SOCIAL BUSINESS: AN ENTERPRISE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Transcription

1 SOCIAL BUSINESS: AN ENTERPRISE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA

2 It s been a few years now since social media first started gaining traction in business marketing. Things are a little different today than they were even last year. Social media is rapidly becoming a mature technology one of the primary tools nearly everybody uses for personal communication and to an ever-growing degree, for business use, as well. To some extent, the bloom is off the rose for business-to-business social media. There s less talk about viral videos and massive Twitter followings these days. Instead, we look to social media to build a customer-centric online presence in addition to our websites a place where customers and potential customers can interact with us and with each other and learn more about what we offer. Many companies now use social networks for customer service as well as for marketing. So what are the best ways to leverage social media for your business? Buy-In Best Practices Monitoring & Analytics Why Social for B2B? Social media for business isn t as hyped as it once was, mainly because it s become an integral part of many enterprises communication efforts. B2B marketers, however, still struggle with gaining business buy-in. The fact remains that Facebook has more than 7 billion visitors each month, Twitter almost 200 million, LinkedIn closing in on 100 million and Google+ growing rapidly at more than 60 million visitors each month. 1 Those numbers are some pretty compelling reasons to establish a solid presence in each of these social networks MILLION VISITORS 182 MILLION VISITORS 85.7 MILLION VISITORS 61 MILLION VISITORS 1

3 Still, presence doesn t always have a business function and visibility doesn t provide solid metrics for ROI. The question most B2B marketers must ask is: How can I show that I ve reached potential buyers in these popular venues and helped turn them into loyal customers? There are 3 essential ways businesses should leverage social media: Build Loyalty: Successful companies in social media build networks of fans or followers that regularly participate in conversations and information sharing. Raise awareness: Keep your followers current on what s going on, both within your company and your industry. Help them get to know your people, your ideas, your community involvement and your plans. Generate & Nurture Leads: An effective mix of loyalty and awareness can make your account a discovery point for users of that social network. This is where your social media activity really meets business goals by creating a measurable number of leads that can be turned into customers. This guide specifically focuses on using social media for measurable results. Depending on how your business engages with customers, social media can become one of your most lucrative marketing channels. 2

4 Social Media Generates Traffic Here s a chart of the monthly website traffic for a B2B consulting firm. The different traffic sources are indicated in color, with light green being organic search, yellow is referrals from other websites, orange from marketing and blue from direct traffic. The purple channel is social media. B2B Consulting Firm Social Media In this case, and for many of our clients who deploy social media the right way, social media accounts for as much as 20% of all website traffic and sales leads. Think about it this way: Are you prepared to just ignore 20% of your inbound leads because you have failed to address social media? SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS FOR AS MUCH AS 20% of all website traffic and sales of all website traffic and sales leads leads SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS FOR AS MUCH AS 20% 3

5 Social Media Generates Leads Now let s look at visit-to-lead conversion rates across several industries. Typically, the visit-to-lead conversion rates for all digital marketing channels hover around one to two percent. Visitors from key social networks convert at significantly higher rates, for example: Consulting Site Visits Visit-to-Lead Leads 5, % 251 1, % 63 1, % % 2 Health Care Site Visits Visit-to-Lead Leads 9, % % % 3 Software Site Visits Visit-to-Lead Leads What s going on here? Why do visitors from social media sources convert at higher rates than organic search, or PPC? The difference is relationship building. A person who gets to know you on LinkedIn or Twitter has already been exposed to who you are, what you do and how you think. They ve already learned enough to take the next step and consume your content. The bottom line: Social media is an excellent place to warm up your potential leads and predispose them to become real leads. But what will you need to invest to get positive ROI out of social media marketing? Let s take a look at 3 things you need for positive ROI... 1, % % % 1 4

6 1. Time: Schedule Just for Social 1/2 Hour/Person in Morning 1/2 Hour/Person in Afternoon Social Media Automation The first investment is time. Social media is interactive, and your target audience will be active at different times of the day or night. You need a strategy for being there consistently in order to maintain a connection with potential customers. Decide who will manage your official company profiles Make sure they have the bandwidth for social media Get other customer-facing people involved on professional accounts Listen and respond to questions or comments As a minimum for each participant, you should allow one half hour in the morning to plan your social media engagement for the day and gain approvals if necessary. It s also a good idea to spend the same time at the end of the day reviewing and reporting activities and planning strategy for the days ahead. Larger companies may have whole teams devoted to monitoring and engaging in social media with a much larger time commitment, but even devoting an hour a day can go a long way toward building a more effective social media presence. To make more efficient use of your dedicated time, you should use social media automation tools, such as: HootSuite, BufferApp or HubSpot to schedule Twitter and LinkedIn updates Facebook s on-page scheduling feature to schedule status updates You can spend your first 30 minutes compiling interesting updates from blogs, news sources and thought leaders in your industry and scheduling them for publication during the day ahead. You can also set up social media automation tools to listen and immediately notify you if someone contacts you directly, mentions your brand or asks a question. As long as someone is assigned to monitor these notifications throughout the day and responds quickly, you can create the illusion that you have dedicated staff in social networks on a 24/7 basis. 5

7 2. Content Company Blog Posts Landing Pages with Lead Generating Content The most important investment by far is content. Social network users are looking for two things: information and entertainment. No one will take an interest in your people or brand if you only share product information and company announcements. Traffic Generating Content You need to create consistently high-quality blog posts on a regular basis. Studies have shown you need at least 3 blog posts a week to increase website traffic and leads on a sustained basis. Our own data with our clients backs this up. In fact, when our clients increase their blog output from 3 to 5 posts a week, they see at least a doubling in traffic and lead conversions. As we ve seen, sharing these blogs in social media is a key driver of visit-to-lead conversions. Lead Generating Content You also need to create opportunities for lead conversions from your blogs and social media updates. Every blog post should have a call to action that s relevant to the topic of the post; for example, a landing page where readers can download more information in a blog post about the latest trends in dental electric handpieces. By promoting your posts in social media, you provide multiple channels for new leads to read your posts and convert on your calls to action. If your content is both good and relevant, readers may subscribe to your blog and keep coming back for more information and offers. This is the basis for lead generation and lead nurturing in today s digital marketing. 6

8 3. More Content Industry News from Other Sources More Blogs & Landing Pages The third thing you need is more content. Again, if your content is always self-promotional, you will attract few new followers and will lose existing ones. 2 Trusted Third-Party Sources You should always mix in content from trustworthy third parties. A best practice is to strike up relationships with well-known bloggers and content curators in your industry and share their content on a regular basis. This has three benefits: It enhances your reputation as a trusted resource It helps you to cement relationships with bloggers Those bloggers will reciprocate When you are sharing content and someone else is sharing yours, you greatly expand your reach in social media. 7

9 Measuring & Monitoring - Analytics Social media should be held to the same standard as other marketing activities. It s no longer enough to assume the number of followers or fans indicate how well social media activities are performing. As these channels have matured, so have the analytics behind them. Facebook Insights The Facebook Insights tool shows you the total number of likes, friends, discussions and total reach at the top. This is an indication of how effective you are in reaching and attracting followers over time. Below that section is a schedule showing the impact of individual posts how many people liked or commented and shared it with friends. This kind of information helps you to adjust your content marketing strategy in favor of topics and formats that get the highest level of engagement and sharing. In addition, you can dig deeper into demographic and location information for: People who like your page Friends of fans you reach through fan engagement Facebook users who are talking about your brand 8

10 LinkedIn Page Statistics LinkedIn provides two essential analytics tools that can help you learn more about your page s visitors and followers. First, the Follower Insights report provides information on follower growth and engagement. Though not as robust as the Facebook Insights report, you can still use this as a guide when determining what content is popular. You can also use the Demographics information to ensure the content you are sharing is targeted toward your company s audience. Here s an example of the Page Insights for a LinkedIn page, showing visitor metrics and the popularity of visits by industry demographics. This provides you with information about the people who are visiting your page but may not be followers yet, and how they are interacting with your page. You can find out if visitors are coming for information on Careers, Products & Services, or simply General Information. This, too, can help you create content for visitors in hopes of turning them into Followers of your company. 9

11 Website Analytics The truest measure of success in social media can be found in your website s analytics. While the individual networks and some third-party social media applications provide you with performance information, your website analytics (such as the HubSpot Sources Report you see above) can tell you how much traffic is actually going to your site from social. The traffic, when sent to a blog post or landing page that is optimized to capture leads, can move a person from a social contact to an actual prospect. This social media visit-to-lead information is essential to proving the value of your social media activities. 10

12 Measuring & Monitoring - Best Practices Checklist On Company Pages Weekly: Review Facebook Insights Weekly: Review LinkedIn Stats Weekly: Review Twitter & Google+ Streams for Best Interactions Weekly: Review Social Media Traffic and Lead Information in Website Analytics Weekly: Review Social Media Visit-to-Lead Rate The Keys to Successful Use of Social Media Develop a Social Media Policy Everyone Understands Be Helpful, Engaging - Not Overly Promotional Use Social Media to Promote Content Marketing Efforts Share Your Own Content AND Content from Trusted Outside Sources Schedule Content and Align With Other Marketing Listen, Learn, Build a Loyal Following Through Content Sources: 1. Go-Gulf, 2. Get Satisfaction: American Way, Suite 2A, Avon, OH Phone: (440) Toll-free: (800)