August 2013

What makes real-time marketing such a valuable asset to business?

Real-time marketing is a phenomenal tool and one that is severely under-utilized in business. According to David Meerman Scott, real-time marketing is only practiced by 28% of Fortune 100 companies, yet these companies saw significant growth in their stock prices over a designated period of time while other that do not engage in the practice saw a 2% drop.

So how exactly does real-time marketing generate Social Equity for your business?

Increased Lead-to-Buyer Efficiency

Imagine the ability to engage with a lead the moment they express an interest in a product or service you offer. Then imagine the value of reaching out to that user before any of your competitors in the hopes of beginning the nurturing process, leading to a conversion.

That is real-time marketing.

By monitoring social media effectively, you can find conversations as they are taking place and engage with users on different platforms in real time. Thus, as the intent to buy is made clear, there is little time lost in nurturing the prospective client. This helps to make the conversion process more efficient and much faster.

Increased Market Share and Presence

As with the point above, the ability to actively participate in conversations surrounding your industry as they are taking place opens an entirely new opportunity to increase your brand’s presence and share in the market.

If, as users of social networks are discussing industry keywords, you (appropriately) participate in conversations and make them aware of your brand, you gain a significant competitive advantage over other industry brands.

Now, it is important to ensure that you are engaging properly, and not deterring potential clients from your brand. However, if done the right way, the results can be your brand coming to mind before any other when buyers are faced with a decision.

Increased Brand Loyalty

People prefer a humanized brand. The big corporate image simply does not work for people. They want to know that the company with which they have decided to do business will care about their needs, help them in any way they can and present themselves as more than a logo or a product.

Real-time marketing offers potential clients that kind of security. By responding to comments, questions and concerns in real time, or engaging in conversations around your industry across the social web, you can reassure prospective clients that your brand will out-serve any of your competitors.

Real-time marketing can have tremendous benefits to your business. Though the advantages are clear, few brands are properly participating in the practice. Be among the first in your industry, and see your success levels increase dramatically!

Is your brand engaging in real-time marketing practices? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

t2social social medis marketing strategies

The Red Bull social media program is among the most impressive in the world, and it has been responsible for much of the brand’s success both on and offline.

While there is much about the Red Bull social media program that can be dissected and observed, it makes sense to start with the most prominent network in their social media arsenal: Facebook.

39 million fans is nothing short of amazing. And while ‘Like’ counts may not mean much, the fact of the matter is that Red Bull has created a brand that resonates far beyond the ‘Gives You Wings’ persona it created at the beginning. Sports, physical triumph and even record-breaking feats are now associated, almost by instinct, with the brand, and much of that is to the credit of their Facebook presence.

There are few key components of the Red Bull Facebook strategy that marketers can learn from. While Red Bull might be a large, worldwide brand, these are lessons that can be applied to both the largest and smallest companies on Facebook.

Let Your Persona Do the Selling

Have a look at the Red Bull Facebook page and try to find a promotional post. In fact, you would even be hard-pressed to find a post that featured so much as a logo.

The persona created by the Red Bull social media team is one that associates greatness with the brand. Red Bull has found its voice and tone and the social network, and has run with it to become one of the most entertaining accounts out there.

Though they are not bombarding their fans with constant content, each piece maintains the brand’s Facebook personality traits and is treated fantastically well by their extremely loyal Facebook fan-base.

Create Clear Distinctions

Red Bull has become famous for some of their viral content. More than one record was broken when Felix Baumgartner jumped from the Stratos and back to Earth. The YouTube record for live-stream viewers was also shattered.

While the Red Bull Facebook page featured content from the jump, it was not the primary source for fans. Red Bull created a standalone page for this endeavour, and it garnered over 850K fans. The only focus of this campaign (page) was the event and all the circumstances that surrounded it.

In this way, fans could find all of the information they could ever want in one central place, and wouldn’t have to hope and rely on Red Bull to post content to their main Facebook fan page when something new popped up.

This is a tactic that should be applied whenever a brand develops a new campaign. Whether it is something as small as an event page on your Facebook brand page, or a whole new page for your major event, something branded and separate from your primary social channels should be created.

Engage!

Look through the posts on the Red Bull Facebook page. The brand engages with their fans virtually every time it is appropriate.

Conversations and engagement are the driving forces behind successful social media strategies, and Red Bull has proven that. By engaging in conversations, it keeps not only the fans engaged, but extended networks can see and even participate as well.

There is a lot marketers can learn from the Red Bull social media strategy; these are just a few takeaways from the Red Bull Facebook program.

Which one of these tips do you think is most important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

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