the five biggest social media mistakes

www.clearedgemarketing.com

The FIVE Biggest Social Media Mistakes And How to Avoid

Them

Presented by: Leslie Vickrey, CEO and Founder Michelle Krier, VP Marketing and Digital Services

@lvickrey @michellekrier @CrainsChicago @ITABuzz #SmallBizWeek

Q&A on Twitter

• We want to hear from you...• Send us your questions or comments via Twitter, and we’ll address them during this session as

time permits, or afterwards Include the following hashtag #SmallBizWeek Your tweet will show up in our conversation, and be open for the public to view—we look forward to

replying to your messages from there Also, follow us at:

@CrainsChicago @lvickrey @michellekrier @clearedgemktg @ITABuzz

2


ITA Affinity Partner

• ClearEdge helps ITA members stand out from the crowd and win new opportunities. Through the following services, we help ITA members improve lead generation, expand brand reach, build name recognition and enhance relationships:

Branding & Messaging Digital/Interactive/Social Media Public Relations Campaigns Sales Collateral Event Support

3


Agenda

• Five Biggest Mistakes• Honorable Mentions• Case Studies in Social Media

TrunkClub EmPowerHR

• Discussion• Final Questions

4

Thank you to our case study participants!

Trunk Club: Joe Jarvis@TrunkClub

EmPowerHR: Pat Cerone@EmPowerHRpro


5 Biggest Mistakes

1. Not knowing your social targets2. Implementing a scattered strategy3. Sharing without listening4. Putting the wrong person in charge5. Making poor content choices

5

Not Knowing Your Social TARGETS

6

?

Mistake #1


Who’s Your Target?

• Have You Defined Your Social Media Audience by Site? Customers/clients – Where are they active online? Key media – Where are they active online? Job seekers – Where are they active online? Employees – Where are they active online?

• Conduct Market Research: What You Need to Know Are your key audiences on social media? Where are they? How do they interact with brands in the social media space? What kind of content do they respond to?

7


Follow the POST Methodology

8

People. What kind of clients and prospects do you have? Where do they spend time online?

Objectives. What are your goals for using social media? Gain insights? Activate raving fans? Brand awareness?

Strategy. How do you want to change your relationship with your community over time? What do you hope to get out of these relationships?

Technologies. What applications should you use to reach your audience?

Source: Forrester Research


9

Social Media Demographics: Age

Source: Pingdom.com Blog


10

Social Media Demographics: Gender

Source: Pingdom.com Blog


ITA Survey Results

Q: Which social sites does your business use most?

11

1 2 3

Do you know your targets’ social media habits?

12

Targeting Questions

Are you able to analyze the social media activity of your targets?

Implementing a Scattered STRATEGY

13

Mistake #2


Why You Need Social Media Strategy

• Need to be able to measure progress, success and ROI With no plan, there is nothing to measure

• Need to allocate RESOURCES Who can contribute?

• Need to know who’s RESPONSIBLE Leadership and accountability are vital to any marketing or technology project

• Need to establish SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES for all business groups Marketing – branding Sales – leads HR – candidates R&D – product/service insight

14


What Your Strategy Must Define

WHY the business is engaging social media?

15

WHAT the business wants social media to

accomplish? HOW each of those goals will be achieved.

• Facebook is the most important social media lead generation tool for B2C MARKETERS

77% acquired a customer through Facebook 60% acquired a customer through company blogs

• LinkedIn is the most important social media lead generation tool for B2B MARKETERS

65% acquired a customer through the professional network 60% acquired a customer through company blogs 43%Facebook 40% Twitter

— Data Source: Hubspot, February 2012

16

Conduct Research: Lead Generation Example


ITA Survey Results

Q: What is the main reason your business uses social media?

17


ITA Survey Results

Q: What’s next on your social media agenda?

18


ITA Survey Results

Q: Does your company have a social media policy?

19

Does your company have a social media strategy?

20

Social Media Strategy Questions

Does your company have a social media policy?

What are the biggest challenges in developing social media strategies and policies?

Sharing without LISTENING

21

Blah…blah..blah…. Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah…Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah…. Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….

Blah…blah..blah…. Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah…Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah…. Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….Blah…blah..blah….

Mistake #3


Sharing without Listening

• Too much focus here

• Not enough focus here

22


Sharing without Listening

• Social media is about connecting… With clients/customers With prospects With media With partners With employees

• If you’re not listening, you are losing… Fans Opportunities to improve and get ahead of the competition

Suggestions from customers, insights into product/service trends Business leads

23

“63% of B2B marketers are either vaguely aware or not aware what is being said about

their companies online”

Source: Penton Marketing Services‘ 2011 B-to-B Marketing Needs Survey


What to Remember

Community

24

Collaboration

Communication

The four key benefits of social media for users:

CollectiveIntelligence

1 2

3 4

Source: Steve Nicholls, “Rethink ‘Social’ for Your Supply Chain," Supply & Demand Chain Executive


Critical Listening Tips

• Check regularly for comments and tweets• Respond!• Follow the conversations…wherever they go Competitor sites Blogs Industry groups and publications

25

“51% of best-in-class companies use website social sharing tools, compared to 36% of average firms while 49% use keyword-based social media monitoring, compared with 39% of their more average peers. “

—Aberdeen Group 2012 Study: "B2B Social Meeting Marketing: Are We There Yet”

Is anyone listening?

I have a great idea…

I don’t like….

Very cool….

http://www.aberdeen.com/


Listening Tools

26

Does your business struggle to listen via social media?

27

Social Listening Questions

Have you gained business insights from customers/clients on social media?

What keeps you from listening?

Putting the WRONG Person in Charge

28

Mistake #4


Is Your Social Media Specialist Right?

• Questions You Need to Ask How well does he/she know the company and its products/services? How seasoned is he/she on the job and in the industry? How well connected is he/she across your organization and customer/client /partner base? What’s his/her social media background? What’s his/her digital marketing background? Has he/she been trained? What qualifies him/her for the role?

29

Remember: Social media is user friendly but not easy!


What Knowledge Should a Social Media Champion Have?

30


What Traits Should a Social Media Champion Have?

• Love spending time online Extremely comfortable with social media as a private user and a business user

• Excellent communication skills Writer Editor

• Good at making connections Able to communicate and engage people of different backgrounds Able to engage audiences and identify what is important to them

31

Do you have a social media manager?

32

Social Media Manager Questions

Do you think you have the right person on the job?

What skills or traits are hardest to find in a social media manager?


ITA Survey Results

Q: What has been your biggest social media win?

33


ITA Survey Results

Q: What are your biggest social media challenges?

34

Making Poor Content Choices

Mistake #5


ITA Survey Results

Q: What type of content does your company post on social media?

36


ITA Survey Results

Q: How often do you update your MOST utilized social site?

37


ITA Survey Results

Q: How often do you update your SECOND MOST utilized social site?

38


Common Content Issues

• NOT ENOUGH content Content is not fresh enough to keep people coming back

“92% of blog users who posted multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog. That figure falls to 66% for those who blogged monthly and 43% for those who posted less than monthly.”

(Source: Hubspot: Online Marketing Opportunity Report)

• Not USEFUL OR INTERESTING to visitors Content that is only about the business and its happenings will bore visitors Content must speak to their interests Content must inform or entertain

39


Common Content Issues

• Lack of ORIGINALITY Too much taken from other sources without providing original content Linking away sends visitors…away

• CARELESSNESS Private message goes public Insensitive or offensive content distributed

40

41

Unfortunate Examples

“I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f**king drive”s engaging social media?

Chrysler

“Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo -KC” social media?

Kenneth Cole

Company launches a “win a Dream Luxury flight” Twitter contest one day after strikes ground its fleet and thousands of customers flights have been canceled. engaging social media?

Qantas

Source: “Top 12 Social Media Blunders of 2011,” Inc.com


Ways to Improve Content

• EXPAND who is contributing and define their audiences SMEs Executives PR/communication staff

• POST HIGH-VALUE content consistently Use a schedule/content calendar

• VARY content Video, blogs, graphics, photos, articles, events, links, podcasts, etc.

• 42


Ways to Improve Content

• Have a GATEKEEPER Nothing should go out unvetted

• TRACK responses Leverage data to understand what content gets good response

• Focus on SEO Use SEO best practices to improve how prospects find you online

43

Who produces the majority of your social media content?

44

Social Media Content Questions

What kind of content do your visitors respond to best?

What content do you enjoy most on social media?


Recap: 5 Biggest Mistakes

1. Not knowing your social targets2. Implementing a scattered strategy3. Sharing without listening4. Putting the wrong person in charge5. Making poor content choices

45


Social Media Mistake Honorable Mentions

They didn’t make our top five, but here are a few more mistakes to watch out for:

• Being unclear or confusing your audience: Google April Fools product launch Google made a big blunder with this when they released Gmail on April Fools Day

• Telling customers or clients they are wrong: Apple Steve Jobs rudely responded to users who found a legitimate, if small, iPhone glitch

• Failing to respond with grace: Ryan Air vs. Red Cross Ryan Air mocked a user who noticed an online hiccup Red Cross leveraged an accidental tweet from its staff to create an innovative blood for

beer blood drive

• Restricting social communications – Walmart Walmart suffered powerful social media backlash after deciding to restrict what users could

say on its social media sites

46

Trunk Club

ITA Social Media Case Study


Trunk Club – Joe Jarvis

• Who they are: A men's clothing service where a personal stylist handpicks a trunk of high-end clothes and ships it to you for free.

Discussion:• Social media management• Business goals for social media• Biggest challenge• Recent trends• Advice

48

Find TrunkClub on:

@TrunkClub

EmPower HR

ITA Social Media Case Study


EmPowerHR – Pat Cerone

• Who they are: An HR company that offers expertise and value to small and mid-sized businesses, in both the Chicagoland area and throughout the country.

Discussion:• Social media management• Business goals for social media• Biggest challenge• Recent trends• Advice

50

Find EmPowerHR on:

@EmPowerHRpro


51

It’s Your Turn…Questions? Comments?


Resources

• Forrester’s Social Technographic Profile: http://empowered.forrester.com/tool_consumer.html• List of Monitoring Tools: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/09/20-free-social-media-monitoring-tools.html• Social Media tools:

Twittercounter.com Twiangulate.com Rapportiv.com Commun.it Nutshell.com HootSuite.com SproutSocial.com

• “Rethink ‘Social’ for Your Supply Chain," Supply & Demand Chain Executive, Steve Nicholls: http://www.sdcexec.com/article/10757022/rethink-social-for-your-supply-chain

• "B2B Social Meeting Marketing: Are We There Yet,” Aberdeen Group 2012 Study: http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7635/RA-social-media-marketing.aspx

• Pingdom Report: Social Network Demographics in 2012: http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/08/21/report-social-network-demographics-in-2012/

• Hubspot: Online Marketing Opportunity Report: http://www.hubspot.com/online-marketing-opportunity-by-industry

• Top 12 Social Media Blunders of 2011, Inc.com http://www.inc.com/ss/caitlin-berens/top-12-social-media-blunders-2011#1

52

http://empowered.forrester.com/tool_consumer.html

http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/09/20-free-social-media-monitoring-tools.html

http://www.sdcexec.com/article/10757022/rethink-social-for-your-supply-chain

http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7635/RA-social-media-marketing.aspx

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/08/21/report-social-network-demographics-in-2012/

http://www.hubspot.com/online-marketing-opportunity-by-industry

http://www.inc.com/ss/caitlin-berens/top-12-social-media-blunders-2011


Connect With Us Anytime

53

Leslie Vickrey, CEO and FounderTel: 312.731.3149

E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @lvickreyLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leslievickreywww.twitter.com/clearedgemktg

Michelle Krier, VP Marketing and Digital ServicesTel: 414.617.3103

E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @michellekrierLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michellekrierwww.twitter.com/clearedgemktg

the five biggest social media mistakes

Documents

demand chain

engaging social

social media

social media

social media

utilized social

social media

social targetsimplementing