Mike Thompson

fil

'Somecompanies

just getsocial media. '

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The DefinitiveDo's and Don'ts ofSocial Media

Marketing

s companies large and small have devel-oped active Twitter and Facebook pro-files, their ability to interact directly withtheir client base has reached an unprec-edented level. Given how frequently

people are on social media—according to StatisticBrain, there are approximately 9,100 tweets sent persecond—it may be tempting to reach out to this clien-tele as often as possible. But an ill-timed or misguideduse of social media can lead to angry customers,potentially lost sales, and embarrassing headlines.

In a piece for Mashable titled "11 Biggest SocialMedia Disasters of 2012," Seth Fiegerman madenote of two blunders related to the July 20 movietheater shootings in Aurora, Colo. One appeared tobe a case of poor timing: the National Rifle Associ-ation-affiliated journal American f7/Y/eman tweeted,"Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekendplans?" as news of the shootings was unfolding.Fiegerman noted the tweet seemed to be presched-uled, via HootSuite, but still, as he wrote, "[IM]eed-less to say, it struck a nerve."

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The Definitive Do's and Don'ts of Sociai Media Marketing

This July 20, 2012, tweet brought the online storeCeieb Boutique much criticism.

Another tweet from that same dayappeared, Fiegerman wrote, as "in-credibly insensitive." The online storeCeleb Boutique tweeted, "#Aurora istrending, clearly about our Kim K in-spired #Aurora dress." The tweet alsoincluded an emoticon and a link topurchase the dress. Fiegerman hy-pothesized that the company "appar-ently did not take the time to read upon why Aurora was trending...."

Of course, social media gaffesaren't limited to unfortunate Twit-ter posts. In a similarly themedpiece, "Social Media Mistakes: TheMemorable Messes on Twitter andFacebook in 2012," Chicago Tribunereporter Scott Kleinberg mademention of a woman named SandyTremblay commenting on the Face-book page for the restaurant Pigal-le Boston to complain about aterrible meal she'd had there.Trem-blay didn't pull any punches—but,in a surprising departure from thestandard "the customer is alwaysright" mantra, neither did the res-taurant, as it wrote back, "HeySandy, go f—k yourself!!" Klein-berg wrote in reference to this ex-change, "Customers have a right totake to the Internet to complain,and businesses have a duty to listen[to] and address those complaintswith dignity and grace, not withcurse words."

Of course, being oblivious to theday's events or slamming customersmay seem like obvious blunders toavoid. But what are some of the moresubtle things to avoid, instances of "itseemed like a good idea at the time"

g | ^ Celeb Boutique »FOIO«, X-

<•'Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim Kinspired -Aurora dress ;) Shop:cclebboutiquc'.coin/aurora-while-p...

that, in reality, may do your companymore harm than good? A variety ofexperts and those in the social mediaindustry shared their thoughts on thedefinitive do's and don'ts of socialmedia marketing.

DO: LiSTEN TO—AND ENGAGEWITH—YOUR AUDIENCE

Steve Goldner, a digital and so-cial marketing executive consultant,feels it's important to "[kjnow yourtarget audience well and have deepempathy for them." He adds, "Lis-ten to them on social channels—notjust your own. Engage with themwhere the conversation is happen-ing. Understand the type of infor-mation they value, as opposed towhat you want to push. Be a valuedsource for your target audience."

Paige Musto, senior manager ofpublic relations and social media atthe marketing automation companyAct-On Software, also believes en-gagement is key. "Engage often withprospects, customers and industrythought leaders," she says. "Share,RT and comment on their content tolet them know you are interested."

DON'T: BE SILENT"Social media is a conversation,"

Paul Gillin says. Gillin, a technologyjournalist and speaker who advisesmarketers and business executiveson ways to optimize their use of so-cial media to cost-effectively reachbuyers, also says, "If you're going toplay, be aware that people will askyou questions and they will expectanswers. If you fail to respond, you'll

just look clueless. Better to stay awayfrom social media entirely than tomisuse it." Similarly, Goldner feelsanother important "do not" is to"talk without listening." "Make sureyou listen and respond to your audi-ence," he says.

DO: USE FREE TOOLS AVAILABLETO YOU

"Listen to your market and cus-tomers using tools like Twitter fil-ters, Google Alerts and Linkedinsearches. This is free research thatcomplements your existing marketintelligence and provides real-timeinsight on what people are sayingabout your company and your mar-ket," Gillin says.

DON'T: OVERINVEST IN ONE THING"To stay relevant in the social me-

dia world, businesses are looking tocontinually produce, test, and iteratecontent," says Catherine Gluckstein,president of SumAll, a company thatoffers social media tips and dataanalysis. "Don't over-invest in anyone project and where possible helpbuild your users into advocates withuser-generated content."

DO: PAY ATTENTION TO THECOMPETITION

Musto says it's important for com-panies to stay abreast of what theother side is doing. "Monitor com-petitors' ©handles and hash tags tosee what type of content they aresharing and who is following them,as well as what others are saying inreference to them," she says.

DON'T: GO OVERBOARD WITHSELF-PROMOTION

"There is only so much you canshare about your company's positive

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The Definitive Do's and Don'ts of Social Media iViarketing

attributes before you turn peopleoff," Musto says. "You need to have avarying mix of content that is sharedacross social channels, making sure toincorporate RTs from thought leadersand industry-related news pepperedinto the posting schedule."

And in the same "overdoing it"vein, another don't that Gillin ad-vises people of is not to "blast.""Even though there are tools thatmake it possible to post the samemessage across multiple social net-works simultaneously, I urge younot to use them in that manner," hesays. "Each social network has a dif-ferent culture and style. On a practi-cal level, they also have differentlength limitations. Speak in the lan-guage of the community."

DON'T: THINK IT'S JUSTiVIARKETING

Gillin says you shouldn't considersocial media to be strictly a market-ing channel: "Recent research hasshown that people are twice as likelyto interact with companies oversocial media for customer supportpurposes as for marketing. Look atsocial networks as a way to connectwith your constituents, regardless ofwhether they buy from you, sell toyou or partner with you. Anyone inthe organization who can benefitfrom this kind of engagement shouldbe trained in the tools and protocolsof social media."

Similarly, experts advise thatsocial media isn't always aboutmaking a sale. "Don't lead with asales pitch," Gillin advises. "Your

Paige Musto feels Oreo is one of those companiesthat really understand social media. Oreo's Twitter

page Is shown here.

principal goal should be to helppeople solve problems and makesmarter decisions. Be helpful andsales will come. A good rule of thumbis to make about 90% of your con-tributions relevant to your audi-ence's needs, regardless of whetherthey promote your products orcompany. The other 10% can beself-promotional."

DO: KNOW WHERE YOURCUSTOiVIERS GO

"Identify the social media chan-nels that your customers use—ifany—and stake out at least a basicpresence there," Gillin says. "Youdon't need to be active on every so-cial network, but you do need tounderstand the culture of the onesthat matter and you do need to re-spond to customers when they askquestions or talk about you there."

"Have a holistic social marketingapproach," Goldner advises. "That is,don't look at social as simply manag-ing your brand social channels. Findwhere existing conversations happenrelevant to your brand. Go there. Lis-ten. Engage. Over time, invite peopleto your content hub, and social chan-nels, but do this slowly. Build a repu-

tation for being helpful before youpush your own social channels."

DO: iVIEASURE YOUR SOCIALiVIEDIA'S IMPACT

Gluckstein says it's important to"measure the impact of your socialmedia both by channel—Facebook,Twitter, YouTube, etc.—as well as itsimpact in driving both traffic and rev-enue. When you quantify the results itis clear where you should spend yourtime and energy." She adds there aretools available, such as SumAll, "tosee all of your social actions and howthey measure up against other digitalmarketing strategies."

Similarly, Gillin says that compa-nies should "[h]ave metrics in placeto measure results. These metricsshould be mearmgful to the business,not just page views and visits. Lookfor engagement metrics like down-loads, registrations and subscriptions.You need a way to determine howyour activity and social channels [are]translating into business results."

DO: BE PREPARED, HAVE APLAN—AND STICK WITH IT

"Be prepared and have processesin place for escalation," Musto says.

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The Definitive Do's and Don'ts of Social Media IVIarketing

Paul Glllin is a big fan of the social mediapresence for the CME Group, which he says "hasamassed the largest Twitter following of any B2B

company of which I'm aware."

"Social media is used today for leadgeneration, customer service, aware-ness, and discovery. Make sure youhave the answers in place to replyback in a timely manner or that aworkfiow is in place to escalate spe-cific issues/comments that are di-rected at your brand."

Along the same lines, Goldnersays it's important for companies to"have a thorough content strategyand plan." A content plan, Goldnersays, "should include a) awesomeoriginal content, b) curated contentthat reinforces the brand position andstance, c) UGC (User Generated Con-tent), and d) a plan to capture earnedmedia from influencers. Outstandingcontent is what gets shared."

Gluckstein adds that it's impor-tant to establish and maintain a pat-tern to your tweeting and posting.

"Keep fans and followers comingback by providing useful, actionableand consistent information," shesays. "They will learn to expect newcontent, so the worst thing to do isto give up or start and just forgetabout it. It takes discipline!"

THE COMPANIES THAT 'GET'SOCIAL MEDIA

With all of the tips Gillin, Gold-ner, Gluckstein, and Musto offered.

Chicago Tribunechicagotribune.conn

Paul Gillingillin.com

Catherine Giuckstein,SumAiisumall.com

Steve Goldner

Mashablemashable.com

Paige Musto, Act-OnSoftwareact-on.com

Statistic Brainstatisticbrain.com

socialsteve.wordpress.com

surely they must have some compa-nies in mind that are playing the so-cial media game well.

"Some companies just get socialmedia," Musto says, pointing to Oreoand Tide, both of which she feels"do a good job of interjecting theirbrands into highly-relevant topicsusing multi-media via social. Theyshare graphical representations oftheir products, showcasing theirbrands in a fun, lighthearted mannerthat elicits response/engagement fromtheir online communities."

For his part, Gillin likes the CMEGroup, the former Chicago Mercan-tile Exchange, which he says "hasamassed the largest Twitter follow-ing of any B2B company of whichI'm aware."

"CME Group saw Twitter as anopportunity to become a news source,and it has positioned itself as an in-dispensable resource for commodi-ties traders," he says. "CME Groupworks in a highly regulated indus-try, but that has not dampened itsenthusiasm for experimentation withthese new media."

Another company using socialmedia well, in Gillin's estimation, isConstant Contact, which specializesin providing marketing services forother companies. The company suc-

ceeds by not making its social mediapresence all about itself.

Gillin says the company "has usedFacebook and Twitter to deliver aconstant stream of useful informationto its small-business clientele abouthow to better market their compa-nies. Only about 10% of its contentpromotes Constant Contact services.The other 90% is informational andadvisory. Over the last two years ithas grown its following on those twosocial networks nearly tenfold."

While there are some potentialbumps in the road that companiesshould look out for when doing theirsocial media marketing—paying at-tention to the news, for starters,might help—it seems the keys to suc-cess aren't complicated: Be courte-ous and helpful to your clients, stickwith it, be varied and diversified inyour topics—and, in the immortalwords of the Bobby McFerrin song,"Don't Worry, Be Happy"

"Most of all, don't try too hard,"Gluckstein says. Social media "issupposed to be an informal settingfor interactive communication, sodon't overthink it." E

MIKE THOiVIPSON (MTH0MP86@YAH00.COM) ISTHE EDITOR OF THE RiVEREAST NEWS BULLETIN ANDA FREELANCE JOURNALISTCOMMENTS? EMAIL LEFTERS TO THE EDITOR TOECLETTERS@INFOTODAYCOM.

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