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B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
A large number of companies are thinking about their next steps in
social media. One of the key factors in any social media strategy is the
channel/content debate. Companies are struggling to capitalize on their
use of social media channels.
In this paper, we want to share our approach on how to make effective
use of social media channels in order to spread content. It is clear that
social channels can also be used for customer service, conversation
management and for collaboration purposes.
This paper focuses on how to increase the impact of your content
marketing via social media and how to optimize your social content
strategy in four steps.
The paper is based upon a series of research projects conducted over
the last two years, the experience gained from numerous workshops
with our clients and an in-depth discussions with social media experts
Erik Van Roekel (@evr) and Matthijs Van Den Broeck (@mgvandenbroek).
Make your social media channels more effective in 4 steps
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
During the past two years, companies have been overwhelmed with articles
and feedback relating to the impact of social media and the modern
consumer. At the same time, those companies have also been bombarded
with new trends and evolutions. As a result, most companies are now aware
of the radical changes that have taken place in our society. At the start of
2010, 45% of American marketers named social media as their top priority 1.
In other words, social media awareness is now a fact. Most companies were
already taking the necessary corrective action. A recent study conducted in
both the US and the UK showed that only 12% of companies are currently
doing nothing at all in the field of social media 2. In other words, there is both
awareness and action. Excellent, you might think. Mission accomplished!
Unfortunately not. Very definitely not, in fact.
Seven out of ten companies that have adjusted their marketing strategy to
reflect the expectations of the new consumer view these changes from a
purely tactical perspective 3. This is what we call a ‘checklist mentality’.
The ‘checklist’ mentality is still alive & kicking
They have heard a modern company needs a Facebook page and so they
create a Facebook page. Check, done that! Twitter is becoming increasingly
popular? Check, done that! Mobile apps are cool? Okay, I suppose we’d
better start using those too… That’s all very good and possibly well intended,
but its purpose is tactical rather than strategic. Companies that use social
media for tactical purposes will, for example, create a new Twitter account for
each new event but they don’t always do the necessary follow-up. As a result,
they repeatedly invest in followers who are then left to their own devices
once the event is over. Perhaps there’s also the occasional investment to win
new fans on the company’s Facebook page but new and interesting content
is only posted during campaigns. And what happens the rest of the time?
Little or nothing at all. Not really the best way to create satisfied fans, is it?
Such investments are unsuccessful because they are not the result of a clear-
cut vision. They are just opportunistic, tactical pin pricks. As a consequence,
a large number of companies create a cemetery filled with neglected social
media (Facebook, Twitter & beyond) accounts. This has a negative impact on
the overall effectiveness of their social media investments.
1 2010, 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook, Society of Digital Agencies 2 2011, Social Media Integration Study, InSites Consulting 3 2010, Stop the Paradox Study, InSites Consulting
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
The first step consists in
formulating a clear vision on the
role of each of the online touch
points. Apart from defining
the goals and content of each
of the individual channels, this
phase is also about deciding
how those channels interrelate.
In this phase, you must define
which touch points are most
likely to reach the social
media (and broader business)
objectives. Instead of creating
silos you are going for an
integrated approach where the
whole is greater than the sum of
the parts.
To increase the return on
content creation, it is advisable
to build reach in the early
phase of your online plan. In
this phase, the hard part is
maintaining a balance between
relevant content on the one
hand and being able to attract a
large set of likes & followers on
the other hand.
Once you’ve attracted a
significant number of followers
and fans, you need engaging
content to keep them
interested. The threshold to
follow a brand is very low but it
takes a huge effort to keep your
audience engaged.
The final phase is the most
difficult part. In this phase you
are looking to create a small
army of active ambassadors.
In order to succeed, you can
focus on two dimensions: start
by getting people as actively
involved as possible and then
give them usable content. Don’t
just give them content to read
or view; give them content that
adds genuine value to their
lives. Once consumers are using
your content this creates an
amplification effect.
4 steps to effective social channel use
1 2 3 4channel & content strategy build reach
Persuasion through content & interaction
From likes to ambassadors
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
TIME
ContentTouchpoint plan
Build reach through campaigns
Convince with content & interaction
Conversion
These four phases are obviously not entirely sequential; there is an overlap between phases 2, 3 and 4. In our strategy, it’s not that hard to define the necessary
actions for the various steps. In real life, though, we need to be flexible enough to adapt to consumer needs in a moment’s notice. Once a certain stage is
reached, phases 2, 3 and 4 become iterative steps in an eternal loop designed to build reach and create more ambassadors.
In the next part of this paper, we will dive into the details of each of these 4 steps.
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
STEP 1channel and content strategy
Most managers think of social media channels as stand-alone silos. Content is
spread through each of these channels without a clear plan on how to reach
business objectives. The truth is that all online channels are interrelated.
Consumers can even be routed from channel A to channel B. In this phase,
we recommend companies to elaborate a ‘content-conversion’ plan.
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
A content-conversion plan includes every touch point where a (potential)
customer can come into contact with your content. Then you need to
determine at which of these touch points conversion to your objectives
(reputation management, community building, lead generation...) is likely
to occur. All other social channels support traffic generation towards these
conversion points. Instead of having a set of silo channels, this creates a set of
interrelated online channels.
For example, the converting touch point might be the corporate website or
blog. A corporate blog can be the touch point that leads people from the
content area to the sales area. Your other social media accounts ensure that
sufficient traffic is channeled to the blog every day.
For companies working in the knowledge sector, SlideShare can serve as a
useful converting touch point. SlideShare is a social network site where people
can share presentations (PowerPoint, etc.). This is the ideal place to showcase
what you can do and what you have to offer.
What is a content-conversion plan?
On this platform, it is easy to directly convert a reader into a sales lead. In case
your key objective is community building, your Facebook page may be the
best content-conversion point. When mapping out your conversion touch-
point plan, define the trigger for each touch point that makes it possible to
move on to the next. Furthermore, try to keep the lines as short as possible.
The more steps are necessary in order to reach the touch point where your
business goals are realized, the harder it is to achieve high conversion rates.
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
Content sharing through silo’s
...
Content Conversion
Point
SocialMedia
Blog OtherMedia
Influence
ExternalBlogs ...
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
1. What is the key objective of our content marketing?Some companies focus on creating brand awareness and others on
becoming an expert or on creating business leads. Depending on your
objective, there are several content-conversion points to choose from.
2. Which online touch point provides the best odds of reaching this objective?Define the best place on the web to reach your objectives. Below you
will find several examples of content-conversion points. Since so much
depends on the context, the contents of this table should be viewed as
examples and not as the only possible outcome of the discussion.
Questions to ask in building your content-conversion plan
3. Which channels can create traffic to the content conversion point?Once you’ve determined your content conversion point, the challenge is
to bring people there. All social media channels can be helpful in reaching
this goal. In this phase, the tough part is being able to use your content
intelligently. For instance, suppose you’ve launched a great YouTube video
and you want to share it with your followers. If you have chosen your blog
as the content conversion point, you should embed the video in the blog
and share the link to the blog post that includes the video. Mention your
blog and the URL in the description on YouTube. Also, don’t forget to
mention the name and URL of your blog. Every time someone embeds your
video on their blog, this helps increase the traffic to your blog. If one of
your employees gives a presentation outside your company, put the name
and URL on the last slide: “For more info about our company/subject of
presentation check out our blog at …” Create relevant cross links to your
conversion point e.g. in your Twitter profile background. The more roads
lead to the conversion point, the better.
Objective Touch Point Details
Create business leads Corporate blog
Link to contact details available and biggest change people will contact you for commercial information
Strengthen the emotional bond
Facebook Organize open and wide-rang-ing forms of customer collabora-tion to increase involvement
Improve customer experience
Twitter Most complaints and questions come through Twitter, so we focus on this channel for an optimum customer service
... ... ...
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
1. Define objectives 2. Content Conversion Point 3. Content Conversion Plan
Content Conversion
Point
SocialMedia
Blog OtherMedia
Influence
ExternalBlogs ...
Content Conversion
Point
Lead generation
Community building
...
Reputation mgm
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
STEP 2build reach
In order to generate impact with your content, it is important to create online
reach. You can have the most brilliant content available, if no one sees it the
impact will remain limited. There are two ways to build reach: the slow approach
and the fast approach. The slow approach builds reach over time by investing in
quality content that spreads naturally. To succeed in the slow approach, you need
three things: good content, a fixed rhythm and a lot of patience.
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
Big brands usually lack the last ingredient, which is why we recommend choosing the fast approach.
Our research has shown the following seven approaches to be successful reach builders:
1. Conversation worthy campaigns Invest in social campaigns to boost the reach of your social channel activities
2. Rhythm:A one-time campaign won’t do it.
You need a certain rhythm to share great content
3. Contests & free stuff: Giving away some of your products is still an effective way to build reach in
the short run (although there’s no guarantee of quality). Many companies
are afraid to attract ‘low quality’ followers with this strategy. This is indeed
a risk: once they are on board, the challenge consists in convincing such
followers to stay with your content (step 3).
4. Social advertising: To grab the attention of your audience, you need to advertise your
campaigns and content on social channels.
5. Employee activationA company should always have more fans than employees. If your own
employees don’t follow your content, how can you expect your customers
to be interested? Train and facilitate employees to become active
ambassadors of your social channel activities.
6. Offline communication channels Building reach goes beyond online channels. Try to mention online
channels in all your communications: TV commercials, print advertising,
banners, point of sales material...
7. Partner up with other major brands: If you have a good relationship with brands that have a large social reach,
you can always ask them to share your brand content (or a competition)
with their fan base.
7 approaches for effective reach building
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
TIME
Build reach through campaigns
RhythmConversation worthy
campaigns
Social advertisingFree stuff
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
STEP 3convince through content & interaction
In this step you have to convince your audience that following your brand was a good idea. Keep in mind that
consumers are becoming more selective in the number of brands they interact with. Research conducted by
InSites Consulting has shown that the average consumer actively interacts with no more than 5 brands on social
media. This means your brand needs to be part of this select little group. Also, recent research 4 has shown that
fans won’t dislike your page if they don’t like the content; instead they will ‘hide’ your page.
This means competing for the attention of your own followers with big love brands like Apple, Coca Cola and
Disney. And let’s not forget, your toughest adversaries when competing for the attention of your followers
comes are those followers’ friends and families.
The conclusion is obvious: this evolution is raising the bar for companies to be able to engage with consumers
on social media.
4 Fast Company, Ekaterina Walter, Your Facebook Fans Are Hiding Your Posts At An Alarming Rate (http://www.fastcompany.com/3001871/your-facebook-fans-are-hiding-your-posts-alarming-rate)
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
1. An editorial calendar: Make sure you know what your content updates will look like at least
three months in advance. Our previous research paper, ‘a six-step content
marketing plan’, outlines how to set up an effective editorial calendar. In
fact, content planning consists of three layers: big campaigns (very intense),
projects (recurring thematic themes) and content updates (small content
sparks).
2. Creative content: Drawing up the perfect content plan is probably the easiest part of the
long road to success on social media channels. Coming up with creative
and talked-about content is the real challenge. It’s not an exact science and
there’s no such thing as a foolproof plan. It’s really quite simple: building
content that conquers the hearts of your followers and friends requires
highly creative people.
3. Operational conversation management: In this phase, consumer engagement is one of your key objectives.
To succeed, you need top operational conversation management. Have a
person or a team ready to interact and engage with your audience. Be fast,
empathic and listen to your fans so they will commit to your brand. Follow
the conversations in real time and be ready to respond.
3 elements are key in this particular phase
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
STEP 4from likes to ambassadors
The previous steps focused on winning people’s hearts through great
content. In this phase, the challenge is to create ambassadors: people
who promote your brand to their friends and family. Here the question is:
‘What do we want our fans to say about us and how can we facilitate this?’.
Succeed in this challenge and you will be rewarded with positive
and impactful conversation about your brand.
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
1. Broad consumer involvement If you involve your customers in your decision-making flows, they will be
more committed to your brand. People are more emotionally involved
when they feel they are part of the team and that’s how you create
ambassadors. So content planning is not just about sharing cool content or
asking evident questions. It’s also about asking your customers for feedback
on your performance. Ask people’s opinion on all things related to your
company and remember to thank them for the input they provide.
2. Consumer consultantsIf you have in-depth questions concerning a new project or product, you
should turn to your die-hard fans on social channels and invite them to join
a closed community to discuss these topics. This makes them feel like they
are really part of the team and essentially you’re hiring employees that are
not actually on the payroll.
3. Questions and answersPut meaningful questions to your audience as we explained in the first
bullet point. Once your fans start giving you inspiring feedback, be sure to
return the favor and keep them in the loop. Let them know what you did
with the feedback and why certain remarks were used and others were not.
Be open about what use you make of their feedback. Gain their trust be
being honest.
4. Branded utilityThink of applications that bring added value to your fans. Look for content
that is both highly relevant to your audience and in line with your business.
Once again, you need top creative people to invent these applications.
Once fans start using the utility apps, it is a great way for them to talk about
your brand through the application.
Convert your likes into ambassadors
In this stage, you need to convert your likes into ambassadors. The following factors are essential:
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
I am convinced that most companies could use their social channels more effectively. The problem is that most companies only focus on steps 2 and/or 3 of this
plan. Most brainstorms start with the question ‘what should we share on Facebook?’. By taking that discussion to a higher level, you will change the way you
look at social media touch points.
When using the approach outlined in this paper, it becomes obvious that the KPIs, the media types and the content types differ in each of the steps.
You can plan for success in social media
Reach building Content & interaction To ambassadors
KPI Social reach Engagement Recommendations
Media type Paid media and existing owned media
Owned media Earned media
Content types Campaigns Content sparks Applications, online products
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
In order to use your online channels
to maximum effect, they should be
aligned with marketing actions in
offline channels. Also, steps 2, 3
and 4 of this approach become an
iterative process as soon as you’ve
reached step 4 for the first time.
Once you’ve managed to recruit
ambassadors, it is very relevant
to increase your reach again and
create even more ambassadors.
At a certain point it turns into a
perpetual loop and when it does, the
content planning from step 3 and the
philosophy from step 4 merge in the
overall content planning.
After that: integrated content loop
CONTENTLOOP
Reach building
Content
Conversion
TIME
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
CONTENTLOOP
Reach building
Content
Conversion
TIME
ContentTouchpoint plan
Build reach through campaigns
Convince with content & interaction
Conversion
B Conversationalb-conversational.com | twitter.com/stevenVBe
Feedback & suggestions?
I hope this paper has inspired you as well as presented you with a number
of transparent guidelines on how to build your social channel strategy.
Of course, I’m looking forward to your feedback and to hearing about
your personal experience in this field, so feel free to contact me at
@StevenVBe
Thank you and good luck!