social media is changing the world! will you get onboard on have regrets?

Social Media is Changing the World!Will You Get Onboard or Have Regrets?

Social Media is Changing the World!Will You Get Onboard or Have Regrets?

Presented By:Francine Allaire, Revenue Acceleration Strategist

1

The New Landscape• 101 million web users read blogs – Comscore• 17% of time online is spent on social networking and reading

blogs/reviews – Nielsen• 70% of bloggers write about brands organically, almost half post

product reviews – Technorati• 65% of blog readers access blogs to get an opinion – Synovate• 92% of people trust user reviews over sales people – Penn Shoen

and Berland• 52% of readers said blogs factored into the critical moment they

decided to buy – Jupiter Research• 78% listen to someone else when it comes to buying not the

company – Forrester Research• 70% of people turn to family & friends for advice when making

a purchasing decision – Nielsen • Fact or fiction? Most customers seek out deals, discounts,

promotions online – CIO Magazine

Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

“New” Customer Decision Cycle Harvard Business Review – December 2010

“New” Customer Decision Cycle Harvard Business Review – December 2010

Evaluation Stage = Seek Input from Peers, Colleagues, Friends, Fans,

Followers, Reviewers, Industry Experts

BUY ~ Most powerful influenceis someone else’s advocacy

Consideration Stage = Selection of Multiple

Brands Enjoy,

Advocate and BondEnjoy, AdvocateBond


Why Social Media?

• Engage, educate and energize your audience / community to fuel the conversations, the experiences, the recommendations

• Plays a critical role in building relationships and in creating a bond with your brand

• Brand awareness and value creation make it easier for your customers to find you, to trust you and to recommend your products or services to others

• Provide the ability to demonstrate your expertise, thought leadership and differentiation

• Ability to attract new customers, skilled employees and strategic partnerships

• Generate sales, improve customer service and reduce support costs

• Help foster brand and customer loyalty


Why Social Media?

• Go to market, communication and marketing strategies must evolve because people and companies are buying differently today

• Buying patterns and customer dynamics have changed – companies/people look at the Internet, read blogs, check forums, online groups, get feedback on Twitter or other tools, ask friends, peers, colleagues, industry experts and other trusted sources on social networks

• Social media is not a fad. Conversations are happening with or without you, are you listening? Better yet, are you participating, igniting the conversations? The debate as to whether or not you should.. is over! The Question now is how?


The Money Statistics• Companies are now building their own audience – from

traditional rented audiences (print, radio, TV…) to owned audiences (Blog, Social Media…) to match the behaviors of the businesses/consumers

• Top 25 newspaper readership 12M people, market share 16% year

• Coke Fan Page has over 24M Fans 22% per month

• Cost 80K for a full page ad in the NY times – finite shelf-life where the value diminishes over time, digital media has a long trail effect and the value increases over time

• 310M people in the U.S. 200M on Twitter, 100M on YouTube, 600M on Facebook

• 70% of people search online prior to making a decision/purchase


PARTNERS

EMPLOYEES

CUSTOMERS/PROSPECTS

SUPPLIERS

Your Company -

Social Business

In the Network Economy Everything is Intertwined!

Your business ecosystem of customers, prospects and partners together are very powerful and should be leveraged. Make your customers talk to prospects. Make your partners evangelizers of your vision. Let your alliances speak for you. Let your suppliers help you. Hire passionate/caring employees and entrust them with doing the right thing.


Make Social Your Business™!

IBM conducted a study with 1,600 CEOs worldwide

• Number of CEOs who are now crowd sourcing with partners and customers, outside of their firewall, has increased by 60% over last year

• 50% of the outperformers leverage their ecosystem of partners, customers, suppliers and employees

• The net net: when you go outside of your firewall your build higher brand loyalty, increase your level of influence, add value and gain a competitive edge


Challenges to Social Media Adoption• Social media takes time and requires new skill sets • The emphasis is on near-term cash generation and survival “not

community” (especially for public companies)• Lack of understanding in the power shift happening in marketing

channels, customer dynamics and behaviors and their full impact on your business

• Lack of an effective social media marketing strategy and integration into an overall communication, marketing and business strategy

• Measuring and proving the ROI of social media programs• Getting the budget and resources social media deserves• Finding experienced and proficient social media marketers• Management resistance to sharing information online “we need to control

our message”• The myth that social media works only for startups, lifestyle or tech brands


Campaigns to Conversations Caring and connecting = Profit• From self-proclaimed marketing messages and campaigns to

Conversation marketing – transparent, two-way talk which creates an emotional bond with your product or service

• Change the focus of your marketing efforts and where you spend your marketing dollars

• Allocate less resources building awareness through advertising and promotions and make marketing investments of time and money that help your customers navigate the evaluation process, engage with them to build trust, continuously improve on your customer experience to foster loyalty - customers will reward you with their wallet and by spreading positive word of mouth

10Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights

Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Turning Customers into Advocates According to an IBM study of online retail consumer buying patterns:• Advocates’ share of wallet is 33% more than that of customers

who aren’t advocates • Advocates spend about 30% more dollars with their favorite online

retailers than non-advocates do • Advocates stick around longer, proving themselves less likely than

other customers to switch to a competitor even if it offers similar products at similar prices

• Advocates have significantly higher lifetime value than regular customers, for not only do they spend more now, they are more likely to keep spending, and even increase their spending, as time goes on


Wowing Your Customers Pays Off! According to the Customer Experience Impact 2010 Report, sponsored

by RightNow®, consumers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience and switch brands if there are getting a negative experience.

• 82% of consumers have stopped doing business with a company as a

result of a negative experience • 55% became a customer of a company because of their reputation for

great customer service • 40% began purchasing from a competitive brand simply because of

their reputation for great customer service • 66% said that great customer service was their primary driver for

greater spending • 85% of consumers said they would be willing to pay between 5%

to 25% more over the standard price in order to ensure a superior customer experience


Setting the Stage for Social Media Success

• Develop a comprehensive strategy – don’t jump in without proper research / listening

• Don’t fixate on technologies but on defining clear objectives• Set guidelines and policies for using social media

http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php• Use internally first to train and teach people - ROI internally to

Showcase the value of social• Don’t treat social media like a campaign - with a beginning and

an end – social media requires consistency and commitment • Listen, Monitor and Analyze before doing anything else• Measure, Evaluate and Adjust constantly • Think of Social Media as leverage, influence and adding value


Social Media SuccessMarketing Cycle

YOUR COMPANY BRAND, PRODUCTSSERVICESYOU


80% THE PLANNING, STRATEGIES, OBJECTIVES SET, PRIORITIES

Your Success Depends on…

20% TECHNOLOGIES, NETWORKS, TOOLS


Nail the Strategy first to:• Give yourself direction and help you see the big picture• Set clear goals, objectives and priorities • Establish a baseline for where you’re at right now• Align your online efforts with your strategic objectives, corporate and

marketing initiatives • Spend budget more efficiently and effectively• Reduce overwhelm & keep you focused on your goals• Help you determine what works and what doesn’t work – measure

and adapt based on results• Avoid choosing the tools based on popularity• Recruit your social media team – resources from product

management, marketing, communications, sales, customer service

= integrate social media into your traditional marketing and PR


Your Core Message / Ideal Customers

Every day you introduce your business to the millions of people on social

media platforms.

It is essential to present a clear core message to attract your ideal

customers

It’s imperative that you know where your customers are “en masse”

Clear Message + Ideal Customer = Visibility, Credibility, Marketability,

Profitability


Unique Value Proposition In one sentence or two max, what does your business

offer that is unique and solves a problem that your market is willing to pay for? Remember that you need to be able to substantiate the value you provide.

80% of companies believe that they provide value but only 8% of their customers agree.


Your Keywords

• positive characteristics• pain points • problems your product/service solves

What words would you use to search for your company, product or service on Google?


Listen, Monitor and Analyze• Establish a baseline, analyze the landscape • Listen to what your customers are saying about you, to you

and for you - Spend 50% of your time listening - be aware and mindful of the conversations

• Monitor #Hashtags • Observe and Monitor - create a list of search phrases,

keywords and influencers:– Major customers, competitors, industry experts, your

brands, products, companies… • Segment, Profile and Rank Your Customers to craft

messaging and programs that would please and benefit them


Listening is Free Monitoring the Marketplace is Priceless!

The good, the bad and the ugly

(let’s hope not), You NEED to know.

SocialMention.comGoogleAlerts.comTweetbeep.com Search.Twitter.com


Communicate Authentically and Add Value

Use the best medium for engaging with your audience – create content that is helpful, useful and interesting. WIIFTM

Blog is the Hub• Tell Stories (text, audio, video)• Create Irresistible Content• Create Your Own Channels: YouTube, Blog Talk Radio, Ustream.TV


Links to your blog posts or articles about your industry

Inspirational thoughts to attract your ideal client

Tips that show how much you know & love your business

Valuable advice your network can use, even without you

Share new resources that you discover

What to Post?


1. Create a Facebook profile & business fan page2. Build a LinkedIn Profile & Business Page3. Create a Twitter Account4. Begin a blog using Wordpress or Blogger5. Set up a G-mail account for Google Alerts/RSS

Feeds

Platforms to engage and participate

Presentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright ©2011

Measure Success

– Create a Social Media Dashboard (free or use paying tools like: Radian6, IBM/Cognos Consumer Insight)

– Track # of inquiries, leads from social campaigns, from Twitter and other social sites

– # of leads provided to sales – Measure engagement and loyalty –how much does your

audience engage, how many conversations/comments/reviews/testimonials

– Track sentiment– Track Conversion to sales revenues


Social Marketing Objectives and Metrics

Social Marketing Objectives• Increase number of leads• Increase engagement• Increase product awareness• Improve brand reputation• Increase product education• Increase information sharing

• Increase number of participants in events

• Increase traffic

Social Marketing Metrics# inquiries/leads/qualified leads

# of new discussions/comments

Reach

Track Sentiment

# of content downloads

# RSS, tweets, posts, comments of blog posts, RTs

# of registrations/

Inbound links, sharing

# of unique visitors,

RSS feedsPresentation by Red Carpet Strategies. You may not reproduce or resell the content in any manner. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2011

Create a Social Media Dashboard

Blog Metrics: # of posts per weekComments/posts (your company vs. competitors)Estimated Audience New RSS FeedsUnique visitors

Facebook Fan Page# of Wall PostsComments and LikesFan Page Comments – TuesdayDaily Likes – Tuesday/ThursdayPage Views – ThursdayImpressions versus post times – end of day…

Measure Everything


Social Media Cheat Sheet


Strategy – Action Item #1

Buy your own domain name www.FrancineAllaire.com ($10year - GoDaddy.com)

Use it to host a blog, or simple one page “ABOUT Me”


Register your Facebook & LinkedIn unique URL


Before


http://facebook.com/francine.allairehttp://facebook.com/RevenueAccelerationStrategisthttp://facebook.com/RedCarpetStrategies

http://linkedin.com/francineallaire

• Write a short professional bio highlighting your differentiators, your skills, experience…

• Ask yourself “what will someone gain by hiring or working with me?” what would they be searching for to find me?

• Make your bio Keyword rich to make it easy to find you in search engines i.e. Business Development Executive, Marketing Executive, Leadership Development Executive

• List this Brand Bio on all your social media profiles


Strategy – Action Item #3Build Your Brand BIO

• Remove any posts, pictures that don’t show you in the best light

• Remove posts from people who use your wall to promote their stuff or games

• Un-tag yourself in friends’ photos• Join groups & pages to grow your network

and offer value


Strategy – Action Item #4Clean up your existing profiles

Connect with other brands and professionals

Show interest in their company by • Posting on their Facebook business pages• Congratulating them on new product launches• Sharing their news with your network



The good, the bad and the ugly,

You NEED to know.

SocialMention.comGoogleAlerts.comTweetbeep.com

Strategy – Action Item #6Manage Your Reputation


• Give away your best information, • Share your thoughts on your industry, • Answer questions and give feedback in blogs and groups.

This could lead to quality referrals, job offers, speaking engagements and top-notch clients.

Strategy – Action Item #7Become a Thought Leader


• Use video to make an emotional connection, if pictures are worth 1000 words than videos at priceless.

• Videos can bring you instant credibility and expedite the know, like and trust factor.

Strategy – Action Item #8 Create an Emotional Connection


Resources - Case Studies• Jive Software – B2B

http://www.jivesoftware.com/customers/case-studies• Womma http://www.womma.org/casestudy/• Social Marketing Results from 93 companies (Book $19.95)

http://www.socialmedia-marketing-results.com/Social-Media-Marketing-Results-from-93-Companies.html

• Very comprehensive list of books, sites and case studies http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/social-media-examples-superlist-17-lists-and-tons-of-examples/

• Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/category/case-studies/


Companies, Blogs• Few companies to look at: Cisco, Intel, IBM, Dell, Martell Home

Builders, Zappos, GiantNerd, Ford Motor, Cree, San Chez Bistro…..• Great blogs to follow:

– Sandy Carter - Vice President, Software Group Channels at IBM http://socialmediasandy.wordpress.com/

– Michael Stelzner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ / – Social Media Today http://www.socialmediatoday.com– Mashable http://www.mashable.com– Brian Solis http://www.BrianSolis.com – Chris Brogan http://www.ChrisBrogan.com– Francine Allaire http://www.FrancineAllaire.com– Red Carpet Strategies http://RedCarpetStrategies.com – Social Media Academy for Women

http://SocialMediaAcademyforWomen.com
