SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING A GUIDE TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING CAMPAIGN
TABLE OF CONTENTS I. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING? II. PEOPLE III. OBJECTIVES IV. STRATEGY V. TECHNOLOGY/TOOLS
CHAPTER ONE
WHAT IS
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
3
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
Often we hear organizations says “We need to be on social media”. Today, companies and organizations are still trying to figure out what to do with it. While social media is free, its hidden cost is usually in resources. And, with so many different avenues to follow, you can end up spending a lot of time (money) guessing what will help your brand. The reason that organizations struggle to implement a social media strategy is because there are so many tools that are available for them to use. In addition, there are so many possibilities for interaction it is hard to measure each interaction and connect them to business drivers. Until recently, there has never been an underlying strategy any organization could follow to measure and connect their interactions to business drivers.
“We need to be on social media!”
4
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
At eBoost, we encourage the use of the POST method, designed by Forrester, to create a comprehensive social media marketing strategy. POST stands for “People,” “Objectives,” “Strategy,” and “Technology” or “Tools.” The POST method is a systematic approach for creating a successful social media campaign that will bring value to your organization. Completing and understanding each step is essential before moving forward because each step builds upon itself and creates the foundation and direction for the overall strategy.
PEOPLE
OBJECTIVES
STRATEGY
TECHNLOGY/TOOLS
CHAPTER TWO
POST METHOD:
PEOPLE
6
POST METHOD: PEOPLE
The personas you created to best represent your customer segments are the individuals that your social media marketing strategy will be built upon. The entire social media marketing strategy is based on those personas’ behaviors on social media websites. Based on those behaviors you will decide what are the best social media tools to use that will increase the interaction between your organization and your customer segments. By using their social technographics and the insight learned in your persona development, you will create a strategy that is customized for and targeted to your customer segments. When done correctly, each customer can become an asset and scale your organization because they are producing content that will help you improve your organization and contribute to your Social Media Marketing.
7
POST METHOD: PEOPLE
1. Open your persona reports
persona report
8
POST METHOD: PEOPLE
2. Review the Social Technographics The value of the index number & the percentages tells you how the persona interacts on social media and their favorite way to interact. The higher the percentage and index number on the Social Technographics Chart indicates the persona’s favorite way to interact on social media.
social technographics
Eric is active online. He likes to talk about his work as a teacher. He will share anything that he finds interesting or funny. Eric gives feedback & comments on blogs & Facebook posts. He is comfortable in online social settings and can navigate websites with ease
9
POST METHOD: PEOPLE
3. The Engagement Pyramid is another source that gives clues to you on what tools you need to use to best interact with your customer segments
engagement pyramid
Eric has a high & active online profile. To engage with personas like Eric, your organization will provide content that is open for opinions & comments. Interesting and updated news will be reposted by Eric.
CHAPTER THREE
POST METHOD:
OBJECTIVES
11 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
Objectives are the desired results you wish to accomplish by using social media combined with your persona’s Social Technographics and Engagement Pyramid. Review your persona’s Social Technographics and Engagement Pyramid and consider how are they most engaging in social media. After analyzing their social media behavior and your own goals, create objectives that are measureable so you can see if your social media marketing plan is being effective.
12 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
1. Understand your broad objectives Listen • Talk • Energize • Support • Collaborate
13 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
listen
Listening to your customer segments is one of the best ways to improve your organization because customers provide the best feedback for improvement.
14 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
talk
Providing content that lets your customer segments voice an opinion will help you keep your organization on top of mind.
15 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
energize
Excite and empower your users with information about your organization that increases engagement.
16 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
support
Social media is a great way to answer questions and show your customers that you care about them by actively responding to their concerns and comments.
17 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
collaborate #
# WWW.
@
Create communities within social media. Getting your organization’s audience to talk between each other will encourage improvement and advancement of your cause.
18 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
2. Based on the persona reports, come up with an objective that will be the most engaging with your customer segments and what you wish to accomplish on social media. Use the following table to decide where your objectives meet your customer segments.
key performance indicators
19 POST METHOD: OBJECTIVES
3. Each equation is a Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) if your marketing strategy is moving in the right direction or not. There are tools that will help to organize and visualize the data that you collect:
Export.ly will graph the interactions that your audience has with your social media sites.
Tweetreach helps you track the impact of your twitter by tracking how many users received your tweet and if they spread your tweet.
CHAPTER FOUR
POST METHOD:
STRATEGY
21 POST METHOD: STRATEGY
Deciding what technology and tools to use must be the last stop when creating a social media marketing plan. If an organization dives into social media without developing a strategy first, they can hurt their image and waste time and resources. It is like shooting into the dark; there is a small chance that you will hit the target and an even larger chance that you will hit nothing and possibly cause damage.
Y G E T A R T S
22 POST METHOD: STRATEGY
time
Create check points throughout your Social Media Marketing execution to see if you are meeting your goals. If your plans are to actively do social media for 12 months, create check points every month. This will help you stay organized and not get ahead of yourself.
23 POST METHOD: STRATEGY
cost
Analyze your budget and decide how much money you have to allocate to social media.
24 POST METHOD: STRATEGY
scope
Decide the breadth of the project. For instance, if you were planning a video campaign, you would think about and write down the answers to the following: How many videos you will you do?, With whom will you do it?, Where will you film? Your plans must be achievable; do not attempt a strategy that does not align with your personas and objectives.
25 POST METHOD: STRATEGY
resourceS
Your resources are the people responsible for creating, running, and managing your social media campaign.
CHAPTER FIVE
POST METHOD:
TECHNOLOGY/TOOLS
27 POST METHOD: TECHNOLOGY/TOOLS
Deciding what technology and tools to use must be the last stop when creating a social media marketing plan. If an organization dives into social media without developing a strategy first, they can hurt their image and waste time and resources. It is like shooting into the dark; there is a small chance that you will hit the target and an even larger chance that you will hit nothing and possibly cause damage.
Based on your personas, list the social media platforms that you believe they will be on and will most likey use. Plan out how you will use those social media platforms to achieve the scope that you laid out previously and reach your objectives. Create a timeline and schedule of what actions must be taken by each resource to make sure you are actively engaging your customer segments and striving to achieve your objectives. The following are tools that can be used to achieve your object: