How to: Integrate Social Media in Offline Operations

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November 24, 2010

“Is online / social media alone the way forward for your business?“

Being a huge believer of the importance of INTEGRATION instead of implementation, my answer to that is NO. Businesses today are too caught up with the ideology of social media but fail to realize the huge potential social media can bring when integrated into traditional marketing efforts.

It is important for businesses to realize that social media integration does not mean that by having social media presence everything will fall into place. If you take a look at same of these real life integrations of social media with Facebook and Twitter, you’ll find that these companies are successful online because they managed to integrate it into existing OFFLINE business operations.

Here are some integration ideas for you to maximize your marketing potential:

#1: EVENTS + SOCIAL MEDIA

Have an event coming up soon? Whether it is an exhibition, launch or a regular meetup / happening, explore how you can spice up your event with available social media tools. You can use Facebook to share photos leading towards the event to build hype and organize giveaways; use Twitter to share real time updates on what’s happening on the scene and behind the scenes, facilitate tweetchats or setup a Twitter wall at the event with a contest mechanism to build followers; rewarding visitors that check in to your venue on Foursquare or even a treasure hunt!

There is a timely article written on Mashable yesterday on this very topic with 5 ideas on how you can enhance your events with social media. Click on the thumbnail to check it out!

#2: ADVERTISING / PROMO + SOCIAL MEDIA

You have a new product or service and is wanting some follower / fan love? Facebook can be used to disseminate information regarding your product or to give out demo units; if you have an existing network, identify strong personas and request for them to review your product and service on blogs; use Twitter to it’s fullest potential by sharing exclusive deals or twouchers (vouchers) to start a string of retweets; perhaps the mayor on Foursquare entitled to a VIP-class treatment of your service?

#3: CUSTOMER SERVICE + SOCIAL MEDIA

I can’t stress the importance and the effectiveness of customer service using social media. The more active channels you make available for your customers and prospects to approach you, the better.

The 2 common mediums are Facebook and Twitter. If you can capitalize on these 2 you should be in the run of something good. Do not leave questions unattended for days, reply to every enquiry within 1-2 hours consistently and your customers will find GREAT value in your service.

One thing to note is that you should never, ever give out inconsistent / inaccurate information on social media as you could cook up a storm in a matter of minutes, especially if you have a huge network.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even use Twitter to take orders for your business like Coffee Groundz did!

#4: ON-SITE INTERACTIVITY + SOCIAL MEDIA

Who says social media are only limited to virtual interactions? Coca Cola brought the ‘like’ feature on Facebook to life! Check out the video below to see how it happened:

I agree that this setup can be a little too complicated for some to take on but it sure triggers some simpler ideas. A giant photo tagging wall or a mini wall in front of each exhibitor for visitors to ‘post’ on, the only limit is your imagination :)

Have you come across any interesting social media integrations into real life (offline) operations?

Do share them here!

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Twitter (Part 2)

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November 10, 2010

| Jan Wong

So you’ve seen the benefits of Twitter and now wanting to be part of the Twitter community but have no idea how to? If you’re absolutely new to Twitter, check out this step-by-step video on how to create your very own Twitter profile for your business:

Congrats with your Twitter account! With that covered, we will now be looking at some real life implementations on how business have use Twitter to their advantage:

1. Levi’s

Levi’s knew what they wanted to do and achieve with Twitter. They wanted to target the young male demographic which eventually led towards hiring Gareth as the @levisguy to share behind-the-scenes stories at Levi’s events and updates on new products.

Why is that so significant? Levi’s knew what it takes to create a bond, a connection with their fans. By hiring someone in the same demographic, he will be able to speak the same language the fans speak, allowing him to spur conversations about topics that matter to them, such as the latest fashion trends – without being awkward.

2. Dell Outlet

Dell understood what they need – they need a tool to get the word out fast due to their nature of business. They went on Twitter and have not turned back ever since. On Twitter they realized that people are interested in talking to them, asking questions and sharing their experiences, both good and bad.

“Offering relevant information that people are interested in is key.” – Stephanie Nelson, Dell (Austin)

With that, Dell now concentrates on interacting with people while keeping deals to a minimum to avoid spamming. Those are not ordinary deals though, they are exclusive, Twitter-only deals which has received very positive response having booked more than $3 million in revenue attributable to its Twitter posts. They minimized promotions with their followers in mind but offered exclusive deals whenever a post is due – 2 birds in 1 stone.

3. CoffeeGroundz

This is perhaps my most favorite integration of Twitter in a business! Unlike other examples, CoffeeGroundz is an independent coffee shop in Houston that sells a variety of locally roasted coffee, tea, pastries, sandwiches and the likes. Being new to Twitter, it took J.R. Cohen (General Manager) awhile to grow the number of followers on Twitter organically – and that changed everything.

Cohen took Twitter 1 step further by asking his followers from Houston to “come into the store and ask for J.R.” He will then take the opportunity to meet with each and every patron who asked for him by name! He created an opportunity to strengthen his bond with his followers, going beyond mere online interactions.

“This is what social media is meant to be.” – J.R. Cohen

What makes things even more interesting is that in 2008, one of CoffeeGroundz’s regular customers requested to place a ‘to-go’ order for a breakfast wrap. It is argued that Sean’s request for an order ‘to-go’ was the first of its kind on Twitter. And because Cohen is an avid user of Twitter, was able to reply quickly to Sean’s requests. With this reply, he implemented a whole new way to place and receive an order online, reserve tables and book the place – through Twitter’s DM service. How awesome is that?

4. DiGi Telecommunications

Sad to say that there are only a handful of great Twitter integrations in business back here in Malaysia. Businesses here seem more inclined towards Facebook but here is one that caught my attention – DiGi is seen using Twitter primarily to receive feedback, complains, questions and to provide support to their customers. In some cases, I was told that DiGi also offers special compensations and exclusive offers to dissatisfied customers on a case-by-case basis.

Apart from that, it also acts to humanize the brand by interacting with their followers by posting birthday wishes and replying to what others are saying about the brand which definitely adds a human touch to the brand.

Moving On!

Hopefully the above examples are able to give you some idea and insights on how you can get started on Twitter. Remember that it takes time to get it right so don’t be too worried if you’re doing it wrong or disappointed with the initial results.

If you’re sitting there thinking that Twitter is not suitable for your business

or your customers / prospects are not on Twitter and never going to be on Twitter, you should really take 4 minutes off your time to check out this video:

On the other hand, if you are having trouble thinking of running out of things to Tweet, I recommend reading this post here by @AskAaronLee, a social media addict with tons of experience and things to share about Twitter. I’m sure his post will help you just fine :)

Do you have an example that you would love to share? I would most definitely want to hear from you!

Why Create a Custom Twitter Background?

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November 5, 2010

| Jan Wong

While most Twitter simply choose their backgrounds just for it to look pretty, many individuals and businesses have taken advantage of the background to simply express, promote or introduce themselves beyond their 140 characters description on their profile.

Now you may have heard people saying that the #NewTwitter is a pain for many as there isn’t much space left to play with on the sides, or that 75% people access Twitter on 3rd Party Applications (e.g. TweetDeck, Hootsuite, etc) therefore cannot see your profile. Don’t get me wrong – those are facts.

It is true that most people access Twitter via apps to UPDATE their status (Tweet) but however, bear in mind that there are many that accesses the web version to check out your profile page if you’ve followed them on Twitter.. simply because Twitter drops an email notification with a link to your profile. Not to forget, you would be leaving your Twitter links on your blog, company website, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn or any other profiles for that matter – This alone is a good reason for a custom background.

If you haven’t already have a custom Twitter background, you should start having one for yourself as:

1. It Leaves a Lasting Impression

For both individuals and businesses, a well designed background shows a certain degree of professionalism and that you care for details – thus leaving a lasting impression on the viewer. This is exceptionally important when one is viewing your Twitter profile for the first time.

2. Branding and Promotional Opportunities

Your Twitter background can also act as an extension of yourself. Use it to your advantage by putting up more information about you, portray your brand identity, promote your products and services or even express yourself as a creative individual / company. In other words, is an free advertising space that you should make use of!

3. Stand Out

Capturing your audience’s attention is important on social media and unless your have a very captivating write-up about yourself in 140 words or valuable Tweets, chances are, it will be difficult for one to differentiate you with another unless he or she knows you personally. Your background can make a world of differences in positioning yourself different on Twitter. Remember, it’s either you stand out or lose out!

My advice? Use your custom Twitter background wisely :)

Want to Get Started but Don’t Know How?

Click Here to Get Started on Your Own Customized Twitter Background with a template I created!

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Twitter (Part 1)

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November 3, 2010

| Jan Wong

A couple of weeks back we looked at how Facebook can be integrated into today’s businesses as an effective engagement platform. This time round, we’ll be looking at a famous micro-blogging tool called Twitter. Bear in mind that neither Facebook nor Twitter can cancel each other out – they each have their own unique advantages in which you may want to use to YOUR advantage.

Why Twitter?

Though Twitter only allows 140 characters per update (called a Tweet), Twitter is now second to Facebook in terms of it’s usage. People seem to get along with Twitter pretty well as it is simple and straight to the point, unlike Facebook where distractions are aplenty. If you haven’t heard, Twitter is said to have about 2.1 million new users per week – a huge pool of potential opportunities you would not want to miss (click for interesting stats).

If you’re still scratching your head at this point, check out this simple video explaining Twitter in plain English:

Now that you’ve grasp the concept of Twitter, let’s look at 3 areas on how Twitter can benefit you and your business:

1. Collaboration and Networking

Twitter is a great way of keeping in touch with contacts and obtaining new contacts. This is simply because you (and others) can easily look up fellow users that have the same interest / industry by searching keywords that relates to you and your business. Do it right and these networks can eventually lead to new ideas, collaborations and even partnerships that can be beneficial to both you and your business!

2. Personality and Connectivity

For some reason, Twitter is seen to be a more human approach as compared to blogs and Facebook pages. It adds a human touch to your brand and a face to your business. With Twitter, businesses can now engage in conversations directly with their followers and listen to their tweets – which is priceless to a business. You’ll now get to hear what your followers (if you follow back) are doing, what are they talking about, where they are heading to and etc, allowing you to get to know your followers better.

Remember on Facebook pages, you won’t know what’s happening to your followers if you don’t add them as a friend on your personal account (which you may not want to do so).

3. Research Tool

I must say that Twitter is an excellent research tool for your business and equally informative as Google. How so? Twitter is able to show results of conversations (Tweets) regarding your keyword from all over the world! You can also gain insights to trending topics globally to see what the world is Tweeting about.

Imagine looking up keywords that relates to your business – you may find interesting Tweets talking about their needs, their wishes, feedbacks, rants, competitor’s product and etc. Yes, you’ve gained access to voices from real people across the globe!

What’s Next?

We will once again be looking at some examples on how Twitter is implemented in businesses worldwide along with some real tips on how you can do it too!

Why Do Fans Subscribe to Your Facebook Page?

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October 27, 2010

| Jan Wong

Now that we’ve looked at why fans unsubscribe (unfollow) your Facebook page, let’s check out how were they converted in becoming your fan in the first place:

Looking at the results above, 75% of the attraction should come from you. This shows that fans are still attracted to what you can offer them by following you and 75% is huge! This also means that attraction strategy is vital to motivate fans to follow you, debunking the myth of “the word will spread just being on Facebook”. See what existing businesses have done to command attention on their Facebook page.

These three “conversion points” pointed out by the survey does not end there. It actually creates a guide on how businesses and brands can create their own social media strategy to MAXIMIZE RESULTS and leverage upon ALL three points above by including:

1. A Driving Vehicle

This is the actual promotional campaign and most businesses are capable of this pretty well – Facebook links plastered everywhere, ongoing contests, weekly giveaways, sweepstakes, webinars, exclusive contents and the list goes on; which is perhaps why 75% of the people are attracted to subscribe to you – you’ve captured their attention. Now what?

2. A Reason to Share

You’ve attracted the masses and now it’s the time to tap into your fans’ networks! Give them a reason to share you with their friends. Organize a bring-a-friend day to your shop, reward active fans, provide quality content or outrageous offers – anything that involves people getting people. Get them involved, create conversations and get your fans to co-promote. Remember, it’s a world-of-mouth on social networks!

3. An Edge to be Found

This may be a little trickier than the above but not the least important. This approach has the potential to draw in those that may not be active on Facebook, those that are skeptical of advertising and even those who think Google is the Internet. This strategy utilizes external resources to draw attention to your business.

This can be done by participating in forums, discussion rooms, local happening sites, blogs and microsites. Also if you’re familiar with SEO, it will definitely provide an additional edge to be ranked highly on search engines. These avenues creates additional content over the internet providing more information and value to your prospects / customers / fans.

The Social Media Strategy

There are tons of ways going about in social media and there really isn’t a perfect formula to success. Every business and brand has to take time and effort to identify what works and doesn’t for them. However, keeping in mind the 3 Conversion Points above in your social media strategy should assist you in what needs to be covered and done.

Click here to check out the ongoing social media series for more social media insights for your brand!

Why Do Fans Unsubscribe from Your Facebook Page?

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October 20, 2010

| Jan Wong

We’ve been talking a lot about how to attract fans on Facebook, engaging them and retaining them but do you know what causes them to ‘un-follow’ or ‘un-fan’ your page? Do you know that they WILL stop subscribing to your page?

Take a look at the results of a recent survey:

32% indicated that they decided to abandon your page because your brand does not excite them anymore. Perhaps your competitor became more appealing, or they have simply outgrown your brand, or you’ve lost your ‘spark’ that drew them to you on Day 1.

Whatever the reason is, 32% sure is a figure to watch out for and you may want to consider monitoring the growth / decline of your fan base. If it is increasing day-by-day, identify what interests them and what keeps them and keep at it. If it is declining, it’s time to examine what went wrong. Throw a survey or hold a discussion – find out what are your fans looking for and improve on it.

It is also interesting to note that fans are also turned off if a page is updated with new posts too often. Too much information may be seen as spamming and you definitely do not want your fans to perceive it that way. The general rule of thumb is 2-3 updates, spaced out throughout the day (e.g. 1 morning, 1 afternoon, 1 night) and ensure that it is quality content (related articles, updates, reports, etc). Of course, it still comes down to how your fans respond to your updates and each page differs from another. Take sometime to spot trends among your fans – you won’t go wrong that way.

“You may want to watch out for this one as fans can also opt to hide your notifications / updates on their news feed apart from unsubscribing if they are unhappy.”

Now you know what drives your fans to unsubscribe from your page. Want to know what drives them to subscribe to your page? That will be next!

How to: Social Media in Business – Facebook (Part 3)

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October 13, 2010

| Jan Wong

Part 1 >> Part 2 >> Part 3

Thank you to those that have been following the Social Media series! If this is your first time here, welcome and here are the links if you’ve missed out on Part 1 and Part 2. Enjoy!

After looking at various real life integrations of Facebook in Part 2 last week, you may be all fired up to take it on now – which is great, but you may want to take a look at what Facebook has to say about promotions – you definitely do not want to risk your page being shut down just like that, with all your fans in it!

Note: Facebook’s definition of ‘Promotion‘ includes “sweepstakes,” “contests” and “competitions”

Let’s head directly into the Facebook Promotions Guidelines (last updated: 22nd December 2009):

You cannot: Condition entry in the promotion upon a user providing content on Facebook, such as making a post on a profile or Page, status comment or photo upload.

You can: Use a third party application to condition entry to the promotion upon a user providing content. For example, you may administer a photo contest whereby a user uploads a photo through a third-party application to enter the contest.

You cannot: Administer a promotion that users automatically enter by becoming a fan of your Page.

You can: Only allow fans of your Page to access the tab that contains the third-party application for the promotion.

You cannot: Notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.

You can: Collect an address or email through the third-party application for the promotion in order to contact the winner by email or standard mail.

You cannot: Instruct people (in the rules or elsewhere) to sign up for a Facebook account before they enter the promotion.

You can: Instruct users to visit the third-party application to enter the promotion (as described in Section 3.4(i)). Since users must have a Facebook account in order to access an application on the Facebook Platform, if you give this instruction, they will be prompted to sign up for a Facebook account if they do not already have one.

Wow, that’s quite a list, isn’t it? To make things worse, that’s not the end to it and I would strongly suggest for you to look it up on the given link just to be sure yourself. And if you’ve read all of it, you’ll realize that the rules practically prohibits any form of competitions / contests to be organized on Facebook at all!

All Hope is Lost?

Not a chance! Else we wouldn’t even be on this topic. Besides, you’ve also seen brands and businesses doing it on Facebook, right? If it’s that you’ve been wondering about, simple – there are 3 ways to go about it and the good news is, I’ll be sharing them with you as promised:

1. Do it Illegally

Yes, most people actually do it illegally. Why? Because it is the way with less hassle involved. I am not in anyway suggesting that you should do it illegally as Facebook has all the rights to shut your page down without any notice, and you’ll lose all your fans and hard work just like that. This is definitely not the path you would want to consider :)

2. Do it Legally… with Facebook’s Permission

All you need to do is to clear your promotion mechanics with an account representative from Facebook. However, this comes with a catch. You’ll also need to have spent about $10,000 in Facebook advertising to ‘qualify‘ yourself as Facebook mentioned that this is necessary to minimize scams on the network to protect other users.

This also means that if you’re running on a tight marketing budget (or none), this is not what you would want to do either.

3. Do it Legally… Yourself

If you have looked into the guidelines in full, it is 100% legal for you to have your contest / competition / campaign held OUT of Facebook, using Facebook to draw traffic to it. This also means that I can organize a giveaway on my company’s website / personal blog and announce it to my fans on my Facebook fan page to visit my external site. This is pretty straight forward but if you’re thinking “isn’t that too much of a hassle? wouldn’t it be better if it’s done directly on Facebook instead?“, read on!

Remember the landing page technique we’ve seen in Part 2? That’s another way you can implement to have a little more Facebook “feel” to your campaign. All that’s required is a nifty little Facebook App called the Static FBML Application. Simply add it to your Facebook page tab and with some minor designing, your landing page will be up and running! We won’t be looking at the various technical aspects of setting up FBML and the configurations but you can look it up here or here.

However, remember that the FBML Application technique only allows you to create your very own customized landing page and DOES NOT facilitate contests and competitions. You can, however, link your landing page to your external site that runs the contest :) This also means using the landing page to attract visitors to your site that runs the contest. After all, a well designed landing page would be much more attractive as compared to your Facebook wall of texts!

“FBML works somewhat like enabling you to add HTML codes unto your Facebook page. This means that you’ll now be able to insert download links, images, videos, styled texts, newsletter signups, rss feeds – basically almost everything you need to create an amazing landing page for your Facebook page!”

If you absolutely insist to hold your contest on Facebook itself, fret not – WildfireApp is here to the rescue! What it does is really simple – a step-by-step wizard to help you create your very own Quizzes, Sweepstakes, Contests, E-Coupons, Registration Forms, Trivia and more – you definitely can’t go wrong with that! The wizard also ends with a “Publish” option that publishes your new App to your Facebook page instantly! There is a slight catch, though – it isn’t free. However, the ‘basic’ package is only priced at $5 per campaign + $0.99 per day which is pretty affordable and sufficient for a mini campaign for individuals, bloggers and etc. The higher packages definitely has greater benefits including analytics, customizable templates, data export options and more! You can compare the packages over here.

“To date, WildfireApp is perhaps one of the most highly recommended App to be used on Facebook to run contests due to it’s simplicity and it’s 100% legal to run a contest through WildfireApp on Facebook.”

Is that all?

Remember that starting up your contest is just the beginning as marketing still has to take place. After all, you’ll want to make your investment worth and to build your fan base. For starters, I would suggest for you to work on a landing page using FBML and start testing out various techniques to draw attention to your page. Only move on to paid contest apps such as WildfireApp only when you’re comfortable with what you’re doing, and getting a somewhat steady response with your existing fans. That way, you can be assured that your investment will bring you results.

Moving On!

I hope the social media series have been beneficial to you, your business and your brand thus far! Facebook is just the beginning and we’ll be looking at other tools in the near future. Stay tuned! :)

“Social media is beyond Facebook.. it’s not just a network of people, but it also requires a network of tools for it to work for your business”

How to: Social Media in Business – Facebook (Part 2)

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October 8, 2010

| Jan Wong

Part 1 >> Part 2 >> Part 3

As promised, this post reveals some real-life implementation and integration of Facebook into brands and businesses worldwide along with tips on how you can implement them yourself! If you missed out our discussion and tips in using the infamous Facebook as part of your business, you definitely need to look up Part 1 here.

To set the pace of integrating your business in social media, take a look at the video below first (yes, even if you’ve seen it before)!

1. Customer Attraction: Getting the “Likes”

Everyone goes through this humbling phase of starting up. You’ve just created your very first Facebook fan page for your brand / business with only you being a fan of yourself. You turn to your friends in your personal profile and have invited them to “like” you.. and it stops there. Why is that so? You are NOT commanding attention.

Let’s take a look at Redbull. Instead of showing off wall posts, company information and whatnot to non-fans, Redbull implemented a very simple strategy to their page to command attention from the prospect as seen to the left – a simple, straight forward “call-to-action” image, and they are not the only ones doing it: Levi’s is also seen applying a similar strategy as well!

This, is what they call a Fan-only Facebook content – exclusive contents using Facebook’s ‘Tabs’ functionality. It can be inside scoops, special discounts, participate in discussions, take part in contests and more!

The key to a powerful landing page on Facebook is: Less. Yes, less is more! Do not confuse prospects with too many things going on. Consider being like Redbull – You definitely can’t miss what they want you to do; or like Levi’s – indicating the exclusive benefits you receive by ‘liking’ their page!

Writing a sales pitch on the landing page is a big no-no. Do you really want to advertise your product / services to a prospect on Facebook? It doesn’t work that way on social media. How so? People come to you for a reason – to learn / to browse / to connect / to question / to feedback / to suggest / to complain / to win / to receive and NOT to be sold to.

“Understanding the needs and wants of your potential fans is vital. If unsure, start by asking existing followers what would interest them and take it from there. Remember, that’s co-creation.”

Taking a look at an example closer to home, Project One & Only is an online pageant competition in Malaysia using Facebook as their primary platform to screen through participants, communicating with them and the fans that are eager to know of the results. Incepted in June 2010, they managed to break the 5-figure mark within mere 18 days, now close to 30,000 fans and still growing!

The secret behind this campaign? Attraction. Project O&O’s target are college / university students and they created something that would appeal to them by “making them famous” through this ongoing search in which the winner will undergo makeover sessions, participate in fashion shoots, special features on magazines and more.

In short, they hit the spot among their target market and results were generated instantly.

Not to forget, the Malaysia’s Online Fashion Entrepreneurs’ Weekend, a first-time offline event with over 90% of marketing done through social media alone, utilizing Facebook as their primary engagement platform. MOFEW recognized a niche and a need among the local online fashion scene and proceeded to put together an occasion for like minded individuals to gather and to highlight their entrepreneurial insights to the mass public starting on Facebook, then to an on-ground event. With over 10,000 fans gathered within less than 6 weeks, MOFEW manage to draw 0.5 million hits on the official site, ranked #1 on Google and successfully ran a 3-day offline event with 40,000 attendees from Malaysia and beyond (see official report here).

2. Customer Engagement: From “Likes” to Action

“Your fans are with you for a reason. Keep your focus on them, show them some brand love!“

You may have a very big fan base but with a low engagement rate, your fans may just be sitting there and some may have even forgot about your existence. Apart from feeding them with contents and getting to respond, here are some businesses did to ‘kick’ their fans into action:

Starbucks in the US launched a “Free Pastry Day” campaign, an event page on Facebook and there were more than 600,000 confirmed ‘attendees’ to the event! The news were spread all over Facebook through sharing and automatically triggered co-promotion for the brand / event. How did that happen? They started with their fans – Since the “Free Pastry Day” was first made known through Facebook, their immediate fans were the first to know about the news. At that time, Starbucks had about 3.6 million fans and the news were automatically shared across the network, because the fans were excited.

“Starbucks gave their fans a reason to follow them. The reward? In this case, free pastries for those that came by. How’s that for customer engagement?“

Another F&B brand in the US – Dunkin Donuts is often seen throwing co-creation opportunities to it’s fans. Dunkin Donuts launched the “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” competition in 2009 and managed to generate more than 130,000 donut submissions at 174,000 votes! Fans were asked to create their own virtual donut with the available ingredients, complete with a donut name and story behind the creation. The grand prize winner will have their donut sold in stores for a limited time! What did Dunkin Donuts achieve? An avenue for their brand to get their fans involved; and from the business aspect, they saw positive response in donut sales during the promotion period.

The competition was so successful that they did it again in 2010 and here is the winner:

“Having freebies and contests are one of the simplest form of customer engagement with a huge response potential. In fact, Dunkin Donuts continues to get fans involved as we speak through a video contest here. How’s THAT for customer engagement?“

This is NOT the end!

The above examples are just some of the many out there that has made it on Facebook on different levels. Not everyone can make it to the Starbucks level, but one can definitely make it somewhere. Once again, remember Co-Creation and Co-Promotion – strategize your Facebook presence around that with some effort and commitment, and you’ll be on your way to a good start.

What’s Next?

We will continue to look at more integrations of social media into your business / brand BUT BEFORE THAT, stay tuned to Part 3, the final yet VERY IMPORTANT bit of integrating Facebook in your business!

We will be looking at:

The risk of having your fan page shut down by Facebook
The rules and regulations you may not have read that prohibits promotions (e.g. contests and promotions) on Facebook
How to go about doing it the RIGHT way!

See you in Part 3! :)

How to: Social Media in Business – Facebook (Part 1)

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October 6, 2010

| Jan Wong

Part 1 >> Part 2 >> Part 3

A week ago we looked at what social media means to businesses, why social media is the way forward for businesses and also ways on how social media can be integrated into your business. Having read all that, you may begin to have a little something for social media, wanting to get started but know nothing about it? This post explores one of the many tools of Social Media that you could very well apply in your business / brand – the infamous Facebook.

Why Facebook?

Most people today have a personal Facebook account and spend loads of time on it, be it on games or merely page / profile hopping, engaging with other users online. Millions of users access Facebook on a daily basis and this also means that Facebook has a potential ready market of millions to be accessed by your brand and you just need to be a part of this huge global network. What you need to do is to merely find ways to tap into it.

The good news? Facebook is nowhere near in pulling their brakes. They are here to stay, continually innovating their services and recently seen wanting to integrate deeper into the mobile devices, tying in with Android operating systems. Just so you know, Facebook’s actual value is reported to be a whooping $23 billion (Forbes) and $33 billion by The Financial Times!
The bad news? Having a Facebook page alone isn’t going to get you anywhere – it is only the beginning.

To start things off, take a look at the video below:

1. You’ll need a plan.

Yes, social media IS business thus requiring a strategy to truly succeed. Start by setting goals for your Facebook page followed by specific tasks on how to achieve them. You may want to look at:

1. How many ‘likes’ to gain by end of the year?
2. How often will you be able to contribute to the page? (e.g. at least 3 days a week / videos / images)
3. How would you want your followers to interact with you? (e.g. share your contents / provide feedback)
4. What is the final outcome for your page? (e.g. to drive traffic to your site / to receive suggestions)
5. Do you need a team to manage the page or an individual?
6. What do you need to do to achieve your goals?

2. Command attention.

Like it or not, in most situations, even the most valuable content you can ever provide will be ignored – yes, despite the traffic. How so? Simple: they are NOT paying attention to you. There are so many things happening on the screen: instant messaging, emails, Skype, daily news and if that’s nothing, do not forget the various happenings inside Facebook itself (e.g. wall posts, photos, videos, games and etc)!

Already sounding impossible? Not quite.

You’ll need a PULL, something that draws their attention to you. No, definitely not advertising because consumers today are immune to advertising. They know when to turn away when an ad starts playing and even the most annoying popups can deliberately be ignored without being seen! It has to be something that RELATES to them. This PULL can be exclusive contents, benefits, giveaways, outrageous offers and more!

Think of ways that will excite them. Some marketeers cleverly pack information into video presentations and aesthetically pleasing images – why? They know what relates and excites their followers: Videos and images definitely captures attention better than text. When it excites them, consumers are likely to share it across the social media. Once again, this is Co-Promotion through WORLD-of-mouth.

“Know what your customers are looking for. In social media, your followers comes first! Forget about getting new prospects – you’ll get stronger conversions with your followers on your side”

3. Stick to it!

Consistency is the key and this is perhaps the difficult part and determines the initial make or break. Most brand pages fail because they are unable to stick with what they have in mind. Either the management team is too bogged up with other work or they’ve given up after weeks of trying to no avail.

“Pages fail due to lack of commitment. Lack of commitment to the page is simply telling your customers – We don’t care“

Social media takes time, just like traditional businesses. You may hear stories of people making big money with social media over night but the truth is, most businesses can’t. This is where you may want to utilize your contacts, publicize your page on your official site, name cards, pamphlets, brochures, ads and etc to make use of your Facebook presence. You can hold discussions, get feedback, throw special promotions, contests and more to drive interest, traffic and participation to your page.

What’s in Part 2?

Real life implementation and integration examples of Facebook in businesses worldwide! You do not want to miss this! Stay tuned!

[UPDATE: Click here for Part 2]

How To: Integrate Social Media to Benefit Your Business?

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September 29, 2010

| Jan Wong

About a week ago we looked at what social media means to businesses and why social media is the way forward for businesses and perhaps right now you are wondering how social media can benefit you and your business. In a nutshell, your relationship with your customers will never be the same again and it is for the better! I managed to stumble upon this simple yet comprehensive image depicting the evolution of CRM into Social CRM when a business truly integrates social media into their operations.

Social CRM sure looks good and it is important in today’s social media world because businesses are moving towards a collaborative business model. This also means that businesses that has a closed door concept, shutting off customer input will eventually lose out from the market as they only see business through transaction and not interaction / engagement. Little did they know that customers really do have the upper hand in today’s world where a single complain or dissatisfaction can evolve to a global scale within minutes – again, through social media.

Collaborative?

Yes, we are talking about Co-Creation and Co-Promotion of products and it can only be achieved by a collaborative effort, through engaging with your customers. Gone were the days customers will simply buy a product without research and comparison with your competitors.

Reviews, feedbacks and complains can be freely obtained online on blogs, forums, Facebook and Twitter statuses and more therefore making competition greater than before! Think of it this way though, if you’re able to get into their good books, your competitor will be the one struggling instead!

Still have your doubts? Check out the video below!

Start by opening up your doors to listen to what your customers are saying.

What is it that they really want from you?

What is it that makes them your customer?

Is it your product? Or your services?

What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?

Who do your customer perceive as your competitors?

These questions are best to be answered by your customers.

“Your customers are in someway, your existing followers and fans. Spend more time with them to understand their needs instead of trying to catch the attention of the mass public! Keep the fans, let the rest go. They’ll come when they’re ready”

A traditional business would probably think that the above is crazy.. but it’s not. With social media, businesses today gain direct communication with customers which they do not have 10 years before. A continuous relationship / collaboration with existing customers will in fact draw MORE customers, through them – Co-Promotion.

Find out what excites them as a customer and continue to spark that excitement in them and news will spread among your customers automatically through WORLD-of-mouth, without additional marketing expense. How cool is that?

Imagine creating a new product or service which has guaranteed sales / response – it can happen, with social media. Why? This is the power of Co-Creation. Businesses can use social media to co-create products and services that caters to their needs directly without making wild guesses. Customers know what they want and fans can give you the input you need to produce a killer product / service. It is also an avenue to truly say “we hear you”.

This way, you’ll know whether your product will be widely accepted / rejected even before producing it. Even better if you’re able to get your fans to create on your behalf – you may be on your way to discovering great talents for your business expansion and it’s a good way of getting your fans involved!

Want to know more?

Watch out for upcoming posts on real life social media implementation examples worldwide!