The Brand-Influencer Relationship

Unlike before, when social media marketing success meant the number of ‘followers’ or ‘fans’ amassed, today’s marketers know that influencers are imperative to a brand’s success online. According to a study by Meteor Solutions, 30% or more of a website’s actions are determined by influencers. These influencers, who are thought leaders and industry experts, can have significant impact on a brand’s reputation and even affect bottom line sales. A smart marketer, who knows the power of influencer marketing, is investing considerable time in finding these brand advocates, engaging with them and establishing a strong brand-influencer relationship. Why are online influencers so important to a brand?

• Consumers, who heavily rely on word-of-mouth recommendations, do not always believe everything a brand says; the influencers have an important role to play in such cases.
• Online campaigns and marketing messages promoted by influencers have better chances at success than those that aren’t.
• According to a 2010 Forrester study, Mass Influencers were responsible for 80% of the influence impressions and posts about products and services in social channels.
• These brand advocates help spread the word about a brand’s site, products, services, and promotions and spur their followers into action.
• When it comes to Online Reputation Management, the influencers play a major role in how your audience views your brand.

A recent study by Vocus shows that influencers with a tighter connection were more important to the respondents than those who simply had a horde of fans and followers with little or no connection. The study, which presented respondents with a question about hypothetical influencers, concludes that influence is directly related to the quality of connection to a given network.

Identifying Influencers

The above study clearly establishes the difference between popularity and influence. Influencers are not determined by the multitude of followers they have; they usually have a dedicated audience who follow these experts because of similar interests and because they are credible in their fields. However, finding the influencers and developing meaningful relationships with them requires some research and listening. While some influencers are famous in their respective industry circles, there are others, who although lesser known, are just as powerful among their followers. According to Brain Solis, “the true movers and shakers of the online marketing universe are less visible than you’d think. They show up when the timing is right, reach out to their medium-sized but strong network, and let the message take its course.” In an overcrowded digital space, what can brands do to identify and pick out true influencers?

The Following vs. Followers Ratio:

This is one of the most basic ways of determining if an individual is a true influencer. It is not uncommon to find people following or friending someone only because they were followed in the first place. The true influencer is followed by at least twice the number of people he follows, and in some cases, a lot more than that. Ashton Kutcher, with his +8,570,000 followers is a highly influential voice in the social media space. The actor, who goes by the @aplusk Twitter handle, is worth $140 million; this means every time Kutcher endorses a brand online, there are greater chances of people actually listening and contemplating a purchase.

The Question of Credibility:

Before going to the next step of engaging with the influencers, online marketers need to first establish the credibility of these people who will go on to become the voice of the brand. Finding answers to these questions is a good start; a) Are they considered to be experts in their field? b) How often are these people getting retweeted? and c) Are they truly engaged? It is important that your potential influencers post frequently and are reasonably active on social media. The content posted by these brand advocates, no matter how compelling, will have little impact if the messages are few and far in between.

Using Social Media Monitoring Tools:

Using comprehensive social media monitoring tools like Brand Monitor™ is an effective and time-saving technique to identify and learn more about potential influencers. It is impractical to manually check the number of fans or followers each person has and determine if that person qualifies as an ‘influencer’. Media monitoring tools simplify this process by determining the influencer score. Once the influencers have been identified, marketers can then proceed to engage with them and convert them into brand advocates.

Taking it to the Next Level

After establishing who the influencers are, the next step involves creating meaningful connections with them. For companies looking to improve their brand image and increase visibility online, engaging with these ‘power users’ is definitely a step in the right direction. Taking the influencer-brand relationship to the next level involves some vital, though easy-to-implement, steps:

Plan Your Engagement Strategy:

In order to build a lasting relationship with your influencers, it is essential to plan your engagement strategy first. Overwhelming these brand advocates with one too many tweets or marketing messages without giving them the option of knowing your company and understanding what your brand does may only dissuade them from connecting further. As a brand, a well thought-out engagement plan will also give a clearer idea of what it is that you wish to achieve from this relationship. Here are the two important stages of the planning process; a) the listening stage: using social media monitoring tools, brands can listen to what the influencers have to say before attempting to engage with them. As an online marketer, you could study what hashtags they use and use them in your posts in order to show-up on their radar b) the courtship stage: this involves commenting on their blog posts, retweeting interesting content, and joining in their conversations on social media channels. This is a good way to move the discussion forward.

Building a Relationship:

Once the foundation has been laid, brands can safely proceed to strengthen and cement this relationship. Most social media gurus agree that the nothing works as well as pampering the influencers and making them feel special. According to BzzAgent’s ‘Field Guide to Brand Advocates‘ report, 58% influencers said that it was important to them that they are viewed as good brand advocates, while 49% felt the need to be recognized for their efforts by the brands. In our opinion, the secret to a strong and successful brand-influencer relationship begins with a) something as simple as saying a ‘thank you’ when they share your content or mention your brand on a networking channel and b) is strengthened further by treating them to special offers on the brand’s yet-to-be-launched products that are usually available to a select few.

What You Need To Avoid:

There could be several reasons that could cause an easily-avoidable crack in the brand-influencer relationship. While some marketers turn-off influencers by too much sales talk and self promotion, there are others who solely focus on the A-listers, while ignoring the second-tier bloggers after a while. Although one of the main reasons why brands seek out and connect with these power-users involves promoting their products and services, it is a good idea to let them establish a comfortable relationship with your brand first. Also, when it comes to connecting with brand advocates, what marketers also need to keep in mind is that instead of targeting a few top influencers, it would be wise to connect with a greater number of second-tier bloggers for better reach. The chances of the latter having more time to engage with your brand are a lot higher than the time-strapped A-listers who may restrict themselves to a select few.

What Influencers Can Mean for Your Brand

Influencers can be that much needed shot-in-the-arm for brands looking to improve their image, gain visibility and revive sales. What an influencer says about your brand can greatly impact how your brand is perceived in industry circles and among fans. Considering the power of word-of-mouth marketing, brands need to understand that roping in influencers to promote their products and services ensures better prospect of success. Our research on how influencers can impact a brand unearthed some interesting case studies:

Driving Traffic the Ford Way:

Many brands today, especially automakers, prefer approaching influential Twitter users instead of celebrities to promote their products online and drive traffic to their websites. Ford, for instance, decided that these power users were more influential and visible than celebrities. Also, the fact that people trusted the voice of regular people like themselves prompted the automaker to engage with 100 social media influencers to endorse their Fiesta subcompact. The Fiesta Movement campaign, which involved the influencers first test-driving, and then posting reviews online, generated over seven million views on YouTube and four million mentions on Twitter. It drove 130,000 consumers to its website and 83% were previously non-Ford owners. And of course, the affordability factor certainly tilts the scale in favor of the influencers.

How Marmite ‘Spread’ the Word:

When Unilever decided to launch the ‘extra-mature’ version of its iconic Marmite spread, the company identified and engaged with a group of ’superfans’ called ‘the Marmarati‘. Unilever’s idea of involving these influencers to spread the word across various social media channels before launching Marmite XO paid off. Within no time, the word about the company’s newest product was out, with brand advocates talking about it on blogs, Twitter and Facebook. In the 12 months following its launch, MXO delivered £1 million in sales. Most importantly, the Marmarati remain an engaged group of brand advocates.

Raising Brand Awareness:

Pepsi was one of the first few brands to use social media to raise brand awareness. When the company decided to overhaul its entire brand, including the logo, PepsiCo adopted a slightly non-traditional approach. Instead of sending out a press release, PepsiCo roped in some ’select bloggers’ and delivered a bunch of cans showing the way its design had evolved since its launch. These influencers then blogged about the new design, increasing brand awareness in the process. The real-time nature of social media and the fact that these brand advocates in turn influenced their followers to be more receptive to the change worked brilliantly for the beverage company.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is no longer restricted to simply getting onto a popular networking site and straight-away promoting brands. Today’s marketers are paying close attention to and engaging with social media influencers with great enthusiasm because of their industry expertise and wide reach. Also, brands believe that engaging with influencers is an effective way of maximizing the value of their investment in social media. While identifying the influencers can sometimes be challenging, for most marketers the greater challenge lies in engaging with and retaining these power users. In our opinion, the key to a long term brand-customer relationship lies in understanding what drives these influencers and trying to get on their radar before making your move. When they have heard about your brand and know what your area of expertise is, they will eventually be interested in what you have to say.

While the benefits of engaging with these power users include everything from increasing sales to spreading marketing messages, brands also need to know that these influencers can greatly contribute to controlling a PR crisis. Influencers have a loyal group of fans and followers who immensely value what they have to say.

The online marketing world is constantly evolving, making the process of reaching and selling to customers more challenging than before. The change in customers’ buying behavior and the frequent mushrooming of networking sites mean marketers are under constant pressure to find new ways of disseminating information. For these marketers, influencer marketing is a highly efficient and relatively inexpensive way to strengthen their foothold and standout in an overcrowded and dynamic online marketplace.

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Getting Started With a Solid Framework

Creating a successful social media campaign is like constructing a skyscraper. You need a strong foundation, quality materials and a reliable crew to ensure your structure doesn’t collapse. However, for many marketer, the idea of ROI and traffic takes priority over the finer details that go into designing a winning campaign. Although returns are a measurable and important aspect of social media marketing, the end result largely depends on the basic framework. Also, people are spending more time on social networks, and that means brands are even more pressurized to capture their attention and convert them into consumers. According to the Trends in Social Advertising survey conducted by Pivot:

• 60% of the respondents anticipate that social advertising will be very valuable to them.
• 54% are satisfied or very satisfied with their social advertising.
• While 37% agree with the statement that social advertising is gaining momentum, 54% strongly agree with the same.
• 38% marketers always have a social advertising competent as part of their campaign(s).
• 85% were currently experimenting with social advertising or planned to do so within the next 12 months.

While the above statistics appear encouraging, there were some respondents (45%) who said they were not as satisfied with their social marketing efforts. There could be several reasons for this. The success of a social media campaign depends on some elements which are very apparent, such as content, videos, pictures etc. However, there are certain less obvious, but equally crucial, components that need to be included while designing online promotional material. These are sometimes overlooked, leading to dissatisfaction among both marketers and consumers. In our opinion, these make up for the building blocks of digital marketing messages.

The Crucial Building Blocks

It is every social media marketer’s dream to create the next Old Spice or Ford campaign. There are some things that the creators of these highly successful promotions did right; setting up a solid foundation before building creative content, and following it up with offline marketing and post-launch activities. Ford’s decision to reveal the redesigned 2011 Explorer via Facebook instead of an auto show was a bold move, which paid off. Although the online launch coincided with the offline unveiling across the US, what worked among other things for the Detroit Company was a) creation of the pre-launch online buzz through teasers b) allowing fans to converse with company executives about the new revamped model, giving them a feeling of being involved and c) uploading a pre-reveal video featuring celebrity spokesperson Mike Row and CEO Alan Mulally. Irrespective of whether a brand is in the same league as P&G or Ford, we believe there are certain elements that function as the building blocks for a holistic digital campaign.

• Resource Management

  One of the biggest attractions for brands incorporating social media into their marketing strategies is the low-investment, high returns benefit. While large businesses need not always worry about the ‘how much’ part, resource management is nevertheless the first rung in the social advertising ladder for enterprises as well as SMBs. Securing budgets was said to be the second most difficult task for online marketers, with 34% reporting this to be a periodic challenge. This makes it all the more necessary to judiciously manage online marketing budgets.

  • Where is the Money Going? Social advertising is a relatively inexpensive proposition, provided you know what the marketing dollars are being used for. As an online marketer, you do not always have to overspend to create a memorable social media campaign. Knowing the purpose of your promotion will help allocate a budget, besides answering the ‘where is the money going’ question. For instance, if acquiring new customers, monitoring the impact of a campaign or growing the business further etc are among the goals, then these are probably the areas where your marketing dollars are being invested. As long as the accounts tally, we say there is no reason to worry.
  • It’s an Investment, not an Expense: Brands that look at digital advertising as an expense rather than an investment are usually not as satisfied with the returns. This incorrect perception can also result in marketers trying to reduce these ‘expenses’, thereby compromising on their online marketing efforts. Changing the outlook and looking at ad spend as money wisely invested will ensure you are happy with the outcome of your social media marketing campaign.
  • Working Backwards: Going in the reverse direction is a good way of drawing up a blue print for a social campaign. This will help understand exactly how much you need to invest, what are the areas that need additional dollars, and what kind of returns you can expect. If achieving ‘X’ number of sales per month is the end result, then you should slowly work backwards, so that you know where to start.

  Speaking of smart resource management, the example that comes to mind is Coca-Cola. Having understood the importance of social advertising, the beverage giant increased focus on Facebook and YouTube promotions, despite cutting its overall ad spend by 6.6% in 2010, according to a Grocer report. Coca-Cola’s budget management can be a yardstick for other consumer brands that are now faced with increasing marketing expenses. Instead of allocating a major part of their advertising budget to traditional marketing, while keeping aside a meager share for social media, perhaps brands should try and achieve an agreeable balance.

• The Pre-Launch Phase

  Now that the budget is planned, it’s time to advance to what we call the pre-launch phase. Creating a checklist of what needs to be done before a promotion goes viral is essential for designing that perfect campaign.

  • Background research: Although most marketers use social media monitoring services to measure the impact of their marketing messages post-launch, we believe it is just as vital to use monitoring tools like Brand Monitor before unveiling a campaign. Doing your homework is essential because a) you know where your target market is hanging out (geographically as well as with respect to social media platforms) b) by listening to conversations about your competitors, you can analyze what you can and cannot include in your advertisements and c) this enables you to determine the demographics you should be focusing on.
  • It’s All About Timing: For a social media campaign to have the desired effect, it needs to make a splash at the right time. A company looking to promote school stationary, for instance, will have better chances at success if they unveiled their ads across various networking channels during the ‘back-to-school’ season. Also, research by Buddy Media shows that user engagement on Facebook is 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays; as for Twitter, according to the company’s Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain, users are more engaged with tweets on Fridays. In our opinion, a social advert will have the maximum impact provided brands find their sweet spot.
  • Teasers: Unveiling teasers ahead of the actual launch is a good way to create buzz. It not only piques the audiences’ interest, but also gives a fair idea if the promotional material needs to be tweaked further. Motorola’s decision to roll-out a teaser video before the actual launch not just created excitement among consumers, but also generated instant demand for the product following the unveiling of the complete ad.

• Featuring Celebrities a Good Idea?

  The answer to whether you should or shouldn’t feature celebrities in your online ads depends on what you’re selling. Unilever’s Dove brand celebrates natural beauty, therefore features ordinary women with their imperfections. On the other hand, the company’s Lux brand stands for the promise of beauty and glamour and includes famous personalities in its online as well as offline ads. However, if you do have the resources, it wouldn’t harm to rope in someone famous to endorse your brand.

  • It’s a celebrity obsessed culture: A recent study of social media campaigns by Brand Affinity Technologies analyzed 200 Facebook and Twitter endorsements, besides similar Facebook ads that did not feature celebrities. Findings show that for the same spend – endorsed messages delivered enormous performance lifts – over 50% greater on the low end.
  • Roping in the Local Talent: Not all companies have the budget to rope in the big names in sports and entertainment. A small or mid-size organization can consider local celebrities in order to provide the ‘local lift’ to their brand.
  • Lifting up Business: Marketers looking to revive their business should consider including celebrities in their social media promotions. This tried, tested and successful formula is sure to boost a brand’s reputation, besides driving sales. When Fab.com got Demi Moore to endorse them via Twitter, the designed goods company saw its business lift from an unstable start-up to a very profitable business.

  The Flip-side; the power of celebrities to prop up an online campaign is undoubtedly immense. Yet, there is a flip-side to this. A negative tweet or post by a popular figure can risk a brand’s reputation. Nevertheless, the benefits overshadow the risks, prompting both big and small companies to approach iconic personalities to promote their brands.

• Getting Consumers to Contribute

  Sometimes it’s a good idea to give the creative team a break and give consumers a stake in the marketing strategy. Unlike traditional media, where the onus to brainstorm and design a creative campaign solely rested on the marketing team, the interactive nature of social networking can ease this responsibility by considering consumers’ suggestions. Here’s why we think marketers should make use of customer inputs during the creation/designing phase:

  • Reduced Risk of PR crisis: There’s more to brand-customer relationship than just engagement and post-launch conversations. Asking customers for ideas, gauging their response, etc can go a long way in reducing the risk of a PR crisis in later stages. How? As a marketer, your engagement with users during the creation period gives you a glimpse into their mindset, thereby ensuring your promotional material appeals to them. Happy Customers=Reduced Risk of PR crisis.
  • Driving Valuable Traffic: Sometimes designing an online campaign can seem daunting. Such instances call for customer assistance. In 2009, Vitamin Water turned to social networks for soliciting ideas from users regarding the name and packaging for the new flavor. This approach not only grew the company’s Facebook fan base, but also spurred a massive increase in sales after the campaign and the product were launched. The customers couldn’t wait to try ‘Connect’, the new flavor they had helped create.
  • Increase Brand Loyalty: Giving people a sense of ownership will increase their faith in your brand. In addition to obvious benefits like increasing traffic and sales and diminishing the possibility of a social media crisis, allowing customers to participate will increase brand loyalty. Long term benefits include strengthening of brand image as well as better customer retention rates.

Conclusion

Google has predicted that, by 2015, 75% of online ads will have a social component. This, along with an expected investment of nearly $28.5 billion in online ads in 2011, means there is immense potential for social advertising. Unlike a few years back, when brands considered Facebook or Twitter campaigns as fancy add-ons, today’s marketers perceive social media advertising to be a crucial part of their marketing arsenal. Companies now have exclusive social media experts, monitoring tools and separate budgets dedicated to promoting their brands online. In our opinion, successful social advertising requires a well-though out and detailed plan. A strong foundation, which is the result of comprehensive preparation, will help brands find out how their campaigns will fare once they are launched.

When marketers draft their strategies, they place great emphasis on content; and rightly so. Though we agree that content is the backbone of a well-rounded social media campaign, there are certain other factors that are just as important. As discussed above, for an online advert to make a solid impact and get the sales charts soaring, the pre-launch phase and budget planning function as key building blocks. This, along with the right amount of customer involvement and creativity, is the recipe for a winning social media campaign.

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Social Media Fatigue: the Challenge for Brands

With so much going on in social media these days, it is natural for both marketers as well as users to feel overwhelmed by the need to keep up. Social media is dynamic; while many companies are considering Google+, others are juggling between blogs, tweets and posts. It is not just about what social media platforms to use. For most brands, the bigger challenge is keeping content fresh and coming up with new ways to keep consumers engaged. The increasing pressure to be on top of everything and to keep ahead of the competition can sometimes lead to social media fatigue. From the consumer’s point of view, reading the same content on Facebook, blogs and other channels will only give them a reason to check out your competitor’s webpage. Gartner’s recent study on social media fatigue shows that:

• One in four young people is ‘bored’ with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
• 31% of the respondents between the ages of 18 and 24 said the fun of social media is wearing off.
• The study also indicates that social media exhaustion is something that was most commonly associated with the early adopters. For online marketers, this signals the need to keep branded content fresh and capture people’s attention instantly.

The proliferation of social media platforms can be exhausting for marketers. Yet, many brands believe that the more social media accounts they have, the more web-savvy they are. According to research by the Altimeter group, large corporations averaged a surprising number of social media accounts (178). So much choice and not as much content; what is the best approach? Do you focus or diversify? Do you jump onto every new social media channel that is launched? In our opinion, preventing social media overload is all about finding answers to the too much vs. too little dilemma. Here are some easy-to-follow suggestions:

• Define Precise Goals

  The key to staying fresh and avoiding a burn out is finding out exactly what you wish to achieve from your social media efforts. Defining precise social media marketing goals is the first step towards understanding what works best for your brand.

  • Creating a Social Media Footprint: For brands that are relatively new to social media, gaining visibility and establishing a solid online presence is imperative. If these are your objectives, then we recommend focusing on the big three (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) before considering the other options available. This will prevent your brand from getting lost in the social media blur and keep you from getting exhausted in the initial stages.

  

  • Knowing your Audience: If you have a target audience in mind, then the right approach will be to focus only on those channels where your prospective customers are most likely to be present. For instance, cosmetics brand L’Oreal launched its recent digital campaign on Facebook after research showed that women, who are the biggest consumers of their products, were highly active on the networking site. Posting the same content all over the social space, hoping it reaches your target market can be exhausting and time-consuming.
  • Improving Customer Satisfaction Rates: Our advice to brands looking to improve their customer satisfaction rates is ‘less focus on fancy campaigns and more focus on helping customers.‘ Although a well-thought out, creative campaign is sure to attract new customers, it may not exactly be what existing customers are looking for. Instead of launching one campaign after another, while simultaneously trying to keep up with the flood of queries from customers, it would be wiser to work towards being a customer-centric brand. Offer advice, demonstrate how you can be of service, and show your customers that you care. Satisfied customers mean your brand can now breathe easy, plan ahead and eventually launch those great campaigns. Dell, which lists customer-service as one of its top priorities, has an exclusive team that focuses on helping customers via the @DellCares twitter account.

  Defining precise goals will give you a great sense of direction, helping you plan ahead. The ‘let’s get on board and decide as we go along’ approach sounds tempting; however, like everything new, the novelty of social media can wear off, leaving all those fans and followers wondering about the unexpected dip in activity. Our advice? Fight social media fatigue by getting a S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed) plan.

• The Balancing Act

  As an online marketer, information overload can be overwhelming not only for you, but also for your customers. There is a fine line that divides too much content from too little; this can either convert customers to brand advocates, or will drive them to completely stop following your brand. Although achieving the right balance can be challenging, it is nevertheless, vital for long term success.

  • The Importance of Give & Take: Many companies use social media as a platform to talk about or promote corporate activity. Yes, it’s true that social media is a place for this kind of a thing, but not all the time. Uploading or posting promotional material incessantly will give your audience a case of editorial fatigue, giving them the impression that you are too self-absorbed. Welcome those who respond to your marketing messages, engage with them and listen to what they have to say. Keeping the ’social’ in social media is all about having a balanced brand-customer relationship.
  • To Tweet or not to Tweet: The plethora of networking channels out there can sometimes be confusing for marketers, who do not know if they should tweet, blog or constantly update their Facebook page. The pressure to be present everywhere or be left behind has seen many brands experiment with various channels. After a while, this can be overwhelming and tiresome. Here’s what we think: a) If you tweet more than 25 times a day, then it would be best to blog b) Try Groupon or Livingsocial instead of Twitter if ‘deal-of-the-day’ is your thing c) Not much to say? Then you should just tweet. As quoted by the Global Director of Digital and Social Media for PepsiCo, Bonin Boug, “Do only as much as your resources will allow. If you don’t have the means to have a person on Twitter 24/7, then don’t do it that way….Have [something like] Follow Fridays were you spend two hours talking to the community if that’s all you have to work with. There really are no set rules.“

  

  • Integrate Social Media with Traditional Marketing: For brands that prefer social media in small doses, integrating social media marketing with traditional advertising campaigns is a good way to get the best of both worlds. Many companies believe that a well-balanced mix of social and traditional media can avoid a marketing burnout. One of the companies to have successfully experimented with this approach is P&G. While continuing to advertise on TV, the personal care brand has also managed to create several memorable social media campaigns.

• Running Out of Ideas? Listen to Your Audience

  One of the most common indicators of fatigue creeping into your social media activity is when you don’t know what to do next. Marketers who are highly active on social media are on the constant search for fresh ideas and content in order to keep people interested in their brand. In a world where users are easily turned off by information that is dated and dull, this can be quite a challenge. To stand out in a highly competitive environment, brands need to create content that takes into account the real world environment and the day-to-day events that influence people. This is where social media monitoring tools prove to be highly useful. Here’s why we think media monitoring tools like Brand Monitor should be a ‘must have’ in every digital marketer’s tool kit:

  • It Pays to Listen: Refreshing content regularly is necessary for brands looking to keep people interested in their social media pages. However, delegating this responsibility solely to the marketing or creative department may not always be the best approach. The answer? Listen to your customers for content ideas. Media monitoring will help you sift through the conversations, pick out the most important ones and help sow the seed for some great content.

  

  • Creating a Campaign? Look Out for the Trends: Measuring the impact of an online campaign is one of the most important reasons why brands use social media monitoring tools. How about using the same monitoring tools to help generate ideas for a new campaign? Using these tools will not just save time and effort, but also identify the current trends. Brands can then design marketing messages accordingly and create a unique brand or company angle. According to Harvard Business Review Analytics Services Report, 55% effective users are using social media to monitor trends or look for new product ideas. Here’s what we suggest; monitor the buzz pertaining to trend, topic, or specific keywords before creating a campaign. You are less likely to burn out while learning new things that interest your consumers.
  • Testing the Waters: The best way to check if an idea is likely to work is by asking questions. Post that blog, ask your readers what they think, seek opinions, even opposing point of views. While some audiences jump into conversations willingly, others need to be prodded and asked for ideas and suggestions. This is a smart way to test the waters. Monitoring conversations, analyzing the sentiment associated with the topic of discussion etc, will help you alter your marketing messages and content accordingly, saving time as well as effort.

  The Starbucks formula for social media success is quite simple; monitor the trends and communicate with customers for new ideas. The caffeine-giant, through its social media pages, asks fans for suggestions, encourages discussions and requests for ideas on anything related to the company. Prior to launching a campaign for a new or an existing product, Starbucks picks out the most relevant conversations (mostly by listening to what the influencers are saying) and ideas, making users feel that they have some role in the decision making process of the company. By doing this, the company not only generates new ideas and fresh content at regular intervals, but also keeps social media fatigue at bay.

• Smart Solutions

  You have done your homework, equipped yourself with the required social media tools and have a great brand-customer relationship; yet, your efforts to go ’social’ are running out of steam. What you need are a few simple, yet smart-solutions to make certain you don’t run around in social media circles.

  • Automate Some of Your Posts: For marketers with profiles on multiple networking sites, updating them all the time for routine ‘broadcast’ messages can be a tiresome task. This is true, especially, in case of smaller brands that do not have the necessary resources to refresh their social media content frequently. Automating the posting of some content is a smart way of saving time and energy, at the same time keeping content up-to-date.

  

  • Linking Accounts: Linking key social media accounts saves time for marketers who want to post a common message across profiles without having to log in and out several times. For instance, tying your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts with Twitter, means every time you update something on Twitter it will appear on all three accounts.
  • Appoint a Dedicated Social Media Team: A large number of companies have their marketing or PR staff also overseeing their social media activities. This works fine for small to mid-size companies that have limited resources. However, for brands that consider social media an integral part of their marketing strategy, it is important to have a dedicated social media team to manage posts, tweet on behalf of the company and monitor the buzz surrounding the brand. This will not only reduce fatigue, but will also ensure the core marketing team has the time to focus on their content creation and campaign management tasks.

Conclusion

Marketers have moved beyond seeing social media as a fad and have started to include it as a crucial part of their overall marketing strategy. While this certainly has its benefits, it also means the possibility of getting caught in the social media vortex is high. After the initial excitement to post, blog, tweet or +1 wears off, brands are confronted with the question of ‘what next?’ Also, the fact that social media never stops means companies are increasingly pressurized to keep up. Our research shows that online marketers with an organized approach to social media have been more successful at beating the exhaustion that eventually follows.

Instead of the ‘do-it-yourself’ approach, brands are now looking at customers for inspiration by monitoring for trends and listening to conversations. It is also important to keep in mind that social media fatigue is not something that is restricted to marketers. With so much content and so many platforms to choose from, consumers are also susceptible to a burnout. Though it is not always possible to hold their attention all the time, innovating and diversifying can ensure that people are interested in your webpage. Easy-to-understand, fresh content has proven to be effective in preventing digital fatigue for both brands as well as consumers.

That said, for brands that are plugged in 24/7, instances of fatigue can occur occasionally. Take a deep breath…you don’t need to be a social media maven to avoid an overload; preventing a burnout is all about achieving that perfect balance, knowing what works for you and applying smart solutions.

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In today’s 24/7 world, social media enables organizations to communicate with millions of customers across the globe in real-time. For customers, this means they now have the power to either appreciate something or vent their issues in a very public space. What does this mean for marketers? With so much going on, a social media fiasco is sometimes unavoidable and unpredictable, signaling the need for a robust crisis management plan. Although most marketers have already incorporated social media into their marketing mix and are seeing great results, some of them have no strategic social media communications plan in place. According to the 2010 Digital Brand Expressions Social Media survey:

• 52% companies do not have a social media crisis communications plan.
• 41% said that they were insured against a possible social media crisis.
• A whopping 88% felt that it was important to have a strategic social media communications plan in place.

While every company has its critics and unhappy customers, a smart marketer will always have a recovery plan to prevent a social media disaster from snowballing. As a marketer, you can never fully control what your customers say about your brand in the digital space; however, preparing yourself for a social media crisis will ensure you are not caught off guard. Here are some points to focus on while designing a crisis communications plan:

Identify the Crisis:

Before proceeding to the ‘what should I do‘ stage, it is essential to a)fully understand the situation b) find out if the people who are talking about your brand are high influencers c) what is the medium being used and d) how is it affecting your company’s image. This can be best done by monitoring your brand on social media. By using social media monitoring tools such as brand monitor, you can also:

• Listen to what your customers are saying.
• Analyze the general sentiment pertaining to the issue (is it leaning towards negative or are people neutral in their opinion).
• Chalk up the appropriate escalation plan.
• Engage industry influencers to defend your brand if necessary: Online users tend to trust the influencers more than company officials. After tracking your influencers, the next step involves engaging with them to solve the problem.

The key purpose of crisis identification at an early stage via media monitoring is to be able to respond quickly. Keep in mind, in the digital space, your response time needs to be very quick. For instance, United Airlines’ delayed response to singer Dave Carroll’s YouTube complaint video reportedly cost the airline a 10% drop in its share price. Despite 50,000 views on YouTube, United responded by saying “We’re working to make what happened right.” According to industry experts, if a solid social media crisis management plan been in place, the airlines could have responded faster, saving the company from the loss and reputation damage.

Be Transparent:

The simplest way to win back customers’ trust is by being straightforward and coming clean. While it is easy to get defensive or hide behind ‘no comment’, this will not prevent fans and followers from continuing to talk about your brand. We believe that the first step to fixing a social media crisis is to admit it; it gives a humane touch. As discussed earlier, using influencers to diffuse a situation is a good first step; however, by getting someone relevant and important such as company Presidents and CEOs to respond is a smart move. Although today’s CEOs are no longer social media shy, a recent survey by public relations agency Weber Shandwick shows that they have some catching up to do. According to the survey:



• 64% of CEOs are not using social media; only 36% have a social media presence.
• 93% of them continue to depend on traditional methods to communicate with external audiences.
• Many CEOs are in the 40-60 demographic, making them less social media savvy.

Why We Recommend Company Heads Get Involved

Several case studies involving important company officials who have successfully fixed a social media PR disaster show that:

• Company heads engaging with unhappy customers wield high influence in the social media space.
• Two-way dialogues involving important company officials send out a strong message that ‘we understand and apologize‘.
• CEOs owning up to an oversight and promising to fix it shows that the company cares.
• By rapidly responding to a crisis through blogs, videos or other social platforms, CEOs dispel the myth of being ‘corporate executives sitting behind desks’.
• Customers want to hear from a person who is real and is being honest and forthright with them.

Dominos’ quick, direct and personal response to a social media crisis involving its employees is the perfect example of how a company should handle emergency situations in the digital space. When two of its former employees uploaded YouTube videos of themselves doing unseemly things to food, customers and fans of the pizza giant started to question the hygiene standards that were being followed. Besides registering millions of views on YouTube, the video showed up in five out of 12 Google searches for “Dominos”. The company wasted no time in posting its response. The crisis management team at Dominos decided to tackle the situation by uploading their own YouTube video that featured their President; a wise move, for a press release explaining the situation would have only escalated the situation further. Instead of insisting that the video had nothing to do with the company’s hygiene policy, the President, J. Patrick Doyle, said that he was as ’sickened’ as the customers and promised to shut the store and clean it completely. What restored customers’ faith in Dominos was the President’s honesty and the fact that he thanked customers for “sticking with us”.

Your customers know that everyone makes mistakes once in a while; what’s more important to them is to know how you are going to fix it. The key to handling a situation effectively is to have open, consistent flow of information.

Restoring your Reputation:

Although prevention is the best solution to manage a crisis, it is very natural for occasional slip-ups to happen. Restoring your company’s image after a social media disaster is crucial for getting back in the business. While it is true that a slip-up can impact customers’ perception, here are some suggestions to help revive your brand’s image in the digital space:

• Have Seasoned Social Media Experts Handle a Crisis: Having a junior intern handle your social media activities simply because ‘they get social media’ may not always be the best approach. A well assembled social media disaster management team, comprising of a community manager, a PR and a senior management representative, ensures that your company is always prepared to successfully handle an unforeseen situation. Besides managing large amount of content and conversations online, the disaster management team will know a) when to respond b) what to say c) how much to say and d) when to remain silent. Social media experts know how to handle crisis without breaking sweat; and this is vital for restoring your company’s image online.



• Turn Crisis into Opportunity: Yes! A PR crisis can be converted into positive online buzz. The most apt example in this case involves fashion retailer Gap and how the company turned its logo debacle into a social media opportunity. Instead of playing the blame game after their own version was severely criticized across Facebook and Twitter, Gap smartly decided to offer its fans the chance to redesign its logo online. By doing this, the company a) acknowledged the problem b) made customers feel involved c) shifted the focus from the actual issue by converting it into an exciting social media campaign and d) managed to improve its reputation.
• Talk about it: By apologizing on Facebook or tweeting that you’re sorry, you have managed to mollify disgruntled fans; what next? Believe it or not, your customers want to hear what happened. Discussing the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the situation shows that the PR representatives and social media experts are doing more than just their job. Using a personal, human voice when communicating via social media channels re-establishes trust with customers, making them believe that your company has more than just an organizational presence. Talking about an issue not only promotes trust and commitment, but also leads to a favorable brand image.

Conclusion

We believe that social media is a great platform for connecting with prospects and customers on a personal level; the flip-side though, is that networking channels also attract their share of online protests, customer complaints and negative feedback. In such cases, the best line of defense for online marketers is to design a comprehensive social media policy and crisis management plan. This not only prepares your company for any outward incidents, but also helps effectively respond to potential flare-ups. However, this does not mean you should live your social efforts in fear. A crisis management plan is like a safety net; it ensures that your company is insured against a PR meltdown online.

In today’s customer-driven world, fans have demonstrated greater ownership over social media. Smart marketers who have understood this know that they have little control over how their brands are perceived or what is being discussed about them in the digital space. As the above studies indicate, although a greater percentage of marketers do not have a social media communications plan in place, a majority of them are willing to consider developing one in the future. As quoted by Jeremiah Owyang, crisis planning helps you ‘plan and practice for the worst, yet live for the best‘.

• Designing a Winning Social Media Campaign (1)
• Managing Social Media Burnout (0)
• What Influences Buying Decisions in #Social Media? (0)

Social media has revolutionized consumer purchasing behavior over the last few years, directly impacting the way they buy products and services. The fact that there are billions of opinions and reviews out there means marketers have to change their perception about social media from ‘fun to have’ to ‘must focus on’. The use of social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and Facebook among buyers has grown considerably over the last two years. Facebook, in fact, doubled in popularity from 2010 to 2011. Although Google search still leads the way in terms of influencing online shopping behavior, the steady growth of social media is opening up new opportunities for marketers to message and connect with customers. According to the 2011 Social Commerce Study:

• 58% of online consumers have ‘followed’ a retailer proactively through Facebook, Twitter or a retailer’s blog.
• Almost half (49%) of the respondents were keen on keeping a tab on product updates through social media.
• Over 1/3rd follow online retailers for information on contests and shopping events.
• 35% of shoppers are likely to directly purchase from Facebook, while 32% are willing to make a direct purchase through Twitter.
• Group-buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial are being used to purchase non-traditional items.

Several studies show that consumers are now sharing opinions in unprecedented numbers on various social networking sites and blogs; for marketers, this growing hunger for information can easily be converted to actual purchases by understanding what factors influence buying behavior most. Here’s how marketers can influence online purchasing behavior:

By Understanding the Consumer Mind

Social media has changed the way marketing companies group their consumers. Online buyers can no longer be slotted into a ’stereotypical category’. If you’re looking to convert the ‘likes’ to purchases in social media, it is vital to understand the mind of the consumer first. A simple way to do this is by monitoring social media. Social media monitoring is an effective way of researching and learning about your customer’s age, geographic distribution, what social media channels they use, if they are highly-engaged in social media circles (the influencers) etc. By using monitoring tools such as Brand Monitor, marketers can get a clearer insight into consumers’ mindset and know what customer types they are targeting. The social media common customer types can be broadly classified into:

• The under-30s: Our research shows that younger buyers are more open to newer channels such as blogs, Facebook etc. This age group is therefore more likely to make purchases through social media channels. The good news for brands that heavily rely on blogs for marketing purposes is that the <30 age group is three times more likely to use blogs to select products and suppliers, when compared to the +30 age bracket.
• The coupon collectors and freebie seekers: Identifying the coupon collectors and the freebie seekers and offering deals to them is a great way to drive sales and increase ROI. Recent studies from Empathica reveal that offering discounts via social media presents marketers with an opportunity to connect with consumers, especially women. Empathica’s research shows that:
  
  • 47% of people using social media to find coupons and promotions are women.
  • Only 33% men look for offers on social media.
  • While 30% of the respondents said that they followed brands for information, 40% said that they look for promotions and coupons.
  • Although, promotion hunting is a primary driver of social behavior, the survey also found this habit was driving overall online behavior as well; 26% of respondents admitted to specifically look for more coupons online.

  Commenting on this, Gary Edwards, Empathica EVP of Client Services, said that brands should recognize consumer preferences and help them visit an establishment. For marketers this is also the perfect way to convert consumers into brand advocates.

  Walmart uses its recently added Facebook feature called Crowdsaver to offer discounts on products. The app, which is similar to Groupon, requires a certain number of users to ‘like’ a product for the retailer to apply the discount. For Walmart, this strategy helped boost its brand image, while customers benefitted from the discounts offered.

• The multicultural audience: Several studies have found Latinos and African-Americans to be the fastest growing and the most loyal brand advocates on the internet. According to a recent Ipsos U.S. Hispanic Omnibus study, U.S. Hispanics aged 35-54 are more likely to purchase products online (62%). One of the companies that clearly understood the mindset of the ‘multicultural customer’ was PepsiCo. The beverage giant launched its ‘We Inspire’ campaign in 2010, targeting African-American mothers. The home page on the company’s website featured the Facebook ‘Like’ Widget, encouraged users to blog about their experiences, and upload personal stories on YouTube. The campaign was a huge success, with PepsiCo winning the NAACP award for “advancing positive multicultural images in advertising and media.”

The Power of Creative Campaigns

How are marketers encouraging ongoing involvement once a consumer has ‘liked’ or ‘followed’ a brand? Instead of simply posting a banner ad on a social media site and waiting for the ‘likes’, companies should make full use of web’s unique properties like interactivity, community-building, and the ability to specialize local offers. Listed here are some examples that illustrate the power of creative social media campaigns and how they can increase conversion rates for brands:


• Steaz Doubles Sales through Social Media: Organic tea brand, Steaz, took to social media platforms to generate nation-wide awareness and drive sales at Target stores. The company’s social media campaign saw sales double after users downloaded and shared coupons on Facebook and Twitter. Discussions on the benefits of organic tea saw 2,830 tweets recorded in one hour and 250,000 coupons being downloaded. The company’s marketing team aimed the campaign at moms after conducting a geographic and demographic research. According to Steaz, mothers were the perfect audience to generate awareness and sales, as they usually looked for coupons and were involved in health related discussions in social media.



• Colgate Uses Social Media to Drive Engagement: Following extensive research, the marketing department at Colgate decided to promote its disposable toothpaste, Wisp, through social media channels including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The company’s ‘Are You Kissable’ campaign was aimed at the urban youth in the 18-25 age bracket. The campaign, which was a resounding success, achieved a reach of 10,000,000+ rivaling mass advertising at small fraction of the cost.

Companies that understand the potential of social media marketing are investing millions of dollars, launching some highly innovative campaigns in the process. We believe that imaginative social media campaigns are vital and highly effective in attracting customers and influencing buying decisions, resulting in increased traffic and sales.

The Impact of ‘Followers’ and ‘Friends’

Social networks now have a huge audience that spends a good amount of time posting reviews and recommendations related to various products and services. Besides making personal connections, Facebook, Twitter and other sites are places where buying decisions are influenced through group interactions. Trust in social recommendations has increased to such an extent that, currently, 1/3rd of social media users follow recommendations made by their friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter before deciding to buy. HubSpot’s research shows that social media conversations actively influence purchases. According to a study conducted by market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, in 2010:

• 60% of Facebook fans and 79% of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend a brand after becoming a fan or follower.
• 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to buy the brands they follow or are a fan of.

The above statistics indicate that online research is one of the key factors influencing buying behavior. As more and more people depend on social media research versus opinions from in-store sales associates, marketers can no longer ignore user-generated reviews. With ‘followers’ and’ fans’ having such an impact on people’s buying decisions, it is imperative for brands to:

• Not just have a social media presence, but listen to shoppers and find out what they are saying.
• Connect with shoppers in social media: If brands want to connect with shoppers and impact their purchasing decisions, they need to devise strategies to ‘influence the influencers’ by continuously engaging with them.
• Incorporate customer feedback into their marketing strategies: Customers do not always address a brand or a company directly; sometimes they choose to post reviews (either positive or negative) or blog about their experiences. Smart marketers will monitor such social media conversations and incorporate this feedback into their marketing strategies.

What marketers need to keep in mind is the fact that social media shoppers are not always ‘actively social’. While one in four social media shoppers contribute to a conversation about a brand or product, the others view these conversations and decide if they want to make a purchase. While the ‘influencer‘ group is small, the impact on those ‘influenced‘ is large.

Conclusion

With 95 million social-media shoppers in the US alone, the opportunity for online marketers is huge. According to Forrester Research, social media marketing budgets will see a 34% growth between 2009 and 2014, which is faster than any other form of online advertising. This data indicates that shopping via social media is poised for tremendous growth in the years to come, with product reviews and recommendations playing an important part. This is not to say that the role of traditional marketing channels in influencing buying decisions will decline; people watching and listening to marketing messages on TV and radio are more likely to consult their friends and followers before making a purchase.

While reviews can help marketers further improve products, freebies and discounts function as powerful tools in driving sales. The current trend of consumers scouting social media for coupons holds good not just today, but will also be one of the primary factors driving online shoppers in the future. That said, the smart approach for digital marketers looking to add value to their campaigns would be to understand their shoppers, study the impact of online reviews and design their campaigns accordingly. We believe this to be the perfect recipe for that ‘creative campaign’, which will ultimately translate into profitable returns.

Currently, Google is the first stop for online buyers; however, the increasing influence of social media on online shopping means the search giant could soon be looking at many ’social’ contenders.

• Designing a Winning Social Media Campaign (1)
• Managing Social Media Burnout (0)
• The Influence of Social Media on Online Retail #SocialMedia #Retail (2)

We have been a part of the social media phenomenon since its advent. We’ve seen social media evolve and become an established marketing discipline.

Currently, we develop strategy and manage social media marketing (SMM) campaigns for most of our clients and our activity in this area has doubled in the last three months. The interest inSMM was coming to a head, and this burst in business has afforded us opportunities to experiment with various forms of SMM and strengthen our capabilities for the future.

At the onset of SMM we started with blog commenting, PR submissions and social bookmarking. We quickly moved on to executing micro-sites, widgets, multiple blogs, Twitter campaigns and viral techniques.  We have taken our clients to a higher level of social media. We have dedicated Twitter experts, social networking strategists, and designers who specialize in building applications for social media. We’ve grown to have a strong sense of confidence in this discipline and now feel that we can guide any client in achieving its business and marketing goals through our social media marketing practice.

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a vital part of any online marketing strategy. Most of the time, our clients are initially unsure of how to approach social media marketing and whether they should get into it at all. We get a lot of questions from marketing managers about how to start off with social media, what the benefits are, and how to sell it to their bosses.

Earlier SMM was seen as an addition SEO efforts, with it being a part of traditional link building and blog commenting. Position2’s strategy and competencies grew in tandem with the evolution of social media and it became clear that SMM was more than just link building and commenting. It was about conversing, interacting and engaging with influencers and customers at various stages of their decision making and buying cycles. We also deployed a host of tools—free, paid, and custom developed in-house—to track, measure, revise and lift social media campaigns. Clients who were not convinced about the value of SMM began to realize that qualified traffic could be increased through SMM alone.

An SMM client of ours—a leading medical alert system provider—was one of the clients whose faith in SMM grew when traffic to their website increased considerably along with conversions. They said “Position2 has helped take our company to a new level. The team has demonstrated a level of expertise and that has not only increased my ROI in the online marketing space but also elevated our entire web presence.” In this case educating the client and delivering on the right expectations have been key in achieving client satisfaction.

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