Social media marketing: Authentic customer engagement

MBA 563

What this class will cover…• Definitions and key concepts: social media and

social networks• Social network categorization• Who is doing what online and where and what

are they doing?• A brief look at Twitter as a social media

marketing tool• Social listening

SOCIAL MEDIA: SOME KEY DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS

The growth of the participative web

• The First Generation Web (1989 – 2003-ish)– Publishing medium; predominantly one-way / asymmetrical

• The Next Generation: Web 2.0 – What is Web 2.0? (Tim O’Reilly)• Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us - the classic

viral video by Mike Wesch from 2007 – The participative web– Publishing tools in the hands of users – communication now 2-way– User-generated content– The web is “us”– Focus on the user/participant – Media becomes “social”

• “Social” media timeline (1969 – 2013)

Terms and Concepts

• Social media• Social network• Network effect• Social Graph• Dunbar Number

Social media

• "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.“ Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein

• Also sometimes called “consumer-generated media” • So this defines social media as a technical mechanism

- but what makes it *social*?

Social network (hint, it’s all about people)

• A network of social interactions and personal relationships.” Oxford English Dictionary

• “Networks are held together based on interpersonal relationships” Daniel Newman

• Community?

Key concept: the network effect

• The network effect – what does it mean?

• Related concept: “walled garden”

Image Source: Wikipedia

2 approaches to getting a viable network effect – solving the chicken and egg

problem1. the ‘connection first’

strategy: get as many people connect as you can (Facebook, Twitter)

2. The “content-first” strategy: “provide users with tools to create a corpus of content, and then enable conversations around that content” (Pinterest, Instagram)

Building the Next WhatsApp or Instagram: The Network Effect Playbook

Key concept: The social graph Social graph defined:

"the global mapping of everybody and how they're related“ (Brad Fitzpatrick)

Think: “six degrees of separation”

• Problem: Social network fatigue

– Too many friends? Seth Godin on the subject

– See also: Dunbar’s number (which is around 150)

Messaging services utilize “close ties” – very rapid growth. Frequency of communication more valuable than # of contacts.

From: Mary Meeker, Internet Trends 2014 (KPCB)

SOCIAL NETWORK CATEGORIZATION

“Social” media includes…

• “The online tools and platforms that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other.”

Catherine Seda

• Includes– Social networking sites (many types)– Blogs and microblogs– Wikis– Podcasts and vodcasts– Forums– User Generated Content of all kinds

Type of social network Some examples

Business/professional networking LinkedIn

Social Q&A Quora, Yahoo Answers

General social communities Facebook, Google+, My Space, Pinterest, Reddit

Blogs & microblogs WordPress, Twitter, Plurk, Tumblr, LiveJournal

News sharing / creation NewsVine, NowPublic, Slashdot

Social bookmarking / curation Delicious, Pinboard, StumbleUpon, Flipboard

Video / photo sharing YouTube, Vine, Vimeo, UStream, Livestream, Flickr, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitch

Virtual / social gaming worlds SecondLife, WoW, Minecraft, LBP

Subject specialist / niche communities Nature Network, Goodreads, Jamendo, Flixter, Soundcloud,

Document sharing / collaboration Slideshare, Google Docs, Prezi

Product-based communities Amazon, eBay, Dell

Location-based (check-in) services Foursquare, Gowalla

Reviews and ratings Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon reviews

Messaging WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, WeChat, SnapChat

SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AND DEMOGRAPHICS

Social networking demographics

• The following slides contain data from the Pew Research Internet Project (USA data only)

• Up to date Canadian statistics more difficult to get– eMarketer:

Canada Neck and Neck with US on Social Network, Facebook Penetration (2014)

– eMarketer: Social Usage varies between men and women in Canada (2015)

– ComScore: 2015 Canada Digital Future in Focus Report– Canadian Digital Media Network

Comparison of usage

• Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn growing, but Facebook has flat growth but remains dominant

Pew Research Internet Project. Social Media Update 2014

Frequency of social media site use

• Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have highest engagement levels, with multiple daily usage.

Pew Research Internet Project. Social Media Update 2014

Demographics

• Facebook popular across a diverse mix of demographic groups – most growth among seniors

• Pinterest - women still more likely than men to be Pinterest users (42% of online population versus 13%)

• LinkedIn - especially popular among college graduates and higher income households.

• Twitter and Instagram - younger adults, urban dwellers, and non-whites.

• Substantial overlap between Twitter and Instagram user bases• Demographics of key social networking platforms – useful for

the detail

Pew Research Internet Project. Social Media Update 2014

Number of social media sites used

• 52% of internet users use two or more of the social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn) – multiple site usage being a rising trend

Pew Research Internet Project. Social Media Update 2014

Social media matrix• The proportion of Facebook

users who also use another platform increased significantly since August 2013 for each platform. That is, there are more Facebook users this year who also use another service.

• Significant level of overlap between Instagram and Twitter users – 58% of Twitter users also use Instagram, and 52% of Instagram users also use Twitter.

Pew Research Internet Project. Social Media Update 2014

Global Web Index January 2015

http://www.businessinsider.com/teens-digital-behavior-changes-2014-10

Marketing using social networking sites: still experimenting

• We are in an “attention economy”– People’s attention is the scarce resource today

• Marketers should go where the people are, not expect the people to come to them– Behavioural and contextual advertising– Brand presence eg. Facebook, Twitter, Google + – Viral marketing – spreading memes– Earning trust – by using an “authentic voice”– Generating traffic / interest– Enhancing reputation– Customer support

TWITTER – AN OVERVIEW

What makes twitter unique?

• “Twitter stands in a class apart from other social media because of the open invitation it gives us to talk to the world at large. On Facebook, Tumblr, or Instagram ………………you’re stuck outside until that person decides to let you in….Everyone else is off limits”– Gary Vaynerchuck

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

Caveat for marketers…

• Don’t abuse that open-ness and use twitter to do overt selling or self-promotion

• Tell a story• Provide value in an authentic manner

Twitter Basics• Tweets and direct messages• Followers and following• Replies, retweets, modified tweets, and

quoted tweets• Hashtags• Images, Video, Animated GIFs• Your Profile• Twitter for Websites (extending reach)

Tweets – they happen in real-time• A tweet can be no more than 140 character. • A tweet can be addressed to someone (an @ mention) by including their

@username• A tweet does not need to be addressed to anyone at all• A tweet can include a hyperlink (usually shortened so it uses up as few

characters as possible)• Tweets are PUBLIC by default and practice. ANYONE can view all of your

tweets by going to your profile or by using Search• Your FOLLOWERS can view all of your tweets in their TWITTER STREAM or

TIMELINE

• However - If you start a tweet with @username it will be seen only by those users who follow both you and the person you are tweeting to (unless someone looks directly at your tweets via your profile)

• Starting a tweet with a ‘dot’ or a word means that it will be seen by everyone following you

Followers and Following

• Follow relationships do not have to be reciprocal• When you follow an account, you will see the tweets

from that account in your stream• Twitter does not algorithmically manipulate your

stream• The list of accounts you are following is public and

can be viewed via your profile– Yes, we are judging you….– If you find someone interesting, look at who they are

following to find more (potentially) interesting accounts

Direct messages

• DMs are private messages, viewable only by the sender and the receiver

• Start a tweet with DM or D then the person’s @username

• You can send DMs by default:– only to users who follow you– you can receive direct messages from any user that you follow

• BUT you can opt-in to allowing anyone to DM you• Be careful about how new Canadian Anti-Spam

Legislation might apply

Replies, retweets, modified tweets, and quoted tweets

• Replies go to the person who authored the tweet (and usually) anyone else who is mentioned in it

• Replies are public just the same as any other tweets

• Retweets (RT) are just what they sound like! A repost of a tweet from someone you follow

• Modified tweets (indicated by MT) are retweets that have been altered slightly to make them shorter

#Hashtags

• Hashtags are hyperlinked words that form a way to indicate a topic so that tweets can be followed and connected – via link, search, trends, lists etc

• You can use an existing hashtag in a tweet to add to a conversation – maybe your tweet will be seen that way

• Or create your own #nospaces – short is best as they use up characters– What’s the challenge with this?

• Don’t overuse them (The Tonight Show "#Hashtag" with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake)

Images, Video, Animated GIFs

• In late 2013 Twitter introduced inline images from its own pic.twitter.com service and then video from Vine – examples from Buffer

• Tweets with images get more engagement• Instagram photos and videos that are tweeted do

NOT appear inline and need to be clicked to be opened

• Animated GIFs introduced in June 2014• Periscope for live streaming introduced in March

2015

Profile

• Have one! Fill it out• For professional purposes you should have a

photograph of yourself or at least a logo – your objective is to make connections

• Profile should contain information about your interests and who you are

• Should contain a link to another online presence of your choice

• Think about how your profile looks on mobile and on the desktop

Extending the use of twitter – website integration

• Twitter provides a variety of widgets – Buttons for following an account, hashtag etc– Widgets for embedding tweets on a web page– Embedding a timeline– Tweet buttons on a page

• Code for tweeting a text snippet – ClickToTweet tool generates the code. Some examples of how to use itTwitter for Websites

Owned, earned, and paid media on Twitter

• Owned – an organization’s own twitter account or accounts

• Earned – follows, retweets, favourites, lists, mentions

• Paid – Twitter for Business: Advertising– Promoted accounts– Promoted tweets– Promoted trends

Questions to ask about your twitter content

• Is it to the point?• Is the hashtag unique and memorable? Or well

chosen to be part of broader usage?• Is the image attached high quality?• Does your voice sound authentic? Will it

resonate with the twitter audience?

Gary Vaynerchuck. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. Harper Business. 2013

Twitter usage examples

• Twitter case studies of the use of advertising

• Twitter for customer care and relationship building (some examples)– Blizzard Entertainment Customer Support– Dell Customer Support

• Supporting customers in Facebook and via @DellCares in Twitter (the listen and respond process)

Twitter successes and disasters

• Oreo shows what it means to be responsive and seize the moment– SuperBowl 2013 power outage “You can still dunk

in the dark” tweet

• Too many disasters to choose from…..for example Chrysler’s famous critique of Detroit’s drivers

SOCIAL “LISTENING”

So how do we manage real-time social media?

• Social Listening– Set up alerts and searches for mentions of your

brand and competitor’s brands and analyze for “voice and reach”

– Sentiment analysis

Don’t be caught by surprise...

• The story of the 9 year old and her food blog (first 1.5 minutes of Clay Shirky at TED 2012)

• “This brings up the question what made them think they could get away with something like that?” (Clay Shirky)

• They obviously hadn’t realized that they had to listen.....

What is “social listening”

• “..using technology to assemble a collection of keyword-based searches online that help you locate mentions and instances of those keywords on the web”

• Mentions of:– Your brand / product / service / organization– The competition– Industry discussion

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

Passive versus active listening

• Passive listening is a diagnostic exercise, an ear-to-the-ground– Are people talking?– What are they saying?– Where are they saying it?

• Active listening includes that constant monitoring but also includes response and engagement

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

How does social listening impact a business?

• Sales – listening for expressed need (people often ask for recommendations on social media, so offer information and assistance).

• Marketing & PR – listening helps you learn the language of your customers

• Customer service – if you are listening you can respond fast (and via the medium where your customers are)

• Research and development – the “wish they had” search

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

Listening models

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Software tools for listening• As needed alerts – the simplest way

• Free social media monitoring software

• Paid social media monitoring software

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

As-needed alerts• For use when brand / name / product mentions are relatively

rare• Set up Google Alerts to create a “push” notification whenever

your keywords are mentioned (automatically emailed to you)• Free service• As many alerts as you like • You need to be careful about crafting your alert (either too

little or too few results) – so be really specific• Not real-time – delay between mention and alert can be as

long as 24 hours• Alerts arrive individually, so harder to analyze

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

Free social media monitoring software• There are quite a few to choose from, and you

will probably need to use more than one to get good coverage

• Hootsuite (free and paid versions) http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-listening-hsu-videos-2/

• SocialMention • Twitter advanced search• Addictomatic• IceRocket (social specific search engine)

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011

Paid social media monitoring software• Fully featured dashboards, analytics, reports (aimed

at the enterprise / large organizations / often very expensive)

• Can be used by teams / multiple clients• Integrated with other metrics from across all

marketing channels (eg. Web analytics, advertising metrics, etc)

• Examples (demos – registration needed) :– Salesforce Marketing Cloud / Radian 6– Hootsuite Pro– WebTrends– Adobe Social

The Now Revolution. Baer & Naslund. Wiley. 2011