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Michael Flanagan is president and chief executive officer of TMP Directional Marketing. In 2003, Flanagan served as chief financial officer of the directional marketing division at Monster Worldwide, an affiliate of TMP Directional Marketing at the time. Flanagan remained in that position until the company became TMPDM in 2005, and, in 2008, he assumed the roles of president and chief executive officer. He currently oversees TMPDM’s profitability, operational efficiency and senior management teams. He works with these teams to establish performance goals and priorities among departments, delegating responsibilities to keep the entire company on track, on time and on budget. His knowledge of the marketing industry is applied to successfully developing strategic relationships outside the company, guaranteeing the proper networks are in place to meet TMPDM’s objectives.

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Content: The Foundation of a Social Media Campaign

Written on
Feb 24, 2010 
Author
Michael Flanagan  |
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Content: The Foundation of a Social Media Campaign

atlas_smallADOTAS – I’ve said before that there isn’t one sure-fire way to make your social campaign a success. There are, however, a lot of ways to be successful.

In my last article I showed you some examples of how you can put social media to good use. Although it’s ultimately up to you to find out what works best, the foundation of any successful social media campaign lies in its content.

Understand first and foremost that social content is unlike any other content, just like social media is unlike any other marketing channel. The freedom you have to create the social content you want is the same freedom other social network users — consumers — have to create the social content you might not want. So where to start?

Observe and Report

Start simple. Before you can even begin putting any sort of social media content together (or campaign, for that matter), you have to know what’s going on in the social media landscape.

Log on and observe. Figure out how consumers interact with one another, how they interact with your company and how they interact within your industry (especially your competitors).

But don’t stop there; see what they’re saying about your company and what they’re saying to one another about your company. If you don’t know where (or how) to start this process, invest in some social monitoring tools (check out Meaning Within Measurement: Sentiment Analysis and Social Media) to give you a bird’s-eye view of the landscape. However, these tools can’t compare to real, live social interactions, so be prepared to dig a little deeper.

Is this “digging” a job for one person? No. Certainly don’t try to take it on all by yourself. Attempting to do so would be overwhelming and, more important, impossible.

Should you pay big bucks for a team of social experts? There’s a time and a place for their guidance, but so is there for this observing to be done internally. Take a cue from Starbucks, which appoints representatives from nearly all of their departments to act as social platform liaisons. With proper guidelines put in place, there’s no reason why representatives from across your entire company shouldn’t be “listening” to what’s being said on social networks.

Do as They Do

During your observation, you may come across negative feedback about your company. Resist the temptation to react to this too quickly. Geoff Ramsey said it best in eMarketer’s “10 Best Practices for Success with Social Media” when he said, “If you can’t add genuine value to the conversation, then don’t say anything at all.” While certainly a response is crucial, the way you respond is even more crucial.

Harness what you’ve learned about how consumers behave on social networks, and mimic their behavior. In other words, don’t act like a marketer. Consumers ultimately want to hear from real people.

For example, eMarketer reported over 92% of mom Internet users (arguably the most highly-coveted social networking segment around) trust consumer reviews over manufacturers’ brand descriptions. The messaging and tone of your social campaign should reflect this sentiment.

Let Your Fans Do the Talking

Again, avoid engaging your consumers on social networks as a marketer. Your brand supporters will probably do a better job of defending your company against critics and clearing up misconceptions than you will.

And what’s better is those brand supporters will even proactively broadcast your brand’s message in a positive light. Don’t be afraid to enlist your fans as social networking customer representatives.

Here’s an example. After experiencing flat sales of their Dragon laptop, Hewlett-Packard launched a contest in which 31 tech bloggers were assigned the task of giving away a free Dragon to one reader a day for 31 days. Because of the bloggers’ abilities to engage their readers, there was an 85% increase in Dragon sales.

Don’t be afraid to reward your brand supporters either. Offering your fans exclusive discounts, special offers and product previews will encourage their loyalty and their willingness to laud your company to others. Retailer H&M promotes giveaway offers for their sales events to their 1-million-plus Facebook fans. Later on, they upload photos and videos from these events.

Two (and a Half) Words: User-Generated Content

Speaking of photos and videos, user-generated content (UGC) is exactly the kind of content you want as a part of your social media campaign. Remember those allusive mom internet users? According to eMarketer, more than 81% of them like UGC videos because they like the ability to see the product in action. Also, over 38% like the videos because they feel it appears more authentic.

Keep It Real

If you haven’t noticed by now, authenticity is the name of the game when it comes to social media content. A comprehensive and ongoing participation in the social platform will allow you to develop content that evokes that crucial feeling of realness that resonates so effectively with consumers.

Consumers will in turn engage other consumers. Your social campaign truly is what you make it. But with great content as its foundation, you will make it a success.





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