PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL
Moving from Listening to Engaging
May 19, 2010
#listengage
2
Agenda
• Introduction
• Engage or Die
• Who Owns Social Media
• The Social Media Hierarchy
• Social Media Guidelines
• Social Media Best Practices
• Seven Steps to Creating and Cultivating a Brand
#listenengage
Who is StrongMail?
• Leading provider of online marketing solutions for email and social media.
• We enable our clients to boost the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, while saving a significant amount of money.
• Our products and services provide an end-to-end solution for some of the world’s biggest brands.
Over 500 Customers
If a Conversation Takes Place Online & You’re Not There to Hear It, Did It Really Happen?
It’s not what you say, it’s what they say that counts…
Motrin Moms• A seemingly harmless advertisement caused a
backlash amongst moms who took to Twitter, blogs, YouTube and eventually spilled over to mainstream media including WSJ, Forbes, AP, NYT
• Motrin wasn’t listening to responses on the social web and as such, the company couldn’t diffuse the groundswell against the campaign and ultimately the brand– It was the first CPG and also brand example where the
real-time web proved that it required full-time monitoring
• The apology was also chastised for appearing as voice “by committee,” lacking candor and sympathy
Identify problems before they evolve into crises
Monitoring vs. Listening
Who Owns Social Media?
Social Media Affects Every Step of a Decision Making Process
Discovery
Evalu
atio
n
Action
Exp
eri
en
ce
Engagement
Listening
1. Need2. Awareness3. Consideration4. Decision5. Satisfaction6. Recommendation
The Conversation Funnel
Listen
Sort
Assess
AssignService Product Marketin
gHR Finance Sales
The Social Customer Hierarchy
Google is adapting PageRank for people…
The Human Algorithm
Everything Starts with Listening and Research
Intelligence
The Brand Dashboard
Monitoring
A socialized approach
Assign Roles and Responsibilities• Social Media is more than participating in
conversations– A workflow is required to ensure a seamless process
for listening, responding, learning and leading• People (consumers) expect to be heard and
without an official process in place, many would-be fans and followers are not addressed and therefore, never have the chance to become advocates
• Assign roles and establish workflow for monitoring, responding, engagement, and seeking answers internally to provide resolution and direction– Also determine the process for routing conversations
between marketing, service, product, communications, etc.
Establish Guidelines and Processes
To prevent information leaks and other liabilities, companies are drafting guidelines for social media interaction.
Common Sense is Not Common at All
Draft Social Media Guidelines• Workflow requires boundaries and guidance to
run smoothly• Guidelines are required to protect the brand and
the people representing the brand • Guidelines also protect consumers, fostering
productive, collaborative, and also entertaining communities where people self-govern the society based on empowerment
• Without guidelines, representatives are required to rely on instinct, experience, and common sense, all things that work against the nature of social media
• Like any role within the brand, representatives can benefit from training and direction– They must learn to balance between what they should or
shouldn’t say, when and how
Guidelines: Best Practices• Ensure a consistent, personable, and brand enhancing tone or
voice
• Add value to each engagement — contribute to a stature and legacy
• Respect those whom you’re engaging and also respect the forum in which you participate
• Ensure that you honor copyrights and practice and promote fair use of applicable content
• Protect confidential and proprietary information
• Be transparent and be human (well, be believable and helpful)
• Represent what you should represent
• Know and operate within the boundaries defined
• Know when to fold ‘em and don’t engage trolls or fall into conversational traps
• Keep things conversational as it applies to portraying and reinforcing the personality and value of your brand and the brand you represent
Guidelines: Best Practices
• Stay on message, on point and on track with the goals of your role and its impact to the real world business in which you contribute
• Don’t trash competition — directly anyway• Apologize where applicable• Take accountability for your actions and
offer no excuses• Know who you’re taking to and what they’re
seeking• Disclose relationships, representation,
affiliation and intentions• Practice self-restraint, some things are not
worth sharing
Social Media is About Sociology and Psychology More So Than
Technology
There’s a difference between listening and hearing…
Becoming the people we want to reach and win over (sway, influence, affect…)
What Inspires people to Share…
Self-Expression Status Recognition
Altruism Self-Interest
Acceptance Acceptance Acceptance Greed
Honor Honor Honor
Idealism Idealism Idealism
Independence Independence Independence
Social Contact Social Contact Social Contact
Status Status
Curiosity Power
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The art and science of influence
Participation
Identify your influencers
Influence… The ability to inspire meaningful and measurable action
Word of mouth marketing is not created, it is co-created
Engage outside of your domains
Identify ways to provide value…
Transparent
Believable
Authentic
Be Yourself
Believable
Proprietary and Confidential |
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The Credible Role for a Brand
Matching Social Motivators Real Campaign Tools
• Advisor• Contributor• Host/
Facilitator
• Self Expression
• Achievement• Altruism• Self-Reward
• Social measurement
• Active incentives
• Test and Learn
Seven Steps to Creating and Cultivating a Brand in Social Media
1. Who: Define the brand personality, it’s mission and purpose in the Social Web
2. What: Listen to see how the brand is perceived today – create a benchmark around status quo and also prevailing sentiment
3. When: Monitor the real-time Web to surface any conversations that, without response, represent the potential to burn out of control
4. Where: Focus on proactive engagement within the priority networks of relevance to ensure prominence, which by default, diffuses animosity and promotes constructive conversation
5. How: Understand the dynamics, culture, and behavior defining the social networks that are important to you. How you engage says everything and dictates next steps
6. Why: Without knowing why something is erupting or why your presence is necessary in important networks practically begets the old adage of “you get what you deserve”
7. To What Extent: Understanding the influence of those who are leading dialogue on both sides of the sentiment scale, will help you extinguish crises as they emerge and help ensure a greater volume of positive sentiment in between
We're measured by our actions
and not words.
#ThisisYourTime
Thank You!
Brian SolisFutureWorksTwitter: @briansoliswww.briansolis.comwww.future-works.comhttp://bit.ly/engagemehttp://bit.ly/prbookwww.nowisgone.com
Ryan Deutsch
VP of Emerging Media
(650) 421-7124
Twitter: @rdeutsch