3 Stats to Think About When Crafting Your Social Media Campaign

There’s a lot involved with building your social media presence–so much so, that it’s easy for  small business owners to feel overwhelmed and become unsure of what they should be focusing on. And then you come across some startling stats that show just how big the disconnect really is.

I present you with three social media stats to ponder. Think about how they may reflect your own social media strategy.

1. Social Consumers Rely on Ratings and Reviews

Consumers’ increased use of social media is changing buying patterns and behaviors. It’s something we’ve been able to feel for a while, but thanks to NM Incite, we now also have the data to back it up. According to NM Incite, 63 percent of social media users listed “consumer ratings” as their preferred source for getting information about products and services. Another 62 percent of social media users listed “company reviews” as their preferred source.

Consumers are seeking out these websites for information about the products and services that they are interested in. And they are making their judgments based on the reviews and ratings your brand has received. Last week I mentioned the importance of putting together a holiday review strategy – using the momentum of the season to pad your reviews and testimonials in the New Year. The data released only reaffirms the importance of this. If you haven’t created a strategy for getting online reviews, now is the time. Don’t let it sit any longer.

2. Seventy-One Percent of Companies Ignore Customer Complaints on Twitter

How’s that for customer service?

According to research from Maritz and Evolve124, of 1,298 Twitter complaints reviewed, only 29 percent received a response from the company mentioned. The other 71 percent went completely ignored by the brand, essentially telling consumers companies are not listening and don’t care about their experiences. To make the stat even more heartbreaking, 86 percent of the tweeters who were ignored said they would have liked or loved if the company had responded to them. And that makes sense. We like hearing that a company is listening to us, that they hear what we’re saying, and that they’re going to address our concerns. We are looking for these signs when we do business with a brand, even if 51 percent of users don’t believe a company will respond when we tweet at them. We’re still elated when they do.

If your customers are giving you the opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade, to right a wrong and to start over, don’t let that opportunity slip by. Even if the tweet directed at you is full or fury , the fact that the customer said something gives you the ability to correct it. And according to the numbers, more than 80 percent will be genuinely happy to receive a response from you. That’s like guaranteed happiness just for showing up!

3. Fifty-Eight Percent Expect Exclusive Content/Discounts for “Liking” Your Brand’s Facebook Page.

If ever there was a reminder that consumers have their own motives for following you on Twitter or liking your brand on Facebook, ExactTarget reminds us that it’s really about the customer. Always. When it comes to expectations after liking a company on Facebook:

• 58 percent expect to gain access to exclusive content, events or sales
• 58 percent expect to receive discounts or promotions
• 47 percent expect to receive updates about the company, person or organization

When you begin to develop a presence on social media, it’s up to you to provide the why and create that incentive. It also means understanding your audience so you know what they want. Some may prefer discounts, while others will want exclusive videos or access to your brand. By giving your customers what they want, you increase their engagement with your brand.

The above statistics stood out to me because they all reinforce the reason for getting involved with social media in the first place. It’s about helping people find information about you, engaging when they reach out to you, and giving them something for their time. Those are the three things every social media plan should be based on.

About the Author

Lisa Barone is Co-Founder and Chief Branding Officer at Outspoken Media, Inc., an SEO consulting firm that specializes in providing clients with online reputation management, social media services, and other Internet services.

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SMB Social Media and Social Networking

Social media and social networking are critical tools for SMBs today, but how do you use these tools effectively? The possible applications are nearly limitless and the tools are many and maybe a bit overwhelming, so we’re hoping this simple guide provides a practical starting point.

Tips & Tricks

How to manage social media like the big guys. If you think social media is the exclusive tool of small business marketing, think again. Big businesses are using this technology too. What can you learn from them. EMS Inc.

The key to effective business networking. Being a connector is hard work but can be good for your business as well. The key to doing it successfully has to do with getting buy-in from all parties. Chris Brogan

Social Media Trends

The Fed will be monitoring social media? Is your small business listening too? With opinions apparently rapidly shifting on monetary policy, the Fed hopes to eavesdrop on conversations on Facebook, Twitter and more. You owe it to your company to do the same. Fast Company

How is your business using its social tools? Social media and social networking tools are exploding everywhere. How are you using these tools to promote, leverage and grow your compay? Noobpreneur

Marketing Social

How to recycle your blog. Success in social media is about communication but also about sharing something of value. It’s important not to waste or squander the value you create. Chris Brogan

Social media and permission marketing. Social media is a brand new communications medium that is taking the world and small business by storm. Permission marketing is a new approach to promoting your business promoted by Seth Godin. Here’s how they fit together. The MarketingM8 Blog

Location Based

Not all social media is created equal. An important part of your social media strategy may just be figuring out where to be active and what tools to ignore. For example, location-based technologies like Foursquare have not taken the world as much by storm as expected. WSJ

Don’t count Foursquare out! On the other hand, though growth may not have been as rapid as expected, counting these tools out as a help to your business may also be a mistake. Are you in a position where location based services could do a lot for your company? You’re the Boss

More Social Media News

Coming to terms with new realities. Many companies are now actively encouraging their employees to use social media, aware of the possibilities. But a recent survey suggests many businesses have had to discipline employees as well when that social media use goes wrong. The Telegraph

Making the most of your opportunities. The fact is that most successful social media campaigns in the end require a comprehensive approach and, while the strategy may vary for each company, a few of the key elements remain the same. Here are the things you’ll need to make the most of social media. Bizgene

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Social Media Policy: How to Get Started

For small business owners, creating a social media policy is an effective way to help your employees interact with customers, clarify your marketing messages and protect your credibility online. Let’s look at how to create a social media policy.

What Is a Social Media Policy?

Here’s one definition:

“A social media policy is a set of guidelines that describes how employees should interact with customers online.”

In general, most policies provide guidelines for:

• Corporate blogs
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Remember, you don’t have to create individual policies for each social media site. Instead you can create a master policy document and develop short chapters for each specific site. This makes it easier to manage the document and keep changes under control.

Employee Handbooks & Social Media Policy

From one angle, you can develop your social media policy as a subset of your employee handbook.  This means that when someone joins the company, the guidelines for interacting online are covered under that chapter in the handbook.

Or, you can create a standalone document and refer to the employee handbook where necessary. This reduces the word count as, for example, you can reference legal information and HR policies in this document.

Getting Started

Like many things, taking the first step is the hardest part of developing a social media policy. So where do you start?  One approach is to look at companies in your sector, examine their policies (many are public), and use these as building blocks for your documents.

When you’re examining the policies, consider the following:

• Tone – Is the policy formal or does it use a more relaxed conversational style? Which do you think works best? Some documents use phrases such as ‘The user shall…’ which sound a little harsh. Try to adopt a tone that is professional, helpful and respectful.
• Length – Some policies are very short, whereas others are dense and read like legal documents. Again, see which works best for you. There’s no right or wrong.
• Level of Information – Some policies provide general guidelines, whereas others provide more granular information, for example, detailing how to respond to a negative comment on the company blog.
• Scope – Do the policies cover social media networks on an individual basis or do they take a broader approach? Which approach would work best for your company? Which would be easier to manage?
• Usage – Can you see your staff using these documents? If not, why? Look for examples that you enjoy reading and that you feel would work well for your team.

Creating a Draft Document

If the idea of writing a social media policy fills you with dread, then take heart. It’s not that difficult and I’ll show you why.  In the same way that Rome wasn’t built in a day, creating your policy documents will take a while… but you’ll get there.  The trick is to break it down into manageable tasks — for example, one policy per week.

For instance, let’s start with a policy for your Facebook page:

• Purpose – Describe the purpose of this policy in one sentence. Keep it focused and remove any ambiguity. Write in a positive tone.
• Objectives – Outline how this policy will help readers (i.e. your employees and Facebook fans) to interact.
• Policy – Write a short policy that outlines your expectations, position, and actions you may take if these guidelines are breached.
• Contacts – Include contact information if the reader needs clarification.

Help or Hinder?

Why do so many people feel that social media policies are a bad thing?  The main reason policies don’t work (or get a bad reputation) is that they make it more difficult for employees to do their work. Maybe that’s not completely true, but for many employees, these policies feel like an intrusion and one more rule to follow.  How can you get around this?

I think it’s the word policy that upsets people. If this is the case, shift the tone of the document and refer to them as  guidelines, instructions and examples to give your employees more confidence when interacting online.  Then, after you have created the policies, hold an informal workshop and introduce the document.  Remember, most employees want to do their jobs well. But they sometimes get frustrated when they have to change the way they perform their daily tasks.  The workshop should reduce their anxiety and give them the direction they need.

When you start the session, work through the following items:

• Assumptions – Remove any assumptions or misunderstandings they may have about the policies.
• Examples – Walk them through sample policies so they understand how the policy applies to their role.
• Scenarios – Keep the session practical by discussing scenarios where the policies will help them.

The scenario part of the workshop is very important.  Show real-world examples of where social media can cause problems, such as:

• Staff sharing confidential information by accident
• Responding to negative comments and getting into flame wars
• Leaving remarks on competitors’ websites

Then show how to manage these problems more effectively. Your employees will see the value of the documents and be more inclined to use them.

Publish

Once you’ve finalized the policy documents, send a PDF to all employees. Ask them to the read it carefully and reply if they’ve noticed any gaps, errors or typos.  Then post the policy on your website, blog and other social media channels. Remember to add a date, version number and document owner so you can track document changes.

Monitor

Developing policies is a process of refinement.  Every six months, review the documents and update where necessary. For example, if you’ve launched a mobile site, you may want to include policies for this in the document. More importantly, look at the feedback you get from your team and see how this can be used to refine the text.

Conclusion

Writing your first social media policy is easier than you’d think. See it as a small project that you’re going to tackle over the next four weeks. Create a team with good writing skills and knowledge of social media, then work towards a deadline.

If you’ve already written social media policies, what’s the most difficult part of the process for you? Once you’ve created policies, how do you implement them?

Image from Dirk Ercken/Shutterstock

About the Author

Ivan is the founder of Klariti, a popular website with one goal - to help you write more effectively. Every week, Ivan takes the mystery out of business writing and helps you write better reports, plans, procedures and white papers.

 

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€10,000 to Test a Social Venture in Naples, Italy

Unsure how to spend this summer weekend? Brainstorm startup ideas to remedy dysfunction in Naples, Italy, the famous port city known for its vibrancy, history, and cuisine--as well as its lawlessness and litter.
A London nonprofit called Euclid Network is seeking individuals from around the globe to solve societal problems in Naples. The group wants entrepreneurs to move to the city this fall and create business ventures that will improve locals' lives.
To find the best ideas for the six challenges it has already identified, Euclid is holding Naples 2.0, a competition soliciting proposals in English through this Monday, Aug. 15. The challenges range from converting a villa confiscated from the mafia into a business to improving operations at a textile recycling cooperative.
On Sept. 23, a jury that includes the U.S. consul general in Naples and a vice-president of the European Parliament will award six winners €10,000 each to get their ventures off the ground with local partners. By Jan., Euclid, which is funded in part by the European Commission, will assess participants' progress to determine whether to continue supporting them. Wanda Halbert, a Euclid coordinator, says the group is still determining how to help with foreign participants' costs related to visas, travel expenses, and lodging.
Euclid chose Naples because it wanted to put social innovators to work in a place where public institutions have proven "ineffective," the group's executive director, Filippo Addarii, explains in a video. "We want to do it not in a fancy, cool, hyper-tech, wealthy environment, but it in a place which is the symbol of state and market failures," says Addarii. "I think that is the right place for social innovators, to show that they can provide solutions where the traditional remedies failed."
Catch his complete explanation in the short video below.

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Combine E-mail and Social Media for True Engagement

In today's highly connected world, effective marketing is no longer about broadcasting content and promotions. Talking at your customers doesn't fly. Social media have changed the way businesses connect and communicate with their customers and prospects. Consumers want more than content. They want to get to know the people behind the brand. That means you must engage.
The tools for engaging your audience include both social media and e-mail. It's not a question of which channel is better. Your customers want and expect choices. Some prefer to connect on Facebook or Twitter, and others through e-mail. That's actually a good thing, because e-mail and social media go hand in hand.
E-mail remains the best way to get your message heard, but social media are the best way to get your message to spread. Why not leverage both? You can expand the reach of your e-mail campaign beyond the inbox by simply sharing a link to the campaign across your social channels. Additionally, adding the "Like" and "Tweet" buttons in the body of your e-mail will make it easy for your subscribers to share your message with their friends. Another approach is to use a strong social call-to-action to draw your readers to Twitter or your Facebook page to continue the conversation.
It's no longer enough to just broadcast a message. Now you must listen and respond to your audience. These are the key factors to effective engagement marketing, and both e-mail and social media are the tools to make it possible.
Mark Schmulen
General manager, Social Media
Constant Contact
Waltham, Mass.
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