Social Media Optimization

Image of Social Media Contributers via Marketing Charts

Energizing your customers can be very powerful; since it can help you promote your brand through the use the Social Media. However, it is also risky because even the most carefully planned efforts in energizing the customers can fail due to several unforeseen factors. Energizing your customers is just like listening and talking to your customers. With listening and talking, you do all the action and the effort. With energizing, however, you will have to encourage your customers talk about your brand or your product. Regardless of the degree of your connection with your customers, this is still a considerably difficult task.

Here are some tips and suggestions on how to effectively energize your customers, as well as some considerations you should take into account:

1. Are you sure you want to energize through social media? Energizing your customer can be very stimulating. At the very least, you will be able to know what your customers are thinking. However, this is not always a good thing, for several reasons. For one, are you sure your brand fits the bill? Not all brands or products can energize their customers. This depends on the level of enthusiasm of your customers. And two factors can hinder the enthusiasm: the type of product or brand you are engaged in and the present buzz surrounding your brand or product. If you are involved in a commodity, don’t expect this to be easy (in fact, don’t even expect that this is possible). This is because these products are rarely talked about by their consumers. Consumers are not enthusiastic about commodities, so they won’t talk about it online. And even if your product can energize the consumers, you still have to consider what the online population is saying about it. If majority of your consumers are not satisfied with your service, your efforts will do more harm than good. The best way to deal with this is to listen first. Have a feel of what people are talking about. You should know the consumer’s attitude regarding your product. Is there a buzz on your product or your brand online? Another concern is the types of people you are energizing; you have no control over it. If you are prepared to energize any and every type of consumer you have, then you are prepared to energize the through social media.

2. Check your demographics. The likelihood of your brand being suitable to have its customers energized mostly relies on the demographics of your consumers. As a general rule, brands that appeal to the younger people are most suitable for this endeavor. This is because they are most grounded or attached to Social Media. If this is the case, you can use Social Media to energize your consumers; the younger the consumers are, the more adept they are to technology. However, if your brand appeals to older people, presumably people 40-years-old and above, you should not expect your customers to have an active role in the online community you will set up. There are notable exceptions here, of course. Products of special interest usually attract Social Media activity. But as a general rule, make sure you have an existing market before you proceed.

3. Know the problem and create a plan in accordance to their problem. Even if the consumers of your product are very enthusiastic, it is very unlikely like that they will also talk about your product, especially in forums and communities. This is true for most (if not all) of the products that attract enthusiastic customers. Your community will not center on the product itself; rather, they will most likely talk about their problems regarding your product or issues related (but not always directly connected) with your brand. There are notable examples for this case. For instance, the beinggirl.com community of Procter and Gamble was conceived as a community that will center on feminine care products. However, the members of beinggirl.com used the venue to talk about girl problems. Feminine care products, if you look closely, are merely one of the several girl problems. General girl problems are related to the product, but do you think Procter and Gamble will benefit if the discussion largely hardly revolves on their products? Before you engage your brand in this endeavor, know the concerns of your customers, then use these concerns to form your plan in creating communities to energize your customers. This way, you will know which strategy will and will not work. Once you know the problem, you will be able to create a plan that can compliment to every aspect of your brand.

4. Proceed only when you are 100 percent sure you can stick to it long term. Once you start, you cannot suddenly quit just because your efforts are not receiving the expected results. If you do this, you can not only damage your reputation online; your brand and your product’s reputation will also be damaged. Many people consider online stability and presence as signs of a good business. What would it imply if you suddenly close down your community online? It is important to take the precautionary measures before you start energizing your customers. Make sure you will last.

Again, energizing your customers is an invigorating effort, but only if done properly. If your brand is not fit for this endeavor, do not fret. Not all products or companies can engage in this practice. Therefore, not being able to energize your customers because you simply cannot does not mean failure on your part. Part of maintaining a successful brand is knowing when to dive into a venture. If you mindlessly engage in these efforts to energize your customers, you might sink even before you learn how to swim, so to speak.

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Image Above: Social Media Customer Care via ReadWriteWeb.com

Transforming towards a more customer-centric company means you will you use Social Media as an alternative to traditional marketing and customer service. We don’t suggest trashing the traditional means of communication, since these still serve their purpose – they just don’t cut it when it comes to the personal communication that consumers have come to expect.

In any case, putting the customers at the center of your operations seems like a relatively easy task - it is not; the traditional ways of doing marketing and customer service has been ingrained into your operating procedures. Turning into a customer-centric company is a huge shift, making it a very difficult task. While difficult, it is not entirely impossible to accomplish; and the struggles will surely be offset by the benefits it can provide your brand.

When you become more customer-centric, you become more aware of what your customers want and need. In turn, you also become more conscious of their complaints, their concerns, and their issues regarding your brand or your product. Once you become more aware of your customers, each and every move you make becomes more informed. You can move according to what you know about your customers. This was previously possible with the help of market research, but even this department has certain limitations. After all, the surveys done by the research department rarely delves deep into the pulse of the consumer. However, with Social Media, you can easily know exact what this pulse is, and this knowledge can help improve your brand.

Here are three elements you have to consider when transforming into a customer-centric company:

1. Take it one step at a time. Do not force the development and use of Social Media onto your company - instead take it step by step, one small goal at a time. Give the people in your company the proper leeway to make Social Media an integral part of their everyday operations. Not everyone understands that Social Media can be used for business – to them, Social Media is merely a toy, a source of entertainment for the young. The technology of Social Media is vast. After which, the usage of Social Media will easily become an organization-wide practice. Remember that any change in perception takes time. This perception has been shaped by age and personal belief. Using Social Media and making the customer more important than they already are can mean huge shifts to the paradigm many people are accustomed to. So using Social Media should take time and proper preparation.

2. Let it progress naturally. The natural progression of Social Media into the company should be smooth. You should not force it. If it is not yet time or if the usage of Social Media is not yet apt, then let it be. However, if you feel the use of Social Media has earned you the right to progress, then there is nothing stopping you. For example, if the brand you are handling is not fit for Social Media, do not force it. As a general rule, for instance, Social Media works best with companies that deal with younger customers, since they are most adept with using online tools and features. If you customers are made up of older people, then you might not get the desired results. On the other hand, if you started using Social Media as a means to listen, be keen on when you should start to use it as means to talk to customers. That is the natural progression of this process; from listening, you can go on to talking with the consumers. You cannot start talking without listening to the consumers first. After all, as humans, we started listening first before we learned how to talk. This applies as just as in Social Media.

3. Earn the support of the people above you. Lastly, your efforts to use Social Media to make your company customer-centric will not work if you do not have the support of people above you in the company. You turn your company into a customer-centric company only when they understand the potentials of Social Media.

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Image of Virgin Americas Facebook Page courtesy of dirjournal.com 

Another force to contend with in Social Media is the social network or the social networking websites. Social networking facilitates online interaction between people or groups of people with similar interests. The idea of social networks is to connect people with one another online, a feature that has been available online since the early days of the Internet. However, the services of such websites were limited; 1995’s Classmates.com, for instance, focused more on one’s connections with former schoolmates or classmates, while 1997’s version focused on indirect ties. However, these two models did not become successful, with their owners claiming that they were ahead of their time. In a way, they were right. Almost a decade later, three prominent models emerged: Friendster, MySpace, and Bebo. Today, MySpace remains to be the most popular of the three in America, while Friendster and Cyworld are popular in Asia. Facebook is slowly gaining popularity worldwide.

In social networking sites, members can maintain their personal webpage (called profiles) and interact with other people. But the main draw, and hidden gem, of social networking is how you can add people as “friends.” “Friending” is the main activity in social networks, where members acknowledge relationships with other people – you as a marketer can take advantage of this permission based mechanism to deliver your story directly to interested people. However, this has recently changed thanks to the mini-applications in Facebook. In Facebook, you can do numerous activities with your “friends” or even with strangers—you can play Scrabble or Chess or invite people to events, among other things.

Social networking sites are very popular around the world. In fact, one out of four American adults who go online visit social networks. People who visit social networks presumably own a social network profile because most of the options are available only to members who have joined the website. Social networks are also widely popular in South Korean, due to their high broadband penetration. In Japan, social networks are less popular, but a considerable number of people visit these websites (20 percent of the country’s online population, compared to America’s 25 percent and South Korea’s astonishing 35 percent). In Europe, 21 percent of the online population visit social networking sites. These websites are not as popular in Germany and France, however, with 10 percent and three percent of their population visiting social networking sites, respectively.

Still, social networks are formidable forces in Social Media. Social networking sites such as Friendster (one of the pioneer’s in the new generation social networking websites) is one of the most visited websites in a number of Asian countries (it is even the most popular site in the Philippines and Indonesia). MySpace, on the other hand, attracts more than 200,000 new users a day (in fact, the 100 millionth MySpace account was created in 2006. However, according to various sources, Facebook has overtaken MySpace in terms of unique page views per day.

The appeal of social networking websites is not surprising, as it operates in the same manner as blogs; they blur relationship boundaries, making it easier for people to interact with one another. Blogs are also community-based, with people exchanging links to establish connections. Bloggers comment on each other’s sites; but social networking sites work on a more focused operation, concentrating more on connecting ties - other features are secondary, presumably to enhance the experience. On MySpace, members comment on each other’s profiles, share photos, post videos and music. On Facebook, members are updated regarding the latest activities of their “friends.” At the interface of their homepage every time they log in, members are informed regarding the status of their “friends,” such as if they added a photo, a friend, posted a “note,” installed a new application, among others.

Social networks threaten traditional businesses, especially other media companies, since these websites take up so much time from its users. According to a recent survey, social networking site members visit their profiles at least once a day. Judging from the number of features these sites have, you can spend hours just looking at the applications in sites such as Facebook; time you could have spent watching a television show or a movie, reading a book, eating out, or shopping. Media companies are the ones who are directly affected, although other websites are also contending with social networking sites. This is why companies such as Google have attempted to buy a number of social networking sites (for instance, MySpace is owned by News Corporation, the company that owns the Fox Broadcasting Company).

Fads and trends also spread fast through social networking sites, due to instant messaging features within the site itself, as well as features for posting blogs, video, and music. This could boost name recognition for a particular brand, especially when their presence is heavily felt online - it can also undermine brand imaging since people can also attack fads and brands through social networks, which can affect trends and create buzz.

Of course, as with blogs, you can use social networks for your brand. Obviously, you have to join a social networking site yourself to get a feel on how things work. To make social networks work for your company, all you have to do is set up an official profile of your brand on these social networking sites. With this profile, you can add consumers as “friends” as means of touching ground with them in order to maintain their loyalty. The profile can also serve as a promotional tool as well, since it will help your brand gain awareness. This tactic has been used by a number of companies and brands. Even big brands have used MySpace and Facebook for their marketing needs. Adidas has used MySpace to promote their new line of shoes using a poll where members can choose which of the two new products they prefer. Pizza Hut in South Korean used Cyworld to promote their new pizza product. Skittles, Pontiac, Victoria’s Secret have also utilized the interconnectedness of members in social networking sites to promote their goods. While the effects of such tactics are unknown, social networking sites are obviously effective tools to communicate with consumers, to spread brand awareness, and to create brand enthusiasm by involving the customers and the people in the process.

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Image Above: Top Reasons People Use Social Media  from RazorFish Feed Publication 2008 - a must read.

One of the reasons why many brands and businesses take time and invest in Social Media websites is to be able to listen to various markets and consumers. It goes without saying that listening is one of the most integral skills in any business. Sadly, it is also the most neglected. Listening to customers enables you, as a brand or business owner, to know their reactions first hand, to see how certain people respond to a product or service, to know what changes you must implement in order to improve your operations. A single comment corresponds to more than that, since it serves as a representation of the opinion of a group of people. You are neglecting a big chunk of your market if you are not listening to your consumers; if you do not listen to your consumers, this might lead to the downfall of your brand. Listening to the customers enables you to integrate you’re their needs and concerns into the business’ decision making process.

Listening to the market can be done using surveys and other similar strategies, although this takes time. Such strategies also have limitations. For example, information collected from surveys is not accurate since they are solicited directed, and this can affect one’s opinion. Social Media tools become useful because they eliminate the limitation of surveys and other similar tools.

It is a crime not to listen to your consumers, considering that Social Media has made it easier to listen to individuals. Besides the convenience of using Social Media as a listening too, this process can also help you save money. Ultimately, this will help improve your brand since you are paying attention to what your audience is saying; after all, your market and your customers are the most important part of your business.

Here a number of reasons why you should engage in Social Media as means to listen to your customers and your target market.

1.    Learn what people are saying about your brand. Most probably, you have set your business or brand up in such a way that it represents a certain image, depending on what your intended market or sector is. Image is everything, especially in a society where brand conscious dictates the demand of people. Unfortunately, the image of your brand—basically, what your brand stands for—is what your market says it is. What you intend your brand to represent may not be how the market sees your brand. This can be both beneficial and disadvantageous. Hence, you need Social Media in order to monitor how people see your brand; Social Media as a means for brand monitoring. You need to know what your target market is saying about your brand, so you know how to reinforce their notion or to fix their misconceptions.

2.    Understand the buzz surrounding your business. Using Social Media for brand monitoring is merely the start, the baseline, of what you can do. The moment you start listening to your market, the more you’ll understand your audience. The more you understand your audience, the easier it will be for you to detect change in perception and their focus. Beyond knowing what people generally think about your brand, it is important to know what they are talking about beyond mere general impressions. Is your market more concerned with the price of your products than the style? Is your competitor getting more buzz compared to your brand—and if yes, why? You can easily find out answers to these questions using Social Media, since communication and information transmission through this website is easy. Studies and researches have proven that buzz is one of the leading indicators of sales. Buzz can be determined through surveys, but Social Media offers more up to date results.

3.    Save on research money. Admittedly, nothing beats traditional research. Brand monitoring can never serve as a substitute for traditional research. But listening through Social Media serves as a useful compliment the results of traditional research. Also, the response garnered through Social Media are usually more thorough and more substantial than the usual survey, especially since Social Media allows people to give more in-depth answers, comments, and opinions. Most of the time, the question “why” is not addressed in surveys; using Social Media to listen, however, “why” is often addressed.

4.    Find the source of influence in your specific market or audience. In most markets, there are particular sources of influence. However, some sources may more influence than the others. For example, in your particular market, are the bloggers more influential to the point that their say on your product or your brand dictates the perception of a significant number of people? Or are the people more partial to the comments and information posted on particular forums? Is there already a Facebook community about your brand? What does the community say? Are these sources influencing people? Knowing which among the Social Media venues influence people is essential, so you will know what to focus on, especially during a public relations crisis regarding your brand.

5.    Manage a public relation crisis. Managing public relations crises is normal in any business. This process includes a number of strategies, including publishing official statements, organizing press conferences to address the issue, or doing a campaign to counter the negative perception due to the crisis. Listening through Social Media enables you to know if a negative review on a certain blog or a negative video on YouTube is creating negative buzz for your brand. When you listen, you will know what negative content should be addressed, the same way a traditional public relation crisis management strategy works. Also, this is work to supplement traditional PR crisis management.

6.   New ideas. When you listen, there is a chance that you can get valuable ideas from your audience or your market regarding your brand or your product. It is your target market who primarily consumes your product or avails of your services. So it is obvious that most of them have valuable ideas regarding your brand. Traditionally, you can get these ideas they you conduct surveys or a particular person presents the information himself. But this takes time and effort, not to mention money. Through listening, you get the ideas for free, since they present the ideas themselves online. Is there a particular blogger who writes reviews on your products? Is there a specific forum online that actively discusses your services? Most of the time, there are individuals who present suggestions that you would never come up with. This is how a deeper process of listening through Social Media will enable you to integrate your audience into your brand.

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