Tag Archive for: social media

Social Media Case Study: Harley-Davidson

April 18, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Harley-Davidson is known to have one of the most active social media programs of any major brand, but the use of mobile marketing by Route 66 Harley-Davidson was exceptionally impressive.

At Christmas time in 2011, the local Oklahoma Harley-Davidson dealership, Route 66 Harley-Davidson, decided to launch a social media campaign, designed by 7 Media Group, that took advantage of the growing number of mobile users. The holidays are always a time for marketing innovation and that has been especially true with social media. And the 12 Days of Christmas campaign by Route 66 is a perfect example of that.

The Campaign and Goals

Route 66 had a very specific goal in mind: they wanted to maintain visibility with current customers and generate increased revenue by attracting a new customer base during the holiday season. Sounds simple enough. After all, the holidays are a great time for promoting your products since consumers are out looking to buy. But when every brand from Wal-Mart to Microsoft is promoting holiday specials, and your brand is known as a luxury item that not everyone can afford, you need to find a way to compete.

Route 66 decided they would take advantage of social media and promote a 12-day SMS campaign to their fans, followers and customers. Essentially, Route 66 created a Call-to-Action (CTA) encouraging users both in-store and online to text RT66 to a designated number. If they did, they would receive twelve days of discounts, whereby the dealership offered a 20% discount on different items each day.

For Route 66, the holidays were typically slower. People seemed to forget that there is so much more to the Harley-Davidson brand than just motorcycles. So Route 66 decided to do the most obvious thing with a social media twist: remind them!

The results were outstanding. For the items being promoted in the campaign, sales skyrocketed. For example, one of the promotions was for T-shirts. On that particular day, sales were 250% more than a normal day of business. On Helmet Day, the single-day sales equaled the previous week’s in their entirety. Furthermore, there was an increase in dealership traffic as a result, and that could easily turn into new customers down the road.

The Lessons

There are a few important takeaways from the social media and mobile marketing techniques used by Route 66.

Always Use a Call-to-Action

For Route 66, it was simply encouraging social media users and customers to opt-in. Where was the incentive? They were receiving discounts. Your CTA’s should be direct, clear and require little from the customer, regardless of what your campaign is.

Campaigns, emails, posts, and anything else you can think of with CTA’s often see at least twice as much engagement as those without. Don’t rely on people to take that next step on their own – help them out!

Cover All Your Bases

Route 66 engaged customers and fans both in-store and on social media. Why? Because choosing one or the other no longer applies when you want to have a successful campaign. As the promotion approached, Route 66 needed to ensure that every avenue through which they could engage with their audience was covered and covered thoroughly. So next time you are putting together a campaign – regardless of its nature – be sure you reach out to your leads on every avenue and do it often.

Keep Them Coming Back

Route 66 had twelve promotions over twelve days leading up to Christmas. (The campaign ran from December 12-24.) Users could opt-in at any time, and the campaign was promoted simultaneously with the live event. Don’t stop promoting your campaigns once they have started. People hate the idea of feeling like they missed out, and if you can put together a longer campaign that gives people a chance to take advantage of your offer, you stand to generate a much greater return than if you create a campaign that is somewhat exclusive.

Keep It Simple

Sure, a fancy, multi-layered campaign might wow your audience, but what it has in flash it lacks in simplicity. Simple is good. People like the idea of taking one step and reaching the finish line. Making your clients jump through hoops creates a disincentive to participate. Do you think Route 66 would have seen the same success if customers had to go online, create an account, fill out a survey, print coupons and, after all that, be in the store on the right day to redeem it? Probably not. This is a method that deters a lot of people and can be much more expensive. So, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself, really, if you would participate in the promotion.

By engaging an audience on social media and creating a simple, straightforward campaign, Route 66 was able to do exactly what they set out to do. The goals were clear from the start and the methods were easy for both Route 66 and the customer. The results speak for themselves.

Have you tried your hand at a mobile marketing campaign? Was it successful? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

6 Blogging Tips for Maximum Engagement

April 17, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Blogging can be a huge asset to your website and business, but only if it engages your readers.

Web logs (blogs) were around long before Facebook or Twitter, and along with email, blogging was one of the first forms of social networking. When it comes to online marketing, few things can be as beneficial to your business as blogging. That said, there are a few important things marketers need to know before jumping into the world of blogging.

Engagement is crucial if you want your blog to succeed. Indexing thousands of blog posts is great, but only if there are people showing up to read and share them. So, how do you go about optimizing your blog for maximum engagement?

Below are 6 helpful blogging tips that you can use to increase engagement with your audience.

1. Write What You Know

This may seem like a given. After all, if you know about wine, you’re not necessarily going to start a blog about brain surgery. (Unless you’re a brain surgeon with a phenomenal palate.) And as long as you write about what you know, it will not be long before your audience perceives you as an expert and begins to engage with your content.

On the other hand, writing ignorantly will turn your audience off, and you’ll have a tough time getting them to stick around or come back for more.

2. Integrate Your Social Channels

It should be easy for your audience to share your content. If they like what they see, they should be able to easily share it with their friends. This is the viral effect and it is one of the fastest ways to build your audience (and clout). So when you build your blog, make it social friendly. Each post should have the ability to be shared right from the page. (ShareThis and Shareaholic are great integrations for this.)

3. Write for Your Audience

Be sure you know who you are writing for and use a rhetoric appropriate for them. Going back to the example of the brain surgeon, the doctor surely knows a lot of technical jargon, and that would be great if he or she is writing for the medical community. But if the posts are intended for you average patient audience, then using latin phrases and medical terminology may not be the best option. You want to be sure that the audience you are writing for is able to relate to the content. Otherwise, how could they be engaged? They don’t understand!

4. Address Important Issues

When people read blogs, they are looking for a few specific things. The overall theme of these things: value. If I am going to take time out of my day to read your blog, I need to know that I am getting something out of it. So when you start blogging, consider writing about a few of the following:

Addressing common problems, issues, questions.
Focus on industry-specific keywords.
Lists (Top 6 Blogging Tips, 5 Best Social Media Tools, etc.)
Pros and Cons (product comparison/review articles).

These are just a few of the hottest topics to cover when writing a blog. These types of posts see much higher engagement and are typically what people are looking for when they stumble upon your post organically.

5. Be Original

There are billions of indexed pages on the web and hundreds of millions of blogs. Chances are, unless you are a Nobel Prize-winning theorist, other people are talking about the same topic you are. So think carefully about what angle you want to use when approaching your topic, and emphasize what will make you stand out from the crowd. You might be saying the same thing as a lot of others, but your idea isn’t just X, it’s X plus Y. When people see something they haven’t seen before, or even see something familiar in a different light, they are going to be intrigued.

6. Close with a Call-to-Action

Whether it’s a request to sign up, a question or asking your readers to share the article, you want to close out every post with a call-to-action (CTA). CTA’s are statistically proven to increase engagement for one simple reason: people respond to them. The best way to engage with your audience is to get the process started for them, and when it comes to blogging, the best way to do that is to incite a second step at the end of your post.

These are just a few helpful pointers that you can apply to your blogging to increase engagement. There is plenty more that can be done, but each of these methods is shown to give engagement a boost.

Which of these tips do you think is most beneficial to increasing blogging engagement? Can you think of others? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

How Social Media Can Help Your Business [INFOGRAPHIC]

April 16, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social media can mean big things for your business, and the numbers are there to show it.

Considering all the literature, statistics and case studies that exist to show how beneficial social media can be for your business, there are still marketers out there that are hesitant to adopt it. Whether it is a question of not knowing how to use it, or not understanding how to measure it, people still seem to be having a tough time crossing that last hurdle when it comes to implementing a fully integrated social media strategy.

Every second a brand does not have a presence on social media, it is losing out. There is an international conversation taking place and people want to hear from you! Don’t believe us? This infographic gives a short, sweet breakdown of just how active social media is and gives a good indication of how important social media can be for your business.

Read through the information and let us know which statistic you think is the most important when it comes to building your business through social media. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

The 2013 CMO Survey: Marketing and Social Media Highlights

April 15, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The marketing and social media highlights of The 2013 CMO Survey have revealed quite a few intriguing things to look forward to.

In 2008, The CMO Survey was created in order to measure the trends and direction of marketing across all industries twice a year. The most recent publication, February 2013, showcases an upward trend in the use, measurement and importance of social media marketing.

Below are a few of the highlights (both in regards to social media and marketing in general) from the most recent report and some insights into what these findings mean.

A New Marketing Focus

There were a few key takeaways outside of social media that are important to note. One common theme prevailed throughout the entire report: there is a shift in the approach marketers are taking in order to achieve their goals.

There was a 28% increase in the emphasis on a diversification strategy. Furthermore, the most important strategy for marketers in the coming year is to increase organic growth. This could mean and helps explain the major upward shift in the importance of social media marketing. Organic growth requires wide, viral reach, and few if any other marketing techniques offer it in the same way as social.

Marketers in all sectors except for B2B-Product (B2C-Product/Service, B2B-Service) plan to increase marketing spending in the coming year. And, perhaps the most important finding with regards to spending, is that spending on traditional marketing and advertising is plummeting.

The Importance of Social Media

The CMO Survey introduced some figures that were as shocking as they are important (particularly for social media marketers). For marketers all over the world, in some of the largest companies on the planet and a wide array of verticals, social media is essential. In fact, it is going to be a cornerstone of effective marketing strategies in a very short timeframe.

Within five years, social media is expected to be, on average, 22% of marketing budgets. In fact, right now social media accounts for 8% of marketing spending and in the next twelve months, it is expected that social media will account for nearly 12% of marketing budgets.

What’s more, marketers are finally starting to understand the importance of a diverse return on investment (ROI) measurement system. There is such a high return from a social media marketing program, yet there has, to date, been a focus solely on financial returns. While these are important, it is crucial that marketers understand that they are only one of the many types of returns offered. Below is a breakdown of the measurement criteria for social media, and how those criteria are shifting.

These are just a few of the impressive highlights from the report. To download a full version of the report, click here. Give it a read and see if there is anything that stands out to you!

Which of these findings do you find most shocking/surprising/important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media: Week-in-Review, April 13, 2013

April 13, 2013/by Corey Padveen

In case you missed some of the topics we covered this week, here is the social media week-in-review!

Social Media: 5 Methods to Convince C-Level Skeptics

Social media can be a tough sell when it comes to the corporate level. It is generally the last hurdle marketers need to cross, but the most important one of the lot! These 5 tips can help any marketers showcase the importance of social media, and get your program going by convincing your executives.

Pinterest Marketing: 7 Useful Tools

Pinterest has been an unstoppable juggernaut in the world of social media marketing these last few years. As such, several tools have been developed to help take you Pinterest marketing to the next level. Find out what some of the best Pinterest marketing tools are in this post.

Social Care: Customer Service on Social Media

More and more, people are turning to social media when they have an issue to deal with. As such, it is important for companies to be engaging in some form of social care. In this post, we explain why social care is an important phenomenon, and what some of the benefits are when it comes to engaging in customer service on social networks.

Social Media Case Study: Heineken

Heineken has developed an incredible social network worthy of being called the best of its competitors in 2012. In this week’s social media case study, we aim to pinpoint what it is that has made Heineken’s limited edition bottle redesign such a successful campaign.

Social Equity: How Google+ Adds Value to Your Business

Many people have written off Google+, suggesting that it is not an active enough network on which to engage. The fact of the matter is, Google+ is a fierce competitor in the social media world, and can have great effects on your Social Equity. Read this week’s Social Equity segment to find out how Google+ can add value to your business!

Have a look through some of these great articles and enjoy your weekend!

Social Equity: How Google+ Adds Value to Your Business

April 12, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Many people do not believe in the power of Google+, but when it comes to Social Equity, the network cannot be ignored.

With regards to Google+, a great degree of the power of the network is derived from the reality that Google+ is owned by Google. Anything with the Google backing is automatically worth your consideration, and there is an inherent element of Social Equity added to your business because of it. But to simply say that the Social Equity of Google+ is derived from the fact that it is operated by Google is superficial and, more importantly, a misstatement.

In this Social Equity segment, we aim to define where the value of Google+ lies, and how businesses can profit from a presence on Google’s social network.

The Power of Google

As noted above, to simply state that Google+ matters because of Google is both true and false. It is the favouritism that Google will undoubtedly show signals coming from it’s own network over others that marketers need to be conscious of.

In last week’s Social Equity segment, we discussed the value added to your business from a linkage of SEO and social media. Google+ plays a major role from this perspective due to the fact that +1s on Google+ automatically register to the network as social signal backlinks. That’s a powerful feature. The fact that activity on Google+ can increase your search rankings means an inherent degree of Social Equity. But where Google+ truly stands out is in its Communities.

Google+ Communities

One of the main criticisms of businesses when it comes to Facebook has to do with the EdgeRank system. Effectively, the EdgeRank system is a complex filtration algorithm that prevents “unwanted” content from appearing in your timeline. Why does “unwanted” have quotes around it? Well, the EdgeRank system determines, based on engagement rates and other factors, what that content is; not you. So essentially, a page may publish a piece of content that you might be interested in, but because of the EdgeRank system, it may not show up on your timeline and the company might lose out on a prospective customer. Bad for business.

With Google+ Communities, there is no risk of this happening. When people join these communities, it is because they all share a common interest. Thus, it is assumed that everyone wants to see all of the content being posted to a group’s feed. So where is the Social Equity? Every bit of content you post to Google+ is seen by those who have shown interest in said content, whether that interest is by joining a community or following your page.

An unlimited potential for exposure means that you can constantly be targeting individuals who have come to you. Google+ is a pseudo-inbound marketing funnel. Considering inbound marketing is 62% more efficient than traditional marketing, it is no wonder there is value added to your business from a presence on Google+.

Despite the wealth of criticism Google+ is subjected to, it endures. The fact of the matter is, with the backing of Google and highly valuable abilities when it comes to social media for business, there is a degree of Social Equity involved with Google+ that no other network offers.

How do you find value added to your business as a result of Google+ marketing? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Heineken

April 11, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social media helps brands understand what their clients want, and few examples of that are better than Heineken’s limited edition bottle redesign.

Social media is an excellent avenue when it comes to engaging with your fans, and if you can find a way to get their input, all the better. Late in 2012, Heineken decided to redesign their trademark bottle for a limited edition set to celebrate their 140th anniversary. Now, if we have learned anything from the numerous redesigns of the Facebook page, it is that, for the most part, people do not like change, particularly when that change involves something as timeless as the Heineken bottle. So how do you ensure that the backlash will not be severe, particularly when it is in celebration of your brand’s 140th year in business? Turn to social media.

The Campaign

Mark van Iterson, Heineken’s Global Head of Design and his team decided that they would create a limited edition Heineken bottle that incorporated past designs and contemporary twists to mark the company’s 140th anniversary. However, instead of using a small team of in-house designers, van Iterson decided to reach out to Heineken’s massive social network (measured as the top beer on social media by L2 Think Tank) and offer fans a chance to redesign their favorite beer’s bottle.

Tens of thousands of submissions came pouring in from all over the world, and five finalists were chosen for a vote. However, to further promote the efforts of those who contributed, Heineken plans to showcase 30 designs at the Milan Design Week (April 2013) and produce, promote and sell the limited edition winning bottle at the end of this year.

The Lessons

Social media is such a powerful tool when it comes to crowdsourcing. Heineken recognized that and used social media, Facebook in particular, to put together this campaign. A lot of intuition went into effectively executing this campaign, and marketers should be aware of the goals and lessons this case study showcases.

Know Your Goals

Campaigns are fun, and some can be extremely successful. But in order to know whether or not your campaign was a success, you need to know what your goals are. For Heineken, the obvious goal was using their fan base to source a new design for a limited edition bottle. In an interview with ChiefMarketer.com, van Iterson states: “The goal is twofold. For us at Heineken it is fantastic to get ideas and designs that we didn’t think of ourselves. This unlocks huge creativity, and certainly will bring surprises, excitement and very fresh concepts. For a progressive brand like Heineken, always striving to innovate, improve and find fresh ideas, this is a great source.”

But what about the less apparent goals? Heineken gained a lot more than just a few bottle design suggestions. They gave their fans an opportunity to feel like they were important to the creative process. As we have noted in the past, engagement on social media builds your brand’s image. For Heineken, the goal here was to boost engagement with their fan base by offering them the opportunity to, in a way, join the Heineken team – and they succeeded.

Ask Your Audience

When it comes to social media, one of the reasons why people follow, like, or become fans of a brand is because they are already customers. In the beer world, there is plenty of competition, so when you have set of customers, your goal is to keep them coming back. How? Engage with them on social media.

Heineken had the opportunity to reach out to their audience for input when redesigning their bottle and the response was staggering. People are on social media to talk, so instead of sitting in silence, talk with them!

The New Survey, Poll and Focus Group

Why do programs succeed? Why do they fail? What would improve a program? Traditionally, these were questions answered by focus groups or surveys. But that’s marketing in the past. Social media is the new survey, poll and focus group, all in one place. Heineken capitalized on that fact and saved tremendously on both the cost of designing the bottle in-house and the potential cost of the bottle flopping in an unappreciative market.

Social media is a place where people lie to their friends and tell the truth to strangers. Do what Heineken did and take advantage of that.

Have you launched any campaigns asking your audience to participate? Tell us about it in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Care: Customer Service on Social Media

April 10, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social care is of ever-growing importance when it comes to social media for business, and it is important to understand what it is and how it differs from conventional customer service.

The Social Media Report 2012 from Nielsen and NM Incite explained a relatively new phenomenon: social care. What is social care? Social care is the concept of handling a portion (or, in some cases, all) of your customer service using social media.

This has been a growing trend in recent years and the majority of consumers have undoubtedly come across examples of social care when dealing with a brand. Perhaps the best known example of using social care to improve a brand’s client engagement and change client perceptions is Comcast.

Ever since Frank Eliason founded the @ComcastCares program, the company has seen a massive turnaround in terms of customer satisfaction and brand perception. That’s all thanks to social care.

Below are a few key benefits to note when it comes to social care, and a few reasons why it is of growing importance in the world of customer service.

It’s Popular!

According to the study by Nielsen and NM Incite, 47% of social media users engage in some form of social care. Furthermore, one in three social media users prefer social care to contacting a company by phone. With that high of a demand, it seems almost counter-intuitive to not have a department for social care.

It’s Convenient

If you ask anyone if they enjoy waiting on the phone for a customer service representative while listening to monotonous elevator music, the answer will almost certainly be uniformly, “No.” Social care eliminates this process and allows users to ask their question and go about their daily activities while waiting for a response. This also eliminates some of the pressure from the company. While it is important to respond in a timely fashion, customer service representatives are not faced with the potential of dealing with a frustrated customer who has been waiting an exceptionally long time.

It’s Less Expensive

Now we’ve got your attention! Social care offers a less expensive alternative to conventional customer service. Engaging with your audience on social media does not require as large a team as conventional forms of customer service. As noted above, the convenience aspect means that a smaller team can be engaging with issues as they arise as opposed to a large team dealing with a heavy volume of phone calls as quickly as possible.

It’s Public

@ComcastCares showed the market that Comcast really did care. The result? A huge spike in business and customer satisfaction. The fact that social media is a public medium means that people are able to see how you treat your customers, and if you really do care (and you should) it will show through social care. When people see that you treat your customers well, they are all the more likely to choose you when making their decision.

Social care is an important phenomenon and, slowly, becoming one of the most prominent forms of customer service.

Have you implemented any form of social care? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Pinterest Marketing: 7 Useful Tools

April 9, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Pinterest marketing recently received a boost with the integration of backend analytics on Pinterest. These 7 tools can further benefit your Pinterest marketing strategy.

Little by little, Pinterest is becoming more business friendly. First, there was the launch of business pages, and recently there was the announcement of integrated insights for businesses. This is an exciting time for Pinterest marketing, and for those evangelists, here are some great tools to help boost your Pinterest marketing efforts.

1. Piqora

Formerly known as Pinfluencer, Piqora is a fantastic tool when it comes to Pinterest marketing. With Piqora, users can build campaigns, track results, obtain more in-depth insights than those provided by basic analytics and measure both your influence in your community and the influence others have on their communities. This is an excellent tool for those serious about Pinterest marketing.

2. Pinpuff

Ever wonder how influential you are to your Pinterest community? Pinpuff is a fairly simple and easy-to-use tool that lets you know how influential you are to your community on Pinterest. Similar to the influence-measuring features in Piqora but without all of the technical elements.

3. Shopinterest

We have mentioned how to create catalogues in Pinterest, but what if you took your Pinterest marketing a step further and allowed your followers to not only see products you offer, but purchase them? Shopinterest, in beta at the moment, is currently offering users the ability to build stores and sell goods to engaged users – for free!

4. Reachli

Reachli is great not only for Pinterest, but any form of visual marketing. The tool allows you to build your campaigns and market them across a variety of networks. You can then closely track the progress of your campaigns with the broad analytics offered in the backend, and adjust your campaigns according to where you see the most success.

5. Pinalytics

A great tool that takes the insights offered for free in the backend of your own profile and applies them broadly across the entirety of the social network. Use Pinalytics to search for a keyword, term or user and see all of the trending activity and analytics that go with that search. This is a great tool to see what topics are garnering high levels of engagement.

6. HelloInsights

This great Pinterest tool provides you with a set of helpful insights that allow you to ‘pin intelligently’. Use the information to find out what is working, what isn’t and where, when and with whom you are getting the best results.

7. Pinstamatic

Ever wonder why some people have better boards than everyone else? With Pinstamatic, you can be right on top with your competition. This tool allows you to customize your boards to maximize engagement with add-ons like quotations, music maps and much more!

These are just a few of the great tools out there that should help with your Pinterest marketing. Pinterest is still an evolving tool, so keep your eyes open for new changes and updates that are geared to help marketers.

What tools do you use when it comes to maximizing your Pinterest marketing strategy? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media: 5 Methods to Convince C-Level Skeptics

April 8, 2013/by Corey Padveen

When it comes to social media, every department may be sold on its benefits, but the most important folks in the room are the hardest to convince: executives.

Social media is an investment. Whether that investment is time, money, labor or something else, executives see it as an expense. And since the goal of executives is to keep a company as profitable as possible, it may not be an expense they are immediately willing to undertake.

Luckily, we have put together a compelling set of arguments to present to skeptical executives when it comes to selling the (very necessary) concept of social media. These five points should help any marketer cross that last hurdle before implementing a social media program and sharing a well-earned ‘told-ya-so’ at the next quarterly meeting. (NOTE: Probably not in your best interest to use those exact words at the next quarterly meeting. A well-organized report should do the trick.)

1. The ‘Leg-Up’ Argument

One of the easiest ways to show that social media is a necessary program is to show where your competitors are failing. We showcased 10 free social media monitoring tools in a blog post last week that you can use for some (very legal) corporate espionage. Listen in on what people are saying about your competitors and explain how this is information that can be used to give your brand a competitive advantage.

2. Scare Them (A Little Bit)

Though it seems hard to believe, there are still plenty of people out there who do not understand the power of SEO and social media. After all, not all executives rose through the ranks in the age of technology and online networking, and may not completely understand their awesome power. Ask them for five keywords with which they associate their brands. Type them into Google. Are they the first result? No? Their chances of being clicked on just fell 36% – and no we’re not kidding. Are they on the first page? No? Down over 90%.

We discussed some of the benefits of social media and SEO in a blog last week. SEO is still one of the most powerful ways of being found online. And even for those executives who do not believe or understand the power of social media, many know about SEO. Explain the added benefits to search rankings as a result of a properly executed social media strategy.

3. Show Conversations in Real-Time

This method is going to require a little bit more prep than the others. First, use any of the free social media monitoring tools we discussed in our earlier blog. Then, put together a profile of keywords that pulls in live conversations showcasing some leads that your company would be able to target with a social media program. This not only showcases the power of social media, but gets executives excited about implementing the program.

Last year, I was in a meeting with a real estate executive. I put together a very preliminary listening profile and, in our meeting, we pulled out three leads, one of which turned into a referral for the agent. Needless to say, they could not wait to dive into the program head on. Try it – these programs exist for a reason.

4. Present Case Studies

One of the most widely used arguments against the implementation of a social media program is that the results are unproven. This is always a baffling claim, because the evidence that these programs work is staggering. Before meeting with your executives, find some case studies for your industry (and yes, they exist for every industry) examine them and present them, in detail, at your meeting. Hard evidence of success is something executives are trained to look for, and practical examples are always better than theoretical ones.

5. Find More Than One Reason

You might know that the benefits of a social media program are virtually endless, but your executives might not. So, when you go into your meeting, give your executives more than one reason why they need social media. Though it’s obvious to seasoned social marketers, it is not as clear for everyone else.

BONUS: If you want a little push to get you going, set a few things up in the backend that can get your company started. These can be set up on your own time and include small, free listening programs, Google Alerts, or something similar. Having something in place will also help you get over that last hump before implementing a full-scale program.

Have you found any methods that help sell to skeptical executives? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!