SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE FOR MARKETERS

Transcription

1 WHITEPAPER SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE FOR MARKETERS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Today s digital marketer has access to more delivery channels than ever before. As the number of options for reaching customers and prospects increases, questions arise: Which channels do you use when, with whom, and at what time? Organizations are creating new areas of ownership for these emerging channels ones that may live within and outside of marketing departments. And too often, as a result, channel owners lack the time or the resources to collaborate, align activities, or establish shared goals. This whitepaper is written by BlueHornet for and digital marketers. Its purpose is to provide clarity about the symbiotic relationship between two of today s most important digital marketing channels social media and . The document highlights: The unique characteristics of each channel How to determine which social media channels matter most to marketers Ways to bridge the who owns social? gap Ways social media and marketing can be used together The paper also offers ideas for effective, integrated social campaigns, providing options that range from must-have components to more complex, data-centric programs. There are many different aspects of social media management. While some of these, like social listening and community management, may be less relevant to the marketer, the majority, including social sharing, acquisition, and engagement, offer a wealth of opportunities and rich sources of data that marketers can use to drive immediate and long-term program improvement. bluehornet.com

2 CONTENTS 3 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 7 MAXIMIZING THE REACH OF 16 SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUR SOCIALLY ENGAGED MARKETING SUBSCRIBERS CONCLUSION 4 WHO OWNS SOCIAL? 8 WHAT SOCIAL NETWORKS MATTER MOST TO MARKETERS? 4 TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL VIA 9 SOCIAL MEDIA? SOCIAL CAMPAIGN IDEAS 2

3 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING On its own, social media marketing offers companies many unique and highly effective ways to build brand awareness, monitor consumer sentiment, and create an engaged community. Here are some characteristics of social media marketing: By nature, social networking sites are designed to keep community members within the walls of their network. Most social media marketing efforts start and stay there. Social media communications can be scheduled in advance for larger audience segments. But due to the speed with which conversations evolve, posts will seem off-topic or impersonal if not well integrated into the messaging stream. Good community managers can build brand loyalty quickly by engaging individually with fans and followers; however, due to staffing constraints, personal outreach is commonly reserved for the most vocal members of a social network those who are very happy or very unhappy. Most brand fans aren t looking to be sold to directly when they re engaged in social networking activity. For those one-to-one conversations that do take place between brands and followers, it is very difficult to collect data from the engagements that can be used for targeting or building richer customer profiles. By itself, marketing also offers unique and effective ways to connect with customers and prospects ways that are quite distinct from social media marketing: can drive subscribers anywhere on the web including to social networks and the action can happen right after an is deployed. Discounts are the number one reason consumers sign up for programs. They want and expect to be sold to via this channel. Thanks to robust data management and targeting capabilities, even pre-scheduled and fullyautomated messages can be highly personalized to individual profiles and preferences. Better Together: Social Looked at individually, social and have different strengths and applications. Social primarily broadcasts to a defined ecosystem in a publicly consumable way. is a more private method of communicating with customers, and it allows you to use customer data for targeting; each engagement enriches customer profiles for better targeting and relevance next time around. 3

4 Collectively, the two channels align in their ability to extend reach and inform. We call this collective strategic use of social media and marketing social . Neither nor social marketing campaigns alone will likely provide the comprehensive view of and engagement with your customers that an effective social program can achieve. But through their combined use, marketers can accomplish several critical digital marketing tasks: increase relevance; improve targeting effectiveness; enhance social media engagement; and drive online sales. Best of all, this can be done in ways that create positive customer experiences across both channels. WHO OWNS SOCIAL? Many marketers, taxed with enough to do as it relates to alone, don t take the time to fully assess the potential of social because they don t manage their company s social media program they don t own social. However, as social media mainstreams its way into how we engage personally and professionally, asking the question, Who owns social? becomes something akin to asking Who owns Microsoft Word? or Who owns LinkedIn? Each are tools that most of us use to communicate, albeit in different ways and at different times. We all own them. Once we become more comfortable looking at social media as a communication tool, the question becomes less about ownership and more about a) identifying ways multiple groups within an organization can use social media to reach a shared set of goals, and b) coordinating these communication efforts for maximum effectiveness. Without question and regardless of current organizational structures every marketer can improve the value of their program by making the decision to own the ways social and can work together. TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL VIA SOCIAL MEDIA? Consumers have strong feelings about how and when they want marketers to provide them with offers. The good news is that your customers do want you to sell to them especially if you can provide them special deals or privileges but it is important to remember that they want to make the rules about when and where that communication takes place. When consumers are on social sites, they re primarily engaging with others personally or professionally. They engage with brands too, but the reasons for those engagements are most often because they re fans of a product that they already own or because they re educating themselves about a product or service that they may wish to purchase. 4

5 BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INCREASED EXPOSURE INCREASED TRAFFIC PROVIDED MARKETPLACE INSIGHT DEVELOPED LOYAL FANS GENERAL LEADS 75% 69% 65% 61% Source: 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner 89% Additionally, more than half of marketers who have been using social media for at least three years report it has helped them improve sales. Social Media is a Cocktail Party For a while now, an analogy has circulated in digital marketing circles that compares social media to a cocktail party you re there to network, not to sell. The distinction is subtle, but important. Brands need to inform and engage followers about their offerings, and nobody s going to complain about an occasional special offer, especially when it s exclusive to them and their network. But your social media followers do not want to get bombarded with hard sell messages when they re more interested in status updates from their friends. Direct Sales Via , Indirect Sales Via Social On the other hand, when it comes to marketing, consumer sentiment is crystal clear. They want to be sold to via . In fact, in BlueHornet s 2013 Consumer Views of Marketing survey of 1,000 men and women across the U.S., the number one reason given for subscribing to programs is to receive discounts and offers. 5

6 WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT REASON FOR SIGNING UP TO RECEIVE S FROM COMPANIES SEEKING YOUR BUSINESS? TO RECEIVE DISCOUNTS TO GET PRODUCT/ SERVICE UPDATES IF I LOVE THE BRAND TO PARTICIPATE IN PRODUCT RESEARCH 9.1% 6.4% 8.2% 7.0% 10.0% 3.1% 72.6% 83.5% Consumers love to get discounts via Considering the widely differing consumer views on where they prefer to get online offers, marketers have the greatest opportunity to drive direct sales via the channel. But, marketers can help drive higher customer lifetime value with their brand s socially engaged subscribers, too. This is done most effectively by identifying subscribers who have the greatest reach socially, and targeting and remarketing to those subscribers based on their social sharing activity. Why focus here? The idea is to let your subscribers sell socially on your brand s behalf. All it takes is a single tweet, one I just bought this post on Facebook, or something similar. If that one subscriber has hundreds of engaged followers, your offer s reach has expanded exponentially. 6

7 MAXIMIZING THE REACH OF YOUR SOCIALLY ENGAGED SUBSCRIBERS Your social media team is likely focused primarily on building out your brand s social media presence. But as an marketer, you have a valuable opportunity to capitalize on the social media presence of your subscribers. What s the difference? Considering the exponential reach that can be gained by tapping your fans network of followers, it can be significant. A strong brand presence on social sites is important, but it is the fan network that powers real success. Case in point: Lillian Sue reports that for each Share, Zappos earns $33.66 on Twitter, $2.08 on Facebook, and $0.75 on Pinterest in incremental revenue. And as Sue notes, facilitating the social endorsement doesn t rely on Zappos s social media presence, but rather on the social media presence of their customers. Here are some ways marketers can extend reach and drive incremental revenue by leveraging the presence of their socially engaged subscribers: Identify, Target, and Engage Your Socially Active Subscribers When you acquire new subscribers via social media, the opportunity exists to capture rich quantities of their social data within your marketing database. This data allows you to identify your socially active subscribers and target them. If you re looking for maximum impact, focus targeting efforts on subscribers who have the largest following of fans who meet your brand s audience profile. Include Social Endorsements in Messages Including social endorsements and commentary in your messages can be a highly strategic move. You already know that consumers value peer reviews and comments, so inserting reviews from social media sites provide that value. What s more, you can use the commentary inserted in your as an opportunity to provide exposure and lend credibility to your most engaged subscriber fans and followers. In turn, this helps them further expand their network and creates additional goodwill between you and your influential subscribers. DID YOU KNOW? 72% of people trust social endorsements, even from complete strangers. (Source: Search Engine Journal) 7

8 WHAT SOCIAL NETWORKS MATTER MOST TO MARKETERS? The social networks where users spend the most time are Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Pinterest and Instagram are growing rapidly and becoming increasingly important, especially for retail and other B2C brands. At the end of the day, the social networks that matter most to marketers are the social networks that matter most to their customers. Start with Existing Subscribers How do you know which ones these are? Start by taking a look at your existing subscriber base. Track and identify which networks they are sharing your content on today. Then look at those networks to confirm that they re a good fit for your brand presence. Look at Acquisition Sources Acquisition source is another key metric for determining which social networks should be a higher priority for marketers. In addition to tracking which social networks subscribers share your content to most frequently, look at which social networks garner the most s subscription sign ups. Take Your Social Team to Lunch And if your company has a dedicated social media team, take them out to lunch. Find out where their efforts are focused and why. Get a sense of what s different in terms of interests and approaches across your brand s various social sites. TOP 15 SOCIAL MEDIA SITES Ranked by Penetration of Active Users, Q % of internet users 1. Facebook 2. Google+ 3. YouTube 4. Twitter 5. Sina Weibo 6. Qzone 7. Tencent 20% 8. Tencent Weibo 19% 9. Youku 12% 10. RenRen 10% 11. Tudou 9% 12. LinkedIn 8% 13. Kalxin 6% 14. Pinterest 4% com 4% 22% 21% 21% 26% 25% Source: emarketer.com; GlobalWebIndex, Stream Social: Quarterly Social Platforms Update Q1 2013, April 26, Note: Ages 16-64; used or contributed in the past month. 51% 8

9 SOCIAL CAMPAIGN IDEAS Grab the Low-Hanging Fruit Here are the three entry-level social components that every marketer should consider as part of a crawl-walk-run strategy: 1. Include Social Network Icons in s Maximize the reach of your campaigns by adding social network icons in the footer or header. Adding Follow us or Join Us text along with the list of social network options provides an ongoing reminder that you re a socially relevant brand and are willing to engage with your subscribers on their terms and on their turf. 2. Promote Your Social Venues to Your Subscribers Invite subscribers to join your social community. Provide a prominent call to action in the campaign and give subscribers good reasons to check out your social pages, feeds, channels, blogs, and boards. Provide your subscribers with compelling social content to help them become fans and get involved socially. 3. Invite Subscribers to Participate in Discussions on Social Sites marketing is traditionally a one-way communication vehicle, but social gives you the ability to invite subscribers to ask questions and continue the discussion on your social networks. Ensure your social team is prepared to actively respond to increased engagement and traffic. Develop a Social Acquisition Program Customers look forward to receiving offers via and prefer social media for sharing and staying updated on their network; so it s important that marketers ensure fans and followers can join the company s program. A good way to do this is by offering an sign up form right on your Facebook page. And a better way is to create a two- or three-step social campaign around acquiring these new subscribers: Step One: Incent In addition to offering the sign up form, provide lots of good reasons why fans and followers should want your s. The most effective programs offer a sign-up value proposition that is different from web or in-store sign ups, tailoring each slightly for the social channel the new subscribers will come from. Step Two: Delight Send a welcome letter that is triggered immediately at sign up, and make sure each welcome letter is tailored to the social network the subscriber came from. Thank the new social subscriber for joining and reward them with an offer, badge, or other relevant incentive. 9

10 Step Three: Get to Know Your New Subscribers When social fans join your program, you may be able to gain access to certain profile data. Make sure that your acquisition program captures that data and passes it to your marketing solution for targeting and segmentation. Look at whether your social acquisition campaign would benefit from an additional to complete the new subscriber s onboarding. If it does, use this opportunity to tailor content to what you know about the fan based on relevant profile data. If the acquisition campaign doesn t warrant another , make sure you re using profile data to place the subscriber in the right campaigns moving forward. Distribute Socially Share-Worthy Campaigns When subscribers share entire s, or select portions of content, with their social community, they are extending the reach of your program and providing a valuable endorsement for your brand. Providing share to social opportunities in is a proven strategy for boosting brand awareness, building word of mouth credibility and driving referral traffic back to point of sale. However, the critical component for these types of campaigns is the content regardless of the user experience, sharing success hinges almost completely on the value or novelty of the content. If the content isn t shareworthy, don t expect it to be passed along. Sharing Entire s Here s one of our favorite examples of an that social media enthusiasts deemed highly shareworthy in its simple-yet-attention-getting entirety. In this case, KFC relied solely on to drive social engagement around the launch of their new sandwich and they got it. Results from this social campaign included: 40% open rate 29% increase in traffic to KFC.com 3 million additional impressions 12,000 shares on Facebook & Twitter in 24 hours 30% increase in opt-ins 10

11 Sharing Portions of an It is also possible to design s so that socially engaged recipients can pick a single portion of the to pass along to their networks. This approach may improve share rates by giving the subscriber the ability to limit shared content to the items they care most about. Sharing a specific piece of content from an (rather than the entire campaign) is great when the contains various articles or products. Cross-Pollinate and Re-Purpose Content & Campaigns Nobody knows as well as marketers about the amount of time and effort it takes to create newsletters and promotional campaigns. Can you repurpose that content for your social media channels? It depends. Sometimes, the restrictions of the social network will require you to make modifications. Unless your campaign comprises text messages that are 140 characters or fewer, for example, s won t translate directly to tweets. The guiding factor is whether or not your campaign is relevant to the conversations taking place on your social sites right now. 11

12 It s a good idea to align your brand s social postings with your communications plan. For businesses that work this way, it s usually possible to repurpose campaign content across multiple channels. Keep in mind, however, that while continuously broadcasting the same messages via and social postings may increase the likelihood of getting visibility into a key campaign, you are creating risk of redundancy. Two things can help you cross-pollinate your content and campaigns across channels effectively repurposing without being redundant: 1. Tailor the Message to the Medium Tailor campaign content to the channel. Chili s restaurant sent an and tweeted about a free dessert/app promotion. The subject line was Free App? Free Dessert? You Choose! The tweet was Celebrate Saturday with a Free App or Dessert! And both campaigns drove traffic to a poll on Facebook, where all visitors could get a coupon for the freebie of their choice. 2. Send Your Messages to the Right Audience Segments It is important to know which social channels your subscribers are active on and which channels they were acquired from, when relevant. So if your brand is launching a huge Facebook campaign, you may choose to identify your active Facebook subscribers and suppress them from the portion of this campaign. While this recommendation may seem counterintuitive, it could be highly strategic if your Facebook campaign is so intensive that sending the same messages to Facebook subscribers would be overkill. It could also work well if your goal is to increase Facebook activity among your inactive subscribers. 3. Add Your Brand s Popular YouTube Videos to Your s Leading service providers should offer you the ability to add video viewing capabilities to your s. The main reason most brands don t do more video is that they lack assets for campaigns. If you have an active YouTube channel, consider cross-pollinating some of those video assets to increase message engagement. 12

13 Optimize Subject Lines, Hero Shots and Offers Social media thought leader and industry veteran, Jay Baer, is a vocal advocate for coordination between social and departments. In fact, Baer argues that the same people who handle marketing within organizations should also own social. Another Baer recommendation is to use and Facebook for image and content testing. Here are some ideas: Conduct Subject Line Testing for Social Site Headlines & Tweets There s no easy way to A/B test Facebook headlines, Pinterest captions, or tweets. But that s OK. is a testing powerhouse, so use it to try out subject lines and learn what pulls the best response. Use the test winner for your next Facebook headline, tweet, etc. One point to note when it comes to YouTube video titles and descriptions, search is king plugging an effective subject line into a YouTube video description may not drive the same results that you d see from creating the title based on keyword research. Let Facebook Likes Inform Hero Shot Decisions Wondering what your next hero shot should be? Take a look at the most popular images on your Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest pages for inspiration. Of course, these have to be contextually relevant to your messaging, but think about how you can use your social communities for insight into things your larger target audience may care about. If the passion is particularly high, you may even consider modifying your overall campaign strategy to take advantage of response trends. Float High-Response Offers Across Social We ve already discussed the question of direct selling on social sites. Generally speaking, customers don t turn to social when they re looking to buy, unless it s for a recommendation or review. However, if one of your offers is off-the-charts successful, that means that your customers find it valuable. You could encourage your subscribers to share the offer (and if it s indeed that valuable, they likely will). You may also consider putting it on your own social sites as an opportunity to extend reach and to share value with a larger portion of your target market. 13

14 Launch a Brand Advocate Reward Campaign By definition, social brand advocates are well positioned to promote their favorite products and companies. But social media brand advocacy doesn t always happen organically, and if it does, it doesn t happen overnight. Fortunately, marketers are equipped with the data it takes to identify and target their most influential customers. And they have at their fingertips an marketing platform that can speed that message to thousands of brand advocates in a very short timeframe. 1. Define the Target Audience Here s a sample of the criteria you can use to identify brand advocates in your program: Query your database for all subscribers who have socially shared an at least twice in the last 45 days and have a top-tier customer lifetime value. 2. Create the Brand Advocate Segment Subscribers who meet the example criteria above, or the criteria that best meets your requirements, are your brand advocate segment. 3. Engage & Reward Once the target audience is defined and segmented, send an to your subscribers asking for their input on a key question, such as an offer. For example, Do you prefer free shipping, a percentage off your order, or a flat savings rate? Drive them to Facebook or Twitter to respond. Then send another with a special deal maybe one that combines free shipping and a percentage off their next purchase! These socially engaged subscribers are likely to pay close attention to your s moving forward. And you ll get their valuable engagement on your brand s social site, too. 14

15 Integrate Social Endorsements into Promotional & Transactional Messages We ve discussed the value of social media endorsements in promotional s as a way to capitalize on the exponential reach offered by your most socially engaged subscribers. Endorsements in promotional s can also increase conversion rates and incremental purchasing. So why stop there? Integrate positive dialogues and endorsements that are taking place on social channels in your transactional messages too. Here are two types of transactional messages to consider: Purchase Confirmation s You can use social endorsements in purchase confirmation s in multiple ways. They can cross-sell when coupled with next logical purchase recommendations. Or, they can simply be a way to make your customers feel good about the purchases they make. In this scenario, the social endorsement should be for the product that was just purchased. Cart Abandonment s When carts get abandoned, it is important to think about effective ways to get the customer back into buying mode discounts aren t the only way to do that. marketers have a valuable opportunity to provide testimonials or customer ratings and reviews that will help validate the customer s buying decision and encourage a transaction. These endorsements can come from the brand s social sites. Here s a sample user experience: 15

16 CONCLUSION By effectively combining the best of and social programs, social creates rich opportunities for cross-channel marketing that can drive acquisition, engagement, advocacy, and ultimately higher customer lifetime value. Regardless of the resources available or the maturity of a brand s social programs, the key is integrating these two powerful marketing channels to create fans and advocates out of subscribers, while rewarding brand followers for becoming a part of your program. Limited time? Limited resources? BLUEHORNET CAN HELP. Integrate social media and marketing to engage your subscribers, fans, and customers at every stage of their relationship with your brand from aquisition to advocacy all within BlueHornet s emarketing Suite. Find out how SocialLoop can work for you... BlueHornet 2355 Northside Drive Suite B250 San Diego, CA (866) sales@bluehornet.com 16