I am always trying to understand new ways of how social media, having an online presence, and one to one relationships can benefit an organization and contribute to the bottom line (yes, we're talking ROI). In his recent book, The Thank You Economy, Gary V describes the value of creating engagements that last as opposed to engagements that spike once and then die off.
A Missed Opportunity
He references the Old Spice Isiah Mustafa body wash campaign where the brand engaged over a million potential consumers through the campaign alone. Gary V explains that where Old Spice missed the opportunity was in keeping these customers engaged… The week after the last youtube video the old spice twitter account had sent out only 4 tweets and from there the engagement died…
While old spice had the opportunity to continually engage these consumers through social media platforms (which would have created an increase in fans through social sharing) they did not leverage the great presence they had built via their campaign and social media.
Your Opportunity to Engage!
Where I see a great advantage for any organization in social media is this opportunity to know exactly who the people intracting with your brand are, and create an opportunity to engage endlessly. The best and most common example that I use to describe what this means is through a businesses website traffic. There is a wonderful (free) tool called Google Analytics which allows you to track literally everything that goes on in terms of traffic to your website . From how many unique visitors, to geographic area, and landing and exit pages we can learn a great deal about what is going on in our website (I highly recommend @Kikolani's Measuring Social Media's ROI and Goal Conversion with Google Analytics 5 to dig in deeper!) … We can't however see who each individual visitor is, nor can we reach out and make their experience more valuable, personable, and memorable… This is where social media comes in!
Your business website is an incredible hub, full of resources and useful information- but it is static, and the visitor's experience and engagement is relatively one way. If, however, you understand who your audience is and what they are looking for and build these features into your social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, than you create an opportunity to pull the visitor into a deeper level of commitment and relationship. For example, if you own a designer clothing retail store and on your website you let your visitors know that every day you post simple but very useful fashion tips and advice on your Facebook page, you have given that reader a reason and incentive to deepen the relationship (you can even use applications that allow a user to follow you or like your page right from your site so they don't even have to leave).
A "Like", A "Follow" – What Does it Really Mean?
Now, the implications of this "like" or "follow" are huge- this visitor has done several things:
- They have visited your website through some other channel (direct, google, social media) expressing interest in your brand.
- Based on the content and value of your website (and possibly a referral or previous experience) you have earned enough trust and credibility that they are willing to associate with your brand on other social networks (Facebook/twitter)
- By liking or following you, they have given a public endorsement of that trust and credibility to their entire communities.
But these aren't even the most important implication… This otherwise unidentifiable visitor to your webiste has let you know exactly who they are (you now have the opportunity to learn more about them and how you may be able to provide even more value), and they have also given you the opportunity to engage and build a relationship!
If you don't have a social media presence than this would have just been another "unique visitor" on your Google Analytics report that came and went. In other words, you haven't provided any incentive or opportunity for the visitor to engage in a two way relationship or endorse your brand via social channels.
It's All About Relationships
Of course the real value is in the opportunity to build a relationship with this new fan, and that will take time- but consider the alternative, you would have never known this individuals was even interested in your brand, products, or services…
Like I have mentioned in many of my previous posts, take the necessary time to develop a comprehensive strategy of how this interaction is facilitated on your website so that you are getting the highest level of appeal. I recommend you think about a few things before jumping in:
- Who is your target consumer? There are a lot of people that likely visit your site, but only a percentage of them will be potential consumers- know who these people are!
- What is this group looking for?
- NOTE– notice I am not saying what product or service they are looking for, but instead what value are they looking for? What google search did they put in to land on your page? You are not trying to sell to these visitors, instead think about what you can offer them in terms of content and real value to deepen the relationship.
- How can you create an environment via social media that caters to this group and answers their questions with truly valuable content?
- Now you want to start thinking about how to link these two together, the website and your social media presence. This will be an evolutionary process and the great opportunity lies in that you now have real connections and feedback from your target audience!
Once you create an engagement and turn the faceless visitor into a fan or follower the opportunities for continued engagement and relationships building are endless- now it is up to use your creativity and authentic brand voice to continue to foster and grow these relationships.
Your Turn!
What do you think? Is this strategy worth the time and effort? Do you have any stories (positive or negative) about a social media engagement experience?
You are the reason why I write and your comments and feedback keep me motivated and inspired, your engagement is greatly appreciated!
