Here at Creative Concepts, we regularly re-evaluate our social media strategies based on what our metrics tell us is (and isn’t) working. You probably do, too. And yet, if you’re anything like us, while you’re busy tackling the big picture and the day-to-day details, certain “little” items keep slipping further and further down your to-do list until they’re completely out of sight.
So why not take a few minutes this week for a mental spring cleaning of your social media workflow?
Is your media contact list up-to-date?
To whom do you owe a quick thank-you note?
Can you articulate your own goals, and the goals of your clients?
Which of your tasks are taking too much time? (Can anyone help?)
Are your assets being cross-promoted across all of your social channels?
Do your websites have broken links or outdated information?
Are you happy with your hosting, email service, reports, accounting, etc.?
Which new tools do you keep meaning to check out, “when I have time”?
If you wait until spring to tie up all these loose ends, you’ll be too busy with new work to give them adequate time and they’ll just get delayed again… and again…
But if you make time for one or two of them this week, and two more next week, and so on, you’ll eventually be ahead of the curve. And then you’ll be ready to implement all those brand new ideas that spring is sure to bring!
Need help evaluating your social media efforts? We can help!
(That’s not our office in the photo, but thanks to Robert Francis for sharing!)
When it comes to social media, a small-yet-active audience is often more valuable to a business than a large-yet-passive audience.
Why?
Because the incoming feedback, suggestions, color commentary and positive word of mouth that an active audience provides to a brand are useful indicators that they are passionate about (and loyal to) that brand. And since you know they’re active, you can be sure that they’re out there… somewhere.
The trick is finding them. (They’re active, so they move fast.)
One such example is the recent (and repeated) success of our client Bigelow Tea‘s Facebook sweepstakes.
These are giveaways that are awarded among fans of Bigelow Tea on Facebook and are promoted across Facebook, Twitter and email during the active duration of each particular sweepstakes offer — sometimes a week, sometimes a month, depending on the prize.
These sweepstakes have boosted Bigelow Tea’s Facebook page past the 10,000 fan mark, which is obviously great from a sheer numbers standpoint. But it gets better.
It turns out that these newly-engaged fans have also stayed active on Bigelow Tea’s Facebook wall even after the sweepstakes have ended. This has led to a more robust and interconnected community of tea drinkers than Bigelow had before their sweepstakes began, and it’s simultaneously providing the company with rich, colorful and valid feedback, which doubles as market research, inspiration for Bigelow Tea blog posts, and more.
All that for the price of a free gift of tea — and the opportunity to connect with a company that responds, listens, and provides a community where their fans can do the same.
Let’s say that, until now, you’ve had one small team (or even one single person) be responsible for your company’s entire social media presence. And now that things are going well, you want to expand. Maybe that means involving more people. If so, consider this:
Your existing customers are used to what you’ve been doing. If they wake up tomorrow and find themselves talking to someone completely new — and if they can tell — you risk a disconnect that might jeopardize your customers’ trust and emotional investment in your brand.
Here at Creative Concepts, we have a variety of writers, researchers, content creators and account managers juggling dozens of different tasks every day. But no matter how many people are assisting our clients with their messaging, there’s one standard we must all adhere to:
We all have to be working from the same process, and toward the same goal.
That means we take steps to ensure that anyone who’s working on any aspect of a client’s communications is following the same rules, and staying apprised of the same topical developments, as everyone else. This includes…
Creating our own internal user manual for Twitter, with tips and suggestions for navigating various situations.
Tracking industry-specific client-related news that might need to be addressed in the future.
Assigning specific messaging tasks to the individuals best-suited for the nuances of each channel.
Multiple layers of editing, so every message is reviewed by as many eyes as possible.
Internal metric sharing, so each of us can analyze data and compare our individual conclusions.
etc.
Why do we do this?
Because it’s important that our clients be served by as many well-rounded service providers as possible. But it’s equally important to us that our clients’ customers feel as though their Twitter, blog, Facebook, YouTube and other branded social media experiences are all built with the same building blocks, rather than feeling like disparate voices are being smashed together around a common topic.
Whether your social media messaging is being piloted by 2 people or 200, consistency is key. No one trusts white noise.
How are you making sure the image of your brand is consistent in the minds of your customers?
Need some tips? You should follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
During the initial wave of social media adoption by businesses and brands, conversation was key. Brands were lauded not for using these tools to sell, but for using them to chat. To listen. To appear human.
But that mentality may be shifting.
Remember Seinfeld? It was one of the most popular TV shows of the ’90s, but it was also (in theory) “a show about nothing.” Each episode consisted of a tightly-wound series of in-jokes derived from absurdly pedestrian circumstances, which gave viewers a chance to relate. In short, it was the kind of show designed to be relived around the water cooler for not just the next morning but the next few months… or longer. (Personally, I have friends who still celebrate Festivus.)
Why did Seinfeld succeed? In part, it was because — at the time — no one else was talking about nothing. When everyone else has a plot, you can break the mold by only having subplots.
Social media works the same way. When everyone else is selling, it’s easy to stand out simply by offering customer service. But once everyone starts using social media to “join the conversation,” the conversation itself becomes diluted. That’s when people start needing something… else.
When we helped Bigelow Tea create their Twitter and Facebook channels, conversation was key. Just chatting with tea lovers was enough to help Bigelow gain traction with the social media users they connected with.
These days, every tea company with access to the web is on Twitter and Facebook, which means Bigelow needed to shift their focus away from mere conversation and back toward informational value like their content-rich blog. They’ve begun offering successful sweepstakes on Facebook and Twitter. And their Facebook page has become a conversation that’s heavy with links to their teas and gift sets.
The results? Facebook is now one of the primary drivers of Bigelow Tea’s online sales, with plans to expand their strategy even further in 2011.
What has this shift taught us? Yes, people still like to talk tea… but they haven’t stopped needing actual value from their brand interactions, either.
So… what’s your brand’s Seinfeld ratio? How much time do you spend talking about nothing?
When our client Ecover celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2010, we at Creative Concepts helped them develop a related 30 Under 30 contest to celebrate the innovative ecological ideas from young people across the country. During their celebration, they asked everyone a question:
“Where do you think sustainability will be thirty years from now?”
After all, for a company who designs every aspect of their cleaning products with the environment in mind — from their ingredients to their facilities to their packaging — the future really is their business.
This question may have initially been asked of some of the country’s top eco-bloggers and entrepreneurs, but that’s was just the tip of the iceberg. Who Ecover really wants to hear from is you.
(Yes, you.)
They’ve opened the discussion to everyone, because they believe everyone has a stake in our planet’s future. And Ecover is listening — on Twitter, on Facebook, and on their blog. They want to know what you think about sustainability, and what concerns or suggestions you might have.
Because reaching a business milestone is certainly something to celebrate, but if there’s one lesson Ecover has learned in their thirty years of creating eco-minded cleaning products, it’s that tomorrow is what really counts.
Part of it is the vast number of tools we have at our disposal. Since most of them (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, etc.) are free, it’s easy to start using each of them… but that makes maintaining your ever-growing web of communications more difficult.
Part of it is the conflict between personal (customers, individuals, community) and business (corporations, marketing, sales). Social media tools are designed to facilitate the exchange of information between consenting parties, but the limitless kinds of information being exchanged further complicate our conversations.
And then there’s the ongoing debate about which social media metrics matter most. Is it the size of your audience, or the quality of your engagement? Is it inciting action or increasing awareness?
Our advice?
Shrink your focus.
First, re-examine your goals and your needs. (Maybe you need a new social media strategy?)
Then, instead of aiming too wide, narrow your attention to a handful of channels — maybe even one — and maximize the impact you can create there (or the feedback you can obtain). Then, once you have a true understanding of how your brand is perceived within that channel, start applying those lessons to other channels, if it makes sense for you.
There’s a presumption that companies have to be involved in social media. And while we here at Creative Concepts are sure that social media can benefit almost any company, charity or brand, we’d never advise anyone to bite off more than they can chew.
So don’t waste an opportunity to connect with your customers by spreading yourself too thin, or your valuable feedback will be reduced to a stream of white noise.
Need some help simplifying your social media efforts? Check out these tips from Mashable.
As 2011 approaches, you already have some personal and business goals in mind that you’d like to work toward. But what about your social media goals? (You do have social media goals, right?)
First, identify the obvious problems that are hampering your social media efforts:
While recounting the top stories around the web can be instructive, inspirational or (oops) cautionary, don’t forget to look back through your own year of social media ups and downs. Ask yourself:
Where did we succeed at the individual and the campaign level?
Where did we exceed (or fall short of) expectations? Do we know why?
What did we learn?
Who did we meet?
What lessons can we apply to future endeavors?
Identifying the year’s high and low points, understanding what worked and what didn’t, and taking a wide view of your successes and failures can be critical in improving your results in the coming year. (Plus, in this era of nonstop media input, if you don’t occasionally take a moment to reflect on what just happened, you may not have another chance anytime soon!)
Here at Creative Concepts, 2010 has been an exciting and surprising year! In this year, we began working with the US division of Ecover, which has blossomed in ways the original RFP never foresaw. We continued our fruitful partnerships with longtime clients like Bigelow Tea and Ouidad, delved into the world of HD video, found several new and talented employees, and rebuilt our website — all while navigating new services like FourSquare and the ever-changing Facebook.
Thanks to our clients, our employees, our friends and families, and everyone who helped to make Creative Concepts successful in 2010. We couldn’t have done it without you! Here’s to a deep appreciation of everything we learned and had the pleasure of sharing during this past year, and an even more spectacular 2011.
When you’re the top specialty tea company in the United States, you reach a lot of tea lovers. Our client Bigelow Tea is using social media — from Bigelow Tea’s Facebook (and, yes, MySpace) pages to their YouTube channel, Bigelow loves to share their tea knowledge with the world. (After 65 years in busiess, they know a thing or two about tea.)
But how often do their customers have a chance to share what they know with each other? Normally, it’s not easy. Fortunately, we at Creative Concepts are helping Bigelow Tea bridge that gap.
Last month, the Bigelow Tea Twitter account asked its followers if they had any tea tips worth sharing. The results were instructive, and they formed the basis of a helpful blog post that allowed Bigelow’s fans to learn from one another.
This isn’t Bigelow’s first foray into customer connectivity. Earlier this year, they hosted their first Bigelow Tea Social in New York City, where bloggers and foodies alike came together to talk tea (and get their fill of free samples). How was that live event conceived of and managed? Why, on Bigelow’s blog and Twitter account, of course!
And while tea is obviously a communal drink to begin with, Bigelow Tea isn’t the only company finding new ways to bring their customers together. Our client Ecover celebrated their 30th anniversary of creating ecological cleaning products with a live event that united green bloggers, media-makers and innovators, all of whom swapped stories and tips until the party ended. How did we at Creative Concepts help Ecover organize this event? With a Facebook contest hosted on Ecover’s blog!
Social media: bringing companies and customers together — with the emphasis on together.
As usual, the top videos are a mixture of humor, spectacle and quality (OK Go, Antoine Dodson, “Double Rainbow”). But perhaps most surprising among the Top 10 is the inclusion of the original Old Spice Super Bowl ad that spawned the company’s ongoing TV and web campaign.
Why is that surprising?
Because, simply put, there’s no reason that anyone online ever needs to watch an ad.
Yes, you may have to watch an ad in order to get to the video you actually want or need to watch, but when you have complete control of your online time, there aren’t many cases when you’ll consciously choose to spend it being marketed to.
At best, a good web video ad is one that doesn’t aggravate us while we’re waiting for our chosen video to load.
Humor, spectacle and quality. Those traits were commonly seen in this year’s (and, really, every year‘s) most-watched videos. Old Spice happened to combine them all into one video, and did so in a way that surprised the media at large — which, as a result, couldn’t stop sharing these videos.
Because no one expected Old Spice to reinvent themselves in this manner, doing so created a series of talking points that pushed these videos to the forefront of everyone’s infostream.
Can your brand do that? Doubtful. Catching lightning in a bottle is an annual rarity. Not every ad campaign will be “the new Old Spice.” In fact, almost all of them won’t.
And that’s actually good news.
Trying to be the most popular video on the web is going to be an exercise in frustration that distracts from your company’s actual goal: to be profitable. Is Old Spice happy that they greenlit a popular ad? Sure. Are they happier that Old Spice sales skyrocketed as a result? Undoubtedly.
So instead of trying to produce the most-watched video of 2011, focus on producing videos that increase your brand’s audience awareness and drive sales. (Or, if you’re a non-profit, create videos that drive awareness and donations, as these popular videos for Toronto-based charities have done.)
And if you have a sense of humor about it, so much the better.
