JitterJam® Social CRM

In order to deliver a true return on your investment in social media, you need to turn your Twitter followers and Facebook fans into prospects and customers. And the best way to develop those relationships is to tie all of your social media interactions into a contact database that will help you add intelligence, segmentation factors, and channels through which you can connect with your contacts.

Adding Channels. Both you and your contacts should be able to add and modify the channels that are available to you for potential communications. Of course you should be able to enter information you collect from a business card, but your efforts can’t stop there. A customer-facing preferences panel is a must, if for no other reason than to reassure your contacts that they are participants in a conversation and not just the audience for your monologues and sales pitches. Let them decide how they wish to be contacted. Don’t be afraid of empowering your contacts. They just might thank you for that with a sale later on down the road.

Adding Intelligence. Your customer-facing preferences panel should also allow contacts to tell you what they want to be contacted about. It’s rare that every potential customer is interested in every widget you have on offer. Don’t clog their inboxes with irrelevant messages or soon they may deem your entire operation irrelevant to their increasingly busy lives.

Your system should also have the flexibility to allow you to enter intelligence that you uncover on contacts indirectly. If you see @So-and-So tweeting a lot about cupcakes one day, you might want to sign him up to receive notices on your new baking widget, something he might not have even known was available yet.

Adding Segmentation. On the most basic level, you should be segmenting your contact list into four categories: prospects, contacts, customers, and advocates. The goal, once those basic categories are in place, is to further segment to help you best determine how to turn contacts into prospects, prospects into customers, and customers into advocates. To that end, you should implement tags to refine your list.  Who are the bloggers? Who’s local? Who is reposting or retweeting your content the most? Tag them, and keep track!

Are you doing other things to develop your contact list? If you have any secrets you want to share, please leave them in the comments below.

Measurement is an important part of any marketing campaign, but it’s especially important with social media campaigns. You should be measuring three things, in particular: the buzz building around your company and industry; the ROI on the special promotions you’re running; and trends in the development of your contact list.

Let’s talk today about trends in the development of your contact list, and what to do about them. Here are three areas to pay particular attention to:

Contact Growth. Obviously, the picture we want to see painted in any graph of contact growth is a steady incline. Spikes, sharp declines, and stagnancy are things to watch out for. When it comes to spikes and sharp declines, determine if these increases and decreases in numbers correlate with your actions. If not, figure out why you are seeing these dramatic changes, and what you can do to correct the trend (or further it, in the case of an upswing). Conduct searches of the social networks and the blogosphere on a regular basis to see what customers, competitors, and industry commentators are saying about you. Find an answer!

When it comes to stagnancy, the key question is whether maintaining the list’s size is part of your plan or whether efforts to increase your list are proving ineffective. If your efforts are proving ineffective, are there competitors whose social media efforts you can look to gauge what’s working and not working? Are there other places to look?

Reciprocity. Reciprocity is a crucial unit of measurement on Twitter. Are you being followed back by the users you’re following? If not, why not? And, if they aren’t following you right away but are eventually following you, why are they reciprocating when they do? Look at the campaigns you were running during any spikes in reciprocation and ask yourself what you might have been doing then that you aren’t doing on a regular basis. Use the information you uncover to refocus your day-to-day efforts until following you back is a no-brainer for customers and prospects.

Number of Contact Points. How many different places can you contact a customer? It’s an important question to ask. After all, what happens if the contact quits Twitter or Facebook? And what happens when they change email addresses without telling you? You should constantly be measuring the number of contact points you have for your customers, and you should always be looking for new ways to capture secondary and tertiary contact information.

Those are just a couple of the strategies that come immediately to mind when thinking about trend management. Have anything to add? Drop a note in the comments below.

This video, featuring Barry Judge (CMO of Best Buy), is worth a few minutes of your time. In it, Judge raises two points crucial to success in social media marketing.

Talk With Customers, Not At Them. Like many brick & mortar companies, Best Buy’s marketing strategy used to center around television and print media. They ran ads that targeted every consumer within earshot, shouting to the world about their low prices. But then came the rise of Wal-Mart. And after that, of course, came Amazon. And suddenly low prices — best buys, if you will — were no longer as unique a value proposition as they once were.

As Judge points out, the target can’t be everyone anymore. There are too many people to reach, and those people have too many alternatives to choose from. So, the strategy can’t revolve around you and your company controlling and disseminating the message. The truth is: you can’t control the message, and you might not even be the best person to spread it. You are just one part of the conversation about your brand and your product. The customer is another part, and a far larger one. With the rise of social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook (and even blogs), customers are now able to share what they think about a product or service at anytime, in any number of places, and with a potential army of like-minded fellow consumers.

Hence, the importance of social media monitoring and expeditious social media response. You can and should be getting your message out there. But you need to be constantly monitoring how that message is coming across to your potential customers and how that message might be transforming as it’s passed from one person to the next.

Every Mobile Phone Is Now A Response Device. Whether the device in question is a simple messaging phone, a more advanced smart phone, or one of the newer, so-called app phones, I think Judge is right-on when he talks about the power of our mobile devices. Customers can now respond to ads instantaneously, and from anywhere. Whether they see a billboard at the subway station or a full-pager in a magazine at their dentist’s office, they have a device in their pocket that allows them to act on the offer immediately. In many cases, they can buy something right then and there from their phone. And they can also pass on the offer to friends in any number of ways (text message, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Something Judge doesn’t mention: phones with ubiquitous Internet access are also making it easier for customers to comparison shop without even leaving your store. If a customer has doubts about whether you’re offering the best price, and if you don’t give them a good enough reason to stay and shop with you, it’s all too easy to find someplace else that will give them the buying experience that they crave.

Many of the products we use (or are advised to use) in social media are free to access. But no product, regardless of the price tag or lack thereof, is free to use. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, or the latest and greatest service that bloggers, Twitterers, and Facebookers are raving about — there are always costs involved, particularly in staff time.

Here are four particular cost areas to consider:

Resources. You need people to make these things look good, and you need people to keep them running. WordPress blogs come out of the box looking very much like thousands of other WordPress blogs. They also end up looking like very lonely places if they’re not updated on a regular basis. It’s blatantly obvious to even the most casual Web user — whether they’re 100% conscious of this or not — when the blog or Website they’re looking at has a cookie-cutter design. And users are also well aware of the virtual tumbleweeds rolling by on sites where there’s less life than they’d find in a ghost town.

Setting up a Twitter account provides similar hurdles. And while it is theoretically easy to change your background, to fill out your full profile, and to tweet on a regular basis, theoretical ease isn’t quite the same as actual ease. You need to get it done, or you need someone to get it done for you. And it takes time!

Dedication. We live in the age of the Next Big Thing, in a world where it’s ridiculously easy to find something new to obsess over, something new to occupy our precious free time. If you’re not delivering constant content through your marketing channels, people will forget about you and move on. Regardless of your market, it is crucial to keep customers engaged in the product and the message year round, on a weekly (if not daily) basis.

The flip side of that, of course, is not to overdo it. But I’m a believer in going all-out, then listening to your audience, seeing if they’re feeling oversaturated, and only reigning things in as necessary.

Messaging. Just as press releases, white papers, and other more traditional marketing efforts require serious thought, so too do social media campaigns. It’s harder to create a meaningful message in 140 characters than you would think. And then there’s the issue of how well the information coming through these new channels is tying in with the rest of your marketing message. It’s easy enough to hand responsibility for your Twitter profile and your Facebook fan page off to an Intern. But if that Intern isn’t clued into the master plan, you could be sending out messages that are erroneous, poorly executed, or, in the worst-case scenario, flat-out false. Once something’s out there on the Internet, it’s out there to stay. And that means that, even if you do farm this work out to someone else, a portion of your workday is going to have to be devoted to making sure that the messages which come out from your brand, regardless of which channel they are distributed through, are on point.

Monitoring. You also need to track how effective these free messages you’re sending really are. Ask yourself: which posts, tweets, and status updates are driving the most traffic? Which are generating conversation in the comments section? And which are being shared on Facebook, or retweeted on Twitter? If you can’t answer these questions now, you need to find a way to answer them. Because, while these products might be free to access, there are always going to be costs associated with actually using them. And you need to be able to justify those costs, whether to yourself, or to your boss, or to your shareholders. Or else you may be out of a job. Or out of business.

Does this mean that you need a full-time staffer whose sole purpose is to execute your social media masterplan? Well, no. It would be nice, but it’s not 100% necessary. What you need, at minimum, is someone who is thinking constantly about how to put these free tools to good use, and how to get the most bang for your staff-time buck.

Photo Credit: free-sign by koka_sexton. CC BY.

Have you ever followed a person or a company on Twitter and received a “Thanks for the follow, here’s our website” direct message from that “person” in response?  Does that feel like an authentic voice or a pre-recorded message? Is this a business practice that you want to adopt for your first social outreach to a new contact?

Social media has enabled business to see first-hand what consumers are saying about them and to directly address, engage and captivate them. Yes, captivate. The practice of sending an automated response to a Twitter follower (or anyone who engages with your business through a social account) is contrary to what social media is about! To many consumers that are using social media, these automated responses are red flags; they signal that the business is focused on marketing to them rather than talking with them. The business has lost them at first touch.

Think about the last time you sent an email to a company and received an automated response. While it was nice to know that your message was received, did you glow with satisfaction? Putting that into a social context, is that the first impression you want to give to a current or potential customer? Social channels are about fostering open and direct communications with people. While the interesting content that you’d like to share with people is a great candidate for “scheduled” outbound communications, make sure your first interaction with someone is real, live and personal. You’ll begin to set the stage for a trusted, positive relationship.

In our last post, “What Do I Say?,” I wrote about how to become a member of the communities that you, as a business, serve. You want to engage potential customers that are talking about your markets, your products, your brands, and one of the best ways to do that is to be seen as a member who contributes to the conversations–not just one that pushes your own message and agenda to the masses.

You want to start engaging current and potential customers that are talking about your products, brands and markets, but you are overwhelmed at the sheer volume of conversations taking place on the real-time web. You search for conversations but are wading through the myriad of irrelevant chatter. So how do you find relevant conversations? You’ll find a few tips below that pertain to Twitter, blogs and some other social channel searches:

Check and adjust your criteria often. Searching for relevant conversations is more of an art than a science. Conversations change from day to day, and your search criteria will have to change with the ebbs and flows of the conversations. For instance, an outdoor gear products company that is searching for conversations about camping might suddenly be inundated with conversations that surround camping out to buy tickets for the Miley Cyrus tour. If you have created and saved a search that’s related to camping, you’re going to have to filter out this anomaly. NOT is your friend in a search.

Add keywords to focus your search. Camping might be a great keyword for your search, but it’s very general. That outdoors gear company might want to narrow in the conversations to ones that match “camping and gear not Miley” or even camping and trip and plan not Miley to focus on those people who might be planning a trip or looking for gear. Try out different mixes of keywords to see how these changes impact the quality of your results. Too few? Maybe the words are not the right ones. Too many? Try adding some additional words to pinpoint your focus.

Try following “conversation trails.” One way to find new people is to follow conversation trails. One person tweets about camping. Look at who re-tweeted the information. Look at who that person has on his/her Twitter camping list. Another person posted a blog entry about camping gear. A number of others commented and posted links to their blogs. And so on. Conversation trails = an informal community that has formed around a topic of interest–and one example of a community you can join and engage.

Try searching Twitter hashtags. Have you been curious about the little # tags that people have been placing in their tweets? Those tags are used by Twitter to make it easier for everyone to find tweets related to common interests. Brands create and use unique hashtags to not only help their customers find their content but to help others find content and people that are related to them as well. The #camping hashtag might help the outdoors gear company find people interested in camping or lead to new conversation trails.

Use your own voice to have others find you. You’re not the only one searching for relevant conversations. Post some interesting content to your blog, to Twitter, to your YouTube channel. Use keywords and hashtags to help others find you. And they will. The more you say that adds to the conversation, the more people will be interested in listening.

To those  of you who did a web search on Miley Cyrus tickets and ended up here, thanks for visiting.

Businesses are increasingly looking to social media as a way to reach their current and potential customers. According to the Society of Digital Agencies’ highly though-provoking and information-rich 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook report, 50% of brand executives will be shifting funds from traditional to digital media, and over 87% percent say that social media is either important or a top priority in 2010.

While it’s encouraging to see that so many companies are focusing on social media, I have spoken to many business owners and marketers who are still trying to figure out both the “art” and the “mechanics” of social engagement. In fact, the most common question I have heard is, “What do I say?”

There’s no simple answer to that question. “It depends” isn’t a good answer, but it is an honest answer. There are a lot of conversations happening out there, and businesses want to tap into them and start engaging consumers. And the best advice I have to give them is to become a member of the community you serve. How?

Find conversations that surround common interests or categories that intersect with the products you offer–food, camping, coffee, shoes, dogs, children, home improvement, music, skiing, vertical window blinds. Whatever it is, someone is interested in talking about it.

Engage directly with those who are speaking. Follow them on Twitter.  Send them an @reply regarding the post that drew your attention. Comment on their blog. Make this first outreach a comment about what they have expressed–NOT about you, your products, your capabilities. Your initial outreach will make this contact aware of your brand, your company and of you as a person. Your interest in them brings you a first “soft” opportunity to make a brand impression on a potential customer.

Post interesting content. Did you publish an article about matching window treatments to specific types of decor on your website? Do you have a new recipe for bruschetta using your specialty vinegar? Did you find an interesting article about new testing procedures for people who have food allergies and think others would find it valuable? Did you discover a great place to go camping? Tweet it. Include a trackable link. See how many people click through, retweet, or even start following you as a result. Continue to put out interesting content.

Don’t forget your goals. While being a part of the community is important, your goal is to turn those conversations into customers. It’s OKAY to say, “We have a gluten-free product that you might like.” But make sure that ALL your outreach and conversations don’t have this same demeanor. An easy way to do this is to use a standard ratio of conversation (all about you) to marketing (promoting me); Chris Brogan likes to use a 12:1 ratio. That works for me!

The next most common question I have heard is, “How do I find these conversations?” We’ll cover that in the next blog post.