What
is social media?
Social media is any website or other digital channel, that allows
people to communicate directly with each other and the whole world.
It gives people closer contact with friends and family and allows
them to become critics, journalists or editors from their home. In
general people will use the term social media for anything to do with
social media, social media marketing and social business.
What is social media
marketing?
The use of the social media channels by companies to market
their brands the old fashioned way, but reaching customers through
a new channel. This is usually done by marketers who do not grasp
the full meaning of social media yet and has short lived success,
as consumers expect companies to communicate with them and not bombard
them with TV like advertisements on internet.
What
is social business?
Engaging
with your customers, mainly on Social Media (Facebook, Twitter,
etc.), but also anywhere else on- and offline, turning your whole
organisation into a social business, delivering a whole ew range
of services to your customers, thus building an emotional bond with
those customers and turning them into advocates of your brand. Real
social businesses will incorporate their clients into their business
process; invite their clients to participate, using their preferences,
ideas and feedback to improve their goods, services and organisation.
Especially organisations that have a strong off-line CRM system
will make a quick, successful transition into social media.
What is different about
social media?
Some of the differences are:
- The customer decides
what happens online. Companies have to engage the customers where
they want and about the subject they decide.
- Push strategies do not
work any longer. Companies have to deliver good services instead.
- The marketing department
no longer controls the marketing messages. The consumer is writing
those and listens only to the mesages of other consumers.
- One customer can do a
lot of damage quickly.
Why use social media
and social business?
The online behavior and expectations of consumers have changed extensively
and your customers use social media on a daily basis, expressing
their preferences and issues they have with your organisation, goods
and service. Companies need to engage those customers online to
deliver the service that is expected from them, otherwise those
customers will seek these services from competitors.
Where do I begin with
social media?
Becoming a social business is never done in small projects.
A company goes social or doesn't, but it cannot do it just with
one project; the whole business has to go social and when it does
it does so forever. Having said this, make sure you start small,
test and evaluate regularly and as soon as things work you add on
a next level.
MONITORING
What do I need to monitor
online?
Before a company can engage in social media marketing, it has
to be aware what people want. The customer decides what happens
online and companies need to adapt to those wishes.
Apart from that it will make you quickly aware of negative issues
that are building up out there.
What if I find negative
remarks?
There will always be negative remarks, if a company is listening
or not. Finding negative remarks is a great opportunity to solve
them through delivering an excellent (follow up) service. Negative
feedback allow companies to improve their services and their products.
Should I remove negative
remarks from my product page?
Never remove negative remarks from your own pages. They will
show up tenfold elsewhere in no time. Removing negative remarks
will aggravate the problem. Try to solve the problem behind the
negative remark and let the customer know you are working on the
problem. A simple explanation is often seen as an excellent customer
service. Often other customers who you already built a good relationship
with will answer negative remarks for you.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Is it possible to determine
the ROI of a social media project?
Yes! Do not go for deviations of ROI, like Return On Engagement,
but implement social media marketing as any other marketing campaign,
setting clear objectives and defining clear metrics for those objectives.
That will automatically give you a clear picture of your ROI.
What to measure with
social media?
When looking at single campaigns, do measure those actions by your
customer that need an investment by them. If you are able to connect
sales to social media engagements, great! Otherwise meqasure comments,
retweets and other actions that ask more from a customer than a
simple click on a follow, fan or like button.
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