Social Media: Just Another Live Channel or the New Marketing Compass?
23 Jun, 2010
By: Carle Henry,Kathy van de LaarYou know that something is going on out there in the world of Social Media. But you’re not sure who, where or what matters most to you and your company. This article is the first in a series of articles over the power and influence of social media. Our goal is to help you understand how to navigate the new Wild West of online and how to use social media to help you drive your business.
The new reality
First, if you haven’t already realized it, your brand is now managed by customers and non-customers alike. You have much less influence than in the past on brand perception. Your customers and prospects discuss your products and your services and are trusted by the people within their online communities. This is important for many reasons. Most importantly 78 percent of those online trust recommendations from complete strangers more than they do your current marketing efforts; and
We are talking about your customers, not children or teens. The fastest growing populations online who participate in these conversations are people over the age of 35!
Now that you’ve accepted that reality, let’s talk about the impact of these conversations. According to Convergys Corp., one negative review or comment on Twitter, Facebook or You Tube can result in a loss of up to 30 customers. One review on one of these sites reaches an average of 45 people; and two-thirds of these will avoid doing business with companies that they have heard negative comments about.
Social media is not a piece of the puzzle; it is the puzzle itself
Traditionally, you may think this is an issue for your public relations team or a matter of addressing customer complaints. That could be. How do you know? Perhaps it’s an opportunity to advise the marketplace or to directly sell them on your products. One pet company used social media to make targeted offers to customers who were looking for solutions online. They learned that by selectively making offers that solved these consumers’ problems, they could realize conversion twice that of normal direct marketing channels.
Bottom line, the playing field is growing and changing almost by the day: new software, new online communities, new channels and savvier users that are looking for - and finding - new and even more exciting and effective ways to mobilize their friends and family – for or against your company.
The truth is that you need to begin thinking about Social Media as your best resource to understand the marketplace. Start to think about social as not a piece of the puzzle but as the puzzle itself. PR, Communications, Customer Service, Marketing, Video, R&D, etc., are the pieces to respond to what’s being said.
Once you listen to the online dialogue, you can make the appropriate messaging decisions to address the marketplace. In some cases, you may need assistance from public relations. One manufacturer of TV-audio-visual devices launched their newest technically advanced home cinema via buzz marketing. Because their strategy was exclusively buzz in the pre-launch phase of their marketing efforts, PR played an important role in monitoring and following the ripple effect of the target audience online. But PR isn’t the only home for social media.
Other opportunities will require assistance from vastly different resources like creative, communications, customer service, sales or product development. One global manufacturer of home appliances found that one of their well-intentioned customers had discovered how to enter the service menu of one of their espresso machines. They had shared this information online with others, giving tips as to what could be done by entering the service menu of the machine.
Handy, except that this feature is meant to be accessed by authorized service technicians only. When people without the right training use these features, it can damage the machine. And the warranty is nullified if a customer attempts to use the service menu themselves. Important information for the customer to know before they get themselves into trouble…sometimes expensive trouble.
Some organizations may need to restructure their marketing teams, combining traditionally separate teams. Please do not make the mistake of handing this effort off to a couple of interns or to a PR team. Social media impacts the marketing efforts of a company on a very broad scale and ensuring that a broad team is in place to understand and integrate efforts is a critical success factor.
The risks can be big. One example: a leading provider of home medical monitoring devices discovered that the PR firm of one of their competitors was trying to sell the competitor’s products to their customers in an online community. This was not appreciated by the community and lead to the firm being thrown out. The loyal customers of this leading manufacturer were offended and actually took to their community to post testimonials and positive comments. Talk about backfiring!
For those of you who are already monitoring but who are overwhelmed by the data, there is help. There are teams and resources available that will make sense of the data, offer appropriate insights and may even take on the interaction component. It’s an up and coming business. To turn your data into an actionable strategy, human intervention to review the key findings and prioritize the recommendations for action is a must. For example, sentiment of a posting will never be 100% automated effectively. For example, when someone posts, ‘oh yeah, that bank is great.’ Is that a positive or negative post? Aggregation tools cannot discern and if you rely blindly on them, you can be misled.
So, what do you do? Start aggregating data on your brand or on your key product line or service. Use keywords about your brand, the competition and the industry to amass some chatter. You’ll quickly learn what topics are important to customers; and where conversations are happening. And if there are significant influencers on line who really impact the perception of your brand.
With these three points addressed, you’ll quickly find yourself on the path to understanding your brand health and your opportunities.
Soon, we can discuss strategy. A well-thought through strategy is the key to your success. Stay tuned!
