Social Media Metrics: Not Yet a Science!

In continuing to simplify Social Media, let’s take a peek at Social Media metrics, or better yet, how to figure out if it’s working effectively for YOU and your franchise organization!

If, the net result of online activity adds up to effective social media engagement, then, what is the monetary value of a visit, comment, link or friend? Well, the ONLY honest answer is, “it depends.” Only YOU know how much these interactions matter to your brand, and how they relate to YOUR goals and objectives.

Measuring Social Media is not yet a science. Nor, is it rocket science! But, we can break it down to five key factors, Attention, Participation, Authority, Influence, and what I like to call the “X-Factor,” Sentiment.

Attention – The amount of traffic to your content for a given period of time.  Similar to the standard web metrics of site visits and page/video views.

Participation – The extent to which users engage with your content in a channel.  Think blog comments, Facebook wall posts, YouTube ratings, or widget interactions.

Authority – The inbound links to your content – like trackbacks & inbound links to a blog post or sites linking to a YouTube video.

Influence – The size of the user base subscribed to your content. Subscribers for blogs, feed or email
Followers on Twitter or Friendfeed. Fans of your Facebook page.

Sentiment, the “X-Factor” – The spirit driving user participation, because it really matters!

Yesterday, we noted some specific goals that are typically listed in discussions with franchise executives about venturing into Social Media and determining exactly what they would like to accomplish. This list includes:

Create or improve brand awareness
Increase business at unit level
Create or improve interest in franchise opportunity
Generate qualified franchise sales leads
Improve franchise sales efficiency
Improve communications throughout franchise system
Locally, regionally or nationally

But, as your Social Media program is moving along, don’t lose site of the not so obvious results that are often mixed in with the obvious results.

System-wide revenue – obvious
Customer satisfaction – not so obvious
Corporate profitability – obvious
System-wide stability – not so obvious
Franchise development – obvious
Vendor / Supplier reaction – not so obvious

I look forward to your questions and comments.

*This post was originally published on this site March 2011

An Hour a Day with The Big Three Social Networks

I often hear many individuals state they don’t have enough time in a day for social media. Well, I know we can all squeeze in an hour of social media work somewhere, but the key is to do it efficiently to accomplish doing it effectively.

Just like eating an elephant, take one bite at a time. Never try to do too much at one time. And, try to make all your social media activity relevant and in line with your goals and objectives for entering social media in the first place. Once you’re past the development stage of setting up accounts at the Big Three social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, including establishing “complete” profiles, dedicate 15 minutes to each network which I recommend doing so at the beginning of the day. Total time spent – 45 minutes.

Check previous days’ activity, making sure to use each networks “notifications” features effectively. Respond to direct comments and requests accordingly. Check discussions and respond as necessary, review other individuals’ responses, always keeping an eye open for new contacts. Post a discussion, status statement as appropriate Again, keep your goals and objectives in mind. Last, post a few tidbits of information through links to items of interest to your target group. Hey, I hate to beat dead horse here, but make sure everything you do is in line with your goals and objectives for being involved in social media in the first place.

Establish Google Alerts so you know what is being said about you or your brand throughout the day. As you check your email, whether by computer or mobile device, take a glance at any alerts that have come through, and only immediately address negative comments. Then, at the end of your day, take five minutes to review each of the three networks activity, respond only to activity that is very pertinent or urgent, and mentally prepare for your next morning’s activity. This will give you some time to think about discussion responses, etc. Total time spent – 15 minutes.

Shortcuts and Tools Help!

As for posting links to tidbits of information, as you progress through the day, keep an eye open for information through newsletters you subscribe to and in reading news online. When you find something of relevance, bookmark it for later in the day. Use tiny urls to convert long links to manageable links and to accommodate 140 characters within Twitter. Learn how to use key tools such as Facebook applications that convert your Facebook activity to Twitter activity, and applications that enable you to post in advance throughout the week.

*This post was originally published on this site March 2011

Starting your social media program with the “Big Three”

Once your social media strategy has been developed, the resources have been committed and everyone is on board, it’s time to put the plan into action. Just like when you first started to read and count, you began with the “Big Three” of A-B-C and 1-2-3. Well, in social media, we’ll start with the Big Three of L-F-T, otherwise known as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Here are some very simple activity highlights that should help you along:

LinkedIn

Develop company LinkedIn profile
Each LinkedIn group has a discussion feature
Start out responding & answering questions
Earn the right to post questions / discussions
Be proactive in LinkedIn Q & A forum

Facebook

Create Facebook page for your brand
Frequently post items of interest & links
Routinely post information about your concept
Utilize photos, videos & blogs

Twitter

Post links that “touch” your franchise concept
Post links to your concept’s website and blogs
Post links to press releases, events and appearances
Search and follow celebrities for causes to align with
Research followers’ profile and follow significant individuals
Search and follow individuals and companies within ideal franchise profile
Post general items of interest and importance to your concept and franchise customers

As you progress in your social media efforts, follow the list below to enhance the foundation you’ve established with your activity:

Develop and promote a company blog
Develop and promote webinars
Post photos on Flickr
Post videos on YouTube
Explore niche social networks
Explore internet radio
Tag, Tag, Tag, wherever possible
Link to social networking sites
Integrate efforts with traditional strategies

Simple enough, right?

I look forward to your questions and comments…

*This post was originally published on this site March 2011

Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Social Media within a Franchise Organization

So, you may be thinking that it’s about time you and your franchise organization jumped into the social media pool. Of course, it’s not too late! Throughout the day, we will take a shot at simplifying social media with the hope that all phobias and concerns will be put to rest and venturing into the social media pool will be a piece of cake. So, here we go!

Recently, we addressed developing a social media plan of action around our simple Social Media e-IDEA. Well, let’s simplify that even further and get you to do a little homework beforehand. Your assignment is to answer the key questions of Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? to make certain you’re heading in the right direction.

Who? (Identify your targets)

Know your ideal franchisee profile
Know your targets

What? (Manage the conversation)

Determine and integrate social media responsibilities within current job function or position
Identify and train “voices” of the company and brand
Develop social media guidelines for the entire franchise system including negative response protocol

When? (Plan accordingly)

Review previous day’s activity
Determine today’s objectives
Determine corresponding activities
Divide the day accordingly
Be certain to monitor alerts
Use social media tools wisely
Encourage regular participation
Prepare for evenings & weekends
Key: Quality over Quantity

Where? (Locate your targets)

Know where your targets “listen and speak”

Why? (Some possible goals and objectives are listed)

Create or improve brand awareness
Increase business at unit level
Create or improve interest in franchise opportunity
Generate qualified franchise sales leads
Improve franchise sales efficiency
Improve communications throughout franchise system
Locally, regionally or nationally

How? (Making it happen)

Determine specific goals and objectives
Focus all marketing efforts
Know what’s going on at all times

*This post was originally published on this site March 2011

Why Local Businesses Need to Embrace Social Media

There’s an interesting discussion with the same title going on in the Linkedin Small Biz Nation group. The discussion begins with, “The lifeblood of any business is a continuing stream of customers. Local businesses have a special challenge because the available marketing has defined geographic limits. Today the marketing opportunities for local businesses are changing. The once powerful yellow pages is no longer a viable approach – what did you do with the last yellow pages book delivered to your front door? Like you, I promptly placed in the recycle bind.”

Last I checked there were over 75 comments with no apparent end in sight. Definitely proof that social media is on the forefront of the minds of small business owners everywhere. The responses to this discussion shed some great insight on how small business owners should be using social media at the local level. I’ve listed several below…

An Integrated Approach

“One of the tactics business are using related to social media is to develop an integrated approach, but this take a commitment. For example, businesses that take the time to create a blog, use Twitter to micro-blog along a specific theme and then build a list supported by a newsletter have a great platform for building business opportunities. There is no substitute for a well thought out plan and a strong implementation. The approach to local search is a broad topic, but one important task is the registration process – creating a strong profile [as is true with sites like LinkedIn] is essential.”

Improving SEO Results

“Get yourself in directories like Google Maps / Places, HotFrog, Yahoo Local, etc… These do help your SEO results. Also gear your website towards local keywords. This way when someone is searching for your business in their area, you will appear. If you own a business in California that is a local service, it doesn’t help you much to try and get ranked for totally generic keywords about your business. Start with local keywords and move from there. I also like to put a different phone number on all of these directories to see what’s driving call volume, if you are looking for phone calls that is. This way you know where to spend your time and where not to.”

Outsourcing Social Media Efforts

“To embrace social media sometimes you have to outsource this function. Here are a few thoughts on Outsourcing Social Media Marketing. Firms that you outsource to should be able to create well integrated campaigns in your brand’s voice. Here are a few steps they should take to help you:

Develop a strategy – not just a bunch of unrelated accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn.
Use a process based on implicitly asking the questions “So what?” and “Now what?” repeatedly.
Show you how social media marketing requires more than simply showing up
Demonstrate the value of having a plan
Provide evidence they can execute the plan and change it as conditions change
Explain how a successful social media strategy elevates your company’s presence
Show the path for bringing visitors to your website (Blog, eBook, event, store, etc.),
Measure your ultimate success by tracking the number of leads generated and converted from visitors to paying customers

A social media strategist can devise a strategy to help you achieve these and other objectives.”

Making Social Media a Priority

“It is so important to use social media tools that I now schedule at least an hour daily. I have to be flexible on the time because I have a family, need painting time in the studio and am involved in community activities. I am going to try to schedule activities the way you suggest by priority but I think the number one task is to keep my website/blog updated on a regular basis. When that is done I can quickly send the update to Twitter, FB and LinkedIn. The other important task is to keep following and reading articles on using SM and through my RSS feed I can keep up with the most relevant sources. These tasks have moved to the top of my to-do list.”

Where Does Google Fit In?

“Everyone that has a small business within a town or city should be using Google Places, as Google maintains that 1 in 5 searches are “local” i.e., keyword + city, and for said local searches, most of the page is taken up by Google Places listings. And the only way to break into that first page of searches is with an optimized Google Places listing. Some local searches are searched ALOT, I’m talking 1,500 times a month. And the first position gets around 40% of the total traffic. I mean, what are leads worth to your business? Someone searches plumber in San Diego, what do you think they’re looking for?”

Adding Customer Reviews to the Mix

“Local search is a powerful way to connect with potential customers and it works very well regardless of the type of business you own – at least I know of no exceptions. While Google Places is the most popular site for local search, I would recommend including Bing and Yahoo. There are additional sites that you can use to gain visibility and support your local search ranking. The list is long and there are services to help you. One important element of any local search campaign [in addition to those Garrett mentioned] is reviews. Obtaining reviews and back links are probably the two most powerful things you can do to improve your ranking. While it can take time to optimize your profile and distribute it on different sites, there is little doubt that doing so will make a measurable difference in your sales pipeline.”

Yes, it has been an interesting discussion with a wealth of information and insight provided, proving once again the power of Linkedin and social networking.

Please feel free to add your comments below.