kube networks
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TRANSCRIPT
Digital Marketing/Social Media Strategy Meeting 2
Dr Jim HamillAlan StevensonVincent Hamill
www.energise2-0.com 12th December, 2011
ENERGISE2-0.COM
Project Background
• Digital Marketing/Social Media (DM/SM) Knowledge Transfer
• Digital Marketing/Social Media Strategy Development and Action Plans for ‘getting there’
• Implementation Support
• A six month project plus on-going Mentoring and Performance Management for a further six months
The Approach
• Use of a simplified Balanced Scorecard approach to ensure that future digital marketing/social media actions and initiatives are fully aligned with and supportive of core business goals and objectives
Scorecard Approach
• DM/SM Vision• Objectives, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and
Targets• Customer Segmentation• Key Actions and Initiatives• Organisation, People, Resource Issues• Performance Measurement
Performance Driven Approach
• All future digital marketing/social media actions and initiatives should be closely aligned with and supportive of agreed business goals and objectives for Kube
• Targets and KPIs should be agreed for evaluating on-going performance and business impact
ENERGISE2-0.COM
Agenda for the Day
Based on Meeting 1 agree:•Why? - The overall DM/SM Strategic Vision, Objectives, KPIs, Targets, Customer Segments
•What? - The key DM/SM Actions and Initiatives to be implemented
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Then……….•How? - Action Plan for ‘Getting There’
•Who? - Organisation, People and Resource issues
The Digital Marketing/Social Media Vision
The Vision
• To fully leverage emerging online opportunities for building a ‘Quality Customer Base’ – a strong base of ‘High Value, High Growth, High Margin Customers’ providing Kube with a solid foundation for achieving sustained growth and profitability
• The development and successful implementation of an integrated and coordinated Digital Marketing/Social Media Strategy is critical to achieving the company’s ambitious growth objectives and establishing Kube as a dominant player in the Scottish market
• This will be achieved by using digital technology to ‘Identify, Acquire, Retain and Grow Quality Customers’ – especially customers with high annual repeat revenues
Business Objectives,KPIs and Targets
Strategic Objectives
Increased Sales – contribution of Digital Marketing/Social Media to achieving the company’s stated objective of increasing turnover by 50% within 18 months
Cost Savings/ Improved ROI
Improved Customer Experience The Digital Marketing/Social Media Strategy will support the following……………………….
Digital Success Drivers
• Derive ‘actionable insights’ and improved market/customer knowledge through ‘social media listening’ and two-way dialogue
• Raise brand awareness and understanding of what Kube do and the core value proposition
• ‘Tell the story’ and help to educate the market• Build brand visibility, integrity and brand reputation
management• Increase number of resellers (to some extent) but more
importantly to build direct to customer sales• Support the repositioning of Kube as a market leader in
managed services
Digital Success Drivers
• Build the proposition and support the launch of new cloud based products and services
• Build direct relationships and engagement with key decision-makers (e.g. CFOs) by-passing the IT blockers (the Dept of Unbusiness)
• Use of Digital/Social Media to deliver high levels of customer service and to enhance the customer experience at low cost
• Increase new customer acquisition for ‘bread and butter’ services (calls, lines etc) – low margins but opportunity for ‘up’/‘cross’ selling
• Build strong relationships and loyalty with existing high value, high growth potential customers
Digital Success Drivers
• Maximise the growth potential of existing customers through ‘up’ and ‘cross’ selling; development of managed cloud services
• Build a quality online network of high value, high growth potential customers/partners who become brand advocates for Kube
• ‘Build the buzz’ – engage, energise, leverage the power of the network
• Maximise company value through building a quality customer base and maximising life time value
• Maximise marketing effectiveness, efficiency and ROI• Internal cost savings and operational efficiencies
KPIs and specific targets should be agreed for the above and used to
measure on-going business impact……
Customer Segmentation….. the key to Digital Marketing/Social Media success
Kube’s emerging DM/SM strategy should focus on the following customer/market segments………
Customer Segmentation
• The Scottish Market• Existing Customers• New Customers• Partners/Influencers (offline)• Key Social Media Influencers• Internal Customers
The Scottish Market
• Geographically, the main objective is to establish Kube as a dominant player in the Scottish market
• Focus on key cities Glasgow/West of Scotland; Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Perth etc
Existing Customers
• A major priority is to maximise ‘up’ and ‘cross’ selling opportunities within the existing customer base - 200 to 300 existing customers
• Significant growth potential in the top 20/30 existing customers – already taking the full range of connectivity services but not ‘what sits on top’
• Generic Strategy – use DM/SM to ‘build strategic relationships’ with this segment - maximising ‘up’ selling opportunities
• Second tier of 100 companies – potential for ‘up’ selling more connectivity services. Generic strategy – ‘target for development’
• Remaining customers – use DM/SM to ‘selectively develop’/ ‘service minimally’ (reduce customer servicing costs)
New Customer Acquisition
‘Build brand awareness’ and ‘target for development’ the following groups:
•Top 300 SMEs in Scotland•Oil and Gas sector•Other industries e.g. accountants, food and drink, higher/further education etc
Entry point may be fixed line calls?
Partners/Influencers (offline)
‘Build brand awareness’ and ‘selectively develop’ the following segments:•Resellers (‘selectively develop’)•Potential Strategic Partners e.g. suppliers of cloud services/applications•Niche Suppliers – e.g. Eureka, Data Specialists, Consultants•Influencers – Trade Associations; Chambers/Business Clubs; SE and the Scottish Government (broadband initiative); Affinity Associations e.g. Master Bakers, RFC•Strategy – seek joint approaches/collaboration for mutual benefit e.g. Cloud/Social Media Workshops/Seminars
Key Social Media Influencers
Undertake a Social Media Landscape Analysis to identify key Social Media Influencers (see Initiative 1)
Building relationships with key individuals
Build ‘1-to-1-to-many’ word of mouth effect
Internal Customers
Internal Customers
– Use of social media for customer service and feedback
– Use of social media to improve internal processes?
Based on a ‘Customer Value Analysis’ (Customer Attractiveness and Probability of Success)
priority customer groups for Kube are as follows…….
Focus on High Value Customers
The DM/SM strategy for Kube should focus on the following key objectives (at least short to medium term):
Build/Strengthen the ‘Strategic Partnership’ with – top 20/30 existing customers with significant growth potential‘Target for Development’ – 100 existing customers with good growth potential‘Build Brand Awareness’/‘Target for Development’ – top 300 Scottish SMEs; oil and gas sector; other sectors as agreed‘Build Brand Awareness’/‘Selectively Develop’ - Resellers; Potential Strategic Partners; Niche Suppliers; Influencers ; Affinity Associations e.g. Master Bakers, RFC
Key Decision Makers
Within each customer segment – focus on building relationships with key decision-makers•CFO•IT•Owners•Functional Managers •Staff•Customers’ customers
8 Key Social Media Actions and Initiativesto implement…….
8 Key Actions and Initiatives
1. Undertake a Social Media Landscape Analysis
2. Build a Social Media Listening System
3. Undertake a strategic web site evaluation and recommendations for improvement
4. Implement a proactive online (and offline) marketing strategy to support the site
8 Key Actions and Initiatives
5. Explore collaborative social media opportunities with high value, high growth potential customers/partners /build relationships with key influencers
6. Search, join, lurk, participate in ‘external’ forums/ groups/blogs etc
7. Build proprietary social media channels
8. Medium-to-longer term developments – viral campaign, internal use of social media
Initiative 1
Social MediaLandscape Analysis
Social Media Landscape Analysis
• Identify the key ‘hubs’, forums, groups where relevant conversations are taking place
• Identify where your customers (actual and potential) are ‘hanging-out’
• Concentration of effort and resources….
Initiative 2
Social Media Listening System
Set Up a SM Listening System
Social Media Listening
Search and Relevance FiltersPlatforms and Channels
Brand
mentions
Collect
Actionable Insights
competitors
New products@replies
“I thought it
was
great…”
Events assigned to the Social GraphCategorisation and Tagging
Process
Mention Volume and ImportanceDemographics and Timing
Sentiment and Emotion
Analyse
#noise
@clogger
Irrelevant
comments
“had a terrible
experience…” staff
RT: check out this video
RT: noise to be ignored
PR: Broadcasting
postsIrrelevant
channels
More noise
comm
ents
Source: Energise2-0
“I’m walking the
dog…”“X-Factor is
Great..”
Set Up a SM Listening System
Set up a Social Media Monitoring/Listening System. Benefits will include:
Market Knowledge and Intelligence - where your customers, partners, competitors and staff are hanging out online
Customer Insight and Understanding - who is saying what relevant to the Kube brand, where and the sentiments being expressed
Identify Networks and Key Influencers with high social media impact A ‘source of inspiration’ for blog/twitter/facebook content Reputation Management - timely identification of potential
reputation issues Improved Sales, Marketing and New Product Development through
listening first Improved Performance Monitoring (‘buzz’ measurement – see later)
Set Up a SM Listening System
• Five key steps involved (see future Action Plan)
• At this stage, the key question is to agree the main conversations you need to monitor– your own brand– product, industry, sector– competitors (e.g. Iomart are moving into the cloud market;
PLC Awards)– customer segments– geography/location – etc
A Prototype for Organic Foods
A Prototype for Organic Foods
Initiative 3
StrategicWeb Site Evaluation and Recommended Improvements
Kube Web Site
Key Actions:Web site review and evaluation benchmarked against agreed objectives, customer groups, brand message/positioning etcFunctional specification for revised site (including site objectives)‘Keep It Simple’ – Kube’s web site should be a straightforward static, product driven/ ‘About Kube’ site. Rich content, engagement and interactivity should take place through social media NOT on the web siteSite to provide online support to existing customersFollow professional project management procedures at all stages to ensure ‘on time, within budget’ deliveryEnsure clear ‘call to action’ for different customer groups
Kube Web Site
Key Actions (cont’d):Ensure prominent links to Kube social media channels (top right hand side of the site)Embed social media feeds to add some additional value to the site e.g. from the Kube twitter channel; some RSS feeds (‘cloud’ news)Content/message tone/theme to be agreed as part of the functional specificationTimescale – functional specification by the end of January, 2012; site live by end of February
Initiative 4
Proactive Web Site Marketing
Web Site Marketing
The updated Kube web site should be supported by a proactive online (Web 1.0) marketing strategy
Key Actions:Search engine optimisation and positioningLinks strategyGoogle analyticseMail communications strategyetc
Initiative 5
Explore Collaborative Opportunities
Collaborative Social Media
Key Action:
Discuss/explore collaborative social media opportunities with High Value/High Growth Potential Customers/Partners
Initiative 5 (b)
Build Relationships with ‘Key Influencers’
Key Influencers
Key Actions:Search and identify ‘key influencers’ relevant to different customer segmentsDraw up a long listAgree a short-list of the most strategically important ‘key influencers’Start to followBuild knowledge and understanding of what makes them ‘tick’Start to build relationshipsCultivate/leverage ‘one to one to many’ network effects……..pto
'1-to-1-to-Many' Marketing
Key Influencers
• The Social Media Landscape Analysis will identified the key influencers
Initiative 6
Group/Forum/ External Blog Participation
Group/Forum/Blog Participation
Key Actions:Search for relevant groups/forums/blogs etcDraw up a long listAgree a short-list of the most relevant groups/forums/blogsJoinLurk in the spaces for at least a month before posting (listen and learn the netiquette of the group)Start to participate BUT DON’T SELF PROMOTE OR SELLCultivate high value relationships
Group/Forum Participation
• The Social Media Landscape Analysis will identified the main groups/forums etc
Initiative 7
Develop Proprietary Social Media Channels
Social Media Channels
• Fully develop ‘proprietary’ social media channels• The following channels should be fully developed:
Kube BlogTwitter (company and personal) Linkedin Personal Pages Linkedin Brand/Company Page ‘YouTube’
Facebook/Google + should be developed if and when time/resources allow
Social Media Channels
• An integrated and coordinated approach should be adopted to ensure consistency of brand message, content tone, theme etc across all channels
• Action Plans will be developed for each channel covering the following...........
Channel Action Plans
• Channel objectives and business benefits
• Channel KPIs and targets
• Key success factors – the 4Cs– Customers– Content– Conversations– Conversion
Channel Action Plans
• Channel Actions– Channel set-up tasks– Content Plan (see later)– Channel management tools to be used
• Channel performance measurement and tools to be used
• Organisation, Resources, People, ‘Mindset’ issues – proper use ‘Policies and Guidelines’
Channel Set Up Issues
• Page Set Up• Profile• Design• Basic Layout• Terminology• Features/Functions• Integration options
Content Plan
A template is available for agreeing a Content Plan for each channel covering:•Frequency of updates•Tone/Theme•Topics•Post Types (update, video, image)•Own/Other Peoples Content (OPC)•Sources of Inspiration•Participation in other native places•Response Policy•Organisation, Resources and People
A brief word on each channel……..
Kube Blog
Will become the main ‘story telling’ channel for the brand; a key channelfor customer/market ‘education’
KPIs and targets will include – number/quality of page views per month (target of 2,500 within six months would be realistic); quality of feedback/comments made; actionable insight derived; referrals to the web site; enquiries and engagement; impact of the blog on search engine position of the main site; impact on brand awareness, visibility, integrity; personalise the brand; number of email/RSS feed registrations etc
Kube Blog
Customers - at least initially, the blog will focus mainly on existing 20/30 high growth potential customers; the ‘Target for Development 100’; Scotland’s top 300 SMEs; potential partners
‘Key Influencers’ should be invited to do guest blogs
Content Policy – 3 to 5 times per week but not all posts need to be ‘organically prepared’; the Social Media Listening System will identify the ‘hot’ topics generating interest; vary the type of content posted e.g. text, videos, images etc; use the Social Media Listening System as a ‘source of inspiration’; refer to the very detailed Customer Segmentation Analysis; posts should be kept short and concise; as well as promoting the brand, blog content should establish Kube as a ‘thought leader’ in ‘Managed Services’
Kube Blog
Build the blog using Wordpress and ‘stand alone’ from the BN web site
Wordpress provides an easy to use Content Management System for blog updates
Blog address should be www.kubeblog.com or similar
Kube Blog
Wordpress stats provide a useful snapshot of blog performance
Google Analytics can be embedded to provide a more detailed performance Analysis
Important blog management issues need to be decided in terms of roles and responsibilities
The blog should be closely integrated with all other social media channels
Twitter has major potential to bedeveloped as a key platform for customer interaction and engagement
Will require a proactive, hands-on approachand the right ‘organisational mindset’
KPIs and targets – the performance and impact of the Kube Twitter channel can be measured to a very high degree of accuracy. KPIs would include: number/quality of followers; you follow; growth in numbers; number and type of tweet sent; number/per cent of RTs; reach, influence, amplification; visits to the web site/blog from Twitter etc. A range of tools are available to support on-going performance measurement
A key issue to address is the balance between ‘personal’ and ‘Kube brand’ accounts – see recent Twitter brand page changes
Basic lay-out of the pagesProfile, Messages, Who to Follow, AccountSettings, Search, Design – can be customised to some extent
Customers - at least initially, the Twitter accounts will focus on the same customer groups as the Kube blog. A key priority should be to identify and connect with ‘Key Influencers’ i.e. those tweeting about ‘cloud’ issues. Tools are available for identifying the right type of person to follow but be very careful in their us
Content Policy – as for the blog, an agreedContent Policy should be put in place coveringfrequency of posts, topic, tone, theme, type oftweet (e.g. plain tweet, reply, link, retweet etc)
Some Advice – don’t tweet too often or too many tweets at the same time; your tweets should add value, people will unfollow if you constantly talk about ‘YOU’; balance your tweets between plain tweets, replies, links, RTs etc; twitter is NOT a broadcast channel, engage in two-way dialogue – this will require time and effort and some staff training; be ‘customer led’
A key issue to address is the balance between‘personal’ and ‘Kube brand’ Linkedin profiles
Just very recently, Linkedin have considerably improved the functionality of their Company Pages – see - http://learn.linkedin.com/company-pages/ - this provides interesting opportunities for Kube to establish a strong brand profile on Linkedin. We are currently exploring the best way to do this and will revert back with clear recommendations very soon
Linkedin can also be used to research and identify key individuals that Kube should connect with
You Tube
Initially, YouTube should be set up as a ‘supporting channel’. In other words, with littletime and effort, a Kube YouTubeChannel could be set up using existing content e.g. ‘cloud’ related videos already on Youtube and anything currently available internally
Where appropriate, some of these videos can be used to provide embedded content on the other channels – mainly the blog
Medium-to-longer term there is significant potential for using YouTube to educate the market
Initiative 8
Medium Term Developments
Once a strong Social Media foundation has been established (Initiatives 1 to 7), the company should explore the potential of developing and implementing a viral marketing campaign leveraging on its early success in social media. Also, the potential for applying SM internally should be explored
Organisation, People, Resource Issues
The Main Obstacle
In our experience, organisational, people and resource issues become the main barriers to achieving the business benefits to be derived from a successful Social Media Strategy
If the company is in general agreement with the main thrust of the recommendations contained in this presentation then a number of key questions need to be addressed…….
Key Organisational Questions
• Do we have the right organisational ‘culture’ and ‘mindset’ for Social Media? ‘Be social before doing social!’
• Is the right organisational and decision-making structure in place?
• Has agreement been reached on resource allocation?• Who will be responsible for your social media activities?• What balance has been agreed between internal and external
roles and responsibilities?• Who is the Social Media Champion?• Do you have agreed Social Media Policies and Guidelines in
place covering ‘Proper Use’, ‘Content Management’, ‘Customer Response Times/Quality’ and ‘Legal’ aspects?
Performance Measurement and Business Impact
Performance Measurement
To ensure that the Social Media Strategy delivers high ROI, performance measurement should be undertaken at three main levels:
•Individual social media channels
•Overall ‘buzz’
•Business Impact
Next Steps
Agree Key Objectives, Targets, KPIs, Customer Groups Agree the Key Initiatives and Actions to be taken Undertake the Social Media Landscape Analysis Set up the Social Media Listening System (Requirements
Spec) Build proprietary channels Agree Organisational, Resource and People Issues
Thank You