Social Media Strategy - Essay Example

?SeasonalBids Social Media Strategy Hart OVERVIEW OF GOALS & DELIVERABLES I am pleased to provide a proposal to Seasonal Bids for development of a comprehensive social media strategy that will provide this start-up company with the knowledge and tools needed to achieve the following goals: • Increase engagement with members—and prospective members • Better position organization as an information leader to both members and prospective members • Stimulate greater awareness of Seasonal Bids and create member growth • Convey information and perspective, e.g., media and trends, to key stakeholder groups • Strengthen advocacy efforts by expanding its reach • Facilitate communication among members and nonmembers • Promote SeasonalBids, events, services, products and best practices • Monitor for feedback BENEFITS OF A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY Social media and an extended presence online can go beyond member acquisition and retention. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) has identified five broad categories of influencers. Constituents that SeasonalBids wants to build relationships with (neighborhood leaders, members of the community) have a channel of influence within social media and social networks. http://womma.org/influencer/types/ Category Who they are Channels of Influence What they are called (Partial list) Formal position of authority Political/government leaders/staff Business leaders Laws & regulations Decision & spending authority Top-down directives Opinion Leaders Decision makers C-suite Institutional/recognized subject matter experts & advocates Academics/scientists Industry analysts NGO leaders Consumer activists Academic journals Traditional media New media Social media Experts Mavens Analysts Critics Media elite Journalists Commentators Talk show hosts Traditional media New media Social media Talking heads Columnists Politicos Cultural elite Celebrities Designers Artists Musicians Traditional media New media New styles/products Social media Trendsetters Fashionistas Taste makers Creators Starters Socially connected Neighborhood leaders Members of community groups Online networkers Business networkers Personal relationships Email lists Social gatherings Social networking websites Social media Mavens Starters Connectors Soccer moms Spreaders Hubs Alphas At its core, the success of any social media initiative is very simple: people who engage with each other in a digital environment. Through those interactions ideas are exchanged that ignites change. It is the planning and execution that is complex. Associations and the Social Web Success in the association industry is based on developing and nurturing relationships especially with lay volunteers. The social web offers an innovative communication channel that provides opportunities to further engagement with and between members, staff and industry leaders. Since social media is, for the most part, a public forum, it affords prospective members a unique look at an association’s benefits. Point of View – Social Media It is known that while a step into the social space may initially increase awareness the challenge of consistently extending and maintaining the goodwill of an organization’s online reputation through digital conversations is based on how well the details are managed including: Identifying and understanding the target audience/s expectations ?Understanding the culture of each “village” where you participate Ensuring social media tactics are integrated and supportive of business goals/objectives, as well as, current marketing, branding, customer service and outreach programs Approaching all social media initiatives from the point of view of the Social Media Values Mantra: Honesty, Authenticity, Transparency and Passion. PROJECT SCOPE AND DELIVERABLES The success of this project comes from combining SeasonalBids’s industry expertise with the outside perspective of developing a social media and digital program that myself and marketing specialists bring to the table. The creation of this strategy and subsequent recommendations will be based on a collaborative process of on?going dialog, discussion, two?way communication and feedback. During Phase I , Phase II and Phase III weekly update emails and meetings will be scheduled. The Development Process Phase I Research i. Conduct meetings with key SeasonalBids stakeholders (Mary Gervais and David Greene). During these conversations we will assess both the opportunities and potential impact of social media on the association ii. Analyze a limited set of SeasonalBids chapters’ social media platforms e.g., blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. This activity is necessary for developing the right intelligence. iii. Review of current social media asset (i.e., Linked In) and traditional marketing to determine: a) Consistency of brand b) Content direction c) Cross channel opportunities d) Additional engagement opportunities Phase II Develop an Integrated Strategy iv. Develop a comprehensive strategy document that will serve as a roadmap for implementation. a. Tactics will support specific objectives and remain consistent with SeasonalBids’s brand values and mission. b. A prioritized plan of action will identify appropriate tools (social networks, blogs, blogger relations, etc.) roles, timeline, success measurements. c. Strategy will include recommendations for actively participating in the social web d. Plan will take into consideration resources : human capital, financial, technology e. Delivered as Word doc – clear and concise, mostly bullets to make more easily digestible; support materials may accompany as Word o PDF documents. f. Identify opportunities to incorporate social media initiatives that will support current and future communication efforts. g. Initial set?up of social media tools that SeasonalBids will undertake v. Create awareness strategy Suggestions to support the launch of social media initiatives will be developed. Outreach may include both social media and traditional marketing tactics. After meetings and work with the individuals at SeasonalBids to gain the needed research and other background to begin the process, the following information has been created to show what we can do specifically for SeasonalBids: SUGGESTIONS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIFIC FOR SEASONALBids As stated previously, there are many benefits to using social media. Although many people may think that a landscaping business would find it difficult to use social media, it has become a must for most businesses, including landscaping, in order for people to understand a company, and to build a company’s image. It is our recommendation that SeasonalBids begins with the following social networking sites: Facebook Facebook is a very important aspect of social networking because it is the largest and most used of all the social networking sites. They have the ability for a company to not only build a presence online but to also create an opportunity for customers to make comments and to follow what they do. Initially, SeasonalBids will set up a Facebook business page, and then send emails to potential customers to join them on Facebook. They will begin to talk about the bidding process is and how it works, as well as give information about how customers can take advantage of their services. In this process, they will also be able to provide updates about what they are doing and can create events for people to attend both on and off line. They could do webinars about the process of bidding and how it works, and announce these on Facebook. SeasonalBids can begin by sending emails to all of their current customers they have in the lawn sprinkler business to tell them that they are expanding and would like them to join them on Facebook. From this position, they will be able to find referrals from their current customers. Another way that Facebook will be used is to promote a contest in which new customers can win a certain amount of free service from SeasonalBids. This can be done in accordance with a budget that is set by SeasonalBids. The “contestants” would have to send in a request that was set up using a certain criteria that is created by SeasonalBids to the website. This request would say why their company should win the service contest. To find those people who are in need of this assistance, SeasonalBids will do targeted marketing on Facebook (again, through a budget that they decide) and on Google Ads in order to create interest for the contest. Targets will be to commercial target property managers who handle multiple properties, preferably large condominium and apartment complexes who are in need of large-scale landscaping services. This will make sure that the needs are met for these new customers. This can also be limited to the regional areas surrounding SeasonalBid’s location. In the targeted marketing on Facebook, SeasonalBids can actually become a “sponsored” business on pages that are complimentary to their service. This advertising costs substantially less than advertising in print magazines or newspapers. As an example, they can receive one million impressions for about $202. This means that they will know how many people looked at their business on Facebook and what they did with the information. This helps them also know who to market to directly. A Facebook page will allow SeasonalBids to upload pictures of what they do, what the have done in the past, and it will allow them to understand why bidding is important to have as an automated system. Also, this page will be a way that SeasonalBids can spotlight their customers as the sign up. As an example, they can provide a picture of the property owner’s “before” picture, and then an “after” picture of their landscape. They can then provide information from their customer about why it was so important to use SeasonalBids in the process. A final way that Facebook can be utilized is to find other people who have complimentary businesses that can use the service. They can actually do a search for the market they want on Facebook, and then “like” the business so they can get an understanding of who they are and what they do; this would allow SeasonalBids to create relationships with other complimentary businesses for referrals. A very good article to read for understanding how Facebook can be helpful is located here: http://gigaom.com/collaboration/32-ways-to-use-facebook-for-business/ Twitter This website may seem to many people as something not worth the time, but Twitter can be very good for business. This is another way that customers and potential customers can get to know SeasonalBids and what they stand for or think about. Twitter uses very short posts (140 characters or less) that people can choose to follow if they like. It is a way that SeasonalBids can give short information to their customers and potential customers. Twitter is the place where people can ask specific questions that can be answered by SeasonalBids or that it can be organized so that they can find specific information. It can also be used to update customers on what they are doing and how they are doing. By giving good quality information, (not selling!) SeasonalBids begins to build a reputation. The companies that are on there can use landscaping and they will need bidding. But, if SeasonalBids asks questions about certain things related to their business, there will be people who will answer the question. Twitter can also be used to build SeasonalBids brand. The way to do this is to think of Twitter as a way to give people information, to build relationships with potential customers and to add value to what people want to know. They can also present information that people are talking about and provide resources. By taking this type of action, people will eventually want to know more about the business and they can then begin to talk business. Twitter is also used by many businesses to build their reputation to millions of people. As they get to know a business, the CEOs and so forth, people begin to want to know more about the specific business. Twitter can be used for business and is important if SeasonalBids wants to grow across social networking channels. LinkedIN LinkedIn is a major online network that includes approximately 8.5 million professions who are very experienced and they are from around the world. There are actually 130 industries represented by them. It may seem that SeasonalBids would not profit from such a large amount of people, but there are many ways that SeasonalBids can connect with people. Keeping in mind that these are professional people, there is a lot of information that is listed on LinkedIn about people and their situations. Many businesses list job leads when they have them on LinkedIn before the put them in other places. This could be a place for SeasonalBids to find good quality leads for employees when they get to this point. Another way that LinkedIN can be used is to give information about specific problems that SeasonalBids target market may run into. As an example, they could list a group of frequently asked questions on LinkedIn that people can benefit from so that they will know how best to use SeasonalBid’s service. LinkedIN Answers has a way for companies to answer questions that companies ask about specific issues. This is one way that SeasonalBids could target people who already have questions about landscaping or bidding and so forth. Also, because the CEO has experience in other areas, he could answer questions in these other areas. All of this is building relationships with people. LinkedIN can also be used to create a brand for SeasonalBids. One of the ways that many businesses do this is to create updates to make sure that customers know what the business is doing on a regular basis. This also happens as the owners begin to comment on what other people are doing and keep up with their connections. By giving encouragement, sending information about what contacts are interested in and by becoming well known for giving excellent information and resources, SeasonalBids will become well known in their industry. There are also groups to join in LinkedIn where SeasonalBids can connect with more people. As an example, Sticky Branding may be a group to get information from because they talk about how to build a brand online. This can be a great way to answer questions and to learn more about the online world. YouTube YouTube has thousands of recorded sound bites from all different types of people doing something. For businesses, this is a chance to spotlight the business as well as create a positive association with customers. YouTube does not need expensive video recording equipment and in fact, it can be done directly from any smartphone or small Flip video recorder. YouTube is a way for SeasonalBids to create video messages to their customers about what they do, to show short workshops if they would like and to communicate with potential customers. YouTube can be used to market business easily. Some of the ways that SeasonalBids could use YouTube would be to upload any presentations they may do at a business or an organization, uploading information to other businesses that are complimentary to them, and make short videos of satisfied customers to put on the Internet. In these ways (as examples) SeasonalBids can help potential customers gain an understanding of who they are, an understanding of their brand and building relationships with current and potential customers. YouTube can also be used to generate information about any project that the customer needs. The short video can be put up to show a project in all of its stages so that the customer can judge whether this is working for them or not. Also, any type of short video about the company can be generated and put on YouTube without cost. Putting It All Together The challenge for many companies, especially when they are a small company and have one or two employees, is how to keep up with social networking. If they are involved with so many different sites, how do they keep up with all of the writing and information that needs to be available to potential customers? There are several websites that have allowed this process to be very easy to do. As an example, the website ping.fm is a free service that allows a company to make one post and have it go out to all of their social networking sites. This service allows a free signup and the business can choose which social networking sites they want to include in the service. Ping.fm is also a way to “syndicate” a blog if SeasonalBids wants to do this either from their website or from another blogging site. Another way to increase productivity is to create several Tweets in Twitter at one time. The way to do this is to use Tweet Later (which has changed its name to SocialOmph). This allows the business to create several Tweets at once and then decide the date and time that they are to be released. This will help the process of social media become less daunting for SeasonalBids since they are just starting out. The Process to Start All of these websites can be overwhelming if someone is new, but that is part of what our company can do. We can begin by implementing some of the processes to get started on the Internet. All of the services that have been mentioned here are free to businesses to sign up and to use. There are other advantages on them that can be utilized as the business grows. Working directly with SeasonalBid’s personnel, we can generate this process very quickly and over time and make sure that they are on top of their competition. Each of the social networking sites are scanned by Google and other browsers to insure that when people are looking for work like what SeasonalBid does, they will be found. Another area that has not been talked about is to make sure that SeasonalBids is in all the online directories for the local and regional area. This will allow people to see what they are doing and all of these ways will make them more visible. Read More