Social Media Learning from 2010
This is the time of year when we see endless blog posts talking about social media predictions for the coming year. I have decided to take the opposite approach and talk about some of the things we have learned from 2010. Some of this you may already know but reinforcement is a good thing. So, here we go, our Top 10 list (actually, this one goes to 11):
1. Clear and Aligned Brand Identity Platform
With many established brands and organizations, this step is often overlooked. “We know what we stand for” or “We have been around for years, we don’t need to go through this exercise” is a common rejoinder. I am not at all suggesting that brands need to start again but, as customers are now defining brands and setting expectations, a reality check is recommended to make sure what the brand says it stands for is in alignment with what the brand’s customers and other constituents think it stands for. Remember, perception is reality. With so many listening and monitoring tools now available, it is pretty simple to find out what customers and other constituents think about you.
2. Importance of a Social Media Policy
Many companies today realize the importance of a social media policy or guidelines for participation. You must have one. Most policies address the activities of the people officially designated to represent the brand online. However, to be most effective and to legally protect yourself, you also have to include the social media use of all employees whether or not they are involved with the company’s social media efforts.
There have been many instances where an employee has sent out a racy or off-color post on their personal Facebook page that neither mentioned, or had anything to do with, where they worked. However, a friend, or friend of a friend sees the post, sees also whom the poster works for (listed in their profile) and virtually instantly a reference or link to the off-color post shows up on the brand’s Facebook wall followed by all hell breaking loose. You can see a recent example here.
It continues to astonish that many people still do not realize that regardless of privacy settings, there is no privacy online. Once you hit submit it is there to stay and your comment or post can be linked back to current for former employers, schools, or just about any other association you can think of. Therefore, a company’s social media policy or guidelines must address all social media use by all employees.
3. You Need a Content Strategy and a Conversation Calendar
One of the most common questions we get from clients is “What will we talk about; we really don’t have that much to say?” Sure you do. Similar to our emphasis on a strategic approach to social media, brands also need to take a strategic approach to content. What are the brands’ values, what is important to its customers, what trends are playing out that affect the brand’s business? All of these areas provide ideas for content.
In addition, what many brands don’t realize is that not all content has to come from the brand. What are customers saying, what about the media? Even the competition can give you some ideas. The point is to come up with general categories of things you want to talk about, and then develop a quarterly conversation calendar that schedules communication in advance. Think of these major posts as the anchor tenants at the mall. You should still engage occasionally between these posts but the conversation calendar guides the strategic conversation.
4. Value of Free Feedback
Other than time, it doesn’t cost anything to ask questions and get feedback online. We worked for a client last year that has over a million fans on Facebook. When they ask a question, they usually get over 50,000 responses – for free. This happens on a smaller scale as well across social media. Whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or just about any other social platform if you ask relevant and meaningful questions, people will respond yielding all sorts of ideas for new products and services.
Other formal customer research methods still have their place but they can be augmented with much more frequent, informal interactions with customers online. The challenge is not to waste this opportunity by asking the wrong questions or not responding back once customers have spoken. This last point trips up many brands. If you ask a question and someone answers you need to acknowledge his or her response. This does not need to be a long post it can be as simple as “Thanks for your input”. This free flow of information and feedback is also invaluable when it comes to managing a crisis (see takeaway 6 below).
5. Simple Acknowledgement is Sometimes Enough
You don’t need to respond to every comment. Sometimes a simple acknowledgement is sufficient. We are working with a national pizza chain that is having success with Facebook. Their fans are highly engaged. We did an analysis of their wall posts last month and of 130+ posts, six where from the brand, and the rest from fans.
The brand asked us if they needed to respond to every post? No. Pick those that are most important, interesting or the ones that affect brand image, values or operational issues and respond to those. For others simply having someone from the brand “Like” a comment indicates you are listening and appreciate the comment. One caveat here: If an individual (as opposed to the “Brand”) is responding to posts try to include the brand name with his/her name in the “Like” signature (to be honest, I do not know if this is possible). Otherwise the “Like” will say “John Lee Likes This” but fans will not know that John Lee is a representative of the brand.
6. Role of Social Media in Crisis Communications
Whether working with a client is who ready to dive into social media wholeheartedly or someone who just wants to get their feet wet, the first step is simply to listen. Who, is saying what, where, how influential are they and what is the potential reach of their network?
The new ability to easily monitor and actively listen to conversations online is crucially important when it comes to managing or avoiding a crisis. We dealt with several crises last year, one that could have been devastating and several other sparks that could easily have raged out of control. All of these were successfully contained in large part by understanding what was happening in social media, preparing a proactive response and engaging (or not) in the most appropriate way.
7. Trial Critical with Listening Platforms
To manage the serious crisis mentioned above, we used four different listening platforms to monitor the social web. Two of these platforms were paid and two were free. While most tools performed as advertised (one was a bust), no platform caught everything.
Some tools report information in near real time, some can tell you the geographic location of posters, and others excel at pulling data from Facebook, Twitter or blogs. The keys are to understand what specifically you are looking for in a listening platform and then to try a few (most paid tools will offer a week or so free trial) and compare the results. Even when you decide on one you like, we recommend having at least two (one, or both can be free) tools in use or available to use at all times.
8. The Need for Filtering
The fire hose information flow of social media is a serious issue. With data generated 24/7 on every subject under the sun, it is easy to get overwhelmed. And, without context, data is meaningless. As we have discussed before, you must have objectives. What are you trying to accomplish and what information do you need in order to determine whether you are on track to accomplish your goals?
Many of the social media predictions for the coming year deal with filtering. Clay Shirky has famously said, “It is not information overload, it is filter failure”. I am not sure if it is filter failure because I don’t think the right filters have been created yet. Most listening platforms have some filtering capabilities built in allowing users to segment data in more addressable pieces. Simple search is another form of filtering but the trick is to define the right keywords that yield the right information without eliminating data on the periphery that might also be important.
With more channels and more content being created all the time, the ability to sift through it all and find the actionable nuggets will be of the utmost importance.
9. Evolution of Use (E2.0)
Until very recently, other than within large enterprises, the majority of social media experimentation and use has been external with customers. However, as our personal and corporate technology use converge more companies are bringing social media and networking tools inside the organization resulting in better internal communication, increased efficiency and better collaboration. This trend is called Enterprise 2.0 and has been the subject of a couple other recent blog posts that can be found here and here.
10. C-level Buy-In (and Participation) Crucial
We are currently in the middle of rolling out a collaborative Enterprise 2.0 community for one of our clients. We introduced the tool to the organization right before the holidays and asked each employee to set up their profile and perform a couple other small tasks over the holiday break. We were concerned when the end of the holidays approached and few employees had completed their assignments, including the CEO. So, we contacted her, asked her to set up her profile and send out an email to the organization letting them know that she was on board. Within hours, other profiles and messaging on the platform began to show up.
As consultants, we can make what we think are the right recommendations all day long, but unless there is C-level buy-in and participation, your initiative may have a hard time getting off the ground.
11. Try, Learn, Fail, Try Again
The days of grand, long-term marketing plans are coming to a close. It is all about quick hits today and being nimble. The barriers to entry for social media are non-existent. Therefore, experimentation is encouraged. This is not to say you should just try a bunch of tactics. You need to have a strategy but this does not take long to develop or cost a bunch of money. We have a simple framework we use to help clients develop their social media strategy. Once the framework is complete, it identifies and prioritizes a number of opportunities. Pick a couple and get started. Try, learn, fail, try something else, learn more and succeed. You will get credit for trying.
All in all, it has been a great year. We have worked with some terrific clients, added a couple of new ones at the end of the year and have put some points on the board. We have also had a great deal of fun. In my 25+-year career in advertising and marketing communications, I can’t remember a time that has been as exciting, challenging and exasperating as the time we are living in now. Here’s hoping it continues.
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