Archive for social media
The New Email
E-mail has evolved from the backbone of digital communications into the spine of a socially driven outreach that enables both offline and online channels to merge into one powerful conversation.
With e-mail’s new role, the effectiveness is no longer simply about the open rate, the unsub rate, or even the purchase-based ROI from a send. Instead, it’s now creating a new set of metrics from which to be measured against. Elements like influencer engagement, social extension, and the new ROI – return on impact – are starting to be widely adopted. As over 40 million households become smart-media device adopters over the next 12 months, e-mail’s role as the spine will only become straighter and stronger.
Source: Jenniey Mullen, Click Z
The three "E's" of social marketing
For marketers, few things are as cool as having customers talk about how great your company is, while it’s often daunting when they complain to others about a poor experience. For better or worse, those conversations are occurring with more regularity in social communities, networks and blogs. How can companies thrive in this marketplace gone social? Follow the three “E’s”:
1) Engage the marketplace
Every marketer dreams of seeing his or her carefully crafted messages go viral, increasing reach exponentially. But you have to do your homework, monitoring key communities, competitors and influencers on social networks. This will increase your understanding of what people are talking about, better enabling you to join conversations where they already exist.
When you’re ready to jump in, build a base by seeding social networks and communities with content that educates, informs and starts dialogue. Post in a style that generates reaction and conversation around a topic that is consistent with your company’s offerings, but isn’t directly self-promotional.
2) Enable influencers and fans
Harnessing the real power of social media means having your customers, fans and influencers talk about you more than you do. To make that happen, you’ll first need to keep tabs on buzz in the blogosphere, on Twitter, etc. to find key influencers in your industry. Identify who’s sharing your offers to their social networks and could be potential brand ambassadors.
Once you’ve found a cadre of brand ambassadors, start building goodwill among them by engaging them regularly and providing them with special benefits. These persuaders can have a huge impact, so make them feel important. You’ll cultivate increased loyalty and give them further incentive to share even more.
3) Evaluate your efforts
Measuring social activity can help you quantify the performance of your initiatives, improve your understanding of customers and prospects, and tighten up the efficiency of your programs. Instead of just evaluating a promotion by whether recipients opened and clicked-through on an offer, now you can gauge your success by whether they are sharing your offer and talking about it.
Use the data to adjust and optimize future initiatives. For example, if you discover that a new product campaign resulted in a strong uptick in Tweets, you might design a special Twitter-only campaign offering a channel-exclusive discount. Learn from previous hits and misses.
As you execute your social media plan, remember to think of it as part of your core business and overall marketing objectives. By following the 3 “E’s” above, you’ll have an excellent chance of making social pay off in the form of higher retention rates and new customers.
The “Laws” of Social Media Marketing
“What can I expect from social media?” … “What kind of return on investment will I get?” … “I tried social media and I don’t get it!?”
These are the kinds of questions regarding social media. Companies need to understand that social media is a tool in your marketing kit and you need to set startegic expectations. What companies need to understand is social media helps your brand, your SEO and much more.
Check out the nine “laws” of social media:
1. Brand + time = revenue: The more time consumers spend with your brand and products, the more likely they are to buy. Engaging customers or prospects in social media channels increases brand/time.
2. Brand + channels = revenue: The more channels in which consumers interact with your brand, the more likely they’ll buy. Offering multiple engagement channels allows for consumer self-selection of preferred channels. Being in the right social media channels based on your market increases channel interaction.
3. Brand + time + channels = advocates: Consumers spending time in multiple channels breeds customers more likely to become brand advocates and influencers. This is the new multichannel marketing model for the 21st century. Social media creates brand advocates and turns peers into your best salespeople.
4. Exponential search factor: Social media increases your search engine rankings and, when combined with your website, drives additional traffic via organic search.
5. The newfangled customer service factor: Consumers choose their contact preferences. Brands that don’t have multiple channels for customer service risk losing customers. Consumers expect instant gratification, and social media delivers.
6. Behind-the-scenes factor: People don’t buy from brands; they buy from people. Social media puts a human face on the faceless corporate entity. Social media’s biggest opportunity is to allow people to connect with your employees as peers.
7. Trust is the new black: If done correctly, the aforementioned laws allow consumers to build or rebuild trust. Social media harkens back to the days of the corner store where consumers and brands had a cordial relationship. Social media builds relationships over time.
8. The reputation factor: Whether you like it or not, consumers are talking about your brand. Social media is the great neutralizer. It allows you to seek out negatives and turn them into positives via reputation management and communications.
9. The time spent factor: Customers aren’t always ready to buy. Social media prepares customers with all of the above over time. Copyright Jim Gilbert Marketing Blog