You’ve heard about social media. You’ve probably been told that you must be a part of it, that you must have a presence on those sites. You’re looking to jump on this fantastic marketing opportunity, but you don’t know how.
In everyone’s rush to the goldmine, few stop to think about how. Am I approaching social media in the right way? Am I building the right campaign? Is this even a proper campaign?
And how will I qualify its success?
Your social media campaign must be in-line with your overall business objectives, and thus part of your overall business strategy. Social media isn’t the marketing department’s activity, but something undertaken by the company as a whole.
So, the most crucial question, your only question really is “What are my business objectives?”
What is Social Media?
Social media is about a conversation; it is driven by online conversations. Conversations, on the other hand, derive from customer experiences, both the good and the bad. You must be aware of both conversations. But how?
RushPR has created a tool, The Voice*, that monitors the online landscape. The Voice roams the Internet, roving online news sites, social sites, blog postings, tweets, and comments for your brandname or other keywords. The Voice effectively captures the online conversation and reports it back to you with links, allowing you to gain a sense of what is being said and by whom.
Good conversations highlight what you have been doing right and, thus, what should be maintained.
Bad conversations, though, serve to highlight much needed improvements to your processes. When seen in this light, the bad conversation will be more important to your social media campaign, and thus your overall business, than anything else. Improvements lead to more good conversations, as your customers will feel listened to and cared about. In the end, happy customers are faithful customers.
Metrics of Success
How do you measure the success of your carefully planned and executed social media campaign? This is the golden question for marketers everywhere. The metrics that you choose to measure success or failure rest squarely on your business objectives.
If your objective is sales conversations, you must ask how did the online conversation impact your conversion rates? As you listened, made, and communicated improvements to processes, did your sales conversions respond accordingly?
If your objective is improved customer service, online visibility, brand recognition, brand imaging, or just about anything else, you must ask yourself the same question—how did my online conversation impact my objective? By answering this, you can now frame success or failure.