SEO Case Study: How I Increased SEO Traffic & Ranking by 50-60% in 6 Months
RFC Social Media Presentation, 2nd August, 2011
1. Social Media for Sustained Business Growth Dr Jim Hamill – jim.hamill@energise2-0.com Alan Stevenson – alan.stevenson@energise2-0.com Vincent Hamill – hamillvincent@energise2-0.com www.energise2-0.com
9. Key Things to Remember It’s social A key feature is online democracy – with content being provided by the network for the network – represents a fundamental and revolutionary change in online behaviour, expectations and the online customer experience. The end of the ‘read only’ internet Conversations are taking place relevant to your business Power shift Social media empowers customers, empowers the network. Recognizing this shift is the cornerstone of future success Declining effectiveness of traditional approaches Does anyone listen to sales/brand messages anymore?
10. Do You Listen? Source: The Future of Advertising, APA, 17/02/09 as published on Slideshare (www.slideshare.com)
13. What is Social Media? NOT a broadcast medium. Its about listening to and engaging with customers, partners, your community, your tribe This is something we are not very good at doing. We prefer telling people how good we are
14. The Customer Manifesto We are not sales suspects, prospects or leads We do not want to be converted We are people. We are your customers and we are King! Social media empowers us. We control the Information Age. Welcome to our world, not yours
15. The Customer Manifesto Don’t treat us like passive sheep waiting to be driven to your web site or blog Use social media to deliver exceptional Customer Experiences That way, we will become brand advocates and ‘spread the word’ for you Our network will listen more to us than you
16. Key Things to Remember Pull v push Consumers/users decide what information they wish to access New ‘mindsets’ are required Marketing as a conversation with your customers/network– dialogue not broadcasting But this is something that most of us are not very good at doing. We prefer ‘telling’ people SM ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ ‘Winners’ will be those organisations who fully utilise the interactive power of Web 2.0 technology for engaging with and energising customer and network relationships
17. Key Things to Remember New performance measures Business success depends on the quality of your customer base; the strength of the relationship you have with quality customers; and your ability to leverage that relationship In a social media era, business success depends on the Quality of your network Relationship strength Ability to leverage Social media monitoring/performance management tools The need for new business/marketing models
25. Key Things to Remember The need for new business/marketing models Traditional approach: Product development – Differentiate – Market and Promote - Sell New model based on: Communities, networks, openness, peering, sharing, collaboration, customer empowerment, ‘think and act’ globally Engage and energise ‘Create the Buzz’
29. Progress Being Made Interest and enthusiasm among tourism businesses is growing rapidly - channels are being set up Fall into three main groups in terms of progress made Progressive Adopters Cautious/ Experimental Adopters Non Adopters
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31. ‘Getting There’ Get More Involved Google Alerts, Twitter, Social Media Monitoring Tools Learn more Develop a strategy Implement Monitor
34. Each Step is being covered in detail on our blog at www.energise2-0.com
35. External Analysis: Evaluate Your Social Media Landscape Internal Analysis: Evaluate Your ‘Readiness to Engage’ Develop Your Social Media Strategy and Action Plans for ‘Getting There’ Evaluate Your Social Media Performance and ROI Organization, People and Resource Issues
38. Evaluate Your Social Media Landscape Monitor and evaluate the social media landscape for your business Help decide the best generic strategy to follow in terms of the number of channels used and your depth of engagement in each channel Key questions to address include……..
39. Evaluate Your Social Media Landscape What impact is social media having on your industry, how important has it become? How are your customers using social media? What impact is it having on customer behaviour? What online conversations are taking place relevant to your business; who is saying what about your brand/ industry where online and what sentiments are being expressed? How should you respond? What are the key features and characteristics of social media that you need to understand Based on the above, what social media applications are most relevant to your business and how deep does your level of engagement need to be? Use Social Media Monitoring Tools………
40. Monitoring the Conversations Use Social Media Monitoring Tools to monitor online conversations relevant to your brand – also for measuring the ‘buzz’ about your brand No or low cost tools such as Google Alerts, Yahoo Pipes, Social Mention, Topsy, IceRocket, Blogscope, Blogpulse and ViralHeat More expensive and sophisticated tools such as Radian6, Alterian SM2, Sysomos Heartbeat and InfegySocialRadar
42. Internal Audit and ‘Readiness to Engage’ Your Internal Social Media Audit evaluates progress made, benchmarked against agreed criteria. Key questions to address include: What progress have we already made in social media? What channels do we already use? What is our current level of engagement with each channel? What positive business benefits have we derived from our social media activities? Where are the main areas for future improvement? Benchmark existing progress against the opportunities presented by your Social Media Landscape; against industry ‘Best Practice’; agreed performance measures and targets The ‘Strategic Gap’ (i.e. the ‘Gap’ between where you are and where you should be) provides a very strong basis for future social media strategy development
43. Internal Audit and ‘Readiness to Engage’ Supporting the Internal Audit of progress made, you should also undertake an evaluation of your organisation’s ‘Readiness to Engage’, evaluating your social media strengths and weaknesses, the main barriers and obstacles to be overcome
45. Social Media Strategy and Action Plans Use a simplified Balanced Scorecard approach to social media strategy development and implementation Will ensure that your future social media actions and initiatives are fully aligned with and supportive of agreed business goals; that KPIs are agreed for evaluating on-going social media performance, business impact and ROI; and that all key success factors are considered, including organization, people and resource aspects
50. The key social media actions and initiatives required for ‘getting there’
51. Organisational, people and resource issuesEnsure that your social media strategy is fully aligned with and supportive of your overall strategic goals and objectives with clear targets and ROI criteria
52. Key Questions to Address What is the overall social media vision for your organisation? What are the key objectives and targets to be achieved from social media? Are these fully aligned with and supportive of your overall business goals and objectives? Who are your customers? Where do you find them ‘hanging out’ on social media? How can you best engage with them? What are the main Social Media Actions and Initiatives you need to take – short, medium and longer term? What generic social media strategy should you follow (number of channels used/ depth of engagement in each channel)?
53. Key Questions to Address For each priority Social Media Channel, what are your core objectives for that channel; what KPIs will be used for measuring on-going channel performance; what are your targets for each KPI; what key tasks are needed to achieve these targets? Do we have the right organisational ‘culture’ and ‘mindset’ for Social Media? ‘Be social before doing social! Is the right organisational and decision-making structure in place? Has agreement been reached on resource allocation? Who will be responsible for your social media activities? What balance has been agreed between internal and external roles and responsibilities?
54. Key Questions to Address Who is the Social Media Champion? Do you have agreed Social Media Policies and Guidelines in place covering ‘Proper Use’, ‘Content Management’, ‘Customer Response Times/Quality’ and ‘Legal’ aspects?
57. Business Benefits Market Knowledge Customer Insight and Understanding Customer Interaction Enhanced Customer Experience Business Intelligence Reputation Management
58. Business Benefits Improved Sales and Marketing Identify and network with high value, high growth prospects Product Development and R&D e.g. engage and co-create Internal cost savings Improved Operations and Internal Processes Increased ROI
59. Potential Business Benefits 5 main areas: Market/Customer Knowledge & Insight Engagement & Reputation Management Enhanced Customer Experience and Loyalty Sales/Marketing Effectiveness, Efficiency and ROI Operations/ Internal Processes (open source and hosted apps)
63. Action Plans Key issues in implementing your social media strategy Channel Action Plans Performance Measurement
64. Channel Action Plans Once your Social Media Strategy has been agreed, brief Action Plans should be developed for each priority SM channel Cascade the Balanced Scorecard approach to each priority channel e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc But not ‘Paralysis by Analysis’ The Action Plan for each channel should include a clear statement of…..
65. Channel Action Plans Vision Channel Objectives KPIs and Targets Customers Key Channel Actions and Initiatives for ‘getting there Organisation, resource and people issues Tools and applications Performance measurement Do’s and Don’t’s
66. Performance Measurement To ensure that your Social Media activities deliver high ROI, it is important to monitor, measure and evaluate your social media performance on an on-going basis. Key questions to address: What social media performance measures and KPIs should be used – both in terms of the overall ‘buzz’ created and measures for individual channels? What tools/software will be used to assist performance measurement? What reports will be produced, for who and how frequently?
67. Performance Measurement Should be undertaken at three main levels: Individual social media channels Overall ‘buzz’ Business Impact Using the 6Is approach
68. Organization, Resource and People Issues Organization, resource and people issues sit at the bottom of your SM Balanced Scorecard NOT because they are the least important issues to address. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The success of your social media strategy is very much dependent upon appropriate decisions being made in the areas listed below:
69. Organization, Resource and People Issues Do we have the right organisational ‘culture’ and ‘mindset’ for Social Media? ‘Be social before doing social!’ Is the right organisational and decision-making structure in place? Has agreement been reached on resource allocation? Who will be responsible for your social media activities? Do you have agreed Social Media Policies and Guidelines in place covering ‘Proper Use’, ‘Content Management’, ‘Customer Response Times/Quality’ and ‘Legal’ aspects?
70. What is Social Media? New ‘mindsets’ are required to be successful in social media ‘BE SOCIAL BEFORE DOING SOCIAL’
72. Bob Dylan Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And don’t criticise What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is Rapidly agin‘ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’
74. About Energise 2-0 Provide an integrated range of social media services for building sustained business growth and profitability, delivered to the very highest international standards and fully customised for your business
Market Knowledge: Competitors, Suppliers, Buyers, Influencers; Google insight, Google Alerts will provide a view on most companies within an industry. Also, there are a range of blogs and networks where amateurs and professionals will share their knowledge of a market. Customer Insight and Understanding: Listening to customers and prospects through the range of channels they inhabit; comments on YouTube, Networks where they ‘hang out’ Customer Interaction: the tools exist to not only listen and observe but also to discuss and converseBusiness Intelligence: media monitoring, alerts and related analysis tools provide a great source of structured Business Intelligence. You need not pay £600/month for the privilege, SocialMention and Google Alerts can keep you informed where you need to be. Reputation Management: one of the key aspects of web 2.0 is that it is Real Time. You can see and respond to comments as they arise and often, where the response is efficient and effective, create a positive effect. Consider, the Ethiopian Growers that challenged the coffee used by Starbucks in a video posted on YouTube. This video was viewed by 10,000 people. The CEO posted a response within 24 hours on YouTube, the response was viewed by several million.
We believe there is a strong correlation between positive word of mouth, online buzz and sales and marketing. Needless to say there are now numerous means of getting your message out there, growing followers (through sites like Twitter, and energising your customer base). Web 2.0 is immediate and direct. The example I like to use is of a safety harness company based in Edinburgh who considered using a traditional approach to International Sales and Marketing – find an agent, find prospects, etc. An alternative approach we suggested, used LinkedIn to find the Health And Safety Director of the largest Construction Project in the world. Now it is not a leap to suggest filming the harness on YouTube and sending an email with a link saying you are in Saudi Arabia and would he like to meet up. Numerous examples of customer insight and feedback leading to product improvement. Many car companies use Second Life to test their designs. A site called eBags sends out the latest designs to their top raters on the site. Internal cost savings. No 10 Downing Street example…Improved Operations and internal processes. There are applications for literally anything – wikis that compete with licenced intranets, email freeware that is better than Outlook, hosted network sites for £20/month that would cost £thousands to replicate. Increased Return on Investment. The holy grail or the achiles heal of Web 2.0. How do you make money from this thing…there is a growing level of evidence to suggest that it works.