A primer on Social Media & how to build a social media plan. References: Groundswell (book by Forrester Analysts), Social Media Metrics, Trust Agents, ClueTrain Manifesto etc

1. Conversations Thro‟ Social Media
Srivathsan

2. Agenda:
 Context setting
 Technographics in Groundswell (Forrester term)
 Social Media campaigns (How to plan)
 Examples
 Career in Social Media
 References
Being a one hour session, only at a high level social media is
being discussed

3. A few thoughts!
 “When you can affect the behavior that produces your desired outcome, you can
produce more of your desired outcome”.
 “Your brand is what your customers say it is”.
 “The value of a brand belongs to the market, and not to the company. The
company in this sense is a tool to create value for the brand...Brand in this sense -
it lives outside the company. When I say that the management is not prepared for
dealing with the brand, it is because in their mindset they are managing a closed
structure that is the company. The brand is an open structure - they don‟t know
how to manage a open structure”.

4. Groundswell & Social Media
 Groundswell: A social trend in which people use technologies
to get things they need from each other, rather than from
traditional institutions like corporations.
 Social Media: Fostering conversation and connection between
people.
Eyeballs  |Awareness  Consideration  Preference  Action  Loyalty|  Buyers
(items in bold – focus for social media)

5. Social Technographics
Creators
Critics
Collectors
Joiners
Spectators
Inactives

6. So, what is this?
Joiners Spectators Inactives
• Maintain profile in a social • Read blogs • None of these activities
networking site • Watch video from other
• Visit social networking users
sites • Listen to podcasts
• Read online forums
• Read customer reviews /
ratings

7. Other three…
Creators Critics Collectors
• Publish a blog • Post ratings & reviews • Use RSS feeds
• Publish your own • Comment on blogs • Add tags to webpages or
webpages • Contribute to online forums photos
• Upload video you created • Contribute / edit articles in • "Vote" for websites online
• Upload audio / music you wiki
created
• Write articles or stories &
post them

8. Planning
 Take a „POST‟ approach
 P – People – Assess your customers‟ social activities.
 O – Objective – What needs to be achieved?
 S – Strategy – Plan for how relationships with customers
will change?
 T – Technology – What platform to use? Whom to partner
with?

9. P - People
 Build a team of enthusiastic people. To start with a small
team.
 They should assess what customers‟ are talking about your
brand / product / service etc

10. O - Objective
 From this exercise what is to be achieved?
 Is it…increased brand awareness, lead generation, handing
customer complaints, managing a PR crisis etc?
 Budget and ROI

11. S - Strategy
Steps Explanation
Use the SM for research and to better understand your customers. This goal is best
suited for companies that are seeking customer insights for use in marketing &
Listening
development.
Use the SM to spread messages about your company. Choose this goal if you are
ready to extend your current digital marketing initiatives (banner ads, search ads,
Talking
email) to a more interactive channel
Find your most enthusiastic customers, and use the SM to supercharge the power of
their word of mouth. This works best for companies that know that they have brand
Energizing
enthusiasts to energize.
Set up SM tools to help your customers support each other. This is effective for
companies with significant support costs and customers who have a natural affinity for
Supporting
each other.
Integrate your customers into the way your business works including using their help
to design your products. This is the most challenging of the five goals, and it is best
Embracing
suited to companies that have succeeded with one of the other four goals already.

12. Important questions
 Questions to answer before proceeding:
 How will we engage our customers?
 How will that engagement grow over time?
 General advice:
 Create a plan that starts small but has room to grow
 Think about consequences of your strategy
 Put somebody important in charge of it
 Use great care in selecting your technology and agency partners

13. Listening
M.D. Anderson Hospital
listened to its patient
Mr Perry and improved
its scheduling

14. More examples
Community for AXE body
spray and got insights on
how men think & what
language they use (main
topic of discussion: girls)
Main question for the company,
what did the owners like about
these cars? How could Mini take
advantage of that?

15. How to listen using technology
tools and leverage vendors
 Set up your own private community:
 A private community is like a continuously running, huge engaged
focus group – a natural interaction in a setting where you can listen
in.
 Vendors: COMMUNISPACE, MARKET TOOLS, NETWORKED
INSIGHTS
 Begin brand monitoring:
 Hire a company to listen to the internet – blogs, discussions /
forums, YouTube, and everything else – on your behalf.
 Vendors: Nielson‟s BuzzMetrics, TNS‟s Cymfony

16. What can be done?
…Through Listening:
 Find out what your brand stands for
 Understand how buzz is shifting
 Save research money; increase research responsiveness
 Find the sources of influence in your market
 Manage PR crises
 Generate new product and marketing ideas

17. Talking:
Techniques to „talk‟ in social media:
 Post a viral video
 Engage in social networks and user generated content sites
 Join the blogosphere
 Create a community

18. Examples
Blendtec
P&G
TIBCO

19. Energizing
Energizing the groundswell means tapping into the power of word of
mouth by connecting with, and turning on, your most committed
customers.
Word of mouth succeeds because:
 It is believable:
 Testimonials from customers are far more credible than any media source
 It is self-reinforcing
 Hear it from one person, and it is intriguing. Hear it from five or ten, even if you didn‟t
know them before, and it has to be true
 It is self spreading
 If a product is worth using, its word of mouth generates more word of mouth in a
cascade that‟s literally exponential

20. Techniques to Energize
• Tap into customers‟ enthusiasm with ratings and reviews
• This works best for retail companies and others with direct customer contact. Ex: eBags
• Create a community to energize your customers
• This works best if your customers are passionate about the product. Ex: Constant Contact,
Lego
• Participate in and energize online communities of your brand
enthusiasm
• Example: Lego

21. Supporting & Embracing
 Supporting – Set up SM tools to help your customers support
each other
 Embracing - Integrate your customers into the way your
business works including using their help to design your
products.

22. In all this, what to say?
 How different your company is? [Say No to FEATURES]
 How you THINK?
 How you SERVE?
 How you LISTEN?
 How you RESPOND?
 How do you add VALUE to your MARKET?
 Content is King for Social Media. Answer customers‟ question
while creating content – “What is in it for me?”

23. Return on Investment
 A big subject on its own.
 General metrics: Buzz generated, leads generated, brand
awareness. Companies are investing in tools to make it
quantifiable.
 If time permits, will prepare material on the same & share it.

24. Career in Social Media
 Social Media Marketing Manager
 Reputation Manager
 Copywriter
 Link Builder
 SEO Specialist
 Online Ads specialist
 Operations

25. References
 Books: Groundswell, Inbound Marketing, Social Media
Metrics, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, Trust Agents
 Blogs:
 http://mashable.com/
 http://chrisbrogan.com
 http://forrester.typepad.com/charleneli
 http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog

26. QUESTIONS

27. THANK YOU
SRIVATHSAN.SRIDHARAN@HOTMAIL.COM