recognise, so that when a customer searches on those words it is your site that ranks highest on the algorythm.

See Search Engine Optimisation

Measuring Social Media Effectiveness

See this article from Digital Impact.

Digital Impact makes a bold proposal: There are only seven metrics that are critical for performance measurement across digital channels. While countless other metrics are available to marketers, these seven are the ones that marketers should seek to master.

Qualified Reach, or Qualified Visits: Qualified Reach is the one critical metric that every marketer should use—specifically because it captures two important dimensions that no other single metric does: both quantity (number of individuals) and quality (the users have performed a desired interaction, which in turn suggests a degree of interest or intention on the part of the consumer). Depending on the channel, the specific metrics marketers use will vary, but the emphasis is always on actual behavior—a far different approach than typical measurements of raw reach and frequency.

Clickthrough rates: Clickthrough is the most commonly used metric by online advertisers. Although it is still relied on too heavily, and in inappropriate ways, CTR should continue to be used as a diagnostic metric for direct response initiatives—however, it should not be used as a primary metric.

Select Metrics Used by US Marketers to Measure Interactive Marketing Performance, March 2011 (% of respondents)

Brand perception lift: This metric is calculated by determining the change in brand perception among defined audiences, with the results compared to those of a control group that was not exposed to the messaging.

Engagement Score (ES): This is a special set of integrated metrics that captures the degree of magnetism of the content or ad. Based on a flexible value point system, the ES works across all digital media, from videos and mobile apps to microsites and social community platforms.

End Action Rate: End Actions represent the action taken by a user; it is often also referred to as a conversion activity. An End Action can be a sale, a lead generated, a download, a video view, a form completion, and so on. It is the end goal of the content or advertisement and is a critical metric for determining the effectiveness of the campaign.

Efficiency metrics such as cost per click, impression, lead, order, engagement and so on: These metrics represent the efficiency of a marketing program. Are goals achieved in a cost-effective manner?

Return on investment (ROI): ROI is a critical financial metric representing the value created by your marketing. Digital Impact suggests ROI methodologies for each of six online channels that are built on the principle of incrementality. This is a forward-looking concept and especially helpful when determining ROI of new media. All marketing, whether it is offline or online, should be measured to determine an incremental improvement in some critical consumer activity, such as acquisition, retention, loyalty, key perceptions or sales.

“The right metrics and measurement framework will allow you to prove your worth in both the short-term and the long-term,” Ramsey said.
 

Social Media Video

Marcus Kramer Marketing Director Harley Davidson talks about Social Media

Michael Wu talks about Managing Influencers in Social Media

Social Media Case Study

Tudor Williams

West Midlands Police

Alcon Case Study