The success of social media campaigns

The success of social media campaigns, and utilization in general, does not, in any way, rely on some magical formula or any secret ingredients we might need to acquire from the belated witches of Salem! Yet, it is a careful mixture of simple and valuable elements which need to be present before, through and after the implementation of any social media campaign. Some elements could be very obvious, while others need some research and attention to be achieved.

• Make sure that you apply smart integration with the “right” social media channels that suit your brand image, the product/service you are trying to promote and its value. Not every social media channel will bring about the positive feedback you are waiting for!
• Take time to choose the team who will be in charge of executing your social media plan. It is not about the quantity, it is about the quality, remember that! Experience and already established online PR agents or staff members will be of a higher value to your campaign in comparison with anyone with a lot of free time to waste!
• Again, content is king! It is a must to make sure that your social media campaign’s content is not offensive, biased or easily misinterpreted. This could be easily used against you!
• Just as it is important to know your target market online, learning more about your online target audience is very important! This will not only help you know where to find them, it will also guide you in designing the campaign that will intrigue them and lead them to take actions!
• You are under the microscope; play nice! Always be aware that once your social media campaign has hit the hot topics’ list, you are now being watched. Try to be continuously involved in any conversations, posts, chats and/or forums taking place regarding your product, service or campaign.
• Be innovative and try not to imitate whenever possible. You might use the same social media channels others are utilizing but try making your benefit and reward systems varied. Your audience is not always looking to get a free coffee!
• Constantly measure the depth of your social media campaign’s fulfillment of goals and returns. The ROI should always be bigger, or at least equal to, the invested money, time, effort and resources that you are putting in the project.
• Put effort into making the overall social media campaign’s experience fun, engaging and proactive. Adding games, puzzles and teasers can be very addictive!

In a nut shell, though it might be tricky to implement each of the above steps within the right time frame, remember something: impossible is nothing!

Engage Youth Online With Social Interactivity

Youth between the ages of 18 and 35 — are a unique group of consumers. They tend to be socially fluid and highly connected, emotionally searching for their identities, and mentally fickle and creative. How can you engage these youngsters online? By applying four design approaches: social interactivity, immediacy, literacy, and individualism.

Provide the ability to communicate with others. To youth, media and content aren't resources for passive consumption. They're pieces of sharable conversations. Enabling communication and content sharing encourages youth to include content from sites in their online conversations.

Offer tools for self-expression. Youth aren't satisfied just consuming content. They want to create their own. Companies need to find ways to embrace these users' creativity and satisfy their need for self-expression.

For most companies and brands, it doesn't make sense to try to redesign an entire site to provide better youth experiences. Instead, customer experience professionals need to identify the most likely activities that youth will be doing on their sites. How can they do this? Execute a simple survey asking people what they're trying to do on the site, and then look at the responses. With more sophisticated analytics, you can also identify the most frequent paths these young users take.

Firms looking to engage younger users with social interactivity should ask two simple questions about the experiences on their sites: 1) Does it provide the ability to communicate with others? and 2) Does it offer tools for self-expression? By asking these two questions in the context of relevant user goals, brands can identify places to increase social interactivity. You can then draw on the best practices of other firms and other industries to take advantage of the opportunities.

Moving to CRM 2.0

Many organizations these days are overwhelmed with this new phenomenon: The Social Media. The Social Media which I call as Web 2.0, includes fast-growing peer-to-peer (P2P) activities like blogging, RSS, file sharing, open source software, podcasting, search engines, and user-generated content.Out of the total 50 Million Online user base — 82% of users come from the Urban Cities and out of those 81% now read blogs at least monthly, and 73% are members of a social networking site like Orkut, Facebook or LinkedIn. (Reference)

Even more amazingly, almost one-third of all youth publish a blog at least weekly, and 41% of youth visit a social networking site daily. These new technology and social changes are transforming the way all businesses operate, create products, and relate to customers.

Web 2.0 changes the game for your CRM strategy too — big time! CRM strategies are moving beyond their traditional goal of optimizing a two-way relationship between an enterprise and customer to include the simultaneous relationships that customers have among themselves. Including social networks changes the definition of CRM from the stale exchange of data to a live, vibrant network of connected individuals who share their abilities, expertise, and interests.

So, in this new world Web 2.0 your company will be able to:

Collaborate with Customers and Partners in new ways

This will result in genuine business relationships form, and the external perception of an organization changes from sterile and faceless to a collection of individuals who are ready to help

Collaborate within the enterprise to deliver more value

Online networks with even basic profiles of its individual members' experiences, locations, and interests can cut problem-solving time by enabling faster connection between a questioner and a person who has solved similar problems in the past. An internal social networking capability can also help the individuals responsible for creating relationships with customers to pull together the "right" team of individuals who will resonate with the prospect at a personal level.

What I am now describing are the new methods or new CRM landscape which all the marketers should definitely learn to navigate with.

1. Power up market research with "listening" capabilities.

Traditional: Engaging with customers begins with understanding their needs and goals, behaviors, and their value to the enterprise. This activity has traditionally been the domain of market research.

CRM 2.0: But if you redefine the role of market research to include the capabilities for actively "listening" in the Social Computing context, then you should establish customer sounding boards for researching decisions. You can monitor market buzz and measure ongoing trends and customer perceptions using solutions from BuzzMetrics and Cymfony (a division of TNS Media Intelligence).

2. Make marketing more relevant with "talking" capabilities.

Traditional: The traditional role of marketing is to support outbound communication to prospects and customers to raise awareness for products and services and establish favorable attitudes towards your brand.

CRM 2.0: However, marketing in the world of CRM 2.0 must establish a dialogue between sellers and buyers. This means developing capabilities to have conversations with your customers. Use interactive dialogue and help your brand fans spread your message more easily through social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Establish the ability to communicate continually with customers and monitor responses using blogs.

3. Boost selling with "energizing" capabilities.

Traditional: Old-school CRM thinking defines the role of sales primarily as carrying out the tasks of identifying decision-makers, making contact, and securing orders.

CRM 2.0: Next-generation CRM thinking consider the use of customer opinions to increase sales through ratings and reviews using discussion forums. Learn how to designate lead customers to energize others through brand ambassador programs. Link with and gain introductions to influential customer network members by using business-oriented social networking and contact management solutions like Linkedin and Plaxo.

4. Strengthen service with "supporting" capabilities.

Traditional: In conventional world we support users by addressing there problems and issues through different mediums like Telecon or Videoconferencing and remote access. Sometimes our support people need to personally visit the customers to resolve there issues.

CRM 2.0: In the new world of the social and connected customer, help customers to support each other. To enable customers to solve each others' problems, consider solutions that support customer forums. To enable customers to build solutions together, think about using Wikis like Confluence, Socialtext, and Wikia.

Customers who are using social technologies to seek better experiences threaten to make traditional approaches to CRM obsolete. For the most part, enterprises understand that there's no choice but to jump in and improve how they architect a differentiated customer experience and use some of the new technologies — blogs, communities, wikis, widgets, social networks, and the concepts of dynamic applications — to their own advantage. The most important question is not what technology to use; most important is determining who you're trying to reach, what you're trying to accomplish, and how you plan to change your relationships with your customers.

Hope you found my blog post useful. If you have any comments or queries do mention the same below and I would try to answer the same as soon as possible.

Where is Web 2.0 headed in next few years?

The market for Web 2.0 and social media marketing tools has been growing at a rapid clip over the past few years. As the technologies broadened and the deployments deepened, prices rose substantially. However, that average deal growth will diminish in the next few years as competition heats up and vendors increasingly rely on price competition to stand out. It won't quite be a race to the bottom, but the market will get tougher, and discerning buyers will increasingly focus on analytics, integration, and customer service when evaluating providers.

Marketing for social media and Web 2.0 was arguably the hottest trend in 2008. Through the course of the year, a growing number of consumers plugged into social media like blogs, user-generated video, and community rating and reviews. Increasingly, the demographics of social media users began to resemble the population as a whole, not just the young, hyperconnected early adopters who frequented these media just two or three years ago. Accordingly, marketers followed consumers and major brands like Marvel Comics, Procter & Gamble, and Starbucks launching or extending Web 2.0 and social media marketing in 2008. Even business-to-business (B2B) marketers have gotten into the act; although, so far, high-tech firms like Hewlett-Packard (HP) have been leading the charge, while other B2B companies have mostly sat on the sidelines.

I think these are few things which will really play a major role in the coming years on the Web 2.0 getting evolved and being used more by the marketers.

1. Social networks will continue to command the largest average market size on Web 2.0. The primary reason is that the social networking paradigm of communities, profiles, and interactions is very well received by consumers, making it an ideal paradigm for marketing as well. Second, social networks are becoming the lenses through which other social media is viewed, giving social networking marketers the inside track to evolve into the providers of tomorrow's integrated social media suites.

2. Blogging will reach its peak in 2010. Marketers first tuned into the power of blogging several years ago. Since that time, many corporate blogs have been launched from companies like Boeing, General Motors, and Kodak, and blogging has become the most recognizable and common form of Web 2.0 marketing. Blogging will continue to be a valuable tool for marketers looking to drive transparency, industry and thought leadership, and customer dialogue; however, it will increasingly become just one tool among many instead of the major focal point it is today.

3. Widgets will post the strongest growth during the next four years. Most Web 2.0 and social media marketing efforts have focused on creating conversations. Over the next four years, many marketers will shift focus to using widgets to target content delivery and enhance user experience, seeking to create a seamless experience across the Web, the desktop, mobile devices like Apple's iPhone, and mainstream social networks like Facebook and MySpace.com. Most social media marketing efforts will continue to include an anchor component like a social network or microsite, but widgets will become an increasingly critical tool for success. Widget providers, like Clearspring Technologies and Widgetbox, will be the main beneficiaries of this shift.

4. Podcasting platforms will begin a slow, steady decline. Podcasting came on the radar for marketers shortly after blogging, catching mainstream attention starting in 2005. At the time, there was a great deal of promise in podcasting; like blogging, it appeared to be a great new way to drive customer engagement. Reality, however, has yet to match that promise. For example, last year Dell, a leader in most social media marketing efforts, let its podcasting effort go dormant for seven months (Dell Podcasting). There are a few podcasting success stories here and here, but, on balance, the results have been a disappointment.

5. RSS innovation will remain stable as there is not much to add in the technology.Today, most of that revenue is attributed to tracking and analytics, and, over the next five years, one should not expect much change. The innovation in RSS marketing has mostly petered out, and most RSS feeds today are created at no cost through blog, wiki, podcast, and other Web 2.0 technologies. Thus far, marketers have had much more valuable initiatives to focus on, and therefore do not expect this to change anytime soon.

6. Wikis will become a true technology product for marketers. For marketers, wikis have always been a marginal tool, and today the average price marketers pay for wiki technology reflects that fact. While marketers at Marvel Characters — the company that creates and licenses Marvel Comics — have created an enviable user experience with its Marvel Universe wiki, few other companies see such an impact. Simply put, few marketers have use for a customer-facing wiki, as most marketing efforts do not lend themselves to wiki-style interaction.

7. Mashups will become more relevant — and dearer — for marketers. Marketers have not been big adopters of mashup technology. For 2008, less than 1% of marketers made use of mashup technology in their marketing efforts. This is not to say that marketers are not providing mashups to their customers; however, most are doing so through custom-developed rich Internet applications, not with paid mashup technology. Over the next five years, mashup technology penetration will grow, but only to little more than 3% of the potential opportunity.

Working on the Online Competition Review

In my last blog I had mentioned that one of the important parts of the planning for the Digital Campaign is doing a complete competition review. I am now mentioning it in details on what are things we should definitely look into to get the complete insights for the brand.

We need to identify first who are really the competition for that particular brand and believe it can be a little different as far asthe competition in the offline space. For Example: If I am planning a campaign for Educational Institute and I see on the Offline space he offers the same set of services and is also present in the same vicinity. But, in the online space you may find that he has no presence at all and there is another Institute which is a little far from the vicinity but heavily present on the online space. He is actively using all the Active Online mediums to get in touch with his prospective customers online. You might have to build your strategy then according to his activities.

So first and foremost, try to do some offline search through "Just Dial" or some local search engines in your area to identify the competition in your area.

Once you have identified the competition who offers similar set of products or services work on them one by one. The first step would then be to list down all the mediums you need to look for the competitor. Here are some of the mediums you should definitely consider:

1. Talk to some of the publishers and ask for the competition's details on the Ad Spends and the properties used. You can also ask them to share some case studies which will give you the insight on the results and the objectives of there campaign.

2. Next is to find the website and look for the strengths and weaknesses as compared to your brand. The strengths are something you need to work on with your brand and weaknesses are good to know just of the information sake.

3. Search for the Videos / Virals / TV Commercials on You Tube. You will get a lot of idea on the positioning as well as the product specific details.

4. Go to Blog Search Engines like Technorati / Blog Pulse which will give you the insight about what people are talking about the competition and what are there issues and concerns. Also it will give you the idea on the brand popularity.

5. Look out for the brand on Social Networking Sites like MySpace, Orkut and Facebook. Search if there are any groups, communities which are present and how popular they are.

6. You can also look into some of the specific review sites like Mouthshut, Yahoo Answers etc. which might also give you the reviews good or bad about the competition brand and product.

Once you have done the detailed research in these areas you can definitely create a synopsis of all your finding and put a perspective in your strategy for your brand.