under the radar: how ignoring social media can undermine your business
DESCRIPTION
My presentation to the Georgia Business Travel Association about social media in the travel industry.TRANSCRIPT
under the radar:how trying to ignore social media
can undermine your business
[objectives]
explain what social media is and why you should care
give you some ideas for how to use it
describe new trendsanswer your questions
what’s your favorite childhood meal?
social media
“…people have been endlessly fascinated by one another for a very long time. social networking is not new; we just have new ways to do it.”
-joe kraus, google
there are a lot of tools.
[what is social media]
“social media is not about facebook or flickror twitter or blogs or youtube. It’s about having a strategy for making your company or organization more like a person and less like a machine.”
- jason baer, www.convinceandconvert.com
it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
social media is: social media isn’t:
a conversation
a good way to raise your internet profile
a way for potential clients to find and get to know your business
a marathon
a targeted community of the right people
a sales pitch
a guaranteed book deal or appearance on Oprah
a get-rich-quick scheme; a panacea; or an excuse to stop selling
a sprint
a giant audience of any people who’ll listen
engagement: better word of mouth & deeper relationships with customers. word of mouth is 5x as effective as a personal sales pitch.
search: google confirmed in dec. 2010 that they are now using social media as a “signal,” or portion of the algorithm used to determine placement in organic search.
cost: price per impression is nominal.
immediacy: real-time ability to target promotions.
[why care?]
[immediacy example]1. Build a community on Facebook , Twitter, blog, etc.2. Establish trust. Share and produce useful content,
not just sales pitches.3. Give them offers when you need them.
Group cancels for next week
Option 1: Big sale on OTA;
sacrifice 15-20% of profit.
Option 2: Great rate for fans; keep all your
margin.
[community]
a group of people who are there voluntarily.
20M 600M 100M 25BFacebook apps installed
dailyFacebook users New Twitter accounts in
2010Number of tweets sent
in 2010
880 million people use the top 15 social networking sites. surely some of them
want to join your community!
So, how can my business actually use social media?
how to
[case study]
Facebook Fan Page April 14 0 fansApril 16 296 fansMay 25 463 fansJuly 15 655 fansOct. 6 923 fansDec. 3 1,009 fans
Special Events via FacebookSept. Wine Tasting Strongest revenue performance ever
Nov. Cooking Demo Sold out event; sold highest amount of retail product ever
Liza’s Kitchen
[case study]Boston Hotel
Campaign started in August Results as of November
increased ranking ten places in four months using a rapid response program
[other ideas]• create a LinkedIn group for your best clients and share content that will make their jobs easier.
• use TripAdvisor scores to negotiate your rates with hotels.
• listen to conversations on Twitter to understand your competitors’ weaknesses.
• work with destination partners to create a blog that will help you all appear higher in search.
[other ideas]
• answer questions on Quora or LinkedIn Q&A to establish yourself as an expert.
• create offers on FourSquare or Groupon that reward the consumer behaviors you want to encourage.
• look up a potential client on Facebook or LinkedIn to get insight into hobbies and interests.
[how to measure roi]
one size does not fit all. your success should be
determined by your objectives. social media is infinitely
measurable, as long as you are strategic and know what you
want to achieve.
If your social media objective is…. Then measure success by….
Deepening your relationship with existing customers….
Spreading the word to as many people as possible….
Improving your search results….
Establishing authority in a particular field….
Driving revenue to a particular time period or product line….
Counting the number of referrals you get from fans and followers.
Tracking your fan and follower counts.
Benchmarking and tracking how you rank over time.
Counting how often you appear in queries.
Counting how much incremental revenue you make.
measure roi based on your objectives.
What are the newest trends and ideas in social media?
new stuff
niche sites
geolocation
travel
Facebook connect to find friends in San Francisco
Recommended flights and hotels
An estimated total of $882 per person
would you stay at a self-proclaimed “social media hotel?”
