With such a large number of analytical tools for social media, it is understandable that you may feel overwhelmed with all of the data that is available. However, with some simple steps, you’ll be analysing the success of your social media campaigns in no time:

There are so many statistics, which ones are relevant to me?

Firstly, take a step back and think about what you want your social media campaigns to achieve. Do you want to gain more brand awareness, drive more website traffic, or would you like it to provide better customer service? Whatever its role, pick out the statistics which help show if you have been successful or not in working towards your aim. For example, if you’re looking at driving web traffic, create trackable links (you could use bitly) and see how many people have clicked on them. You could also look at Google Analytics, to see how much traffic has come to your website from social media.

Should I be measuring ‘Likes’ and followers?

Although it is great to see your follower numbers increase, what does this figure really show? A common way to increase followers is to run a competition. Although you get a sudden increase in fans, you may find that not all of these people are interested in your company, but just want to win a prize. These followers may also not be your target market and so although many companies still measure their social media success against this figure, it shouldn’t be your key focus.

What are the key statistics that I should be monitoring?

This depends on what you want to achieve. However, a good area to measure success is on customer interactions, so see how engaged your communities are. This can be seen through how many customers add a comment to one of your posts, ‘like’ or favourite a post, retweet or share a post and click on your post links. On Facebook, you also have a figure which shows how many people are ‘talking about this’ which is a good engagement indicator.

Which social media analytics tools should I use?

There are a number of free and paid for tools available, each providing different statistics, however, to get you started, here are a few free tools to give you the basic data that you may need: Facebook  Insights, Twitter Counter, TweetStats, Pinpuff, Bitly, Klout.

Do you have any other tools that you have enjoyed using? Leave us a comment below to let us know your favourites!

Images courtesy of Facebook Insights

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When it comes to social media, one key to success is to focus on the activities that give you the widest reach, as efficiently as possible. You need to know that your message is being heard and more importantly that it is being heard by the right people. It is about targeting your efforts in the real world to give you the best advantage in social media.

Our recent research looked specifically at where best to look in the real world to drive social conversations. 56% of consumers will share content from live experiences on social media compared to print (49%) and TV (44%). When it comes to social media, it might be time to look a bit closer at the wider impact of experiential marketing.

Also notable from our research is the extent by which news and content about ‘live experiences’ travels across the social spaces. In fact it will often reach the people not actively participating in the event. Survey data shows that just seeing content from an experience online spreads your brand message even further; 45% have seen a live experience (but not participated) and 29% have seen live experience content on social networks without attending. But what content are they seeing? It could be footage uploaded by the brand or it could be user-generated content like photos, videos and blog posts. 

Most user-generated content is being shared through mobile. Coupled with the immediacy that smartphones and tablets bring, social media is a great way to find out what motivates your audience into not only sharing, but generating rich, original content around your brand. Breaking your content down into smaller, more manageable messages also means that information is easier for consumers to share. Give your live brand social marketing efforts proper direction and enjoy a 48% more successful event.

Download the full report and share your thoughts on live brand social with us bit.ly/LiveBrandSocial #LiveBrandSocial 

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There is strength in numbers, and integrating live brand experiences with your social media activities is a prime example of this. Together they become Live Brand Social, and together they generate amazing figures. 53% of consumers said they will purchase a branded product as a result of this combination! And 45% will go on to make a purchase at a later date. Moreover, of a survey of 1,000 UK residents, 38% will become regular customers as a result of social with live experiences, therefore prolonging the value of merging these activities. 

Why should you care? Because cultivating relationships through unique experiences and pursuing the relationship through social media means delivering better value to your customers while enhancing your ROI. It’s a win-win situation, and when 56% of consumers will share content from live experiences on social media compared to print (49%) and TV (44%) it’s one that you cannot afford to miss out on.

Download the full report and share your thoughts on live brand social with us bit.ly/LiveBrandSocial #LiveBrandSocial

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We’re living in times of integrated marketing. The distinction between social, e-mail, SEO and PPC does still exist, but it has become essential that different channels work in conjunction, not competition, towards the same goal. As a consequence, brand websites should reflect this integrated approach. There is a great opportunity for businesses to engage with site visitors socially, enabling brand advocacy and making the path to  purchase as easy as possible. Here’s some ideas on integrating web and social:

Signpost visitors to your social profiles

This may be quite an obvious one, and yet surprisingly not many brands have developed clear and noticeable links to their social profiles. One may argue that once the visitor is on site, the main call to action no longer should direct people away from the site. Sure, there is some truth to it. However, customer journey is a complex matter, and the likelihood is that in their initial visit people won’t convert immediately. Customers visit multiple sites multiple times in their consideration phase, and it is essential your brand nurtures this fragile relationship via social profiles, building trust, authenticity and opening easy channels of communication.

Here’s how John Lewis designed links to their social profiles:

Content share buttons

The perception of a brand more often than not is formed by the quality of its products and the experience of using them. Content share buttons therefore aren’t simply a fun and interactive addition to your site (though they are), but more importantly they provide substantial benefits to the brand as a whole:

• Instantaneous feedback. Product share buttons enable comparative analysis, revealing which products customers really like. That’s an invaluable piece of feedback which may even impact your long-term product strategy.
• Authentic advocacy. With content share buttons your customers become your marketing department! What can be better than that?

Here’s an example of nicely arranged share buttons on M&S social site:

Social sign-in

I’ve come across quite a few sites that require a login. To be honest, whenever I see a request to register on yet another site, I’ll do my best either to avoid the site or at least not to register. If you’ve decided registration is essential to your site, how do you increase the conversion rate? Social sign-in is a definite alternative to consider. It will provide you with a much greater understanding of your customer demographics than an on-site registration, that merely provides the basic demographic data. And the more information you ask from your customers, the less likely they are to register.

See how Starbucks provide a Facebook sign-in alternative to their in-house login system:

In conclusion

The opportunity brands have to build meaningful, data-driven, measurable relationships with their customers is unprecedented. Cross-platform, comprehensive integrated marketing strategy will maximise the value of your investment. Integrating web and social is just one example of a multitude of opportunities that are there to maximise awareness, conversion and advocacy. How are you taking advantage of these opportunities?

Images courtesy of John Lewis, M&S and Starbucks.

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“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”

Kennedy’s inauguration speech was as relevant to the American people in 1961 as it is to the content marketer in 2013.

Why? Substitute the word ‘country’ with ‘audience’ and you’ll see.

Because a successful content strategy isn’t self-centric. And it doesn’t start by asking what the audience can do for the brand. It starts with the audience and it asks what that audience wants and needs. And then it delivers.

Take a look at your content. How much of what you produce is about your brand, your news, reviews, products and promotions. And how much of your content caters to your customers’ wants and needs?

If your content focuses more on your brand than your audience then your strategy needs a rebalance.

Paul Chaney at Practical Ecommerce recommends adopting a 70/20/10 ratio:

• 70 percent of content should address customer interests and needs. These can be delivered in the form of top tips, how-to’s, Q&As, content curation and useful resources.

• 20 percent of content should be user-generated (UGC), allowing your audience to contribute content elements such as videos, images and graphics and giving a sense of ownership back to the community.

• 10 percent of content should be self-centric and focused around news, product and sales messaging. Your community will soon disperse or disengage if they are bombarded with over-promotion.

By adopting an audience-centric content strategy that starts with building a relationship, giving guidance and providing information relevant to audience needs, there is a greater likelihood of ending with acquisitions and sales. Or, as Ted Rubin calls it in this nifty infographic, Return on Relationship.

Image courtesy of Jeff Dean - then a student at Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin, under a  Wikimedia Commons license.

Infographic courtesy of Smarter Commerce Blog.

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The most romantic week of the year is upon us once again.

The cards are stocked, the roses reduced and the restaurants ready for their annual influx of covers.

But what can the world of social tell us about Valentine’s Day in 2013. Is this a year of carefree romance or seasoned frugality? Champers or chocolates? And cheap frills or luxury lace?

A quick and dirty dive into Topsy’s Social Analytics offers a glimpse into the answer.

Tweet
#Valentines data crunching: Intimate dinners trumped romantic, Valentines weekends away
 

Tweet
#Valentines data crunching: slap-up meals 13% more popular than cooking at home
 

Tweet
#Valentines data crunching: old fashioned flowers still 45% more popular than chocolates and fizz
 

Tweet
#Valentines data crunching: Ann Summers beats Agent Provocateur in battle of the briefs
 

Data courtesy of:

Topsy Social Analytics, measuring keyword mentions on Twitter between February 6 – 13th 2013
Image courtesy of:

Wikimedia Commons, Tree decorated for Valentine’s Day in San Diego, California, by Johntex under a  GNU Free Documentation License

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Many brands would love millions of followers of their social media profiles, customers just waiting for that next brand message or purchase motivator. However, it’s not a one way street. Social gives customers  a direct and very visible route to a brand. Some might say that the more followers you have, the more often you will have to respond to consumer queries (meaning increased resourcing) or, even worse, negative sentiment.

Those clever bods at Conversocial have recently compiled a new study: Top US Clothing Retailers on their Customer Service Response Times on Twitter (based on their revenue listing in 2010) there’s a great summary on The Next Web, however what we think is most compelling is the insight that customer queries/complaints comes from consumers on the go. The trend of  customers in store tweeting from their mobiles is growing and emphasises the importance of swift and concise responses. After all when potential customer are that close to a purchase, can you afford to miss the opportunity?

Conversocial analysis of clothing retailer response times

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With an increasing number of consumers – and particularly those under the age of 25 –  expecting customer service through social media channels, brands have a new and highly visible opportunity to turn negative sentiment into public and positive advocacy.

Successful social customer service, however, treads a fine line; if the brand takes too long, or instead chooses not to respond, then what begins as an isolated incidence of negativity can quickly snowball.

Never is this truer than in the eye of a PR storm.

A recent example of this is Claire’s Accessories’ decision not to respond to fan accusations that the company has copied multiple jewelry designs from independent firm, Tatty Devine.

This is the second time that this type of allegation has been thrown at the brand – and the second time the brand has chosen not to engage with the large volume of fans addressing the issue on Twitter and Facebook, with a number of fans accusing the company of going as far as deleting their Wall posts.

As a result of widespread Twitter speculation the story has spilled over into highly visible online news sites; the search legacy of which will provide a subsequent impact in sentiment for the brand.

Similarly, supermarket chain, Tesco, also chose not to respond to online customer complaints, when the company withdrew its support for Gay Pride. User experience company, Webcredible, found that in the post-Christmas period, 66% of tweets surrounding the chain largely related to Gay Pride and were negative in sentiment.

While an explanation or apology might not fix the problem, it certainly goes some way towards showing the customer that a brand is not only listening, but learning from its mistakes.

If you would like to find out more about the way social media is reshaping the relationship between customers and brands, then immediate future MD, Katy Howell, is speaking at The Social Customer 2012 conference in London on March 29.

For details and to find out how to claim immediate future’s exclusive 10% discount contact info@immediatefuture.co.uk.

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A few weeks ago Econsultancy reported that just 11% of retailers use social media channels to respond to customers; while 81% of businesses use the channels for marketing purposes.

Pair this with the fact that 46% of consumers expect great customer service online, not to mention 78% of consumers as reported by Parature, believe social media will become the prominent method for consumers to communicate with companies and something has gone awry.

As Econsultancy outlines, this may be largely impacted by the legacy of ageing CRM systems and the office – and contact centre – culture of prohibiting social media usage during work hours.

Perhaps more impactful is the fear that social customer service is somewhat of a Pandora’s Box of unknown resourcing requirements that can make it difficult to know where to start.

To make navigating that Pandora’s Box a little bit easier, we’ve outlined three key considerations, to help get your brand started on the right course.

1.     Set your service levels

Before committing to social customer service, it is important to put a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place. Your contact centre may operate Monday to Friday between 9-5pm, but your social platforms never sleep. You need clearly defined operational hours and these need to be visibly displayed on any platforms customers engage with; the Twitter bio and the Facebook info sections can be utilised for this.

2.     Get a handle on resourcing

Consider the resourcing implications and handling times. Use a monitoring tool to audit your online customer conversations and this will give you an estimate of the volumes you can expect. The handling time will vary by platform but you will need to gauge the resource needed to handle an individual customer interaction on social media to help you build up a more solid picture of the head-count you might need to manage it. You will also need to consider whether your PR and marketing teams refer enquiries into your customer care team, or whether your customer care team engage directly. If this is the case, then additional training will be required.

3.     Set expectations

Finally, consider the outputs. At the very least social customer service should offer a mechanism for funnelling additional customers into the contact centre; at best it is a very visible means of turning detractors into brand advocates.

If you would like to find out more about integrating social media into customer service, then immediate future Principal Consultant, Katy Howell, is speaking at The Social Customer 2012 conference in London on March 29.

For details and to find out how to claim immediate future’s exclusive 10% discount contact info@immediatefuture.co.uk.

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Lying low isn’t an easy thing for brands to do on social media, particularly when it comes to the young and socially savvy customer.

According to a recent study by Sitel, 15% of 16-24 year-olds in the UK use social media as their preferred channel for resolving customer service issues; while 7% say that venting on social media is the first thing they do when faced with a faulty product.

This compares with only 8% of 25-34 year-olds who cite social media as their preferred channel for customer care; and drops off to just 3% for the over 35s.

In the accelerated world of social media the need for fast customer response times is amplified, particularly by younger demographics , born and bred on social media and with high expectations of quick reactions and – where possible – resolutions from brands.

Judging by the low statistics, social customer service is still very much in its infancy. Which can only mean one thing; it’s going to get bigger.

The current volumes of online customer complaints are a mere fraction of the levels they will reach as the 16 year-olds of today – not to mention every generation to follow them – come of age.

Customer care through social channels will shift from a nice-to-have to a critical necessity.

If you would like to find out more about the way social media is reshaping the relationship between customers and brands, then immediate future MD, Katy Howell, is speaking at The Social Customer 2012 conference in London on March 29.

For details and to find out how to claim immediate future’s exclusive 10% discount contact info@immediatefuture.co.uk.

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