Social Media Engagement

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing blog posts is that it helps me better organize and sort my thoughts. When posts resonate with the readers or followers and as conversations unfold, further understanding ensues. One of the things we have been grappling with internally is engagement, and does that mean that we have achieved success with our clients because we added (10) twitter friends every month, or does that mean we failed because we re-purpose content on a blog post in order to meet a blog quantity metric.  Frankly, it is neither, and sometimes we all miss the point of the Real Value of Engagement, and the order in which it even occurs, which is sometimes different for different clients.

Social Media Engagement

Social Media Explorer and friend Jason Falls recently penned post titled , What is Engagement and How Do We Measure It, that attempted the question, but it seems there are a variety of answers, depending on who you ask.

One of the most powerful business objectives social media can deliver is consumer engagement. At least that’s what all the social media advocates tell you, right. But what exactly is “engagement,” how do you measure it and why is it all of a sudden the holy grail of marketing?

Frankly, engagement is just a bullshit term made up to apply to making people do something in the online (or offline) space. Sixty years ago engaging a customer meant you said, “Hi. Wanna buy some stuff?” They said, “Sure, whatya got?” Then they bought something.

Jason points out in his post, It’s always about the bottom line to the people who sign the checks. We tend to agree here at Digital Sherpa, and have a saying that If You Aren’t Selling More Stuff to More People for More Money, Then Your Social Media Campaign is Just a Hobby. That tends to get the Social Media Purists in a bit of an uproar, but it really is the bottom line. Sometimes it even gets our own staff in an uproar as they too can tend to cling to a self imposed need to be right.

There a zillion and one ways to engage with your customers and clients, and we will start to cover some of those with a couple of examples.

What to Measure; Hard to go Wrong with Results

As simple as it sounds, I tend to gravitate toward results. I am not always the most tactful guy in the room, so delivering sustainable results has helped me immensely throughout my career. Social Media Marketing, frankly any type of marketing, can be a little vague. One of our clients, Paragon Properties, a regional apartment operator in SE Michigan with about 7,500 units engaged us to help them with their internet marketing and to Expand Their Digital Footprint.

Rather than starting with adding facebook fans, twitter followers and the like, we started with Increasing Web Presence. According to studies, we continue to read that over 80% of consumer interactions w/ a brand start in a search box. If that is the case, don’t you wnat your business showing up in search results?

That is exactly where we started with Paragon, and we delivered. We started the project in September of last year, and after (106) blog posts and several web site optimization tweaks, here are January, Year over Year Results

Web Traffic Increase       93.44 % Increase

Page View Increase         112.47% Increase

But if you are the check signer, do you really care about web traffic increase? I have done enough of this to know though, that with those kind of increases, actual physical traffic in the door had to increase, and so it was no surprise when the company president phoned to tell us they experienced their highest traffic and rental month in January that they have had in the last six months! Being in SE Michigan, with the highest unemployment in the nation, helping the client have the largest traffic month in six months in January is of real benefit, and makes renewing the contract a shoe in.

Next post, we will cover another client, Harvest Power, and their specific goal is to build a following first, and we will outline how we soared past 1,000 relevant twitter followers on our way to 2,000 followers in weeks, not months.

So, What are you looking with Engagement?

Your Customers are armed with a Media Arsenal

Why Should You Care About Twitter

I have heard the line from sportsman, Fish Where the Fish Are, and that also rings true for Social Media Fishing. Perhaps that seems self explanatory, however when we talk to small and mid size business they frequently question the validity of twitter, and sometimes rightfully so, who cares what someone is doing right?

Well, if it is your taco shop, (insert any business) you just gained a whole lot of free marketing, and customer loyalty as outlined in the below listed post

This was posted by one of our bloggers over at The Urbane Life Blog, and it really illustrates just how a Twitter Exchange occurs. The general gist is the blogger, Erica Finley is a really passionate and frequent patron of Qdoba, and she knew something wasn’t right. But the whole underlying piece here is how quickly you can get valuable information from your core customers, IF You Are Listening.

Here is part of the story, and the Twitter Exchange

On a seemingly ordinary visit to the Royal Oak location, I ordered my chicken 3-Cheese Nachos, just as I have during my past trips to the famous Mexican grill. But instead of ladling the queso goodness into the bowl as they always have, the staff member put it in a tiny cup typically reserved for guacamole, put the tortilla chips in the bowl, and proceeded to pile the chicken and shredded cheese on top of the chips.

My deer-in-headlights reaction was reflexive and impossible to hide. I felt betrayed. How could my beloved Qdoba so callously change one of their signature dishes, the very reason I became so loyal in the first place?

For those without the inside scoop, there have always been two ways to order your nachos: chips on the side, with all of your ingredients in a separate bowl (i.e. the right way), or the all-in-one approach, with the queso, salsa, meat and other toppings poured over the top. I had always rejected this option, as it is more difficult to eat and results in soggy chips.

But this new set-up was a violation of both options. I easily got less than half of the queso that I typically did, and it required me to dip a chip covered in chicken and shredded cheese into a tiny cup of melted cheese. It was a mess.

I immediately but politely questioned the new method. The manager apologized profusely and said he had already experienced a backlash from other customers. He said it was a corporate decision to construct them differently, and his hands were tied.

And so I did what any social media enthusiast would do – I turned to Twitter for help.

Note The Twitter Exchange

Another thing to remember friends, Your Customers are armed with a Media Arsenal, cameras, cell phones, videos and laptops and can distribute and augment content in a flash as you will note below;

I was already following @QdobaMexGrill and knew the staff member who manages the account was Doug. So I tweeted my plea, complete with a Twitpic of my meal for evidence:

Doug responded less than two hours later, at almost 10 p.m.

To which I responded:

Doug responded to my tweet with a direct message. Note the time: 11:49 p.m.

My response:

I had also taken to the Qdoba corporate Facebook page to express my frustrations in a tongue-in-cheek, but to-the-point “letter” to Qdoba.

It was there that Doug kept me updated on the progress of the issue. On December 4, I was told that he had forwarded my issue to the Operations Team, who would determine how to address the problem. Then on December 9, I was informed that a communication was sent to all of the Michigan restaurants the week prior, instructing stores to continue honoring “chips on the side,” at the request of its guests.

On December 12, I decided to test the Royal Oak location. I was skeptical. What if they hadn’t gotten the memo?

Lo and behold, it was back to business as usual, and the glorious meal I had grown to know and love was mine once more. I tweeted to Doug about my enthusiasm:

Just a few short hours later, a response.

It was definitely in the company’s best interests to resolve my issue. Losing me as a brand ambassador would mean lost revenue, not to mention the damage that might be done by word-of-mouth both online and off if I shared my story.

But they didn’t have to help me. And they did. Which means they get it. They understand the tremendous customer service power that Twitter houses, and how providing value to followers on the site helps build the Qdoba brand. Just one of many shining examples of a company using social media to get things done.

Follow Qdoba Mexican Grill on Twitter @QdobaMexGrill.

Disruptive Marketing: Remove Folks That Are in the Way

I like Disruptive Marketing It tends to move things forward and remove folks that are getting in the way of change

Not just for the sake of shaking things up, although some might think that sometimes when I am on a soapbox, but it tends to forward propel change, sometimes much needed change.

Take the Kindle for example. A recent post in the New York Times by Nick Bilton titled Is Amazon Working Backward The post drew a lot of criticism as a botched attack on the Kindle. The intent of this post is not to debate the merits, or lack there of, of the graphs and ways and means in which Bilton surveyed the Kindle. It is about the Kindle being a Disruptive Product.

Seth Godin penned a post on this as well, and summed it up nicely with this quote;

The Kindle has managed to offend exactly the right people in exactly the right ways. It’s not as boring as it could be, it excites passions and it has created a cadre of insanely loyal evangelists who are buying them by the handful to give as gifts.

Create Disruption

Start to think about ways to get your product offering in front of your Customer Evangelists. The many conduits of Social Media aid your marketing efforts, and give your Customer Evangelists extended reach and speed.

Disruption Marketing goes against the grain, think Cirque du Soleil, a circus, but no animals. Look at the way Steve Jobs disrupted the entire music business with the iPod. In the case of ketchup, it was as easy as turning the bottle upside down.

While these are big brand examples, there are hundreds of ways you to can establish distance between your product offering and the guy across the street, its called being creative.

We would love to feature your story here on this site, and we will help you expand your digital footprint by writing about your remarkable product or small business. Leave us a comment, or drop us a line.

Social Media Marketing: Scaling the Beast

I had an opportunity to chat with Chris Boudreauxover over the holiday break about a number of things surrounding Social Media, and the many projects he is pioneering. I will be presenting at the upcoming Optimization Summit with Chris and several other great speakers. Chris created SocialMediaGovernance.com which provides tools and resources for leaders and managers who want to get the most from their social media and social application investments.

Chris penned a recent article over on his blog titled Tips for Scaling Social Media, which  outlines the topic nicely. The next question that clients typically ask once they wrap their minds around the multitude of benefit that Social Media offers, is, how can we do this in our organization? Or, the larger mid size business chime that Social Media only works for small businesses and doesn’t scale for us.

Social Media Has an Evolution Process

We have all lived in Instant America for some time now,and in business we expect results quickly. There is certainly several “Soft Sell” pieces about Social Media Marketing, however, the primary reason for any business to utilize Social media marketing is, To Sell More Stuff Anything less than selling more stuff, to more people for more money is Just a Hobby.

It Is Only What You Put Into It

Like, how may times have we ever heard that, lot’s right, but it rings very true with Social Media Marketing. While your organization will greatly benefit from enhanced SEO that Social Media Marketing  quietly delivers, the real Pay Dirt comes with time as you move Left to Right across the graph that Chris has laid out.

Does It Get Easier

As you and your organization traverse the Social Media trek, a wonderfully amazing occurrence surfaces. Your customers, those folks some have labeled as Evangelists start to circle the wagon. They bring lots of vibrant energy to your Brand, and, the real pay off comes when the Evangelists start to help you Sell More Stuff.

Follow the Money; Social Media Spend Shifts

So, No Pepsi at the 2010 Superbowl! Wow, what do you think about that?

As reported by the good folks at Mashable;

For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi will not have any ads in the Super Bowl. Instead, the company will be spending $20 million on a social media campaign it’s calling The Pepsi Refresh Project.

Such a large move is noteworthy for any company, however Pepsi’s symbiotic relationship with the Super Bowl makes this shift to new media that much more seismic. ABC News notes that Pepsi spent $142 million on Super Bowl ads over the last decade. Pepsi’s ads are often some of the most iconic, and the company has historically pulled out all the stops for the Super Bowl.

We believe that The Directional Flow of Marketing Has Changed If you are following what the big brands are doing, it is pretty clear that they are waning from traditional marketing more and more in favor of Social Media Marketing.

Will they find the payoff?

Well, that has yet to be seen.  But one thing that we are seeing with Social Media Marketing, both from our own experiences with our small business and what others are doing that isn’t talked about is that it is largely about Marketing Within. What we are seeing is that many times the most successful social media marketing campaigns are about the brands customers.

Compound Effect

We penned a post a year or so ago over on Search Engine Guide about the Compound Effects of Social Media Marketing, and received almost sixty comments. The point of the post though can be seen in what Pepsi is doing.

---

This is an interesting strategy, especially for a company that continues to spend much of its advertising budget on television. Like other social media campaigns, execution is key. If Pepsi can effectively orchestrate the Pepsi Refresh Project, the company can build brand awareness while also helping out communities across the world. On the flip side, if not executed properly, the company could wind up spending $20 million on philanthropic causes (which is to be commended), without getting the benefits of a buzz-generating ad campaign.

So, an opportunity to create brand Awareness AND Philanthropic Causes sure seems to be an excellent leverage of marketing dollars. This will be an interesting experiment to watch.

Social Media Campaigns Build Strong Community Preference

Consumers are engaging with businesses and brands they follow through social networks and media platforms. A recent study by Razorfish entitled “FEED: Digital Brand Experience Survey” polled users that were active “friending” businesses as summarized in a recent report.

The research showed a dramatic increase in awareness or inclination to consider the brand when in the market to buy, and then to ultimately purchase or recommend the businesses’ service or products for consumers following those businesses through their online social communities. Here are some of the highlight results:

DigitalSherpa programs allows companies and brands to integrate social media into their marketing plans by simplifying the process and doing all the heavy lifting at an extremely affordable monthly cost. Just email us at ajapko@nci.com and let us help you put the social web to work for your business.