The Official OpenRain Blog

On Thursday, August 20, I attended the first Social Media AZ conference in Tempe. There were lots of great speakers and a good turnout for this being a first event. It’s great to see so many people talking about Social Media. This is what I took away from the event.

The Big Idea

Social Media is about having a conversation. Just remember that half of conversation is listening.

Applying the Big Idea

Put together a Social Media campaign so that you have a plan for the way you will be having conversations.

Set the goal
Awareness – are you trying to make people more aware of your business & products?
Sales – are you wanting to drive more sales?
Brand loyalty / engagement – are you interacting with your existing customers?
Innovation – are you working with a community to help your company innovate its product & services?

Who is talking?
Define your persona(s). Is the CEO talking? Is it your marketing person? Is it one of your product specialists or customer service? The campaign’s goal will help define who the right person is to speak for your company.

Know your passion
Social Media is about passion. What’s exciting about your company? How do you tell other people about it? Refine your pitch.

Who are you talking with?
Know your audience. What kind of relationship do you have today? Pick up to two on this scale, but they must be adjacent. Otherwise the message could be sent to the wrong audience.
Nothing >> Aware but no action >> Single action >> Repeat Action / Enthusiasts >> Advocates

Choose the best tool
We’ve all heard of the numerous social media tools / sites available (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, etc.). Sometimes we feel we should be using all of them, but there’s just not enough hours in the day. Do your research and pick the right tool for your audience & message.

Measure
Almost all of the speakers at this event said that ROI (return on investment) is still very hard to track in Social Media, but they all agreed you should be measuring. There are lots of different ways to measure:

• number of followers / fans
• engagement
• site traffic
• sales / leads
• sentiment – positive, neutral, or negative
• # of clicks to particular content
• net promoter score

Determine what works then do it over and over again.

Other Great Tips

• Content is king.
• Think like a publisher & reuse your content in different places.
• Don’t get so wrapped up into Social Media that you forget about your main business website. Optimize it too!
• Social Media takes time & people. Be ready to invest in it.

More From Open Rain

• Radio Ad
• Hosting Rubyology #73
• Social Media Marketing Slides – Gilbert, May, 2009
• New OpenRain Phone Number
• Introducing OpenRain Partner Programs

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• Social MD…The Business
• The Bear Case…
• Headlines…The New Bubble

erica.lucci Uncategorized