top floor technologies social media boot camp

Twitter: @topfloortech | Hashtag: #TFTBootCamp

Social Media Boot Camp

Presented ByAnthony Verre – Senior Search Marketing Specialist


What is Social Media Marketing

In a nutshell, it’s marketing your brand, your products, or your services through social media networks.

It’s building relationships with your customers online and having that translate in sales (both online and offline).


Tenants of Social Media


And A Viral We Go•create / attempt to create something newsworthy through events/contests, videos, or blog posts that attract attention

•the objective is to have this meme/message go viral

•plenty of successful social campaigns have gathered steam through a compelling message. It doesn’t have to be about your products to induce conversions and sales


Enabling Your Consumers

•build ways that enable fans of a brand or company to promote or champion a message themselves in multiple online venues.

•make your website or the message as share-friendly as possible: Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc.

• Giver users and consumers every possible chance to share your message


It’s All About Conversations

• when it really comes down to it, social media is based around online conversations

• social encourages user participation and dialogue. Success means fully engaging and respecting users

• social media is about getting people to care about what you have to say. In any way, shape, or form.

•pander to their greed, charitable side, emotional side, or the little kid in all of us

• give someone a reason to invest in you, and they will


The Human Element: Listening First

•if you don’t listen, how do you expect to communicate?

•how can you provide something meaningful to the conversation if you never heard what was asked for?

•If you’re continually pushing a message without listening, don’t expect people to listen to you

What can listening do for you?


Online Reputation Management (ORM)?


What is ORM?

• is the act of monitoring, addressing, or rectifying undesirable/or negative search engine results or mentions in online media.

• the objective: have people speak about your brand/company in a positive sense by achieving and maintaining a positive online sentiment.


The ORM Strategy. What is it?

• using social media to manage and monitor online buzz and sentiment about your company or product set, by engaging people positively.

• pushing down negative (or undesirable) mentions of brand, products, or company in the search engine results pages


Sometimes, It Finds You

You could do everything right: be responsive, treat your employees and customers well. It happens to the best of companies.

• a customer, an employee, or an ex-employee feels they have been wronged, mistreated, or is just wants payback.

• even after your best efforts to resolve it, they post negative comments on blogs, forums, or they lodge a complaint online.

• fact or fiction, after months on the web, and possibly thousands of eyes, the damage has been done.


A Bad Reputation, Human. To Combat it, Divine

Two fundamental concepts when dealing with search engine reputation management: Monitor and Engage.

What Should You Be Monitoring?

•Your Brand(s)

•Your Product(s)

•Your Key Executive(s)

- Include Negative and Positive modifiers: “sucks” “scam” “kudos” “great”


How Monitoring Might Have HelpedReal World Examples:


How Monitoring Might Have Helped


Treating the Symptoms: PreventativeProtect your brand visibility on the web: optimize brand content as a best practice

• optimize all of your digital communications

• press releases

• website

• human resource listings (job ads)

• investor relations

• all content that is publicly available on the web

It doesn’t necessarily put the brand in control, but it’s a much better situation than scrambling after the fact.


Engaging the NegativeOnce a negative mention has been identified, here are a few basic steps in dealing with it:

•Research the situation

- is there merit behind these negative remarks?

•Be ready to respond

- if the remarks need correction, respond with the corrections and ask for those to be posted.

- if the remarks are true, attempt to work it out with whomever

Above all: be honest, be transparent, and LISTEN


Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?


A company must be able to provide quick, effective CRM. It’s crucial in today’s market place.

CRM, in the social age, combats negative remarks about your company, products, and service, while responding immediately to a customer’s concerns and reverse the situation.

Using social media as a CRM tool, can allow you to earn the trust of the consumer quickly.

Float like a Butterfly. Sting like a Bee.


How to Benefit from Social CRM and ORM

In order to benefit from social media, you must become part of the community.

Referrals/comments from customers posted to various social platforms who have used your product or service, more often than not, influence a potential customer’s decision to purchase.

Social media is a referral program on hyper-active-hyper-drive.


Create a Social Media Attack Strategy


It’s a Ballroom Blitz (Krieg)

Creating Your Internal Push Strategy

• the strategy you use to push your social message out into the wilderness

Create a Social Blitzkrieg

• the aim of this strategy is to create “waves” (multi-prong approach) of pushes throughout your communities by using internal resources

• the advantage: makes everything a team effort. one person doesn’t carry the load and/or the success or failure of a campaign


It’s a Ballroom Blitz (Krieg)


It’s a Ballroom Blitz (Krieg)The 1st Wave

The Parent Entity in the diagram above is a social media asset (i.e. company blog, parent Twitter account, parent Facebook Fan Page, or LinkedIn Company Page, etc.)

• when the parent entity publishes on the aforementioned platforms, it will have it’s own natural push into the community(ies) at large. Without an internal strategy in place, this is where the meme dies: left to generate it’s own buzz and movement.

• every company should/needs to encourage it’s employees to become satellite proselytizers of the brand and the meme.

• individuals to create and manage a trustworthy reputation within their space

• relies heavily on the 2nd wave.


It’s a Ballroom Blitz (Krieg)The 2nd Wave

The integral piece of the strategy.

- relies on the “individual” off-shoot from the parent to have a good reputation within their respective community and following

- relies on meme-timing, so as not to seem “disingenuous” or “spammy”.

The second wave can last a couple a days, if need be. This is where the coordination comes into play. Depending on how many individuals you have, you can set up “mini-waves” at the 2nd Wave.

The objective at the second wave level is to penetrate as deeply as possible into the 3rd Wave (The Communities-At-Large)


It’s a Ballroom Blitz (Krieg)The 3rd Wave

Controlling the meme at the 3rd wave is close to impossible, which is why it is imperative in the first two waves that message be engineered but not feel contrived. It’s walking a fine line of control and art.

The more strategy you can apply to social media efforts to ensure visibility, branding, and interaction to elicit the desired reaction in a community/communities, the better.


Proof is in the Pudding

• Visits increased over 264% | Unique Visits increased over 259%

• Total Website Bounce Rate decreased over 5%

* Campaign was engineered by myself and TFT colleagues over a 3-day Period


Let’s Take Five


Workshop


Setting Up iGoogle Page

What is iGoogle Homepage?

iGoogle lets you create a personalized homepage that contains a Google search box at the top, and your choice of any number of gadgets.

Gadgets come in lots of different forms and provide access to activities and information from all across the web, without ever having to leave your iGoogle page.


Setting Up iGoogle PageStep 1: Create a Google Account (if you don’t have one already)


Setting Up iGoogle PageStep 2: Add a TAB to Your iGoogle Page

• Enter a name for the tab

• Deselect “I’m feeing lucky” checkbox


Setting Up Google AlertsStep 3: Set up a Google Alert


Configuring Your Google ReaderStep 3: Set up Google Reader to Broadcast to iGoogle Homepage

• Go to “Settings” and select “Reader Settings”

• Under Settings “GOODIES”


Configuring Google ReaderStep 4: Select “Add Google Reader”


Configuring Google ReaderStep 5: Settings “Subscriptions” “Add to Folder” “New Folder”

Your Google Alerts List


Your iGoogle Monitoring Station

Basic Set up to monitor your Brand and Product mentions on the web


Advanced iGoogle FeedAdd Twitter Search Feeds•URL: http://search.twitter.com

•Type in desired search term (i.e. “top floor tech”)

•Select “Feed for this Query” on Right-Hand Navigation

http://search.twitter.com/


Advanced iGoogle Feed

Add Twitter Search Feeds•Go to iGoogle Homepage and “Find Gadgets”

•Bottom of Left-Hand Navigation: “Add Feed or Gadget”

•Paste Copied URL

•Go Back to iGoogle Page / Refresh


Whew! You Did It!


Next Top Floor Tech Presentation

Website Usability Seminar and Workshop

• August 20, 2010

top floor technologies social media boot camp

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