Why Social Media Matters

Marketing Excellence on the WebOmaha Chamber

January 2013

Why Social Media Matters

• People tune out advertising, but trust recommendations

• Doing Social Media can get you Leads, Recruits, and Brand Awareness, but you have to do it correctly

• ROI can be significantly higher than other forms of advertising

“This is a very noisy world.”

Why You Should Care

Source: Nielsen, 2012

Percent trusting medium “Completely or Somewhat”

Sales Start with Search

2. Evaluate

5. Bond

4. Experience

3. Buy1. Need

Source: McKinsey

Two Big Ideas

• “99% of purchases of a complex product or service begin with a Google Search.”

• “57% of the customer’s buying process is done before having a conversation with a supplier.”

Sales Start with Search

2. Evaluate

5. Bond

4. Experience

3. Buy1. Need

Source: McKinsey

• Average consumer consumes 10 pieces of information during search

• What does their network say?

Sales Start with Search

2. Evaluate

5. Bond

4. Experience

3. Buy1. Need

Source: McKinsey

• Social Media touches customers after sale (Customer Service, User groups, R&D)

• Customers can evangelize

Endorsed Impressions Drive 40% Increase in Buying

• People exposed to Starbucks’ brand messages by their friends’ Facebook actions (likes, comments, etc.) are 40% more likely to buy than control group

Source: ComScore, Facebook

So Let’s Start a Blog!Let’s start a Blog!

But This Stuff is HardBlogs Updated within the Last 120 DaysN= 133,000,000

Source: Technorati, 2008

No Strategy, No Success

• Target Segment• Value Proposition• Competitive

Positioning• Key influencers • Changes in Industry• Trusted Sources• Etc. etc. etc.

OR

Cute Kitten Contest!

What Success Looks Like

What Is Required1. Create Distinctive

Content

2. Build an Audience

3. Get people to take an offline action

What You Can Get• Leads

• Employees

• Brand Awareness

• Reputation Defense

Source: Hubspot, 2012

More Blogging = More Traffic

Source: Hubspot, 2012

Twitter Threshold

Source: Hubspot, 2012

Facebook Threshold

All the pieces should fit

Your Hub(website)

Blog

Newsletter

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 70

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

5

13

8388

260

350

306

Professional Services Example

21

19

Thousand Impressions per $1250

Source: Google, B2B ratecards, SMC Analysis*AdWords keywords for Professional Service Firm

SMCB2B SiteAdWords*

CLIENT DATA-- ANONYMIZED

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 50

50

100

150

200

250

300

9

12

69

88

256

Health Care Example

104

29

Thousand Impressions per $5000

Source: Google, ratecards, SMC Analysis*AdWords keywords for Healthcare target segment

SMCEldercare siteAdWords*

CLIENT DATA-- ANONYMIZED

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 40

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

13

32

103

120

Manufacturing Example

24

60

Thousand Impressions per $2500

Source: Google, B2B ratecards, SMC Analysis*AdWords keywords for Manufacturing Target segment

SMCB2B siteAdWords*

CLIENT DATA-- ANONYMIZED

Month 1 Month 2 Month 30

50

100

150

200

250

13.122

228

Education Example

84

125

Thousand Impressions per $2500

Source: Google, ESPN ratecard, SMC Analysis*AdWords keywords for “Manufacturing Jobs Careers”

SMCESPN.comAdWords*

CLIENT DATA-- ANONYMIZED

Thing You Can Do Today• Start developing your strategy– What Distinctive Content could you create?– How would you build an audience on each

platform?– What offline action do you want them to take?

• Identify key influencers on Social Media• Identify key information sources• Start using Twitter personally– Make a Twitter List– Start using Buffer (bufferapp.com)

Where to Find Us

• Adrian Blake, CEO Social Media Contractors• Strategy and Execution• Socialmediacontractors.com

• @adrianblake• @smcontent