Kathie Melocco - Health Activism

Blog dedicated to Social Justice and Health and Wellbeing Activism

April 18, 2010

Social Media - the basics, getting started

Companies including start-ups have shown that one can approach social media marketing in a diligent manner.

Be it for identifying the best skill set or reaping real benefits, such companies have set several benchmarks. The way such companies approach and handle social media marketing initiatives have ensured that social media has now taken its rightful place in the suite of marketing initiatives. Such campaigns can be evaluated using some traditional ROI metrics, plus there have been some new takes on what ROI means in the context of the social web.

Aligning a company’s social networking strategy with that of a company’s brand and then integrating social elements into the fabric of everything you do online:

I think, first and foremost, you have to understand your business goals and the metrics you are trying to influence, be it traffic, members, revenue. Next figure out which social networks your market uses the most and how best to promote your brand. A big challenge is justifying resources towards a social marketing strategy so you can manage, monitor, measure and integrate what you do. It’s better to concentrate on a couple of initiatives and not spread yourself too thin. This will also make it easier to take an integrated approach and allow you to effectively cross promote your initiatives.

How should you approach social media marketing as an ongoing initiative:


Once you’ve launched your initiative, you do have to invest time into monitoring how it’s going so you can feed the fire. Listen and respond to tweets or blog posts. If something isn’t working, be honest, change it fast and let people know, whether it’s a small bug, or an oversight (e.g. Google Buzz) with regards to their privacy settings. The community will let you know and it’s important to acknowledge and communicate fixes or progress to resolution. Listening to feedback is a valuable way to inform the product. Also, measure what you can on the likes of bit.ly or Google Analytics, and apply tracking codes to events, such as Facebook Connect, so you can make changes and track improvement.

What makes people contribute to a social site/ why do people get excited about using social media:

Why do people talk to each other? This is just another way of exchanging information and having a conversation. Whether it’s your friends on Facebook or a group of people who share a common interest, social networks facilitate the conversation. It’s immediate so you can give and receive feedback. A response can also spark ideas, suggestions or debate from other participants. This also makes it fun and engaging to those who are participating and those observing from the sidelines. There’s also fulfilling the basic desire of human nature of recognition, attention and reward. That holds true both personally and professionally.

Countering low social media perception:

Again, people talk and listen to their friends. Social networks just happen to make those conversations more public. As a company or a brand you have to tune in where you can, participate where it’s appropriate and respond. Again, use tools like Google Alerts to monitor blogs and Twitter to monitor what's being said. Let people know as you roll out new enhancements or features that help solve issues that have been raised. View social media as another vehicle for customer service.

What are the best ways to measure the ROI of advertising campaigns in a social media environment:

In making their investment, I think most marketers are more concerned with building a presence on social networking sites rather than paying for advertising. That being said, ad spending on Facebook is soaring and expected to grow 34 percent in the United States in 2010 (eMarketer). The best opportunity exists in tying paid media to earned media. This is unlikely to come from classic banner ads but more through engagements ads, which are more viral and encourage people to interact with the brand. The most popular metric to measure ROI from advertising is still traffic, although engagement and softer metrics like number of followers and fans are important to track.

Traditional online campaigns that are either CPM or CPC based, though familiar, not necessarily being the optimal marketing tactics to use in the social media world:


Yes. Most marketers are looking to invest in building a social presence and capitalise on earned media—what consumers are saying and sharing about your company and brand. This way you have trusted, influential third parties talking about your brand and getting your message out for you rather than relying on paid placement alone. For that to happen you need to at least provide tools and buttons to allow information to be shared, offer something people feel compelled to share such as good content, trips, deals and contests, and invest effort in reaching out to influential bloggers for reviews.

How should companies differentiate between revenue and tracking:

Again it comes down to what your objectives are, which are not going to be the same for everyone. There are at least three categories of social media metrics: exposure (your reach), engagement (interactions) and outcomes (revenue, cost per lead, profit). Although hard metrics are desirable, it’s important to track soft metrics too, such as followers and friends because this contributes to building trust and goodwill towards your brand.

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