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Andy’s Answers: How USAA builds community in a digital world

BlogPostman — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:02:13 +0000

USAA — a major financial services company targeting the military and their families — has long been focused on fostering a sense of community between their members. Because the brand was so invested in word of mouth, moving into social media (or, as they sold it internally, “electronic word of mouth”) wasn’t such a stretch. In her presentation at BlogWell in San Diego, USAA’s Rhonda Crawford outlined how they’re working to expand this sense of community online via social media. A few of her big ideas: Reviews aren’t just for consumer packaged goods . Rhonda says reviews have been a big way they’ve been able to monetize social media and consumer-generated content. By allowing customer comments and reviews, Rhonda says they’ve taken advantage of the fact that 84% of U.S. customers prefer the opinions of other customers as opposed to experts. Focus on existing communities . USAA has experienced a lot of success by reaching out to existing fan communities, including those on sites like military.com, YouTube and other satellite sites. Look for social media “true believers” internally . Rhonda suggests looking internally for believers in social media to help move your programs forward. At USAA, Rhonda and her team were fortunate to have their CFO as one of the earliest and biggest advocates. Click here to view the embedded video. And if you dig this presentation, you might check out our upcoming BlogWell event in Seattle on May 5.

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Andy’s Answers: How USAA builds community in a digital world

More effective marketing – Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

BlogPostman — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 07:17:08 +0000

More effective marketing Fort Wayne Journal Gazette Creating a profile for your business on key social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn , or any other sites your customers frequent, ...

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More effective marketing - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

BizProf: Social networking sites great for business – Oakland Press

BlogPostman — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:45:41 +0000

BizProf: Social networking sites great for business Oakland Press Creating a profile for your business on key social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn , or any other sites your customers frequent, ... and more

Is Social Media Worth Your Time? – Inc.com (blog)

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:14:15 +0000

Dynamic Business Is Social Media Worth Your Time? Inc.com (blog) Check out Inc.'s guide on How to Use Social Networking to Drive Business for more strategies to implement through your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. ... Social Media: Foul Ball To Home Run Minneapolis Star Tribune Use of Social Media in Event Management Grows Earthtimes (press release) Which network do your customers use? Press-Enterprise Knoxville News Sentinel

Social Media: Foul Ball To Home Run – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:05:19 +0000

East African Social Media: Foul Ball To Home Run Minneapolis Star Tribune Simply building a profile on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter will accomplish little. The key to achieving social media zen lies in connecting and creating a ... A social tool to boost commerce Business Times (subscription) Use of Social Media in Event Management Grows Earthtimes (press release) Which network do your customers use? Press-Enterprise Knoxville News Sentinel

Food for thought: driving demand and innovation through Twitter – Econsultancy (blog)

BlogPostman — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:30:59 +0000

Vertical Measures (blog) Food for thought: driving demand and innovation through Twitter Econsultancy (blog) ... is an e-commerce and marketing consultant who blogs on social media, and a guest blogger at Econsultancy. He can also be found on Twitter and LinkedIn . A social tool to boost commerce Business Times (subscription) Strategy before execution essential in social media Knoxville News Sentinel Which network do your customers use? Press-Enterprise Sydney Morning Herald

Corporates befriend the Facebook crowd – East African

BlogPostman — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:37:30 +0000

East African Corporates befriend the Facebook crowd East African Photo/FILE By CALEB MUSAU (email the author) A lot has been written about the impact of social media and utilities — Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn , ... A social tool to boost commerce Business Times (subscription) Which network do your customers use? Press-Enterprise all 6 news articles

Which network do your customers use? – Press-Enterprise

BlogPostman — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:42:06 +0000

Which network do your customers use? Press-Enterprise And yes, LinkedIn is the professional social venue, but it still doesn't lend itself to live-time conversation - at least not like Facebook does. ...

5 Social Media Tips for Ecommerce Marketing

BlogPostman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:30:03 +0000

If you run an ecommerce business, chances are your customers – regardless of their age, gender or economic status – are active on social networks and social media sharing sites. Just consider the statistics from social media monitoring site Pingdom : Males and females almost equally use social sites (47% vs. 53%) 61% of Facebook users are middle aged or older, with the average age being 37 18- to 24-year-olds don’t dominate any particular social networking site; they’re spread out all over The bottom line: If you aren’t discovering which in social networking channels your customers spend time and include them in your ecommerce marketing mix, you’re probably missing out on building relationships, community and increasing new customer acquisition through online word of mouth. Leverage these five social media marketing tips for ecommerce to either get started with more social digital marketing or take your current social strategy to the next level: 1. Go Where Your Customers Are Very few things in life promise endless options – digital and social media marketing being one exception. From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn to YouTube, there’s no limit to the number of social networking channels available for your business to leverage. Key to successful social media marketing for ecommerce is choosing the right channels to reach customers. Find out where your customers are congregating by: Asking them. Sounds overly simplistic, but sending a formal survey to customers or more informally polling them on your website can provide a wealth of knowledge. Monitoring social sites. Use a free tool like Social Mention or Trackur . For something far more robust use tools like Radian6 to discover how and where customers are talking about your brand, your competitors or target keywords. Leveraging the stats. Some sites like Facebook are transparent when it comes to user statistics. Or leverage research conducted by third-party firms like eMarketer . Revivew backlinks, job postings, news announcements and keyword rankings of competitors on a regular basis to get a glimpse into their online marketing health. 2. Monitor What Your Competitors Are Doing Whether your ecommerce business is new to social media marketing, or just need to take your efforts up a notch, competitive intelligence can be very useful. Spend some time by conducting a competitive audit of your top five competitors on the social web. Include: The social sites in which they are active The type of content they publish on the social web The number of followers/fans/views they have on each site How they promote specific products, programs or events via social media For even more inspiration and insight into what works well on the social web, look to ecommerce sites in other industries or even successful B2B social media examples . 3. Promote Exclusive Offers Through Social Media In order for your ecommerce business to gain a following on whatever social channel you choose, entice customers with something they can’t get anywhere else. For example, promote a contest via social media. Last fall, TopRank® Online Marketing leveraged this tactic for one of its ecommerce clients. TopRank used the client’s blog and Facebook fan page to promote a Halloween contest to name the best costume. This initiative not only drove additional traffic to the client’s website, but also helped increase the number of Facebook fans. Alternately, offer an exclusive item to social media followers or fans, such as free shipping or a weekly coupon. You can also offer “breaking news” that does not appear anywhere else, like pre-product release announcements or an inside look at your company’s inter-workings. 4. Don’t Just Push Products and Promotions The primary goal of your ecommerce site may be to sell products, but your social media marketing strategy should encompass a wider range of tactics that simply promoting offerings. With too much product pushing and not enough engagement, you’re unlikely to experience optimal success. Incorporate some of these ideas into your ecommerce social media marketing strategy: Share messages or news stories from external sources Create a blog on your website and feed blog content to your social accounts Ask questions, participate in discussions or poll your customers via social media Post pictures from company events or videos from your CEO’s speaking engagements 5. Sell Products Through Social Networks 1-800-Flowers maximizes the use of social media for its marketing efforts. Many ecommerce sites leverage social channels to make it even simpler for customers to purchase their products. 1-800-Flowers has taken this idea to the max (see image above). It was the first ecommerce site to launch a Facebook store , allowing customers to browse and purchase its products directly through Facebook. 1-800-Flowers may be an extreme case, but ecommerce sites large and small can still indirectly sell products through their social profiles. For example, highlight new products or best-sellers and provide a link to the order page on your website. It may not be quite as simple as purchasing directly from the social profile, but it can be just as effective. The five ideas are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ecommerce social media marketing. What social media tactics have you found to be successful?

Social-media marketing and race

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:35:29 +0000

During the 2006 I daho governor’s race, there was a lesser-known can di date name d Dan Adamson who was looking for a way to drum up interest in his campaign. He announce d that he was going to try to connect with Latino voters by offering a free taco to everyone who vote d in that year’s primary, regar dless of which can di date they supporte d. Unsurprisingly, h e didn’t win . There’s nothing wrong with trying to cater to a specific group. But if you’re going to engage in targeted marketing, you need to do it with sensitivity and care — not broad stereotypes. And just because something works today is no guarantee it will work tomorrow. McDonald’s Web site for African-Americans, 365Black.com , was online for years before it attracted any negative attention . The subject of race is never easy to broach. But as Hector Orci notes , too many companies would rather completely ignore a demographic than try to talk to them. But I don’t think it needs to be scary. Don’t bite off more than you can chew — I would not recommend trying to tweet in Spanish if you don’t actually speak it. Just be yourself and take the time to get to know potential customers from all kinds of different groups. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your customers are all exactly like you. Once you understand who you’re talking to, it’ll be easier to decide what to do next. Is reaching out to the Latino community as simple as translating your tweets from English to Spanish? Is offering Black History Month promotions enough to earn you any love from African-Americans? My guess is you need to dig deeper. When you’re talking to a specific group, your communications need to be honest, authentic and rooted in that community — just like all your other marketing. Are you using social me dia to try to reach specific ethnic groups or other demographic categories? How can companies approach these groups in a way that moves beyon d stereotyping and creates real engagement? What are some companies that do a particularly excellent job tailoring their message to a specific community? Image credit, Konstantin Sutyagin , via Shutterstock