Beyond Blogs: Social Media is so much more! By Colleen Coplick

Beyond Blogs Navigating the Effective Use of Social Media Tools I decided not to make this presentation Pretty. It’s not about Pretty… It’s about NOW. This is about the newest form of marketing…. Kinda…. Social Media is not just a new messaging channel…. Social Media and PR are cousins but they are NOT the same thing. So what IS social media? Social media is a conversation Supported by online tools Like these…. The important thing about social media It’s real people who use it and it’s about their social interactions. It’s all about the C’s Creativity Community Creation Connection Collaboration Conversation People are not just demographics or audiences anymore. To connect with them, you need to understand that your relationships with them are more powerful than marketing. If Social Media is so great, why aren’t more brands using it? • • • • • A 2007 McKinsey study of 410 marketing execs found that the primary barriers to investing in social media were: 52% cite insufficient metrics to measure impact 41% cite insufficient in-house capabilities 33% cite difficulty of convincing upper management 24% cite limited reach of digital tools 18% cite insufficient capabilities at current agency Yet, 49% of executives say social media should be monitored at the executive level and be allocated significant resources. And, 30% of marketing executives agree that social media is an unconventional new opportunity that businesses must grasp with a sense of urgency. Source: tns Media Intelligence Finding the right mix of tools to engage people is easy, as long as you know who these people are. Determine what kind of relationship you want to build with them based on what they’re ready for and interested in. What are their technographics? By examining how they are represented in any subgroup, strategists can determine which sorts of strategies make sense to reach their customers. Creators creators Publish a blog Publish your own Web pages Upload video you created Upload audio/music you created Write articles or stories and post them Post ratings/reviews of products/services Comment on someone else’s blog Contribute to online forums Contribute to/edit articles in a wiki Critics critics collectors Collectors Use RSS feeds Add “tags” to Web pages or photos “Vote” for Web sites online joiners Joiners Maintain profile on a social networking site Visit social networking sites Data from Forrester Research Technographics® surveys, 2007. For further details on the Social Technographics profile, see groundswell.forrester.com. Spectators spectators Read blogs Watch video from other users Listen to podcasts Read online forums Read customer ratings/reviews Inactives None of the above Adults 18% 25% 12% 25% 48% 44% inactives Youth Creators 39% 43% 14% 58% 66% 26% Critics Collectors joiners spectators A new definition of SMART P O S T People Assess your customers’ social activities Objectives Decide what you want to accomplish Strategy Plan for how relationships with customers will change Technology Decide which social technologies to use How to measure your social media efforts 1. 2. 3. 4. Set your objectives Define your stakeholders Determine which metrics to use Benchmark against yourself over time or your competition 5. Pick your measurement tool 6. Analyze the results 7. Lather, rinse, repeat Measuring Analytics much like traditional measurement • • • • • • • • • Number of unique users Returning versus new readers Referring traffic Links from other sites Google PageRank Technorati Authority Total time spent on the site The popularity of the content itself, page views Conversation Index: Ratio of blog comments to blog posts Tone of conversation, comments, posts Speed or velocity of spread, viral • • Make sure you include… • Level of Engagement • Pages viewed per visit • Time on site • Reading blogs / Participating in discussions • Viewing Videos or Photos • Uploading content • Telling friends • Inquiries / Registrations • Transactions Free measurement tools… • • • • • • • • • • Technorati (number of links, “authority”) Del.icio.us (quality and type of coverage) Google Analytics (site statistics) Veoh (video views on all platforms) Flickr (photo views) Feedburner (subscribers) Google Blog Search (Poor man’s clipping service) Yahoo Pipes (manage RSS) Compete, Alexa (traffic) Quantcast (ratings and demographics) Paid Services… 1. 2. 3. 4. The CGM Dashboard Radian6 BuzzLogic Jeremiah’s (Owyang) List Case Studies Who’s using social media successfully? • They have a Twitter feed for disaster relief. • They track what bloggers are saying about the recent California fires by linking to them in delicious, as well as tracking a Flickr photo feed group • They have a blog called Red Cross Chat, which covered the California fires extensively. Southwest Airlines Dell Dell VanCity Credit Union Vancity is beginning to use social media. They offer RSS feeds on their home page. Their site offers a tonne of information They’re transparent and honest.