using social media to stand out from the e-tailing crowd
DESCRIPTION
In the crowded and competitive online retail market, success is all about defining a unique position in the minds of your customers. Price and selection are commodities; these days customers must want to do business with you. That means your culture and your people are your greatest asset. Social media tools present new opportunities to stand out from the crowd. Wouldn't you like to have the e-mail the customers actually look forward to receiving? You can enjoy that privileged position when you unleash the creative voices in your organization, involve your customers in the conversation and spread the good word through e-mail marketing. These days, culture and service drive sales. The key is to find your voice and amplify through all the channels you can. Paul Gillin looks at how successful retailers are using the new tools of online publishing to reinvent customer relationships.TRANSCRIPT
Using Social Media to Stand Out From the E-tailing Crowd
Paul Gillin
Author
The New Influencers
Secrets of Social Media Marketing
Social Marketing to the Business Customer
1
Chaos Theory
Small Is the New BigLess Marketing is More MarketingGain Control By Giving Up ControlPublication Is a Beginning, Not an End
The Way We Were
• Message
• Impressions
• Reach & Frequency
• Retention
• CPM
• Recall
• Share of Voice
• Coverage
• Rate Base
Page 4
The Media in Collapse
2001 2009 Change
Woman’s Day 1.61M 410,000 -74%
Redbook 556,300 154,600 -72%
Playboy 522,800 203,200 -71%
Country Living 380,200 134,900 -64%
Nati Enquirer 1.65M 591,300 -64%
Reader’s Digest 750,000 270,000 -64%
ESPN Magazine 54,350 25,200 -63%
US Magazine Circulation
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
US Newspaper Business
Circulation (000)
Revenues ($000)
Average age of US daily newspaper reader: 57
Reduction in US newsroom staffs since 2001: 45%
Growth in NBC prime time audience, 2008: -14.3%
Age of average network evening news viewer: 63
Page 6
People Streams
Source: Elliance, Inc.
Page 7
Facebook is the fastest growing consumer product in history
Word-of-mouth marketing spending will hit $3B by 2013
93% of B2B buyers use search to begin the buying process
Direct-mail spending is expected to decline nearly 40% by 2014
80% of IT decision-makers say word of mouth is their most important source when making buying decisions
Google Processes 38,000 search queries every second
New Media Facts
Somewhat nega-tive2%
Neutral16%
Somewhat positive47%
Very positive36%
Perceived ROI of the Com-pany's Social Media Activities
Survey of 105 Marketers, April, 2010
Page 8
No One Needs to Listen Anymore
If You’re Not Helping, They’re Not Listening
Page 9
OUTBOUND
Bottom-up lead gen
Enhanced lead qualification
Multiple points of engagement
New World Prospecting
INBOUND
SEO
Blogs
Content Premiums
Word of Mouth
Page 10
Source: Monitor
The Funnel Is Flattening
Choosing Tools Blog Podcast Video Social Network
Private community
Review engine
Virtual world
Build community ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Counter negativity ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Crisis management ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Customer conversation ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Expose employee talent ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Generate web traffic ☻ ☻ ☻
Humanize the company ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Market research ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Media relations ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Generate new product ideas ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Product promotion ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Customer service ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Customer feedback ☻ ☻ ☻
Frand advocates ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Sales leads ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
Page 12
March 30Prospect reaches website through
search query "small business accounting," views four pages and
subscribes to newsletter.
April 4Prospect responds to e-mail invitation for
"Choosing Small Business Accounting
Software" webcast 30 minutes after e-mail is
sent.
April 9Prospect attends webcast, stays 45
minutes and submits a question related to
legal practices.
April 10Prospect clicks link in webcast summary e-mail to visit product description page. He
downloads PDF of product brochure
about software for legal practices.
April 12Prospect downloads trial version of your
small business accounting software for legal practices.
Oh, the Things That You’ll Know!
Thanks to Web Analytics…
Page 13
Credibility Through Validation
Source: Elliance, Inc.
Page 14
“More than half of all online shoppers use Facebook, and among those shoppers who engage in social media, 81% are on Facebook…[O]nly a quarter of the top 100 online retailers by sales volume have a formal Facebook presence, and another quarter have less than 10,000 fans.”
--MediaPost, 2/9/10, quoting ForeSee research
“Of the 69% of online shoppers who say they use social media sites, 56% choose to proactively interact with companies on social sites by friending or following at least one retailer. This is an amazing testament to customer loyalty.”
--MultiChannel Merchant, 2/16/10, quoting the same study
Social Disconnect
Page 15
Useful – Or InvisibleA Google Search for “Personal Computer” Gives You…
Not a single computer dealer appears in the top 1,000 search results!
Page 16
Blogging for Business
73 blogs
17 bloggers
600% jump in leads
Top quality
“Get engineers talking to engineers and get everyone else out of the middle.”
Rick Short, Marcom Director
Page 17
The Fastest Way to Get Noticed
…But remember it’s about thought leadership, not pushing products
What You’re Looking For
Search VisibilityPersistent LinksContent
SyndicationWord of MouthTargeted
CommunitiesConversation
Page 19
Link Love
Page 20
Facebook is the New Home Page
Tip: Test promotions here before rolling them out in a direct marketing campaign
Page 21
The Power of 130
The average Facebook member has 130 friends, who each receive notifications of their network’s Facebook activities
Page 22
Twitter Is the New Talks Radio
Hundreds of e-tailers are using it to broadcast specials, find customers and engage in conversations with their customers
Page 23
A Versatile Tool
Promotions
Aggregators
Contests
Marketing
Tip: Search for people asking questions about your products or services. Those are potential buyers!
Page 24
Engage Popular People
Page 25
New Publishing Lifecycle
Begins as a tweet
Becomes a blog post
Feeds a podcast
Stokes a white paperThat gets tweeted!
Create modular, reusable content that can be displayed via multiple media
Page 26
Publish Everywhere
Page 27
Customize the Message
Hey, Bobby:
Dear Robert:
Duuuuude!
@bob:
Page 28
Social Users Engage Differently
Share Click Engage
8% 18X 1.6
39% 3X 2.8
38% 1X 3.0
15% 6X 1.5
E-mail Binds Your Community Together!
Page 30
Generate Leads
Page 31
Spread the Message
Corporate website
Feed Aggregator
Partner website
Email Newsletter
Page 32
• Social media for awareness, e-mail for retention• Be consistent, constructive and helpful• Offer multiple entry points: something for everyone• Promote through every possible channel• Help, don’t sell• Subscribership = membership• Invite feedback wherever possible• Drive traffic to other channels
In Summary
Page 33
Thank you!
Paul Gillin
508-656-0734
Site: gillin.com
Blog: paulgillin.com
Twitter: pgillin