June 2013

Social Equity: Social Care

June 14, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The concept of Social Care – customer service through social media – is growing in popularity, and the benefits it has to your business can be significant.

Today, one-third of online adults prefer to engage with a brand on social media compared to conventional forms of customer service (i.e. phone). That is a significant number. Ignoring it can mean two things: a loss of competitive advantage in your market and an increased likelihood of finding your customers dissatisfied with your customer service.

Social Care is a tactic that has been adopted by several international brands and it is a trend that is catching on with medium and small businesses as well. In addition to offering your customers a new avenue through which to engage with your brand, it also adds value to your business.

Social Equity from Social Care

There are two principle returns from Social Care that generate Social Equity for your business. First, there is the added value for your customers’ experience with your brand that maintains satisfaction and gives you a competitive advantage over competitors that are not offering the service. Second, Social Care is far more cost-effective than conventional forms of customer service.

First, let’s look at how Social Care gives your company an edge over your competitors. As noted above, not many small or medium sized businesses are offering Social Care at the moment despite the major proportion of online adults that prefer this method of customer service. This is not to say that Social Care should replace your current customer service options; it should be added to the mix to offer both clients, prospects and leads a means of reaching out to your company at any time, from any place, without having to worry about whether or not someone will be on the other end of the line right away, or leave them waiting for what seems like an eternity.

The convenience that comes with the option of Social Care adds value to the customer experience. 39% of consumers avoid further business with a brand after a bad customer experience. You can reduce the number of these occurrences by providing alternative means of reaching out to your brand, particularly one as simple as a tweet. Clients and leads can send their message and go about their day, allowing your Social Care team to read, review and respond to these messages in an efficient and timely manner.

The second area from which Social Equity is generated is in the cost-efficiency of such a program. One representative with a sufficient amount of knowledge can handle a significant amount of social inquiries in a much timelier fashion than one that must respond to clients over the phone.

When a customer is sitting on the phone waiting for a representative, it behooves the company to have that call answered as quickly as possible. In order to do that, more representatives are required. On social, however, clients can send in their inquiry, as explained above, and a single representative can handle hundreds of issues daily (theoretically, of course). This system is both a money-saver in the short- and long-run.

Social Care is a new phenomenon, but it is one that has tremendous potential to increase the value of your business.

Does your brand engage in some form of Social Care? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Sony

June 13, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Sony is not the first brand to come to mind when you think of Pinterest, but they managed to make themselves a powerful force on the network.

The logic was simple: everybody’s doing it, why don’t we? In 2011, Sony noticed the persuasion Pinterest had on purchasing mentality and decided to leverage the power of the network to increase traffic and, ideally, drive new sales.

Using a carefully coordinated strategy, Sony managed to garner 2,500 followers in the first six months of their activity on Pinterest, increase referral traffic from Pinterest to the Sony Store website by 800%, and collect more than 4 million brand impressions!

You can argue that Sony’s success came from their status as a brand on the market, but the reality is that Sony succeeded on Pinterest because of the course of action taken. The five lessons below detail what Sony did both before and after launching their Pinterest account and what marketers can learn from the strategy applied by Sony.

Do Some Research

While Sony had the added advantage of a brand that people were already talking about, it is important to do as much research as possible on your brand, competitors, industry leaders and, most importantly, your industry. Find out what people are already sharing and join an existing conversation instead of trying to start a new one. You might find it a lot easier to gain momentum.

Jump Right In

To truly succeed on social media – Pinterest or otherwise – you need to commit yourself and your team to the execution fully. Sony involved a huge part of their team when they started pinning. They did not want to ease their way into the community, they wanted to come in strong and get noticed. There are billions of conversations taking place and you need to find a way to get yourself noticed.

Mix It Up

After doing their research, Sony determined what topics were most relevant, most popular and most engaging, and created boards that fit into all of those categories. Do not limit yourself only to posts about your brand.

On the t2 Pinterest page, we share plenty of content about marketing, but we also share animal pictures, motivational quotes and healthy recipes! Be as broad as possible, because at the end of the day you want to reach as many people as you can. You never know where you might find new business!

Cross Promote Pinterest

Share your pins and promote your Pinterest page wherever you can. Sony posted their Pinterest account and their pins to other social networks, included links in email blasts and added links on their blog to drive new traffic to Pinterest. The more accessible your content is, the faster you will see eyes landing on it.

Pin It!

For Sony, the Pin It! button generated 10 times the number of clicks from the Sony Store than the Tweet This button. That means 10 times the number of links being generated on Pinterest than on Twitter and leading back to the store. Make your website Pinterest-friendly and your visitors will take care of the rest.

While we can’t all be Sony-sized brands, we can all develop strategies that lead to the same degree of success that Sony experienced. Whether your brand is big or small, your strategy is what will determine the value of your social media program.

What strategy do you incorporate into your Pinterest marketing? Has it worked? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

18 Twitter and Facebook Business Facts

June 12, 2013/by Corey Padveen

At the end of the day, it all comes down to numbers, and these Twitter and Facebook business facts are some good ones.

The marketer in us wants to pursue the power of social media because we have studied and understand its potential. However, the business person in us (and those in our companies) want the cold, hard data to back up business decisions.

Social media measurement and social media ROI are still some of the most heavily debated points on the topic. We thought we would make the conversation a little easier for both the marketer and business person in all of us by sharing a few notable Twitter and Facebook business facts.

Twitter

37% of people on Twitter will purchase from a brand they follow.
79% of Twitter users are likely to recommend a brand that they follow.
67% of users on Twitter are more likely to buy from a brand that they follow than one that they do not.
In the last two years, there has been an increase of 663% of users asking for business recommendations on Twitter.
70% of small businesses in the United States are on Twitter.
33% of people on Twitter follow a brand.
40% of Twitter users use the network for information gathering.
69% of Twitter users follow brands based on recommendations from friends.
77% of online shoppers use Twitter and other reviews and comments before making a purchase.

Facebook

On average, ‘fans’ spent an additional $71.84 on products for which they are fans of, compared to those that are not ‘fans’ on Facebook.
Fans are 28% more likely than non-fans to be loyal to a brand.
Fans are 41% more likely than non-fans to recommend a brand they are a fan of to a friend.
The number of businesses that say Facebook is critical or important to their business has increased by 75% in the last year.
77% of B2C companies have acquired at least one new customer through Facebook.
43% of B2B companies have acquired at least one new customer through Facebook.
80% of social media users in the U.S. prefer to connect to a brand on Facebook.
Local businesses’ Facebook pages average 645 million views per week.
23% of users check their account 5 times or more daily.

These are just a few stats that should get your marketing side and your business to agree that, at the very least, Twitter and Facebook are important.

Which statistics do you think is the most interesting? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

(Sources: HubSpot, Social Media Today, Social Media Examiner, The Huffington Post, Search Engine People)

5 Tips for Dealing with Customer Complaints on Social Media

June 11, 2013/by Corey Padveen

There are certain ways to go about dealing with customer complaints on social media.

All customer complaints are not the same, but there are certain features that are true to every one, and certain best practices that should always be adopted when dealing with customer complaints on social media.

The most important thing to note when it comes these complaints is that under no circumstances should any customer complaint go ignored on social networks. In addition to this one universal rule, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to dealing with customer complaints on social media.

Always Be Courteous

A 2011 survey on Customer Rage conducted at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University found that 90% of complaining customers want one thing above all else: to be treated with dignity. Yet, only 40% said that this is the kind of treatment that they received.

At Zendesk, the philosophy is to treat a complaining customer as you would treat (or, at least, hopefully treat) your grandmother. Kindness goes a long way, because for a lot of complaining customers, they simply want to vent.

Respond Quickly

If I am a dissatisfied customer and I send you a tweet and hear nothing for days I might be tempted to take my efforts to the next level. The same survey mentioned above also found that 88% of people who had a negative experience with a brand chose to deal with their issue by telling their friends about it. In the age of social media, “friends” could mean tens of thousands. So act fast to help your customers or things could get way out of hand.

Be Knowledgable

Have you ever called a customer service line and found yourself waiting on hold every time you ask a question because your service representative doesn’t know the answer? It’s frustrating. Having answers to customer questions and complaints (both on and off social media) is your most powerful weapon, and you should always have an answer locked and loaded when an issue arises.

Be Proactive

The answers and solutions your customers are looking for should be readily available in as many places as possible. If an issue comes up once, you should always assume it will come up again and prepare for it the next time it does.

The faster you can resolve someone’s issue the happier they will be, and a proactive approach to customer service is going to help you do just that.

Use Your Experience

While this is not a method for dealing with a customer complaint directly, it is a means of using these situations for the benefit of your company. Customer complaints are a great way of figuring out where your product or service needs work. It is your product, so for you, it is perfect. For others, that might not be the case.

Adapting your product or service to the requests and complaints of customers is a great way of making your product more user-friendly, and it is going to make your job of customer service a lot easier down the road.

How do you deal with customer complaints on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Brands on Social Media: Do You Fit In? [INFOGRAPHIC]

June 10, 2013/by Corey Padveen

When it comes to brands on social media, does yours fit in? Yes.

The importance of social media for business is no secret; more and more, brands – both big and small – are taking to the socialsphere to engage and market themselves to international networks of interested persons. However, what do the numbers look like?

In this infographic, some very interesting statistics are highlighted that showcase why it is so important for every brand or business to have a presence on social media. Some of the numbers might even make you feel a little better about competing with some of the major players.

For instance, you might be interested to know that only 0.5% of Facebook fans engage with the brands they are fans of. And for those that do engage, only about 30% of brands respond to feedback. Social media is a conversation, and in order for that conversation to generate results, it needs to take place and be given the attention it deserves.

Perhaps the most interesting statistic of those in the infographic below relates, once again, to engagement. In the Ehrenberg Institute study referenced, only one brand had an engagement level over 2%. That’s shocking!

Take a look at some of the fun facts about brands on social media below and let us know which statistics you find the most surprising/shocking/important. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: Foursquare for Business

June 7, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The value of Foursquare for Business is notable when it comes to Social Equity.

Mobile marketing and geo-targeting your audience is growing both in popularity and prominence. Several business are taking to geo-targeting in order to leverage the power of local markets, particularly businesses with one or multiple locations. With Foursquare for Business, these local businesses stand to gain some excellent value.

Recent Changes

There have been a few recent changes to Foursquare that have led to its Social Equity stake increasing.

First, the application of Foursquare for Business was introduced relatively recently, and has provided a great tool for businesses to monitor their activity on the network, as well as launch campaigns that entice Foursquare users to check in and visit a location.

There are also the newly upgraded search filters that allow users to narrow down their searches and find exactly what they are in the market for.

Lastly, Foursquare has recently opened their promotional features to smaller businesses. This means that small businesses can now campaign on both the network and in person for customers that are checking in.

So what is the value in terms of Social Equity with these Foursquare features?

Social Equity Derived from Foursquare for Business

The three features for business that have been introduced by the network have created an entirely new element of Social Equity for businesses that can use Foursquare.

First, the ability to create campaigns and monitor their success and customer interaction directly from the network eliminates the need to create far more costly mobile campaigns. Furthermore, Foursquare provides detailed analytics that businesses can use to modify their campaigns and increase business driven from the network.

Second, the search filters create a pseudo-search engine within the network that businesses can optimize for. The ability to create a specific, detailed listing for which users can search specifically is a growing trend in the world of social media, and one that adds considerable value to Foursquare.

Finally, Foursquare making available the promotional features to smaller businesses eliminates some of the advantage that larger companies had on the network. Promoting your company (again, as you would with a search engine) gives you an upper hand on your competition, and if users are searching for a business like yours on Foursquare, this feature will certainly create an added value for your brand.

Foursquare can be a powerful when it comes to business, and these new features have created a degree of Social Equity that is unique. The mobile and geo-targeted aspects of the network are invaluable for local businesses, and stand to generate a great deal of value as well.

Do you use Foursquare? Where do you see the value in the network? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Nutella

June 6, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Marketers were shown exactly what not to do on social media in this week’s social media case study on Nutella.

It is a brand that so many are fond of. And yet, in this week’s social media case study on Nutella, this brand showcases exactly how they damaged that loyalty by not understanding the rules of the social media game.

On February 5th, 2007, Nutella super-fan, Sara Russo held the first annual World Nutella Day. Over the last few years, the unofficial event has become something of a phenomenon: 40,000 Facebook fans, 6,500 Twitter followers and featurettes on authoritative blogs (understandably, considering Sara Rosso and fellow Nutella fan Michelle Fabio operates their own blogs).

For most brands and marketers, this is a dream come true. A fan-organized day, recognized internationally that promotes your product and touts its excellence…for free! This kind of publicity is the thing of legend, and it would make sense, after years of loyalty and dedication to Nutella, that Rosso be recognized and thanked by the brand and its parent company, right?

Well, she was certainly recognized by the brand, but the thanks must have gotten lost in the mail. All that showed up was a cease and desist letter from the legal department of Ferrero, Nutella’s parent company.

In what is widely perceived as a catastrophic brand blunder, there is a lot that marketers can learn. Sometimes, the best lessons are those that teach us what not to do.

Let the Good Times Roll

It was never suggested that World Nutella Day involved Nutella or Ferrero officially. In fact, it was very clearly understood to be unaffiliated with the brand. It was just a group of fans proclaiming their love for a tasty product.

When fans are talking and generating buzz, feel free to engage, but don’t step in front of a moving train. The momentum that this event has built over the last six years is much more delicate than it might appear to be. This kind of traction is easily derailed (sorry about all the train metaphors) if not approached carefully. So, when there is buzz about your brand, and the results are nothing but positive, let it ride.

It’s not every day you get free positive publicity.

Everyone Sees Everything

Perhaps the largest oversight in the actions taken by the legal team at Ferrero was not considering the power of social media and the viral effect.

If the only thought was that a paper copy of a cease and desist was going to remain hidden from the public eye, then shame on the senior executive that approved the course of action. Everyone, in every department should always consider the vast power that virality and social media can have on any given action. The question, “What happens if this gets out on Facebook?” should never go unasked, and that is exactly what happened in this situation.

Love Your Loyalists

Brand loyalists are the key to your brand’s expansion and long-term success. If you are the only one talking about your brand, eventually people might get tired of listening. So when you see someone professing love for your brand, reach out and thank them; never ask them to stop. In fact, go out of your way to make sure they continue.

Andrea Stegmann, a fan of World Nutella Day expressed her shock and disappointment on the event’s Facebook page: “This is some sad news. And I actually lost respect and love for Ferrero. You’ve [done] nothing but promote Nutella. They should thank you and send you Nutella for a life time. And not send cease and desist letters.”

After the outcry, World Nutella Day was reinstated and the cease and desist was dropped by Ferrero. But it all could have been avoided if the power and influence of a strong social community was taken into account from the outset.

What actions do you think Ferrero should have taken in this case? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

5 Tips for Using Google+ Effectively

June 5, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Google+ can be a tremendous resource, but you need to know how to use the network properly.

These 5 quick tips for using Google+ effectively will surely boost the engagement and traffic generated from Google+. The network – naturally owned and operated by the search giant of the same name – possesses several inherent benefits that are unique to the platform. Yet, so few people are properly utilizing the channel.

By implementing these tips for using Google+ effectively it won’t be long before your activity on the network becomes one of the pillars of your social media marketing success.

Engage with Your Audience

Though many critics argue that Google+ is a desolate wasteland on the web, the reality is that there are hundreds of millions of accounts, and even if a fraction of those are active, it is more than you will find in most other forums.

Engaging with your audience – whether it is on your account, your business page or in a community – is going to be crucial to finding success on the network. The loudest critics are often those that are not taking full advantage of the networks many features.

Build Your Circles

Shared circles are an under-utilized and under-appreciated feature on Google+. Did you know that there are plenty of users our there with hundreds of circle members that you can join for free? Search for public circles, or take advantage of the app Public Circles to find already existing communities and join in. And speaking of communities…

Join as Many Communities as Possible

Communities – one of the newer features on Google+ – set the network apart from the rest of the social media world. Communities are groups of individuals with a common, expressed interest. Furthermore, unlike Facebook, there is no EdgeRank-type algorithm that limits what these community members can see within the community; effectively, you post it, they read it.

Sharing relevant content to different communities is a great way to boost your exposure, engagement and referral traffic from the network.

Remember the Benefits to SEO

Google+ is Google. In 2012, Google’ Senior VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra noted that Google+ is a ‘social layer’ to Google, and that everything the network does will now take social into account. When it comes to SEO, that means that Google+ will add tremendous weight to your search rankings.

Use Google Authorship

Finally, take advantage of the Google Authorship feature – the benefits to both SEO and authority are outstanding.

This relates to the tip above. The Google Authorship feature is weighted quite heavily by Google when determining search rankings. Google registers when you have been featured on another blog or website, and brings everything together under the Google+ umbrella to increase your rankings.

By taking advantage of these tips for using Google+ effectively you can be sure to see your activity, engagement and referral traffic boost.

Have you already implemented any of these tips? How have they helped your activity on Google+? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

3 Mistakes You Are Making on Social Media…But Don’t Know It

June 4, 2013/by Corey Padveen

There are mistakes you are making on social media – we all are – but you just don’t know it.

Social media marketing is still relatively new territory for many marketers. In the 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Social Media Examiner, statistics showed that the majority of marketers have been engaging on the platform for less than three years. Naturally, this means that there are going to be a few kinks to work out for most of us.

There are certain activities that we all take part in when we start social media marketing and these should all be avoided. Below are three mistakes you might be making on social media that need to be corrected. You will work out the bugs over time, but that will be made a lot easier if you can break these bad habits today!

Not Optimizing Content (In General and On Different Networks)

Content needs to be optimized – both generally and on individual networks. Sharing low-res photos, or images that do not fit into allotted spaces (Hint: 400px on Facebook) is bad for business.

All of your images should be crisp, clean and present beautifully on each network. If people are going to work with you they want to know that you are meticulous and provide top quality results; optimizing content so that it appears perfectly on every one of your networks is going to be a big part of that.

Inconsistency

We get it: you don’t always have something exciting to say, or when you do, you might occasionally forget to share it to your networks. It happens. But it doesn’t look great.

Inconsistency in your posting reflects poorly on your brand when people check you out. You might only be sharing to Facebook or Google+ once or twice a week, but if you share once a week this week, thirty times next week, and then we don’t hear from you for a month, it’s going to hurt your exposure and activity on social media.

Consistency is going to be a big part of finding success on social networks, so make sure frequency is a clearly stated point in your strategy.

Ignoring Your Fans

It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture every time there is a post, comment or retweet from a fan, but you should let your fans know you appreciate their engagement whenever and wherever you can.

When someone posts on your Facebook page’s timeline, comment or share the post. If they comment on an update, ‘Like’ or +1 it. If they retweet or answer you on Twitter, thank them for the input. And if you see fans commenting on your blog, reach out and let them know someone was listening. These are small gestures, but they go a very long way in the world of social media, and it is surprising how few people do it.

Did you see any mistakes you are making on social media? These are just a few small ones that pop up more often than not. Keep them in mind and you will see your strategy and success start to shape up very quickly.

What do you think is (or was) your worst habit on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Monitoring Your Online Reputation [INFOGRAPHIC]

June 3, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Are you actively monitoring your online reputation?

Reputation management is of growing importance online, and your reputation can be tarnished with as little as one negative post in the right place, by the right person. In order to avoid such detrimental events from taking place, you need to be on top of your game and effectively monitoring your online reputation.

There are a few figures that you might find surprising. For instance, while it might not be shocking to see that 42% of U.S. adults have performed a search on an individual or a brand before doing business with that person or company, it might surprise to read that 45% of those people discovered something online that changed their perception, and ultimately their decision to do business with that person or brand. That’s an incredibly powerful tool!

It should also be noted that among the statistics in the infographic below, one of the most important to take into account is the fact that 92% of consumers trust opinions that they have seen online. This means that no matter how much of an outlier one customer’s bad experience might be, nearly everyone who reads will consider it when making their decision. Managing and monitoring your online reputation – whether it is on social networks, blogs, forums or other media – is an extremely important task.

The detailed infographic below highlights said importance of managing and monitoring your online reputation, and provides a few great tips that can help you effectively maintain a positive image for your brand online.

Take a look and let us know if you are properly monitoring your online reputation. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!