So your store has a Facebook business page, and maybe an Instagram and/or Twitter profile…but are you regularly monitoring the analytics for those profiles? Do you use a monitoring tool to “listen” to what customers are saying online about your store(s) outside of your social media profiles? If not, you’re missing out on a key component of your digital marketing strategy. I recently watched an AdWeek webinar called “7 Ways to Use Social Analytics to Maximize Brand Impacts.” It was sponsored by NetBase, a social media analytics platform, and hosted by Paige Leidig, CMO of NetBase, and Mike Baglietto, Director of Product Marketing at NetBase. Leidig and Baglietto emphasized that monitoring social media analytics is not something you can do on your own. As a small business, you might be able to manage and monitor your own social platforms easily enough. But once you start looking into analytics and trends that will help you take your digital marketing to the next level, you will need to consider looking into a tool that can help. Depending on your budget, you might…
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Introducing: Sendible for AWG Members
The AWG digital marketing team is excited to announce a new social media option for our members! Sendible is a social media content management and reporting tool. We have expanded our offerings beyond managing Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles for retailers. Sendible is for AWG members who want to have access to a curated content library and vendor-sponsored promotional content. With Sendible, we supply the content, but you can choose what to post and when. While retailers can work directly with Sendible to sign up for the platform, we offer it to our retailers at a group discount, plus full access to our digital marketing content library. An AWG Sendible login provides you with: A library of engaging social content created by AWG Sales Services. This also includes AWG Brands content. Access to vendor promotion content. This includes SEP NOW content that highlights specific digital coupon deals. The ability to create reports for your digital channels and customize the data to fit your goals. Monitoring tools showing what customers say about you online other than what’s on your social media…
How to use Twitter for customer care
[View the story “#HootChat: Twitter is best for Customer Care” on Storify]
How Social Listening Can Increase Customer Engagement
The water cooler is lonely. In today’s world, the “water cooler” conversations have moved into the digital realm of forum posts, blogs and social media. Tapping into and listening to these conversations should be a key piece of your store’s marketing strategy. I joined in on an American Marketing Association webcast today titled “How Innovation in Social Listening Ignites Marketing Success, which was sponsored by Netbase.”. In this post, I’ll highlight some takeaways from this webcast which can help increase your customer engagement and overall satisfaction. When it comes to tracking digital conversations, there are two approaches today. Social monitoring, is the traditional method of reacting and responding to topics made by users online. Social listening, a newer technology, allows for exploration and discovery of insights to gain a better understanding of who your audience is. The insights gained about your audience can be leveraged for customer acquisition, customer retention and increasing your overall brand value. Specifically, social listening can help you understand what your current customers are talking about online. Now, you might be wondering, ‘why would I care what…
Social Monitoring Case Study: Sickweather
Social media monitoring is a powerful tool and every grocery retailer should be using it. People are talking about your store on social media, whether your store has an online presence or not, so it’s important to monitor those conversations so you can react when necessary. Plus there are many free social monitoring tools available online so it doesn’t have to cost you a dime. What is social media monitoring? Actively watching and listening to social media channels for information about a company or organization (Lexicon). Social monitoring allows business owners to track what consumers are saying about their brands, services and actions. Businesses can react to these conversations and interact with consumers on their social media platforms. Case Study: Sickweather I recently attended Social Media Club of Kansas City’s December breakfast, which focused on social monitoring. The presenter, Graham Dodge, is the CEO of Sickweather, a company that uses social monitoring to track sickness and give people real time data about illnesses near them and through out the U.S. Sickweather scans social media sites (like Facebook and Twitter) for people…
Listen Up: Using social media chatter to build a stronger brand
“What is possible when you know what the whole world is thinking about any topic at any time?” – John Heywood, Twitter It’s an almost overwhelming question that John Heywood, product manager at Twitter, poses to businesses and brands. Yet at the same time, it’s amazing to think about the information that can be pulled from open social media platforms like Twitter, and how businesses can use that data to provide the best experience for potential and current customers. Heywood posed this question at the recent American Marketing Association webcast, sponsored by NetBase™, titled “Millenials & Social: How Taco Bell Reached Millions with Mobile App Launch.” In addition to Heywood, the webcast was also led by Mihir Minawala (manager of Social, Industry & Competitive Intel, Taco Bell) and Pernille Bruun-Jensen (CMO, NetBase). All three companies worked together to launch the new Taco Bell ordering app. They used this launch as an example of how new social media data is being used in exciting, ground-breaking ways to succeed in marketing to millenials. NetBase and Twitter teamed up to provide Taco Bell…
“About Us” on your website
Everyone loves a story. People have been telling stories since… well, since people have been around! What do campfires, drawings in the sand, music, movies and your website have in common? All of these tools can help make telling a story easier. The About Us page can attract your customers with a story they can relate to. The more your customers identify with you, the more they will trust your store. The content on this page is also good to share via links in social media. Read this About Us example >> You may not think your story is interesting, but it only seems that way to you because you lived it. You lived the long version, day by day. Believe it or not, millennials prefer the story of how a business came to be rather than having big bold SALE! messages crammed down their throats. These stories tend to be read on mobile devices during down time, like during the commercials while watching TV or waiting for a Dr. Apt. Write about the stories you hear over and over at family get…
How to Create a Voice Guide
What happens when you have a conservative company, thought by many as old-fashioned, trying to embrace social media in new, creative ways? With the right tools, a recipe for success! Last week, I attended a Social Media Club of Kansas City professional luncheon with UMB Bank, a financial institution founded in 1913, and DEG, a digital marketing agency. Together, they gave insight into their creation of a Voice Guide for UMB and explained how a corporate and agency relationship can work well together. Prior to working with DEG on social media, UMB did have a social media presence, but wanted (and knew they should) do more. DEG stepped in to help UMB push its social media boundaries, while staying true to the bank’s brand identity. This is where the creation of a Voice Guide is necessary. So what is a Voice Guide? A Voice Guide is a living strategy document that serves as a structure for how to create branded content on social media, while also responding to customers who engage on social media sites. It allows everyone who uses…
The Latest Trends in Social Media Content Planning & Listening
Last week, I attended the emfluence User Conference with several of my AWG Marketing colleagues. The conference gathered digital marketers and IT professionals from a variety of industries to learn about the latest trends surrounding social media and email marketing. Alyssa Murfey, emfluence’s own Director of Strategy, presented “Social Content Planning & Listening” covering new features, ideas and strategies affecting social media content. Here are a few key points: Google Analytics This important tool is loaded with features to help you discover the types of digital content that are working for your brand and also guide future posts. If you’re not looking at this data, it’s time to start! One metric that you may want to take a look at is Trackbacks. This report shows you the people who are sharing links to your content. This creates a great opportunity to form relationships with people who are already your brand advocates. It also allows you to examine what kind of content is appealing to others. Pinterest Formally known as the social site for women and weddings, Pinterest has been changing.…
Proactive vs. Reactive: Transparency in social media
In light of the recent Blue Bell ice cream recall, many of our stores have been answering customer questions about when the products would be pulled off the shelves and if they could get a full refund for the affected products. With any product recall, it’s important for retailers to be as transparent as possible with the information. Overshare if necessary.. You would rather your customers be safe, right? This kind of transparency is just as important in social media as it is when you’re talking to a customer in-store or over the phone. Cara discussed transparency in marketing in one of her very first blog posts. However, she focused more on the positive aspects of it. The kind of transparency I’m referring to is related to negative circumstances, like a recall, how to be proactive, rather than reactive, and honest in your communication to customers. This honesty is just as, if not more, important when the mistake isn’t a vendor recall but rather within your own store. I’m not advocating that you tweet every mistake your store makes, but…