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Tips for doing social media in a business environment

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Social media embrace a range of applications, all of which incorporate a form of word-of-mouth communications. (Fill & Turnbull, 2016) Also expressed as a state that Social media employ mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms via which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss and modify user-generated content (Kietzmann et all, 2011:1). These days the role and presence that an organisation seeks to adopt in social media is critical, which has caused problems for businesses as they sometimes fail to adapt and implement digital strategies, in an environment where their level of control and influence is reduced.

 

Tips to consider with social media marketing:

Don’t be afraid to show off your personality

 

Creating a great social media presence isn’t only about showing the value of your product or service to your audience. It’s about connection and experiences. The best brands out there share a common point of view with their fans. A favorite example to show of this idea in action would be Merriam Webster Dictionary.

Read more here about their idea to transform her dictionary success on social media: https://blog.bufferapp.com/merriam-webster-show-notes

 

Get the most out of your content

Experiment with creating shareable graphics throughout the post that people can use on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. You can also create a series of Instagram Stories to help promote the post. Or you might try creating a short video for Facebook summarizing the post (or even a more in-depth YouTube video!)

Every piece of content you create should have at least 2-3 other pieces of shareable content to accompany (call-to-action). That way if the link doesn’t resonate then the video might. Or if the video falls short, maybe it makes for good Instagram Stories.

Read more here on how often to post on social media: https://coschedule.com/blog/social-media-marketing-tips/

 

These could be added to the Kietzmann et all (2011) framework called ‘4Cs’

The framework proposes that organizations should develop strategies to monitor, understand and respond to different social media activities. These could be considered as guidelines to follow, which are:

1.Cognise – Each organisation should try to recognize and understand its social media landscape.

This is a way to communicate a brand purpose through a visual media content considering specific target audiences on their social media channels. For example boosting an organic content to a target audience, which is the perfect testing ground for paid ads and boosted posts. Through this method, a business would determine what posts to further invest in, and target specific users within many of the social platform ad managers. For example, you can exclude traffic to your website in order to eliminate people who are already familiar with the brand.

2.Congriuty – Each organisation should develop strategies that match the different social media functionalities and their goals.

Businesses need to find their balance in using their social media channels, because often found is that companies would be getting average results across the board in they are on every platform.

It may seem counterintuitive, but focusing all your efforts on the two to three key platforms which give the best return on investment. Crafting content unique to each platform is critical.

For example, let’s say we write a blog post about social media marketing. Writing the copy that will get attention and clicks on LinkedIn is much different than what would work on Facebook, which is dramatically different than what works on Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter.

Guide on what to post on each social media platform here:

https://blog.bufferapp.com/what-to-post-on-each-social-media-platform

 

3. Curate – Each organisation should develop a policy about who should listen to conversations on a social media platform and when.

To go along with the previous social media marketing tip, you need to measure your efforts and analyze the results. In a survey from Convince & Convert, over 40% of companies don’t track their social media ROI at all, so they have no idea whether or not anything they’re doing is working. If you don’t want to fall under that umbrella, start tracking your social media activity right now.

Some of the metrics that you want to look for include:

  • Reach and engagement for Facebook
  • Impressions, visits and mentions on Twitter
  • Views and actions on Google+
  • Impressions, clicks and interactions on LinkedIn
  • Impressions and engagement on Pinterest
  • Likes, comments and mentions on Instagram

You should track these metrics on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis so you know when and if you need to make changes to your social media strategy.

Read about more social media metrics that matter:

https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-metrics-that-matter/

Figure 1. showing the functionalities of different platforms

 

4. Chase – Each organisation should undertake environmental scanning to understand the speed of conversations and information flows that could affect the organisation and the market.

A constant chase for information about social media activity is tremendously time-consuming. Yet, firms must scan their environments in order to understand the velocity of conversations and other information flows that could affect current or future position in the market (McCarthy et al.,2010).

The honeycomb framework provides a valuable tool for evaluating the changing social media ecology and a firm can revisit the assumptions about a community’s engagement needs, observe how platforms are evolving, and gauge how competitors are responding. More specifically, it is important to follow conversations and other interactions that include a particular firm, brand, product, or individual.

Some social media analytics tools like Tweet-Deck, Social Mention, and Google Alerts exist to make this process more manageable.

 

Figure 2. Showing the honeycoomb framework of social media

 

Further to be considered, as to confirm the importance of a well-considered digital strategy, (Truong and Simons, 2010) report research finds that the use of inappropriate pushed web-based advertising and mobile digital formats can lead to negative impact upon brand equity.

 

 

References:

Chaffey (2014) SmartInsights, http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/customer-acquisition-strategy/new-media-options/

Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Digital Marketing: Strategy. Implementation and Practice: Pearson.

Baer, J. (2018). Not Tracking Social Media ROI is Your Fault. [online] Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting. Available at: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-measurement/not-tracking-social-media-roi-is-your-fault/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Business, S., Management, S., Service, C., Marketing, S., Structure, A., CRM, S., Integrations, O., Questions, F. and In, L. (2018). Ultimate Guide to Measuring Social Media ROI. [online] Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-roi-guide/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Kietzmann, Jan & Hermkens, Kristopher & McCarthy, Ian & Silvestre, Bruno. (2011). Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media. Business Horizons. 54. 241-251. 10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005.

McCarthy, I., Lawrence, T., Wixted, B., & Gordon, B. (2010). A multidimensional conceptualization of environmental velocity. The Academy of Management Review, 35(4), 604—626.

Social. (2018). 8 Tips to Quickly Master Social Media For Businesses & Entrepreneurs. [online] Available at: https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-for-businesses [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Social. (2018). What to Post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and More. [online] Available at: https://blog.bufferapp.com/what-to-post-on-each-social-media-platform [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Tips to Consider When Doing an Email Marketing Campaign

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Email marketing is proven to be one of the most cost-effective approaches to attract and retain consumers, which helps maintaining a healthy business. Outbound  email  marketing  is  the  way  to  promote  any  business  online  by  sending  emails  to current  or  potential  customers  (Chaffey  et  al.,  2009). A reason for that would be the high level of approach given to an individual, which supports the one-to-one connection, generating higher response rates in the long run. Also, email marketing provides a completely controllable content platform to monitor when and who opens the email, and their followed actions once the message was received.

Guide on how to create the right Email Marketing Campaign

 

According to (Yapp, 2015) email campaigns are most successful when they are permission based, well-timed and present offers that customers truly want. An email campaign should be done well following these simple guidelines

Permission based

This would indicate that users have given their ‘green light’ in the form of permission to be approached by your email. To get their permission it’s important to be clear about product offerings, and being specific about your request to add them to the email list, as we don’t want unhappy and unsubscribed customers.

According   to   Godin (1999),   permission-based   marketing   has   three   main   features:   anticipating (consumers expect to hear about brand), individuality (marketing messages directly addressed and customized to each target client) and relevance (the client receives information that interests him that are relevant to himself)

*Quick risk note to consider in relation:

  1. Buying marketers’ email lists could potentially hurt the business and put it at risk;
  2. If many customers report for unwanted/spam mail, the business may face challenges to send future email marketing campaigns, which would impact the whole franchise.

Well-timed

Think about your audiences’ lifestyle, previous response levels of campaigns and the frequency of sent emails. Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer and see through their eyes. Think about how your business fits to their lifestyle in order to appropriately set email timings when releasing the campaign.

This triggers the next step: to do some analytics. Check past email results for identifying time slots, and certain buyer behavior as to when users open the message.

Quick frequency tip: don’t appear in their inbox more than once a week, and consider letting users know when to expect hearing from you. Through this approach, they will have the exciting time to lookout for your email!

Give people what they want

Do more of what works by keeping track of your receipts and email analytics to determine the best offers. Keep the less effective campaigns away, and focus on the productive side of learning and educating yourself about your customers buying pattern – always try to meet their needs and wants through promotion, providing engaged content.

 

Risks to consider when doing an Email Campaign

Spamming

Sending emails to consumers who aren’t subscribed to the email list is against the CAN-SPAM Act. This could result in spamming reports, getting black-listed and banned, which is why starting your mail list from scratch is the best option.

 

Reputation

The business reputation is on the line every time an email campaign is sent out, which is the reason a company should always be genuine with their content.

These points would help to consider your email campaign adopted by the CAN-SPAM Act:

-Don’t use misleading or false header information

-Don’t use a deceptive subject line

-Messages must include a valid physical address

-Providing an opt-out/unsubscribe button

 

Read more here on ‘5 Tips to Get Your Email Marketing Campaign Started’: https://www.hostpapa.co.uk/blog/marketing/email-101-benefits-risks-email-marketing-selection-small-businesses/

 

Why is it important to consider those risks?

In  many  countries,  companies  must  obtain permission  from  consumers  before  sending  an  email,  otherwise  they  will  be  categorized  as  spam (Morimoto&Chang, 2006)

 

Risks with reputation

Budac (2016) suggests checking the bounce rate when doing analytics as the percentage of unshipped emails (due to the existence of email addresses which are not correct or existing) is highly important. They should be quickly removed from the email lists to not lose credibility and to not damage the reputation of the brand.

 

Risks regarding optimization, content and clear call-to-action

According  to  the  study  Consumer  Views  of  Email  Marketing (BlueHornet, 2015), 42.3% of respondents assessed they would delete and 4.2% would unsubscribe from  an  email  received  on  a  mobile  device  if  it  does  not  look  good  on  display. Mobile optimization is important to retain customers and avoid unresponsive content. This risk could be avoided with a/b testing on subject lines, mobile content optimization, and evaluation of user experience through design and testing. You might check some evaluating tools such as: InVision, Balsamiq or Pidoco.

More on evaluating user experience here: https://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/business/14-best-tools-for-evaluating-user-experience

In other words, the content of the email can be very good but if the user had other expectations (there is a mismatch between the two: the subject line and the content of the email or the subject line was too vague),  this  leads  to  a  negative  attitude  towards  the  content  and  therefore  to  taking  the  necessary measures.

This is why using Content Marketing Matrix would be useful to create relevant content and use customer data across channels to help increase the relevance of your messages through personalisation (see figure 1)

Figure 1. Source: Smart Insights

According to Budac, (2016) the content should be engaging and show what is expected of people to do in the next 4-5 seconds: buy, learn more, to sign in etc. otherwise they would lose interest. The rate of content withdrawn is very high and this is as much important as the mobile phone is the primary device for accessing emails as shown on figure 2.

Figure 2. Source: litmus.com

 

To conclude, even the best digital strategies can fail if the execution is poor – search, social and email marketing. This is why measuring conversions, visits or renunciation in marketing campaign is extremely important – because it represents the feedback from subscribers and their analysis enables further optimization and improvement of email marketing.

 

 

Sources:

Camelia Budac. (2016). Theoretical Approaches on Successful Email Marketing Campaigns. Ovidius University Annals: Economic Sciences Series, (2), 306-311., [online] Available at: http://stec.univ-ovidius.ro/html/anale/ENG/2016/2016-II-full/s4/4.pdf [Accessed 23 February 2018]

Chadwick F.E, Doherty N. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing, Journal of Business Research 65(6), 843–848, doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.01.005

Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Digital Marketing: Strategy. Implementation and Practice: Pearson

Godin, S. (1999). Permission marketing. New York, NY: Simon&Schuster

HostPapa Blog. (2018). Benefits & Risks to Email Marketing Selection. [online] Available at: https://www.hostpapa.co.uk/blog/marketing/email-101-benefits-risks-email-marketing-selection-small-businesses/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018]

Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. (2018). Guest Column: 10 tips for a successful email marketing campaign: Kunal Tomar. [online] Available at: http://www.exchange4media.com/Digital/Guest-Column10-tips-for-a-successful-email-marketing-campaignKunal-Tomar_63691.html [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018]

Morimoto M., & Chang S. (2006). Consumers’ attitudes toward unsolicited commercial email and postal direct mail marketing methods: Intrusiveness, perceived loss of control, and irritation, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 7(1), 1-11

Smallbusiness.chron.com. (2018). The Disadvantages of Email Marketing. [online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-email-marketing-3472.html [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018]

Smart Insights. (2018). How to integrate objectives and strategy when creating a marketing plan | Smart Insights. [online] Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/goal-setting-evaluation/goals-kpis/integrated-online-marketing-strategy-a-tool-for-integrating/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018]

Talarico, D. (2016), From inbox to enroll: Email marketing tips. Recruiting & Retaining Adult Learners, 18: 1–3. doi:10.1002/nsr.30171

Ukfast.co.uk. (2018). The Changing Face of SEO. [online] Available at: https://www.ukfast.co.uk/blog/2012/12/30/the-changing-face-of-seo/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018]

YAPP, WILL Driving Better Results Through Email Marketing,Franchising World. May2015, p50-52. 3p,

ZHANG, X, KUMAR, V, & COSGUNER, K 2017, ‘Dynamically Managing a Profitable Email Marketing Program’, Journal Of Marketing Research (JMR), 54, 6, pp. 851-866, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 February 2018.