Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Report: Social Media + Email = More Power

A new report from eMarketer shows how combining the strengths of email and social media can lead to better results.

You'll recall around these parts the discussion of "Silent E." Now this report teases that out a little more. It's about how two complementary marketing practices can be used more wisely to engage customers in less of a disjointed way. This makes complete sense, as consumers need consistency in their interactions with brands and programs need to jump from one platform to the next almost seamlessly, while offering different benefits or levels of engagement on each.

Here are a few statistics on how social media and email will be integrated by marketers and why they think it's important.

Business Executives Worldwide Who Plan to Integrate Social Media into Their E-Mail Marketing Campaigns in 2010 (% of respondents)

You can find the full report, Maximizing the Email/Social Media Connection, on eMarketer's site.

As Reese's used to say, "two great tastes that taste great together."

Personally, I think it's about time. ow about you? Any plans within your organization to integrate social media & email?

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Labels: CRM, email, social networks, trends, Twitter

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:30 AM

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Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Role of Leadership in Social Media

We often hear of social media being equated with tools and platforms. But it's really much more than that.

If you're adopting these technologies and behaviors at your company, it's not about the shiny new toys. It's fundamentally about culture change. And that type of transformational change - which may include updating business practices - must come from the top. But more than a top-down dictum, it's got to be part of leadership.

I've previously discussed leadership here - in particular the leadership from Ford's CEO Alan Mulally, who really gets social media. He promotes a culture of transparency and openness that is completely aligned with the way we're trying to engage with consumers online and think about how we do business. Consistency of purpose and of message is key.

The Washington Post's "On Leadership" feature recently did a two-part interview with Alan that captures some of the thinking behind what makes this major culture change at Ford such a success. I thought it was valuable to share these videos with you, since there are broader business lessons here that any marketing, communications or social media professional should understand.

Alan Mulally on catching mistakes

Transcript available here.

Alan Mulally on the "liberating clarity" of his mission

Transcript available here.

This kind of thinking and laser-like focus on our plan is one of the things that continues to set Ford apart. In social media as well as in the industry.

Related:
Paul Gillin's New Media Demands New Leadership
Charlene Li's Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead

Larger Flickr image of ONE Ford available here.

Labels: CEO, Ford, social media, strategy, Video

Posted by Scott Monty at 1:21 PM

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Monday, March 08, 2010

The Rich Are No Different Than You & Me

Well, except for that money thing. They want the pretty much want what we all want from social networks: to connect with people they know and trust, spend some time unwinding, and share content.

Reasons that US Affluent Consumers Use Social Networking Sites, January 2010 (% of respondents)

The key difference is this: affluents don't want to friend a brand on Facebook - they prefer to check out fan pages. [Then again, I feel the same way. Hmm. Maybe I qualify to be rich? I can haz affluence, plze?]

What they do prefer is a user experience on the company's website that addresses their needs. Easy navigation, helpful information, perhaps even the availability of a live chat to answer any questions that might not be apparent solely through the navigation. Ultimately, I think they value their time and don't want to waste it with updates that aren't central to what they need. They want content that is relevant to them at the right point in time.

For marketers, this means a solid user experience coupled with a true customer relationship management tool. We should be at the point where we can customize content based on the visitor. Or is that a little too invasive? What do you think?

From Unity Marketing's "How Affluent Luxury Consumers Use the Internet and Social Media"

Image courtesy of eMarketer.

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Labels: social networks, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:27 AM

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Thursday, March 04, 2010

How Ford Uses Social Media [VIDEO

At the risk of giving away too much of what we do (not really - everything we do in social media is in the public, so you just need to pay attention or search around to find out), I'd like to share with you a little bit about Ford Motor Company's approach to social media.

Here's a great video that WebPro News did when we were at Blog World Expo last October. It captures a lot of what Ford is doing in the space.

I keep a clipsheet of coverage of our social media efforts (using Profilactic), which is helpful when speaking to reporters or digital media and they're looking for examples of how our work has resonated. I simply refer them to our links and they can sort through the filters to find what they're looking for.

On his blog, Jeff Bullas gave away The 7 Secrets to Ford's Social Media Marketing Success last month. There are some great takeaways there for any company that's interested in social media and some that are specific to Ford and our efforts. And Slate.com's The Big Money covered the success we've seen from the first wave of the Fiesta Movement.

We're working on a lot more - notably Chapter 2 of the Fiesta Movement, in which there are 20 teams of two in 16 cities across the country, creating mini marketing campaigns through social media as well as offline events and media. And our social media strategy is global, reflecting the growing interest from many areas around the company and around the world.

And we maintain profiles on a number of social networks, including profiles on Twitter: @Ford, @FordCustService, @FordFiesta, @FordAutoShows, @FordLatino, @FordEU, @FordAPA and more. In addition, we've got some employees on Twitter. You can find the full list at http://twitter.com/ScottMonty/ford.

We also have a number of Facebook pages, the most prominent of which are Ford and Mustang. All of our pages are favorited on the Ford page, so you can pick which ones you'd like to become a fan of.

In addition, we're active on Flickr for photo sharing, YouTube for videos, Plancast and Upcoming for events, Delicious for public bookmarking, and Scribd for document sharing (where we're the #5 most followed profile). And if you're ever in doubt where to find us, you can see our profiles on the front of Ford.com or on The Ford Story.

Lots of stuff going on right now that's keeping us really busy. Just thought you'd like a window into what some of it is and why we're doing it.

Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/4

Labels: Ford, social media, Video

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:24 AM

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Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Social Media Marketing Spending Spirals Up

When you start hearing about social media taking up more budget rather than having to struggle for dollars and attention, it's clear that the practice is gaining in legitimacy.

Remember the days of having to gently introduce the concept, or of having to prove that in fact it's something that's a coming trend? We had to deal with skeptics - the same type of people, who maybe less than 10 years ago, doubted that the Internet was going to catch on. And we've had to deal with a struggling economy and limited funding.

Things are a little different now. In fact, you might say that things are actually looking up. I think part of it may be that the tough economy forced marketers to be more savvy and frugal about their efforts, and social media became a natural receptacle for the underfunded. As such, it's grown in stature and maturity, and with the rise of the awareness of social networks in the general public, it's only going to get larger.

Here are a couple of charts from "The CMO Survey" undertaken by the Duke University Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association, as reported by eMarketer:

Social Media Marketing Spending by US B2B and B2C Marketers, August 2009 & February 2010 (% of total) Percent of Marketing Budget Spent on Social Media According to US Marketers, August 2009 & February 2010 (% of total)

When you compare the spending on social media marketing from August 2009 to February 2010, overall there's an increase of 60% in the budgets (from 3.5% to 5.6%). Similarly, the planning for the next one to five years shows a similar level of consideration as well: in August 2009, social media spending was thought to be 6.1% for the next year and 13.7% for the next five years; and now, it's more like 9.9% in the next year and 17.7% in the next five years.

And since this was a survey of CMOs, it's a good indication that these budget predictions may get some traction, rather than just being a fond wish of pundits. It's a relief to see something that doesn't resemble a death spiral in this economy.

Photo credit: emrank (Flickr)

Labels: Marketing, social media, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:36 AM

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