Twitter is not a strategy! 4 social media objectives.

After what felt like the hundredth conversation on social media which started with “so I’ve created a Twitter ID, Facebook fan page and LinkedIn group”, I started to despair.  Why is it so difficult for people to identify their objectives before they launch in with the tools?

And let’s face it, setting up the tools is the easy part!  Whilst there are a number of agencies out there who have been touting their services to create these groups, all they really require is a little time and effort to get started.  The hard part – the REALLY time consuming part, is identifying why the hell you’re creating them in the first place, and how you’re going to measure your success.

So I thought I’d jot down some potential objectives:

1. Research/market intelligence – generally the listening phase of a social media project is to establish what’s being said about your company/product/service on the web, who’s saying it, where are people congregating, how are they talking about you, how are they talking about you in relation to your competition, what’s the tone being used online, do people know you exist… etc.

This information can provide valuable insights that can shape your messages, tone of voice, product development, customer service strategies, etc.

And something to remember when agencies tout listening services, the real insights come when you can apply them to your organisation’s strategies and MI.  Otherwise you will receive reports with some pretty graphics, but little actionable insight.

2. Engaging in conversations – to demonstrate thought leadership, build relationships with customers/partners/employees, to share knowledge, to obtain feedback, to facilitate customer service, to promote upcoming events/offers/white papers/etc.

3. Empowering consumer advocacy – enabling your brand advocates to spread your message, thus reducing your need to constantly promote your brand usual traditional methods such as advertising, PR, events, etc.  Ensure that your content is easily accessible and shareable.

Remember to think about your audience and what’s of interest/value to them – whether it be insights, discounts, special sneak peaks, games, competitions, training, etc.  Create special offers/content to target influencers.

Include internal as well as external audiences – extend the reach of your marketing activities by enabling ALL employees to spread your messages to their networks.

4. Enable your customers to support each other – e.g. via communities, forums, social networking groups, etc.  Act as a facilitator of the conversation, not the owner of it.   Tap into existing communities and networks for product/service/solution ideas and reward your brand advocates.

Jeremiah Owyang breaks each of these down into specific tactics that you can execute to deliver against your objectives.

300 Case Studies of Social Media Marketing

I was in the midst of putting together a presentation on how to leverage social media to grow your business when I came across a document on Scribd that collated 300 examples of social media marketing from various corporations – this has since been taken down from Scribd as the author had taken the copy from a great piece of work by Peter Kim, without acknowledgment of the source.

Peter has created a wiki of social media marketing examples.

Further information can be found on his blog.

B2B Marketing Awards: Best lead nurturing initiative

Looking forward to tonight’s B2B Marketing Awards where we, along with our telemarketing agency Slipstream, have been shortlisted for an award.

Nurturing has been an increasing focus for B2B marketers to combat the challenge of the “leaky funnel”.  Whether this be email nuturing or tele nurturing, there was a recognition that responses early in the sales stage were not followed up by sales and opportunities were being missed.

Over the past couple of years, we have been working with Slipstream to develop and hone a nurturing process, based on an approach that looks to replicate a sales call and the buying cycle of the prospect.  Known as “Learn, Scope, Select” the process flow attempts to map relevant material, assets, marketing events, etc. to the buying cycle for a particular IT issue.

The IT journey is mapped out in three stages:

1.  Issue recognition: Provide material for a client to Learn about the topic/theme/issue – e.g. brochures, interactive tools, podcasts, etc.  The objective is to assist people in the issue recognition stage by providing objective, relevant and timely information.

2. Scope requirements: Allow the prospect to Scope out their requirements and the solution in more detail – e.g. case studies, solution sheets, webinars, events, etc.  The objective is to provide prospects with information that demonstrates IBM’s capabilities and explains different solutions.

3. Supplier selection: Assist the prospect to Select an offering/product/solution to address their business issue – e.g. endorsements from 3rd parties, comparative information, etc.

Utilising tele resource to categorise organisations based on their stage of the buying cycle has enabled us to segment marketing messages to make them more relevant.  It also ensures that all responses, regardless of how early the prospect is in their buying cycle, are followed-up, managed, and communicated with on a regular basis.

The Award entered is Best B2B lead nurturing initiative, and the approach is something that we are further developing within IBM to incorporate both email and tele-nurturing process flows.

Lessons from YoU2ube

As part of their 360° tour, U2 stream their concert live from the Rose Bowl tonight to millions of viewers over YouTube.  There is no charge to watch the concert.  No request to provide contact details.  There are four CTA’s (Calls to Action):

1. Buy their new album – they have a captive audience, the perfect opportunity to ask them to part with their cash
2. Join their mailing list – building their contact database
3. Visit their website – driving hits to the site where additional offers are promoted
4. Donate to Red - a charity set up to eliminate Aids in Africa – promoting (corporate) social responsibility

Such a contrast from the mindset of most marketers, myself included, where our measurement systems drive the behaviour that capturing responses is EVERYTHING.  And this often happens with little knowledge of where the prospect is in their decision-making process.

Thinking about the U2 approach, there’s a lot that can be learnt.

Don’t be afraid to give away prime content

With the advent of music downloads, live concerts are the prime way for bands to earn money.  And for a band like U2, whose daily running costs for the current tour are more than (GBP)470,000, just putting on a show is an incredibly expensive affair.  In fact, the band are only set to break even tonight, despite having played 42 shows throughout Europe, the UK and the US.  You would imagine that this would mean that the band would be more protective over their live concerts, limiting the amount of footage made available and forcing people to purchase tickets.  Instead, they have adopted an open approach, recognising that making this footage available is MORE likely to encourage people to purchase tickets to see them live.

Seeing U2 perform live is an experience.  Streaming footage of the concert doesn’t assault the senses in the same way – you can’t capture the sense of excitement and anticipation, the smell of spilt beer and musky deoderant mixed with steamy perspiration, the bonding of the crowd as they singalong like a rowdy choir, grinning at each other and punching the air.  And by recognising that the experiences are different and that an army of fans would prefer to see them in the flesh, streaming live on YouTube only serves to increase the loyalty of their fanbase.

Provide opportunities for fans to congregate

The trick is to understand who your fans are, provide forums to engage & connect with them, and allow them to collaborate and connect with each other.  Fans are encouraged to promote the live webcast on Facebook and Twitter via links on U2’s YouTube channel.  They are also able to interact with each other via a Twitter gadget embedded on the channel, heightening a sense of community around the live performance.

Companies are trying to do this through the use of communities on internal and external sites, but in a B2B environment where we’ve been so used to pushing information at people and selling to them, it’s a real mindset change to relinquish control and provide forums that are about engagement and conversation.  Perhaps, in opening up our corporations to our customers via the use of social media, we will find it easier to identify, reach and develop our die-hard fans and THEY will determine how they would like us to engage with them.

Provide rich experiences for your fans

Whilst I’ve been toying with the idea of live streaming elements of the face-to-face events that I run, it’s difficult to do so without the fear that this will deter people from attending in person.  It’s increasingly apparent that more needs to be done to clearly differentiate and enrich both the live and online event experiences.   An IT event is far removed from a concert, but there’s no question that people prefer to interact in person.  Live events offer the opportunity to fully engage our senses.  A plenary session and a number of breakouts giving people the opportunity to listen to a variety of speakers does little to take full advantage of this medium.  No wonder there is a significant drop-out on the day for our free events.  People are aware that they can access the presentations and videos afterwards, and whilst they’ll miss out on some of the networking opportunities, this isn’t always enough to encourage them to attend.  Social networking sites, enabling people to connect with each other online, may reduce this need still further.

Perhaps we should be less focused on improving the online event experience, and pay more attention to how we can enrich the face-to-face opportunity.

SEO – advancing the science of search

Advancing the science of search – beyond the web

A lot of time and effort goes into SEO audits – not just the review of your site and the insights and actions required to improve your rankings – but a strategic decision on the keywords to optimise around.  i.e. what you want to be famous for.

The question is whether those keywords are then applied across ALL of the tactics and content you create.

We can’t control search behaviour.  When a customer is at the early stages of identifying a need and at the top of the buying funnel, they’re not searching for your company, products or solutions.  All we can do is try to align generic keywords to their issues and aim for a share of searches.

Applying keywords to content

However, we certainly have control of the messages that we are putting into market and the terms that we want customers & prospects to link with our brand/products/services.

By ensuring that any white papers, case studies, videos, etc. include your chosen keywords, you not only ensure that your content will be served up by Google alongside these terms, you also align yourself  with this keyword in the minds of your prospects.  When they’re later searching on these keywords they will, either consciously or sub-consciously, be looking out for your company’s name in the search results.

Including keywords in marcomms tactics

This also includes adding the relevant keyword in your emails, DM, PR or other marketing communications tactics.  For example, include a SEARCH FOR (INSERT KEYWORD HERE) call to action on your emails with this term supported by paid search.  If you’re also optimising your web page around this term you increase the likelihood of appearing highly in the organic search results as well.

All great ideas that came out of a web roundtable discussion today and food for thought in terms of strategically thinking how to leverage the science of search BEYOND the website.

Augmented reality: bringing I.T. to life

Every now and then you come across a cool technology where you desperately want to find an application to test it out - audience and message be damned!  Augmented reality – for me, is one of those devices.    OK – so I’m a little late to the game (looking on YouTube there were videos demo’ing AR from YEARS ago), but I think techniques like this have so much promise, not only from an advertising/Direct Mail perspective, but also to bring to life some of the work that’s been done in virtual worlds to an audience that’s not prepared to create an avatar and learn to “fly”. 

IBM created a green data centre inside Second Life which allows the user to to take a tour of the virtual data center and to explore the energy efficient options available to customers.  Whilst this allows the user to immerse themselves in the virtual environment, it relies upon the user downloading the Second Life application, creating an avatar, and learning to navigate their way within the virtual world.  

AR, on the other hand, would allow someone to view a virtual representation on their screen like a funky, interactive TV program.  The application not only has the potential to bring to life products, but it can also be a fantastic opportunity to connect the user with your brand and create some viral appeal (if done successfully).

It also holds promise in the event environment, both on and off stage.  At a recent event we were demoing IBM’s WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance and were unable to ship the box to an event in Edinburgh the next day.  AR would have been a great way of showcasing this product on the stage.  And by creating a Direct Mail piece to give to the event attendees, we could have enabled people to illustrate the benefits of the product to people back in the office.

Let’s face it – hardware products aren’t particularly sexy, and software is impossible to visualise – suddenly there’s a way of delivering the features/functions/benefits of I.T. in a visual representation that’s impactful, interesting and engaging.  Done well, this could have fantastic branding benefits.

Smarter Work: Why social networks matter

I love this presentation by Sacha Chua, Enterprise 2.0 Evangelist at IBM.  Whenever I feel like banging my head against a brick wall because of the internal processes and personalities that delay the pace of change, I remember that there is a groundswell of like-minded people on internal and external social networking sites with whom I can collaborate.

And those companies who currently ban social networking sites will soon realise that embracing these technologies can be a source of competitive advantage.

The YouTube Effect

Much has been made of the YouTube effect – suddenly what you say in private can be captured on film and broadcast to the world.  Information is made available to millions of people online in an instant – with both positive and negative implications.  It came up as part of the US Congressional campaign, has had an affect on foreign policy and has impacted TV networks.

A couple of weeks back I met with Darren Waters, ex BBC Technology Editor and now Managing Director of Monument PR, and we discussed the YouTube effect in terms of digital media.  Darren stated that sites such as YouTube and others that enable and facilitate user-generated content fundamentally changed the way the BBC had been packaging their material.  Content had become lazy and generic with producers repurposing other people’s news.  There was a lack of investment in original content due to the high costs involved.  The same content had been appropriated across different channels without an understanding of the specific features and functions of these channels, and the reasons behind why users were engaging with them.

The plane crash on the Hudson River was an example of the power of social media – and in particular where a photo posted on Twitter, despite being grainy and of poor quality,  rapidly went around the world.  The immediacy of this kind of coverage has forced new agencies to adapt and incorporate user-generated content in order to be more agile and provide relevant and meaningful material to their audiences.

However, it also brings me to the downside of the YouTube effect.  Ppeople start to think that being on YouTube means creating poor quality material and getting it online as quickly as possible.  What they forget is that quality succeeds – people WANT quality.  Whilst speed, relevance and timeliness are key, if poor production means that people lose the point of your message then it’s irrelevant if you got your video online lightning fast.  You only need to go onto YouTube to see the thousands of videos with a handful of views to realise that speed isn’t enough.

Everything starts with value in digital.  Quality, value, timeliness and relevance are key.  And the quality needs to be fit for purpose on the platform that the user is on.  Audience-led engagement will happen, if you give your audience a reason to engage.  Whilst people will put up with poorer quality if your message is relevant and timely, they will quickly lose interest if poor production efforts dilute your message.  And with the abundance of information out there, it’s key that content producers don’t lose sight of this.

Many brands have posted material on YouTube with cheap production quality.  Even if your message is entertaining and unique, without relevance and timeliness you may as well have saved yourself the effort. Google itself was falling victim to this phenomenon.  As it grew it was losing it’s consistency of message and quality.  This led to the creation of the company’s new in-house marketing unit, Google Creative Lab, with a remit to protect and build the brand across a variety of platforms and improve the quality of their comms.

Beware you don’t fall victim to the other side of the YouTube effect.  Remember quality, value, timeliness and relevance are crucial.

Social Media Huddle: Practical insights from Salesforce.com, Juniper Networks, Dell and IBM

I was lucky enough to be asked to present a case study at Banner’s Social Media Huddle last week to a group of IT marketers interested in practical applications of social media.  The event was a follow-up to Banner’s Demand Generation Summit where social media arose as a key topic of interest.

Alongside myself were speakers from Salesforce.com, Juniper Networks and Dell.

All delegates got a copy of Banner’s cool social media map.

Robin Daniels from Salesforce.com explained how they were using social media channels to reach customers and prospects, plus six golden rules of social media.

1. Conversations are a two-way street
2. Be honest & transparent
3. Be interesting & respectful
4. Know your audience
5. Quality matters
6. Don’t share secrets

Of these, I believe the first is a real differentiator for social media.  Organisations are able to engage in a dialogue with their audience – whether this be via marketing, corporate communications, PR, customer service, or any other division within the company.  This ability for consumers to make real-time requests, complaints, queries and suggestions will require organisations to revisit and revamp their processes in order to respond.

Points 2-5 shouldn’t be anything new.  If we’re only now telling ourselves that we need to understand our audience, be mindful of what we say, and deliver something of value and quality, then we’ve been seriously missing the point with our marketing efforts.

And point 6 should be part of any organisation’s corporate policy.

What was fascinating to hear was how Salesforce.com, a company that was born on the web, has grown up with a culture that embraces these social media vehicles.

In fact, myself and my fellow presenters are all fortunate to work for companies that have seen the benefits of social media and embraced it.  Whilst this means that our approaches aren’t perfect and there is still work to be done to present a unified voice across the organisation, it does allow us to test approaches and learn from these lessons.  This can only stand us in good stead as the application of these vehicles becomes far more mainstream.

Sarah Wright from Juniper Networks talked about her experiences developing a community around Juniper’s Junos OS.  This was a fantastic example of building a community around the needs and wants of their customer base.  It was also an example of the time-commitment and resources required to manage such an undertaking.  Sarah is the only person managing community inquiries and as the community grows, it’s hard to see how this will be sustainable.

One can’t help but feel that programs such as these will become increasingly common-place as part of an organisation’s strategy, and that new roles will be born out of this.

I was the third presenter and gave an overview of the results and key lessons learnt behind IBM’s Virtual Forbidden City campaign, which used purely social media and online vehicles to generate leads for IBM’s service-oriented architecture solutions.  I will detail the key learnings from this campaign in my next blog post.

And finally, Kerry Bridge from Dell shared examples and tips around the ways in which organisations are using Twitter for business including @DellOutlet which has over a million followers and has made over $3million in revenue for Dell.

What was most surprising, when Kerry asked the audience (all marketing professionals) how many were on Twitter, only a couple of people aside from the speakers raised their hands.  I sometimes wonder whether those of us who have become sadly addicted have lost sight of the fact that a vast number of people still have no idea how to get started… or why they should bother doing so!  I noticed people furiously scribbling notes as Kerry outlined the basics for creating a profile, finding people to follow, and “twetiquette” (or Twitter etiquette).

The final part of the afternoon was an opportunity for all the speakers to sit on a panel to discuss how to make the case for social media, and the people and process element – i.e. who do you need to get involved and who should ultimately “own” it.

There were questions from the audience on whether or not social media was a fad and whether they should get involved.  Admittedly the entire panel are heavily involved in social media and therefore not the most impartial of judges, but the sentiment was unanimous – brands/products/companies are being talked about online whether or not organisations decide to participate.  The only way to influence the conversation and position your brand is to get involved.

As for ownership – everybody owns social media.  Everyone has the opportunity to have their voice heard.  Each department within an organisation has a different part to play and different objectives that can be met by engaging online.  The challenge arises in knitting these voices together to drive value, both for the community AND for your organisation.

Marketing automation software: 3 key benefits

We’re currently in pilot phase for the implementation of a new marketing automation package.  I believe this will have three key benefits for our marketing organisation:

1. Response management

Currently response management is done manually, with someone in marketing responsible for distributing leads either to tele or face-to-face sales resource.  Responses can sometimes take weeks before they are sent to sales to further validate, losing valuable time and momentum.  Web responses, in particular, are frequently delayed in this manual process.

This solution should see the situation rapidly improved, with responses dealt with in a timely fashion, and business rules built into the process to ensure that responses are scored and distributed to the most appropriate resource at an appropriate time.

2. Visibility of campaign ROI

Currently ROI is measured on validated lead revenue and win revenue, per marketing tactic.  Has anyone tried to correlate a web download with a £1M opportunity?  Or convinced a sales person that there is any value in any marketing activity other than events?  Relying on sales to acknowledge that marketing has influenced an opportunity is  nigh on impossible and relies on too many unpredictable and uncontrollable factors.  Of course, sales and marketing should be aligned, but both have different objectives.

Whilst marketing automation software won’t resolve this issue, it will give us visibility of the responses that our campaigns are generating, and if or when these responses become opportunities.   Marketeers know that not every tactic results in a qualified opportunity.  In a complex organisation like IBM (or any other organisation with multiple products/services, and complex sales opportunities with lengthy sales cycles), it is a combination of tactics and multiple touches that may result in a qualified opportunity.

Having sight of how our multi-touch campaigns are resulting in opportunities will enable us to more accurately measure the success of these campaigns, and how individual tactics contribute.  In time, I believe this will result in better campaign creation and fewer disconnected, tactical marketing touches.

I also believe that it will change the focus of marketing measurement to take into account the full scope of activity, rather than focusing on the ROI of a single tactic.

3. Customer-focused campaigns

Yes – the nirvana of marketing activity!  Understanding how a customer has responded to a marketing tactic, which tactics they have responded to, and all other relevant account information will allow us to better tailor our marketing messages to the needs of our customers and prospects.  This data will give us valuable insight on the messages and campaigns that are having the most resonance.  We will be able to better segment and target our audience.  This insight, combined with better segmentation and targeting, will lead to more relevant, tailored marketing messages.

Could the days of marketing spam be over?

As I said above, we are currently in pilot phase and nirvana is a LONG way off…

I’m interested to know what other benefits people have seen from their marketing automation software, and if my thoughts above are verging on the fantastical.