Savvy Marketer’s Playbook to Social Marketing Success How to use the latest changes in Facebook and Twitter to your advantage. Liked &Followed If there are two things that any brand has ever wanted, they are to be liked and followed by millions. And now for the first time in history, with social media, every company, big and small, has a chance to do it. But is the social sphere on the verge of saturation?! More and more, brands are fighting to make their presence matter in the Twitterverse and are clamoring to set up real estate on Facebook. They have all the tools and are putting in all the eort, they are sharing all their content everywhere, but they don’t have the buzz, the energy. They have created some form of presence that’s not based on strategy at all. And they have learned the hard (and expensive) way that consumers are bothered by them in a social context Because just having a room in a city is not enough. Businesses that assume their mere existence in an industry are devoid of strategy and therefore set Why? up for failure. For the same reason that makes it great- the viral power of the word of mouth. Because as exciting as social media is, it can be a PR minefield if you don’t do it right. Regalix © Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success Our objective with Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success is to share actionable social media recommendations for your Facebook and Twitter engagement based on 1. Past and current social and consumer trend 2. Social marketing best practices 3. Latest upgrades on Facebook and Twitter platforms 4. Innovative social marketing ideas to help you generate authentic, positive word of mouth for long-term gains. Regalix © Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success What Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success will cover: Setting about Going Social 1 i) Creating the Social Brand Strategy- Top 8 Best Practices ii) 7 Social Marketing Do’s you must always keep in mind iii) 5 Social Marketing Don’ts you must never forget i) 11 Hottest Tips to Facebook Marketing Success Today 2 ii) Top 3 simple, innovative Facebook marketing plays for the savvy marketer i) 12 Top Tips to Twitter Marketing Success 3 ii) 6 Quickfire Twitter Marketing Plays 4 Social Never Ends Regalix © Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success Setting about Going Social 1 Creating the Social Brand Strategy - Top 8 Best Practices Even the most aggressive marketer who, for instance, requires a social marketplace program to be up and running in a month needs to understand that strategic use of social media takes eort and change at all levels of the organization. It could be a quarter to a year before a social brand strategy starts showing big results. At the end of the day you want to be surgical in your strategy; it’s not about. ‘Hey, let’s try to put a piece of content out there and hope it gets picked up virally.’ You can’t think in terms of one-o campaigns or tactics. The big question is how can you fuel a provocative, authentic, ongoing social media presence? Be patient and before jumping in whole hog, take an arm’s length approach and ask yourself the right questions to evaluate the full spectrum of your social opportunity, and then adopt best –practices guardrails to develop a comprehensive strategic social brand approach. And remember to be flexible with your approach. Here’s a social media best practices checklist you can use to form the basis of your social engagement 1 Start at the top For longevity in the social media sphere, you need buy-in from the top. You can’t do this cosmetically. Social is not a fad. For the first time in history, social enables the marketer to have the ability to influence and be a part of consumers’ lives by giving them information, entertainment, a place to contribute, a place to connect, dialogue, whatever it may be. It’s as long term as retail marketing and requires the same level of commitment behind it. Because if your top guys are committed to your social program, you will get a program that directly and measurably aects sales targets and brand equity. And customers will see your brand as someone who is in it for the long haul, some who really cares about how they feel, and what they want - not just trying to cash in by making a quick splash. Regalix © Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success/01 2 Look, Listen, and then Leap Before you set about creating a social brand identity, start by conducting a social media audit to determine if people are having conversations about your brand, the company, or the category, and who these people are, what they are talking about and where they are congregating. Then ask yourself these 5 simple questions 1. Are these people our customers, our target audience? 2. Do we have anything that can be relevant to their conversations? 3. Can we produce content that can really resonate with them and ring true to who we are? 4. Are people talking about us, negatively or positively, or are we going to have to start from scratch? 5. Does our industry have social energy? Then start building a plan around those findings to define your social brand and base your broader social engagement. 3 Define Your Social Brand You spent buckets defining your brand, and gallons more communicating that to the world, but how do you adapt your brand to social media? Brands have long described themselves as personalities. That metaphor has never been truer. To be socially influential, brands must think and choose wisely a natural, authentic personality to portray. Ask yourself these 4 simple questions 1. Or is the brand speaking as itself? 2. If it is, how do you translate its personality to this sphere? 3. What are its voice, tone, emotion and purpose in social media? 4. What social causes does your brand care about? Regalix © Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success/02 Some of these questions may seem schmaltzy. Brainstorm with your brand and social media enthusiasts. Give them the freedom to have an open, honest discussion, so that you can uncover the natural social position for your brand. Maybe your brand is not an entertainer, but rather a useful friend always there to help. Figure out your brand’s social personality and purpose, and stay consistent. 4 Be sure to oer a clear value Exchange Continuously ask what value are you adding to the consumer’s lives? What are they getting in return for viewing, interacting with, contributing to or sharing your content or campaign? You must always oer some sort of value exchange or people won’t have a reason to take positive action. And value exchange doesn’t always have to be a promo or a financial reward, but even social currency earned from the content your audience shares. At the very basic level, it can be something as simple as useful piece of information, or something funny that they would share with their friends. BUT DON’T MAKE THE CONSUMER DO THE HEAVY LIFTING Keep the interaction simple and organic. Don’t force it. And like Don Corleone famously advised his son Michael, “Mention it. Don’t insist”. The amount of eort required by the consumer should be determined by your marketing objective. If you want more qualified leads, understand that the barrier to participation should be a bit higher than sharing something funny. Regalix © Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success/03 5 Give Power to Your Advocates The brands that are successful in a social media space convert audiences to self-motivated brand advocates. In a social context, to eectively reach critical mass, you must be willing to scale your eorts beyond a centralized communications model. To do this, you need to identify and then empower your brand’s advocates giving them the right training, tools, information and / or products to eectively participate in the social media dialogue about your brand, company or category. I mean when you have empowered brand advocates, they are going to come out of the woodwork to defend you, and commend you in the face of an attack or a negative perception about your brand. 6 Have a Crisis Management Plan in Place Always keep in mind PR 101 in your race to experiment in social media- your brand could be significantly embarrassed at some point. Have a crisis management plan for dealing with worst-case scenarios across every platform. Regalix © Savvy Marketer’s Latest Playbook to Social Marketing Success/04 BUT DON’T BE OVER DEFENSIVE ABOUT YOUR BRAND. Let people talk. You can’t respond to every negative comment. Have an engagement plan that points out: • What are the potential types of conversations? • What is our response, where are you going to step in? • Where will you let an empowered community rise in your defense? If a conversation has a potential to significantly impact your organization, and you do join the conversation, make sure your participation feels organic to the context, is compassionate and on an equal footing with the irate consumers. 7 Never Stop Listening, Actively You must always keep your ears pricked, even after you developed sucient positive word of mouth. Listening programs deliver value in at least five ways: 1. Marketing insight for campaign planning, 2.