Pauline E. Ranger Social networking is a hot topic. It’s causing a lot of buzz and even a lot of noise. Everyone seems to be using it in order to gain popularity and perhaps grow their business. The stage has reached where there is a false sense that it’s urgent to act now or else choke on the dust of everyone else.
It’s time to move. Take a moment to change your perspective on social networks. Move away from the tactical (“How can I make use of Facebook and Twitter?”) and toward the strategic (“What role should/can social media play in my business?”). You should reframe your thinking about social media to move away from the tactical (“How do I use Facebook and Twitter? This will help you to avoid adding noise to your organization and instead position it to win.
Social media has a huge impact on your business. It can affect brands, marketing, and even your entire company.
Forward-looking marketers should ask questions like “How does social media impact our brand?” What is the impact on business goals? How do we develop a social media strategy?
To answer these questions, marketers must first understand the context of social media in order to guide their strategies and, ultimately, their supporting tactics.
The Dialogue is the Thing
Social media are more than a Facebook community or a blogging platform. It is a symbol of the cultural and behavioral changes that have taken place in our interactions with each other.
It’s not about marketing but about engaging people. It is less about “buying a presence” through a new advertisement channel and more about “earning consideration” as your brand interacts with customers and influencers. It’s not about a quick-term campaign but a long-term capability that will only grow in importance.
Prophet calls this the “Network Era.” It is a network era where everyone can be connected. This amplifies individual voices.
The dialogue between stakeholders and influencers has become the common thread in this new connected world. Smart marketers should focus on social media campaigns that increase the number and quality of relationships within the market, as well as the number of people talking about their brand.
The dialogue is more important than what happens on your “own” social media properties, such as your Twitter or Facebook account. The conversation that you create–tweets, Facebook posts, blog comments, Yelp reviews–will have a huge impact on your marketing and brand.
It is this challenge that marketers face when trying to develop effective social media strategies. Social media cannot be controlled; it can only be influenced.
Go ahead and influence
Dell learned this the hard way when, in the mid-2000s, the brand was subjected to intense scrutiny on social media, with half the discussions being negative. Bloggers and social media pundits, not Dell, controlled perceptions of Dell and its brand.
Dell adopted a social media plan to develop owned channels, such as Twitter and blogs, in order to participate in the dialogue and have some influence on its direction. The company’s crowdsourcing efforts also offered a way to engage audiences in improving products and services, as well as encouraging positive conversations.
In 2007, the negative dialog had been reduced by half. Today, Dell is one of the most successful companies in the social media world, with a level of participation that has enabled it to have a direct impact on business through Twitter.
You must understand the social media usage of your internal and external audiences and their influencers in order to be a successful participant. Then, it would be best if you determined what you want to achieve with social media within the context of your customer engagement strategy. Your challenge, then, is to create a presence that is not only engaging and authentic but also serves your business goals.
It could be to attract new customers, retain existing ones better, or both. Or to reduce costs. Or to build your brand.
Strategy Before Business Goals
Three businesses have developed effective social media strategies that address specific business goals.
Intuit
Intuit, a software company, wanted to encourage its existing customers to influence prospects to purchase TurboTax.
It created a community of users – a forum where people could share tips and give thumbs up or thumbs down to the conversations that followed – and encouraged them to connect and communicate via popular channels like Facebook and Twitter.
Results: 5 million people viewed 50,000 answers by the top user. Intuit found that encouraging users to post on Facebook after they finished filing their taxes resulted in a four times higher engagement rate than traditional banner ads.
Lenovo
Lenovo, a PC manufacturer, used a similar concept. It created a community for peer-to-peer support. The endgame of the community was not so much to acquire and retain customers but rather to reduce costs.
Lenovo’s call center volume dropped 20% the year following the introduction of the discussion groups.
Ford
Ford faced a challenge in building its brand, that of the Ford Fiesta. It also had to overcome perceptions from the younger generation, who believed “Ford” was synonymous with “old people.”
Ford, knowing the importance of personal recommendations to its target audience, enlisted an influential group of people to test out new Fiestas and share their experiences on a Ford-owned online community, as well as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Social media impressions surpassed millions, and the viral spread was positive. More than 10,000 car reservations were made, and there was a 10% conversion.
Metrics & Testing
These three businesses all designed social media initiatives that met specific business goals. These initiatives were also backed up by appropriate metrics that could be used to gauge the success of these campaigns. This is a crucial component of any marketing campaign, especially in an area where many marketers are still unfamiliar.
Social media metrics (such as impressions and links referring to your site) can be used for business (for example, new customers or revenue generated). At the same time, brand-based metrics (such as awareness or consideration) are also effective.
It’s important to consider the impact of all metrics, even if some are more important than others. This is because lower-level measurements, like impressions, can influence higher-level measures, like revenues or brand recognition, which are easier to explain to the rest of the organization.
Marketers would also be wise to test social media initiatives on a smaller scale. Social media is a great way to learn and try because it allows for quick reactions and changes. You can then use metrics to guide your strategy and to determine the extent of your rollout.
It is not too late yet.
Despite all the hype, the social media train is still not out of the station. This world is changing rapidly and offers a variety of exciting opportunities for connecting with customers and building your brand.
It is important to understand the new paradigm and to be willing to change your ways of thinking to take advantage of its potential.
Listen to the tone of the conversation and who is talking about your brand. Social media is not only a PR or marketing tool. It has implications that cross silos.
Effective strategy requires a cross-functional task force that understands the business needs and draws from employee passions. Don’t be afraid to take baby steps while you learn and test the waters before launching larger initiatives.
