Planless = Penniless: The Key to Social Media ROI is in the Planning

by Kathryn Rose on May 9, 2012

In my upcoming book: Solving the Social Media Puzzle: 7 Simple Steps to Planning a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Business, my co-author Apryl Parcher and I lay out the steps to successfully planning a social media strategy to maximize your social media marketing efforts and chances for success.

In the last 4 plus years of working with clients in the social media space I found that one of the common issues with my clients is that they had no plan. Everyone wanted lots of fans and followers and their content to go “viral” but no one had a plan to get there. Most didn’t even have goals at all! They didn’t even know who they wanted to target most of the time.

That is why it is it critical to plan before you get started. One of the biggest misconceptions of social media marketing is that it is free; it’s not free because like any other of your business efforts, it takes time, and time is money right? Without a plan, you will be wasting lots of time trying everything and accomplishing nothing.

The second question is “who are you trying to target?” Many times we get the standard old-school marketing demographic answer “women 25-54, upper level income” etc.

One of the greatest benefits of today’s social media and online marketing opportunities is that you can really target your audience down to their interest levels, their zip codes, what shows they watch and more, simply because they tell Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin what they like OR they talk about these things in their bios, tweets and online interactions.

What will a plan do for you? For one thing it will take the blank page syndrome and the “what will I write about today” pressure away. Many people abandon their social media efforts simply because they don’t know what to say. What’s more is if you actually have a strategy in place, things like design changes in platforms which happens seeming daily, won’t leave you scrambling.

Lena West, Social Media Marketing Mentor at InfluenceExpansion.com says, “Everyone is so busy getting their nerves pinched when Facebook makes a change or when Twitter shifts their layout. The reality is if your business marketing is THAT reliant upon fancy graphics and welcome tabs, your problem isn’t what Facebook is doing, it’s what you’re NOT doing.”

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Here are some simple tips from our new book that will help you begin to build the foundation of a solid social media marketing plan:

1. Talk to people not demographics. Use personas when designing your target audience. Give the target a name and characteristics like what they watch  on TV, do they have children, what do they like to do, things like that.
2. Think about your goals. What are you trying to achieve? I think everyone knows by now that the sheer number of fans (likers), followers, views and connections are not necessarily going to drive business.
3. Decide where you will spend your time. The big social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube and Google+) have characteristics of the audiences they attract. If you are running low on time or staff, delve into which one (s) of these will really serve your needs and attract the audience you desire. Focus your efforts on that one or two for the next 90 days and then add others as you have time. Don’t try to be everywhere if you simply don’t have the time.
4. Use a content and blogging calendar so you can plan out a strategy. Here is the one that we use and you can download it free solvingthesocialmediapuzzle.com/calendar/
5. Have a system for measuring results. Now that you know where you’re going, how do you know when you’ve achieved them or if you’re even on your way?
6. Constantly be tweaking your strategy as new things come up. Read blogs that focus on the networks you’ve chosen, they often times will give great strategies and case studies that you can implement in your own business.

I want to hear from you, what planning strategies have you used to be successful on social media? Share in the comments box below.

Post originally appeared on genConnect 

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Turn Unhappy Online Customers into Lifelong Fans

by Kathryn Rose on April 17, 2012

Managing your online relationships isn’t always easy, but when it comes to your brand’s reputation, there are some steps you can take to protect it and turn unhappy customers into loyal fans

As you or your brand becomes more engaged on the social channels, it is inevitable that you will see brand questions and comments, some of them negative. Many brands are still resistant to joining and actively participating in the social sphere for this reason alone.  Even if you or your brand is not present, the conversation about your brand is still going on. Isn’t it better to find out what people are saying and, if it is negative, offer solutions?

Geoffrey Gitomer, best selling author and sales guru even wrote a book titled Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. I know in my own experiences that using the tenets of relationship marketing and generating and achieving that all important customer loyalty is often just simply about responding when your customer is unhappy. Many times your clients just want to know that you heard them and that you acknowledge there may be a problem and will try and fix it. I’m sure at this point you realize that everything posted on line lives forever, so you MUST have a plan of action on how to deal with any negative postings. Keeping in mind, of course, the most important tenet of relationship marketing and customer service: The customer is always right!

With my clients, whether they be large or small, I always recommend that a communication plan be put in place. At the very least, consider the possibility that someone someday may not like you or your product. This way you will be prepared. For larger brands, it’s imperative to decide these strategies. When having an initial “on boarding” meeting with one of my clients, a major laundry detergent brand, I asked what would happen if someone posted that their laundry detergent burned a whole in their clothes – or worse, theyaccuse the brand of causing personal injury? That was something they hadn’t considered. So we took the time to put in place a plan that took into account the innocuous complaint or question; i.e., the coupons didn’t print, can they use the detergent on all kinds of clothes, etc., all the way to the worst case – someone was injured.

Here is the plan we drafted:

1. We conducted a listening campaign for the first month that included more closely monitoring the social channels to determine what, if any, consistent complaints or questions arose.
2. Then we compiled a document that included responses to the common questions and complaints. Both Twitter andFacebook responses were drafted – approximately 20-30 for each that way their legal department could review and approve them but customers would get a response more quickly and the responses did not look “canned.” We also performed the same exercise for other types of posts, including compliments. This way, we had all communications covered and we were able to engage more quickly.

Example for complaint:  We’re sorry that you’re having trouble, [FAN NAME]. Please contact customer service at [800# or email] so that we can take care of this for you ASAP.

Example for compliment: Thank you [FAN NAME]. It always makes us feel good if we can help make life a little easier for our friends.

1. We decided which types of comments and questions needed to be routed to different departments. For example, if someone said that their product caused injury, those comments would be routed to the legal department for review and response.
2. There are several online tools that help with customer service (Facebook, in particular); but as the page grew, we contracted with Parature, a Facebook client services tool that routes consumer questions and complaints to individuals within an organization. This allowed the brand to keep a better handle on the types of comments and also to be sure they were routed to the correct person or department more quickly. Parature uses keywords set up by the brand to determine which posts get routed to which department. Also, Parature will automatically remove or “hide” posts that include profanity or include inappropriate content.
3. Lastly, the team decided specifically who would be responsible for responding to these issues. It was clear that if we did not have someone experienced or had a plan in place, things could go bad quickly; so we drafted a social media policy for distribution to all of the departments. In thecase of Facebook, the new Timeline roll out will allow a team member to respond directly to a fan that sends the brand a message. This is a very positive enhancement and will be a great addition to your Facebook relationship marketing strategy. However, you still need to decide who will be responsible for these communications and what the acceptable responses are.

There is no doubt that it will happen eventually to you or your brand. Someone will post negative comments, but being prepared is the key. If your brand is under attack, your first reaction may be to defend it. This can make a bad situation worse. In the case of other brands I’ve worked with, this has happened with disastrous results. You have to resign yourself that you cannot please everyone but using a few of these tips your relationships can be enhanced, you can save a customer and, perhaps turn a negative experience into a positive long term raving fan for your brand.

Post originally appeared on genconnect.com 

www.genconnect.com/career/brand-management-marketing-turn-unhappy-online-customers-into-lifelong-fans-kathryn-rose/

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7 Things Brands Should Know About New Facebook Timeline

by Kathryn Rose on February 29, 2012

Facebook’s new Timeline design changes the way brands can interact with consumers, and Facebook users with each other; what you need to know to make the most of it

Today, Facebook will announce the new Timeline Design roll-out for brands platform-wide that will take place on March 30th. You have the option to preview the design and upgrade early if you choose. What you need to know is that the current look will be replaced by the Timeline view you see on your current personal profiles.

How you need to prepare:

1.) Your current images, whether or not they are just your logo or you have a longer image, must be adjusted. Logo size is square no more than 180 x 180 pixels.

2.) The “cover photo” is a maximum 851 x 399 pixels. Please be advised, though, of the Facebookcover page guidelines. Cover images may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our web site”
• Contact information, such as web address, e-mail, mailing address or other information intended for your page’s “About” section
• References to user interface elements, such as “Like” or “Share,” or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

3.) Apps and custom pages now move to under the profile picture. You can show a maximum number of 12 apps.

Like before, you can move the “apps” and custom tabs around to highlight ones you would like shown; photos and Likes cannot be moved. To move the custom tabs, hover your mouse over the upper corner of the app or custom tab, click the pencil and then click “swap this with” and the app or page moves to that spot.

The unfortunate part is that you cannot select a “default landing tab” as before, so if you created a fancy welcome page or another kind of custom page, you’re out of luck unless someone actually clicks on it.

4.) You can make a certain post “stick” by “pinning” it to the top of your page; “pinned” posts stay up for seven days.

5.) Your admin panel has moved to the upper right side of the page. From there you can manage most of the page functionality you had before. Selecting admins, adding apps, etc.

6.) A GREAT addition is the ability for your fans to private message the brand and the brand to be able to respond to the fan. Before, if a fan asked a question and you wanted to respond privately, you had to do so through a personal profile. Now you can respond as the brand, which will help with customer service.

7.) You can play with the design until you’re ready to publish it or until March 30, because at that point, the page will be live on the new design.

You can see some of the new cover design with brands such as Coca-Cola here.

Post first appeared on GenConnect 

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What Can Valentine’s Day Teach Us About Social Media Marketing?

by Kathryn Rose on February 14, 2012

My post Is it really all about relationships?  Yes it is, was recently featured on my friend and fellow relationship marketer, Ted Rubin’s site.  Blogger Bruce Sallan made a very interesting comment on the post.  He pointed out the principles of the business relationships I outlined were the same for any kind of relationship.  He was very much correct of course and that got me to thinking about the one day dedicated to all things relationships, Valentine’s Day, and what it could teach us about social media marketing and the Return on Relationship™ philosophy, my friend Ted Rubin and I espouse.

For example, today my husband told me that he was going to be on a business trip this week and won’t be here for Valentine’s Day.  At first I was disappointed but then I got to thinking about all of those long ago boyfriends who would always complain about Valentine’s Day. They would say things like “It’s a Hallmark holiday” or “Why should I show you once a year how much I love you, when I show you all the time,” things like that.  The difference between all of those guys (who we used to call Mr. Right Nows because we knew they weren’t Mr. Right but they were fine for right now) was that Valentine’s Day was really the only day they DID show up!  So now that I have my Mr. Right, I decided that it Valentine’s Day in and of itself really wasn’t so important after all.  I thanked him for thinking about it and told him it didn’t matter because it IS just a day, he always shows up for me and our family and consistently so.

How can brands apply this type of thinking to their online and social media marketing strategies?  Simple: do you or your Brand want to be Brand Right or Brand Right Now?    Do you want to have long term relationships with your clients or short term transactional ones?

Here are some lessons from personal relationships and Valentine’s Day I believe all brands should think about when building a social media marketing strategy

1. Show up consistently — Don’t show up once a year, once a week or once a day for that matter, social media is about conversations and engagement so you need to be consistently active on your chosen networks or you will not develop the trust and loyalty factor on which long term relationships are based.
2. Roses by any other name to do not smell as sweet –- if you build a consistent following and conversation your followers and loyal brand ambassadors will forgive you more readily for when your brand makes missteps.  Take the Jet Blue response to a difficult situation; when the flight attendant blew his cool on the tarmac at JFK the company went silent for a couple of days, but then smartly posted a short blog about the incident which was shared on all of their social sites. Because Jet Blue is consistently engaged and shows up for their customers, people were more patient with them when they fell silent realizing they needed all the facts before responding.
3. Give Christmas presents in July and take December off –  I heard Brian Kurtz, direct mail guru for boardroom.com say this at a seminar last year.  In other words, give when it’s not expected.  I would rather get a rose or a special gift on a random day then on a day that is designed for it.  Give a coupon for being a loyal customer, fan, follower, when they least expect it.
4. Loyalty and trust take time and effort. Of course people and companies want loyal and attentive communities around them but are they willing to put in the time it takes to foster it? It’s easy to buy a dozen roses and get some chocolates for your loved one once a year but does that really make someone loyal?  What have your actions demonstrated the rest of the year? Have you asked them how they were and really cared about the answer? Brands who demonstrate true caring and enjoy an authentic sense of community with their clients or constituency will be the ones who have the loyal customers in the long run.

Return on Relationship is something we can apply to all aspects of our lives.  But brands in particular need to embrace and use this philosophy in their online interactions.  Please comment and let me know your thoughts around building loyalty and Return on Relationship #RonR.

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Attention Bloggers: Should You Be Worried About Duplicate Content?

by Kathryn Rose on February 8, 2012

Has this happened to you?  You have an opportunity to guest blog on a prominent site.  You ask if you submit the blog and it’s published, could you then repost the blog on your own website (with a link back to the original post, of course)?  Or, others see your blog posts, enjoy the content and ask if they could repost on their site?  In either case, you may have been told that you cannot repost on your own site or that you shouldn’t allow others to repost your blog because of something called “duplicate content.”  In other words, if your post is re-published on many other sites, the other site could outrank your own post in Google and other search engines, or it could actually hurt your own site’s rankings.

As a search marketer, I am always defending the re-publishing of posts and ignoring the duplicate content issue because I’m of the opinion that more potential readers of my content and links back to my site are the important parts rather than worrying about whether or not another site will outrank my own with my content.  But lately, this issue has come up so much that I decided to find out for sure if my theory was correct.  So I reached out and asked one of the world’s authorities on search engine optimization, Rand Fishkin CEO of SEOmoz.com, and asked him to help sort out fact from fiction. Rand pointed out that there is no absolute answer but offered some great suggestions:

If you feel a little lost at the mention of rel: canonical tags, as many do, I’m going to break it down for you with the help of another great source—my friend and SEO guru, Tisho Richardson, Web Associate at ThomasNet.com (formerly the Thomas Register).  Very simply, you put this type of html tag between the “head” tags on the blog post page of the ORIGINAL post; this way the search engines know that this is the one true original version and should rank this version above all others.  This is an example of what a rel: canonical tag looks like behind the scenes of a website:

For example, with the first scenario I referred to–guest posting on another blog, the rel: canonical tag should appear on their site on the page where the blog is posted.  In the second, where others are sharing your already published content, the tag should appear on your blog page (and always be sure that they link back to your original post).

If you have a wordpress blog, as I do, there is a plugin called “Canonical URL’s”. Once the plugin is installed, you will see a box under the post marked “Canonical”.  In there you put the link to the post.

Thank you to Rand and Tisho for clearing this up and giving some great tips.  Bottom line?  It seems that having the potential for branding and backlinks to your site outweighs the potential negative of having another site outrank you for your own post.  However, if it is a major concern, it seems pretty easy to install the canonical link plugin, and it won’t be an issue any longer.  And, of course, it’s always best to write original content if you can.

(If you find this blog helpful, go ahead and repost– I installed the rel:canonical tag, but please be sure and give credit a link back to my site.)

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My New Post on GenConnect, Honestly, Now the New Hot Social Network

by Kathryn Rose on February 1, 2012

Social media pro Kathryn Rose interviews the CEO and founder of new innovative social network, Honestly, Now.

Honestly, Now is a new innovative new social network I recently discovered. It’s still in beta, but users will see quickly how useful it can be.

In a nutshell, users ask questions like, “Do I tell my boyfriend I cheated on him?” or “Should I thank people for re-Tweeting me on Twitter?” and experts like myself and others answer the questions, as well as general users of the site. One user uploaded a picture of herself in her new glasses and asked for opinions from the user base. It is a great way to get expert and objective opinions.

I had the opportunity to interview Tereza Nemessanyi, the CEO and founder of this new innovative social network, on the story behind Honestly, Now and what users can expect when they join:

Q: What is the idea behind Honestly, Now? Why did you feel the need to start yet another social network?

A: My parents died rather suddenly after I had my first child. I found I had more questions than ever – personal questions, and important decisions. But my support structure was gone and I wasn’t sure my friends were telling me the truth. So, to recreate what I’d lost – great advice and honest, compassionate truth – I combined the best of social technology with what I know about market research techniques and expert networks. You can say I digitized my mom, in a way. There are important conversations women have every day – our most important conversations – that are not happening online and are not as good as they could be, because existing social networks don’t understand them. Said another way, we are disrupting “Dear Abby.”

Q: Who are the experts?

A: Experts are a special status level on Honestly, Now and we showcase our experts to the community. They’re the top dogs and their comments have the most visual weight – they are the wise ones. We believe in the power of smart people helping others, and we want people to get to know these experts. We are always looking for new experts. Popular topics include social media, career and business, parenting, relationships and romance, fashion and style, travel, and technology. We want no great question to go unanswered. Because – for certain – there is someone excellent out there who makes a living helping people with that problem. We want people to know it!

Q: What do you want people to know about Honestly, Now?

A: We truly w