social media for business: generating roi

Social Media for Business

Sanger & EbyNew Horizons Computer Learning Centers

28 April 2011

About Sanger & Eby

• Strategic Design and Technology Firm Focused on Specialized Business Communications

• Services Include:

– Strategic planning and research

– Social media strategy and execution

– User experience planning– User experience planning

– Print and interactive design

– Interactive and multi-channel marketing

– Content development

– Search marketing (SEO & SEM)

– Website development

– Custom business and web applications

– Mobile applications

28 Aoril 2011Social Media for Business Copyright Sanger & Eby 2011

All Rights Reserved2

Sanger & Eby Fast Facts

• Founded in 1988 by Lisa Sanger & Donna Eby

• Certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE)

• Staff of 21 Employees

• All Strategy, Design, and Programming Done In-House

• 15 Years Experience Creating Websites

• 700+ Sites Designed and Developed

• 95% Client Retention Rate Year Over Year• 95% Client Retention Rate Year Over Year

• Clients include:

– Macy’s

– Fifth Third Bank

– Luxottica

– RotoRooter

– Crayons to Computers

– Children’s Hospital



Why Social Media for Business?

“Emerging platforms for online collaboration are fundamentally changing the way we work, offering new ways to engage with customers, colleagues, and the world at large.

It’s a new model for interaction and we believe social computing can help you build stronger, It’s a new model for interaction and we believe social computing can help you build stronger, more successful business relationships.

And it’s a way for you to take part in global conversations related to the work we are doing and the things we care about.”

-Intel Social Media Guidelines



Some Key Statistics

• To get information about a company, users:– 62% visit company social media profile pages

– 55% visit company blogs

– 55% conduct info searches on social media sites

– 29% use Twitter to find or request company info

• 500 billion online word-of-mouth impressions created to date

• US Internet users spend 25% of online time using social media

• Global Internet users spent more hours per week with social media • Global Internet users spent more hours per week with social media than any other online activity

• 18% of new content found online is found through social media

• 73% of companies report using social media tools for marketing purposes

• 25% of social media users are more likely to find out about brands that advertise on social media sites

• 15% of social media users are more inclined to buy from brands that advertise in social media



The Social Media Conversation



Business and Social Media

• People are talking about your brand online

• Engage and own it—or you might not like the results!

• Customers and clients expect businesses to interact

• Business reputations can hinge on how they respond to

comments criticizing products or servicescomments criticizing products or services

• Search engines indexing social media (visibility)

• Businesses and consumers are searching social media as

part of the buying cycle



Business Benefits of Social Media

• Connect with target audiences: share your point of view!

• Get instant feedback: see what’s being said about your

brand and messaging

• Engage with your target

– Build awareness– Build awareness

– Increase customer satisfaction

– Build stronger relationships with your target

– Highlight product and service improvements

– Create passionate advocates

– Drive sales



The Key to Success in Social Media

StrategyStrategy



Social Media Strategy

• Well-defined, clearly articulated, and broadly shared internally

• Clear objectives

• Executed consistently, well, and often

• It’s a commitment, not a campaign

• Adapt the message to the medium

– Platform-specific content– Platform-specific content

– Engagement strategy

– Most businesses aren’t social even if they’re on social media—because they only talk about themselves

• Know your success metrics

• Measure results

• Adapt based on learnings



Measurement & Analytics: Quantitative

• Set benchmarks

• Number of fans and followers

• Comments, mentions, retweets, forwards

• Ratio of positive to negative comments

• Monitor website traffic and its sources

• Length of time on site• Length of time on site

• Response to special offers

• Measure changes in lead generation and sales

• Eyeballs/traffic

• Costs

• Influence

• Engagement



Measure and Track Investment

• Costs

– Investment of time

– Investment of staff resources (monitor & engage)

– Investment in partners and vendors

– Cost savings through lower media buys, job board spend, etc.

• Influence

– How far is your information getting?– How far is your information getting?• Retweets. Forwards. Mentions.

– How often does content get repurposed?

– Does it support your intended direction?

• Engagement

– How many people join a discussion?

– Ratio of positive to negative comments

– Likes, retweets, forwards

– Length of time on site



Social Media Platforms for Business

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• Facebook

• YouTube

• Geo-Location Services

• Social Bookmarks

• Flickr



LinkedIn

• World’s largest professional networking site

• 100 million users

• 2 million company pages

• Members in 200 countries

• Members from all Fortune 500 companies• Members from all Fortune 500 companies

• Executives from all Fortune 500 companies

• Affluent & influential membership

• 1 million new members per week (1 per second)

• 2 billion people searches in 2010



How to Leverage LinkedIn for Business

• Review and edit your company profile

• Build your individual network– Connect to existing contacts

– Connect with new contacts as you interact with them

– Connect within your industry

– Connect within your field

• Leverage search• Leverage search– Use strategic keywords in your profile

• Participate in LinkedIn Answers

• Join LinkedIn Groups (or start your own group!)

• Start and maintain conversations in Groups

• Use your status updates (“I’m hiring…” “We have a new…”)

• Use InMail (premium account feature)



Twitter

• Micro-blogging concept: 140 character limit

• Powerful, realtime communications

• Messages are called “Tweets”

• Tweets are public (but can be protected)– Seen by “followers” (similar to subscribers)

– Seen in the public Twitter feed

• You decide what messages to receive by “following” others• You decide what messages to receive by “following” others

• Growing, but hasn’t yet hit its stride

• 87% awareness in 2010 (up from 5% in 2008)


• 95 million tweets per day (250% increase)

• 51% of Twitter users follow brands– 3x higher than for other social media platforms



How to Leverage Twitter for Business

• Tweet news and information

• Share ideas and perspective

• Post jobs

• Post relevant articles

• Participate in conversations

• Mention other users (@Macys_Exec_Jobs)

• Retweet relevant tweets

• Ask and respond to questions

• Make sure you READ THE FEED

• Don’t “Overtweet”

• Use hashtags



Twitter Hashtags & Mentions

• Convention for adding context & searchability to Tweets

• Allows Tweets to be tracked and grouped

• Helps followers understand & categorize

• Users can “follow” hashtags

• Extends beyond followers to new audience

• Create a hashtag by adding the # symbol

• Place in front of keywords in a tweet, e.g., #socialmedia

• Use with main topics & strategic keywords



Facebook

• World’s largest social network


• Average user connects to 80 pages, groups, events

• Average user has 130 friends

• 50% of users log in daily

• 700 billion minutes per month of usage time

• More than 30 billion pieces of content shared each month

• 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook

• 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day



How to Leverage Facebook for Business

• Create a Fan Page (not a profile page)

• Use a memorable title (cannot be changed)

• Build your business profile

– Images, description, likes

• Encourage community engagement

– Post information, news, special offers

– Ask questions and respond to comments

• Run Facebook-only promotions

• Be mindful and add value (don’t overpost)

• Users view as personal rather than professional

• Best for business to consumer marketing



YouTube

• 490 million users worldwide

• 2 billion video views per day

• 2.9 billion user hours per month

• Second largest search engine

• 20 billion searches per month

• 51% visit the site weekly

• 24 hours of video uploaded each minute

• Users spend 15 minutes per day



How to Leverage YouTube for Business

• Establish a channel for your business

• Marketing and promotional videos

• Video of company events

• Training and education videos

• Host videos for other platforms, e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook

• Increases inbound links to your site (search benefit)

• Increases credibility and engagement

• Keeps content fresh

• Encourages users to connect, reconnect, share



Geo Location-Based Tools for Business

• Geo-location-based “check-in” tools

– FourSquare, GoWalla

– Used by 4% of mobile users

• Users announce location to their network

– I’m at New Horizons Cincinnati

• Businesses offer deals or online rewards for “check-ins”• Businesses offer deals or online rewards for “check-ins”

• Location-aware application-based tools

– Shopping, Store Locators, Weather

– Used by 50% of mobile users

– More value-add for business and users alike

• Businesses making special offers based on proximity

– Newer concept, still determining “rules of engagement”



Social Bookmarks for Business

• Tools for publicly sharing bookmarked content

• Allows users to organize, store, manage, and search

• Ability to annotate links: tags, comments, votes

• Integrate into content pages

• Increases search visibility and drives traffic

• Content must be valuable to users

• Include strong call to action on content pages

• Popular social bookmarking tools

– Digg

– StumbleUpon

– Google Bookmarks

– Del.icio.us

– Favorites



Flickr for Business

• Online photo sharing site and community platform

• Also supports video

• Community tools allow browsing, comments, tagging of photos

• Bloggers use to host images they embed in blogs, social media

• Indexed in search results

• Great way to showcase photos from company-sponsored

events



Case Study: Macy’s, Inc. Recruiting

• Clearly defined business objectives

• Well-articulated strategy

• Established, measurable success metrics

• Strategic platforms

• Multiple types of recruiting

– Overall company recruiting (stores and corporate)

– Executive recruiting

– Macys.com recruiting

– College recruiting



Macy’s, Inc. on LinkedIn



Macy’s, Inc. on LinkedIn

• Strategic company profile

• Leveraging Career Pages tool

• Includes video

• Integrates other social media

• Leveraging LinkedIn Groups

– Established targeted groups

– Participates in multiple groups by category

• 2nd highest referring site for qualified candidates



Macy’s, Inc. Recruiting On Twitter



Macy’s Executive Recruiting on Twitter

• Focused feed targets specific audience

• Posts much more than jobs

• Engages and interacts

• Mentions, retweets, and replies

• Following and followed

• Active, engaging

• Integrated with other platforms



Macy’s College Recruiting on Facebook



Macy’s College Recruiting on Facebook

• Strategic, focused, and on message for the identified target

• Engaging with fans

– Asking and answering questions

– Posting videos, links, and job search tips for graduates

– Photo galleries show what it’s like to work at Macy’s

– Portal page features strong call to action– Portal page features strong call to action

– Discussion Board “Ask a Recruiter”

• Finding and hiring high quality candidates through Facebook



Preview of Social Media for Search

• Review of Social Media for Business Copyright Sanger & Eby

2011 All Rights Reserved highlights

• Overview of how search engines work

• The impact of social media on search

• Trends and evolution

• Tracking methods and tools• Tracking methods and tools



Want to know more?

Kat Jenkins

Vice President of Strategic Planning

[email protected]

513.784.9046

Twitter: sangereby

Facebook: Sanger & Eby

