Socialize Your Business

Socialize Your Business

Presentation to SCORE on July 15, 2009
Shailesh Ghimire (Twitter.com/Shailesh)
www.airmarketing.com

• Part 1: Harnessing the Power of Social Media

• Part 2: Developing an Effective Social Media
Strategy

• Part 3: Engagement & ROI


Part One
• Review Social Media and understand how to:
– set goals
– assess return on effort

• Overview of how consumers are using social media

• Social technologies tour

• Case studies


What is Social Media

• Connections/communication forum
– Consumer to consumer
– Consumer to brand/company

• Connections and relationships developed in a new
medium
– Blogs, social networks, photo/video sharing etc.
– Conversations, seminars, broadcasts, entertainment,
advertisement, work all rolled into one


Blogs

Social Networks

White Label
Social Networks

eMails

Wiki’s


How to use Social Media


Social Media Integration

• Assess needs and capabilities
– People, technology

• Define objectives and goals
– Awareness, conversion

• Develop and execute strategy

• Measure results

Defining Objectives
• Listen
– Who is talking and what are they talking about

• Speak
– Join the conversation through:
• Blogs, social networks, video/photo sharing, wiki’s etc.

• Connect
– Encourage target audience to join your conversation
• Viral videos, interactive contests etc.

• Invigorate
– Converting existing customers into fans


Examples of Objectives

• Integration into Sales:
– Lead generation
– Data collection
– Sales support
– After sales support

• R&D (Real time focus group)

• Drive SEO

What it takes to succeed

• Commitment and perseverance

• Sufficient resources


Consumers


How are consumers using social media

• Post articles on blogs

• Post comments, reviews, votes etc.

• Read others opinions, thoughts

• Watch user generated videos

• Share bookmarks, news stories


What Consumers Do Online

Source: Forrester Research


It's Reached a Tipping Point
• 60% of Americans interact with companies on a social media website

• One in four interact more than once per week

• 93% of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social
media

• 85% believe a company should also interact with its consumers via
social media
Boston consulting firm Cone, Boston Globe, September 25, 2008


Technologies Tour


Social Technologies
• Blogs, Podcasts and vLogs

• Social Networks/Virtual Worlds

• Social Bookmarking Tools (Digg, StumbleUpon)

• Collaboration Tools (Wikis, Google Docs)

• Video / Photo Sharing

• Micro blogging: Twitter (text), Seesmic (video)


Evaluating the Technology
• Does it facilitate and improve greater and more varied
communication

• Ease of use

• Allows interaction without your intervention

• Sustainable user generated content creation


Case Studies


Case Studies

• Full Social Engagement:
Wiggly Wigglers

• Blogosphere: Stormhoek
Winery (in South Africa)


Wiggly Wigglers
• Sells compost worm kits in the UK, started in 1995

• Based in a town with less than 70 people

• Target audience: farmers

• Less than 25,000 farmers in the UK

• Deployed podcasts, blog posts and social networking

Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/17/smbusiness/Facebook_marketing.fsb/index.htm
http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com/2008/04/blogher-business-2008-hats-off-to.html


Worm Success
• Now a multi-million dollar company

• Growing robustly at 10% per year

• Growth attributed to a combination of Podcasts, Blog
posts and social networking

• Now even has a developed a thriving catalog business


Stormhoek

• Winery in South Africa
– UK, France and Ireland as its major export market

• Deployed primarily a blogging strategy

• Hired UK Blogger/Cartoonist Hugh Macleod
– 10,000 visitors a day with approximately 2000
subscribers to his RSS feed


Why the blogging worked
• Hugh blogged aggressively:
– “Geek Dinners” – off beat cartoons and wine
– Sent 100 wine samples to bloggers in its target market
– Asked them to write about it if they wanted
– Dropped hints on his blog about the brand

• Result of blogger outreach:
– 75% of the bloggers who received free wine wrote posts about the
brand

• The Result:
– In two years the winery went from selling 40,000 cases/year to
40,000 case/week *

*Source: MarketingWeb.Com (SA's Online Marketing Magazine)


Conclusion


The Social You
• Understand how your customers are interacting with Social Media
– Do your customers have blogs?
– Do they read reviews from others?
– How much do they participate in social networks
– Which ones do they use?

• Determine your abilities (in house or acquired)

• Evaluate your commitment

• Devise a unique strategy to meet clear marketing and sales objectives


End of Part 1


Part 2: Developing an
Effective Social Media
Strategy


Success Hinges On

• Social Media Mantra:
– Honesty, Authenticity, Transparency and
Passion

– Being more human and less corporate


Remember What "Social" Means
• Positioning for avenues of
connection:

– Post teaser links, articles, videos to
drive traffic to your web-hub (blog or
website)

– Need to network and develop
meaningful connections

• Don't be like an Amway salesman at
a neighborhood party

Pre-requisites to success
• Exceptional product/service

• Transparency
– Willing to be open

• Accessiblity
– Respond to every social interaction in a timely fashion


The Three Keys to Success

• Passion
– About your company and industry

• Passion
– From your customers

• Passion
– About the new medium

Where are we today?

Play >>

Non Profits Lead the Way
• In 2008, 89% used at least one form of social media (75% in 2007)

• Focus on social networking and video blogging – 79% use each of
them

• 90% said their blog was very useful

• More than 80% said social media is at least "somewhat important" to
their future strategy.

• 45% said it was "very important"

Society for New Communications Research


Our Goal This Hour
• Developing a strategy:
– Where are your customers
– Classify your customers
– Define objectives/goals
– Develop the right strategy
– Count the cost

• Case studies
– 31 Days of the Dragon
– Wiggly worm
– FedEx


The Audience

• Discover:
– Where are they on social networks
– What are they doing
• Observing, spreading, commenting, creating, enhancing

– Information seekers vs. Engagement seekers

• Using:
– Online surveys
– Social Footprint (using eMail database)

Classify Customers
•Read blogs, comments, reviews
•Watch videos, download etc.
•Somewhat inactive

•Share via bookmarks, links
•Join Social Networks
•Tag content

•Leave comments, reviews
•Rate services/products
•Participate in forums

•Write blogs, create videos

•Write Wiki pages
•Moderate forums
•Manage groups


Goals / Objectives
• Thought leader (be an expert)
• Develop awareness
• Generate leads
• Put human face on company
• Market research
• Influence the Influencers
• Support customers
• Enchanced SEO
• Drive revenue


Audiece + Goals  Strategy
• Example 1
– Audience = Primarily commenting
– Goal = Generate Leads
– Strategy = Engage via blogs, feedback options on product pages
and create avenues for data capture
• Example 2
– Audience = Primarily observing
– Goal = Thought leader
– Strategy = Develop content rich blog, supply ample photos and
videos, weekly podcasts


Case Study 1

31 Days of the Dragon


31 Days of the Dragon
• Flagship HDX Dragon notebook wasn't selling as expected

• Sales were flat over the first 9 months

• HP turned to bloggers

• Selected 31 bloggers

• Provided them with one laptop each

• Week long contest started every day


Strategy Breakdown
• Audience = Commenters
– Technology enthusiasts

• Goal = Increase awareness and sales, influence the
influencers

• Strategy = Engage target via blogs and gain trust of
bloggers (influencers)


The Dragon Delivers
• Sales of the HDX Dragon increased by 84%

• Overall 10% increase in PC sales

• 14% increase in traffic to hpshopping.com

• Tracked over 380,000 backlinks

• 48 million collective views from 31 blogs and surrounding buzz

Source: http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2008/09/blogger-campaign-case-study-hps-31-days.html


Case Study 2

Wiggly Wigglers


Strategy Breakdown
• Audience = Observers
– Gardening enthusiasts and farmers

• Goal = Increase awareness and generate sales

• Strategy = Engage via podcasts and interactions in social
networks


Key: Passion and Expertise
• Blogger said:
– She has a strong voice. It’s genuine and personable.
– She is passionate about what she writes.
– She informs and educates her customers.
– She offers applicable tips.
– She keeps in touch.
– She encourages product trials with discounts and give-aways.
– She welcomes new friends.

Source: http://www.nextfiftyyears.com/2008/04/wiggly_wigglers_gardening_thro.html


Case Study 3

Enhancing Facebook


FedEx Ehances Facebook
• Facebook eMail does not allow you to send attchments

• FedEx created an application that would enable this

• FedEx is known for:
– Reliable, fast, overnight deliveries

Source: http://blog.buddymedia.com/blog/?p=58


Strategy Breakdown

• Audience = Spreading and Commenting
– Young social networkers

• Goal = Increase brand awareness, solve
problem

• Strategy = Engaged via social network
application

Brand Awarness Success
• 100,000 installs in less than 48 hours

• Over 50% of those users returning more than 10 times since their
initial install

• 3,092 monthly active users

• The audience is global

• Slight weighting towards female users (53%).

• 74% of the audience is in the coveted 19-34 age demographic.


Fedex Takeaway
• Thought beyond company presence

• Leveraged their offline persona to solve an online problem

• Created virtual usage

• Which has a high probablity of creating real usage


Your Strategy
• Audience = ________________

• Goals = ___________________

• Strategy = ________________

• Passion index = ____________


Execution


Time and Resources


Success Hinges On
• Social Media Mantra:
– Honesty, Authenticity, Transparency and a Passion about the
topic

– Being more human and less corporate

• Can't fake it!

• Need to find the right strategy for target audience to meet
the objectives set forth


End of Part 2


Part 3: Engagement & ROI

Shailesh Ghimire
Director of Interactive Marketing
sghimire@airmarketing.com
airmarketing.com/blog


By Now You Should Have…

• A basic understanding of Social Media
– Interactive Online Marketing

• A basis for developing a strategic plan
– GMOOT is not a plan

• An appreciation of the commitment
required

Final Phase

• Mastering engagement

• Refining strategy

• Understanding ROI


Engagement

• Characteristics:

– Personal and authentic

– "How to Win Friends and Influence Others"

– Timely and relevant

– Prepared for the long haul

Walmart

• Tried setting up their own social network


Walmart
• A "customer" blog • Facebook


But Finally Got it Right…

• Buyers' blog


Lessons from Walmart

• GMOOT doesn't work
– May need to try a few different options

• Do not assume anything

• Leverage your current strength


Refining Your Strategy
• Audience + Goals  Strategy
– Audience = Primarily commenting
– Goal = Generate leads
– Strategy = Engage via blogs, feedback options - on product pages
and create avenues for data capture

• Post-engagement:
– Customer reaction/expectations
– Review frequency and level of interaction
– Analyze your content (review analytics and search traffic)


ROI Question
• What Social Media can do for you:

– Expand the audience for your message

– Excite fans, customers

– Enable connections with new audience

– Gather insights, opinions

– Listen more effectively and create dialog


Setting Expectations

• Biggest impact:
– Reputation management
– Brand building
– Public and customer relationships

• Substantially improves:
– Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
– Lead generation

Potter's Case

• Universal Orlando Resort
– Wizarding World of Harry Potter
– Big rollout needed

• Traditional approach:
– 30-second TV spots
– Billboards across the country
– Self-congratulatory PR release begging the
media for attention

Tried a Different Approach

• Told just seven people about the launch

• Top fans at the top Harry Potter fan sites
(mugglenet.com)
– Rowling herself had a role in who was selected

• Invited to special webcast at midnight
– Presentation directly from the top creators/designers


Tried a Different Approach

• Had a website ready for bloggers to link to
with detailed information

• Next day announced it on the opt-in
eNewsletter


Then They Sat and Watched
• The seven brought the fan base alive:
– Blogs lit up
– Fan forums
– Social networks came alive
– eMails were forwarded

• Traditional media picked up the excitement

• From seven  350 million people


Potter's ROI

• Hard cost:
– Reach the first seven
– Communicate to opt-in database

• Return:
– Free TV & radio coverage
– Direct site traffic
– SEO

Now Your ROI


Key Points
• Determine conversion
– Sales leads
– eCommerce
– Awareness

• Measure engagement
– 1200 friends
– 500 followers
– 3 blog posts/week , 5 comments

• Determine ROI


Final Word on ROI

• Two camps:
– Just do it
– Doesn't work

• Truth is somewhere in the middle

• There is ROI


Closing Thoughts

You can't ignore this anymore!


Its 2009 and Almost 2010

• You’ll need to have a social media presence

• Develop and execute an effective strategy

• Ideally, social media will be integrated
within your overall marketing


Marketing


Getting Started
• Focus on relationships and not campaigns

• Already use social media successfully themselves

• Commit resources to learning and training

• Have learned from their mistakes

• Respect and are humbled by the medium


Homework
• If you don't use Twitter – open a Twitter account

• Find some followers
– Don't forget to follow me: Twitter.com/Shailesh

• Engage and learn

• Entire slideshow is now on Slideshare.Net
– http://www.slideshare.net/sghimire


Questions?

Shailesh Ghimire
(480) 748-2694
sghimire@airmarketing.com
airmarketing.com/blog
Twitter.com/Shailesh


Socialize Your Business

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