enhancing your business with social media
DESCRIPTION
Social media and web 2.0 have been creating a buzz online. Many of you may be aware of this but do not know how to utilize these outlets to build relationships and loyalty with customers.The goal is to leverage the transparency and interactivity created through social media to your advantage. You can let customers know what’s new with your company and you can also in turn learn what your customers like and don’t like and how to better serve them.TRANSCRIPT
Enhancing Your Business with Social Media
Presenter:
Alex Kehayias
Product Manager
Agenda
The recent growth in social media
Reasons you want to use social media
Platforms to implement
Our experience with social media
How to take action
Some downfalls
A free tool from Comodo
In this webinar we will cover:
Why Use Social Media?
Social Media is Growing
There are 87 percent more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites.
In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has surged 73 percent.
In February, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail usage for the first time.
* Nielsen April 2009, “Report: Social Media And Video Site Engagement Reshapes The Web”
Social Media Highlights:
What is in Social Media for me?
Three main reasons:– Marketing: Keep your ears to the street
– Operations: Use feedback to improve
– Sales: Generate leads
Why should I hop on the Social Media bandwagon?
Social Media Platforms
What should I use to get into Social Media?
Twitter: Microblogging platform based on 140 character messages
FaceBook: Social Networking site, can add friends, send messages and update profile
LinkedIn: Networking site geared towards professionals
Forums: Industry related discussion, or product based
VideoBlogs– Youtube– Example: Gary Vaynerchuk created a video blog which helped turn his small family wine
store into a multimillion dollar a year company http://tv.winelibrary.com/
Blogs– Wordpress– Blogger– LiveJournal
Popular Social Media Platforms:
The Power of Twitter
47 million daily visitors
The U.S. State Department asked Twitter to forgo routine maintenance so protesters in Iran would be able to communicate.
When reports of Michael Jackson’s death broke out people flocked to Twitter for updates causing Twitter Search to run about twenty minutes behind real time
Even NATO tweets http://twitter.com/nato_news
Companies successfully utilizing Twitter include; @DellOutlet, @Zappos, @HomeDepot, @JetBlue, @IBMEvents, @DunkinDonuts
Dell claims to have made over $3 million through its efforts in Twitter
Some Twitter Highlights:
A Twopportunity Lost
“62% of marketer neglect to join the conversation either by not monitoring social media or not responding to negative commentary. These companies are missing an important opportunity to learn what prospects, customers and influencers are saying about them, and to nip in the bud any issues that may negatively affect their brands.”
-MarketingSherpa 2009 Social Media & PR Benchmark Guide
Video Blogging
The number of American users frequenting online video destinations has climbed 339 percent since 2003.
Time spent on video sites has shot up almost 2,000 percent over the same period.
In the last year alone, unique viewers of online video grew 10 percent, the number of streams grew 41 percent, the streams per user grew 27 percent
and the total minutes engaged with online video grew 71 percent.
* Nielsen April 2009, “Report: Social Media And Video Site Engagement Reshapes The Web”
Video Blogging Statistics:
Our Video Blog: ComodoVision
Implement User Generated Content
Amazon and Ebay use reviews to further customer confidence
Nearly 9 out of 10 U.S. online buyers read customer reviews at some point before making a purchase.
86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend's recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (Marketing Sherpa, July 2007)
Having testimonials on your site keeps customers from leaving tofind them elsewhere.
Reviews and Testimonials:
Step 1: Monitor
Tools for Monitoring and Engaging
Twitter allows for third parties to develop software– twittervision, twitterfeed, twhirl, tweetscan, twistori, twitter-search,
tweetdeck ,twitpic, hellotxt, twitterific
At Comodo, we use TweetDeck– Manages all functions of twitter in one interface
– We use it to monitor all conversations about our brand and products through key word searches
NetVibes
Google Alerts
Tools:
Step 2: Take Action
How to Take Action
Twitter: Establish guidelines for content, engaging and responding to feedback
Assign an employee to represent your company
General feedback (ex: “This company sucks, I hate them!”) should be avoided, but specific negative feedback, which you can turn around can be very beneficial to engage (ex: “I don’t understand ‘x’ feature, I keep trying but it just doesn’t work. Very frustrated.”)
Twitter:
FaceBook:Create a company page
Fans can write on your wall, check for updates and upload photos
How to Take Action
Record videos of tutorials, how-to’s and helpful tips and start a channel on YouTube.
Next step is creating an in-house outlet for video
Enlist and employee, executive or hire a content writer to write daily blog posts (recommended one a day)
Gives customers more insight into your company and they can leave productive comments
Video Blogging:
Blogging:
How to Take Action
Get your company listed
Start a group
Answers section allows you to establish yourself as an expert, and show that you give back to your community
LinkedIn:
In General:
Important to engage and give back to the communities you’re part of, not only take and push promotions.
Use feedback gained to improve operations
How to Take Action
Comodo’s UserTrust is a completely free testimonial engine. www.usertrust.com
UserTrust allows you to have testimonials right on your site instead of forcing your customers to leave your site and find reviews elsewhere. The more time spent on your site the better.
This is something you can do today
UserTrustReviews and Testimonials:
Step 3: Tracking
Tracking
Important to find which efforts are fruitful
Set up a Google Analytics account
Tracking codes
Use tools like Salesforce to record and track leads
Tips for tracking:
Social Media Downfalls
Social Media Drawbacks
Steep learning curve– Very hard to find the medium between useful information and pushy
promotions– Spam companies
Extra management– Must monitor employees talking about your company– Handling negative feedback
Can be difficult to trackLarge time commitment– Blogging, tweeting, answering questions, updating profiles, recording
videos
Some Downfalls:
Summation: Your Checklist
Summation
Are you monitoring your brand?
Are you engaging your customers?
Are you using Social Media tools?
Are you implementing feedback?
Are you using reviews?
Check List:
Thank You!
Stay Tuned For Future Comodo Webinars
Follow us on Twitter: @comodoecommerce
Email us at: [email protected]