Social Care on Twitter is becoming increasingly popular with brands of all sizes.
What exactly is Social Care on Twitter? Today, one-third of online adults prefer to engage with brands through new media – like Twitter or a live chat service – than through conventional forms of customer service – like the phone, or even email. People want their issues addressed right away. The practice of helping customers on these networks is called “Social Care”.
By providing Social Care on Twitter, for example, your brand is offering an added value that many competitors may not yet offer. This is still an emerging trend, and your brand can be among the first to reap the benefits!
Let’s go through 4 helpful tips when it comes to offering Social Care on Twitter.
Have a Plan in Place
The most important thing you are going to need to do is have a plan in place for dealing with customer service issues as they come up. Whether it is a technical issues (maybe you provide a software, or a physical product) or a dissatisfied customer, you need to have procedures in place to address these issues in real time.
Remember, everything you share on Twitter is public (with the exception of Direct Messages) so make sure that you know exactly what you want to share, how you want to share it and the image you would like to portray for your brand, because these conversations will be seen by a potentially large audience.
Address Issues Immediately
When it comes to customer service, surveys show that customers want their issues completely resolved within 60 minutes. They want their issues addressed by a brand within five minutes of bringing them up. Letting complaints, questions or comments sit in the socialsphere and gestate is worse than having the comment up there to begin with.
What kind of image is portrayed of your company when you let your customers’ issues go unaddressed, for the whole world to see what kind of service you offer? Make sure you are handling these issues in real time. After all, that’s why people are reaching out on these media.
Take Twitter Seriously
If you plan on offering Social Care on Twitter, you have to be prepared to take it seriously. The same way you would have a team in place to deal with customer service calls, you need to have a designated individual or team for handling Social Care on Twitter.
People expect the same service, if not better service on Twitter than they do from any conventional form of customer service. Just because it is Twitter, does not mean it is a free pass.
Take Advantage of Tools
The bigger the brand, the heavier the volume of customers reaching out. It can be overwhelming to watch a stream fill up with queries and complaints. You might find it hard to address every one. Take advantage of some of the tools that exist to help with organizing your Social Care on Twitter.
Look into ZenDesk, which works with HootSuite, or Salesforce Desk to help you manage your Social Care. You’ll find it a lot easier to work these into your Social Care strategy than to run the whole thing on Twitter alone. Remember the tip above, you need to take Social Care on Twitter seriously.
Implement these tips into your Social Care strategy and you’ll see that customers love a caring brand! Tell us how you use Social Care on Twitter in the comments below or on Twitter!
Feel free to reach out to t2 to find out how we can help you with your Social Care strategy!
How to Track ROI on Facebook in 3 Easy Steps
/by Corey PadveenTracking ROI on Facebook and other networks is always among the top concerns for marketers. This is one great way to track ROI on Facebook.
Despite all of the methods that exist to measure ROI on Facebook – some more complicated than others – there are still marketers and executives that refuse to acknowledge that it can be done! One great way to measure ROI on Facebook is with Facebook’s easy-to-use Conversion Tracking. Below is a step-by-step set of instructions on how to create goals on the network and measure ROI on Facebook.
Step 1: Go To Your Ads Manager (or Power Editor)
This is about as simple as steps get. Get started by going to either your Ads Manager and clicking on “Manage Your Ads” (the green button on the right of the header image) or the Power Editor (depending on how familiar you are with Facebook advertising).
Step 2: Set Up a Conversion Tracking Pixel
The next thing you are going to need to do is create a conversion tracking pixel. This is a small piece of code that you are going to place on your conversion page (this could be a checkout page, a download page, form submission, etc.).
First, go to your Conversion tracking in your designated ads platform.
Then you are going to click on the green “Create Conversion Pixel” button on the right hand side where you will see this box pop up:
Fill it out with the name of your goal (in this case, we are creating a goal called “View Blog”) and what category that goal falls into. Above, we have selected Key Page Views (essentially, the conversion is made when a user views a specific page) but other categories include Checkouts, Registrations, Leads, Adds to Cart and Other Website Conversions.
Now once you click “Create Pixel” you are going to see a small snippet of code pop up. You do not need to know any complex degree of HTML to work with this. In the code, you’ll see a line that allows to add a value to this conversion (the line with the red arrow next to it below). It is here that you can denote how much this conversion is worth.
Say, for example, you are sending people to a contact form for more information, and you have determined based on some fancy accounting work that any lead that fills out the form is worth $5.00. So, you would change this line to read five dollars (the currency is in the line just below it) and save the code.
Step 3: Load the Pixel Onto Your Conversion Page
Now comes the part where you might need the help of your webmaster or code-savvy friend.
Copy the code you have generated and place it in the header of your conversion page (detailed in the instructions before the code, above). Now, when people have clicked on your ads and found themselves at your website, Facebook will register that they have taken action (a conversion) based on when they land on that page with the conversion pixel uploaded.
And there you have it. Three simple steps to help you measure direct ROI from Facebook.
What other ways do you measure ROI on Facebook? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Find out more about measuring your ROI on Facebook with our Consulting Services here.
The Numbers Behind Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenThe numbers in this infographic help explain why Twitter’s IPO is such big news.
Last week, the biggest news to come out of the world of social media was undoubtedly that Twitter announced its IPO. The microblogging platform is looking to raise $1 billion, and the numbers behind Twitter help justify that price tag. One of our loyal blog subscribers shared this infographic with us.
For a long time, a certain stigma has been associated with Twitter by those that did not (and do not want to) understand it. It was seen as a hub for celebrities to tell the world what they were eating, and devoted fans to reach out to them. Anyone familiar with the network knows that this is not the case.
The numbers behind Twitter, showcased in the infographic below, explain why the network is worth every penny that it is looking to get. There are over two billion searches on Twitter every day. On Thursdays, the popular #ThrowBackThursday hashtag has the potential to reach over 30 million users. A proper Twitter strategy can mean major reach for the right brands.
With the new advertising features Twitter has rolled out, business applications are certainly growing.
Take a look at the infographic below and let us know which fact or figure you find most interesting. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Source: The Numbers Behind Twitter
4 Social Media Quotes and Responses to Them
/by Corey PadveenBelow are some popular social media quotes and my reactions and responses to them.
“Social media has infected the world with a sickening virus called vanity.” -Kellie Elmore
Yes – it’s true that social has further engrossed the ego of the already self-absorbed Generation Y (among others). But I can’t agree with the fact that vanity is a product of social media.
Vanity has long been in existence. Consider The Portrait of Dorian Gray when considering vanity. Surely, Oscar Wilde was not all that active on Twitter. What social media has done, however, is provided the world with a self-publishing tool. The results are often going to be self-absorption. But is that always such a terrible thing?
People can now showcase talents, reach broad audiences and education is a tweet away. Social media has also shrunk the business world so significantly, that the largest brands in the world can now devote seemingly undivided attention to customers in need.
“Distracted from distraction by distraction.” -T.S. Eliot
Fine, so T.S. Eliot wasn’t talking about StumbleUpon when he wrote this. But can you think of a more fitting reference?
As noted above, the world is a much smaller place thanks in large part to the advent of social media. That does not mean, however, that there is any less activity taking place within it. Take a minute to research an article online, and you find yourself having devoted three hours to becoming the world’s leading expert on sounds foxes make.
Though we can easily waste days sifting through the endless sea of content shared to social channels, I like to think of it as the world’s most comprehensive library. Every article, page, blog or video offers something we have not seen before. (Or, in some cases, something we have seen many, many times before and just need to see again.)
“You are what you share.” -Charles Leadbeater
Few things are truer than this when it comes to social media. A perfect example of this ringing true is the polarity the world witnessed as a result of Facebook status updates reflecting political preferences during the last American election.
Reputation management, Social Care and content strategies are all infinitely more important than ever before when it comes to social media. One misstep could land you in water hot enough to burn away all the hard work you have put into building your brand. Companies and individuals need to remember that they are participating in conversations on a megaphone, and everyone can hear them.
“Create more value than you capture.” -Tim O’Reilly
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
What are some of your favorite quotes when it comes to social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
4 Tips for Handling Social Care on Twitter
/by Corey PadveenSocial Care on Twitter is becoming increasingly popular with brands of all sizes.
By providing Social Care on Twitter, for example, your brand is offering an added value that many competitors may not yet offer. This is still an emerging trend, and your brand can be among the first to reap the benefits!
Let’s go through 4 helpful tips when it comes to offering Social Care on Twitter.
Have a Plan in Place
The most important thing you are going to need to do is have a plan in place for dealing with customer service issues as they come up. Whether it is a technical issues (maybe you provide a software, or a physical product) or a dissatisfied customer, you need to have procedures in place to address these issues in real time.
Remember, everything you share on Twitter is public (with the exception of Direct Messages) so make sure that you know exactly what you want to share, how you want to share it and the image you would like to portray for your brand, because these conversations will be seen by a potentially large audience.
Address Issues Immediately
When it comes to customer service, surveys show that customers want their issues completely resolved within 60 minutes. They want their issues addressed by a brand within five minutes of bringing them up. Letting complaints, questions or comments sit in the socialsphere and gestate is worse than having the comment up there to begin with.
What kind of image is portrayed of your company when you let your customers’ issues go unaddressed, for the whole world to see what kind of service you offer? Make sure you are handling these issues in real time. After all, that’s why people are reaching out on these media.
Take Twitter Seriously
If you plan on offering Social Care on Twitter, you have to be prepared to take it seriously. The same way you would have a team in place to deal with customer service calls, you need to have a designated individual or team for handling Social Care on Twitter.
People expect the same service, if not better service on Twitter than they do from any conventional form of customer service. Just because it is Twitter, does not mean it is a free pass.
Take Advantage of Tools
The bigger the brand, the heavier the volume of customers reaching out. It can be overwhelming to watch a stream fill up with queries and complaints. You might find it hard to address every one. Take advantage of some of the tools that exist to help with organizing your Social Care on Twitter.
Look into ZenDesk, which works with HootSuite, or Salesforce Desk to help you manage your Social Care. You’ll find it a lot easier to work these into your Social Care strategy than to run the whole thing on Twitter alone. Remember the tip above, you need to take Social Care on Twitter seriously.
Implement these tips into your Social Care strategy and you’ll see that customers love a caring brand! Tell us how you use Social Care on Twitter in the comments below or on Twitter!
Feel free to reach out to t2 to find out how we can help you with your Social Care strategy!
5 Questions to Determine if You Should Outsource Social Media
/by Corey PadveenWhen deciding whether or not to outsource social media, there are a few questions you need to answer first.
In order to figure out if your brand should outsource social social media, you are going to need to answer five questions.
What will go into your social media program?
The first thing you need to determine is exactly what you are going to include in your social media program. For some, a blog is going to be where it all starts and ends. (Although for best results, some social sharing is encouraged.) For others, a profile on every existing network will be created.
You need to know what you plan on doing and where you plan on doing it.
What will your goals and objectives look like?
Whether you outsource your program or you run it internally, you need to have a clear set of goals and objectives that you work towards achieving. Setting your goals is going to make the decision to outsource much clearer. When you know what you want to accomplish, you know if it would be possible to let someone else handle the program.
How long will it take?
Social media is not a 5-minutes-a-day endeavor. Either you, a team member or an firm needs to be seriously committed to sharing content, engaging with fans and followers, monitoring data and modifying programs in order for your social media program to pay off. Figure out how many hours you will need to devote to your social media program and then…
What is your time worth?
This is an answer that varies from business to business. For some, it is easy to determine. If you are a professional, you probably charge by the hour. If you manage your own social media and you bill $200 per hour, 3 hours a day to manage your program costs you $600. You might hire someone internally at a much lower hourly rate but essentially this question needs to be answered in terms of opportunity cost.
You need to weigh this against the cost of an outside firm running a program for you and working towards the same goals. Maybe you find that your return on the three hours above is $500, while the outside firms generates a daily return of $250. Then, it probably makes sense to run the program internally. Before making this call, however, you need to answer this questions with some good-old-fashioned math.
Can you collaborate?
Some people like to micro manage. It’s not for everyone, but for some people, it is how they like things to run. To each their own. If this is the case, you might want to avoid including anyone, outside firms included, in the management of your social media program. It simply won’t work. There needs to be collaboration.
Answer these questions and figure out what is going to work for you. Maybe you want to outsource your entire program and let a team of professionals handle everything. Maybe you want to keep everything in-house and do it all yourself. Maybe you want to outsource some parts of it and run other aspects, like Social Care, internally. Answer these questions before making the call.
Have you outsourced your social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
To find out more about the consulting services offered by t2, click here.
How Social Media is Changing the World [INFOGRAPHIC]
/by Corey PadveenSocial media is changing the world and the proof is in the numbers!
When we write articles, we are often talking about how social media is changing the world from a business perspective. But when we take a step back, we can see just how important social media is on a much grander scale!
This great infographic from MyLife shows how social media has made a dramatic impact on our lives. Perhaps the most interesting piece of data in the infographic is how people aged 50-64 spend roughly 2.4 hours per day on social media websites! That goes to show how this new media has penetrated virtually every market.
Of course, these data can be looked at from a business perspective. It’s easy to look at these numbers and see how social media has an impact on every aspect of our lives – business in particular.
Take a look at the data below and let us know which data you think is most impressive or interesting. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
5 Biggest Social Media Concerns for Executives
/by Corey PadveenThere are five notable social media concerns that executives deal with when deciding whether or not adopting the concept of social business is the right move.
Below are five of the main concerns executives have when it comes to social media. Much of the information has been adapted from the MIT Sloan and Deloitte social business survey from 2013.
There is No Strategy
This is among the biggest concerns that executives are faced with. The burden of a carefully laid out strategy weighs heavily on any executive decision. Marketers need to be aware of this and need to have a clear strategy in place when presenting options to an executive committee.
For the marketer, there can be little success found with social media without a properly laid out, goal-oriented social business strategy. Keep that in mind and having something concrete put together before presenting the idea to an executive.
There is No Time
This is a big one. Efficiency is at the root of a successful business, and knowledge is at the heart of efficiency. For an executive that does not fully understand social business, they see it as more than a campaign or a program, but a learning curve that they will need to familiarize themselves with.
Focus on scheduling in order to appeal to this social media concern. If an executive sees that there in fact is time, they will be much more receptive to the idea of adopting a program.
There is No Proof
For anyone who is familiar with social business and has been following it for long enough, this one hurts. There is a ton of proof. And there are so many numbers that show it. Show up with examples of how a campaign similar to yours or in a similar industry has performed in order to ease this concern.
There is No Security
Whether it is the physical security of the networks that concerns executives or the security of brand integrity on social networks, security is going to be an issue seen often. Help reassure executives by showcasing how branding efforts are kept intact and that social networks can be highly secure when fully understood and configured.
There is No Room
There are a lot of priorities competing for the attention of your brand’s executives. Social media – a new venture – might not meet the criteria in the executive’s eyes. You need to make the case for why social business is a must and that there needs to be room. It needs to be conveyed that social is a top priority in any industry.
How do you deal with these social media concerns? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
Fun Facts from the 2014 B2B Content Marketing Report
/by Corey PadveenThese facts and figures from the 2014 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America Report showcase why content marketing is crucial – particularly when it comes to B2B.
Once again, the numbers have increased year-over-year and B2B content marketing is becoming both more widely used and more structured. Below are a few of the key findings when it comes to B2B content marketing and some analyses of these findings.
93% of B2B marketers are using content marketing
There’s not much to analyze when it comes to this stat. Long story short, if you are not engaged in content marketing in a B2B company, you should be.
66% of B2B marketers with a ‘Most Effective’ content marketing rating have a content strategy
A content strategy is going to be your best friend when it comes to content marketing. Every brand’s strategy may differ; you are going to need to test content across every channel to see what works best. At the end of the day, however, there needs to be a clear strategy in place in order to measure the effectiveness and success that your content marketing drives.
‘Less Effective’ marketers do not have a designated content marketing point person
86% of ‘Most Effective’ content marketing companies have one individual overseeing nothing by the brand’s content marketing initiatives. By contrast, only 46% of ‘Less Effective’ companies have a point person when it comes to this. This ties in closely with the need to have a strategy in place. If you are going to take your content marketing seriously, then do just that. Have a strategy and department (one or several people) devoted to making the program successful.
Social media is a key area of focus
To all those naysayers who speak out against the use of social media when it comes to B2B brands, the numbers are in and all signs point to the contrary. 87% of B2B content marketing programs use social media as a means of sharing content to broader audiences and driving results from a strategy. In fact, sharing content on social networks is the most widely used tactic when it comes to content marketing.
55% or more of B2B marketers are using five of the main social networks
91% use LinkedIn, 85% use Twitter, 81% use Facebook, 73% use YouTube and 55% use Google+. More importantly, LinkedIn is seen as the most important network with YouTube ranking second in terms of importance (not use).
‘Most Effective’ brands are using content marketing for revenue-generating goals
While Brand Awareness tops the charts (82%) for the most common goal among marketers, Lead Generation comes in second at 74% followed closely by Customer Acquisition at 71%.
Content marketing is not done growing
58% of B2B marketers plan on increasing their involvement and budgets for content marketing in the next twelve months. Compare that to only 1% of marketers who plan on decreasing their budgets.
There is a lot more where that came from in this year’s report, so take a look.
Let us know what you think is most significant finding! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
What is a Social Business Audit?
/by Corey PadveenWhat is a social business audit and why is it crucial that any company have one?
A social business audit evaluates every aspect of your social media strategy from top to bottom in order to get a clear picture of the working elements, the features that need tweaking and, most important, what aspects might be missing.
Below are five questions that should be among those asked when conducting an efficient social business audit.
Am I achieving my goals?
Before answering this question, take another step even further back; did you have a clear set of goals and objectives laid out when you decided to get started on social media? If not, you need to start from scratch. If so, are your efforts on social media working to achieve these goals? Find out how you are performing.
This may seem like a simple step, but a lot of brands tend to forget why they are active on social media to begin with. It is crucial that you keep your goals in mind from start to finish.
Is my business on the right networks?
Look at the activity your brand is generating on the networks where it is active. Are you in the right place? Not every brand needs to have a presence on every network. Some brands may benefit more from a Twitter campaign than one on Facebook, or maybe LinkedIn and YouTube should be included among your channels, among others.
There will be a unique mix that makes up a specific brand’s social business strategy. Take a step back and see if you might benefit from shutting down an account or two and maybe focusing your efforts elsewhere.
Am I sharing the right content?
Is you audience maintaining a conversation with your brand on social networks? Are you generating clicks through to landing pages and content from social? These are just a couple of the indicators you should be paying attention to when it comes to determining if you are sharing the right content to your networks. Again, every audience is going to react differently to different types of content. Find out what works best for you and modify your strategy accordingly.
Can I begin expanding my program?
To answer this question, you need to make sure that the three questions above have already been answered – positively. As your success grows – both in terms of your social media growth and your business growth – your social presence and activity will likely expand as well. Your profiles on social networks are extensions of your brand. They need to keep up appearances. As you begin achieving your goals, you need to start considering how you would like to expand into new markets and venture to achieve new goals.
Am I missing anything?
This is an ongoing question that can only be answered through education. You need to keep up-to-date with the changes and breakthroughs that are being announced every day in the world of social media. Social business is an ever-evolving landscape. You need to ensure that you are caught up on everything that is taking place in order to continue finding success with your social business and marketing efforts. Put aside 30 minutes or an hour each day to catch up on your favorite reference materials to find out what’s new and fresh.
Have you conducted a social business audit? You can always reach out to t2 to conduct a social business audit for you! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!
The Google Algorithm is Dead; Long Live the Google Algorithm
/by Corey Padveen‘Hummingbird’ is the newest edition of the Google Algorithm, and there is a lot to know.
Didn’t the Google algorithm just change with Panda and Penguin?
All the talk has revolved around Panda and Penguin lately and a lot of SEOs and webmasters have spent their time getting used to that update. We need to differentiate between these updates and the new ‘Hummingbird’ algorithm.
Panda and Penguin are add-ons to the algorithm. Let’s put it in terms of a house. You own a home and buy couches and beds. These pieces of furniture are to the home what Panda and Penguin are to the Google algorithm. ‘Hummingbird’ is a new home.
Do I have to change my SEO strategy?
If you haven’t seen major changes to your traffic and search rankings in the last month, the likelihood is you won’t see any changes in the future; the ‘Hummingbird’ update has been live for about a month. Google just decided to announce it late last week.
What are the major changes?
The idea behind this update is to provide a more conversational aspect to Google’s search capabilities. Now, where you used to look up “Chinese food broadway” you might find better results if you conduct a search that reads, “Where can I find Chinese food near my office on Broadway?”
Presumably, this is Google’s way of competing with the Graph Search update from Facebook, which makes it easier to search conversationally on the social network. It is also designed to be faster and provide users with more accurate results.
So, are updates like Panda and Penguin out of the equation?
No. Going back to the house example, ‘Hummingbird’ is a new house with a lot of the same furniture. That said, Google updates its algorithm about 500 times per year. That’s an average of about one and a half modifications per day. It is very important that you keep up to date with the changes Google announces in order to keep your rankings high.
OK – what do I need to know?
The important thing to keep in mind is that Google has been trying to incorporate its social layer into search for a long time. The idea here is that the more active you are on Google products, more specifically, Google+, the better it will be for your rankings.
This conversational update is designed, presumably, to make conversations on networks like Google more relevant to search results.
Have you noticed any changes to the Google algorithm in the last month? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!