Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category
Social media best practices for business
The influence of social media is undeniable and something smart businesses can’t ignore. Barack Obama proved this when he successfully leveraged social media to ultimately win the coveted seat in the White House. Countless other businesses have leveraged social media to increase sales and support for their brand as well.
Yet, businesses that excitedly leap into social media without a clear strategy will quickly learn that it’s not as easy as it appears. Building a strong social media platform involves many elements, as gleaned from the Building and Protecting Reputation 2010 conference hosted by Communitelligence, Inc. last week.
What’s at stake
The beauty of social media is the speed. Within minutes, a business can start a blog, create a Facebook fan page, and start tweeting. Yet, the danger of social media is the speed. Businesses that attempt to quickly saturate the social media space are at risk of appearing inauthentic. Even worse, if resources are not available to manage the on-going activity needed to maintain a social media presence, the business’ reputation could be at stake.
Understand how social media works
Whether you’re new to social media, or you were an early-adopter who never fully leveraged it as a marketing strategy, there are steps you can take to successfully (re)launch your social media presence. It begins by understanding that social media is unlike traditional marketing tactics that are largely focused on pushing information to a target audience (i.e. radio/TV ads, press releases, sales brochures, etc.).
Instead, social media marketing is about pulling people toward your business in a way that increases loyalty and enthusiasm. CJ Cornell (@cjcornell), Professor of Digital Media & Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University, suggests four ways you can increase the viral effects of your social media strategy to pull people toward your business:
- Attention: Listen to your target audience because in social media it’s not just about you – it’s about the relationship. Quality relationships start with seeking first to understand, then to be understood.
- Contribution: Offer value that isn’t veiled in a sales pitch. Social media offers businesses an opportunity to be a thought leader in their field. This means sharing information of value, even if it’s not directly linked to making a sale.
- Interaction: The foundation of social media is the relationship it builds between a brand and its audience. You must participate and be an positive voice in the the conversations that matter to your customers.
- Consistency: Abandoned and neglected social media identities are worse than not having one at all. It all comes down to trust. Inconsistency and lack of follow through diminish trust. If you’re going to participate in social media, be all in or not at all.
Insights at work
Your practical application of social media will be a marketing recipe that uniquely fits your business. However, there are best practices that can help:
Start with a core focus. Marianne Curran (@marcurran), Vice President of Social Media for GoDaddy.com, suggests having a primary intent when launching a social media strategy. For GoDaddy.com it was customer service. Already a leader in delivery high-quality customer service, GoDaddy.com wanted to further enhance that brand and discovered success in social media. You’ll notice their GoDaddy twitter page not only shows the faces of the GoDaddy.com staff tweeting, but is filled with replies to customer needs too.
Be where the customers are. Jeramie McPeek (@sunswebmaster), Vice President, Digital for the Phoenix Suns, says their social media strategy is used to engage the fan base and build support for the team. With 30 employees and eight players tweeting, the Phoenix Suns connects personally with their fans one tweet at a time. They tweet giveaways that not only encourages fan participation, but creates a viral buzz for the team.
Create a groundswell. Rick Clancy (@rickclancy), former Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics, lead the company’s first blog roll out in 2007. That blog led to the development of more community sites and micro-sites. Creating a groundswell for your business means helping people get what they need, not necessarily from your business, but from the community that you create around your brand.
Measuring success
Decide social media metrics in advance. Knowing your goals will influence the direction your social media strategy takes. Every business will have unique measures of success, but common metrics include:
- Number of fans or followers
- Web site traffic
- Number of brand mentions
- Tracking and source code
- % growth of community
Incite-ful bottom line
Done properly, social media is a powerful medium that enables businesses to increase brand reputation, loyalty, and ultimately, profits. However, your business must move outside of the traditional marketing mindset that interrupts and intrudes. Social media has caused “friend” to become a verb for good reason. Your customer is not just someone to pitch, but a virtual friend.
Please don’t delete my email!
Like many business professionals, my email in-box is slammed with hundreds of messages each day. I spend valuable time rifling through irrelevant messages just to uncover the important ones. Most frustrating are the times when I miss an important message because it was buried in a sea of newsletters, promotional pitches, and sales emails.
Email is losing its effectiveness.
My email experience isn’t uncommon. Today, email is the preferred method of communication for most people and with that popularity comes the problem of overfull in-boxes that have reduced a highly effective mode of communication to the biggest productivity waste in most workplaces.
The good news is that email users are sophisticated. They’re developing rules, filters and labels to help organize incoming messages. The bad news is, your messages might be ruled, filtered and labeled straight to the trash bin. The important message you sent to internal or external customers may never be read.
It’s time to reclaim your place in the email inbox!
Given the vast number of email messages a customer receives each day, businesses have to get smart about email communication. Here’s how:
Have a purpose.
Whether you are sending a regular company newsletter, an informational message to employees or an inquiry to attract new business, be clear about your intent…and please, don’t make it all about you or your business. What do you want to see happen as a result of your e-mail being read? How is that intent serving the reader? Let’s face it, we live in a “What’s in it for me?” world, so be sure that you have an “end in mind” focus that serves your reader, more than it serves you.
Follow basic rules of writing.
The opening sentences of your e-mail should describe your purpose clearly. Take time to construct concise, direct sentences rather than long, run-on sentences that wander endlessly. Check your message for spelling and grammar errors. And by all means, use proper capitalization and a readable font style. Avoid using all CAPS or all lowercase letters and stick to font styles that are professional and easy on the eyes (i.e. Times, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, etc.).
Write effective subject lines.
E-mail users are bombarded with an overwhelming number of messages each day, many of which are spam or junk. To save time, most will scan the subject lines and decide whether to hit ‘delete’ or open the message. You can improve the chances of your message being read by developing clear subject lines.
- Never send a message without a subject line.
- Always be specific. For example, “FYI: Q4 finance report attached” offers more clarity than, “Report.”
Stick to one main point.
Your emails should contain one core message, which should be directly related to your subject line. Avoid appending an email with important information that isn’t relevant to the main message. For example, an email delivering a Q4 finance report shouldn’t include information about a marketing meeting next week. Lumping two important messages into a single e-mail increases the chances of one message being overlooked or forgotten.
Use an e-mail signature.
Don’t make the recipient of your e-mail dig for your contact information, especially if you want to receive a response. Always include the details of how to get in touch with you. At a minimum, you should include your full name, title, company name, and telephone number(s).
Get in touch
info@writetoincite.com
10755 Scripps Poway Pkwy
Suite 557
San Diego, CA 92131 USA
