Easily Said & Done
  • Home
    • Clients
  • What We Do
    • Customer Experience
    • Simplification
    • Government Projects
    • Small Business Strategy
  • Case Studies
    • Win-Win Lending
    • The Helpful IRS
    • Training Sprints
    • Technical Writing
  • Simply Smart
  • Join Me

Social Media Marketing: The Rules of Engagement

8/29/2018

 
Picture
Focus on your audience and center your activity around theirs—cheer them on, help them out, raise them up—connect what they’re doing online with what you want to achieve.
Whether you’re looking for customers or career opportunities you know you’ve got to be and be seen online. The question is: Where and how should you be seen so you get the right people to notice you? And, to make things even more complicated, should you figure out the answer to the question, tomorrow everything could change. That’s what social media has done not just to online marketing but marketing in general.

So, how do you make the right decisions for your business or career to invest your resources wisely? Here are a few rules of thumb for maximizing your social media ROI:
  1. Know Your Audience
    The more you know about the audience you’re looking to attract to your business, resume or skills, the better able you will be to develop the right strategy for success. So, gather as much detailed information as possible.
  2. Do Your Homework
    The Web gets a bad rap for being full of useless info (see countless YouTube videos involving pets), but it’s also chockablock with free articles, statistics, research papers, etc., which you can use to gain key insights about your audience, such as: the online tools they use and how they use them; when they’re most likely to be online, and, most importantly, what they care about.
  3. “Fish Where the Fish Are”
    Invest your time and energy in the social media tools used most often by your target audience. You might even try starting with the one tool they use most frequently or that the majority of your audience uses at least once a day or a few times a week. By understanding how your audience interacts with these tools you will also have a good idea of how frequently you need to engage with these tools yourself.
  4. Be Real
    Even if you’re representing your business (or somebody else’s), be a real person and engage with your audience in a genuine manner. If you’re looking for career and networking opportunities, be a professional across all of your social media spaces, posts and outlets—everything’s connected in cyberspace and nothing ever truly dies. Plus, the real key in successful social media marketing is having your information seen by other people’s networks of contacts because they “Like” you on Facebook, retweet you on Twitter, repin you on Pinterest, etc.
  5. Set Realistic Objectives + Goals
    Before diving into any of the social media streams, define your objective for each tool. Set goals and targets that are realistic and based on how much time and effort you are going to invest. Be clear about the time horizon for achieving your goal, i.e., weekly, monthly, quarterly. Plan to invest at least three months in any one social media tool, like Facebook or Twitter, with the understanding that you will most likely need at least six months to see any real progress.
  6. Determine How You Will Measure Results
    There’s no way to know if your strategy is successful unless you have a way to measure how you’re doing. Define your measurement system along with your goals before you begin and be sure it's set up to reflect your time horizons.
  7. Rinse and Repeat
    Use your results to tweak your strategy. If you’re not achieving your goals, reexamine your research and consider how you’re interacting with your target audience. Do you need a different interaction or messaging approach? Have you selected a narrow enough target audience? Are you focused on the right one or two social media tools? Continue to refine your strategy and measure results until you hit upon the right mix of audience, tools and interaction/messaging tactics.
  8. Remember, It’s Really (Not) About You
    In traditional marketing there’s more of an equal relationship between how much information is about the prospect and their needs and how much is about you and your services, products, solutions, skills, experience, etc. However, in social media marketing, it’s really all about your target audience. You demonstrate your savvy, expertise, skills and so forth by providing helpful resources, answers, great customer service, incentives and all that kind of stuff, but it's all built around what your audience needs, wants, is interested in and "buzzing" about, which will hopefully get them buzzing about you. 

Focus on your audience and center your activity around theirs—cheer them on, help them out, raise them up—connect what they’re doing online with what you want to achieve and you may just have a blue ribbon recipe for social media marketing success.

Related Links
  • How to Manage a Social Media Marketing Strategy
  • Ideas For Building A Social Media Marketing Campaign Successfully

Do You Have Social Media Muscle?

8/27/2018

 
Picture
Unless feedback relates to an isolated issue for just one customer, the problem will only get worse the longer you ignore it.
I've been thinking that this whole social media thing is like physical fitness; you have to get into the right "good" habits, learn to do things that might be uncomfortable and even hurt a bit at the beginning so you can develop your network, sharpen your social media reflexes, and, perhaps, even become addicted to one or more activities.

This became even more apparent to me last week while I was sitting out on my terrace working away amid the traffic and construction sounds of midday Manhattan. I was deep in my own world of thought when I noticed my cell phone flashing an incoming call from an unrecognized number. Now, it may sound strange but I don’t actually receive a lot of calls on my cell as my business is largely conducted online, in person or via email. To be honest, I don’t even know if there was a last time someone I didn’t know called me in the middle of the day on my cell, so I was definitely suspicious, but too curious not to answer.

The call was from my cell phone company, Sprint. Well, what I mean is, it was from a Sprint representative—more precisely, their Vice President of Customer Finance Services who was calling me regarding an article I had written about my recent customer experience that centered around their automatic bill pay feature.

I'll admit I was kind of abrupt when I answered. This was partly because it's really hard to hear on my terrace when there's traffic and construction, which seems like all the time these days, and partly because I expected it would be someone asking me for money, which, if you work from home like me, is pretty much the gist of every call you do receive from 9 to 6 that isn't from someone you know. However, after I realized who was on the phone and why they were calling, I moved inside so we could conduct a proper conversation.

Like an Olympian, the VP got right down to business. Firstly, she apologized for the inconvenience and dissatisfaction I experienced both with the communications supporting Sprint's automatic payment system as well as for the customer service I had received; this went a long way toward changing my tone. So, we were off to a good start. Then, she mentioned Sprint’s awards for customer satisfaction and how they were a top ranking company for customer experience with small and medium-sized businesses and, to me, that was a definite misstep. Frankly, if someone has experienced the opposite of excellence in either or both of these categories, I’m going to suggest that, yes, there’s a time and place to mention these plaudits to them; pick the wrong time and place and you only succeed in rubbing salt in an already irritated wound. I’ll give you a hint—it’s not right out of the gate, you have to earn back a good bit of trust and goodwill first.

Okay, so things were looking a little iffy, but then something really interesting happened: The VP explained to me that around the time I had originally set up my automatic bill pay Sprint was experiencing an issue that delayed automatic payments. It was this very problem that had prompted me to make manual payments, which then overrode my auto pay setup; a maddening situation that happened twice. Next, she admitted that the company had not properly communicated to customers how their automatic payments would be affected to reset expectations. And finally, she assured me that this kind of oversight would not happen again. For lack of a better metaphor, that was a home run.

Basically, Sprint took the negative feedback it received and turned it into a positive by identifying a significant flaw in their system that could be damaging to their customer experience and bottom line in the future. Now Sprint knows that understanding and addressing the impact on all aspects of their customers' experience is a high priority when issues arise. And this is really important not just to Sprint but to any business that receives customer feedback from whatever forum it may come. Unless the feedback relates to an isolated issue for just one customer, the problem will only get worse the longer you ignore it. Far better to flip that negative around and credit your customers for helping you improve your service, product, experience, etc.

Before we got off the phone the VP scored another couple of easy points—she gave me her direct contact information, a credit on my account and offered to send me her information via email, which I accepted and received in short order.

While my original experience with Sprint’s customer service left quite a lot to be desired, I must give credit where credit is due—in the social media realm Sprint seems to have its act together. Their response was rapid and effective, which is exactly what a social media response strategy should be.

After the VP and I hung up I went back out on my terrace and checked TweetDeck; it seems my article had been retweeted several times earlier in the day, which explained how and why I'd received that personal call. The whole experience gave me a new appreciation for the muscle of social media and the first tangible evidence that, like a good exercise regime, if you stick with it, you will begin to reap its rewards.

If you can't figure out how to reap the rewards you seek from your social media efforts or don't even know where to direct your energies, let's connect. You can reach me on @GrowBeyondNY or by email.

Related Links
  • How Customer Service on Social Media Helps Your Brand 
  • 23 Startling Social Media Statistics 
  • Lessons from Progressive screw-up: When it's Twitter vs. lawyers, take Twitter

Don't you deserve a break? Take it.

8/22/2018

 
Picture
Make sure your little break is just that and not a nasty habit or bad cycle you’ve fallen into to cope with a lack of organization, faulty systems or a bad business model.
Don’t know if you noticed but I gave myself a little holiday from the pressure of weekly posts this month. In fairness, my posts go live on Wednesdays and last week the Fourth of July fell on Wednesday, so it was an actual holiday. But, to be completely honest, I put up the “gone fishin’” sign the week before—not by choice, but by resignation—I simply had something else that took precedence, and I just couldn’t get everything done in time. So, I gave myself a break before I had no choice and I just broke down. I took last week off as it seemed like a good idea to make it an official two-week holiday and come back fresh and refreshed.

Now, when I didn’t make my deadline that first week I thought I would just do it the next day—no big deal posting a day late. Who would really care, after all—only me, I reasoned. But, that next day I was equally busy and also pretty wiped out. So, the blog post got booted another day. It wasn’t really until some time on Friday when I knew the blog post wasn’t going to get written let alone go live that I had a startling realization—I am my own boss! Not only that, but I’m the president of my own company. As a result, I’m allowed to set and reset the priorities that govern my to-do list and, as long as it doesn’t cause havoc with my business, I’m free to do this whenever I please—who’s to stop me?

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s important to be consistent and put systems in place to enable you to maintain that consistency. However, you’re also entitled to give yourself a vacation from one role or another when things hit a wall, so you don’t entirely crash and burn. After all, when you run the show and also sweep the floors, man the concessions, book the talent, light the marquee and everything else that needs doing, allowing yourself to carry a lighter load in one area for a week or two can be extremely helpful in meeting the responsibilities of your other roles.

Just be careful. Make sure your little break is just that and not a nasty habit or bad cycle you’ve fallen into to cope with a lack of organization, faulty systems or a bad business model. If you find yourself falling behind in the critical tasks required to keep your business organized or growing, you’ve got a real problem, and the way you’re working isn’t actually working for you.

And as someone who’s never been a particularly good sleeper I’ll toss this in here as well. One of the many fascinating nuggets gleaned from the The Pew Research Center's Internet and the American Life:

“It's difficult to separate many Americans from their cell phones, even when they're asleep. Among those who own a cell phone, 65% of adults say that they have slept with their phone on or right next to their bed. Nearly all young adults (ages 18-29) make sure their phones are never too far away at night; fully 90% sleep with their cell phone on or right next to their bed. By comparison, 70% of 30-to-49 year olds with phones sleep with their phones close, as do 50% of 50-to-64 year olds.”

Now I realize that for many people their cell phone may be the only phone they possess. So, sure, you have it close by in case some one calls in the middle of the night with an emergency—oh come on! How often does that happen? That’s not why 90% of 18-to-29 year olds and 70% of 30-to-49 year olds are sleeping with or near their phones. And, I’d venture it’s not why you are either. Give your phone a break, too. Get into the habit of turning your phone off at least an hour before bedtime so you’re truly disconnected and ready for your dreams to carry you away...that's the only way they come true, after all.

Please feel free to contact me; I’m always happy to hear from you.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Blogging
    Branding
    Business Management
    Business Model
    Business Plan
    Business Strategy
    Business Systems
    Communication Strategy
    Copyright
    Creative Inspiration
    Customer Engagement
    Customer Experience
    Customer Feedback
    Customer Survey
    Domain Protection
    Expert Advice
    Gamification
    Genius Storytelling
    ICANN
    Intellectual Property
    Life-long Learning
    Marketing Strategy
    Mastering Simplicity
    Messaging
    Negotiating
    Networking
    Online Learning
    Recommended Reading
    Relatability
    Sales Strategy
    Simplification Expertise
    Small Business
    Smart Leadership
    Smart Solution
    Social Media
    Startup Strategy
    Time Management
    User Interface Design
    Vacation
    Web Strategy

    RSS Feed

contact ME

© COPYRIGHT 2015-20. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
    • Clients
  • What We Do
    • Customer Experience
    • Simplification
    • Government Projects
    • Small Business Strategy
  • Case Studies
    • Win-Win Lending
    • The Helpful IRS
    • Training Sprints
    • Technical Writing
  • Simply Smart
  • Join Me