Acme.com Social Media Strategy

Transcription

1 Acme.com Social Media Strategy Benefits and possible actions by John Haydon

2 What s in here? Increasing inbound leads and live referrals :-) Increasing customer retention The Acme.com Social Map How Acme.com can create a successful blog Not everyone will comment on the blog - here s why How Acme.com can use Twitter How Acme.com can create a successful Forum Crowd-sourcing product development Questions for discussion

3 More inbound leads Account Managers and Community Managers listen and respond to the community with Twitter, LinkedIn, the Forum and Company Blog. In return, evangelists naturally use these tools to spread the word to their friends. Why? Because they ve just had a great experience with Acme.com! Zappos, Comcast and Dell are great examples of this. In short, success depends on a team effort involving many departments at Acme.com. Some of these evangelists create content or contribute to content on the web (Blogs, Youtube videos, Flickr pics, LinkedIn groups). Providing as many platforms for these actions will increase the impact of these actions. For example, customers can be given the opportunity in the Acme.com forum to show off how smart they are by writing educational content. Why would they do this? Because it advances their position in their universe and also satisfies a need to get their ego stroked. Evangelists need to feel valued once they contribute. Discounts are great, but a sincere gesture of acknowledgement and appreciation is better. A large part of the community (both prospects and customers) are busy HR folks who seek valuable content. An abundance of how-to articles in the blog and forum will satisfy these folks, and ultimately have them sharing this content. Why? Because they want to look smart.

4 Increasing customer retention It goes without saying that Michael Provenzano s work with the AMs has been stellar! With AMs monitoring the Forum and Twitter, customer complaints can be dealt with early and often. The addition of the Forum would be seen as yet another reason for folks to continue their subscription with Acme.com. Access to other HR professionals in the Acme.com community would also be a value add for current customers. Professional networking opportunities would be facilitated through the Forum. Customers who are evangelists within the Forum would be consistently selling the value of being a Acme.com client.

5 Acme.com Social Map Consumer Customers Twitter Social Games (Facebook connect?) Youtube LinkedIn Discussions Business Customers Forum Company Blog Twitter LinkedIn Q&A YouTube Business customers and prospects that have a great experience on Twitter, LinkedIn spread the good word. The key is to give them a great experience with: 1. A fast response 2. Valuable and timely answers 3. No sales pitch Connecting Customers, Customer, Prospects and Advocates

6 How Acme.com can create a successful blog I can t afford to miss a single blog post - subscriber Publish content that is extremely useful to the readers. Big thoughts about where HR is headed is useless. Most of the readers will want to glean information that they can apply immediately. SCREs (and others) should post to the blog, but not if it feels like homework. Encourage SCREs to creatively include blog posting as an integral part of their job. For example, a client question on market pricing that Joe responds to might be repurposed into a blog post. All posts should be written to the reader in a human voice, almost as if it s a personal letter. For example, When you rank your jobs in preparation for your salary structure... is better than Ranking jobs is the next step in building a salary structure. A strategy should be developed for external linking. Acme.com partners that publish blogs will feel heard and valued if we link to their blog posts. Posts should be interlinked where appropriate. For example, a post on market pricing executives that mentions job matching should be linked to a post about job matching. The more interlinked the blog is, the more valuable it will be for the reader. Visitors should be able to subscribe by or RSS easily - and not be put on any other lists. Social media is 100% opt-in. Give visitors an easy way to connect to Acme.com s Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn Groups. Get to know other bloggers in the HR sphere. Have a plan to partner with these folks.

7 Not everyone will comment on the blog - here s why: As Acme.com becomes active in social media, it will become clear that some people actively contribute to the forum, comment on the blog and even publish their own blogs. A comprehensive strategy should include how to engage with these folks. However, most of our customers will simply read our blog. How can we create ways to hear what they re thinking? Polls are one way to engage this 33%. Connecting Customers, Customer, Prospects and Advocates

8 How Acme.com can use Twitter Acme.com responded to my question quickly - without any sales pitch. - Follower Twitter culture mandates conversation. If all people see on Twitter is the Company Blog RSS, people will conclude that Acme.com has no interest in being part of the community. The simple fact of Acme.com actively engaging with folks on Twitter says that we re young, we re smart and we re human. Twitter should be used to answer questions folks have on HR issues and salaries. If an HR professional tweets Does anyone know how much a software programer in Dallas should be paid, answering back: As of July 1st software programers make $87,650 per year in Dallas adds immediate value for that person. This exchange, seen by thousands of people, says that Acme.com is responsive, helpful and interested in contributing to the community. Twitter exchanges can be posted in Salesforce and followed up on when appropriate. Twitter can be used as a powerful customer service tool. Comcast, Dell, JetBlue and Zappos are examples. Business apps like CoTweet can be used to enable several Acme.com employees to manage one corporate Twitter account. Acme.com executives sincerely interested in using Twitter would communicate transparency - a trait valued in today s market. Warning: Faking an interest in transparency will eventually be revealed - people can sniff out a fake. Twitter should be monitored and posted to as much as possible. This will drive more traffic to the blog and increase SEO. Multiple Acme.com Twitter accounts can be set up, each with it s @AcmeDotCom - and each one can be used by multiple Acme.com employees.

9 How Acme.com can create a successful Forum The forum enables me to get twice as much from my Acme.com investment. - member The forum must be easy to join, navigate, and participate in - especially since many of our customers may not be tech-savvy. Having the layout mirror our enterprise apps might be a good idea. It should also be visually attractive and inviting. SCREs, Product Managers, Account Managers and Community Managers should play an active role in the forum. Implement ways to measure individual user trends. Regularly survey members about what they want in the forum. Implement ways to measure conversations that take place outside the forum. Be prepared for forum members to misuse the forum - and have a plan on how to deal. Valuable content, how-to articles and video tutorials (I can help make these) should be posted to the forum a few times a week. This will encourage customers to return, comment and contribute to the community. Value, value value! Customers who have an amazing experience in the forum will certainly spread the good word. Keep the sales pitches to a bare minimum. A group of select customers should be invited to participate in the forum - before it s officially launched. The launch should only happen when there s a healthy amount of activity in the forum. This will increase the likelihood of adoption when it does go live. When was the last time you ate at an empty restaurant? Early adopters should be engaged with often. These folks will be core members who will create a community that lasts. How can we reward these folks? The primary value of the forum is education and professional connections.

10 Crowd-source product development A key benefit of the Forum is to capture customer input to the Acme.com roadmap. There are three ways to do this: 1. Conduct surveys 2. Post details on future product enhancements and allow customers to comment on product development ideas 3. Monitor Forum for ideas - engage, early and often with those suggesting feedback

11 Questions for discussion What are the specific goals with the blog and forum? What product would be best to start a forum around? How comfortable is Acme.com with transparency? How comfortable is Acme.com with making mistakes? Is Acme.com willing to put the needs of the community first? Does Acme.com currently know how to identify their cultists?