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| Social Media Primer for Business |
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| Written by Pam McConathy | |
| Tuesday, 05 February 2008 | |
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The New Social Media Model Sounds Sexy, But Will It Help You Tell Your Business Story? By Pamela A. McConathy, Foresight Communications Group Social Media*, Citizen Journalism, Peer-to-Peer Conversations, Word of Mouth or Viral Marketing, Web 2.0, Web 3.0 – call it what you want, communication today is whole new ballgame, personally and professionally. Thanks to the exploding use of the Internet and associated technologies, this basic tenant of human interaction is increasingly a transparent and candid dialogue – conversational, collaborative and community-centric. More and more of our communication takes place electronically and wirelessly and is increasingly global in nature. Quite literally, we are the world!
Podcasting, vodcasting, blogging, vlogging, Internet forums, Webinars, online and email marketing, wikis, social bookmarking, user-generated content (such as MySpace and YouTube) are a few examples of Social Media making headlines and boasting large numbers of participants. You may have read about or even experimented with search engine marketing methods, search engine optimization, mobile marketing, and Web analytics. One of the most compelling examples of Social Media at work is the three-year old futuristic virtual online destination Second Life, where companies like Dell, IBM, Sun Microsystems and many more are “setting up shop” to sell to “residents” who number somewhere between hundreds of thousands to 3.3 million. (Many Second Life residents have multiple logins.) As of this juncture, Social Media tools are being used most successfully in BtoC communication, but fewer have taken firm root in the BtoB space.
Naturally, these online models are impacting the way we communicate and market to customers, prospects, employees, partners and all of our audiences. Traditional communication channels – newspapers, radio, television, etc. – are being forced to evolve or give way to new forms and tools. As public relations and marketing professionals, this challenges us to constantly evaluate our methods, and research new tools and practices offering a potential “better way” to get our messages to intended audiences with measurable ROI. (Yes, we feel the pressure, but are embracing it!)
*(For the purposes of this paper we will be referring to all of the tools above generically as “Social Media.”)
Ultimately, the tools and practices of Social Media are just that – tools and practices; updated versions of current media channels and methodologies. During the transition period, be cautious about jumping in with both feet. These tools and practices may or may not live up to the hype, but they do warrant review and consideration. Here are some guidelines to use as you evaluate the viability of adding Social Media tactics to your marketing mix.
Start at the beginning by focusing on your objectives and target audiences. All communications strategy, regardless of method or tools, starts with your business objectives. What do you want to accomplish? How can marketing and public relations help you get there? Next, identify, in detail, your target audiences – their attributes, demographics, behaviors, needs, wants, pain points, strengths, challenges, opportunities, threats, etc. How are they using the web? By carefully analyzing this data, you can more effectively chose the marketing methods and practices to bring the best ROI.
Don’t skip fundamental blocking and tackling. In your zest to explore Social Media, don’t forget what you know about effective communication. Your brand messages must still communicate what makes your company, product or service unique; they also must resonate directly and meaningfully with your target audiences. This means segmenting and focusing your messages and marketing efforts, and tapping the most appropriate media channel to reach each audience.
Fix or update your most obvious Social Media tool first – your Web site. Web site usability and basic functionality is a must today. Be sure your Web site is attractive to visitors, functions effectively, and is easy to read and navigate. Be brief with content, make your text large enough to read easily and limit scrolling. Your brand should be front and center on your Web site. Above all, your Web site should not annoy prospects and visitors who come there looking for information and/or to buy from you. Make it simple and effortless. With today’s proliferation of Web designers, there’s no excuse not to have a great, basic Web site.
A Web site is a great place to “test the Social Media waters.” If you can create and keep a functional, attractive website (which requires persistent updating to keep it current), you are likely ready to try more advanced tactics like blogs, podcasts, or Web marketing.
Consider offering a podcast of a presentation or speech from your Web site. Inform customers and prospects about the podcast via a direct mail campaign or an email announcement. Then, analyze the response. You may also consider creating a user community on a protected section of your site where customers and employees can discuss updated products, tips and training, or current needs and requests online. Measuring the effectiveness of your Web site reaches far beyond tracking hits. You should be gathering customer and prospect behavior data to carefully analyze for a forecast on trends, new needs and challenges. Use your Web site, and the data it can provide, to help build and retain strong relationships with key customers and prospects – content and credibility is your goal here.
Traditional media meets Social Media. Make sure your PR staff is monitoring blogs that comment on your industry, your company and/or your competitors. In addition, your PR staff should be pitching to top-tier bloggers and reporter-bloggers that are covering your space, including vertical markets you are targeting. Understand that markets and audience segments are getting smaller. A forward-thinking firm will also recommend Social Media ideas to consider and explore, and can likely suggest expert vendor partners that specialize in Social Media technologies. Also, be aware that the Web has had a direct impact on the news release, in style, content and format. Consumers can now access your news releases at the same time journalists do.
Email marketing, done right, continues to be an online staple that delivers. Despite the avalanche of spam that floods our inboxes, email content that educates or informs can be effective if distributed to subscribers and targeted prospects, and integrated with other marketing activities. One key to success is to ensure your company has a good in-house database contact list of customers, prospects and friends. To make this tool work for you and your company:
Encourage feedback from recipients via online surveys or focus groups.
Make subscribing (and unsubscribing) easy.
Partner with an email service provider to avoid pitfalls and purge email lists regularly.
Get extra mileage from your email newsletter by posting it on your Web site, printing it and handing it out at trade shows or with other marketing collateral, and pitching it to industry publications or to secure an interview for a feature story.
When determining frequency, ask your subscribers when they opt-in how often they want to receive email content.
Do your homework and ask the right questions. Conduct research on all these tools. Read about them, talk to colleagues about them, or give this task to a staffer or consultant to prepare an overview and make recommendations. You need to know what’s going on, even if it is from a high level. Consider: Are your competitors using this technology? What companies are offering this service in your area? What are the costs involved? What about ROI? What and how should you measure your success? Do you have a staffer or department to handle this or will it entail hiring a firm or more employees to pull it off effectively? Which tactics would work best for your company to get the attention and engagement of your target audiences?
Learn about the tools and approaches of Social Media. This means getting in there and “experiencing” it yourself. Create a MySpace page. Check out some videos on YouTube. Read some blogs and offer comments. Join an online forum or community in an area that you enjoy. Ask, does this have implications for my business? How can we use this technology to market products and services to prospects or communicate regularly with customers and partners? It may be a good idea to hold a staff brainstorm on the topic to generate ideas and discussions about using Social Media.
Online meetings, demos and conferences offer viable options. If your Web site is strong, and you have appropriate information to communicate, consider hosting an online event or Webcast. This tool may best be used to build relationships, generate prospects and shorten the BtoB sales cycle. Webcasts may also be effective in surveying or polling prospects. Some guidelines here include:
Keep presentations brief and to the point, and closely targeted to audience need
Select qualified and respected speakers or panelists as presenters
Aim to educate and entertain attendees
Promote and integrate this activity with your other marketing functions such as email newsletter, podcasts, online video
Offer incentives for attendees to browse other areas of your Web site
Test new methods that make sense for your business. Some Social Media tools are fairly easy to produce and use. According to BtoB’s Interactive Marketing Guide, more than 90,000 podcast programs are listed on search engine PodNova. Podcasts have become a standard companion to Webcasts which are increasingly becoming mainstream for many technology companies. In addition, busy decision-makers enjoy the convenience of taking portable content with them. Podcasts that include presentations, demo content or video are fairly inexpensive to produce and can be posted to your Web site, included in email newsletters or added to iPods/MP3 players given away at trade shows or conferences, or sent to high-level prospects as part of a direct-mail campaign.
Blogs are a great tool for transmitting information, but involve a significant time commitment to write the blog and engage in discussions with responders. Some companies are experimenting with group blogs where several staffers take turns writing and posting content. Another option is to create a weekly blog where you post one entry each week. Measuring the return on these activities can be tricky, but your Web site hosting company is the first place to start. Some Web analytic tools go beyond impressions and conversions and measure customer behavior, both online and off. Your goal here is to find the most effective approach to reach customers and prospects with products and offers that meet their needs. A qualified marketing consultant may be able to help you determine which behaviors should be measured, what turns a browser into a buyer and how to convert customers to repeat buyers. Invest and use these tools wisely.
Know the risks, weigh the costs. Some companies have tried Social Media tools such as blogs, email and online advertising and have not fared well. Companies venturing into Social Media waters must understand the playing field and respect it. Be sensitive to users and don’t fill their inboxes with offers they have not requested; be strategic with your email newsletters and only send something when you have something significant to say. Test an email service provider before deploying. Understand that the online world worships transparency and authenticity; if you stick your product or service out there in full view, prepare to hear all the negative opinions. Be informal, humble and responsive. Don’t “sell.” Just as great reviews about your product or service can spread like wild fire via the Web, so too can bad product reviews or missteps using Social Media tools.
Do what you know will work. Trust your gut and proceed strategically. The larger take-away of the Social Media model is that increasingly, people around the world are immersing themselves in readily available information via the Web, creating content themselves and sharing it with each other. Keeping your finger on the pulse of how Social Media tools evolve or engaging a PR/marketing firm to do this for you is an excellent first step. Timing is everything.
“Technology may rearrange the furniture, but the same people live there.”1 Communication between humans has always ebbed and flowed around methodologies, institutions and technologies. Access to information has virtually defined the story of civilization. Good public relations and marketing, no matter the medium or model, tells a compelling story about a product, a service, a company, a leader, or a brand. In business, as one expert notes, “whoever tells the best story wins.” Pam McConathy joined Pierpont in 1998 and has more than 23 years experience in planning and implementing award-winning public relations programs. Her clients have included Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless, Aramco Services Company, Shell Chemical, Chevron, Reliant Energy, Halliburton, Loomis Fargo, the Houston Technology Center and more. She currently serves as 2006-07 President of the Houston chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators and is a Student Member of the Association of Professional Futurists. Pam earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Michigan State University and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Futures Studies in the College of Technology at the University of Houston.
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