The 543 Group

Social Media Marketing Lesson #2 - "How To Get Your Web 2.0 Budget Approved"

A recent article with the title in quotes above discussed tips from a multi-billion dollar global banking company on how to help ensure  proposals for Web 2.0 initiatives gain approval from top management.  Their first strategy suggested 'selecting the right features' such as user-generated content, open software, rich Internet interactions such as guided selling, and digital interactions that included widgets and browser extensions.  This was followed by advice to show the benefits of each feature and then to 'step carefully.'

No kidding.  What the article failed to point out is that the first step toward gaining approval for anything called 'Web 2.0' is likely to start by not calling it that.  Web 2.0 refers to a set of tools that all generally support advanced and more user-centered content creation, collaboration, and sharing, but all are only tools that enable social brand marketing and enhanced user interactions.  The right strategy is to start by understanding the true needs and desires of all target audiences at each stage of the customer lifecycle, and what types of reach and engagement activities, socially shared/collaborated or not, will provide the best predictable ROI.  Then the right set of available content and functionality can be offered through the best media mix and campaigns possible, including leveraging every so-called '2.0' tool that might be appropriate. 

Show true ROI generated by getting and staying closer to customers and prospects so they beat a path to your brand versus the competitor - that's how to get budgets approved.

Social Media Marketing Lesson #1 - It's Only One Component

When you have been involved with social media marketing for years before it had that moniker, you learn several important lessons about what works best and what to avoid, and you try and pass those on to the next client and the one after that. 

In the late 1990s I learned that communities for health care could derive as much involvement and interest from children as from their parents; this is even more true now.  In online retail applications, I've long advocated emulating as many social aspects of the in-person customer experience to help foster the same affinity for the virtual experience.  For a non-profit, we learned together how online communities and forums could actually foster greater internal process management, leading to significant productivity improvements - it can get very interesting when you look at Web publishing first and other systems second.  In developing a brand strategy for a pureplay online service, I had to convince the client that the best application for social commerce in the world matters little if the user interface is poor or, more importantly, the value proposition is too hard to explain.  In e-commerce applications more recently, I have hammered home to clients the relationship of offline experiences to feelings toward online brands, and how the positive effect excellent online relationship-building activities can generate will quickly be erased by a bad offline encounter.

These all underscore perhaps the most important lesson to learn about social media marketing, if you do not already know it.  It is that social media marketing is only one of the many marketing touch points that affect a customer's or prospect's relationship with a brand.  Any sound strategy for social media marketing should be integrated with traditional offline and online marketing communications to create as seamless of an experience as possible.  Everything must work together, including every widget, community, blog, wiki, or other Web 2.0 technology being leveraged.  They need to work in synch with your print ads, television, Website, environmental, and every other component of taking your messages and experiences out in the marketplace.  Then you can begin to look at your forays into social media marketing the right way, as simply part of an integrated strategy to promulgate your brand and what it has to offer.

Does 2.0 Enhance Your Brand Experience?

I recently was involved in two research efforts that looked at the effectiveness of specific Web 2.0 features various brands include in their online experiences.  While many of these types of content and functionality do not, in my opinion, really fall into the Web 2.0 category, it is worth considering how many of the following might reach and engage prospects and customers better and should perhaps be a part of your own online marketing strategy:

• 360 degree spins and alternate views
• Blogs
• Color swatching/colorizing
• Designing your own 'product' or look and mixing and matching components
• Interactive catalogs
• Mobile commerce
• Monogramming or engraving tools
• Microsites
• Personalized messages embedded in the Website based on embedded cookies
• Product tours - interactive or linear playback
• Quick looks and rollover views or fast zoom in, etc.
• RSS feeds
• Shop by category - type of room, outfit, look, etc.
• Stored personalization through areas like My Account, My Profile, or site favorites
• URL and Widget sharing - also embedded on other sites
• User rankings and ratings and comments and feedback
• User-generated visual content - photos/video/audio/graphics
• Videos - used for demonstration, advertising, merchandising, or other promotion
• Videos based on user remixed content
• Visual filtering and advanced search on product features or actual visual product configurators - often referred to now collectively as RIA or Rich Internet Applications
• Web to print
• Wikis

The key is not that any of the above site enhancements are generally more effective than others, but how effective any in particular may be to reach and engage your visitors to compel them to make a purchase or otherwise take the actions you desire as a result of your investment in online marketing.  And the key to that determination is how you measure their effectiveness.

I have said many times that almost every action online can and should be measured.  And how you measure is just as important, so your business can know as precisely as possible that specific new content or functionality enhancements, or online advertising or search or database efforts, or any online marketing initiative, led to direct increases in purchases, average order size, upsell incidence, site traffic, time spent on site, or other key metrics that provide upper management with the ROI they likely require for all marketing.  Did visitors click through from that e-mail campaign? Did they go to the new rich media demo that was promoted on the home page?  Did they watch all of it and then click to learn more, or leave after ten seconds?  Did they send a referral to their friends, or leave positive feedback on their customer service experience?  These and many like them are the right questions to ask.

When you have a strategy supporting every online brand experience and marketing component, and a plan for measuring, analyzing, and learning from the ROI from each, then you can know what Web 1.0 components are working well, which are not, and what new or Web 2.0 features should be considered.

All Media Is Social

Industry buzzwords are fascinating, partly because some tend to define a new phenomenon in terms laypeople can understand, but also because some try to do exactly the opposite - describe what might otherwise be considered ordinary or common in some extraordinary way as to render it special.

Such is the case with "Web 2.0" and "social media" - the current buzz phrases given to all things new and different on the Web, whether they involve more than one person at a time or not.  Blogs, mash-ups, viral events, wikis, and such.  Are the ideas really that new?  Or is it just  technology that has made them new to the online world?  I recently advised an agency, in jest, that they begin to claim the 'Web 3.0' space before someone else grabs hold.  They considered it for a while. 

What does 'social media' mean anyway that makes it that new?  The word "social" is derived from the Latin word "socius" meaning to associate or create a bond between people.  Hence, societies are groups living and doing things together, and why all simultaneous group activities online seem to be marked as social.

Since the beginning of advertising and marketing, the goal has been to establish a bond or association with the prospect or customer through messaging and content.  Today many call that creating a brand dialog and, thus, all forms of marketing media, online and off, are intended to create a social relationship with prospects and customers.  Since most such Websites today are associated with some product or service trying to generate that same bond with consumers, it is worth considering the idea that all media is social.

This in no way detracts from the many new and amazing forms of online, dynamic and interactive experiences being put forth for both commerce and amusement, but their goal of making social connections and establishing bonds is not new.  What is groundbreaking, however, is that the tools and technologies now available are actually letting consumers create and influence brands themselves, and the messages those brands are sending out to attract others.  Lest we forget, gaining that kind of insight from consumers, while still engaging them with compelling experiences, is very smart social business.

Should You Go To Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 and other often called 'social media' technologies is today's buzz phrase for all things new that are online.  Many market sector industry leaders and upstarts are becoming expert at leveraging such new technologies as blogging platforms, RSS feeds, Wikis, and mashups.  If you have not thought about what such technologies might be able to do for your own company, consider Gartner's advice.  They suggest that your company may need a Web 2.0 strategy if:

• Web 1.0 has already had a transformative impact on your company
• Your products or services are largely information-based
• Your products or services are highly customized and personalized
• New products or services are rolled out on a regular basis
• You employ lots of home-based or widely dispersed workers
• Your workforce is comprised of younger workers
• Customers or suppliers could potentially exploit Web 2.0 technologies to become competitors

Good advice - especially that first point.  Ask yourself if your company has already leveraged every established Web 1.0 capability to enhance growth, reduce cost, or gain market share.  Odds are there is plenty left that should be considered or improved when it comes to staff, prospect, customer, and supplier communications, e-commerce, and online marketing and promotion of your goods and services. 

In our experience, there is generally no shortage of ideas that could be developed into opportunities.  The trick is having the proper strategy to determine which are the right ideas and initiatives that will return the greatest ROI and are in synch with overall corporate goals and objectives.  That makes it much easier to leverage not only Web 1.0 capabilities but also consider which Web 2.0 opportunities will be good investments of company resources.  Then the trick is getting all internal stakeholders in IT, sales and marketing, and operations to agree on the best specific tools to leverage, and who will put it in their budget.

Who Is Using Who?

With over a 100 billion clicks to Websites every day, the Web 'machine' is learning about us, all of us, and more so each day, each minute.  We cannot even fully comprehend all the changes that user-generated content will bring about in the global society, but one professor has made a good attempt at explaining where things are headed, and some of the issues that need to be faced by all those with content-rich online experiences.

The Web is Us/ing Us

Michael Wesch at Kansas State raises the core legal, ethical, and even moral issues that are going to be more in the mainstream in the next few years as we all are challenged to understand all the data, information, insight, and knowledge available to those who seek it.  As we all begin to be the authors, or shared authors, of more of that content, what we learn from each other will surpass most of what we have learned elsewhere.  Hopefully, much of it will be the truth.

Karaoke Without the Bar Scene

It was only a matter of time before karaoke singing hit the Web.  The developers of SingShot have created a virtual karaoke 'bar' where you can croon your favorite tunes and find out what others think of your talent without having to hear it face to face!

Sing Your Heart Out

This is social networking at its 'finest' - no more smoke and alcohol to get in the way of enjoying your friends, and your own, singing talent.  To be fair, this site actually offers an interesting virtual studio and 'nightclub' for aspiring talent to see what they are really worth.  The experience and feedback gained is well worth the low monthly fee for those waiting to be discovered. 

Who knows where the next singing sensation will come from?  At least this venue comes without Paula Abdul.

2.0 is the new 1.0

The first major wave of the World Wide Web is over.  No better evidence exists to understand this than it is no longer called 'world wide' anymore.  That's a given. The Web is anywhere and everywhere you want to access it and leverage its power - on a PC, laptop, PDA, phone, or watch  It's wireless, and it is a world of everything one might want as well as not ever want to even see.

The days of the 'me, too' Web site where everyone had to have some online presence have been replaced with (mostly) serious endeavors to understand how the Web and all facets of an online brand can affect your businesses.  This is a good thing as it may actually cut down on the millions of worthless pages of Web junk out there. 

Companies that 'get it' understand that the power of the Web is in the end user's hands, not theirs, and getting to the heart of what makes them tick - their beliefs, opinions, needs, attitudes, behaviors, and other thoughts they may have about what you offer.  It is an important key to online success. 

As evidence of the changing face of the Web, the volume of actual Web content now being generated by end users is growing at such a rate that over 50% of ALL Web content is predicted to be generated by end users within four years.  And everyone else who isn't creating that content is going to be looking and listening to those who did.  This phenomenon of consumer generated media is one of the definitions for Web 2.0.  Another is social media networks. 

Whatever it is called is not the point.  What matters is that the Web, as futurist Paul Saffo wrote, is "moving from a place where people access information to a place where people access other people in an information-rich environment."  Some of the user-generated content has already resulted in the establishment of online media 'stars' that have thousands and, in some cases, millions of viewers.

The lesson is that everything your company does online, and off, can now easily be extended, enhanced, debated and disputed by others online.  These types of influencers can show up on blogs, in an Amazon review, or a comment to a Yahoo! news story, and even videos on YouTube.  Any company with a serious online presence should pay attention to what others are saying and doing as a result of their relationship or even a recent brand touchpoint with that company. 

It is worth saying again.  The end user is in control of the messages they receive, how they receive them and now, from whom they receive them.