Setting the stage –

The state of social media marketing

 Based on two annual studies of 4,200 social media marketers

• Most comprehensive benchmark studies of social media marketing

 2009 Report: Marketers captivated by hype and ease of implementation

• Ignored proven marketing principles, launched social initiatives without a plan or purpose

 2010 Report: Social marketing maturing from trial-and-error to strategic

• Methodologies for developing a coherent strategy to achieve objectives emerging

 Payoff of two-year study – the Social Marketing ROAD Map Methodology

• A practical method for mapping an effective social media strategy for ROI .

1
Three questions to ask yourself before starting
down the ROAD to social marketing maturity

Q1. Where are you now?

Q2. Where do you want to be?

Q3. How do you get there from here?

2
Q1. Where are you now?
Factors that determine social marketing maturity

33% 40% 23%

3
Q2. Where do you want to be?
Social marketing objective – measureable ROI
How organizations perceive social
media marketing at budget time…

 7% producing measureable ROI,

increase budget liberally
 49% promising tactic, eventually
produce ROI, increase budget
conservatively
 27% value unknown, why invest
more?
 17% basically free, keep it that way
• Destined to get what they pay for .

4
Q3. How will you get there from here?
Develop a strategy that outlives technology
 Trial phase thinks “Devices” first –
(social media technology platforms)

 Focus changes as marketers mature

 Strategic phase – “devices” last

 Technology-agnostic methodology
to map a strategy that outlives
technology and optimizes ROI

 The Social Marketing ROAD Map

5
The Social Marketing ROAD Map –
A method for mapping a social marketing strategy

6
ROAD Map –
Research Phase
 Gathering intelligence on target
audiences and their behavior

 Segmenting and profiling target

audiences

 Recruiting a social marketing team

 Finding and repurposing existing

content

7
Gathering intelligence –
What to monitor on social media

Related search phrases Social media factors

 Industry sectors  Social voice (or strength)
 Technologies  Sentiment
 Companies  Passion
 Brands  Unique authors
 Products  Social reach
 Services  Content downloads
 Key issues  Content sharing
 Industry experts  Reviews and recommendations
 Key employees  Platform preferences
 Audience segments
8
Monitoring factors unique to social media

9
 Monitoring tools and solutions used
Free tools used to monitor and measure
social media in general (SocialMention, 82%
 Free tools – measure social media
Google Analytics, etc.) in general or specific social sites

Free tools used to monitor and measure  Paid solutions – complex monitoring
a specific social site (Twitter Search, 58%
Facebook Insights, etc.) and reporting requirements

Paid tools - licensed social media  More than 100 listed in handbook .
monitoring and measuring solutions 20%
(Radian6, Omniture, etc.)

Custom tools or solutions developed in-

house to monitor and measure social 16%
media initiatives

Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey / F

ielded Nov 2009, N=2,317

10
Segmenting and profiling target audiences –
Simple segmentation
 Silent Majority
• Joins but rarely participates
• Reads, watches, listens to UGC
• Few friends, contacts, followers
• Low level of social influence
 Vocal Minority
• Joins and actively participates
• Shares UGC and commentary
• Many friends, contacts, followers
• Moderately high level of social influence
 Social Authority
• Builds and moderates communities
• Creates and aggregates UGC
• Very many friends, contacts, followers
• Very high level of social influence

11
Profiling target audiences

12
The social marketing team –
Finding and recruiting candidates
 Not many organizations outsourcing
social marketing responsibilities

 Bad news: you may have to build a

team from existing resources

 Good news: You’ll find qualified

candidates everywhere!
• Marketing
• Top management
• Customer service
• Sales
• Technology / engineering

13
Finding and repurposing existing content –
A solution to the content problem
Problem
 Sharing content is critical aspect of
social marketing
 Creating content is time consuming
and expensive
 Constant pressure to create
original articles, posts, videos, etc.
 Need for entirely original content
for social marketing is over-rated .
Solution
 Many types of content already exists
in your organization
 Most content has only reached small
share of target audiences
 Start with audit of existing content
 Repurpose content – update or
reformat existing relevant content
• Rewrite news releases as blog posts
• Voice-over PPTs to create videos
• Rewrite self-published articles as blog posts
14
ROAD Map –
Objectives phase
 How organizations are targeting
and measuring objectives

 Aligning objectives with target

audiences

 Aligning objectives with social

marketing metrics

15
 Targeting and measuring objectives –
The first step to alignment
Phase III: Strategic Phase II: Transition Phase I: Trial
88%
Increase website traffic 76%
58%
75%
 Chart: organizations targeting and
Increase lead generation 53%
32% measuring objectives, by maturity
71%
Increase sales revenue 56%
40%
Improve search engine
56%
69%  You can’t achieve what you can’t
rankings 42%
Improve brand or product 54%
target and measure
29%
reputation 20%
Increase brand or product 54%
awareness 21%
35%
 Mature social marketers much
Reduce customer
acquisition costs
20%
45%
more likely to target and measure
11%
44%
Improve public relations 31%
18%
Improve customer support 36%
 The more mature your social
32%
quality 15% marketing, the more effective .
Reduce customer support 32%
20%
costs 7%

Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded Nov 2009, 16
N=2,317
Aligning objectives with top target audiences

 Use “audience profile” to define target

audiences and where to find them
• Vocal minority – end users on social networks
• Social authority – key bloggers covering topic

 What do you want from each target

audience (objectives)?
• More VM members in our social networks
• More SA bloggers posting about us .

17
Aligning objectives with metrics that matter

 Metrics used depends on your unique business model, for example…

 Metrics if driven by B2B leads

• Leads generated into pipeline
• Leads qualified and nurtured
• More difficult to track metrics related to ROI

 Metrics if driven by B2C ecommerce

• Traffic origination
• Sales conversions
• Easier to track metrics related to ROI

 Also depends on metrics that matter most in each social media platform .

18
Aligning objectives with
target audiences and social marketing metrics

Target audience segment Social marketing objectives Social marketing metrics

End users / Vocal minority Increase website traffic # unique visitors

Improve search engine rankings SERPs

Increase sales revenue # conversions

Reduce customer support costs # microblog incident posts

Engineering / Social authority Increase technical community # discussion group members

Increase member engagement # new discussions / comments

Increase product awareness Reach

Increase product education # content downloads

Purchasing / Vocal minority Improve brand reputation Sentiment and Passion

Increase sales revenue # conversions

19
ROAD Map –
Actions phase
 Why “fast and easy” trumps tactical effectiveness

 Social media platforms were not created equal

• Different tactics and best practices are required

 The importance of a social media policy

 Managing tactics and resources

 Budgeting for social media ROI

20
“Fast and easy” trumps tactical effectiveness
 Comparing effectiveness,
effort and usage of tactics

 Blogger relations is most

effective but requires
most effort – low usage

 Social networks ½ as
effective but ¼ the effort
required – highest usage

 Prioritize by effectiveness
to create and prove value

21
Social media platforms were not created equal.
Why various tactics and practices are required.
 Blogging

 Microblogging

 Social networking

 Multimedia content sharing

 Social bookmarking

22
Blogging tactics and best practices
 Brand and personify your blog.
Focus on building personalized
relationships and thought-leadership
 Be engaging. Write compelling
content with the goal of triggering a
reaction and commentary
 Define your community. Readers
must immediately understand the
topic of your blog
 Plan your content mix. Create
editorial plan with interesting mix of
posts and content
 Drive conversions. Add links to posts
that drive readers to landing page
conversion points .

23
Microblogging tactics and best practices
 Build a following. Post keyword-rich
messages that will be found and
followed by your intended audience
 Post a relevant mix. A mix of
messages with links to conversion
points, third party content, etc.
 Use @replies and direct messages.
Individually engage those you are
following and are following you
 Hashtag it. Add the hashtag symbol #
to keywords to track and attract an
audience
 Leverage applications. There is a
plethora of Twitter tools to manage
microblogging .

24
Social networking tactics and best practices
 Build a community. Building a
community for your brand is like
building a following of friends
 Instigate a mob mentality. Attract
like-minded people who share
common interests
 Make it eventful. Use invites to
events like webinars, conferences and
training programs
 Q&A. Use tools to ask thought-
provoking questions and demonstrate
thought leadership
 Post a relevant mix. Use a balanced
mix of original and third party content
 Gather insights interactively.
Surveying fans and polling contacts is
a way to engage .
25
Multimedia sharing tactics and best practices

 Find content everywhere. Training

videos, sales presentations, event
photos, other multimedia content
 Publish it everywhere. Embed links
to multimedia on blog posts, website
landing pages and email
 By invitation. Find friends and peers
on sharing sites and invite them to
subscribe to your channels
 Generate leads. Add links to offer
landing pages on videos, photos,
presentations and documents
 Search engines love multimedia. Use
keyword-rich descriptions and tags
on content to rank content .

26
Social bookmarking tactics and best practices

 Start by sharing content yourself.

Bookmark your own website, blog
or other content hub

 Add sharing buttons. Including

social bookmark sharing buttons
on blog posts and outbound comm

 Identify relevant content and

engage contributors. Interact with
those who bookmark relevant
content to build a community …

27
Managing many tactics and resources

28
The most important practice –
the social media policy
 A good social media policy…

 Encourages, rather than

discourages, participation

 Aligns with company values

and existing guidelines

 Safeguards reputation and

intellectual property .

29
Budgeting for ROI –
Social media’s slice of the online marketing pie
 Social media’s slice growing
at expense of other tactics

 Time intensive – 59% of slice

allocated to staff salaries

 Email and search workhorses

 Website is content hub for

other tactics so cost often
allocated to website …

30
ROAD Map –
Devices phase
 Selecting social media technology platforms and brands last

 Random acts of social marketing

 Constructing a social marketing architecture

31
Selecting technology platforms last –
a giant leap in social marketing maturity
 Trial phase thinks “Devices” first –
(social media technology platforms)

 Strategic phase – “devices” last

 Time to shift from technology-

agnostic to technology and brand
specific thinking

 Tactical plan will identify technology

platforms required…

32
From technology platform to brand –
Analyzing characteristics of social media brands
 You may need a social network –
but which one?
• Leading brand, niche or custom

 Conduct a SWOT-like analysis to

prioritize social brands

 Select brands that fit your tactical

plan and have a clear purpose in
your social architecture

33
Random acts of social marketing –
how it works without an architectural plan

34
Constructing a social marketing architecture –
the hub and spoke framework
 Hub sites for content and conversion

 Spoke sites for building communities

and relationships

 Architecture directs traffic flow in

and out of hubs

 Number of sites not important –

a plan and purpose for every site is .

35
Case study: the social marketing architecture for
Cisco’s Collaboration Solutions
 Target audience is collaboration
solution prospects and customers

 Platforms selected based on tactics

to achieve objectives

 Every platform has a manageable

plan and a clear purpose .

36
Hub sites:
Purpose of website
 Website is hub of the marketing
strategy for collaboration solutions

 Occasionally updated content with

marketing information on
solutions / products / services

 Traditional SEO tactics – search

ranking influence diminishing

 Primary point of conversion .

37
Purpose of blog
 Blog is hub of the social marketing
strategy for collaboration solutions

 Shareable content / commentary

on collaboration solutions

 Content frequency and relevance

increases search ranking influence

 Primary point of conversation and

referral to conversion .

38
Spoke sites:
Purpose of Facebook
 Build a community of fans
(“Likes”) for Cisco Collaboration

 Fans engaged by sharing opinions

and commentary to posts

 Links drive traffic to content on

blog or website for conversion .

39
Purpose of Twitter
 Share 140 character tweets with
“followers” for quick engagement

 Adds value to relationship by

connecting customers and
prospects to relevant content

 Links drive traffic to content on

blog or website for conversion .

40
 Purpose of Forum
 Build a community of technically-
oriented prospects and customers

 Visitors “join conversations and

share collaboration best practices.”

 Members gain access to exclusive

content and member-only events

 Adds mutual value via customer

service and product development .

41
Purpose of YouTube
 Videos are “most engaging” and
entertaining media

 YouTube provides video storage,

sharing and embedding capabilities

 Keyword-rich video tagging

increases search ranking influence

42
Purpose of Flickr
 Photos are “most used” type of
online multi-media

 Flickr provides image search,

storage and sharing capabilities

 Keyword-rich image tagging

increases search ranking influence .

43
Purpose of RSS Feed
 “Push” blog content rather than
require readers to “Pull” it

 Links traffic to source of feed,

content and conversion .

 Use of RSS declining as Twitter

and other notifications increase .

44
Every platform in the Cisco architecture
has a manageable plan and a clear purpose

45
Putting the pieces together –
constructing your social marketing architecture
 Content and conversion are
essential factors – start at the hub

 Prioritize roll-out of spokes sites

mastering each before adding next

 Practice continuous improvement –

repeat the ROAD Map process …

46
Summary
Mapping a social marketing strategy for ROI
 Social media marketing creating a new world of opportunities for marketers

 You need a compass to help you explore this new terrain

 Social Marketing ROAD Map – a practical methodology for mapping a social

media strategy to ROI

 Thank You!
Sergio Balegno
Research Director, MarketingSherpa
@SergioBalegno

47