Brace Yourself; Social Media Is Here To Stay

(Published in Mining.com Magazine, Mar/Apr 2010 Issue)

As consumers or corporate purchasers we tend to conduct research online before making a buying decision on products, services or investments. When a company does not have a website, most of us look elsewhere to find the information we are after.

In today's world, when business decisions and transactions are made in the blink of an eye, providing information in a timely and efficient way is as critical as adopting the newest trends in businesses communications, such as social media.

A company’s lack of social network engagement will soon be equivalent to not having a website. If a company is not involved online, it will significantly reduce its chances to connect with those who are most important to its success– its buyers and their influencers.

Social media is now used by 80% of adults (of all ages), with the fastest growing demographic being those 35 years and older, according to a recent report by Forrester Research. The term Social Media includes, but is not limited to, online networking and information sharing, user reviews, videos, blogs, book marking sites, wikis and podcasts. Its growth is expected to soar and become the third-largest interactive marketing spend category within the next five years.

Many C-level managers coming from industries that are slow to adopt new media such as mining, finance, medicine, manufacturing or real estate, fail to see the value of investing marketing dollars in online communications as they don’t understand how to measure the returns. This is a point that needs to be addressed.

Our Peers Have the Answers

The way we communicate every day has changed thanks to the Internet and advances in technology. It is truly a second reality where we research, post and share information 24/7/365 with each other in the click of a mouse. If that post happens to go viral (online word of mouth) watch how fast the message spreads.

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, “the most credible source of information about a company is from ‘a person like me,’ which has risen dramatically to surpass doctors and academic experts for the first time.” The survey relates that in the U.S., trust in “a person like me” increased from 20% in 2003 to 68% today.

Conversations are happening in multiple online places and companies must know what is being said about them. They also need to leverage the huge opportunity that exists to build relationships with customers, shareholders and prospective buyers.

Being “in the room and in the deal” gives a company a certain degree of control over the conversation, allowing designated spokespeople to post accurate content and gain valuable feedback for their company’s brand, products and services.

What would you say if I told you that the fastest growing demographic on Twitter (UK research) right now are those aged 50-64 year olds? This doubles the 18-24 year old audience.

Public Companies Are Rightfully Hesitant

Online communications is a particularly scary place for public companies, as they have to be cognizant of compliance and disclosure regulation. Done correctly, with sound policy, consistent messaging of public information and a proactive social media strategy, this communications channel delivers immense opportunity to connect with shareholders and potential investors.

Information sharing platforms such as Twitter allows companies to directly engage with their audience building relationships with all stakeholders. According to a Q4 Web Systems report growth in the number of public companies with a Twitter account grew by 338% since August 2009.

Another report by The Brunswick Group commented on the fact that institutional investors are integrating blogs and social networks as part of their day-to-day routine. 58% of respondents in the survey believed that new media will become increasingly important in helping them make investment decisions in the future.

Real life example Barrick Gold, uses Twitter to connect with its shareholders and investors online, offering ongoing updates and the ability for its audience to interact with a real person rather than a behemoth organization without a human face. They also use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to push their information out through personalized news feeds and have incorporated sharing tools such as Delicious or Digg that help their search rankings.

What could a public company representative talk about online when there isn’t recent news to report? Here is where social media has a lot to offer. A company could easily post or “retweet” industry specific information from other sources, such as a newscast BNN clip (video), discuss an upcoming conference that the company is holding, provide a link to the quarterly newsletter or even post a general interest piece. Another strategy is to educate the audience on a topic the company has expertise in. For example, if you are a geologist providing consultant services you might offer a short piece on “How to assess good drill results,” which also builds your profile as an expert in the field.

There are always interesting bits of information to share that don't necessarily have to be news directly related to your business. Social media is about connection and building relationships, sharing relevant knowledge and opinions that keeps people engaged with information they will find interesting and useful.

Measuring Social Media

When a company conducts an audit of its existing marketing efforts to assess how effectively it is reaching its audience offline, it should do the same to measure its online programs. It is important to determine which programs are the most successful. If the ultimate goal is an increase in sales, site visits, greater awareness or customer/shareholder sentiment; have these been achieved? If not, why? Do you have a proactive and strategic plan in place with social media policy, messaging around various topics and ongoing measurement?

Businesses need to assess where their buyers, centres of influence, employees and potential partners are online, in order to best address how to communicate with them there.

It is crucial to benchmark your social media efforts, measuring and analyzing the change and what caused it. Thanks to the various measurement tools now available, there are many ways to assess the online mood of your audience to learn how well your community building is going. Some of the tools are: Technorati, Google Alerts, and Google Analytics. These are starting points in online listening that will help your company understand who is talking about you and where to start joining the conversation.

Other ways to measure are monitoring the number of visits to specific sales related landing pages. How many new people signed up to follow your business on Facebook and/or Twitter? Has your e-news subscription increased? How many retweets did you get on a particular post? How many times has your YouTube video or SlideShare presentation been viewed? Was your last email marketing piece shared with others? How many unique visits did you get to your website this month? Is it growing? How informed are the people making inquiries about buying your products, services or stock?

Are your call centres less busy with customers having their questions answered by peers in social media communities or through your online spokesperson? This shows a reduction in service support needed contributing directly to the bottom line. People can help themselves online to all sorts of information and are paying attention to what is being said about a business and its products and services if they have an interest in that company.

Quarterly surveys that measure net ratings and customer satisfaction allow for greater response in how your company is doing obtaining its ultimate objective, customer satisfaction. Nothing helps a business grow faster than testimonials from pleased customers and shareholders, or travels faster than the impact of viral word of mouth.

Social media is a new frontier and it is understandable that executives and marketers are struggling to build metrics around how the online channels stack up against more traditional marketing efforts. That being said, there are tangible ways to measure its effectiveness and many examples of companies, large and small doing it with positive results. Simply Google “Social Media Case Studies” and you will be reading for days.

There is vast opportunity to advance corporate communications and gain a competitive advantage for progressive businesses that understand our world has changed. The way we communicate in our social and business lives is not going to revert to the old days before the Internet. Therefore companies and their executives need to learn how to participate in social media or at the very least hire experts with know-how, in order to ensure their businesses remain “in the room and in the deal”.

Loa Fridfinnson is the founder of Activ8, an integrated marketing communications agency. You can follow her in Twitter at www.twitter.com/Activ8Inc

Dr. Stephen Covey points out in his 5th habit of highly effective people: Seek first to understand, and then be understood.

Corporate communications is no longer a one way push message. The power that was once in the hands of big corporations has shifted to the consumer. In order to know what is meaningful to customers and investors a company must figure out where their target market spends time, (on and offline) listen to what they want, get engaged in a non self-serving way and deliver on what's important to them as individuals. Companies following this model win trust, loyalty and word of mouth/click.

Thirty years ago marketers could buy a two minute commercial spot interrupting the viewer's latest episode of Gilligan's Island and feel fairly confident they'd reach their target market on that particular channel, at that specific time. If the commercial aired often enough it would become a household brand as consumers became familiar with it through TV and radio ads. An effective but expensive undertaking.

Gone are the days when building a brand was accomplished using one or two mediums of communication. Now we have digital video recorders (DVRs) that wipe out commercials all together. There are over 500 niche broadcast channels available and more special interest magazines than a marketer can possibly keep track of. The Internet has created thousands of like-minded people in communities on every topic imaginable. Welcome to the new era of niche marketing in a forever evolving Web 2.0 economy.

The ease of world travel, globalization, trade and advances in technology have removed borders. When it comes to consumer choice of what to buy, the options are endless. Many products and services are of similar quality therefore consumers are making their buying decisions based on what their peers are saying, how familiar they are with a brand and most importantly, how much they trust the company to deliver on its promises.

Businesses that are listening and engaging their audience gain this trust. Success comes to those who are making products and services people want based on customer or investor feedback. Listening to an audience is easier today than it ever has been through the Internet and social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, etc. These communities allow companies to gain information beyond the traditional focus group.

Within online networks, people discuss and share their experiences and opinions on products and services from the comfort of their home, office or handheld device, in real time. It is the most honest and valuable feedback a company can hope to get and if used wisely, can create incredible results for the business.

Take Starbucks for example: They created a brilliant My Starbucks Idea campaign adopting a “people-centric” approach inviting customers online to talk about what more could be done to further enrich their Starbuck’s experience. This allowed people to express their ideas on a platform where others could read, post, vote and share with others in their networks.

If an idea made sense, Starbucks then adopted it. After enough people claimed the coffee was better in ceramic mugs than plastic cups, stemming from one of the ideas, Starbucks listened and gave customers that came in the store a discount on their coffee if they brought their own mug.

In March 2008, the open forum had generated over 70,000 ideas within a year’s time. Starbucks also generated buzz gaining over 300,000 viewers through their YouTube "If You Vote, We’ll Buy Your Next Coffee”, carries a strong “We Care About Our Community” message and offers customers a free coffee to participate. Their Twitter account is just shy of 250,000 followers. Starbucks understands the power of engaging its audience and building trust by providing an emotional experience. People become loyal based on how they “feel” about a brand, not necessarily how logical the decision is to buy it.

An article in the June 21, 2009 PARADE Magazine stated, "Businesses spend about $1.6 billion a year on 'word-of-mouth' advertising, promoting their goods to bloggers and to people who use social-media websites like Facebook, according to the research firm PQ Media."

In order to learn how your customers or shareholders are talking about you online, and how to engage them, here are a few simple tips:

• Go to Technorati (blog search engine), Google Search Blogs, Google Alerts and Twitter.

• Search for key words and phrases that match your company’s products and services and research what shows up. Subscribe to blogs pertinent to your organization and follow the conversations for a while.

• After gaining a feel for the community and when appropriate, add value to the discussion through your own compelling content. Be an expert, helpful and maintain a humble tone.

• Start your company’s own blog, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook accounts. Deliver relevant content that people will find of interest and can share with others. This is not a place to toot your own horn; it is a two way conversation where you provide transparency on operations and communicate information that interests your target market in some way.

In summary, if you truly care about your audience, listen to what is being said about your business and then be an active voice in the conversation. Passive companies hoping to fly under the radar of discussion are not in control of their message, nor do they gain the trust necessary for growth. Those that are hearing what's important to their customers and investors, receive great rewards.

STAYING HAPPY IN DIFFICULT TIMES
by Ray B. Williams

(Originally posted on June 21, 2009 FP Career Blog: Great info. Thanks Ray.)

Researchers have argued that our levels of happiness are at least 50% predetermined by our genes--which become a "set point" for our entire lives. The other most significant influences on our happiness levels are our decisions, attitudes and beliefs about ourselves, which can change behaviors, and therefore, levels of happiness, which accounts for about 40% of our level of happiness. The remaining 10% can be attributed to the external events which we find ourselves in, including levels of wealth.

Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness, and Learned Optimism, who is a recognized expert on the subject of happiness, has challenged the set point theory. He conducted a number of controlled experiments, in which he tested 500 people who had problems with depression or negativity, for their level of happiness. He gave these people three activities: Writing down 3 things that went well for the day and why; writing a gratitude testimonial and delivering it personally; and using their signature strength in a new way.

The results were impressive. Seligman reported that 94% of the severely depressed people in the group became less depressed and 92% of the people in the group became happier, with an average symptom relief (of negativity or depression) of 50% over 15 days. These results compared favorably to traditional medical treatment with drugs.

Seligman them combined the same exercises with follow up sessions with a psychotherapist for the group, and the positive results were even more significant.

Seligman concluded that the simple exercises that focus on positive emotions, personal strengths and how to build more meaning in life demonstrated that the genetic set-point theory of happiness may be wrong. This has tremendous implications for not just treating people who suffer from chronic depression or negativity, but also average people, who want to raise their level of happiness in life.

Ray Williams is Co-Founder of Success IQ University, and President of Ray Williams Associates, companies in Vancouver and Phoenix Arizona, providing leadership training, personal growth and executive coaching services. www.successiqu.com

Posted: June 21, 2009, 2:59 PM by Ray Williams
FP Careers Blog, happiness, Ray B. Williams, job satisfaction, success IQ

THE SOCIAL MEDIA MOVEMENT
By Loa Fridfinnson

Business professionals attempting to keep up with evolving trends and technologies are finding social media poses additional challenges in understanding how to truly unleash its benefits. Social media is a term that refers to web-based tools, specific sites and practices that people use to interact and share information online, developing virtual communities and niche markets.

Research firm Netpop’s recent study suggests usage of social media has increased by 93% since 2006 and continues to rapidly expand. Over a hundred million Americans are users, accounting for 76% of the broadband population. In Canada, more than 68 per cent of companies view social networking as the next step in collaborative activities and technology for business, according a survey by Coleman Parkes Research Ltd., a U.K.-based market research firm.

Well known social media sites include: LinkedIn and Plaxo (contact management), Facebook and MySpace (personalized info sharing), WordPress and Twitter (blogs and micro-blogs), Digg and Delicious (content sharing and bookmarks), YouTube (shared video), Wikipedia (editable encyclopedia) and an entire new crop of sites that are launched daily.

If you want to dip your toe into the exciting but vast ocean of social media, which site do you choose and what do you say when you’re there? It can be overwhelming to a newbie and definitely confusing for many executives who aren’t on the net daily for their jobs. However, most business professionals recognize the importance of getting involved or being left behind.

I have been working in the ever expanding area of marketing and PR for the past fifteen years, and continue to witness "best practice" in engaging an audience change and evolve.

Truth is, there is no magic formula and the bullseye is different for every organization. Each company and industry has its own set of circumstances to which a certain social media platform may or may not be relevant.

As communicators telling our companies’ stories we recognize that at minimum it’s imperative to have a decent website and connect with our market online or risk ceasing to exist in the global economy.

The Internet has become an integral part of our daily lives, professionally and socially, providing marketers with the incredible opportunity to target niche markets without spending a fortune.

The web has given every person a voice and the ability to spread a message to hundreds if not thousands with as little as one Tweet or blog post. This is serious power in the hands of the well-networked consumer. Wouldn’t you like this person blogging or Tweeting positively about your business?

Now that we have established why it is important, how do you know what method is right in order to reach people that are already talking about your company or could be new customers, investors and supporters?

Social media isn’t simply about giving an opinion and it certainly isn’t about the sale, its ultimate purpose is to share meaningful information that educates or entertains and engages others on a specific topic.

If you join a networking group through LinkedIn for example, after observing the posts and people involved, when you have something to add that’s of value and contributes to the conversation, jump in. A few posts later people will get to know you, and trust that you have knowledge or expertise on a particular subject.

LinkedIn also has a “Recommend this person” feature which allows people in your network to post a professional recommendation on you that could lead to new contacts and opportunities. You can also see your contacts’ networks and meet someone that could become a potential partner, vendor or customer.

A popular blog search engine http://technorati.com/ helps with learning what popular bloggers are doing and how they are doing it.

Once you have a topic to blog on, whether it’s for your business or a hobby, http://wordpress.com or http://blogger.com are sites where you can start a blog for free. Another advantage with blogging is that it increases your search engine ranking as the content is fresh and Google loves fresh material.

All it takes is a bit of research to get your bearings, a topic that you know about and away you go. Plaxo and LinkedIn are two of the easiest sites to join for business purposes, as you can start off slowly and gradually build out your network.

In summary, social media is a powerful way to increase business and investment opportunities, however it can be intimidating and time consuming. As with any marketing effort, it is crucial to conduct it with integrity and a high degree of professionalism. Nothing spreads a message, either good or bad, faster than online word of mouth.

What is Integrated Marketing?

Marketing is defined as all activities connected with advertising, distribution, merchandising, product planning, promotion, publicity, research and development, sales, transportation and warehousing of goods or services.

These are all necessary to increase a company's revenue and profitability however what we will address in this article is narrowing it down to a specific area of marketing known as integrated marketing communications.

How does it work?

An integrated approach brands a business and attracts new customers. It is most effective when all aspects of the marketing mix are used together. Instead of dividing communications into several overlapping channels, successful companies today make every communication consistent with one message executed through a unified, strategic plan.

The ultimate goal is to establish relationships with existing and prospective customers and investors based on retaining top of mind awareness and building the trust associated with a strong brand. It is essential to develop your brand equity which compels action through instilling beliefs about your business in the minds of your target audience. Are you known in your industry? Have you taken the steps necessary to become known or are you sitting back hoping customers and/or investors will find you? If so, you will be waiting a long time!

Integrated marketing encompasses industry intelligence through research, corporate identity/brand development and use of the Internet, media, database/email marketing, advertising, sales promotion, direct mail, measurement tools and peer analysis to create a program that ultimately turn into sales, profits, repeat business and referrals.

Many small businesses have great products and services but lack growth due to a lack of new buyers or repeat business from past customers/investors.

Advances in technology, database software and the Internet have turned the traditional, expensive marketing model upside down, enabling companies of all sizes to compete for a customer and investor's attention. The new integrated model represents significant cost reductions when it comes to finding and retaining the people most likely to buy from you.

Following is a list of basic steps to take if you'd like to accomplish a cost-effective integrated marketing strategy, beginning with the basic step of developing a point of contact through your online office, the website.

Step One: The Marketing Plan - A marketing plan should be created, realistically looking at the costs associated with what you are about to do, if even on a small scale. Complete the research necessary to locate your target audience. There are many services online that will provide you with lists of prospects for a reasonable fee or do the research yourself by finding a directory or association in your chosen market.

Step Two: Your Online Sales Infrastructure - Launching a professional website will educate people on your company and its value 24/7/365 - your storefront should ALWAYS be open and inviting! A poorly designed website or one that is difficult to navigate around in will do the opposite of what you want it to do so ensure it is professional and represents your business in the best possible way.

A website should reflect the company's vision, mission and growth objectives, information on products/services, investor information and above all else, spell out in the obvious benefits a customer or investor will receive when buying from or investing in you.

Step Three: Interactivity - Incorporate interactivity into your web development plan so that individuals can serve themselves anytime, day or night. The customer should be able to request specific product/service information, learn about the company's history, read interesting facts and articles, sign up for free offers, give feedback and have the ability to recommend the site to a friend through the click of a button. This is the relationship development portion of your campaign, get people involved.

Step Four: Collect Data - An online database captures the prospects information for future communications and relationship development.

Step Five: Direct - Drive traffic to your online office through targeted opt-in emails, online promotions, a monthly or quarterly e-newsletter, coverage with online and offline media (this involves PR which will be discussed in another issue) banner advertisements, newsgroups, trade shows, etc. The list of opportunities is endless!

Step Six: Patience - Hurry up and Wait!! In order to begin any marketing program, you must have commitment and above all else, PATIENCE!

Marketing does not bring in customers or investors overnight. There is much information available to people these days and therefore it takes time to develop the relationships necessary to turn them into customers and investors. You must seek, nurture the relationship and provide value to be successful.

It is essential that your marketing messages are consistent, the company's vision and brand identity is well portrayed in all of your collateral materials and that you have friendly and knowledgeable staff following up on your behalf within 24 hours. Once they do buy from you, don't stop communicating! Continue to send them valuable offers and updates on your business so they keep you top of mind and don't hesitate to refer your company to a friend.

All of the steps listed above will maximize your marketing efforts, reduce the costs associated with traditional marketing and ultimately increase overall profitability and shareholder loyalty.