Do You Know What A Like Is Worth?

In this age of social media everything, companies are scrambling to find ways to measure and quantify their social media activity.

Likes, Followers, Shares and ReTweets have given way to a cottage industry of measurement tools, but, in lieu of traditional ROI, do any of these metrics, like Klout Scores and Peer Indexes, provide a key indicator for success?

I’m of the mind that they don’t. While they measure activity, they don’t translate this information into sales or at the very least learning.

Creating engagement through social channels is important. Here are a few ways to move your friends and followers into a more results oriented relationship:

1. Incent people to opt-in for email communication.  Doing so allows you track how they heard about you, and then you can actively market and test offers.
2. Use microsites and unique URL promotions on social channels to measure interest of your fan base.
3. Use coupon codes (or actual coupons if a CPG company) that are specific to a social channel to track activity to sales.

By knowing if people are coming to your site or store from social channels you can begin to measure the value of a Facebook Fan and the return on your marketing efforts.  This will help you determine if it is worth growing your fan base or followers.

Social media can play an important role in your marketing communications plans, and just like any media, you need to put the tools in place to determine what its worth to your company.

Great Targeting by T-Mobile or a Waste of Money?

Read an online article regarding the new iPhone 4S and don’t be surprised if you see an ad for T-mobile.  As you may know, T-Mobile is the only major cell-phone provider that doesn’t sell an iPhone.

So why advertise around content for a product you don’t have?  Maybe it’s to get your attention about the benefits T-mobile has over AT&T, Verizon and, now, Sprint like unlimited data, text and talk on the “largest 4G network”.

On the one hand T-mobile is capitalizing on content in which people are interested.  On the other hand, a large proportion of “iPhone news” readers are iPhone owners or plan on being one soon.

Is this a smart, targeted move by T-mobile or is it a waste of their marketing budget?

Qwikster – Right Idea Just Poorly Executed?

Netflix knows its future is in video streaming, but its roots exist in DVDs. So how do you nudge consumers to wean themselves off of lower margin DVDs to the higher margin streaming videos?

Introducing Qwikster, a knee-jerk reaction to a disastrous price increase announcement that was met with even greater consumer disdain.  Many people put Qwikster up there with New Coke – but it might have been the right idea – just poorly executed.

Creating a separate business for DVDs will allow Netflix to buffer itself from a business model that (over the long-haul) will most likely decline. In creating this new division, however, they didn’t connect the old Netflix to the new Qwikster, so a consumer had to set up their preferences, waitlists, cues and billing data all over again. It makes you wonder if they were following the online banking model, which makes it so cumbersome to switch banks, that they expected subscribers to begrudgingly switch to streaming Netflix over setting up a new DVD account…)

All Netflix had to do was allow customers to conduct a simple transfer for a limited period of time, and they would have been less likely bothered by the change. Furthermore, providing an incentive to try the new technology (following the lead of the airlines when they introduced online booking) would have helped ease the pain.

So what can you learn from Netflix?

• Think about all the ramifications of significant changes in your business
• If the initial reaction to a major change is negative, take time to let it sink in. Sometimes it just takes time for people to adjust to change.
• Limit the knee-jerk reactions – they never seem to work out as you’d like.

Bravery In Marketing

I do not like the new Tide 2X. No matter how little I use, soap remains in dense fabrics, such as towels, and I can’t get it out. My daughter and I both have noticed that our clothes feel “itchy” with the new Tide. I have used Tide all my life, but I may have to change to something else, since I can no longer get “regular” Tide. Have others noticed this also?

Judy, Salt Lake City, UT

I used this product on a shirt of my husbands that had a new stain on the front. Bottom line stain is still there, I’ve used other products that worked much better than this one did. I would not recommend this product to anyone.

Miata, Waverly, NE

Companies don’t like to hear comments like these, or worse learn such comments are being shared with other people.

But those quotes weren’t pulled from a focus group nor from blogs, they were available on Tide’s home page from actual customers providing feedback regarding Tide’s products.

To take things a step further, Tide provides a slew of product reviews for all of its products so consumers can make an educated decision about the product in which they are interested.

In a time when consumers are asking for transparency (see SC Johnson’s new campaign about their ingredients) and using the social web (ie Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Blogs) to share their thoughts, you have three choices:

1. Ignore it and hope it goes away.  (It won’t)
2. Listen to what people are saying and respond in a defensive manner
3. Embrace it and use it to make your products better and your brand more trusted.

Let me know what companies you think are being brave in their marketing.

2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Social Media Examiner

Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner has put together a nice report on how marketers are using social media.  Check it out here.

Are Your Employees The Best People To Sell Your Product?

Stereotypical Employee Photo

A recent WSJ article noted that 10% of Microsoft employees (about 10,000 people) use iPhones to access their email, an interesting statistic when many smart phones that run on a Microsoft platform are available.

Closer to home, after canceling Comcast cable for AT&T U-verse, Comcast sent a rep out to pick up my equipment.  In conversation, he revealed that he uses Direct TV at home, instead of Comcast, because Comcast did not offer discounts to employees and DirectTV was more affordable.

Both stories got me thinking: While your employees can certainly sell your product without using it, imagine how much more effective they can be if they actually use your product as well.

What can you do to ensure your employees become advocates for your products/services?

1. Make Employees Customers. Even if you have to subsidize the product, make sure your employees use your product over a competitor’s.  Car dealers have “dealer” cars so their sales people can speak intimately about the products they are selling based on their own experiences.
2. Educate. Let your employees know everything about your product (good and bad).  Don’t let them find out about any functions or problems from a customer.  When the latter occurs, it can cause unnecessary conversations among the employees about the quality of your product.
3. Transparency. Communicate with your employees regularly about your services.  If you are making changes, tell them why.  It will help them better communicate with consumers.
4. Let Them Compare. You want your employees loyal to your products, so encourage them (and even subsidize) using a competitive product/service.  This will allow them to see how your product is different and will help in emphasizing your product strengths from a personal experience.
5. Ask for Feedback. When your employees are using your products/services, you now have a in-house focus group to gain learnings on how to improve your offerings. Asking for their feedback, and acting on it, will foster loyalty among employees and ultimately create a better product.

No matter how good your product or service, your employees are integral to selling the product and connecting with the consumer.  Give them every opportunity to get to know your products and services better, and your efforts will pay off in so many ways.

Inc. Tools

I am often asked by my clients how they should structure sales commissions for both full-time and part-time sales people.

I found a great resource on Inc. magazine’s website.  They also provide tips on hiring, leadership, management, finance, technology, marketing and the overall running of a business.

It is worthwhile to check out.

Behavioral Targeting Doubles Ad Effectiveness – eMarketer

Yet another way knowing your audience helps yield a greater response.

Behavioral Targeting Doubles Ad Effectiveness – eMarketer.

Are You Treating All Your Social Media Channels The Same?

Social media marketing is getting easier every day, especially with great tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck that simultaneously spread your message across all your social channels.

A recent study by ad network Chitika suggests that broadcasting the same message across the various social networks may not be the most effective way to engage your customers.

The study noted that the type of information consumed on four popular social networks – MySpace, Digg, Facebook and Twitter – varied by network.

Twitter users were significantly more interested in news, while MySpace users had a penchant for gaming and entertainment.  Digg users had the greatest interest in news, celebrity & entertainment, and gaming, while Facebook users were interested in news and community.

Just like your audience varies on different social channels, the information they desire is different as well.  So if you are treating all the channels the same way, you may be missing the opportunity to truly connect.

Social media is about creating a forum to communicate with your audience, listening to them, and providing them with information they want to receive. Doing so creates interest, trust and ultimately evangelists.

By engaging your audience with relevant messaging, you can learn what they what they want from your company, what you are doing well and where you can make improvements.

Passive social media gives you the ability to listen to your audience and understand their wants and needs.  Listening can help your company become more efficient, more innovative and more customer-focused.  And when that happens, both your company and your customers win.

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Want to learn how companies like Zappo’s, P&G, Burt’s Bees and others are improving their business through social media?  Attend IIR’s Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies conference.  To learn more visit http://bit.ly/d7mUWG and use code XM2205SMB to save 15%.

Why March Madness and Vasectomies are a Perfect Match

When an idea speaks to its audience so clearly, it catches your attention.

It doesn’t have to come from an international ad agency or global ideation company.  In fact, an idea that resonates with its audience can come from anywhere.

Case in point: The VAS MADNESS promotion from The Urology Team in Austin, TX. They have extended their hours during March to encourage men who may be considering a vasectomy to do it during the NCAA’s March Madness so they can recover while watching basketball all weekend.

While the creative execution might be lacking, you can’t argue with the idea.  The number of men looking for any excuse to sit and watch basketball all weekend is significant.  The Urology Team just tapped into that desire and gave men who were considering the procedure a reason to have it now.

With so many ways to tap into your audience like social media, surveys, blogs, forums and good old-fashioned conversations, I am sure there are many ideas that you can develop to connect with your customer base.

Who knows – maybe it will come to you during March Madness.

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To learn more about using social media for greater consumer insight attend IIR’s Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies conference.  To learn more visit http://bit.ly/d7mUWG and use code XM2205SMB to save 15%.