Corporate Social Strategy

2011 Social Media Trend – eCommerce & Facebook

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, eCommerce, Social Media, Social Media Consulting, Trends | 1 Comment

Just a few months ago, you’d have had to argue why your business should have a Facebook store; today you’d probably have to justify any decision not to have an e-commerce function on Facebook.  It is becoming so big now that it is enabling a huge shift how people shop and how they are influenced. Facebook is coming up on 600,000,000 users which is about 8.7% of the world population. That’s an astronomical number and seems to be growing at ever increasing speeds.

Hence, it comes as no surprise that new f-commerce pages from major brands and retailers are beginning to gain traction and actually generate revenue. Actual ROI. This new function allows people to shop directly from Facebook tabs without leaving the site, which is huge in that Facebook users prefer not to leave the site.

Facebook commerce (f-commerce) is the newest trend for 2011 and by 2014 I would imagine that most consumer packaged goods, airlines and retailers will be seriously considering this functionality on their Facebook pages.  It should be an interesting year.

Here is a very insightful study by Altimeter Group, one of the most influential thought leaders in the area of social media strategy and social commerce. A must-read for anyone seriously considering utilizing social media and e-commerce.

Rise of Social Commerce

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Generate New Business and Engage Existing Clients through Social Media

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Social Media, Social Media Consulting | 1 Comment

While social media seems ever present these days, there is still a lot of confusion on how to identify, connect with and engage potential partners, customers and vendors. You hear the hubbub about how social media is revolutionizing marketing, sales, retail, healthcare, journalism but you’re still not sure how you can get utilize social channels for your business.

You may already have a Facebook page, Twitter account and/or LinkedIn profile yet nothing is generating any new business and you’re not even engaging with your existing clients (that is, if they’ve managed to find you out there). At this point you’re probably wondering, with a good deal of frustration, “What am I missing? How does this social media thing work?”

The truth is, social media isn’t a replacement for the marketing and communication efforts you already have in place. People still do business with people and not with profiles.  However, social media can have an important place in your marketing mix and can greatly enhance your presence in an online world.

Social Media Presentation – Century College Leadership Breakfast Series

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Social Intelligence – Utilizing Social Media Data

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Reputation Monitoring, Return on Investment, Social Media, Social Media Consulting | Leave a comment

Social Intellegence DataIts amazing to see how social media has so quickly transformed the marketing world, not to mention the realm of advertising and public relations. We went from talking about how to build a Twitter account a few years ago to now expecting social media to do some heavy lifting.

And much of that heavy lifting is in the form of data collection based on online discussions and engagement. Companies are trying to keep up with these emerging social interactions by monitoring what is being said about them online but can’t seem to grapple with the fire hose of data that is coming at them. Most of them are just trying to make sense of properly engage customers and haven’t quite figured out how to use the information that is coming back at them.

From what I see, most companies, not named Ford or Dell, are still hesitant to really embrace social technologies and aren’t quite convinced of its relevance to their business. Either that, or they haven’t the faintest idea how to craft and implement a strategy that incorporates branding, business lead generation, quality customer service, and consumer insight.

Many companies these days have a social media presence but they aren’t really tying it to their overall business objectives. Its just hanging out there on its own. They throw up a Facebook page or sign up for a Twitter account but don’t really have a strategy on how they engage with people or what type of data they hope to glean out of social interactions.

Without any prompting, customers are openly sharing information that would otherwise have taken months of surveys and focus groups. And they’re doing it for free. This has prompted the growth of a relatively new field called Social Intelligence, which harnesses the insights found within social media data to better understand customers and inform marketing and business strategy.

McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s biggest consulting firms, as just recently partnered with Neilson to provide this service to clients, so you know there must be something do this. (Nielsen Joins Forces With McKinsey For Social Intelligence Consulting)

Social Intelligence is quite an easy concept but one that isn’t being fully utilized by most companies. It involves these three basic steps:

  • Monitoring social media
  • Collecting and analyzing the content
  • Using the insights to inform your strategy

Companies are just beginning to figure out the first two steps but have yet to figure out the third and, what I’d consider to be, the most crucial step. Zach Hofer-Shall, an analyst at Forrester Research recently published an article called Defining Social Intelligence which he encouraged companies to start taking online conversations seriously to better utilize the data coming from their social channels.

I think Zach and Forrester are on to something. Thus, you should be seeing more and more demand for services that link social data to business insights.

Here are some interesting articles I’ve found on the subject:

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Social Media & Retail Marketing

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, eCommerce, Retail, Social Media, Trends, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

RetailI recently attended a very interesting Twin Cities Social Media Breakfast (@SMBMSP) panel discussion at the Mall of America on the subject of social media & retail. The four panelists included

It was good to see such a broad range of retail experience and each panelist brought up some interesting points on how they approached social media. It was surprising to see that Best Buy, Izzy and MOA didn’t really have a social media strategy before engaging on social channels but it made sense considering they were early adopters of the technology.

Jennifer admitted that it would have been preferable for Best Buy to first build a social networking strategy around their business objectives but there really wasn’t a roadmap for them to follow. The same was true for Mall of America in that they just started tweeting and building a Facebook fan base before considering how it was going to be integrated with their more traditional efforts.

I greatly appreciate these companies for being early adopters and I believe other companies can learn a great deal from their efforts. All panelist admitted to making mistakes but they learned from them and have incorporated those insights into their communication efforts which has greatly enhanced engagement with their key audiences.

Social media has now matured enough were companies can now learn from these early adopters and build a social strategy that has a foundation in overall business goals and objectives. Just imagine if these companies knew then what they know now; I imagine they’d be able to come up with an incredibly effective marketing strategy.

My advice for retail companies considering a social media marketing strategy is to learn from these companies and build on their best practices.

Building a Social Media Strategy Based on Business Goals

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Return on Investment, Social Media, Social Media Consulting | Leave a comment

strategy-and-consultingI spent this afternoon listening to Charlene Li and Jeremiah Owyang’s webinar on Developing A Social Strategy that I think is one of the better resources for companies thinking about creating a well structured, long-term strategy for engaging customers through social media.

They brought up some great points on how a company should go about building a social media strategy and I definitely believe in their approach which emphasizes that it’s not all about the technologies but about how you build long-term relationships online.

They did a good job of showing how companies like Dell, Wells Fargo and Kohls are using social media to build community, provide customer service and drive sales, however I would have preferred to see more examples of how smaller companies are succeeding in this space (See Duluth Pack). There were, though, a good variety of sectors like retail, B2B, financial, CPG and technology to glean some interesting tidbits.

Developing A Social Strategy Webinar

View more presentations from Charlene Li.

This webinar is a great place to start for companies thinking about creating a strategic approach to their social engagement strategy. I think Social Persuasion blog had a good synopsis for the key takeaways from the webinar:

  • Social Strategy is More Than Promotion
  • Don’t Forget Your Employees
  • Understanding the True Value
  • Social Strategy Means New Workflows
  • Practice Open Leadership

They have another webinar coming up in April about getting your company ready for social media that I highly suggest.

Duluth Pack Finds Success with Social Media

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Minnesota, Return on Investment, Social Media | 1 Comment

1151.jpgIn my many years of hiking, canoeing and camping throughout the Minnesota’s Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA), I have acquired quite an arsenal of camping paraphernalia, including my most prized position; a #4 Duluth Pack that safely caries all my gear through rain, snow and wind. It’s one of the few products on the planet that are built to last. In fact, Duluth Pack guarantees their packs…for life.

As an interactive marketer, I thought that this company would be a perfect fit for social media as it has a loyal customer base and manufactures a product that invokes great memories of past adventures. Much to my surprise, this old company had already taken to the new media with a significant presence on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere.

Return On Investment

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Molly Solberg, who is behind all this social networking for Duluth Pack, and was able to get her take on how they have approached social media and if they have managed to realize an actual return on investment.

As it happens, they have been able to build significant sales growth through their social engagement with little capital investment. They’ve been able to drive significant amounts of traffic to their website via Facebook, Twitter and their blog; all within one year. Through their social networking they managed to get the attention of a New York Times reporter and were mentioned in a NYT article that eventually resulted in a flood or orders from all over the world. This led in turn led to further mentions on blogs and other social networks and eventually resulted in a couple of significant new corporate accounts. Talk about a return on investment.

Keys To Success

Much of Duluth Pack’s social media success can be attributed to Molly who has the gift for gab and is comfortable being social in an online setting. Her interactions on Facebook and Twitter are quite genuine and friendly with and most importantly; engaging. Her blog posts on river canoe trips, winter camping and the BWCA speak directly to their target audience and in essence act as a resource to people interested in these activities.

Molly doesn’tDuluth Pack Twitter just talk about how wonderful their products are but she makes sure to talk about camping and canoeing while also being conversational , mentioning things like the Vikings game, how cold the weather is in Duluth, links to bears having babies….you name it. She engages people in everyday conversations and makes the effort to thank them for their comments and suggestions and is willing to share what’s going on with the company. Its not just about selling, it’s about being social, which eventually leads to a sale.

Observing Duluth Pack’s social media success has solidified my belief that one of the most important aspects of a successful social networking strategy, not only relies on a solid plan, but also greatly depends on who you have conversing on those social channels. Identifying the right people who have the proper temperament, social skills, passion, and know-how can make the difference between wasting staff time and driving major sales opportunities.

Duluth Pack Finds Success with Social Media

I’m an avid camper and make it my mission to take as many camping trips as possible in a year. My main love happens to be Minnesota’s Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA), one of the country’s largest and most pristine wilderness areas. In my many years of hiking, canoeing and camping throughout the BWCA, I have acquired quite a arsenal of camping paraphernalia, including my most prized position; a #4 Duluth Pack that I received as a wedding present.

This pack is a true camping companion carring all my gear through rain, snow and wind and is on of the few products on the planet that are built to last. In fact, Duluth Pack guarantees their packs…for life. What’s not to love about that. I’m even lucky enough to have a friend who works at the company (founded in 1882) and was lucky enough to go on a tour of the factory. I was surprised to see how small their building is and even more surprised to see how everything is done by hand…the old fashion way. What a concept.

As an interactive marketer I thought that this company was a perfect fit for promoting itself through social media as it has a loyal customer base and is one of those products that invokes great memories of past adventures. Much to my surprise, this old company had already taken to the new media with a significant presence on Twitter and Facebook.

And I found out, that my friend, Molly Solberg, was behind all this social networking, so as you can imagine, I was very excited to get her take on how they approached social media and if they managed to realize a return on investment.

As it happens, they have been able to build significant business through social engagement. Through their presence on social media, they’ve been able to drive significant amounts of traffic to their website via Facebook, Twitter and their blog within one year. Through their social networking, they also have been mentioned in a New York Times article that produced orders from all over the world, that also led to mentions on blogs and other social channels and eventually led to two new significant corporate accounts. Talk about a return on investment.

Much of Duluth Pack’s social media success can be attributed to Molly who has the gift for gab and is comfortable being social in an online setting. Her interactions on Facebook and Twitter are quite genuine and friendly with and most importantly; engaging. She doesn’t just talk about how wonderful their products are but also talks about camping, canoeing, the Vikings game, weather….you name it. She also engages people and thanks them for their comments and suggestions and is willing the share what’s going on with the company.

It made me realize that a successful social media presence not only relies on a solid strategy, but depends on who you have conversing on the social channels. There truly needs to be a personality fit with the channels and doesn’t necessarily have to be someone from the marketing or public relations department.

C-Suite Expecting Social Media To Do Some Heavy Lifting in 2010

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Return on Investment, Social Media, Trends | 1 Comment

chief-executiveJust this last week I had the opportunity to attend the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Event where attendance was around 600 people with a large contingent of executives from companies such as Xcel Energy, 3M, Ecolab, US Bank, Comcast, and Securian. I had the opportunity to chat with a few of them and when I mentioned my experience with social media and interactive technologies they all immediately asked me the ROI question.

That elusive social media return on investment question that until recently had not been answered to anyone’s satisfaction. Especially those chief marketing officers (CMOs) whose lifespan at a company averages around 28 months. That’s not much time to make a difference so it’s no wonder their focus is on getting results….and fast.

A recent CMO study by Bazaarvoice (CMOs Plan for Higher Social Media Measurability in 2010) recently came out with some interesting stats on how they see social media in 2010. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Only 36% of CMOs measured social media’s impact on conversion
  • Only 22% measured social media’s impact on revenues in 2009
  • 72% CMOs who answered that they did not attach revenue to social commerce in 2009 said they would create such a link in 2010
  • 81% expect to link up to 10% of their annual revenues to their social media investment in 2010
  • The fastest-growing metrics to be tracked in 2010 include revenue, conversion, and average order value

Things have started to change and marketers are starting to find ways to effectively gauge and measure their social presence but there’s still some work to do. It’s not all about the conversation anymore; it’s about how the conversation can influence bottom line sales. Social networking now has the attention of the C-suite so it’s now time for social media to step up, start doing some heavy lifting and show its true business value.

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