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Editor's Notes

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2. Welcome to the era of social business. No longer are consumers willing to passively accept the carefully controlled messages and companies used to dish out in print and on TV. Now consumers do their own research on Google, check out websites, reviews and can seek their friends opinions and even the opinions of strangers in an instant through social media and mobile texting. In fact, the most recent ComScore report found Canadians spend an average of 45 hours per month online.\n\nWhat’s more, they are not afraid to speak their minds and complain for all the Twitterverse to see. In fact, recent research on Generation Y attitudes shows that this generation is the most fearless when it comes to voicing their opinions online. They, unlike, Boomers, believe that their online opinions about a product or service counts more than what the brand says. In other words, social proof -- what others say about you -- counts more now than what you say about yourself. \n
3. What’s more, your carefully crafted broadcasts are getting increasingly ignored. People want conversation and great content. People who send out numerous “buy my tweets” get unfollowed. A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll found that 4 out 5 Facebook users have never bought a product or service based on Facebook ads or even comments. Don’t get me wrong. With 900 million users, that’s still a lot of buyers. Many report they don’t even see the ads. I’m not so sure how comparable that is to the effect of a billboard or magazine ad. Maybe because I do click on ads sometimes and have bought products, but not solely based on the ad. I also know of marketers who are making 6- or 7-figure incomes, who attribute part of their success to Facebook ads. One thing is for sure, though, there has to be much more content, conversation and social proof on offer than the just ad. Yes. I do look up reviews and do other research, as well. I’m not a millennial, but already, I think, you are seeing the influence they have on business. And how this is creating a new, social way of business. \n
4. While connected consumers may not be clicking on every online ad, they are looking for community well beyond their friends and family. Facebook is definitely a start, but other social media also provides new ways to be part of a community. We speak in 140 characters or less to followers and those we follow on Twitter. We can tweet to celebrities, gurus and others, and sometimes they even answer back. Google+ gives people a chance to form circles of friends and hang out in videos online. LinkedIn, the prime professional’s network continues to grow, with more than 4 million Canadian users in 2011, up from just under 3 million, spending an average of 65 minutes per month on the site. and Pinterest, the fastest growing social network has added a new way to form community. This time around shared interests, rather than friends and followers. \n\nSocial media, then, is about building relationships with your customers. Not campaigns. The social media campaign mentality has gotten even global brands into a maze of derelict social media accounts, lack of follow up, and lack of vision and integrated planning. The Altimeter Research group found that among surveyed global brands, 60 per cent had no social media plan and an average of 129 social media accounts, many of which they had no idea what to do with. Let me repeat. Social media is not a campaign. Customers expect you to keep answering their questions, keep adding value to the conversation. Anything less is, to put it mildly, lame. \n\nSocial media should be integrated into a company’s marketing, and if the company is smart, they will work to integrate it into their business processes, so that social goes beyond marketing to customer service and company culture. \n
5. On the other hand, connected consumers want sharing on their terms. With a click they can unfollow and unlike. They choose what of your content to share and they also want to share with you their ideas, photos, videos and other content, when they feel like it. Your company is also in competition with others for your customers’ attention. Facebook, for example, says that only about 16 per cent of your fans, on average, even see your content in their news feeds. \n
6. So listen up if you want to get their attention.\n
7. So what, in particular, do social consumers want from their current social media engagement? This is what social companies believe. This research, incidentally, will be part of the upcoming Pivot Conference in October of this year. Note: customer service was tops at 59 per cent. Deals and promotions received 52 per cent of the votes followed by loyalty and rewards for engagement. I thought that would be of special interest to participants here today. In addition, nearly 40 % said that they thought social consumers wanted to get information and product reviews within social networks. Only 10% few saw buying within social networks as a plus. \n
8. And what have we heard from consumers themselves? They want customer service, deals, entertainment and informative, useful content, including how tos. What do I mean about timely, responsive customer service? Fast action when they tweet a complaint, ask a question or post a problem on Facebook. If it’s after hours, they don’t want to wait until the morning. If it’s the weekend, they don’t want to wait until Monday for an answer. The longer a company waits, the longer the complaint remains online, unsolved and the consumer frustrated. \n\nDeals still come ahead of general engagement. People like brands on Facebook for deals, although many brands find that their fans also like to be entertained and inspired with photos and videos, as well as useful information. \n
9. So where should your company be in social media? where your customers most need you when they want you. Here are the current big 6: Twitter, Facebook (more for b2c), LinkedIn (more for b2b), Google+ ( because Google is making it increasingly inevitable for businesses to be there. The most recent effort is to link Google+ with the new Local. This is going to ease out Google Places and will result in your Google+ Local pages being indexed in Search, rather than stuck under the Google Places category.) YouTube. ComScore found in December 2011, the average Canadian YouTuber watched 271 videos. YouTube video has been found to be more memorable and captivating to viewers than TV. That’s why Superbowl ads were put on YouTube before the Superbowl. Thatl’s why your business should consider a YouTube presence, too. Finally Pinterest, which has now outpaced Twitter in growth. Pinterest is addictive. Want a way to sell adventure or other gifts? Put pictures on Pinterest, including pictures of gift cards. I’ll show you how people are doing this in just a few minutes.\n
10. You remember what I said about social media being a long term commitment? You can, of course, jump into social media without a plan. That’s what social marketing guru, Guy Kawasaki advised recently. But you may end up with little results and a campaign mentality. Instead, do your research. Learn about it and get advice. Create some governance around its use. But make it an informed policy for your staff, unlike the CEO in the cartoon. Set some measurable goals. Is it more sales? more leads? more engagement? Do you want to establish your organization as a thought leader on LinkedIn? Allocate resources and staffing and train your employees. Just because you’ve got an eager 25-yr-old who likes to tweet, doesn’t necessarily mean that person should be entrusted with your social media. Actually, one of the big social media disasters of 2011 was when Google engineer, Steve Yegge, accidentally published an attack on the Google+ platform to his 2,000+ network. If he can make a mistake, then anyone can. That’s why every company should also have a crisis response plan. \n\nI thought I would give you an example of how a company is doing well with social media, because they do have a strategy and commitment and see how integrating social media can enhance their overall marketing efforts. Before I do, I’d like to acknowledge Spa Weekend for their social media efforts. You guys are awesome.\n
11. I’m a proud owner of a Starbucks Gold Card, so I thought I’d start with their Facebook page as part of a case study. A lot of people don’t know this, but you can click on this little arrow and reveal more app tabs for the fan page. You can also change the order, with the exception of the photos tab, which always comes first. I would actually rearrange the tabs to bring the Starbucks Card app and videos up to the top of the page. But let’s take a look at what you can do with their Starbucks card app. Incidentally, is Infocomm here. I know Infocomm has an app to add electronic gift and prepaid cards to Facebook. I think there are others here today, too, that provide apps. If we click on the app. We get this page.\n
12. Where you can send a Starbucks Card eGift on Facebook. Not only can you send your friend an eGift card, Starbucks will post it on their wall, or I should say, Timeline, and their friends will see what you’ve done, as well. A nice way to promote using the eGift card to more people. This may even prompt others to do the same. \n\nThe other cool thing is that a user can also manage their Starbucks Card and even set up an auto-reload of it right from Facebook. \n\nBut there’s more.\n
13. People are pinning photos of their e-cards, vouchers and gift cards to Pinterest as suggestions for gifts they’d like to get. And people are then repinning these pins on their boards. See how viral a gift card can be? This, incidentally, is just a small selection of the pins for Starbucks cards.\n
14. Starbucks also has its own pin boards. They don’t just pin their food and beverage selections, either. In other words, they are not afraid to share other people’s content or let others share theirs on the Facebook fan page. Starbucks is listening to their fans and inviting their fans to share on their terms. That’s why 5.2 million visit their page.\n
15. Now lets look at another big brand who are also doing some great things, but they missed a big opportunity to get more exposure, simply by ignoring a fun video produced by a fan.\n
16. Singer Brad Go and his Improv Team posted the Ikea Song video on YouTube on May 23. The video showcases Ikea products in a fun way and already has as of last night, nearly 32,000 views. \n
17. Brad and one of his co-stars told their friends on Facebook about the video.\n
18. It also went to Twitter and became one of Twitter’s top videos. These are just a few tweets. \n
19. The video also got pinned and repinned on Pinterest. Again, this is just a selection of the pins.\n
20. What did Ikea do? Nothing.\n
21. What could Ikea have done? Acknowledged this funny video. Ikea fans like a good laugh too. \n
22. Social media requires managing, scheduling and keeping a constant alert on what fans and followers are doing. Here are some inexpensive ways to manage, schedule and even track social media. Note that Google Alerts is an easy and free way to let Google alert you to online mentions about your business and even what your competitors are doing.\n
23. Some more expensive enterprise options.\n
24. Remember, to keep your goals in mind and measure more than likes. Facebook Insights and YouTube analytics are free and can help you measure and tweak your social media strategy and content.\n
25. In summation. \n
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