Week 7: Social Media Analytics

 

In your previous or current experience, were you or anyone at your employer responsible for tracking Social Media ROI? If so, how was this process conducted? If not, how was the success of your social media platforms measured?

To my knowledge, no, neither I nor anyone at my previous employer was responsible for tracking social media ROI. It was a large, very-well known company but I was not associated with any part of marketing/advertising/PR. Perhaps it was being monitored at the corporate level, but not at the individual store level where I was working. According to 60 Second Marketer, “While most businesses understand the importance of generating a positive ROI with their social media campaigns, a recent social media survey by Oracle indicates that only 10% of the businesses surveyed can actually tell if their social media campaigns resulted in increased revenue.” The social media ROI cycle has three stages: launch stage, management stage, and optimization stage. Most companies do not reach the optimization stage because it involves not only tracking social media, but split-testing to see which campaigns performed the best. (60 second marketer)

Have you ever had any experience with automated lead systems for your social media? If so, do you believe they were conducted to your way of business? If not, what current lead is in place? Do you believe these type of systems would be beneficial for your place of business?

I have never had any experience with automated lead systems for my social media. I do believe that these systems would be beneficial for business, as they “give a history for every visitor to your page, allowing you to track both where they came from and where else they have been looking. These software platforms can even generate reports specifically concerning your social media marketing and lead generation campaigns.” (60 Second Marketer)

As marketing automation tools can improve Customer Lifetime Value, what other ways do you believe we can improve the quality of our customers’ experience through social media? If you were in charge of improving your employer’s practices to not only retain current customers but also gain new ones, what would your strategy be?

My strategy for retaining current customers in addition to gaining new ones would be to: Obviously establish a social media presence, and make sure that the company evolves to phase three of the ROI cycle, rather than getting stuck in phase one or two. Then, the social media marketing would be assigned with focusing on all of the following: content generation for multiple platforms, creative and offer development, quantitative and qualitative metrics, improving conversation, and determining campaign success on an ROI basis. (60 second marketer) I would also use metrics such as page views generated, following/reach, and sentiment to help identify any areas that may need improvement. I would also implement the use of social media web monitoring tools, social media analyzing tools to help me find areas that are in need of improvement, and tools to assess the performance and popularity of my competitors.

 

 

 

Reference:

Turner, J. (2013). An in-depth guide on how to calculate the ROI of a social media campaign. Our blog. Retrieved from: http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2013/11/17/in-depth-guide-calculating-social-media-roi/.

WEEK 6: Social Media Policies, Security, & Privacy

                       

“The National Labor Relations Act protects the rights of employees to act together to address conditions at work, with or without a union. This protection extends to certain work-related conversations conducted on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.

In 2010, the National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that enforces the Act, began receiving charges in its regional offices related to employer social media policies and to specific instances of discipline for Facebook postings. Following investigations, the agency found reasonable cause to believe that some policies and disciplinary actions violated federal labor law, and the NLRB Office of General Counsel issued complaints against employers alleging unlawful conduct. In other cases, investigations found that the communications were not protected and so disciplinary actions did not violate the Act.” (NLRB Employers, 2012)

We’ve all seen or heard of some workplace social-media related terminations. In today’s fast-paced digital world it is almost impossible not to use or look at social media during the normal eight hour work day. This week’s readings provided us with some of the laws and regulations regarding social media in the workplace, in addition to some suggestions and rules of thumb to follow regarding social media privacy and security.

Please answer the following questions based on the week six readings:

1.      What are your thoughts about social media use in the workplace if it is not a required part of the job? Should it be permitted?

2.      Is termination of employment a reasonable punishment for posts made on an employee’s private social media page(s) regarding an employer or fellow employee? Why or why not?

3.      Which social media safety/privacy tip(s), if any, really resonated with you and/or opened your eyes to a potential privacy threat that you were unaware of prior to this week’s readings?

Topic of Choice Blog: Going Viral

 

 

We’ve all seen them, maybe even some of us have created them: viral videos. Going viral has become a worldwide phenomenom, but there is no easy formula for guaranteed success. One could argue that going viral began with that dancing baby video from the 1990’s, something that started on a small scale but then, for some unknown reason, resignated with millions. This is how most viral videos start, is it not? Someone doing something that is not meant to be seen by more than friends and family, then suddenly takes off and is potentially seen by millions around the world. It is not uncommon for people to become famous this way, even if just for their fifteen minutes. Marketers took notice and decided to get in on the viral action. “ For marketers, one of the coolest things about the web is that when an idea takes off, it can propel a brand or company to fame and fortune for free. Whatever you call it-viral, buzz, or word-of-mouse marketing-having other people tell your story drives action.” (Scott, 2013, p.116)

“There are people who will tell you that it is possible to create a viral campaign, and there are even agencies that specialize in the area. But when organizations set out to go viral, the vast majority of campagins fail. Worse, some companies set up fake viral campagins where people who are employed by the company are in some way compensated to write about a product. The web is hyperefficient at collective intvestigative reporting and smoking out trickery, so these campaigns rarely succeed and may even cause great harm to reputations.” (Scott, p. 117)

The question then becomes: if there is no guaranteed formula for a successful viral video or companign with regards to marketing, are there at least some finite components and ingredients that most viral videos share? Scott believes that there is not a direct answer to this question, so much as there are some “Rules of the Rave” that should be kept in mind. These rules may help to create “something worth sharing” (Scott, p.121). The rules are as follows:

·         “Nobody cares about your products (except you)”

·         “No coercion required”

·         “Lose Control”

·         “Put down roots”

·         “Create triggers that encourage people to share”

·         “Point the world to your (virtual) doorstep” (Scott, p. 122)

 

“Viral marketing-creating a World Wide Rave by having others tell your story for you-is one of the most exciting and powerful ways to reach your audiences. It’s not easy to harness the power, but with careful preparation when you are sitting on news and with clever ideas for what has the potential to create interest, any organization has the power to become famous on the web.” (Scott, p. 130)

Having other people market your products for you for free is a great tool. Being able to successfully accomplish this task is another thing. Following the rules outline by Scott, along with knowing your audience and having a product that is worth sharing with the world, are the first steps towards viral success.

 

Reference:

Scott, D. (2013). Going Viral: The Web Helps Audiences Catch the Fever. In The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Week 4: Social Media Targeting

If a company wants to effectively and efficiently gain consumers, it must say goodbye to the old days of TV, radio, and magazine ads, and hello to social media advertising via audience targeting, specifically “hypertargeting” and “nanotargeting.” Dave Kerpen explains the difference between the two techniques:

““Hypertargeting,” in which a company gears a marketing and advertising effort toward   a specific group through individuals’ social media profiles, activities, and networks.” (Kerpen, p.25)

““Nanotargeting,” a concept similar to hypertargeting but with search criteria so narrow that you can target one individual among hundreds of millions.” (Kerpen, p.25)  

Kerpen explains that targeting on Facebook is an example of hypertargeting, as audiences can be narrowed down based on age, gender, education marital status, interests, and job titles, while nanotargeting would be helpful if a company wanted to “engage with the CEO of the largest company in town or investment manager of a venture capital firm or marketing director of a key vendor or partner.” (Kerpen, p.26) Targeting strategies are the wave of the future, companies no longer have to mass advertise, they can narrow down its target audience to a much smaller age range, interest type, marital status etc. The main idea is to target people who are already interested in or in need of your product, rather than pushing a product on people who potentially have no need for it.

“Once you find your target audience, listen to them, find out what they are looking for, and provide your product or service to meet their needs. You can build a relationship with your audience and even allow them to directly buy goods or services, all using social media.” (Kerpen, p.27)  

In addition to Facebook, Kerpen explores the benefits of other social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Kerpen explains that Linked in is used by 160 million professionals and business users. He goes on to say that LinkedIn can be particularly beneficial if you are looking for senior professionals who do not have Facebook, because if they are present online at all, they will likely be on LinkedIn. When talking about Twitter, Kerpen says: “By utilizing Twitter, your target audience becomes based around what people are actually saying, not simply what you gain from demographic research.” (Kerpen, p.32) The idea is that people are actually writing about wants, needs, and likes on Twitter, resulting in knowing exactly what they want, rather than assuming they want, need, or like something just because they are single or fall in a certain age range. “Focus on a narrower but much more potent audience.” (Kerpen, p.35) This notion is meant to help prevent wasting money on people who are not interested. Finally, Kerpen tells us to think and act like our consumers, and ask ourselves if we like being interrupted by ads. (Kerpen, p. 39) We should ask ourselves the following questions before advertising:

·         “Will the recipients of this message truly find it of value, or will they find it annoying and disruptive?

·         Would I want to receive this message as a consumer?” (Kerpen, p. 41)

It is imperative for us as marketers and advertisers to think like consumers (which should not be difficult because we are consumers outside of work) if we want to be successful. Kerpen provides an excellent and insightful roadmap to victory in advertising. I know I will be looking at advertising in a much different light from this point forward.

 

Reference:

 

Kerpen, D. (2011). Way Beyond "Women 25 to 54": Define Your Target Audience Better than Ever, Think-and Act-Like your consumer. In Likable Social Media. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Week 3: Likable Social Media

Social media has indeed made an overall improvement in the effectiveness and success of marketing, PR, and advertising initiatives. As with everything, there are pros and cons, but in the case of social media, the positives far outweighs the negatives. According to David Kerpen, some of the major advantages of using social media in business, are as follows:

 

“You have a front seat to spontaneous chatter of interest to your business. You   have the ability to check in on prospective customers or prospects discussing problems your company solves or listen to existing customers talk about unrelated issues just to get to know them better. Checking in on your vendors, partners, or even your competitors’ customers has never been easier. The amount of data you can gather and the number of conversations you can tap into through social media is nothing short of mind boggling.” (Kerpen, 2011, p.14)

 

Another pro of social media is “Social media is the first communication channel that allows for such listening in large scale, no matter what you sell or market, your customers are definitely talking.” (Kerpen, 2011, p.15) The idea behind this method is that you can get to know your customers before talking to them or rather, talking at them. There is such much advertising that is unsolicited and aimed at the masses with the hopes of catching random attention, rather than really listening to the needs of consumers prior to releasing any marketing, PR, or advertising initiatives; the importance of listening cannot be overstated. In order to compile and sort all of the information, many companies use Major Enterprise Listening Systems so that a company can see in real time what people are saying about it. Kerpen uses the analogy of a professor teaching in a giant lecture hall v. a small, intimate class with a workshop to explain how social media builds trust and communities. (p. 67) In short, another pro of social media is that it is interactive, consumers can talk to the company and to one another about their likes, dislikes, questions, comments, and concerns; it creates online communities. From this, another benefit naturally arises, customers helping other customers, rather than going through the company, it’s an external support system that in turn, creates trust and loyalty. Yet another pro of social media, is quick feedback from a company, which may not have been given prior, because social media makes it incredibly easy for a customer to make their issue known to the general public. Just as was the case in 2009, with country singer Dave Carroll and United Airlines. When putting a claim into United Airlines about his broken guitar went unanswered, the singer took to YouTube, and received so many views that United Airlines quickly responded to solve the problem. (Kerpen, p.69) There are so many similar stories of unsatisfied customers going public with their complaints and then receiving the response they deserved in the first place. This brings us to a potential con of social media: social media sites can also cause a lot of problems for any company, as negative comments are made visible to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and the companies cannot control what is seen. Kerpen stresses that even though a company cannot control certain things as a result of social media, they can respond accordingly and appropriately in order to mitigate the damage, such as the “do-not-delete rule” and taking “quick public response, then take the issue private.” (p. 76, 77) I agree with Kerpen when he insists on authenticity and getting to know ones consumer base, but also understand that the idea of being authentic and responding to all posts, even if they are negative, can be a bit daunting for any very large company. (p. 97) Although I think social media has made it easier for companies to target specific audiences and allow for two-way dialogue as means of meeting the needs of consumers, it has also made the job of marketers, advertisers, and PR professionals slightly more difficult, in that they must now keep up with trends, comments, and feedback of all kinds, all while keeping their business authentic and trustworthy to the most amount of consumers possible.

 

Reference:

 

Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable Social Media. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.