Marketing through social networks

Cheese Princess

Hi All

My company has just set up facebook and twitter accounts as part of a new marketing campaign. I need to put a plan together for what we can do with these, what we hope to achieve, how to go about it, etc.

Would anyone have any good tips on social network marketing or what you've done yourself?

Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks

growler

is there a good reason for people to follow you on twitter or join your facebook group?

I've used both as part of marketing campaigns but it isn't a marketing tool as such, its another communication channel that my target markets expected us to have a presence on.

to be honest, you should have sat down and worked out why you were setting these accounts up and what your objectives were beforehand. So, if facebook is appropriate to your target market and you have sufficient presence in the market or a brand that people want to engage with and discuss then great, but if you don't you'll have no followers / members and it'll look stupid.

I'd suggest starting with the obvious, get as many friends and colleagues to join your groups first so you don't look unloved, promote both (I'd rather focus on one to start with though) on all your emails and on your website. Think about running a competition via one of the sites that would encourage people to join up, make it so they should have to interact with the site to win anything : ie a photocompetition on facebook or find a new slogan etc. the more compelling the proze the more members you'll get. Accept that a lot of them are going to be wasters and that you're going to get slagged off in public by some.

Keep anyone who hasn't used social media well away from the sites, no matter how senior, 50 year old managers are not cut out (generally) for such things. One person who is capable of coherent writing should be solely responsible for the sites and use a consistent "tone", lots of different voices from a brand can be confusing.

don't even bother setting yourself targets as of yet, you'll need to work out if your audience is remotely interested in connecting to your brand first.

don't waste too much time on it, set aside 30 minutes or so a day to update and make sure you deal with any criticism as well as positive feedback.

Afraid there's no real magic formula to this stuff a lot of it you learn as you go, it can absorb a lot of time for no measureable return. Track whatever you can, links, click-thrus etc, referrals so you can compare with the costs of other channels.

good luck

Cheese Princess

That's really helpful - thanks.

We are launching a new service in a few weeks so we set up the pages in advance to build up a fan base before it all goes live. We've got about 150 facebook fans and about the same amount of followers on twitter so it's going ok.

I'd like to use it as a way of giving the brand a bit of personality and communicating with customers on a more down to earth level.

Now just need to come up with some quirky ideas!

growler

take a look at this too

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/social-media-has-grown-up-stats-one-year-on/

Donagh_mc

Glad to hear your making a plan. Objectives/goals are one of the the most important pieces when engaging with social networks. Sadly many people have a tendency to try out social networking rather than being strategic around it. Like many other aspects of running a business, if you start without a plan, you are aiming to achieve very little.

In my opinion engaging with the community is probably the most important things that you need to remember. It's vitally important that you be seen as a 'giver' rather than a 'taker'. On social networks people are far less likely to respond to your efforts if you constantly self-promote. You need to take an interest in what they are doing also. Try strike a balance. Take part in discussions, offer you opinions and provide something of value to the community.

LadyUmbrella

Hey, in the process of getting the whole social network thing up and running myself...thanks for the info...from my own, limited, experience I've found that you have to, as already pointed out, try to engage with people who become fans/followers...leave a comment on their page thanking them for joining or whatever - it shows that you care I think...another plus is that some of their friends may see the comment, become curios and possibly join up as well...

jimmybob

I would like to ask question about this. Is social netowrking worth the time/investment. Will I get a return on my investment. For eg I see hotels setting up twitter accounts. Will they get bookings from it.

LadyUmbrella

I think theres nothing to say that they won't get bookings from it (I'm hoping to sell t-shirts using it)..also, it doesn't take a lot of time to update and maintain a twitter/facebook so I think its a winner...

jimmybob

For the hotel example, they already have a website that needs updating and then if you ad a facebook account into that, its a full time job almost. I know its hard calculate but I really want to know does the time spent give a good return, if any. If ten hours a week is spent working on social network sites, for eg 20 euro per hour, will I get over 200 euro per week return?

Good luck with the teeshirts:cool:

LadyUmbrella

Thanks for the wishes...I'd love to put this in my sig but can't get one yet but, www.ladyumbrella.com if you'd like to have a look at our t-shirts..

Again, via our facebook we have been able to use it successfully to:
A - generate awareness of our new brand
B - get in touch with people who like our product
C - get some orders
D - keep the costs of doing so down (it has cost nothing but my free time)..

MrLuke

I think Growler has given the best info and you seem to be fairly clued in on the process. Preparation, having goals and objectives, someone who is familiar with social networks to develop your presence (through commitment, time and personality).

Also watch out for over spamming people, moreso in relation to Facebook than Twitter. Based on research I have carried out, too many messages, with little value to the reader will get you blocked. Get blocked on a social network and how likely would that person be to unblock you? The relationship is over, and would getting blocked affect that individuals view of your service?

Think about content that is related to your service that customers and potential customers will value and read. Think about the 'viral' effect on facebook, Friend X has become a fan of product Y. Its often how most people find fan pages.

Dont forget to integrate social media presence to the rest of your marketing communications - mention your on Facebook/twitter in e-mail signatures, print ads, press releases etc etc.

Remember a new fan is not simply a viewer of your messages. A new fan has considered to add you to their personal social network to accept marketing messages from you. What other medium do consumers willingly accept marketing messages...

I have more social media/social network posts on my blog below and the link below.
Luke

http://www.bulbmarketing.com

zAbbo

Cheese Princess wrote: »

Hi All

My company has just set up facebook and twitter accounts as part of a new marketing campaign. I need to put a plan together for what we can do with these, what we hope to achieve, how to go about it, etc.

Would anyone have any good tips on social network marketing or what you've done yourself?

Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks

Why setup accounts without thinking what they want to do? Facebook and Twitter are applications for interacting.

Wedging you companies arse in the middle of the conversation may not always be the best thing to do.

Role it back:
What's your objective?
Who do you want to engage with?
What will the people you are engaging with get out of this?
How do you measure your objective?

You may find that twitter/facebook are unsuitable for what you are trying to do.

ed6hellsfresh

jimmybob wrote: »

I would like to ask question about this. Is social netowrking worth the time/investment. Will I get a return on my investment. For eg I see hotels setting up twitter accounts. Will they get bookings from it.

Jimmybob is right, I think this is the problem with marketers over enthusiasm on the social networking issue, just for a second think about it from a customers point of view, would you actually add a hotel as a friend on facebook or twitter?

I know for sure that I wouldn't... Why the hell would I?

its all about how appropriate it is for your target audience, a fact which seems to matter little at this point in time to a large % of the marketing community, People seem to be forgetting the "WHY"

MrLuke

ed6hellsfresh wrote: »

Jimmybob is right, I think this is the problem with marketers over enthusiasm on the social networking issue, just for a second think about it from a customers point of view, would you actually add a hotel as a friend on facebook or twitter?

I know for sure that I wouldn't... Why the hell would I?

its all about how appropriate it is for your target audience, a fact which seems to matter little at this point in time to a large % of the marketing community, People seem to be forgetting the "WHY"

But is that not the big marketing question? not 'why' but 'how' do you get people to add you as a friend? There has to be some value in the relationship for the consumer in order for them to do so. Coke is one of the biggest brands on Facebook, yet we all know what Coke tastes like, where to buy it and how much it costs. [Seems its added as a display of taste preferences by consumers]

But to look at it from a hotel's perspective;
What social network content can the hotel provide that consumers will value?
- competitions
- info on hotel events golf/wedding fairs/events
- info on weekend breaks / deals
- any PR related activity...mentions in the media etc.
- maybe look for suggestions from fans on hotel related issues; new services..etc, ways to get them involved
- create a section where customers can leave reviews (surely theres a facebook app for this?)
- try integrate the photo album section of Facebook in some way

What social networks do past & potential consumers actually use?
- This could be easily done at check in
- Could also ask what sort of info would interest consumers to become fans

This is off the top of my head, and may not be of interest to some people, but for them you have a website (with RSS Feed, E-Mail Subscription etc.). However for those who spend more time on social networks than on email, may find the social network platform more accessible.

For something that can be done internally, with an investment of time, on a platform with 250 million worldwide users... it might be worth the effort.

Luke

jimmybob

I think you may be talking about face book mainly, for these extra features, surely this is not possible with twitter. But regarding facebook, maybe im nieve here but wouldn't a link to the hotel website be enough where all the info is in a central location, fully updated and presented in a professional way with special offers, pro images and where availability can be checked.
If you say that putting some info about the hotel on the page should help, where do you stop with the info. If you dont stop you will have all the same info from your website on facebook. Then there is the other social networks sites, it just doesn't make sense to me.

For me most hotel business is coming from booking engines like hotels.com and through the hotel website booking engine.

LadyUmbrella

One advantage of facebook though is that its a lot easier to get people to interact. If you just use your main hotel webpage (or whatever it may be) generally all communication is just 1:1 whereas with facebook you can get a lot of people to talk to you and allow others to see their comments...

MrLuke

jimmybob wrote: »

I think you may be talking about face book mainly, for these extra features, surely this is not possible with twitter. But regarding facebook, maybe im nieve here but wouldn't a link to the hotel website be enough where all the info is in a central location, fully updated and presented in a professional way with special offers, pro images and where availability can be checked.
If you say that putting some info about the hotel on the page should help, where do you stop with the info. If you dont stop you will have all the same info from your website on facebook. Then there is the other social networks sites, it just doesn't make sense to me.

For me most hotel business is coming from booking engines like hotels.com and through the hotel website booking engine.

I don't mean to single out Facebook, but it was mentioned in the previous post. What network(s) to choose come down to where the customers are and what objectives the Hotel wishes to achieve. Why do firms choose to advertise in the Irish Times and not The Sun (for example?) I wouldn't rule any of them out or any of them in without a period of investigation first.

Why use social networks?
- they give the brand a personality
- as the above poster mentioned can encourage interaction
- it's an addition to an existing website
- it's where customers are
- once a person becomes a fan they have agreed to accept marketing messages from you. Once those messages retain value to the customer they're more likely to view and recall them. I'm referring more to Facebook here than Twitter (but I wouldn't call Twitter a social network, if anything its got more in common with a blog)
- those within the organisations social network will now be informed of updates without the organisation having to rely on those people visiting the company website

And in the end there must be some sort of measurable goals and objectives. That is really the only way one can say if a social network marketing strategy works or not. I certainly don't think they are for every organisation, but I would say almost all B2C and a lot of B2B firms.

Luke

growler

to continue with the hotel example, if a hotel chain asks guests to become their friend on facebook in return for special offers, competitions etc. then I could see how (a) it keeps that hotel in the customer's mind (b) gives the hotel access to the extended facebook networks of their customer base (who are likely to be in the same demographic) at a minimal cost and (c) creates a new tier of "brand ambassadors"

but if I were a hotel chain marketing director I'd be extremely wary of sticking my neck into social media space as there is a huge risk that conversations would be dominated by complaints , or that any one complaint would have a disproportionately negative effect on other potential customers. The impact tripadvisor etc. have on resorts and hotels these days must be phenomenal yet few hotels seem able to address the bad feedback of customers on these sites, yet alone have the capacity to deal with facebook. I wouldn't book a hotel without seeing what the reviews on tripadvisor are like or eve book a restaraunt without checking out peer reviews.

Weighing up the potential downside of negative publicity + cost + time needed to maintain a presence v's the potential gain from low cost exposure of your product to undefined "friends" of past customers etc. , i'd stick to keeping my website updated and focus on email & DM for my customer retention and communciation. It least you can limit the damage done by a poor customer experience without hanging out your dirty washing for the internet to see.

Tbh, I can't what the motivation would be to add a t-shirt design label as a friend on facebook or what value there would be in following them on twitter, unless, as said above, you are a lifelstlyle brand like Apple or Coke that people want to associate with. That said there would seem to be little risk to a t-shirt designer being on facebook as its pretty tough to have a negative t-shirt experience I would think.

A cautionary take from United Airlines : http://gilbertdirectmarketing.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/social-media-and-the-united-breaks-guitars-video-a-cautionary-tale-for-all-marketers/?goback=%2Ehom

MrLuke

The United Airlines example could happen to any brand by any individual pi**ed off enough to complain and put a video onto a 3rd party website, regardless of the brand having a social network presence. Social media does require the organisation to be customer focused and more responsive to feedback, some companies use this as a means to differentiate themselves, by offering superior customer service.

The pro's and con's of any social network/media strategy have to be weighed up before deciding to go for it or not. For every United Airlines, there's a Zappo's (in terms of customer service), for every Skittles fiasco there's a Starbucks success story.

Have a read of this, what social media isn't;
http://econsultancy.com/blog/4384-what-the-f-k-isnt-social-media

Donagh_mc

MrLuke wrote: »

The United Airlines example could happen to any brand by any individual pi**ed off enough to complain and put a video onto a 3rd party website, regardless of the brand having a social network presence. Social media does require the organisation to be customer focused and more responsive to feedback, some companies use this as a means to differentiate themselves, by offering superior customer service.

The pro's and con's of any social network/media strategy have to be weighed up before deciding to go for it or not. For every United Airlines, there's a Zappo's (in terms of customer service), for every Skittles fiasco there's a Starbucks success story.

Couldn't agree more!

How a company approaches social networking can often be dependant on it's type and size.

Google, Coke, etc are massive brands and use the medium to reinforce themselves as market leaders. They usually just use their branded pages for new product announcements or competition launches. For SME's it's different. Social networking can provide them with a way of connecting with a target audience in a manor that can be far more fruitfull and cost effective than some offline methods used. You just need to approach it in the right way!

The personal approach is very successful too on the social web. Leading Google employees like Matt Cutts are heavily active on the social networking scene. He makes himself availbale to the masses and provides some valueable information. All of it his "good will" advice and tips not only promote him,but also the brand he's associated with.

With everything there's both pro's and con's, but on social networks the potential benefits far outway the potential negatives. A business shouldn't be afraid to dive in, do a bit of research and get active!