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zappos

Show Me The Social Media Money

May 23, 2011

By: Kirsten Stubbs

Public relations and marketing professionals often struggle with identifying ways to monetize social media influence. If your brand or corporation hasn’t quite cracked that code, start by letting social media save you some money. At Digital Royalty, we’ve found three categories which are often the lowest hanging fruit that can show you the money:

1)   Market Research: In-depth primary market research can mean extensive amounts of time and money. Many studies take months, if not years, to complete and by the time they conclude, the information is often outdated. Social surveying and auditing conveniently and inexpensively allow us to take a pulse of a brand’s online conversation with instantaneous results. As social media platform user counts continue to increase exponentially within every demographic, platforms like Facebook and Twitter can serve as a pretty reliable sample size and set of the general population. With the emergence of tools like Facebook Polls and geo-targeting, crowd sourcing, A/B testing and polling can be conducted in real-time.

It might not be too long before Facebook groups replace focus groups and political polls are conducted via @reply volume.

2) Customer Service: The marriage between social media and customer service is an inherent one.  When a customer service representative (or someone who can direct you to one) is only a click away, time and manpower on the brand side and effort on the consumer side is alleviated.

A few years ago, if you had an issue with purchasing a product, you could:

A) Call a customer service representative

B) Go back to the location of purchase to speak with a representative or

C) Deal with it

Today, in one tweet you can reach someone who can fix the problem without leaving your computer chair or while in a cab. The system has been simplified, removing middlemen and therefore eliminating time and costs. Not only does that save the brand time and money, the convenience encourages customers to be open and vocal with their opinions of a product, providing additional research and testimonials without any extra effort by the brand.

Zappos is a brand that does social media customer service brilliantly. They have a Twitter account dedicated to the idea of “delivering happiness,” with several representatives manning it 24-hours a day. The account is efficient, helpful and above all, human.

3) Reducing Ad Spend: The digital universe makes it easier for brands to know what people think and want as soon as they think and want it. Social media is a two-way conversation.

When a brand builds a bridge to their customers via social media channels they can access that bridge 24/7. When a brand places an ad spend, it’s transactional. The impressions are delivered and the deal is done. Investing time in building stronger relationships with customers allows you to eventually decrease the money you spend in pitching them via TV, radio, outdoor, print and even online display.

Instantaneous analysis and results also reduce spend on ineffective campaigns. Low-performing ads or misguided campaigns can be stopped immediately, unlike print or broadcast ads that have to run their course.

In addition, with the ease of target marketing through digital channels, unnecessary ad spend on unlikely leads drops. Tools like Google AdWords, Facebook Ads and Twitter Promotions have caused a paradigm shift in advertising. Niche marketing is no longer complicated, with the ability to target ads not only by demographic and geographic information, but by interest, previous purchases, online behavior and network.

Email info@thedigitalroyalty.com for more information on Digital Royalty.

Post image for Is company-wide training part of your social media strategy?

Is company-wide training part of your social media strategy?

April 18, 2011

By: Alana Golob

By now, most brands have had their “ah-ha” social media moment and have realized that in order to build equity, see return and create conversions, a clear strategy must be developed. Hours need to be invested. Many marketing and public relations VPs are scurrying to fill a social media manager type of position to take their existing presence to the next level. Additionally, “Find us on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter” messages are being stamped confidently on all advertising creative.

However, do the legal, human relations, sales and operations departments know how social media is impacting their aspect of business and how it can improve their bottom line? HR could be saving dollars from hiring outside recruiters and decreasing staff turnover by using these new communication tools to recruit talent, monitor employees and evaluate candidates. Does the president of your company, most likely the single most influential person behind your brand, have a social media presence? Humans connect with humans, not logos.

The social media landscape continues to do what it does best . . . evolve and grow quicker than anyone seems to realize. It’s a way of life and more now than ever, consumers are turning to their Facebook and Twitter pages for value in the form of advice, breaking news, exclusive content, customer service and entertainment. Consumers expect brands to be online with an attentive ear. If you’re not actively listening, engaging and responding to your audience, it’s similar to not answering the phone or unlocking the doors for business. And, it’s very likely your competitors are listening to those tipping point consumers who are trying to get your attention.

For social media to be truly successful and for that transparency to be apparent, social media must be embraced by every level of the brand from the executives to those who interact with the consumer on a daily basis. There are several challenges. First, no one is going to embrace and support something they don’t understand. Second, the employees who do embrace and support these platforms on a personal level may not feel empowered to use it on a professional level. And last, it is a powerful tool that can be misused in untrained and uneducated hands. That’s where company-wide training comes into play.

If you haven’t taken the next step yet it’s time to go “all-in” by providing your staff with the proper education needed to build a cohesive social media communication strategy for the entire company. Digital Royalty University (dRU) is our education division comprised of curriculums that are delivered both in-person and via webinar series. These education sessions are customized for brands ranging from thousands of employees to five employees.

DoubleTree by Hilton is an example of a large brand that has embraced social media and invested in training to provide the necessary resources for each of their 250+ locations around the world. They’re now able to develop and execute a localized social media strategy. In addition to working with the brand, Digital Royalty University (dRU) is leading a six-week webinar series for more than 500 DoubleTree by Hilton employees. The training is broken down into five separate customized curriculums that cover everything from account set-up on a variety of channels, to best practices and tips on how to build an engaging online community. Additionally, training is a way for DoubleTree by Hilton to bring their deep-rooted CARE culture to life through social media.

When supported by the entire company, social media can also be an effective culture-building tool. Take Tony Hsieh and Zappos for example, social media isn’t just a strategy, it’s part of the company culture. Too often companies focus too much on which employee should be responsible for their social media presence, when they should be focusing on who doesn’t have a presence online and developing a strategy to get them onboard.

For more info on Digital Royalty University (dRU), email: Info@TheDigitalRoyalty.com

— Note, since this blog post was written, dRU has added Google+ to the curriculum.

Post image for Public Relations vs. Social Relations

Public Relations vs. Social Relations

July 9, 2010

It may not be a new concept to pitch reporters via Twitter, but our office does a jump Hi-5 when that tweet turns into a news story without a press release anywhere insight. Traditional media relations as we used to know it, has drastically changed over the past two years, thanks to social media services like Peter Shankman’s Help A Reporter Out (HARO), and communication tools such as Twitter.

We are constantly monitoring the social media ecosystem for opportunities for our clients. To prove yet another power of Twitter and listening, here’s an example of how we recently used it as a public relations resource:

Sunday, June 27:
6:47PM Local ABC 15 reporter, Tim Vetscher sent a tweet seeking a source for his Foursquare story
7:05PM I sent a tweet in response to @Tim_Vetscher tweet
7:40PM Email sent to Tim Vetscher

Wednesday, June 30:
12:45PM TV segment shot with Amy who shared case studies
6:15PM Segment aired on ABC 15

Talk about a time-saver for everyone involved. The days of spending hours to draft a pitch or press release are limited. Now we’re drafting 140 character “pitch” tweets and DMs. More and more reporters have turned to Twitter and social media for a resource to gather information and sources for the stories they are writing. Twitter may be a powerful listening tool for consumers and potential customers, but lets not forget about the folks that are writing or producing stories about our brands.

So, shouldn’t we be listening closely for these golden opportunities? There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t see a tweet from a reporter or a blogger looking for a source or information for a story they are working on and if you aren’t listening, it’s likely your competitors are. Most media outlets have directories which allow us to easily identify who to silently stwalk.

Coming from a public relations background, I can appreciate how difficult it is to get a response from a reporter on an email pitch, let alone a phone call. So I am rejoiced to have another form of communication, and due to the nature of social media, we have the ability to communicate (in a more personable environment) with everyone and anyone we chose to, including @The_Real_Shaq or even @KingJames!

To watch how Amy’s interview with ABC 15 played out, visit: http://bit.ly/a8FHUC

On the flip side, brands also have the ability to announce breaking news via these new communication methods. For example, Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com CEO, announced the Zappos/Amazon marriage with a tweet linking to this open letter: http://blogs.zappos.com/ceoletter. This gives companies the ability to control the message and content, before it hits mainstream media.

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