Social networks, social media, and authentic customer engagement

1. Social networks, social media, and authentic customer engagement MARK 430 WEEK 5

2. Social media, user-generated content and the “new web” • Web 1.0 • The web as publishing medium • Revolutionary, but still predominantly one-way / asymmetrical • Focus on the web site (pull) • Web 2.0 – the classic viral video by Mike Wesch from 2007 (11.5 million views) • The participative web • Publishing tools in the hands of users – communication now 2-way • User-generated content • The web is “us” • Focus on the user/participant (push) • “Social” media timeline (1969 – 2013)

3. “Social” media is at the core of Web 2.0 • “The online tools and platforms that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other.” Catherine Seda • Includes • Social networking sites (many types) • Blogs and microblogs • Wikis • Podcasts and vodcasts • Forums • UGC of all kinds

5. Some attributes of Social media

6. Key concept: the network effect • The network effect – what does it mean? • Related concept: “walled garden” Image Source: Wikipedia

7. Key concept: The social graph • Social graph defined: "the global mapping of everybody and how they're related“ (Brad Fitzpatrick) Think: “six degrees of separation) Data visualizations of your social graph are available from LinkedIn and Facebook

8. Marketing using social networking sites: still experimenting • We are in an “attention economy” • People’s attention is the scarce resource today • Marketers should go where the people are, not expect the people to come to them • Behavioural and contextual advertising • Brand presence eg. Facebook, Twitter, Google + • Viral marketing – spreading memes • Earning trust – by using an “authentic voice” • Generating traffic / interest • Enhancing reputation • Customer support

9. Common pitfalls of using social media • Firms need to follow consumers across different networks to create consistent and persistent messaging • Needs a structured approach with formal training and planning – don’t give your twitter feed to your intern • It might be difficult to control • Serious backlash is possible eg. #McDStories on twitter • Content offered freely in social media should be of genuine value to others in the community • Eg. Answering questions in forums, or in professional spaces without overt “marketing” • Get to know the community first – think about your “profile” and reputation

10. Problems with getting engagement • Social network fatigue • Too many friends? Seth Godin on the subject • See also: Dunbar’s number (which is around 150) • Too many sites: People are tired of registering with new sites and re-declaring their friends • Privacy concerns and the merging of the public and private spheres • Is privacy dead? (as Mark Zuckerbergsays)

11. Are we in the era of real time marketing? • Is synchronous communication now more important than asynchronous communication? • David Liu, an executive at AOL, calls it replacing the email in-box with "a river that continues to flow as you dip into it.” • What are the advantages and disadvantages for marketers?

12. So how do we measure success in real-time social media? • Social Listening • Set up alerts and searches for mentions of your brand and competitor’s brands and analyze for “voice and reach” • Sentiment analysis • Social Measuring (next week’s focus) • Set goals and KPIs • What kind of metrics might you use? • What do they actually indicate?

13. Social “listening”

14. Don’t be caught by surprise... • The story of the 9 year old and her food blog (first 1.5 minutes of Clay Shirky at TED 2012) • “This brings up the question what made them think they could get away with something like that?” (Clay Shirky) • They obviously hadn’t realized that they had to listen.....

15. What is “social listening” • “..using technology to assemble a collection of keyword-based searches online that help you locate mentions and instances of those keywords on the web” • Mentions of: • Your brand / product / service / organization • The competition • Industry discussion The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

16. Passive versus active listening • Passive listening is a diagnostic exercise, an ear-to-the-ground • Are people talking? • What are they saying? • Where are they saying it? • Active listening includes that constant monitoring but also includes response and engagement The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

17. How does social listening impact a business? • Sales – listening for expressed need (people often ask for recommendations on social media, so offer information and assistance). • Marketing & PR – listening helps you learn the language of your customers • Customer service – if you are listening you can respond fast (and via the medium where your customers are) • Research and development – the “wish they had” search The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

18. Listening models Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

19. Software tools for listening • As needed alerts – the simplest way • Free social media monitoring software • Paid social media monitoring software The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

20. As-needed alerts • For use when brand / name / product mentions are relatively rare • Set up Google Alerts to create a “push” notification whenever your keywords are mentioned (automatically emailed to you) • Free service • As many alerts as you like • You need to be careful about crafting your alert (either too little or too few results) – so be really specific • Not real-time – delay between mention and alert can be as long as 24 hours • Alerts arrive individually, so harder to analyze The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

21. Free social media monitoring software • There are quite a few to choose from, and you will probably need to use more than one to get good coverage • Hootsuite (free and paid versions) http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-listening-hsu-videos-2/ • SocialMention • Twitter search • Addictomatic • BoardTracker (focus on forums) • IceRocket (social specific search engine) The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

22. Paid social media monitoring software • Fully featured dashboards, analytics, reports (aimed at the enterprise / large organizations) • Can be used by teams / multiple clients • Integrated with other metrics from across all marketing channels (eg. Web analytics, advertising metrics, etc) • Examples: • Salesforce Marketing Cloud / Radian 6 (demos – registration needed) • SLD Social Intelligence Solutions (was Alterian) • Hootsuite Pro • WebTrends The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

23. How a brand responded after listening in to a competitor on twitter • Do you agree with Jay Baer that T-Mobile crossed the line between aggressive and obnoxious? • 4 ways this big brand blew it on twitter

24. Managing negativity in social media

25. Dilemmas relating to social media • Your brand is getting a lot of very negative comments on its Facebook page • Some are in very strong and derogatory language • Some use “hate” language (eg. racial, ethnic, or gender slurs) to make personal attacks on key staff members by name • Some use four-letter swear words • Some are just simply bad-mouthing your brand in a way that involves false information • Should you delete them?

26. Managing negative comments in social media • To delete or not to delete? Should brands censor comments? • Deletion of online critiques draws censorship cries • Drawing the line between negative and unacceptable comments • Managing the public relations aspect of having a blog • Particularly challenging for a public agency • US Air Force Blog Assessment Flowchart (don’t feed the trolls..) • The Retail Consumer Report (RightNow): Bring back unhappy customers via social medai