What is Social Management Anyway?

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WHAT IS SOCIAL MANAGEMENT…AND WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?


SOCIAL MANAGEMENT AND WIIFM?

• Businesses today recognize the power digital technology and the impact it can make on their ability to succeed…if not survive!

• Over the past several years there has been an exponential growth of digital technologies (tools, apps, API’s and data) that have become available to help businesses grow their brand and drive to KPI’s.

• Right now your competitors are using these capabilities to connect with your customer to:

– Find and understand their needs and desires…sometimes before they know it themselves– Establish a relationship by creating a persona and engaging with them– Proactively stimulate interest/loyalty/advocacy for their products & services…over yours– Resolve their issues and create a positive perception of their brand…over yours

• Problem is, the vast majority of brands today are reacting to this need by making decisions [and investments] built around traditional ways of doing business and the KPI’s they’ve been measured by for years

• Digital strategies are “all over the map” and often created around existing tactics and investments!

• In essence, businesses today have a vision and are making investments…they just don’t know to connect the dots!

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Tactics

Strategy


WHAT IS SOCIAL MANAGEMENT???

• Social Management is a philosophy focused around the human element of your customers needs & wants, by creating a platform (a mix of technology, resources & process) to continuously connect with them wherever, whenever and whatever they’re doing…

• It is based on, but is more than just, social media (quantitative interpretation of trends around actions)…

• It is understanding the “language” of what consumers think, say and do.• Why? Because today’s consumer is continuously engaging with the digital space and

leaving their “digital DNA” everywhere they go!

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Searches, Clicks & Views

Liking, Sharing & Commenting

Building profiles & adding to their

circles

Asking questions or expressing

concerns

Consuming content

Making decisions (buying)

Providing insights (polls &

reviews)

Did the process meet the

objectives.

Establishing patterns

(interests)

Expressing their feelings (loyalty

& advocacy)

Taking actions based on their

needs ?


CONNECTING THE DOTS!

• Businesses must develop a vision of what the end-state (success) will look like, as if built from scratch versus trying force “square pegs into round holes.”– In other words, not every investment, process, KPI, resource and business goal currently in-

place, can be tweaked to meet this demand.

• Companies who understand what success looks like and take the necessary steps to assess what they have & need, and build a roadmap to get there, will ultimately succeed. – Those who use Band-Aids as short term tactics to justify investment, maximize profits or sit on

the sidelines and wait…will fail.

• The Goal – Thinking, acting, planning and investing as a “Social Brand!”

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What do consumers think about my brand?

How many of them are out

there?

Who am I missing and how do I find

them?

What is needed to make positive

changes?

What’s my plan to get there?

What resources do I have in place

now?

Where should I invest or partner?

How do I integrate all of

this?

What is success and how do I measure it?

How to I take what I learn and

improve?

Who in my company needs to be involved?

Marketing?

PR?

Vision

Success


THE LAYERS OF A SOCIAL BRAND

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Values

Resources

Investment

• Understands the fragile relationship with their customers and uses the knowledge acquired (data & insights), to craft a continuous interaction with them to keep them engaged, loyal and as advocates.

• Embraces the power and voice of the consumer and empowers them to participate and lead the conversation.

• Actions and voice are as people that can be identified with, are not afraid to disagree, and most importantly…based on trust and honesty!

• All engagement with consumers in the form of action, content and conversation is focused on what the consumer wants and needs…NOT what the brand wants to say or sell

• People, processes, training and services are created and managed to build, grow and nurture a relationship where the customer feels important

• Embraces the continuous change of customer needs and the abilities to seek them out, engages with them and establishes a connection via technology, tools, applications, strategic partners and insights

• Creation and acquisition is based on what the consumer wants and where they go/want to engage…not on justifying existing process or investments

• Technology investments are focused on qualitative understanding of the consumer based on what they say & do and helps interpret if, when & where they will do it again. It is an extension of who the brand is and how it operates


THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL BRANDS

• The Digital space is comprised of many facets that connect consumers with brands providing an opportunity to engage – from online (search & display) to mobility and social

• As the consumer moves throughout their day, Mobility has become a key vehicle to engage and provides “bread crumbs” for brands to understand behavior/need

• Social however is at the core because it is the language in which the consumer articulates those needs!

• The basis for interpreting that language is social management.

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Social Brand – Highly interactive and engaged brand uses social media to… • connect with consumers &

customers by anticipating their needs (based on previous)

• drive conversation with constant questions and engaging content

• provide a long-term platform to inspire advocacy and reward loyalty

• highlight the personality of the brand thru people & relationships (vs. corporations)

• connect consumer interaction to brand KPI’s/ROI

• continuously engages in dialog with consumers – not afraid to turn the power of thought to the community

• empower the consumer to speak • share information and provide

insider access• continuously understand the

changing landscape of their market, customer and competitor

• lead rather than follow the market

Social Marketer – Data driven brand uses social media to… • create, grow and manage user

communities• support paid media investment

through content calendars• measure marketing results thru

actions (clicks, likes, follows, shares)

• respond to issues that impact brand perception (Care & PR)

• occasionally start limited engagement with closed-ended comments

Social User – Activity-driven brand uses social media to… • measure traffic and sentiment• craft social tactics around user

generated actions (channels, clicks, sentiment)

• determine success metrics thru quantitative analysis

• reactively change tactics (rare to no engagement)

Social Monitoring Tools

Social Center of Excellence

Social Command Center

Profitability/Margin

No Risk/Reward - Safe Low Risk/Reward – Utilitarian High Risk/Reward – Interactive & Intuitive

Human

Technology


SOCIAL MANAGEMENT: WHERE MOST BRANDS ARE TODAY

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“gray area”Only a handful of brands have the experience,

knowledge & assets in-place, to actually operationalize their strategy!

• Having tools that provide static results is important, but how do you use them, and the data captured, to craft, drive and measure the success of Social Management?

• For example… Who does what? What types of workflows,

processes and resources are needed?

How are things prioritized?

How are issues resolved?

Who owns the problem and

the resolution?

What type of SLA’s are in

place to ensure issues are

resolved on time?

How are internal platforms &

databases integrated with

external tools and suppliers?

What other tools are out

there that can be

incorporated via API’s to

enhance the platform?

Most brands today have some basic process (tool) for monitoring social action to gauge

brand perceptions, interpret sentiment, publish content, manage communities and

engage with/grow advocates

Many top brands have an Enterprise-level understanding of the value of Social

Management and the impact on driving their KPI’s. Several of them even have a strategic

plan on how what/how they intend to use Social Management to get there


SUMMARY – WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN TO ME?

• Most, if not all brands understand the power and the need to embrace/evolve with the exploding capabilities of digital technology.

• The opportunities to connect with consumers and derive meaningful insights to grow a relationship are now too important to sit on the sidelines and watch…the competition is already doing it now.

• Embracing this evolution does NOT mean adjusting existing process and investments to move forward…it means starting over with a clear view of what the future will look like and building towards it.

• Once there is a vision and a roadmap, then you look first at your assets and optimize around the vision before you begin to invest.

• Building a strategic plan should be based on the vision and then tactics/KPI’s created to make the strategy work…existing processes, metrics & investments cannot drive strategy if you want to be successful.

• Most brands/companies however don’t know where to start…they have a vision and they’ve made investments/created resources…but how do you integrate them into a coherent, successful strategy that supports and is embraced across the business?

• The answer is relatively simple…lay out a plan that is scalable, achievable and measures success one step at a time.

– Focus first on what you want to be and not on what you’ve done in the past.

– Create KPI’s and metrics of success based on what the future will be and how it will show value both internally (success) and externally (consumer growth, loyalty & advocacy).

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NEXT STEPS?

• The first, and most important step is ask and answer the following questions…a) Are we a social brand now and if so, how are we accomplishing it?

– If we are, what are our strengths and weaknesses?

b) What are our competitors doing?

c) What investments do we have in-place now?

– What purpose do they serve?

– Who, why and when were they made?

– Are they up-to-date? Can they be evolved? Can they be integrated? How much to pull the plug?

d) If we aren’t a social brand (or on a clear path to get there) what are we doing now and how do we evolve?

– What assets do we have and what teams are in-place?

– Who should manage this?

– What type of budget do I have? Need?

– Who will support us at the leadership level?

– How will we get that support?

– What type of ROI/success will justify our investment?

e) What are the risks of doing nothing?

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• The next step is to define what success should look like and create a 1 – 5 year roadmap to get there

• Finally, seek out strategic partners (internal and external) to articulate the vision, design the roadmap and create success metrics that will gain the support of key leadership


AZURITE BLUE INC.

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We are a consulting firm that has the experience and ability to help clients articulate their needs with regards to “all things social,” and create an

operational roadmap to get there!

Contact: Jim Clark – 908-305-8475

[email protected]

www.linkedin.com/in/azblue/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.linkedin.com/in/azblue/

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What is Social Management Anyway?