Marketing plan for social media

Pia Hoffrn

Assignment 5 Social Media in Marketing, MARPO067 2.11.2012

Abstract 2.11.2012 Bachelor of Business Administration Author or authors Pia Hoffrn Title of report Marketing plan for social media Teacher/s or supervisor/s Johanna Heinonen-Salakka The purpose of this report is to study how to create a successful social media strategy and what kind of steps it includes. The report guides the reader in to a brief social media platform insight and strategic overview before explaining, guiding and opening up each 10 steps towards a complete social media marketing plan and strategy report with a final note of observation. Group or year of entry 2011 Number of pages and appendices 14

Keywords Social media, marketing, strategy plan

Table of contents
1 Introduction..................................................................................1 2 The steps of creating a social media strategy..............................3 2.1 Background facts and brand insight......................................3 2.2 Setting a goal.........................................................................4 2.3 Deciding on the target group media......................................5 2.4 Brand visibility and providing real value ...............................5 2.5 Influence and continuous promotion......................................7 2.6 Influencers and message spreading.......................................8 2.7 Relationship and engagement building..................................9 2.8 Active, fast, open and personal participation.......................10 2.9 Measuring results.................................................................11 2.10 Accepting and learning from criticism...............................13 3 A final note.................................................................................15 4 Bibliography................................................................................16

1 Introduction
Social media can be immensely valuable as it opens doors to enormous markets. For instance, there are 850 million Facebook users and 50 million business people on LinkedIn, including the CEOs of the 500 top companies in the world. The business opportunities a company can get by connecting to only a small percentage of those people are extremely valuable. Markets like these simply cannot be ignored; thus businesses that are still hesitant as to how useful or important social media can be for them need to consider this aspect strategically. (Mielach, D. 26.9.2012) Social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Scribid and LinkedIn are online social spaces where people can have conversations, share their profiles, ideas, news, photos and even work projects. Social media can be used by businesses as an effective and measurable way to achieve consumer engagement and attract potential customers to your website. It also increases brand presence and can give your business excellent publicity. (Soothill, R. 27.2.12) By using and monitoring social media, it is possible to learn valuable information and identify trends about a specific industry, customers and competitors. Having a social platform can increase awareness of brand and products and will help raise brand awareness and help becoming a recognisable name in the industry. When sharing valuable content, the platforms will help connecting with target markets and engagement with them, which leads to profitable relationships. It is worth while keeping in mind that social media is not about the hard sell; it is about creating awareness and building trust which in turn directs potential customers to the specific site. Finally, by for example connecting to key journalists
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and bloggers in the industry, it is possible to share news and achieve maximum publicity. Therefore social media can be viewed as an effective PR tool. (Soothill, R. 27.2.12) A Facebook page isnt a social media strategy. It might be an important part of one, but being connected socially means engaging with customers, fans and critics wherever they are. People talk all over the web, and being connected is about being part of those conversations. The social strategy should be about putting a little bit of social into every move the business makes. (Mayfield, A. 7.10.2010) Have an on-going strategy as social media is a constantly evolving avenue of opportunities; the tools that are useful today may not be useful tomorrow. As tools change, a winning social media strategy will be one that is able to capture all these innovations and constantly create the right combinations of tools for your business, according to the general business goals. (Mielach, D. 26.9.2012) It is easy to go enthusiastically in the wrong direction with social media, so have a clearly detailed process. To prevent this from happening, managers need to have a step-by-step formula in order to analyse their internal and external business environments and develop a systematic, contextual approach to bringing social media within the realm of their organizations. (Mielach, D. 26.9.2012)

2 The steps of creating a social media strategy

A social media strategy can according to this research be categorised in to the following steps: background fact gathering and brand insight, goal setting, media decision, visibility and value adding, promotion, message spreading, relationship building, openness to social media, result measurement and finally criticism management. 2.1 Background facts and brand insight Social media strategy starts with gathering background information of competitors, customers, markets, laws, culture, the company itself and its possibilities and the different channels the firm should be in. The channels could for example be FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, videos and wikis. It is noteworthy to keep in mind that a proper strategy should be in place before the tactics. A sug-

gested allocation would be 80% strategy and 20% tactics. (Heinonen, J. 6.9.2010) With the background facts a focus could also be on getting insight of what people are talking about the specific companys brand, customer service, products and feedback. The company should also consider industry, gender, age, purchase habits, income level and education level. Before building a page, the company needs to think about whether it has the resources and strategy to manage it properly. Can an agency for example offer expertise in community management or has a set of best practises been set to guide the companys social media managers as well as is there a plan in case of a crisis. (Mayfield, A. 7.10.2010) 2.2 Setting a goal Perhaps the most important aspect to keep in mind, when using social media for business, is that it constantly needs to be fitted into the more general business goals of the company. Using social media just for the sake of using it will not have any positive impact, but instead might create more problems than benefits. (Mielach, D. 26.9.2012) It is worthwhile determining marketing goals. The company should get clear about the specific objectives that want to be achieved. Everybody wants more clients and more money, but consider the steps it takes to get the business leads that result in more business. Reasonable online marketing goals could include: increase in website traffic or foot traffic to the location, increased customer feedback on social sites, and generating more email optins. (Strella, R. 5.8.2012)

2.3 Deciding on the target group media The company should determine the target audience or ideal client. Its important to identify exactly and as specifically as possible who the firm wants to reach in order to develop a solid plan of action. The company should consider industry, gender, age, purchase habits, income level and education level. (Strella, R. 5.8.2012) To know where your audience is, is vital as the company needs to know the right channels for targeting the right people. The company might find that more customers are using Pinterest or watching YouTube videos or use a totally different channel altogether. A company might find useful creating short video clips with money saving tips or feature video testimonials of customers who have used the service and saved money. For small businesses doing the social media themselves, it is recommend starting out with no more than two social media channels. (Strella, R. 5.8.2012) 2.4 Brand visibility and providing real value The companys customers are looking for value, which comes in several different forms. The following are three things customers are looking for that they arent getting according to Mike Ball at OneSocialMedia: 1. A Relationship: A companys primary job online isnt to sell a product, its to develop a relationship. Once you get that part down the sales will follow. When customers connect with the firm, whether its via e-mail or social media, they are opening up a channel of communication. As communication is supposed to go both ways, it is highlighted that listening, speak-

ing and interacting, should be done in the same way as in a face to face conversation. 2. Information, Entertainment or Conversation: Generally speaking, when someone is browsing through their social media sites they are looking for one or all of these three things. The companys biggest goal is to become a reliable source for its customers. When the customers need something, even when it has nothing to do with the firms product or service, you want them to come to you. The first thing to do is to decide whether the company is going to have a niche or focus on all services. The next step is making sure that the company is providing quality content on a consistent basis. The final step is letting customers know where and when they can get it at least initially 3. A Deal or An Opportunity: A company could give its social media customers an exclusive discount, which is not any different than running a coupon or deal on any form of ad. The people who see it might take advantage of it, and they might buy a little something else while theyre at it. The firm could give customers a chance to win something they want or need. Social media contests could be approached like running an ad: Instead of buying the space, you are buying the prize to give away. Your customers will give you their time and even tell the world about the company for a chance to win something they want or need. Contests can be run weekly, monthly, quarterly or even yearly depending on how much is wanted to give away. The contest encourages customers and their friends to interact with the company on a regular basis and then to tell their friends about it. (Bal, M. 30.11.2011)
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2.5 Influence and continuous promotion Social media activity isnt something that stands alone. To be effective it needs to integrate as part of the general marketing mix. Any planned campaigns, promotions and activities can be plugged in to social media platforms to leverage reach, exposure, return on investment and results. (Soothill, R. 27.2.12) A company should pitch advertisements to the target market. Advertising is often the primary way that most businesses reach out to existing and potential customers. Using the correct medium, as well as a compelling message, it is possible to influence customers to begin thinking about a specific product or service. It also helps having eye-catching sites and posts that will give best possible experiences. Expressing a genuine interest in someone is a great way to influence the person. The interest must be genuine thou, as most customers can quickly see through false appreciation. Showing care for customers that checked the companys website may make the customer more likely to spend money. (Woodman, C. 2012) On Facebook the obvious marketing options are Facebook ads, which can be cheap and effective, and promoting the firms Facebook page on the company dotcom site. On top of this, it is possible to leverage employees to include the brands Facebook address in their e-mail signatures and get them to tell their friends. A company should look at it as any other marketing campaign; reach out to bloggers and journalists and e-mail the best customers. (Mayfield, A. 7.10.2010)

2.6 Influencers and message spreading Hard selling is not effective on social media platforms; the objective is to get people interested and engaged by providing authentic, transparent and relevant information. Those that engage with what is been talked about will tell others, and so will create growing brand awareness by positive word of mouth. (Soothill, R. 27.2.2012) There are some of the reasons and approaches, which may help when deciding to what to post and how to engage with users and get them to share your content. Hannah Gordon-Smith at Digital Clarity lists the following as great ways to message spreading (Gordon-Smith, H. 26.7.2012): Freebies Any kind of competition, discount, coupon or freebie can gain interest and exposure as users will share it with their friends and followers if it is of interest. Amaze them By using great design, new tools or videos it is possible to generate the Wow factor and intrigue users to follow as well as share. Teach them How tos, tutorials, guides and documents can be really useful and something that people actively look for. By offering the right information in an interesting format this can generate good content to be shared by users. Solve a problem Giving advice, providing a tool or software to solve a given problem can be a way of engaging although this may not be as relevant for all online businesses to use.

Make me Laugh Using Jokes, games, cartoons and videos can be a great way of getting people to share content although it can be a slightly riskier strategy dependent on the brand. Make them look good to others by offering content or something which makes the users look good and improve their social status can be engaging; giving them something or some way to show off. Again this may not always be practical or relevant dependent on the brand. 2.7 Relationship and engagement building Money can't buy one of the most important things that is needed to promote a business: relationships. Customer relationships drive a companys business when you find people who believe in the products or services the company offers. For tracking these people down a company on Facebook could start sharing articles, blog posts and expertise. Another good activity is to start discussions, ask questions to encourage interaction and product-centric posts with engaging and interesting content. Creating surveys to encourage participation from visitors and sharing positive product reviews or client testimonials are effective as well. In addition, competitions and product images and video uploads have been proven hugely popular. (Soothill, R. 27.2.2012) In the microblog Twitter effective engagement activity could be sharing relevant articles, blog posts and expertise like on Facebook. Additionally it is possible to link content, surveys, pictures and videos to Facebook via Twitter. On Twitter it is a good idea to follow and participate in discussions with other related tweeters as well as comment on tweets and re-tweet other posts to build community. Again sharing positive product reviews, testimonials and

introducing regular features are effective. Another option is to offer Q&A sessions relevant to a specific industry. (Soothill, R. 27.2.2012) Blogs on the other hand form the backbone to most businesses social content. They provide the perfect opportunity to share relevant and well optimised content to attract people to the companys website. In a blog it is easy to deliver a weekly blog post with a mix of advice, industry news and guides, which can include imagery. Here it is possible to encourage comments and ask the reader questions or for their opinion on the subject. Ultimately the idea is sharing a topic with social media audience. (Soothill, R. 27.2.2012) 2.8 Active, fast, open and personal participation The key in social media is to be open, fast and personal. It is common for managers, employees and other players in an organisation to have some prejudice against adopting social media within their organisation, thinking it will mostly bring problems and waste company time. What is important to keep in mind is that benefits far outweigh risks. Having the will to invest time and mitigate possible risks through a clear social media policy will allow a company to increase its competitive advantage on the long run. (Mielach, D. 26.9.2012) Followers and advocates expect trustworthy and the only way to be authentic is to be authentic. For example, dont filter out the brands negative feedback. No one believes 100% positive claims on a website or social pages anyway. Make all feedback public. Then honestly address any claims around the negative feedback, and give followers the tools to tell their truth about the company

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and brand because that is what people trust, and what they trust they will buy. Successful social media marketing is all about relationships, with the highest return coming from relationships with the brand advocates. Friends trust friends who are advocates. They will purchase a recommended product and, if that experience is everything they hoped for, a new advocate is born and the cycle continues. Thus advocates are an incredible asset now more than ever. (Mayfield, A. 7.10.2010) When talking about social media a company should not take a long time to respond to questions or criticism as there is nothing more irritating to a customer than waiting for a reply. This will frustrate them and possibly make them more difficult to deal with. The quicker a complaint is dealt with the more likely the issue is resolved satisfactorily. (Fasthost 27.7.2012) 2.9 Measuring results Brand marketers typically calculate return based on investment and what it brings to the bottom line. These five participation metrics by Altimeter's Brian Solis can allow businesses to discover and then plant the seed to value in the companys programs: Return on engagement: The duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that's worthy of measurement. Return on participation: The metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of social objects.

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 Return on involvement: Similar to participation, these are touch points for documenting states of interaction and tie in metrics and potential return of each. Return on attention: In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it, and measure the response. Return on trust: A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business (Cifuentes, N. 25.7.2012) For companies a so called 90-day plan can be useful in measuring the results of a social media campaign where after building the channels and contents the business develops an editorial calendar. In the calendar a theme or focus-are is developed for each month and the type and frequency of content posted is determined. Next a maintenance calendar of daily, weekly, monthly, and as-needed tasks is created where it may be considered to take in to account things like monitoring the accounts and responding to the audience, continuing to build the audience, and writing the content for the day, week or month. A specific person for each task and responsibility should be assigned, as keeping up social media may be more time consuming than estimated. Finally, evaluate the progress after 90 days. Were the goals met? Was the intended audience reached? What worked and what didnt work? Should focus be shift or maintained as done? Are there other forms of media that could be considered? At this point it is worthwhile being honest about the results and adjust the businesses social media plan accordingly. (Strella, S. 5.7.2012)

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2.10 Accepting and learning from criticism The first step to dealing with feedback is determining what type of feedback has been received as not all is positive and easy to respond to. Negative feedback comes in a few different forms, each of which is best dealt with by a different type of response. Determining which type of feedback is been dealt with is an essential first step toward figuring out what is the appropriate response. The number one rule when responding to all criticism, even the negative type, is to stay positive. (Catone, J. 21.2.2010) For straight problems, where someone has an issue with a product or service and has laid out exactly what went wrong, the feedback is negative in the sense that it paints your business in a poor light, but it can be helpful in exposing real problems that need to be dealt with. When dealing with straight problems, a response is almost certainly necessary. Whether that response is personal or a broad public-facing message depends on how widespread the problem is and how many people reported it. Regardless, if a real problem exists, steps should be taken to fix it and customers should be notified that those steps are being taken. Sometimes such criticism is the result of a perceived problem rather than an actual problem. Even this type of complaint should be given a response, if only to say, Thanks for bringing it to our attention, but heres why we do it that way. (Catone, J. 21.2.2010) Constructive criticism can be even more helpful when the comment comes with a suggestion attached. Many customers will use social media to suggest ways in which a product or service and be improved. While this type of feedback may point out the businesses flaws, and is thus negative, it can be extremely helpful to receive. Similarly, constructive criticism also requires a response

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and youll build loyalty and trust by responding to criticism with a positive message. It is well worth the effort to thank those consumers who took the time to provide suggestions or point out products flaws. (Catone, J. 21.2.2010) Merited attacks on the other hand may not be merited, but the issue that catalysed it does have merit in this type of negative feedback. Essentially, the business did something wrong, and someone is angry. Merited attacks are a bit tougher to deal with, because theyre more likely to feel personal. This type of feedback, as harsh as it may be, has a basis in a real problem. It is best to respond promptly and with a positive vibe for example thanking the commenter for the feedback and assuring them that steps are being taken to correcting the issue or mitigating their problem, such as offering a partial refund. (Catone, J. 21.2.2010) Finally, trolling or spam in where the difference between trolling and a merited attack are that trolls have no valid reason for being angry at the business. Also in this category are spammers, who will use a negative comment about a product or service, whether true or not, to promote a competing service. The final category is the only category of negative feedback that does not require a response. In fact, it is almost always best not to respond to trolling or spam. This type of feedback isnt really feedback at all. It is designed either to bait into an unnecessary and image-damaging fight, or to siphon off customers using underhanded tactics. This variety of feedback should be ignored and when appropriate, removed as soon as spotted. (Catone, J. 21.2.2010)

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3 A final note
Being successful in social media requires an ability to listen, participation, give up control, engage and not letting people down. One aspect that makes social media for business a very attractive avenue is that many tools are free to use, providing excellent costeffective solutions to business. Bringing social media within a company is not completely free, however. Time is the key resource. Going too fast and adopting social media hastily can bring more risks than benefits. Doing it well requires learning and training processes that will need time. (Mielach, D. 26.9.2012)

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4 Bibliography
Business News Daily 2012. 10 Tips for Building a Social Media Strategy. URL: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3189-social-media-tips.html. Quoted 2.11.2012. ClickZ 2012. How to Measure Social Media - and Show Results to the C-Suite. URL: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2134500/measure-social-media-results-suite. Quoted 2.11.2012. Digital Clarity 2012. How To Get More Followers On Social Media. URL: http://www.digital-clarity.com/blog/marketing/how-to-get-more-followers-on-social-media/. Quoted 2.11.2012. ehow 2012. How to Influence Customer Behavior. URL: http://www.ehow.com/how_8387267_influence-customer-behavior.html#ixzz2Aza6g8Im. Quoted 2.11.2012. Fasthost 2012. How To Turn Social Media Criticism Into A Positive. URL: http://blogs.fasthosts.co.uk/social-media/how-to-turn-social-mediacriticism-into-a-positive/ Quoted 2.11.2012. Freelance advisor 2012. A sample social media strategy. URL: http://www.freelanceadvisor.co.uk/resources/a-sample-social-media-strategy/ Quoted 2.11.2012. Heinonen, J. 6.9.2010. Senior Lecturer. HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences. Social Media in Marketing Powerpoint.
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Mashable 2012. 8 Quick Tips for Developing a Facebook Marketing Strategy. URL: http://mashable.com/2010/10/07/facebook-marketing-tips/ Quoted 2.11.2012.

Mashable 2012. HOW TO: Deal With Negative Feedback In Social Media. URL: http://mashable.com/2010/02/21/deal-with-negative-feedback/ Quoted 2.11.2012. onesocialmedia 2012. 3 Ways To Satisfy Your Customers On Social Media. URL: http://www.onesocialmedia.com/3-ways-to-satisfy-your-customerson-social-media/ socialmediatoday 2012. How to Create a Social Media Strategy. URL: http://socialmediatoday.com/node/679466 Quoted: 2.11.2012.

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