Developing and Maintaining a Social Brand

Mike Lesczinski, September 12, 2012

Agenda

1. Developing a Brand “Persona”

2. Tactical Approach

3. Optimizing Content & User Experience

4. Case Study - Penske

1. Developing a “Social Persona”

You must define your personality before you enter the “social arena”

Social manager is living embodiment of your brand

Engagement must uphold principles and values of your organization

Ask Yourself – Why Social?

What is the purpose of using social media for your business?

What would you like to accomplish? Who is your audience? What do you stand for? What are your core

values? What traits do you want associated with your

brand? How do we craft an image that holds true to

those values?

Building Your Brand

Your ‘persona’ must be established prior to setting up a social media account

Every action reflects on your brand image Consistently engage – it takes six to seven

impressions to leave an imprint Conduct research – what are people

saying about your brand?

II. Tactical Approach

Facebook Over 600 million

users; 1.6 million “Fan” pages

Average time spent: 46 - 55 minutes per day

Twitter Over 140 million users Real-time information

sharing

Tactic: Content Creation

Create touch points between you and your customer Share relevant and valuable information Offer demonstrations or testimonials Solicit feedback and “master the ask”

Tactic: Offer Customer Service

Reactive - Facebook Ask and answer questions, offer solutions, post FAQs Don’t fear “bad” publicity – show you are caring and responsive

Proactive - Twitter Seek out problems to solve through search function

Tactic: Integrate Worlds

Run contests or promote upcoming events that require both virtual and real-world application Remember to use “soft” language: “Event” vs “Contest”

Bring conferences and workshops to life Offer insights into your own experiences Generate conversation between attendees

and outside world through Twitter hashtags!

Tactic: Market Research

Facebook/Twitter Study the culture of an

individual network Fan/Follow profiles

relevant to your industry Competitors, bloggers,

journalists, clients Apply what you learn to

your own social engagement

Tactic: Build Loyalty

Identify & create new ambassadors by building trust Lift the veil on the inner-workings of your company

Q & A’s with new employees Video interviews with management Photos from company outings

Remember: Maintain Expectations

Social is world of soft sells – focus on raising awareness and building loyalty to create ambassadors

Consider recent Monetate report: 0.59% of visitors from social make purchase 4.25% conversion from email 2.49% from search

Source: Monetate, “Ecommerce Quarterly; EQ2 2012”, August 2012

III. Optimizing Content & User Experience

Social Media Optimization (SMO) Optimize content for distribution through use

of relevant keywords, call to action Use third-party apps such as HootSuite Utilize back channel Focus on the visuals – Don’t tell, show

Not Just What, But When

Facebook 20% higher engagement for updates posted outside

normal business hours 27% higher engagement on updates containing 80

characters or less 15% higher engagement rate for posts that end with a

question Peak engagement hours: 7am, 5 pm, 11 pm eastern

Source: Buddy Media, “Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts: A Statistical Review,”, 2011

Not All Tweets Are Created Equal

Twitter 17% more engagement on weekend Tweets 30% more engagement on Tweets posted during

business hours Tweets using # earn twice as much engagement yet

comprise only 24% of Tweets Tweets with images have twice as much engagement Ask for a RT! 12x higher retweet rate

Source: Buddy Media, “Strategies for Effective Tweeting: A Statistical Review”, 2012

Case Study – Penske Cares

Penske – The Plan

Goal: Raise awareness, engage with customers and offer customer service

Plan: Conduct research for an entire year before implementing the social media plan Learned how customers used Twitter and

terms used to describe “moving” experiences Trained call-center employees

Engagement Strategy

Retweeted tweets from customers discussing their positive experiences

Actively provided customer service Created touch points

Encouraged customers to enter Penske “photo” contests Shared “packing tips” redirecting readers to company

website Positioned company “personality” by discussing pop culture

Offering Customer Service

Facebook Contests

Photo Sweepstakes

Competitor Response?

“(Budget Truck Rental) isn’t a brand that’s relevant to Twitter users’ everyday lives.”

-Unnamed Budget Vice President

Questions?

Contact Information:

www.MikeLesczinski.com

Social Connections:

Michaellesczinski

@MikeLesczinski

Gplus.to/MikeLesczinski