Social Media & ROI

I’ve been reading a lot lately about people questioning or waiting to see what the “ROI on Social Media is” and if it can actually help a company’s ‘bottom-line’ before they go ahead and start using and investing time in it.

Let me ask you this- Can you measure the return-on-investment on a relationship?

Times are changing from the day of the “ME” organization where companies can dictate how things should be to “Customer-Centric” organizations where the voice of the customer is equally as important. Today as consumers, we have all the tools in our hand to voice our opinions about what we feel, think, want and demand from companies. Slowly a new economy is emerging.
The new economy is all about real-ationships. People want to do business with people they know or have been referred to by people they know and trust. The currency in this new economy is trust.

So how does social media build relationships? On it’s own it doesn’t. But it provides a whole new way to find and foster relationships with people in your backyard that you may have never had the opportunity to meet.

Like any relationship, there is effort and time to be invested. You have to connect, engage, interact with people and put yourself out there to be found. Remember it is called ‘social’ media, the platform may be different but the same rules apply. If you were meeting face to face, you wouldn’t just broadcast your business or details, you would introduce yourself, listen, talk and connect on some level. Same goes for tools like Twitter.

Going back to my initial question-my answer is that you can’t measure the ROI on a relationship because a relationship is not finite and will continue to grow as long as you invest it, and you will continue to reap the benefits beyond this quarter, next quarter or the last quarter. The conversations about your brand will continue to happen whether or not you choose to participate, so why not at least listen to what’s being said? Or use the medium as way to position yourself as a thought leader or network with other like-minded individuals. The possibilities are endless.

So don’t wait for the reports, the analysts or the predictions-dive in and build those relationships!

3 ways to use Hashtags!

So what’s the deal with these funky messages and # in all of them?

Yes, those new to Twitter can find it a bit daunting and almost feel like they are looking at code when coming across tweets like this:

@sands: looking forward to @garyvee at indigo tonight #montreal #crushit

1-Hashtags allow people to find you
As I mentioned in the previous post, people are listening on specific keywords and doing searches on particular words. Since you can specify #tags in your searches, this allows people to find you and for you to get found.

2- Real time Search
At any given time, you can click on a hashtag and see how many other people are using that same tag and allow you to find other twitterer’s that may be of interest.

3- Hashtags give your tweets context

For example, if I had tweeted the above post:
@sands looking forward to meeting @garyvee tonight in montreal

I wouldn’t necessarily be found as easily by other people who were interested in all things montreal (unless using the near: in their search).
#crushit is a better example. For a lot of online events/conferences, events will use certain hashtags so that other people interested in these tweets can easily find them based on the hash.

Sound like a lot to get your head around? Just start by observing and slowly start adding them to your tweets.

Nothing beats practice!!

Twitter for your business

Twitter for Business?
A lot of my friends don’t seem to quite understand why I would be twittering for business purposes and what benefit it could possibly bring.
Why would anyone care about- “What you are doing?”, they ask.
They continue to look at me with blank stares when I tell them we are using it to interact with our customers, generate interest in our product, learn about what’s going on in different areas and build our brand awareness.

Most people don’t understand how a tool like Twitter could help their business grow and rather uses like this come to mind:

Rather than just broadcasting details about your life, Twitter is a way to connect with other like-minded individuals; people who may be interested in your products or services or even find out what your competitors are up to.

All that in 140 characters you ask?

Sure it may sound like a daunting task but there are techniques that you can use that will make it easier, which I’ve discussed here.

For example, if you are running a Yoga studio, you could provide tips on yoga poses, health tips and mantras, interspersed with information/promotions you are running at your studio. If you have blog, you could provide more details about what you are tweeting in your posts; Twitter would then be another way to drive traffic to your blog/site.

Have you thought about using Twitter for your business? What are the challenges you’ve faced?

How to measure social media success

So there is A LOT of talk about social media these days.

In fact, the other day even my parents asked me what the deal with Twitter was and my mom is a housewife who hasn’t yet embraced email *but* will pay her bills online. Go figure!

More and more statistics are showing that a social media strategy is required as part of your marketing tool box. But how do we measure success? Is success the number of followers you have on Twitter or the number of friends you have on Facebook?
Just recently, I experienced several great examples of the power and reach of Social Media.
Last Tuesday, I responded to this tweet:

Private Six Pixels book launch in Mtl tonight. I have 15 special invites. Want one? Email:

by @mitchjoel whose blog Six Pixels of Separation I follow. Now normally, I would have thought to myself, “What are the chances, I’m sure others will beat me to it” but I figured what do I have to lose? So I gave it a shot and got myself an invite to the private book launch of his new book “Six Pixels of Separation”.

Opportunity.

Social media allows us to connect with those that we normally could not. Sure, you may not always get noticed but it definitely levels the playing ground.

Another example, GaryVee, well known for his Wine Library TV, recently ran a contest for the most creative picture taken with the New York Times featuring him and the winner would have the chance to dine with him in NYC. Local Montrealer, @tamyemmapepin managed to capture his attention with her motivation and creativity with this dress made out of the New York Times.

At the end of the day, it’s about connecting, interacting, engaging and real-ationships. We can’t measure success simply by the count at the end of the day but more by the interactions and opportunities that have come out of it.

Thoughts?

Revealed: Why Twitter is changing customer support

I had a real life twitter experience at work today. We’ve been implementing the strategy discussed in this blog over the last few months and we are starting to see the positive and ‘negative’ sides.

Positive?
We have set up alerts as discussed in the post Three Ways to Monitor Your Brand and we are alerted anytime our company, products or competitors are mentioned in the Twittersphere. This is great when positive things are mentioned but perceived as not so great when negative feedback is received, as I witnessed today.

We were alerted to a customer tweeting negative remarks about our product and their present experience with the software. Our Director of Customer Support was not pleased with the comments as the tone of the tweets were quite vulgar and so he didn’t want to engage in any dialogue with the customer. This is exactly when you want to reach out to show that you are listening and willing to help out. This is what will set you apart since more and more customers are fed up of companies that ‘don’t want to listen’ and that are hiding behind corporate walls. Twitter empowers everyone and levels the playing field, whether you are a large corporation or small enterprise. In the past, when you had beef with something you could tell a few of your friends or coworkers and vent your frustration about a particular company/product/service. Now, with sites like Twitter, everyone has the ability to be heard and has equal opportunity to make or break a product. ‘Word of Mouth Marketing’ quickly becomes ‘World’ of mouth marketing.

There is no negative to this story. Had we not been there and listening we would be oblivious to what customers are saying about our product, both good and bad. By listening and engaging, and reaching out to our existing and potential customers, we can only make our product and service better.

It may take our Director some time to get his head around social media and its impact on customer support but I’m sure in due time he’ll have something to tweet about. 😉

Have you had a similar experience?

Bite Sized Social Media Tip: Aggregators

Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, Dugg?? It can be quite intimidating!

For the newbie and even the seasoned social media maven, it can be quite overwhelming to try to create and use all these accounts on a daily basis. Not to mention remember all those passwords 🙂

Why not just stick to Twitter or Facebook?

Well, part of your audience may only be Facebook or some may only read your blog. Some may only be active on Twitter while others may not even know Twitter exists! You want to be able to reach out to them where they are hanging out online.

Social Media Aggregators allow you to push out and manage your networks from one place and only require one login.. Once you set up your account and add all the social networks you want to participate in, you can then decide which networks you want to post content to, and duplicate the content across several networks without having to log in to each one. My current aggregator of choice is Ping.fm which I’ve set up to update my Facebook Fan Page status as well as my Twitter status.

I would highly recommend you explore aggregators as you build your social media strategy because it will help automate the process and save you time, energy and effort.

Comments?

I have a website! Why do I need a blog?

Most businesses these days have an online presence, in fact one could argue that if you can’t be found online it’s like you don’t exist! Having a web presence is essential whether you are a local or global business.

So I have a website..why do I need a blog then?

You can think of your website as your portfolio showcasing the products and services you are offering. Your portfolio won’t change often, therefore it won’t get indexed as often. By blogging you are creating content that is keyword rich and Google loves content.

Blogs are the single most important tool and if you are going to start anywhere with your social media strategy, start with a blog. Your blog is a way to showcase your expertise, and enhance your reputation as an authority in your niche. Your blog will serve as your hub and the center of your social media strategy and allow you to have content to syndicate on all the other platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

What do I blog about?

Clearly you are in business because you are providing a service or product that other people need or want. Blog about it!

I like Yoga and I offer Yoga classes. I could blog about the health benefits of yoga, yoga pose of the week, yoga for women, yoga for golfers and so on..

Denise Wakeman talked about the 4E’s of Blogging at the Social Media Summit and to consider the following categories before publishing:
Educate: with valuable tips and information that are particular to your niche.
Entertain: include stories about your own personal experiences
Engage: encourage your readers to leave comments
Enrich: your readers by showing them how they can save time, energy and even money by inspiring them with new ideas and ways of working.

Your homework: Think about your business and how you can use the 4E’s to engage your existing and potential customers.

Comments?

Twitter Challenge: Tweet in 120 characters or less

Today’s Twitter Tip: Tweet in 120 characters or less

You’re probably thinking: We’re only allowed 140 and even that’s not enough!!

Tweeting in less characters allows for others to comment on your content and retweet it. We’ll get into the ‘art and science’ of retweeting in another post but in the mean time I want you to learn how to do more with less.

Denise Wakeman talks about the 4E’s: Educate. Engage. Enrich. Entertain. We’ll get into these in more detail but in the meantime, think about these categories when tweeting and how you want to interact with your online community.

Example:

How not to Tweet:
HEY CHECK OUT THIS GREAT YOUTUBE VIDEO OF INMATES IN THE PHILLIPINES PERFORMING TO MICHAEL JACKSON’S THRILLER: link…

More effective as:
Inmates in Philippines perform MJ’s Thriller: insert link here

We’ll get in more detailed about URL shortening (so you don’t use up all your characters on the actual URL) but in the meantime..practice, practice, practice!

Twitter Tip: Personalize Your Profile

Before you read this post you have a little homework:

Setting Up Your Twitter Account! Simply go to Twitter and follow the steps.

Ready?

Now comes the part of personalizing your profile. This is done through the Settings tab in Twitter.

Add your picture.

People will respond better to a human face behind your tweets. If you use your company logo, be sure to add context to your profile.

Include in your ‘One Line Bio’ information that describes what you do, who you are and your interests (keeping in mind you are limited to 160 characters!)

For example, The Social Woman’s profile looks something like this:

theSocialWoman

Where the bio information shows information about The Social Woman network.

Another example is: Sandy on Twitter where I have put more details about myself which gives people an idea of the things I’m interested in and allows people to relate to me.

Many people also put:
Wife/Mother, Husband/Father, Business Owner, Lifelong learner…
Be creative! The options are endless (well, within a 160 character limit =)

Not only does this put a human face behind your tweets, it also helps in attracting followers who share the same interests. Twitter is about building relationships..what better way then sharing a twidbit about yourself!

Go ahead now, share =)

Bite-sized social media tips

Having just recently completed The Social Media Success Summit , I realized just how much information there is out there about social media. For the solo-preneur or the entrepreneur running his/her own company who recognizes the importance and value of being online but does not know where to start, it can be very daunting. We are a time starved society inundated with information which while useful can be very overwhelming.

Do I Twitter? Do I create a Facebook page? How do I do this? Is there a way to automatically update this information? What’s the best place to start?

These are all valid questions and my goal is to demystify the world of social media and provide you with bite-sized tips that you can implement easily in your online marketing strategy.

Have any questions you’d like answered? Leave a comment!