Archive for May, 2010
Are You Listening?
Listening to the customer is the core of every sales training manual and customer service seminar, yet companies often fail to hear what is being said.
I recently attended the IIR Social Media conference, and heard many times over that corporate leadership didn’t want to hear about negative feedback from customers.
With social media playing a greater role as a resource to provide instant feedback, the customer voice is becoming more and more difficult to ignore.
- Betty White appeared on SNL two weeks ago due to an outpouring of support from fans on Facebook (probably the most entertaining SNL episode this season).
- Nestle recently announced a zero deforestation policy, after ignoring organizations like Greenpeace regarding their sourcing of palm oil
- IKEA’s typeface change caused an uproar that IKEA wasn’t aware of until Lisa Abend, a reporter for TIME International (and my sister), brought it to their attention
Even if your company is not actively participating in social media, here are some ideas to monitor what your customers think of your company, your industry and your competitors:
- Yelp, Kudzu, Citysearch – Regularly monitor these rating sites
- Search.Twitter.com – Twitter’s search engine. Just type in what you are interested in or use hashtags (#) before your word to see what comes up
- Social Mention, Alterian SM2 – free tools that give you a nice snap shot of what it is being said across social media channels
- Ripoff Report – when people are very unhappy, they’ll post it here
Social media may not be the right marketing tool for your business, but it is the right tool to help you listen to what your customers are saying.
What is your Facebook page worth?
Companies are constantly asking themselves if they should have a Facebook presence and, if so, what is it worth?
To help answer that question Vitrue has introduced their Social Page Evaluator that takes into account the health and potential value of your Facebook presence. It also provides tips on how to improve your value.
While this is not a tool I would bet my business on, it is fun and can give you bragging rights versus your competition.
How much is your page worth?
Yes Virginia There Is ROI in Social Media
A common theme at IIR’s social media and community 2.0 strategies conference revolved around getting management to buy-in to social media initiatives.
Promoting what, Dawn Lacallade, Solarwinds, calls community health – participation, feedback – might be a nice measure of success for a community manager, but they aren’t going to convince a CEO to invest.
To gain a CEO’s commitment you need to demonstrate business value. You need to think in terms of ROI.
- Improved net promoter score driven by a closer with your customers
- Reduced customer service costs due to the community answering the consumer questions
- Increased sales by better knowing what the consumer wants
The good news is case studies are emerging regarding the positive impact of social media.
- Solarwinds’ R&D budget allocation runs approximately 50% lower than industry average driven by their community involvement in product development
- One of the 35 ideas by Turbo Tax’s Inner Circle members has generated $19MM in revenue over three years
- Scholastic tapped into its community to redesign its flyer resulting in a 3% increase in sales versus its former design
How are you defining the return on your social media investment?
Which Department Should Own Social Media?
Many presentations at Monday’s sessions at Social Media and Community 2.0 discussed the involvement of various departments in the launch of online communities.
The speakers were community managers who had the benefit of working across departments while staying faithful to the communities they served. They limit marketing messages, engage the proper resources when necessary, set up guidelines and manage the health of the community.
Companies instinctively think that marketing and communications should own social media, largely because it is seen as another channel to convey the marketing message.
However, I heard today that many believe that companies should limit marketing involvement in social media in order to foster the relationship without appearing disingenuous.
If you don’t have the resources for a community manager who do you think is best suited to own and cultivate the user relationship?
The Importance of Creating A Social Voice
- Singular
- Anonymous
- Consistent, Professional
- Company Voice
- Used Everywhere Consistently
- Multiple voices (defined by their agents and employees)
- Authentic
- Transparent
- Conversational
- Voice of real people so people can let their personality come through
- Varies by topic, channel
Social Media and Community 2.0 Strategies
Learn how companies like AAA, Scottrade, Best Buy and Citibank are using social media as we attend IIR’s Social Media and Community 2.0 Strategies conference.
Monday’s sessions include:
- Building social media programs – American Family Insurance
- Overcoming B2B social media challenges – GE Healthcare
- Making your online community an active one – Scottrade
- Realizing you need social media – AAA
- Strengthening your brand with communities – Career Builder
- How not to create corporate communities – Valpak
- To build a community or join one – Yahoo
- Growing your community – Current TV
- Gaining buy-in from your company – Best Buy
- How to build a social media program right the first time – EMC, Tripadvisor, Ebay
Follow our Twitter feed for immediate updates or visit this blog or the conference blog to learn more.
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