Mastering Marketing in Social Media

Transcription

1 White Paper Mastering Marketing in Social Media

2 White Paper Mastering Marketing in Social Media Lessons learned from Dell, IBM and Zendesk In-depth interviews show how social media marketing leaders are finding high-value insight in social venues and transforming it into action. For corporations, social media is about branding, messaging and engagement which also happen to be the three primary marketing domains. In-depth interviews with three leaders in social media marketing show how these companies have used brand-generated content and active listening techniques across all of the channels where their audiences aggregate to not only drive business success, but to inform marketing and business decisions as well. The three companies interviewed for this white paper IBM, Dell and Zendesk are at different stages of social media development, yet all set prime examples of best practices. Their experiences show how leading marketers are finding their brands audiences online, developing content to meet those audiences needs, making sure that content reaches its intended targets and then working hard to make sense of the high-volume, continuous stream of real-time feedback coming back at them via social venues. Beyond the best practices, though, are the uses to which these companies put the insights they gleaned from social media. Listening to its Social Echo a term PR Newswire coined to describe the powerful reverberation of conversations around your brand that occur in the numerous social networks where people gather today 1 spurred Dell s decision to transform from hardware maker to services provider. IBM data mines for customer leads. And Zendesk makes high-value content the cornerstone of all of its social media marketing endeavors. 1. Amplifying your Social Echo, PR Newswire,

3 These companies are demonstrating the value that can be derived from engaging with customers in social media venues, as well as the challenges that come with marketing in real time. This white paper examines both the value and the challenges, as told by key marketing executives from these three companies. More specifically, the paper explores: > The core discipline of actively listening to your Social Echo how careful monitoring of conversations and tone can be used to improve not only brand affinity, but also products and processes > Why high-value content matters more than ever > The payoff of purposeful, active and ongoing engagement > How to integrate social media into existing business practices > The importance of inviting the right stakeholders to the social table and educating them in the safe and appropriate use of social media > How analytics platforms are being used to make sense of the big data generated from social networking and other platforms Over the years, we ve been trying to go where the audience is, so we can join in a conversation with them there. Michael Buck Executive Director of Global CSMB Online Marketing, Dell Go where your audiences are, and listen The experiences of IBM and Dell show that the effectiveness of an organization s social media monitoring including what they do with insights derived from the process is key to the success of its social media strategy. Social collaboration is nothing new for Dell; it has been making use of customer insights derived online since the pre-facebook/twitter days when forums and discussion groups were the latest and greatest collaboration tools. Dell s efforts began and continue to be driven by listening to its Social Echo. Michael Buck, Dell s Executive Director of Global CSMB Online Marketing, said Dell s earliest social marketing efforts involved active listening. We started by having Dell team members actively go out to blogs where people were talking about us. Then, we expanded into Twitter and Facebook [as they arose]. Over the years, we ve been trying to go where the audience is, so we can join in a conversation with them there, he says. Marketers agree that listening is key not only at the beginning of social marketing efforts, but also over time. The practice enables companies to gauge the tone of conversation about their products and practices, and then develop and adjust marketing campaigns not to mention the products and practices themselves accordingly, and in real time. Dell is using a variety of tools for listening to conversations about the company and its products and services. 3

4 In December 2010, we launched our own Social Media Listening Command Center, a hub that tracks the whole scope of Dell conversations occurring across the Web, explains Buck. We also utilize a social media monitoring tool. Through those tools, we are able to track over 25,000 Dell conversations daily around the globe. We are defining filters, prioritizing based on relevancy and forwarding this feedback to the right decision-makers in the company. Social media listening tools empower us with real-time feedback from customers, tracking conversation metrics including subjects, sentiment, trending and geography. More and more, this globally available, direct feedback enables real-time decision making and provides transparency across all levels within our organization, he notes. Active and ongoing listening has enabled Dell to respond quickly to customer needs, which is key to building brand loyalty. Listen closely and your audiences will tell you what to do Buck says that active and ongoing listening has enabled Dell to respond quickly to customer needs, which is key to building brand loyalty. By tapping into data from customers about how they use Dell products, what are their most pressing concerns and what they need moving forward, Dell marketers and other stakeholders have been able to essentially transform the business. For example, Buck notes that feedback from customers informed Dell s decision to make the transition from a hardware provider to a provider of services and solutions for people and organizations. This evolution has been occurring during the past several quarters driven in no small part by Dell s September 2009 $3.9 billion acquisition of technology services and business solutions provider Perot Systems and is a direct result of feedback received from Dell stakeholders. Kathy Mandelstein, IBM s Director of Worldwide Marketing, Web and Events, says the company leverages BANTER, an internal tool used to examine the number and sentiment of blogs and tweets, along with digital marketing dashboards. The dashboards, she adds, use IBM s SPSS and Cognos business analytics software to help analyze the success of efforts on an ongoing basis and adjust our plans accordingly. Mandelstein notes that IBM has a dedicated listening team for the IBM Software Group. Put into practice, listening, in conjunction with other social media efforts, has paid significant dividends for IBM. We use social media in two major ways for sales, supported by marketing: First, we listen for leads. Lead-development reps mine social conversations for people who are looking for solutions or considering issuing a request for proposal. We have been doing this for several years with excellent success and have generated $7 million from the practice, says Mandelstein. 4

5 Second, IBM is giving all of its sales reps their own individual Web pages linked to Twitter and Facebook, and equipping them for live chat with Lotus Sametime, our instant messaging solution. We re also enabling reps with video cameras as a sort of virtual whiteboard to share with customers. Marketing supports reps Web pages with content and campaigns to bring in customers. We ve had a social media marketing council all the way back to 2004, with members from all over the company, to help educate and help others to understand the best ways to use social for marketing purposes. Kathy Mandelstein Director of Worldwide Marketing, Web & Events, IBM Invite and educate colleagues Successful use of social media for marketing means expanding the use of social platforms beyond the marketing department. While it s true that social strategy often bubbles up from (or eventually becomes the domain of) marketing, the marketing department must work with stakeholders in other departments to effectively engage customers and potential customers on social platforms. Explains IBM s Mandelstein: We ve had a social media marketing council all the way back to 2004, with members from all over the company, to help educate and help others to understand the best ways to use social for marketing purposes, whether it s for customer support, product development or getting input from customers on technologies. After colleagues have been invited to the social table, and before they actually start posting and engaging with customers on behalf of the company, they are educated in the effective and appropriate use of the technology. Social media savvy doesn t just happen, the company realizes. Indeed, used inappropriately or inexpertly, social media is a minefield fraught with liabilities. IBM therefore provides a number of resources that offer targeted guidelines and training for its employees, including its IBM Social Computing Guidelines a valuable model for other companies. IBM s guidelines break down potentially complex issues with strong, simple language that defines clearly yet encouragingly what is and is not expected of IBM employees in social networks. This approach has a direct impact on a company s marketing efforts, as effective use of social media for marketing requires the buy-in and expertise of stakeholders throughout the organization. To help ensure that this kind of collaboration can take place, IBM launched Social IBM on its intranet earlier this year. This resource is designed to educate employees about social media and various social initiatives taking place at the company, thus enabling them to participate more effectively. Says Mandelstein, We host modules that provide the IBMer with an introduction to the social Web. They learn how to use social computing tools to foster collaboration, disseminate and consume news, develop networks, forge closer relationships and build 5

6 credibility. As a result, they re better informed and prepared to take action. They can get certified from the curriculum and receive a badge for their internal social network, IBM Connections. We also have a Blue IQ Ambassador team of thousands of volunteers that help enable and train other IBMers on both external and internal social tools. And then we have what are called love tweets... Those people are evangelizing your brand those are the people you want to nurture. Integrate social marketing efforts into existing business processes Zendesk s experience demonstrates the value of studying existing business processes to determine how social marketing efforts may fit in with them, optimize them or be optimized by them. Zendesk is newer to the use of social collaboration for marketing purposes, but, like Dell and IBM, the company clearly sees the value of capturing customer sentiment and leveraging it to promote brand awareness and improve Zendesk products and practices. As a maker of help desk services and software, Zendesk is a natural at capturing that data and sentiment, according to Tiffany Maleshefski, Editor of the company s Zengage blog. While the company is capturing help-related data on social networks in order to provide support to customers, it is also using that data to gauge customer sentiment and suss out potential evangelists external marketers, if you will. Tiffany Maleshefski Editor of Zengage Blog, Zendesk Zendesk is using a variety of platforms for social media marketing, but it is currently focusing its efforts on Twitter, which it has been using widely for some time and provides a natural fit for customer service and support processes. Maleshefski says marketing efforts are in large part woven into those service and support processes. Social marketing is therefore not a new discipline at Zendesk, but a logical outgrowth of existing company goals and directives. The support team captures any mention of Zendesk that s on Twitter, says Maleshefski. Anything that needs actual support follow-up, they re grabbing those tickets. And then we have what are called love tweets. Anything that s a compliment to us someone re-tweeted an article, someone mentioned us in a positive way or just mentioned something that we have on the site those get assigned to me in the form of a support ticket that comes into my queue, and then I respond. Those people are evangelizing your brand those are the people you want to nurture. Maleshefski says responding to and encouraging these evangelists can be as simple as a thank you or can involve a longer exchange of ideas. The point is not to leave any compliment or especially any complaint just sitting there. Not only does the user see that, but so does everyone who is, say, following your organization (on Twitter) or who is a fan of your page (on Facebook). 6

7 Think like an editor On the blog, we try to generate thought leadership articles; we re trying to generate useful content around how our product works and how our customers can get the most out of their product. Previous research has shown that compelling content combined with intelligently targeted distribution is becoming the glue that re-integrates brand marketers audiences, regardless of the number of forms, formats or forums into which those audiences have splintered. 2 As a result, many marketing departments are absorbing editorial functions. Interestingly, while Maleshefski was hired by Zendesk as the editor of its Zengage blog, she moved into marketing as branded content became a key marketing tool for the company. Zendesk realized that when customers and prospects perceive branded content as solid technical information, it could make the difference needed for a decision-maker to go with Zendesk over a competitor. That s where Maleshefski s trained editor s sensibility comes in. Tiffany Maleshefski Editor of Zengage Blog, Zendesk We generate a lot of different content here, says Maleshefski. On the blog, we try to generate thought leadership articles; we re trying to generate useful content around how our product works and how our customers can get the most out of their product. We also have a resources section of the Web site, where we re putting information about training, webinars, white papers and anything related to that. Maleshefski notes that content is also developed and strategically published and promoted for key events. She adds that Zendesk is working toward publishing branded content on an editorial calendar schedule that is, publishing the content in a purposeful, measured way based on events, such as shows and conferences, that would ignite further interest and, potentially, leads. For example, when we have a concentrated effort, like a launch, what we re going to do is make sure that all of that content is going out on a regular basis all week, she explains. For instance, we just launched a new voice feature that allows a company to get a call center up and running. So we tweeted out the landing page, we tweeted out the press release, we had an accompanying blog post, we had a video, and we had an infographic related to call center data. In conjunction with that content, Maleshefski says, Zendesk leveraged Twitter s hashtag capabilities to piggyback on the interest around the popular TechCrunchDisrupt conference, which was going on at the time the voice feature was launched (not coincidentally). Twitter users can search for hashtags or, using available tools, even follow them. So when Zendesk launched its voice feature, the Zendesk marketing team used the TechCrunch hashtag #tcdisrupt, as well as the #custserv hashtag, in all related tweets. So that let us get our information out in front of the two audiences we wanted most, says Maleshefski. 2. Marketing is Content, PR Newswire,

8 We have integrated Dell-branded content into several Dell social media platforms. Michael Buck Executive Director of Global CSMB Online Marketing, Dell Dell, too, has made wide use of branded content and is integrating it strategically, says Buck. We have integrated Dell-branded content into several Dell social media platforms. Examples include Dell in the Clouds, a microsite that hosts blogs, Twitter conversations and further resources regarding Dell s cloud solutions. We also host a number of communities, such as Business Solutions Exchange on LinkedIn, Social Media for Business and Dell for Business on Facebook, Buck says. 100,000 points of engagement Of course, it is not enough to simply offer up content and post updates. Marketers who want to take advantage of social media must set up a program of active and ongoing engagement, connecting customers with the people at the organization who can help them most and/or in the most timely manner. Buck says Dell currently engages with customers through what he calls the four pillars of the company s social media ecosystem: > Dell.com, which hosts ratings, reviews and customer feedback relating to Dell products and services > Dell communities, such as IdeaStorm, a platform launched in 2007 that is designed to give voice to customers and enable the sharing of ideas > External communities, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter > 100,000 employees That last pillar represents one of the biggest changes in Dell s use of social networking. Although social media initiatives began with PR teams at Dell, employees now play the role of brand ambassador across the company, notes Buck. This requires a purposeful, dedicated engagement plan, as well as policy development and training to ensure that the employees who will be representing Dell clearly understand company guidelines regarding the appropriate use of social media. Our employees play a vital role in our social media outreach, and, to date, we have trained more than 8,000 Dell employees to engage with customers through social media, says Buck. Dell s Social Media and Communities University is a key enabler for the company to leverage the power of 100,000-plus employees as brand ambassadors, confident that they have been empowered to use it the right way. Likewise, where Maleshefski was once a one-person engagement show, more and more employees at Zendesk are being trained on the company s use of social media and its integration with the support process, as well as empowered to interact with customers on behalf of the company. This has not only spread the marketing love, so to speak, it has also 8

9 enabled the company to increasingly conduct its engagement efforts in real time. Anybody who is trained and on shift can field an issue, question or concern, explains Maleshefski. You can create these really fantastic [LinkedIn] groups and make sure that the people who are chiming in on a topic are in fact experts in their field. Determine the right tool for the job The list of social networks that organizations need to be paying attention to is long and getting longer. Each social platform has different strengths and weaknesses, and marketers must work diligently to determine the best social network and social networking capability for a given job. Maleshefski notes that each social network should be treated and used differently, as each has unique features that must be considered and applied based on the desired outcomes. Tiffany Maleshefski Editor of Zengage Blog, Zendesk Rather than just saying, When you think of it, tweet something, we really think about how to maximize things, she says. We have 6,000 Twitter followers. We re always thinking, What do we do with that? How do we make that more powerful? We have 3,000 people who like our Facebook page. If they are customers, how do we get them to stay engaged, spread the love back our way and upgrade their plan if they are trialing the product or are just interested in it? Maleshefski notes that LinkedIn, widely considered to be the most businessoriented social network in wide use today, is an effective platform for promoting content and best practices, as well as for moderating discussions among followers. Because LinkedIn allows group administrators to control admission, You can create these really fantastic groups and make sure that the people who are chiming in on a topic are in fact experts in their field, she says. So you have a little bit more control over the trends that are coming out of those conversations. This practice not only engages current members of the groups, but also attracts others through the value and peer insight the conversations provide. And these rich dialogues are gold for marketers. When considering the most effective platforms for different marketing functions and goals, today s global companies must also consider where their customers are located, says IBM s Mandelstein. We re using different networks in different parts of the world, she explains. In the United States, definitely Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the most popular, but in other parts of the world, other social networks are more prominent. Mixi, for example, is a popular social network in Japan. We enable our teams on a global basis and encourage them to use the social networks that are most prominent in each marketplace. 9

10 Analyze this Looking solely at social media traffic, getting people to register for, say, a webinar, Twitter is the tool anything quick. Facebook is more effective with content that people are going to sit down and take some time with.. Marketers interviewed for this white paper noted the importance of using analytics to measure the performance of social media marketing efforts over time. This is literally a growing challenge, as social networks are one of the biggest contributors to the rise of big data information generated from the widespread use of mobile, social and smart applications. That data, often unstructured and thus difficult to analyze using traditional database tools, is practically useless unless effectively parsed and then parceled out to relevant company stakeholders. Tiffany Maleshefski Editor of Zengage Blog, Zendesk Mandelstein says IBM is using Cognos Consumer Insight to obtain detailed insight into the interaction of people and content over social media platforms, as well as IBM Coremetrics Social, which is designed to aid in the analysis of the business impact of social marketing initiatives. With these tools combined, we re able to generate a holistic view of our social media marketing efforts and make the necessary changes and tweaks to our strategy, says Mandelstein. This is all part of our agile development concept the idea is that we re able to respond quickly with the help of these analytical tools to best reach our customers and prospects socially. Maleshefski says Zendesk is evaluating a number of data analytics tools, and is currently using Google Analytics for a holistic view of its marketing efforts on social media. Zendesk also uses the built-in tools of each of the social networks the company leverages. We want to see which pages are most impacted by a social media thread, she explains. So we use Facebook tags and Twitter analytics tags, and that s what we re really looking at: If people are on our Facebook page, what are they paying attention to most? If people are on Twitter, what are they paying attention to the most? It s interesting. For instance, looking solely at social media traffic, getting people to register for, say, a webinar, Twitter is the tool anything quick. Facebook is more effective with content that people are going to sit down and take some time with. Dell also uses a variety of tools to measure success, but one of the key metrics it examines is tone. When we first came into social media, there was a lot of negative sentiment. Our goal was to see if we could turn those negative conversations into positive conversations, and, over time, we ve turned around a lot of that sentiment, says Buck. It s basic customer service. If you have an issue where your customer is unhappy, you want to address it with them directly. Often those who are very negative about the company, when they see the company making an effort, become your strongest supporters. 10

11 Conclusion: social media as the experience of a brand Looking ahead, the three companies plan to keep right on expanding their use of social media. Zendesk will continue to hone its focus on particular campaigns and the matching of content to individual social venues. For Dell, We ve noticed customers trust the recommendations of existing customers. To best maximize this opportunity, we will see much more user-generated content in the future incorporated with Dell content online, says Buck. And IBM emphasizes educating employees and empowering them with content. We see social media as a communication channel that is evolving into the way we interact with our customers and business partners externally, and how we work internally. IBM doesn t produce consumer products anymore, so our brand experience is an experience with the IBMer. About PR Newswire PR Newswire ( is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms and solutions that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 57 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content from rich media to online video to multimedia and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, social, search and mobile channels. Combining the world s largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world s enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company. 11

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