beyond blogs

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’sCreativity

CommunityCreation

ConnectionCollaborationConversation

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 beallocated significant resources.

30% of marketing executives agree that social media is an unconventional new opportunity that businesses must grasp with a sense of urgency.

And,

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?

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Publish a blogPublish your own Web pagesUpload video you created Upload audio/music you createdWrite articles or stories and post them

Post ratings/reviews of products/servicesComment on someone else’s blogContribute to online forumsContribute to/edit articles in a wiki

Use RSS feedsAdd “tags” to Web pages or photos“Vote” for Web sites online

Maintain profile on a social networking siteVisit social networking sites

Read blogsWatch video from other usersListen to podcastsRead online forumsRead customer ratings/reviews

None of the above

By examining how they are represented in any subgroup, strategists can determine which sorts of strategies make sense to reach their customers.

spectators

joiners

collectors

critics

creators

Data from Forrester Research Technographics® surveys, 2007. For further details on the Social Technographics profile, see groundswell.forrester.com. Inactives

Adults Youth

18% 39%

25% 43%

12% 14%

25% 58%

48% 66%

44% 26%inactives

spectators

joiners

Collectors

Critics

Creators

POST

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

A new definition of SMART

1. Set your objectives2. Define your stakeholders3. Determine which metrics to use4. Benchmark against yourself over time or

your competition5. Pick your measurement tool6. Analyze the results 7. Lather, rinse, repeat

How to measure your social media efforts

• 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

Measuring Analyticsmuch like traditional measurement

• 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

Make sure you include…

• 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)

Free measurement tools…

1. The CGM Dashboard 2. Radian6 3. BuzzLogic 4. Jeremiah’s (Owyang) List

Paid Services…

Case StudiesWho’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 UnionVancity is beginning to use social media. They offer RSS feeds on their home page. Their site offers a tonne of informationThey’re transparent and honest.