Archive for November, 2009
Chickens and Eggs in Social Media Execution
Posted by Lisa in Customer Marketing, Integrated Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing on November 21st, 2009
As much as we love technology at Cubed Consulting, our mission is to help our clients develop comprehensive, appropriate, measurable, attainable, and sustainable customer relationship and marketing strategies. Although we enthusiastically Tweet, do status updates, ask to connect in Linkedin, and even create surveys in Facebook; we are ever cognizant that the selection of which e-playground we choose for our outreach and relationship-building is driven first by a clear understanding of our business goals and objectives. We have worked for and with both small and Fortune 100 clients who have adopted an approach to social media execution without examination of their purpose or alignment with customer relationship, sales, and marketing plans and quite frankly, made a mess of things. We spend our time helping you understand and articulate your goals first and then assist in the selection of the appropriate social media tools and measurements; posting frequency and content; and integration with other strategies, applications, and efforts. There may be some consistent truisms to corporate social media interaction, but you will never hear “Everybody MUST have a Twitter account” from us. You will get recommendations about specific tools after we analyze how best to meet your stated needs. To illustrate this approach, let’s look at a very skeletal example:
Objective: Create more corporate/brand awareness in new communities.
Tactics:
1) Traditional marketing outreach and collateral to new communities:
2) Leveraging existing or new social media outlets to establish relationships and create conversation.
a) Join New Groups in Facebook, Linkedin, etc. applications that map to new demographic profile.
b) Use Twitter Lists, hash tags, etc. to gauge and generate interest in solutions, company etc.
c) Produce audio/video/other collateral relevant to message and launch.
d) Etc.
My point is not to delineate the steps of our engagement process, but to demonstrate that the selection of tools, applications, and approach FOLLOW not DEFINE our social media decision-making. If the objective were to gauge interest in a new solution or product, we may not advise establishing a Facebook or Linkedin presence until the research around communities of interest had determined that those were the appropriate venues.
I’m looking forward to “meeting” many of you and exchanging thoughts!
Regards,
Lisa
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We Have to Change the Way We Change
Posted by Jimmy Maher in Customer Experience, Customer Marketing, Integrated Marketing Strategy on November 12th, 2009
Anybody who has ever owned an aquarium knows that you can only change a certain amount of the water at a time without upsetting the delicate bacteriological balance that keeps ammonia and nitrate levels safe for the fish. This principle might also be applied to organizations. How often have we seen sweeping changes in organizations that fail to address the issues that they have been targeted at, yet cause huge disruption and uncertainty, which eventually ripples through to the customer with unintended consequences.
In an insightful article by social entrepreneur Zenna Atkins in the Guardian online at http://bit.ly/2Eryg5, the author advises against the “big bang” approach to change, in favor of the incremental approach. Atkins argues that it is better to have multiple listening points, both internally and externally that enable an organization to be constantly aware of what is going on. This provides the necessary intelligence that allows the organization to evolve gradually to keep pace with ever changing customer needs. Listening posts might include customer and employee surveys, social media (blogs, customer forums, Twitter etc.), focus groups and direct conversations.
The bottom line – establish listening posts internally and externally. Introduce change in continuous small increments to allow your organization to become accustomed to each new state. Use the same listening posts to evaluate the success or failure of the change. Your customers and employees will be glad that you listened and acted.
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The 3 Keys to Social Media Success
Posted by umangshah in Customer Experience, Customer Marketing, Integrated Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing on November 10th, 2009
Why are you on Facebook? What do you hope to accomplish by using Twitter? Do you have a plan for all those audio and video testimonials that you are creating? Does your overall web presence clearly communicate how your customers can (and should) interact with you through each channel? If not, don’t read any more of this blog post. Go figure out why you are doing what you are doing then come back and figure out how to make the most of your Social Media Marketing efforts to achieve your goals.
For the rest of us, the recipe is actually simple. It’s the preparation and execution that can get complex. We get caught up in all the possibilities that the web and Social Media offer us. In fact, when you read this blog post, don’t read too into it. Don’t try to get fancy – just stick to the basics.
1. Be Genuine – Above all, be yourself (as a person and as a corporation). Remember, that our customers are very smart and they know when we are not being real. Our customers connect with us online so they can engage us in a personal, candid dialogue. Remember, if they want to read the polished Press Release they will pick it up off the Wire. Give them more – don’t just tell them that you are great (even if you are) but instead show them what makes you so great. Maybe it’s the great people you have that work with you. Maybe it’s the high value you put on customers. Maybe it’s your quirky approach to business. Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to show the real you. (I feel like your Mom giving you a pep talk)
SIDE NOTE: It’s also ok to share the bad with the good – it demonstrates candor and establishes credibility.
2. Provide Value – What do your customers want? They may want discounts (who doesn’t). They may want information. They may want to be heard. They may want to laugh. Whatever they want, give it to them and give it often. More often than not, especially in the B2B space, the answer is not just money. Trust me, it’s not just about money – it is about a mutually beneficial relationship. In the end, Value is different for every customer and every organization. Pair what your customers want with what you can offer but figure this out quickly because, without this, your customers have no reason to engage you and, worse, they have no reason to recommend you.
3. Interact – We have spent more than a century providing static content to our customers and prospects. Our marketing message has been one way and we never knew, for sure, if anyone was listening to it. Social Media is changing all of that. We now have the ability to engage in conversations with our customers in ways we couldn’t before. We can get feedback and adjust accordingly in an instant. Social Media empowers our customers to evangelize our products and services. The best part of all of this is that our customers actually want to interact with us online. We, as a people, are spending so much more time in Social Networks than ever before. Take advantage of this trend and engage your audience and interact with them through the channels that they are already comfortable with.
In Social Media, to be successful, you don’t need a persona, you don’t need to bribe, and you don’t need to be polished – but you do need a plan.
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