Social Media Marketing & Management

2015 Social Media Wish List

January 14, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

In this video, Steve Groller and Jim Doherty discuss the biggest social media marketing gifts Santa forgot to leave under our trees in 2014.

Here’s to a New Year of social media success, useful integrations, customized business solutions, more efficient management, and killer reporting!

Read Transcript

1. Desktop Notifications

Social media is a really fast-paced environment from a marketing standpoint, and I think it’s important that there’s a one-to-one connection with the intended audience. It can be a big disconnect from a brand standpoint if that communication is stalled or delayed by a certain degree of time.

A lot of social media platforms in 2015, we’re looking for that more instantaneous notification system. A lot of them have those notification systems, but they’re very mobile-based; they’re not so much desktop-based. And throughout the day, a social media marketer might not be on their mobile phone, on that mobile application as much as they might be on their desktop. And most social media marketers might have ten lists open with five or six tabs, and might not have the time or even the inclination at some points of the day, to scroll through and refresh each one of those feeds. But they would rather have that notification system, whether it’s a desktop pop-up or an email or something along those lines to let them know about the important things that are going on behind the scenes.

2. Realistic Upgrades

So the beauty of social media management solutions is their ability to integrate with other third-party solutions, whether it’s a CRM or whether it’s an app, different analytics platforms. That connection is great for businesses that have existing platforms but want to bring and tie all the pieces together.

A lot of these solutions say that all of these integrations are coming forward and they’re in the pipeline and they’re in the works, but none of these transitions actually translate into meaningful data that we can use.

So one thing that we wish for in 2015 and moving forward from these platforms is a more clear distinction between the expected roll-outs for updates and integrations and for better data, for better features, and what actually makes it to the platform at the end of the day.

3. More Robust Reporting

For any business that has made the foray into social media, one big challenge that we’re seeing is the ability to justify the expense and the investment, and show a return on investment for their activities on social. And for the most part from the marketer’s standpoint, that falls to reports. Reports of progress, reports based upon activities they’re doing on the networks and that sort of thing.

So from a reporting perspective, the visual interpretation that we’re able to provide to our clients and to upper management is key in our industry, especially when social media is becoming more visual in and of itself; that holds true for the reporting aspect as well.

So that’s why we hope for, on our wish list for 2015 for social media, that a solution comes around that can strike that balance between great looking visuals, customizable information, and quick exports into a presentable format.

4. Small Business Solutions

For a small to medium sized business to only be able to manage three of their accounts on a free version of a solution usually is problematic. Usually if they’re a local business, they have more than just a Facebook, a Twitter, and perhaps a Google+. There are other platforms that are very valuable to their business such as review platforms like FourSquare and Yelp. If they do videos on a regular basis, their YouTube is also probably a very important social asset.

There’s often a big disparity between the features any business needs and the features that really are catered to an individual person, so where you might want to run a campaign or a contest or something a little bit more elaborate for your small business, in most cases that costs an exorbitant amount of money in relation to how much you pay just to use the platform on a monthly basis.

In 2015, we’d like to see more middle-of-the-road options for small and medium sized businesses who don’t want to necessarily break the bank to run a contest or a promotion, to incentivize their customers to connect with them, to have a more meaningful relationship with their customer base, and eventually turn that social media traffic into foot traffic.

What items are on your social media wish list? Let us know in the comments!

Highlights from Socialytics (Social Media Analytics)

September 10, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

In case you missed it (or #ICYMI for the more hashtag-inclined), we’ve compiled the best of the best moments from our recent digital marketing event, “Socialytics: Revealing the Value of Social Media.” DMG’s own Steve Groller and Jim Doherty took the stage at the Gallery Above Penn Square (GAPS) and discussed how to develop a comprehensive social media strategy, the role content marketing plays in a successful social media presence, and more, all in the pursuit of that elusive beast: true, bona fide business value.

Transcript

The term “value” as it relates to social media is something that we’re going to focus on and it’s because while everyone seems to agree that social media is the platform, y’know, it’s the “thing” as far as that one-to-one connection, the stuff that everyone seems to go after from a marketing perspective. The value is something that’s a little more elusive. So when it comes to showing that value and translating that value from a business perspective, we’re going to look at it this way. We’re going to talk about starting with a strategy, so taking a tactical approach to social media, understanding where your positioning is now, where you hope to be, and how you’re going to get there. We’re going to talk about content, I’m going to talk about content, love that stuff. So, harnessing the power of that content and the power of the message associated with that content. Upon doing that, measuring with the data that matters, measuring what matters, what makes sense as far as your business goals and objectives via analytics. And finally, staying in a mindset where you’re constantly learning, constantly staying up to date, adapting to shifts and changes in that space. So, off we go.

So number one, start with a strategy. I’d like to talk a little bit first about what a strategy isn’t, because I think there are a lot of common misconceptions about what a strategy is and what it should encompass. A social media strategy is and what it should encompass. An effective social media strategy should not say “We’re going to launch our Facebook on this date,” “we’re going to start pushing content here,” and “we want 300 likes or 300 followers by the turn of the year.” That misses the point entirely. These follower metrics or these “likes” or these “favorites” or these “Retweets” are what we like to call vanity metrics. They’re called vanity metrics because they can be put in a pretty graph or they can be put on a bar graph or in a pie chart or wherever, and they can show incremental increases, but what do they actually mean? They’re easy to look pretty and they’re easy to display, but what do they actually mean?

A properly formed strategy ties tactics to business goals, and what we mean, well more specifically, your business goals and your overall objectives. While we talk a lot about competitive analysis and what your competitors are doing, the type of content that they’re disseminating vs. what you should be disseminating, you need to tie it back to your specific goals and objectives because they might be entirely different. A properly formed strategy also proves value with measures of success. How you define those measures of success and how you obtain that information is something we’re going to get into a little bit further in the presentation. And an effective strategy adapts and improves over time. The social media landscape changes constantly, almost too fast for a lot of us to keep up. But, the most important thing is taking that new information and taking those changes the platforms are making to themselves and to the measurement tools that analyze them, and writing those into your strategy.

Okay, next we’re going to talk about content. Excuse me if I get too giddy, but. I really do have a big appreciation for what I do as far as content goes, because the value of content and the value of social media, and the value of marketing essentially, are so closely tied. They’re so closely tied together. They go hand-in-hand. And the thing is, everybody in this room that works for a company, that brand has something about it that sets it apart from a competitor. So, there’s something that differentiates you. There’s something unique about that company. And you utilize content in such a way that you can tell that story and convey that message to a wide variety of audiences in a variety of different ways. In doing that, you develop this diverse content mix where the message is translated in various different ways and overall, the value is distributed among those audiences, y’know, their expectations are different, what appeals to them is different from, y’know a platform elsewhere. So, like I said, the avenues and the networks that we choose to push that information to, is not “parked.” It’s not “parked” content. Parking content, in other words, keeping a social media account active by having content constantly uploaded to it, is not the way to go. Because that practice of keeping those accounts open for the sake of keeping them open is predicated on this notion that that content has little to no value. And if the content doesn’t have value, then there’s something wrong with the story, or you’re not telling in the best way possible.

Now we’re going to get into a little bit of the numbers game. While I joke and say that it’s a numbers game, but as we’ve already said up here and we’ll probably say at least 20 more times before the presentation’s over, the numbers themselves don’t matter nearly as much as the context behind them. The chart here, which we made manually, it wasn’t derived automatically from one of these platforms, has two sets of data in it. One set of data is the amount of followers that a particular Twitter profile, a branded Twitter profile has over a 90 day period. The second set of data that’s in there is website traffic. That brand’s website from social media, so people go to these social media profiles and then their next move is to this company’s website. That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about bringing context to the situation, to the data. You can measure followers until you’re blue in the face, and say “We did well here, here, here and here.” But if you can’t relate that data back to another digital asset of yours, such as your website, and another source of your content, probably more content on your website, then that data is really meaningless.

So, we’ve reached the last point. So, that visual. Anybody here ever heard of iTunes Ping? The lack of hands does not surpri- you have, really? You’ve heard of it? Although the lack of hands does not surprise me. Basically, we’ve all heard of Apple. That was Apple’s go at a music-based social network back in 2010. Apple was probably not as popular as it is now, but certainly one of the most popular companies in the world in 2010, that’s when their iPhone 4 came out. And this network was created, and in less than 2 years they discontinued it. It failed. So, what I’m trying to say with that example is that this environment, this social media environment is changing. It’s turbulent. It’s unpredictable, but that is advantageous to brands in certain ways.

So throughout this environment, one quick tip is to rely on your most valuable asset, which I’ve talked about before, is your brand. We have had clients that are either in their transition, they’re transitioning to a new brand, they’re in the middle of a brand refresh, something of that nature, where the positioning is changing, the look and feel is changing, and not everybody’s on the same page. So those small problems, when you translate them to this, this environment that’s so hectic and so fast-paced, they get exponentially worse. So, when it comes to making these decisions about, “how are we going to translate the content we’re already creating to these new features that are coming out,” “which platforms are we going to pursue if new ones are coming up and other ones are dying out?” Your brand will dictate that. And as I’ve said before, in general, we’re talking about this turbulent environment is advantageous because it allows you to stay on your toes when it comes to updating processes, to updating strategies, to updating the tactics you’re doing, being fluid, being adaptive, looking at better data, more accurate data over time, and making better decisions.

If you stuck with us this far, congrats! How’d you like the presentation on social media analytic? If you did or you didn’t, let us know in the comments!

How to Choose a Social Media Management Platform

September 3, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

The scope of technology available to the average social media marketing pro is nothing short of phenomenally overwhelming. Solutions that publish, measure, schedule, amplify, and optimize are (slightly more than) a dime a dozen, so the big question becomes, “How do I see through the enticing sheen of snake oil and make the right decision for my business?”

Here are the steps you need to take to choose the best social media management platform.

Step 1: Know What You’re Getting (and What You Can’t Have)

Consumer privacy will always be a hot topic in the social sphere. As end users unknowingly submit information to social networking companies, only to erupt in utter backlash after the story is covered by a major news outlet, marketers will always have to understand two things. 1) Social media user data is dictated by the terms and conditions set out by the individual platforms, and 2) There’s no guarantee that the information you’re collecting will always be available.

As guidelines around content ownership and use of information/activity for advertising change, so too will the capabilities of the social media management platforms you seek. Armed with this understanding, you’ll be able to sort through the sales pitches and product demos that mislead and misinform. As difficult as it is to believe, solutions providers aren’t beyond promising that their tool will satisfy your every need (even if that’s not exactly true).

Speaking of product demos…

Step 2: Always Take a Test Drive

The details of a solution’s capabilities are often muddled behind the pricing plans and account levels that are available. For example, a social management platform that promises connections to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ may neglect to inform you that their most popular plan only allows you to connect 5 accounts. Manage a Facebook Company Page, LinkedIn Company Page, and 4 personal profiles? These will count individually toward your network limit. And you guessed it, adding more functionality requires a more expensive plan.

In order to remedy this, always give products a test run. If you can get a representative to walk you through individual features (from both the sales and programming department), even better. Allow them to show you how the system works, and take notes as you go. When the demo winds down, discuss the possibility of getting a free trial. If it’s not spelled out on the company’s website, the salesperson will almost always grant one.

This way, you’ll be able to compare solutions based upon the criteria you care about (usability, reporting, integrations, etc.) without getting caught up in bells and whistles.

Step 3: Get the Support You Need

At some point during your use of the solution, you’ll run into an issue. Whether it’s an issue with connectivity, an update, or a more technical problem, you’ll be engaging with the platform’s support team. To reduce your headache and get your issues resolved in as timely a manner as possible, it’s important to know the “chain of command” when it comes to different kinds of issues.

If you’re given an account representative, it’s likely that they’ll be your first line of defense for major issues related to the platform (adding accounts, billing, etc.). Oftentimes if you have a sudden issue, a virtual help desk or virtual live chat will be your best bet. And if all else fails and you’re more curious about a new feature or add-on software, community-driven support forums will provide the best solution. No matter the social media management platform, knowing where to go when a problem arises should be a top priority. This is especially true if you manage customer accounts or require Enterprise-level operations.

As the social media landscape becomes mission-critical for businesses, more and more solutions will be developed touting an effortless management experience. Your final decision will be based on countless factors specific to your business situation, but a keen sense of the platforms, the teams managing them, and an understanding of what you’re really paying for will go a long way.

What’s your go-to tip when choosing a social media management platform? Let us know in the comments!

3 Reasons Why Nonprofits Should Utilize Social Media

August 7, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group 1 Comment

Social media is an amazing communication channel. It allows for seamless connectivity in pretty much every aspect of our lives. This is true for individuals and organizations alike, and their overall objectives are largely the same: to build awareness of themselves, and to promote their message in a transparent manner.

Non-profit organizations are no exception. Social media can provide (and has been providing, see @charitywater) vast opportunities for growth and success. In my last blog, I talked about how easy it can be for organizations to bypass the “social” aspect of social media. For non-profits, the message is everything. Conveying that information to the public is a true art form and is made very manageable by social media networks’ communicative nuances. Which brings us to reason number one…

Information Is Influence

Every social media platform utilized by an organization should be a large part of their content strategy. While nonprofits tend to live and breathe their message every day, having a written plan surrounding that message will help to streamline social media communication efforts (as well as other content-based efforts, like press releases, brochures, etc.).

As humans, our emotions often play a large role in many of our decisions on a day-to-day basis. As such, the emotional response of the target audience plays a critical role in many nonprofit marketing strategies. In order to leverage the influence a nonprofit cause or message has, it’s important to plan the implementation of your information accordingly. In short – your information is powerful, so treat it as such.

Information travels so rapidly through social media that it can sometimes be hard to keep track. Twitter, for instance, has the power to directly reach over 120 million people in a matter of 2 minutes. Wielding the power to disseminate your information to a large audience with your fingertips is truly remarkable, and it should not be understated from a marketing standpoint. Which brings us to…

Building Your Volunteer Base

As your information continues to spread, awareness of your cause will grow. Individuals and businesses are always looking for new opportunities to volunteer (see Deb Wagner’s recent blog), and non-profits need to take advantage of their growth in the social space. According to this Social Media Today infographic, 90% of small businesses are utilizing social media. That’s a pie that nonprofits can’t miss out on a piece of!

Seamless Conversions

In the same manner that non-profit organizations’ reach and visibility can grow in the social space, their advancement can greatly benefit as well. E-commerce continues to become more convenient and secure, and platforms are rolling out their solutions.

In 2013, Google released its One Today app – and with the tap of a finger, users could donate $1 to any charity that signed up (through an application process and creating a free profile). One Today profiles are easily linkable via any social media platform, so the fundraising process is as simple as a Tweet.

Youtube (or, ya know, Google) recently upgraded its Google for Non-profits offerings with their “donation button”. This allows for nonprofit Youtube channels to integrate a button underneath the video being played so viewers are merely a click away from helping out. Tying the message to conversions has never been easier.

So, Let Your Voice Be Heard!

Regardless of conversion methods or tactics, the message itself is what’s most important. The way nonprofits get involved and allow others to get involved is imperative in this digital age. At its core, social media gives the voices behind these great causes a megaphone to the masses. They’ve just got to turn it on to be heard.

Has your nonprofit organization successfully implemented social media? Share your story in the comments below!

It’s Called SOCIAL Media, People

July 2, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Since the days of yore (back when MySpace reigned supreme), social media has been used as one thing above all else: a really great time waster. The reason social media exploded into being an integral part of our daily routines was because it entertained us. It allowed us to fill the gaps between our facetime by simulating it, and it was fun. Facebook came along as the MySpace reincarnate, and then Twitter gave us all the means to hear straight from the mouth of pop culture (I’m lookin’ at you, Bieber). Now, this isn’t to say that the “fun” social megdia platforms haven’t become more informational (see Facebook’s 2014 baby “What’s Trending”), so not every post or tweet needs to be witty or make your audience “LOL.”

But it still holds true that you’re more likely to scroll down to the video that “John and 3 other friends” shared of that cat pawing the keyboard (yes, almost 36 million of us watched this) than to read the mostly informative articles listed over there on the right hand side. So now my question is, why are so many brands struggling to grasp the very concept upon which social media was founded?

What Brands Are Doing

How is it possible to take a world-renowned brand of liquor coupled with a new flavor that resonates with a younger audience, and make it boring? Well, the folks behind Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey’s @JackHoney have found the answer. Instead of socializing with the fun-seeking young people who love their product, they have chosen to push a steady stream of advertisements driven by a less-than-stellar hashtag:

Listen, Jack. I respect you. I may even love you. But this incessant self-promotion misses the point. I beg you to take a look at Hootsuite’s all-powerful Rule of Thirds. Only ⅓ of your content should shamelessly promote your business. Throughout May 2014, that number was over 88% for @JackHoney. Not to mention, not a single tweet was sent as a direct interaction with your audience. You were tweeted at nearly 350 times in the month of May, yet you responded to none of those who took the time to try to connect with you.

If you’ve managed to pull yourself away from the feline-driven noise in the digital space, you’re probably aware that food and beverage conglomerate, Nestlé, has come under fire for their production tactics. This has led to some serious blowback from consumers through their social profiles.

When you receive interaction from your followers, you have two options. You can either respond, or you can ignore it. A Crisis Management Strategy (to handle situations like this) should always be on hand to aid in the formation of a response, but in Nestlé’s case, they have taken the opposite route. They have chosen to not respond at all, leaving consumers with nothing but a public forum to berate them, rightfully so or not. The criticism that has plagued their Facebook since February is showing no sign of cease-fire.

My point is, Nestlé, if you choose to continue to ignore these consumer complaints (as delicate as the situation may be), then you may wish to consider jumping ship and removing your social media profiles altogether. Social media is intended to initiate/facilitate a conversation, and if your profile resembles the likes of pissedconsumer.com with your refusal to join the conversation, then it’s time to call it quits. It’s called SOCIAL media, Nestle.

What Brands Should Be Doing

Taking Risks

Talking smack on an NFL team, particularly during the Super Bowl, certainly qualifies as a risk. But when handled with a brand-consistent message (and a little bit of playful humor), that risk becomes a reward pretty quickly:

Developing a Personality

Regardless of the nature of your brand’s personality (humorous, sincere, informative, etc.) it’s something that needs to be established. Perhaps the most prominent way of accomplishing this is to speak in first person. There may not be a more widespread consumer complaint in the 21st century than talking to a computer. Charmin is a prime example of how humanizing your brand (tastefully) with a consistent brand voice is a key to social success:

And (Shocker) Being SOCIAL

Similar to the class clown in high school, outlandish seems to resonate with us on social media. Just ask the folks at Skittles. They are widely praised for their use of social because of their unique witticism and their sarcastic interaction with consumers. Something as simple as retweeting them could warrant a response:

Perhaps the best lesson to learn from Skittles is that they don’t overcomplicate things. They promote their brand in multiple ways, but they also talk to people (what a concept!). Tell me that @Idk_ImMegan didn’t just become a Skittles fan for life. Bravo, Skittles.

Social media presents brands and consumers with the remarkable opportunity to interact with one another on a level we hadn’t experienced before. Once marketing teams understand that this interaction is a two-way street, their brand’s unique personality can shine through. And once that happens, their customers will definitely take notice. After all, it’s called SOCIAL media for a reason.

Have any other examples of great brand personality on social media? Let us know, or send a tweet our way

Social Media Survey: The Results Are In

May 7, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Why So Optical?

The ever-changing realm of social media develops new processes, norms, and expectations on a seemingly daily basis. So much so, in fact, that the only way to keep tabs on how the industry is changing is to get the information straight from the source behind the changes: the platforms themselves and the marketers who use them.

That’s why our friends at Software Advice, a social CRM research company, have released the preliminary results of their Social Media Content Optimization Survey – a survey of organizations’ content optimization processes on social media – specifically, what tactics are most effective.

According to the results – and not surprisingly to us – using photos and visuals in social media posts is the number one way to optimize engagement – with nearly 85% of respondents labeling visual content as “very important” or “important”. Social media marketing is all about grabbing attention (and ideally maintaining it) so as social media continues to integrate more closely with our brands’ visibility, the content we share needs to reflect that visibility in more than black and white.

Why We Should Follow Suit

The effective implementation of visual content into your social media strategy can prove beneficial to more than just how many “likes” you’re receiving. More importantly, visual content gives your brand a personality capable of building meaningful relationships that go beyond the electronic equivalent of an awkward hug – the Tweet “favorite.”

How Platforms Are Responding

Recently, Twitter’s transition to making images in line with text so that users no longer have to click a separate link to view an image has streamlined the user experience. More notably, it’s brought visual content to the forefront of Twitter campaigns.

Facebook has traditionally been the industry precedent for visual content, and continued without exception with the integration of larger images on link posts. If you share a URL on Facebook, a preview of the article with an image now over twice as large as in early 2013 will appear – which has been increasing engagement across the board.

We all know that the casual social media user is resistant to change. One could’ve thought the Mayan Apocalypse was more than a rumor when Facebook made its 2013 layout and chat functionality change. So, when a platform decides that change is worth the blowback, marketers best revise their strategy accordingly. The computer age and the visual movement are now one in the same.