JitterJam® Social CRM

Today marks the fortieth annual celebration of Earth Day, and it is an understandably popular topic across the Web right now. Both the phrase “Happy Earth Day” and the hash tag #EarthDay are currently trending topics on Twitter. But there is one specific Earth Day-related search phrase we’ve been really interested in all day, and that is “Earth Day resolutions.”

Why Earth Day resolutions? Well, a resolution is actionable—it’s something someone wants to get done. And there is therefore an opportunity to help. For a business in the eco-friendly space, Earth Day resolutions offer a wealth of possibilities. To name just one example: a search on this simple term would bring up dozens of potential customers for a cloth bag manufacturer (ditching plastic shopping bags has been a popular resolution choice).

Days like this need not (and should not) be exclusively about direct, immediate conversions, however. For the eco-friendly business, like the client who first turned us on to the idea of Earth Day resolutions, establishing a presence in a holiday- or event-related conversation can be just as much about showing a passionate dedication to the ideals set forth in the company’s mission statement. Letting customers and prospects know you care deeply about the same things they care about is never a bad move.

Either way, if your company is engaged in social media marketing, the opportunity to help or to inspire on a day like today is one that should never be passed up.

Last month, I wrote about the importance of measurement in social media campaigns. In that post, I identified three things you should be tracking 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.

We’ve already talked about trends in the development of your contact list. This time, let’s focus on the buzz building around your company and industry. Here are three tips on how to handle it.

Contribute without selling. Don’t enter into the conversation looking to sell. As with any social media interaction, enter the room with the aim of being helpful first and foremost. Be subtle and tactful as you try to raise awareness of your product or service. This is especially crucial if the conversation is about your industry in general and not your company specifically.

Don’t duck in and duck out. Become a presence in the conversation, not just the person who sneaks into the picture to get noticed, then leaves. This ties in with the point above: Show your potential customers that you are engaged in this conversation for the long haul, and that your first interaction was not just a token appearance or some kind of marketing stunt or trick.

Research the origins of the buzz. A key piece of reacting to buzz is anticipating and reacting quickly. If you didn’t react as swiftly as you’d like this time, the key to reacting quicker next time is in understanding where the buzz started, how it started, and who started it. If you’re seeing buzz consistently originate from the same people or sites, it might be time to start tracking what they’re saying more carefully. Use tagging or segmentation features in your marketing platform (like those found in JitterJam) to create a group of contacts you should be checking in on more regularly.

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