5 Question to Ask Before Embarking on a Social Networking Program
By: Greg Baszucki
Social networking has become one of the most popular activities that online consumers are engaged in and, as a result, businesses are both benefitting and suffering from its power. According to Nielsen Online, social networks and blogs are now the fourth most popular online activity - ahead of personal email, with 67% of the global online population using online communities in one way or another.
“Word of mouth” has always had a strong impact on businesses, but now with the speed at which the Internet can disseminate information to huge numbers of people – “word of mouth” can now go into the ears of thousands, if not millions, of your potential customers - all at once. Thus, it’s very tempting to jump on the bandwagon and believe that your business needs to quickly embrace social networking or you’ll miss out on all of it’s great opportunities; or worse – you could get broadsided by unfriendly user-generated reviews if you’re not actively managing your online reputation.
While social networking (and for the purposes of this article, we’ll also refer to it as “social marketing”), when done well, can contribute greatly to your company’s success, managing a social marketing program can be time and resource intensive, especially if not done well. So, before you start a company fan page on Facebook or begin broadcasting your CEO’s status updates on Twitter, there are some key questions to ask that will help you create the optimal social marketing program for your business. Having a well-thought out strategy can help you make the most effective use of your resources, while maximizing this growing opportunity.
1. What Are Your Key Objectives?
As with any new marketing program, it’s important to start with your goals first. This will help you and your team stay laser focused amidst the overwhelming number of options – and distractions – that social networks can present. What is the main objective you want to accomplish with your social marketing program, and how does it tie into your organizations overall goals? For example, is your objective to:
- Build brand awareness?
- Acquire new customers, or just email addresses?
- Engage and retain existing customers?
- Get feedback on your products and services?
- Get competitive information?
- Boost search engine ranking for your website?
- Gather positive customer testimonials? Etc.
It’s also important to consider the marketing programs and tools that are already working well for you, and integrate your social networking program with them to expand upon their existing strengths. If, for example, webinars are particularly effective for you, consider how social marketing might increase your webinar attendance. Or, if you’re doing a lot of display (such as banner) advertising online, or “push” marketing via email, consider how social marketing can add an “interactive conversation” to that mix.
2. Who Is Your Audience and Where Do They Spend Their Time Online?
As the saying goes - It’s not what you know but whom you know - and social networking is all about the “who.” With millions of people engaged with social networking, you need to have a very clear idea of who your own audience is – both current and potential – before starting a full-fledged program. You want your business to have a presence where and when your target audience is getting information and engaging with each other.
If you’re not entirely sure what social networks your customers and prospects are using, consider asking them directly, such as with a survey. With some surveys, especially those where you’re simply trying to get customers to provide information on their behaviors and interests, it’s fine to offer some kind of incentive as a reward for their participation, such as entry into a drawing. In the survey, you can ask what social networks they use, such as LinkedIn and Twitter. You can also ask how they use them and how much time they spend each week.
In addition, you want to identify your audience’s interests as well as their needs and “hurts.” You’ll want to have a clear idea of what you’re audience has to gain from being a part of your network, as well as interacting with it.
Identify Your Champions
Just as important as defining who your broad audience is, you’ll also want to pinpoint who your champions, or influencers, are. A champion, or influencer, is a customer or some other stakeholder who, not only knows about your industry and solutions, but also likes your products and services, and is willing to evangelize about them.
Influencers can drive opinions and spark engagement within your community. Naturally, you don’t want someone who sounds like a pawn. Instead, you want people who are knowledgeable about your industry, as well and your products. These can be bloggers, journalists, consultants, independent trainers, or just good customers. They are reputable people who are willing to drive a discussion and interact with your community on an ongoing basis.
3. What Are Your Key Messages and Which Platforms Will You Use?
Keep the Content Flowing
Once you’ve defined what you want your program to accomplish and who your audience is, you’ll need to think about your messaging and topics of discussion. Just as your team prepares key talk tracks before going to industry events and trade shows, you’ll want to focus the content and messaging that you’re presenting to your community. It might be the latest press release, a panel discussion you’re taking part in, photos from an event, or a common frustration your customers face (and how your products and services offer solutions.) What’s important is having a pipeline of topics and content that you can regularly feed to your community that delivers value and keeps them engaged.
Choose Your Platforms
Which social networking platforms you use and how many will depend on your audience and resources. Generally, it’s a good idea to start with three or four of the most popular, which are free and easy to use, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These sites will give you broad coverage simply because such a large portion of the population is using them.
Make sure your company’s profile on these sites are “on brand” with consistent logos, graphics and messaging. And tap into the unique offerings of each. YouTube can include customer testimonials from a range of different types of buyers that will appeal to your prospective audiences, such as young, older, male, or female. Depending on your objectives, LinkedIn can be a great corporate marketing and recruiting tool for your HR department. Also, be sure to see how you’re represented on the mobile versions of these sites.
After you have the basics nailed down, such as a strong presence on the popular sites, consider niche sites for your industry, such as popular blogs with discussion groups or portals with group features, such as Yahoo! Groups.
4. What Will Your Implementation and Maintenance Process Be?
Once you put resources into getting your social marketing strategy going, you’ll want to keep the momentum going, including making improvements and adjustments. It’s important to have at least one person on your team who is in charge of managing the program on an ongoing basis. Social networks are dynamic, so you’ll want to ensure your presence is also dynamic, changing, and interesting for your audience.
Having a schedule of announcements, or posts, is often the best way to stay organized and on track. Make sure your announcements complement what you’re promoting in your other marketing channels, such as special offers or new product enhancements.
5. How Will You Measure the Success of Your Program?
Finally, to get the most from your program – track and measure its performance. You set your goals ahead of time, now how do you know your social marketing program is effective in helping you achieve them? Tracking key metrics will allow you to identify which platforms are delivering the most value and where you should continue to direct resources. Depending on your objectives, here are examples of what you might track and measure from the program:
- Number of visitors that each social network delivers to your site.
- Number of new members or users, and which platform they came from.
- Number of times your company name or products are mentioned or searched for.
- Number of visitors who become customers.
- Number of customers who are engaged, and the average lifecycle of those customers.
- Positive reviews and overall company score in user reviews, and your competitors’ scores.
- Participants in a discussion, webinar, or other event.
- Overall cost, in time and money, of the program.
- Costs for leads generated from the program, and percent that convert to customers, etc.
Through a well-managed social marketing program, your network can become a very valuable asset for your business. By asking yourself the important questions before you implement your social marketing strategy, you can create a winning program that will help your business get the most from this powerful and vast medium, while keeping your team’s work load to a minimum.
Greg Baszucki is the founder and CEO of Wheelhouse.