social media

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC Hires Logan Bucks as Inbound Marketing Manager

June 28, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Reading, PA – DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC hires Logan Bucks for the new position of Inbound Marketing Manager.

Responsibilities of the Inbound Marketing Manager at DaBrian include the application, maintenance, and growth of clients’ social media accounts, email marketing campaigns, and all other forms of digital content. The Inbound Marketing Manager’s tasks are to evaluate the use of social media, email, and content, attract a client’s targeted audience through paid and organic initiatives, and promote services or products through a voice that matches the client’s unique brand. Answering customers’ questions, promoting discounts or sales, sharing a company’s unique culture, and building a company’s brand awareness are just some of the major goals of the Inbound Marketing Manager at DaBrian.

Logan Bucks is a 2016 Kutztown University graduate with a dual-major B.S./B.A. in Marketing and Management. Bucks, a former intern at DaBrian in 2015, demonstrates her skills and abilities to understand and utilize the world of social media, email marketing, and digital consumer behavior to improve clients’ online presence. She is a valued new addition to the close-knit team at DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC.

President and CEO, Daniel Laws gave the following statement: “We’re happy to have Logan back at DaBrian Marketing Group and we look forward to her continuous growth and valuable contributions to our team.”

Visit the team page of DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC’s website to learn more about Logan and the rest of DaBrian’s personnel.

7 Deadly Sins of Social Media for Banks

June 8, 2015 by Daniel Laws Leave a Comment

A recent American Banker article discussed opening up the opportunities for employees to engage with customers. I was surprised that this was the position of the article because financial institutions, in general, tend to be very risk adverse. I understand utilizing social media to communicate with customers, but I think there need to be some controls. With that said, I give you my 7 deadly sins of social media for banks.

Lusting for “Likes” without the Bank’s Strategy

Before opening communication on social media for bank employees and customers, it’s important to recognize the need for a social media strategy and why social media matters. Profitability is a major concern in this competitive market, and social media can help financial service institutions differentiate themselves and communicate with customers on a level they’re accustomed to. For a bank to allow employees and customers to interact via social media, there needs to be a clear strategy and metrics to determine whether or not it’s having an impact on deposit accounts, loan applications, improving customer service, and generating revenues.

Failing to Acknowledge Competition (Pride)

With all the potential mergers and acquisitions banks go through, the market has become increasingly competitive. Not looking into the competitive landscape of how to effectively use social media can lead to disaster. There are a few financial services institutions (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and US Bank) that banks can take a note from on how to implement social media best practices and still remain compliant. Leverage the learning from local credit unions to connect with the local markets is a good place to start.

Not Preparing for the Rage of Employees & Customers

Not all employees or customers will remain happy with the bank so failing to prepare for the wrath of an unhappy employee or an unsatisfied customer may lead to unwanted national media attention. I would highly recommend that banks develop social media policies and procedures to manage employees social media engagement on behalf of the institution. It is also wise to clearly communicate what customers should expect and not expect via social media from the bank. A good example of this is Bank of America which offers guidelines and terms of use specifically for their social media community. These social media guides should help you to limit the risk and plan accordingly for the wrath of unhappy individuals or sensitive information.

Starting with More than Banks can Handle (Gluttony)

With all the social media networks out there, which one makes sense for the business? Opening up every social media platform to employees and customers is simply not a good idea. I would highly recommend that you start with one platform at a time and prioritize which social media platforms make sense based on your strategy. Each social media platform has unique aspects and as an industry that is generally slow to implement change getting a handle on each platform and understanding how customers engage will be critically important, so don’t bite off more than you can chew at one time!

Excessive Promotion of Your Bank and Financial Services

Contrary to popular belief your social media accounts should promote more than your bank, credit union, wealth management, and products or services. I would recommend the social media rule of thirds. ne-third of the social media content should promote the bank, one-third should share industry information and one-third should be based upon interactions and socializing with customers or potential customers. If you’re not following the rule of thirds or something similar you’re simply being greedy and tantalizing your community which will end with customers disengaging.

Being Lazy on the Measurement

The real question is how do you plan to measure the effectiveness that social media is having on growing deposit accounts, loan applications, and improving customer service? For years, I’ve witnessed banks and credit unions being really lazy on measuring the return on investment for their marketing dollars, especially dollars spent on social media marketing! There is a cost associated with having employees engage in this process and there should be a return on that investment. For full visibility into the return on investment, banks need to implement web analytics solutions and track across mobile banking apps, loan or member application process, and customer support tickets. Without doing so, there will be limited visibility into the overall impact that social media is having on the deposit accounts and lending.

Envy of the Competitor’s Social Community without Context

So the competitor has 1 billion likes and a trillion followers but how many members of their social media community interact with the brand, share information, use the specific social network, and are advocates for the company or product/service offerings? Don’t be jealous of the number of metrics without understanding the context of how they were acquired or the level of interaction. You can purchase Twitter followers but are they real followers? For example, you can have 300 followers for with a 50% interaction rate or you can have 1000 with just a 10% interaction rate.

Conclusion

It’s important to the financial service industry to embrace the idea that social media to communicate with customers, members, or investors but it should be aligned with the strategy and add value to the potential customers as well as the organization. The social media strategy and value of social media must be clearly established prior to opening social media communications. The expectations should be clearly defined for customers and employees to put things into perspective and avoid the 7 deadly sins of social media for financial services organizations.

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!

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.