Gamelan LLC

Creative Business and Marketing Consulting

I Ran A Social Media Strategy Experiment & Here’s What Happened

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Let’s say you call a florist, and you have to leave a voicemail. Or, maybe you send an email. You wait for a reply. Nothing.

Earplugs should not be a part of any social media strategy
If your social media strategy was a person, would she be wearing earplugs?

Frustrating, isn’t it? You’ve probably been there before. It’s difficult to imagine someone being in business and letting inquiries go unanswered or ignoring opportunities to engage.

It’s also hard to imagine why you would have a phone or an email account if you didn’t bother to check the incoming communication.

But, that is exactly what happened in a recent informal experiment I ran using Twitter. True, it wasn’t exactly scientific. But, the process yielded some pretty useful insights for businesses and nonprofits alike.

So What Did I Do With Twitter?

I sent a variety of direct questions and shoutouts to businesses and other organizations. In most cases, these tweets were in direct response to being followed by the account.

A sample tweet might look like this:

[email protected] thanks for the follow! I haven’t visited #Springfield in a while. What’s a good time to visit?

Conversational. Engaging. Easy to include others in the conversation. This is exactly what marketers might kill for.

And What Were The Results?

Users – even pedestrian users – were generous with likes. 54% of the tweets generated likes from some source. This seems promising.

The surprising part? Only 8% generated either a mention or a private message in response. Crickets.

Don’t Forget The Social In Your Social Media Strategy

As a customer or interested prospect, imagine getting a “like” for your question, but no answer. It’s the equivalent of getting an automated message for your phone call that goes something like this . . . “We’re glad you called!” Click.

Business people – and even content marketers – can get so focused on using social media for pushing content that the social in social media gets lost. With so much noise out there, incoming communication – what’s supposed to be the heart and soul of social media – can be forgotten. It should not be. Incoming communication is one of the most effective ways to gain new eyeballs and prospects.

Is Your Social Media Strategy A One-Way or Two-Way Street?

In a later post, I’ll explore some of the potential causes for this neglect of engagement opportunities, but there are some big question to ask yourself right now before moving on:

Is your social media strategy one-way or two-way? Whether you’re a business or nonprofit, are you actively monitoring and managing your social media accounts? Or, are you just logging in to push out a message or a link occasionally?

If you think your strategy is more passive or it’s a one-way street, you’re very likely missing opportunities to engage on a meaningful level.

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This Email Marketer (Spammer) Has Really Bad Timing

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We can all agree that the killing of Cecil the Lion has been a disastrous event. Because of the foolish actions of a few, this unnecessary chain of events will have tremendous ripple effects on the lives and livelihoods of many.

But, apparently, not everyone got the memo. In my spam today, I received this gem:

Email subject from a poorly timed email marketing campaign
Sample spam from “Your African Safari.” I hoped it was a phishing scam.

And the email goes something like this:

Email marketing spam for African safaris
Sample from our spammer’s poorly timed “email marketing” campaign on African safaris.

I actually would like this to be a phishing scam, because I don’t want to think that someone would send this message out with this kind of timing. I fear they did though. I checked the links for malware and phishing threats, and it actually checked out.

So, assuming it is for real, let’s use this as a teachable moment in messaging and email marketing (besides, obviously, don’t spam).

Relevance and Timeliness in Social Media and Email Marketing

On the topic of “don’t spam,” keeping your message relevant for your audience is the key takeaway. Our sample email here was purely spam to a mass, unqualified list.

Don't have your head in the sand when email marketing
Yes, the required, cliche, yet safe-for-work clip art illustrating the state of being out of touch.

From a broader perspective, this email reminds me of a presentation by a social media marketing thought leader who warned against scheduling content release. Her reasoning was that a friendly – or at least an appropriate – environment and context can’t always be guaranteed.

At the very least, it requires that you know:

  1. Generally what is going on in the world.
  2. What messages are being communicated.
  3. When those messages are being communicated.

Otherwise, you run the risk of making the wrong statement at the wrong time.

The Right Message at the Right Time

You can however communicate the right message at the right time.

Not all safari trips are hunting trips of course. On the surface, our example here does not seem to be advertising trips for hunting. But, the first thought I had while scanning the subject line was “Cecil the Lion,” because that’s in the news right now. Not good. If this business was working with the right marketer, they would leverage the opportunity and duty to differentiate their work plus highlight the enjoyment of African wildlife’s beauty. At the appropriate time.

Even if this is a hunting safari business, they could use this opportunity to gain visibility on responsible practices in hunting. They could even help make the case for the positive impacts responsible hunting practices can have in a habitat or ecosystem. They would then begin to differentiate their business from others in the hunting tourism industry. Again, at the appropriate time.

Messages in support of big game hunting won’t be popular with everyone. But, you aren’t always trying to convince everyone – you want to speak with those who are interested in engaging with you in a specific way. In other words, by engagement, I don’t mean hate mail or death threats.

Even during what might seem the worst possible moments, you can – and perhaps even should – play a part in a healthy dialogue that often needs to happen.

And yes, there is a difference between email marketing and spamming.

What current events impact your business’ blogging or social media – for good or bad? Need help sorting it all out? I want to hear from you. Please reach out.

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Why and How: Web Site Marketing vs Social Media Marketing

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To many, it may seem obvious that marketing via web site and marketing via social media require different approaches. Yet, if we think about how we’ve generated content for web sites versus social media, we’re likely to find that our messages really haven’t always been that different. Why? When we sell something,  we tend to stick to the general message of “buy this thing.” As a result, our web sites and social media tend to carry loose variations of that message.

A Marketing Case in Point

Recently, while going through some web analytics for an organization I work with, I discovered a perfect illustration of how the purposes of web site marketing and social media marketing differ.

A web site new visits traffic trend graph.
On this web site traffic trend graph of new visits, take a look at how traffic ramps up before the event.

Take a look at the two charts on this page. Both capture a segment of time around a public event for this organization. The event is is easy to spot by the peak on both graphs – one for new web site visits and one for total reach on Facebook.

But, look at how traffic ramps up to the event on the new visits traffic report, then drops off. On the Facebook total reach graph, look at how reach suddenly spikes but stays elevated and tapers off.

Social media marketing can have a lingering effect.
This graph of Facebook reach shows how engagement spikes, then tapers off more slowly.

 

Why the Difference?

In the traditional marketing sense, one would think that all traffic would peak at the event, then drop off until the next marketing message blast goes out. But it doesn’t work that way anymore.

The reason is the way in which people use these two medium forms. Think about how you use a web site versus social media when you attend an event. Generally speaking, you’ll use the web site for things like address, directions, and tickets. In the days after, you’ll use social media to see pictures from the event, read your friends’ crazy accounts and share your own.

How You Can Use The Differences in These Marketing Vehicles to Your Advantage

Instead of gearing up for a major sales or marketing event then engaging in that collective sigh of relief once it’s behind you, think about how your marketing messages can differ before and after the event. Pre-event messaging has always been obvious. But, social media offers an opportunity to drive residual and lasting engagement.

In most cases, you can get more mileage than you initially think from that event or sales push. And often, you can find those different marketing messages by thinking about what you as a customer would be looking for from the medium.

Do you have an example of how this difference has been illustrated for you? I’d like to know about it. Please comment below or reach out on Twitter: @GamelanLLC.

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