4 Things Marketers May Not Know About Social Media Marketing

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Steve Olenski 

 

I know, I know, there is no shortage of social media experts, gurus and bhagwans and many marketers themselves now believe they know all there is to know about social media marketing. Yeah and I’m Donald Duck. Translation: Don’t believe anyone who says they know everything about social media. Ever.

Why? For the simple reason it’s still growing and may never stop so how can you know all there is to know about something that has not stopped evolving yet?

The explosion that is mobile marketing alone and the way consumers are using their mobile devices for any and all social media related activities alone is cause to sit up and take notice when someone tells you they know everything about social media.

Instagram and other Social Media Apps (Photo credit: Jason A. Howie)

To those who claim to know everything and to all others among you, here are 4 things marketers may not know about social media marketing

1. Use brain science to ‘make’ people trust your brand
Don’t just rely on knowing or anticipating what the customer wants. Srini Pillay, M.D. and CEO of NueroBusiness Group did a study that shows the brain has a ‘trust hormone’ oxytocin; which does in fact enhance trust, possibly because it enhances the distinction between self and others and increases the positive evaluation of others. Thus, a trust hormone actually changes how the brain perceives people and situations.

The greater the trust you can build between your customer and your brand, the greater the chance of marketing success (which I define by amount of deals closed or leads generated).

What are some of these trust building activities? Clear communication, being on time, delivering on promises, and fulfilling contractual obligations are good ways to create a climate of trust when things are unfamiliar.

2. Do your homework
Rather than cold calls, use social media to develop the relationship to a warm point before an initial call. Target someone through LinkedIn LNKD -2.22% that fits your buyer profile through an advanced search. With Google GOOGL -0.63% Analytics, there are certain metrics that can measure how long visitors from LinkedIn stay on your web page. More time spent on the web page means that you have engaging and meaningful content. Using this information, you can target your customers easier through social media.

Once you have identified them, do research on them through reading their profiles using a CRM such as Nimble to aggregate all of their public information. Then find their email address or send them a direct message on Twitter TWTR -2.59% to start a conversation.
This works best for people who have retweeted or favorited something you have said on Twitter or LinkedIn.

3. Use your resources
The number of social media followers you have has little to do with how many people will see any social media posts you make. Since most adults don’t live on social media 24/7, only those who are checking the network at that moment (or whom you tag by name) will see the post. Tools like HootSuite and Hiplogiq’s SociaCentiv allow you to set up repeated or rephrased posts later.

According to Social Media Examiner it’s important to have three or more posts in between repeats so your profile stays interesting.

4. Offline presence
Many offline tactics still have better conversion rates than online techniques. But, a recent study by Search Engine Land found that 85% of consumers have used the Internet to find a local business. Integrating TV, radio and print into your digital marketing efforts helps differentiate your brand and target a new and profitable audience. Scott Langdon of Highervisibility.com said, “we’re living in a very digital world, but people still like to have something tangible to hold or feel when making a purchasing decicision.”

Social media marketing takes consistent effort and attention to detail. Businesses that use social media outlets to build relationships of trust, combined with an offline presence,  and diligent consumer data gathering will drive awareness and profitability for the long term.

14 Stats to Inform Your 2014 Social Marketing Strategy

As 2013 draws to a close, brand marketers and social media strategists have the opportunity to reflect on learnings from the past year.  While no single industry statistic should stand alone in informing future plans and strategies, a broader snapshot of social network trends, social consumer behaviors and brand social media results can help inform the big picture of social going into 2014.

 

Here are 14 statistics and trends from 2013 to inform your 2014 social marketing strategy. 

Growth, Usage and Trends of Social Networks

1.) Facebook users spend 6.35 hours each month on the social network via their desktop
When it comes to sheer usage, Facebookstill reigns supreme, accounting for almost twice as much time spent monthly by users on the social network over Google. And while mobile usage is on the rise, the majority of this time is still via a desktop experience. (Facebook)

 

2.) Instagram has more than 150 million active users
Now a part of the Facebook family, Instagram has surged in growth and has more than 150 million active users. One third of that numbergrew in the last 6 month time period, underscoring the growing interest in visual content creation and consumption. (Instagram)

3.) 15% of Internet users are on Pinterest 
Nearly one in every 6 people who use the Internet are on Pinterest. What’s more? These users are well educated and 18% have an annual income of $75,000 or more. (Pew)

4.) Tumblr and Pinterest outperform Twitter and LinkedIn when it comes to share of time spent, in minutes
They may not have as large a user base as giants Twitter and LinkedIn, but visually-focused social networks Tumblr and Pinterest win out for time spent on their sites in comparison. (ComScore)

Social Consumer behavior

5.) 33% of consumers cite social networks as a way they discover new brands, products or services 
One in three consumers are discovering new brands and products via social networks. That may not lead to direct attribution on the brand side, yet, but it’s as indicator that brand awareness and reputation are powerful in the social consumer lifecycle. (eMarketer)

6.) 60% of LinkedIn users have clicked on an ad on the site 
2013 has raised much discussion on the effectiveness of social advertising. If LinkedIn’s advertising performance is any type of indicator, relevant social advertising is going beyond awareness building through impressions and driving action. (lab42)

7.) 100% of business decision-makers use social media for work purposes
Social networks are huge, but does that mean they are being used for business purposes? Forrester Research confirmed this year that, yes, statistically every business decision maker is both using social media and doing so in part for some type work purpose.(Forrester Research Inc)

8.) 47% of Internet users share photos or video they found online
Active usage is great in understanding where people spend time, but understanding consumer actions is an even more meaningful way to get insight. Pew reported in 2013 that nearly half of all Internet users share multimedia they discovered somewhere online. The learning here? Resonate with your consumers’ interests, and they will share and propagate your content.(Pew)

9.) 25% of consumers who complain about products on Facebook or Twitter expect a response within 1 hour
Listening without action is no longer an option for social brands. The expectations of consumers have shifted to make brand responses a mandate. A non-response now risks a disappointed customer, at the least, and a negative brand perception. (American Express Open Forum)

Brand Intentions and Results

10.) 91% of executives are planning a more programmatic approach to audience segmentation in the next two years
Two trends are highlighted here: the rise of audience segmentation and the intent to scale social media through a programmatic approach. 2014 will likely bring with it more, personalized content and a strong concentration of building internal infrastructure to make this strategy repeatable and successful. (eMarketer)

11.) 70% of marketers say that content marketing has increased their brand awareness
Content marketing is on the rise for a very important reason: social is an always-on medium and it requires compelling content to consistently reach and resonate with audience members. The good news? iMedia reports that brands are seeing positive results as it pertains to content raising brand awareness. (iMedia)

12.) 65% of marketers cited an increased social media ad budget in their 2013 plans
To advertise on social, or not advertise on social is no longer the question. Two out of three marketers planned to increase their social advertising budget in 2013. And with greater stringency placed on Newsfeed placement, this number will likely rise in 2014 for marketers to reach their intended audiences. (Nielsen)

13.) 79% of Marketers have integrated social media into their traditional marketing activities
2013 solidified the year of social media earning a seat in the integrated marketing mix. Going beyond Paid, Owned and Earned social, brands are now actively integrating social with traditional marketing and creating a full view of social’s integration within CRM systems.  (Social Media Examiner Industry Report)

14.) Pinterest drives twice the website referral traffic of Twitter, LinkedIn and Google – combined
Conversions are a marketer’s best friend. As it pertains to social media, Pinterest proved its power in driving users from the social network directly to corporate websites, second only to Facebook. (Shareaholic)

 

* A bonus stat and parting thought – social media is the top driver for relationship building
52 percent of enterprise brands say social media is the top driver for relationship building/ brand engagement, more than twice as much as email, and quadruple that of corporate websites. Why is this significant? Marketers are realizing and embracing the inherent value of social media – building relationships – and working to create programs that deliver great experiences. The impact: happier, more loyal customers and increased awareness and demand. (Spredfast)

Happy Holidays and best of luck in your 2014 social media planning.  We can’t wait to see how your social brand strategies evolve in the next 12 months.

Authored by:

Jordan Slabaugh

Jordan Viator Slabaugh is the Director of Social Media at Spredfast where she leads the company's social strategy, execution and interactive marketing, as well as consults with clients on using social media to help achieve social business goals.

10-Point Checklist: Getting C-Suite Buy In for Social Media

Part 1

“What do you mean we need to increase our social media budget? Isn’t it free? I thought we don’t need a budget.”

And another senior marketing manager bites the dust! This is not fiction-drama. This is rampant ignorance among the C-Suite in corporate America. B2B marketing professionals are challenged every day with how to get executive management to buy in for social media. “It’s free”, “We need huge numbers”, “We need a multi-channel presence”, all of these and other confused C-Suite perceptions about the role and purpose of social media make it increasingly difficult for social to be adopted as a must-have. The fact is, social is now an integral part of lead generation and marketing programs.

Mark Yolton, senior vice president of digital, social and communities at business software and services purveyor SAP was quoted in a recent eMarketer article: “Social media marketing is no longer a nice to have—it’s a must have. Our customers expect it. Our competitors are all doing it. And unless we embrace and excel at social media marketing integrated into the full marketing mix, we’ll be at a competitive disadvantage.”
 
(Note: Mark has recently transitioned into a new role and is now Vice President of Digital Strategy & Enablement at Cisco.)

So how do you gain that competitive advantage? You’ll need the blessings of “the powers that be”. How will you convince them that social media today is a necessary cost of doing business?

Here are 5 Fundamental Steps to Help You Get C-Suite Buy In for B2B Social Media

1. KNOW YOUR INTERNAL AUDIENCE. What type of personality are you dealing with internally? Here are the most common demand generation personalities.
2.  UNDERSTAND YOUR CMO’S PROFILE. Which one is your CMO? Pick from this list.
3. EMPHASIZE THE NEED FOR A SOCIAL VOICE. Not too many members of the C-Suite are used to being hands-on with day to day operations. Explain to your top management why having a coop student or intern to Tweet and blog and post Facebook updates is not okay anymore. You need trained and experienced hands that understand customer relations, branding and lead generation. As you start to build customer engagement and loyalty through social media, you will need a core team to maintain and strengthen your company’s social voice.
4. SHOW WHY MONITORING IS IMPORTANT AND HOW IT HELPS. Typically, the C-Suite loves numbers. If you can enable some number crunching in terms of social ROI, you have a stronger case for continued and strategic social media marketing. Explain that while free tools can be useful, you may want to consider investing in better measurement and reporting tools. After all, you do want to go beyond counting your likes and fans to actually throwing light on engagement and lead progression levels with your key target audiences. In addition, track and monitor multiple social touch points to better respond to social conversations.
5. PROVE IT. Nothing you say can be as convincing as the proof of success. Run a few small, highly-focused and easily measurable campaigns to show that B2B social media really does work. The taste of success can be a heady one! Top execs will find it easier to commit to ongoing social media programs once they see a few quick and effective campaigns in action. Be sure to make them aware though, that short bursts or spike marketing cannot drive long-term results; only a sustainable social strategy can.

Look out for the next 5 steps on the road to getting C-Suite buy in for social media.


Image credit: Shutterstock

About the author: Louis Foong View all posts by Louis Foong

Louis Foong is the founder and CEO of The ALEA Group Inc, one of North America’s most innovative B2B demand generation specialists. As a thought leader with more than three decades of experience in the field, Louis guides his team and ALEA’s clients through the dynamic, evolving lead generation landscape. His astute sense of marketing and sales along with a clear vision and ability to see the “big picture” has proved beneficial to numerous organizations, both small and large. With the right advice and a slew of result-driven services, he enables clients to gain maximum return on investment for their lead generation efforts. His clients include companies in the technology, telecommunications, software, healthcare and professional services industries. Prior to starting the ALEA Group, Louis Foong has held various senior executive positions within corporate America. Today he is known and well-respected as a thought leader and pioneer in this industry. Foong is a published blogger and among the top authors on CustomerThink, a global online community of business leaders.

How to use surveys to help grow your business

MIKE ALLTON

Every small business owner wants to grow their businesses, but it isn’t always easy to identify the right opportunity. Before a large corporation makes any sort of decision, they spend numerous hours and thousands of dollars on market research. Don’t let that scare you off though, as having a small budget doesn’t mean you have to skip the research phase altogether.

With a wide variety of inexpensive primary research tools available online, it is simple conduct your own survey. Done correctly, sending out a survey to current and potential customers can be a great way to unlock insights and determine a path for your business. While you may think you know what your customers really want, you may be surprised by what you can find out if you give them a chance to provide their input.

 

Start with the objectives. When you create your questions, think carefully about what information you want to be able to uncover. If you ask random or arbitrary questions, you risk fatiguing your respondents and losing sight of actionable insights. Setting goals and working backwards to design your survey will help you achieve results that you can use.

Once you are ready to start creating your questions and answer choices, make sure that they are simple, straightforward, and don’t include any technical jargon that your customers may not understand.

It is important to collect some demographic information as well; this will help you analyze your results. Use open-ended response questions sparingly; while they do collect interesting responses, they are much harder to interpret in your results.

Send your survey at the right time, to the right people. Who are you sending your survey to? If it’s to previous customers, it’s relatively easy to simply send out a quick e-mail to your database requesting that they provide their feedback. Assure them that the survey will not take long (a specific time estimate is good, to manage expectations) and explain how their comments will be used to improve your product or service.

If you want to reach a wider range of individuals to include potential customers, you can post your survey on your website, or on yourFacebook and Twitter account to take advantage of your social media followers. Many survey companies like SurveyAct will also allow you to purchase a panel of respondents based on criteria that you specify. These tools can help you reach a statistically significant number of responses, as you may not be able to garner actionable insights based on only a handful of opinions.

You don’t want to come off as intrusive or annoying so make sure that if you put your survey on your website, it doesn’t pop up the minute someone visits.

Analyze your results. You can collect thousands of responses, but if you don’t know how to analyze them properly, you haven’t achieved anything.

Let’s use this survey as an example.

Here is an example of what your survey results may look like:

At face value, there doesn’t seem to be any meaningful insights to be extracted here. But you can use filters and cross tab analysis to narrow down these results to a more granular level. For example;

• How many females vs. males are planning to buy a smartphone?
• How many customers over the age of 65 are planning to purchase a television?
• What percentage of customers who rate return policy as a very important factor in purchasing electronics are planning on purchasing a tablet?

Once you analyze the data on that level, you can retrieve many valuable insights that will help you grow your business.

Try running a survey for your own business. SurveyAct(http://www.surveyact.com) is one of several survey solutions that is currently free to use!

 Posted on Challenges In Agri-Food and Supply Chain

Bruce MacDonald

Analyzing the ROI of Social Media Marketing

People responsible for marketing budgets want to know if there is any ROI value in social media. Is the ROI of social media marketing capitals being thrown away?

Patricia Redsicker, an expert in the Edison Research exploration, takes a look at the statistics in the USA.

Here are the 9 most interesting discoveries in the study:

1. Almost 58 million Americans visit social media networks every day.

The “Social Habit” is defined as “the tendency to visit social media websites a few times per day.”

 

Shown in the diagram below, by the middle of 2012 the number of Americans who had “The Social Habit” increased by 22% (approximately 58 million people), while only being 18% in 2011.


Why are people visiting social media websites?

• 89% of people do this to stay in touch with family and friends
• 67% - to entertain themselves
• 66% - to learn about new products and services
• 48% of people visit social media networks for their career

The main conclusion is that consumers spend more and more time on social media - so you may need to consider finding new means to establish the contact with users and to interact with them throughout the day.

For example, you may post a short poll or a question on your Facebook Page in the morning, publish a useful article in the afternoon, and upload an interesting picture or a short video clip in the evening. Do not forget about the week!

It is important to understand the consumers needs and apply social media efforts accordingly.  

2. Twitter draws new active users
Twitter continues to draw more and more new users - it is evident by the figures on the diagram below. The author of the article mentions that the level of interaction between Twitter users increased by 69% in 2011 to 76% in 2012.

The main conclusion is that engagement on Twitter is on the rise. Give useful guidance and information (such as links to articles) in reply to users questions instead of just publishing promo content. In Redsicker’s opinion, this will help you to establish a confident online presence as an thought leader in your industry sector.

3. Approximately 40% of American people hear about tweets through traditional mass media
The research data indicates that more than four in ten Americans hear about or read tweets almost every day in media. The author gives an example of TV shows such as Piers Morgan Tonight and Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, which use their Twitter and Facebook accounts for advertising purpose and extended discussions.

The main conclusion is that every day the TV audience deals with a wealth of information about Twitter and the communicative capabilities it provides users with. If your company advertises on TV (or is about to do this) you should advise your audience to follow you on Twitter and participate in online discussions.

4. Brand following behavior in social sites doubled over the past two years
This has become a real revelation for Redsicker. Indeed, the diagram shows the brand following behavior on social networking sites for the last 3 years. Redsicker predicts it is most likely that the trends will hold. 

The main conclusion: free offers and special deals for existing customers and interesting entertaining content may be pointed out as the major reason why users follow brand pages in social media networks. Therefore,  promote special offers from your website on your social media networks pages as well. These may be free research reports, webinars, or giveaways with products and/or services.

Get creative and vary special offers as often as possible to keep the users interested.

5. Facebook is the dominant platform for brand following behavior
79% of users prefer using Facebook to connect with brands and products, while only 9% of users prefer using Twitter. Why Facebook? The author replies:
● Facebook is a well known territory. Consumers spend a lot of time in social networking sites communicating with their relatives and friends; that is why it is not difficult at all to connect the brand.
● Secondly, Facebook users are strongly inclined to trust the opinion of their friends. If their friends like the brand they will most certainly “like” it as well - birds of a feather flock together!
● And finally, Facebook has more convenient and visually interesting interface that other platforms have. This allows brands offering daily deals, contests, prizes, etc. with maximum efficiency.

 

The main conclusion: to increase the number of your subscribers on Facebook, consider giveaways and providing entertaining content. You may also reward dedicated subscribers and attract the new ones providing significant discounts on goods and services you offer (i.e. 50% and more discounts, but not just 5% or 10%).

6. Young Facebook users have lots of friends
Redsicker draws attention to the diagram that illustrates 18-24 aged Facebook users having most of the friends as opposed to adults. Taking into account that birds of a feather flock together, brands subscribers’ friends on Facebook, as a general rule, act the same as their subscribers.

The main conclusion: increase your brand visibility on Facebook. Target not only your fans on Facebook but also their friends. Study the profile pages of your subscribers and determine their demography, interests, social behavior, etc.

This information will help you create the content that will be targeted at your subscribers. Then, create a message you can share, for example -  specials that require voting (if your subscriber votes, his or her friends may want to vote too). The goal is to frequently show up on the feeds of users, by that encouraging your subscribers’ friends to interact with your brand.

7. Nearly one-quarter of social networking users use “Daily deals” sites and services
In author’s opinion American people are not crazy about special deals like Groupon offers at all. Only 23% of social media users are registered users for “daily deals” services. There are a lot of customers who made a purchase on Groupon and shared their negative opinion in numerous resources about their experience.

Nowadays this segment of business is totally covered by Amazon and Google. Marketing specialists are supposed to watch the interesting reaction of their customers over the next 12 months.  

The main conclusion: in Redsicker’s opinion,  Groupon’s business model is pretty doubtful. But from the customers’ point of view, everybody likes special deals. That is why you just need to be careful and make sure there is social media marketing ROI, in case you use this type of service.

8. One third of social networking users are “Silent”
The majority of people on social networks are active and post status updates to social networking websites regularly. Nevertheless, 34% of social media users do not ever post status updates for various reasons. Some of them are observers (those who just watch and absorb information), and others are newcomers who are yet to improve their social and/or communication skills.

The main conclusion: those who are “silent” or newcomers may not communicate via social media but still, they are able to hear you and can be useful to your business.

If you noticed silent observers among your subscribers, try to address them directly via message. They will most likely answer the question or the suggestive comment. To encourage newcomers to communicate with your brand, try to share some sort of behind-the-scenes information or photos that will appeal to them.


9. “Check-In” Behavior Stalls
Networking services such as FourSquare witnessed a decline in users’ “Check-In” activity in 2012. 57% of users almost never have used a “Check-In” service to post a status update that provided location.

The main conclusion: if your marketing strategy is based on location, try to attract new customers with special deals and discounts. Taking into account people feel worried about their privacy and safety, your offers should be unique allowing them to check in.

Let’s summarize.
Nowadays marketing specialists have wonderful possibility to take into consideration Redsicker’s conclusions. Knowing what social media marketing ROI requires they are able to develop strategies adjusted for users’ behavior.

Redsicker advises to consider Facebook and Twitter’s popularity, as these platforms attract many new users. On the other hand, the author cautions against sell-out services, as users are not fond of them. Lastly, it is strongly advised to offer special deals and discounts.

What are your recommendations regarding measuring social media ROI?

Written by: Roman Viliavin, Vice CEO at Promodo Online Marketing Company.
Roman is an unconventional thinker and candidate master of chess. Roman has been working in the field of search engine optimization since 2005 and is the moving spirit of the company. Participant and speaker of all major events in SEO business. Roman has successfully completed dozens of projects and gladly shares his experience with SEO community via articles and various online and offline publications. Follow Roman on Twitter and Facebook.

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Authored by:

Cara Tarbaj