Business was so much easier during the Middle Ages.  Establish your fiefdom, keep the serfs happy, collect taxes and fend off the occasional barbarian hoard or the jealous younger sibling.  Oftentimes a monarch with a large domain to protect couldn’t afford a standing army or a well-stocked armory.  Thus was born just-in-time defense and the invention of the “freelance”— knights expert in the art of war who would sell their battlefield prowess to any lord or baron with enough gold, precious stones or land to render payment.

So what does this WayBack Machine story have to do with social media?  Actually, quite a bit.  Today, businesses large and small operate with the assistance of “freelancers,” outsourcing services and tasks to a cadre of consultants, advisers, agencies, specialists or just plain outside contractors and vendors.  Add to that the new career ethic, which encourages employees to stay no longer than a few years at any company, the antithesis of the job-for-life dynamic of prior generations.  It all works quite well for businesses looking to save on payroll expenses, leverage unique or special expertise and remain competitive in the global economy.   But it may not always work so well in the realm of social media, unless you structure your business hires, partnerships and relationships for this new dynamic in public relations, marketing and sales.

The Portable Pixelated You

In recent news from the front pages of social media, litigation is brewing between a company called PhoneDog and a now former employee named Noah Kravitz.  It seems Mr. Kravitz set up a Twitter account called @Phonedog_Noah (combining the company brand with his personal name) and proceeded to help market the company’s products and otherwise engage with the Twittersphere as a paid employee.  He attracted upwards of 17,000 followers, and apparently did a pretty good job of helping the company expand its market presence.  So far, so good.  Then Mr. Kravitz decided to leave the company, and take his Twitter account followers with him.  (He renamed the account to @NoahKravitz.)

The company is naturally none-too-pleased.  From its view, the Twitter follower list is tantamount to a customer list.  And therein lies at least one of the hotly debated social media issues, with well-reasoned arguments on either side.  The last time I checked, companies usually frown on employees who walk away with corporate assets such as customer lists or sales databases.  But a group of Twitter followers is more than a list; it’s a unique construct in social media.  Followers are wedded to an individual Twitter account – and that’s usually a person.  After all, people like to engage with other people, and not the veil of a company logo (that is, if you are doing your social media right).  And Twitter accounts are obviously highly portable.  Mr. Kravitz reportedly has claimed that he had a separation agreement with the company (let’s hope it was in writing) indicating he could keep the Twitter account and occasionally tweet for the company.  PhoneDog now reportedly claims those followers represent a $340,000 corporate investment.  Mr. Kravitz then countered with a claim against the value of the company website’s gross advertising revenue, along with back pay for work done as a video reviewer and blogger.  The fur flies.

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2

When news of the lawsuit spread, the obvious reaction was to advise companies to lawyer up, rewrite employee and vendor contracts, set new corporate social media policies, and call it a day.  That should take care of any business hiring or contracting with a social media specialist toting an established portfolio of followers.  More or less, it’s a prenuptial agreement with provisions for when (not if) the divorce clause kicks in.  So contrary to Mr. Shakespeare, the lawyers actually do come in very handy in this situation.   But the law may have reached it limits when it comes to the nuances of marketing products and services via social media.

Will The Real Follower Please Stand Up

It’s hard to tell where PhoneDog v. Kravitz will end up, though I tend to think the company will probably lose this round because the relationship between the two parties seems a bit murky.  Plus the notion that followers are intellectual property opens the proverbial Pandora’s Box.  Which followers?  Acquired when?  What about non-business friends?  And do we count the purveyors of get-rich-quick schemes, automated bot follows, bogus “follower wins” via Twitter gaming apps and those very friendly “ladies” with few followers and even fewer tweets?  If the individual prevails, do companies then circle the wagons even further in an effort to prevent employees or hired experts from walking away with a bounty of social media wealth?

But we’d still be missing the larger issue.

Social media influencers, especially the good ones, increasingly are becoming celebrities in their own right.  They may be followed and liked and +1’d for who they are as much as whatever company, client, product or service they work for or represent.  They are, effectively, their own brands.  Social media marketing is still relatively young as a new business paradigm, and in time companies will hire employees or contractors who will bring more to the game than a good education and a robust resume of job experience.  Businesses will be recruiting PR, marketing and sales employees or contractors with a global social media marketing presence that is recognized, valued, marketable and — for good or ill — highly portable.

Take Your Marbles and Go Home

When the PhoneDog v. Kravitz dustup first hit the social media news radar, in a tweet I used the example of Scott Monty, the well-known social media representative for Ford Motor Company.  Not surprisingly, Scott was (and probably always is) listening and jumped into the stream (duplicate information edited):

@joeldon If @scottmonty quits Ford, do the followers stay with the automaker or shift gears into his new gig? http://bit.ly/vrhwjD #pr #marketing

@ScottMonty @joeldon They can follow @Ford #pr #marketing

@joeldon Yes, but your brand has intertwined w/ Ford. A complex separation.

@ScottMonty But we had each established brands before we came together. As did Alan Mulally. #pr #marketing

Scott indeed makes my point.  He had an established brand before Ford.  But when people talk about and cite examples of success in social media, invariably you can’t showcase Ford without mentioning Scotty Monty.  They are virtually synonymous in any Top 10 list of social media business done right.  And maybe this relationship is forever.  Or maybe not.  Hired by Mercedes or GM or even Apple Computer, Scott’s 68,000+ Twitter followers go with him.  As do the blog readers, the Facebook friends and the Google+ circles.  Scott Monty is a brand, strong in its own right, yet currently intertwined with a company like a braided candle fueling a united flame.  Separating the braids is none too easy, but it can be done.  And each piece, i.e. each brand, will continue to glow and will more than likely prosper.  Sure followers of Ford not particularly interested in Scott’s thoughts and exchanges can gravitate to other Ford Twitter handles, as Scott suggested.  After all, companies jettison brands and divisions and products all the time.  At the risk, of course, of antagonizing or even losing longtime customers, who today may also be “friends” and “followers.”  Look at Netflix and its now-failed attempt to shunt DVD disk renters to a new domain called Qwikster.

What’s Mine is Mine, What’s Yours is Mine

Now Scott Monty (and other social media celebrities) might argue that if or when he leaves Ford, the followers can stick around or unfollow him.  This is very true; no one is held hostage after all.  But let’s take a look at the current case.  Mr. Kravitz didn’t do so badly after jumping ship from PhoneDog.  As we say in public relations, good PR or bad PR, it’s all good.  His Twitter followers have swelled by more than 40 percent, now exceeding 24,000.  Sure social media is not supposed to be a numbers game.  But Mr. Kravitz, and not the company, has the numbers.  Breaking up is so hard to do, but it didn’t hurt the metrics.

So you just hired an employee with a sizzling social media resume or consultant/agency boasting a marquee online presence.  What do you do to protect your social business investment?   You could bring in the lawyers, or I can save you a lot of money.  Lay the “before and after” on the table and have a very special kind of conversation.  If you hired the right social media expert, that person will be able to map out the ground rules for the commingling of the two brands, and the graceful way that the two will part company.  Not comfortable with what you hear?  Then perhaps you should seek outside counsel, ideally an attorney active in social media who understands the terrain.  But remember that your social media expert is not a traditional employee or a typical outside contractor.  By definition there is a symbiotic relationship between the two brands; so recognize that you don’t have a hired gun who will evaporate when the contract concludes.  Your social media champion is effectively your partner, and you each have vested interests in mutual, long-term success.

It’s one thing when a company changes it products or services, dispenses with a brand, or merges or acquires new assets.  But when you hire a social media expert or celebrity, the personal brand is part of the package deal.  Leverage it, grow with it, maximize your conversions.  But have your well-devised exit strategy in place and have it prepared well in advance.  Terminating an employee in the social media realm showcases the transparency of new media; it is a public strategy.  So the separation of the two brands should be spelled out in your PR and marketing plan before contracts are signed, before you convince, convert and celebrate the ROI.  The last thing you want is for your social media lightening rod to turn his or her lance in your direction.  Legal should be the last recourse.  The kings and lords of the Dark Ages knew this well, or at least the ones who lived long, healthy lives.

Joel Don  (1 Posts)

This monthly Social Business Trends post is contributed by Joel Don. Joel is principal of Comm Strategies, a public relations and social media agency. He was formally trained as a journalist, working for newspapers and magazines throughout the country. Before starting his own PR business, Joel worked for several agencies, served as a public information officer at UCLA and UC Irvine and directed business and financial communications at a Fortune 500 computer manufacturer. Along the way, Joel founded a company that delivered an online PR measurement solution at the early start of the social media revolution. His current "sidebar" project is a software application designed to make billing time, tracking projects and client reporting for PR and marketing fun again (really).

Plan?! We don’t need no stinkin’ planning! LOL. Three years ago when I made the decision to jump into the waters of social media, I did just that. I jumped in. I had no goals and no plan to reach those goals. I had been given a loaded gun, my finger had been placed on the trigger, and I had no idea as to which end of the device that the bullets would come out of. Bullets hurt.

Let’s talk about goals first and then we will raise some important questions that you will need to answer in order to formulate your plan. As a B2B salesperson, your goals should be to …

• Expand your network
• Promote your existing products or services and introduce new ones
• Establish your expertise
• Find and create strategic alliances
• Find new revenue sources
• Uncover new opportunities and convert those to sales
• Get more referrals from both clients and contacts
• Build closer relationships with your existing clients and develop relationships with new ones
• Learn more about who your clients are connected to
• Seek advice from others and that includes your clients
• Provide better customer service
• Monitor and protect your brand
• Keep your pipeline full and increase your closing ratios
• Track key-contact career movements

Ultimately, as a salesperson, my primary goal is to sell more stuff. I also want to manage my relationships with my customers. There. I said it. “How crass is that! Customers don’t want to be managed and, for that matter, I don’t sell to people! I help people to buy!”  Whatever. You can phrase it however it makes you feel comfortable but, it is what it is and these overall goals in no way suggest an adversarial seller-buyer relationship. I manage customer relationships to ensure my ability to exceed my customer’s expectations. This is smart selling and it is the crux of social selling. Meeting customer expectations is a neutral experience. They got what they expected. Do you think that they even remember those transactions? I sure don’t. Exceeding your customer’s expectations is the only way to make your relationship invaluable. Here’s the best part. Customers are no longer solely the object of this process. Instead, they are now a contributing part of it. Relationships flow in both directions and relationships are key in all aspects of selling, social or otherwise!

Had I taken the time to even think about my goals, let alone write them down, I would have been way ahead! At that time, I had no concept of the power of social media and how it could help me to actually meet any goals at all so, that would be my lame defense. What expectations I did have were both unrealistic and entirely too narrowly defined. I flopped around like a fish on a deck.

With your goals in hand, these are just a few of the questions that you need to be asking yourself, and planning for, before you venture out. Fail to plan and you plan to fail. I am trying to keep these questions sales-centric with the assumption that you are running your own campaign.

• Where are my prospects? If you handle a specific geographic area, you will want to use tools like advanced search (LinkedIn and Twitter), and groups, in order to target folks within your area.
• What social networking sites are they likely to be active on or are they likely to be found? This will also vary by individual. For example, I spend a lot of time on Twitter but, not much time on Facebook. Where would we be most likely to connect?
• What tools will I need? You can jump from site to site and have a bunch of tabs open and miss half of what is going on or you can at least consider a client like HootSuite (or the tool that @NealSchaffer recommends SocialSprout) that will allow you to monitor, contribute, and engage with all of your major social networks from within one application.
• What value will you provide? What do you want to say? Social Selling is the law of attraction vs. interruption and you do that by providing value to your audience. This same value can be used to establish your expertise.
• What about blogging? It’s a great way to establish and share your expertise. I use WordPress.org and this site is based on that same platform. WordPress.com is a great way to get your feet wet. Both are free but you will need to arrange for hosting and a domain name on a WP.org site.
• Are using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program? If not, bad dog! Take a look at Nimble which is a true Social CRM that aggregates all of your conversations via your various channels. I am a Solution Partner and would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
• How about a mailing list? Email newsletters can be a great way to keep your contact base involved and to engage them with you and your company! MailChimp is free with certain limitations and very cost-effective for more robust lists and campaigns.
• Are you promoting you, your company, or both? I like “both”. Always remember that people buy from you first and then from your company. People buy from people that they like and trust.
• Will you be an open networker or a more closed one? I made HUGE errors in this area! I started out fairly closed (particular about who I connected with). Part of this was quality control and the other part of it was centered on the fact that my existing services would be available only in the Boise, Idaho area. Well, guess what? My services have evolved to world-wide and you-know-who now finds himself making up for three years of shortsightedness.
• How will you stay up with the latest trends in both social media and your industry?  Subscribe to great sites like this one to automatically get their latest articles. I use Google Reader to manage these subscriptions. These subscriptions will also provide you with valuable information that you can share with others! I invested in Neal Schaffer’s books (available on this site) and so should you!

Now we arrive at the final two critical questions …

• How much time are you willing to spend on social media?
• How will you track your results?

I won’t kid you. Social media has the potential of being a huge “time suck”, a black hole. However, if you get drawn into the vortex, whose fault is that? You can manage an effective social media presence in as little as 15-20 minutes per day or you can invest more or less as your time allows. Remember this … in the world of social business, quality trumps quantity and quality certainly takes no more time. In most cases, a few strategic actions and contributions will take much less time, and generate more success, than blasting the web with a shotgun approach. This brings us to …

How will you track your results? Let me step back first. If my time and effort invested in social media activities generates awesome and quantifiable results, the most bang for my buck, would I be inclined to invest more or less time in this pursuit? We always invest our time on those activities that yield us the higher return and forego those that do not. ROI 101. Metrics are important. There are many free tools that will assist you in tracking visitors to your website (Google Analytics) and in informing you how your specific posts are resonating with your followers (CrowdBooster, TwentyFeet, SocialBro, HootSuite). Some folks I know use basic spreadsheets to track time spent, opportunities created, and sales closed as a direct result of social media activities.  Of course, using social media to direct followers to a specific landing page on your site that includes a call to action and maybe some sort of free download in exchange for their contact information will give you instantaneous metrics as well as help you to build your mailing list. Tracking specific updates that link to specific pages on your sites, is another great indicator of your effectiveness. Adjust where needed. Duplicate what works and dump that which does not. Always remember the definition of insanity … “Doing the same crappy thing over and over again but expecting different and better results”.

What has your experience been in terms of planning and results? What suggestions can you give to others who are just now considering taking the plunge?

Craig M. Jamieson  (4 Posts)

This monthly Social Media for B2B Sales post is contributed by Craig M. Jamieson. Craig has been in B2B sales since 1977 and during that time has served in a variety of positions including; sales manager, division sales manager, national sales manager, district manager, and as a business owner. He is the managing partner of Sales Results LLC in Boise, Idaho which owns and operates NetWorks! Boise Valley B2B Networking Groups, is a Nimble Social CRM Solution Partner, and Craig also conducts workshops and seminars relating to sales and social business applications.

Craig M. Jamieson  (4 Posts)

This monthly Social Media for B2B Sales post is contributed by Craig M. Jamieson. Craig has been in B2B sales since 1977 and during that time has served in a variety of positions including; sales manager, division sales manager, national sales manager, district manager, and as a business owner. He is the managing partner of Sales Results LLC in Boise, Idaho which owns and operates NetWorks! Boise Valley B2B Networking Groups, is a Nimble Social CRM Solution Partner, and Craig also conducts workshops and seminars relating to sales and social business applications.

It almost goes without saying that marketers must generate leads. Interactions in social media pose a challenge because their connection to lead nurture isn’t always easy to see. Marketing automation (MA) software can help marketers manage their lead generation efforts and leverage the power of social media.

Why Marketing Automation Inspires Passion

I’ve worked as a B2B marketing manager for a number of years. Like many in my field, I had always tracked the overall performance of key touchpoints, like events and the website. However, when I focused on reporting marcom’s contribution to the sales funnel specifically, I faced greater challenges. I would compare Sales’ data on recent “wins” to Marketing data, such as opened emails or attendance at webinars and seminars, relying on our CRM when possible. Nonetheless, calculating campaign ROI was time-consuming and, sometimes, headache-worthy.

My employer was willing to invest in marketing, but needed to see how marketing was contributing to closed deals. I needed an efficient way to view marcom’s impact on leads as they progressed to a sale. Also, since social media was beginning to take hold, I wanted a simple way to determine whether channels such as blogs engaged our prospects.

It was then that I attended a presentation on a relatively new tool called marketing automation (MA) software. The presenters came from Eloqua, a leading MA provider. Oh, happy day. I had just found a new passion – a tool that could help me generate and track ROI.

What Is Marketing Automation

Marketing automation software provides a comprehensive overview of marketing campaigns. MA platforms host creative assets and automatically launch campaigns based on CRM segmentation or prospects’ digital behavior. They record the traffic from various communications channels, including social media, and also score leads. ROI reporting is a key benefit — MA tools provide statistics on marcom’s contribution to closed deals. (Read excellent definitions of marketing automation by Carlos Hidalgo and Mac McIntosh.)

How Marketing Automation Vendors Are Incorporating Social Media

SoftwareAdvice.com describes integration of social media with marketing automation as one of the major trends for 2012. What does that look like, exactly?

Marketing automation solutions incorporating social media may do one or more of the following:

1. Capture information shared in social channels and add it to a contact’s profile
2. Use social sign-in for quick response on landing pages
3. Use “social sharing” features in email to encourage recipients to share content
4. Embed social feeds or videos into landing pages
5. Track contribution of social sites to website traffic
6. Monitor conversations by prospects on key social channels
7. Manage updates to major social channels (automated posting)
8. Adjust lead scoring to reflect social conversations

Integrating Social Media in MA Isn’t Just Trendy – It’s Smart

Now let’s get to the point – why should we focus on the effective use of social media features in MA tools? Because …

Integrating social media into marketing automation improves demand generation effectiveness.

Consider these benefits:

1. Improved data to measure social media ROI. MA reports provide insight into social media’s influence on campaign performance.
2. Deeper information on prospects and customers. Social profiles help Sales understand prospects as individuals and help Marketing identify key influencers in the social space.
3. More complete view of prospects’ digital behavior. Data about which web pages a prospect visited, or which emails he opened, is more accurate when coupled with information about which social sites he used while considering your product.
4. Greater awareness of your published content. The personal nature of social sharing complements the more impersonal distribution through search optimization.
5. Reach more buyers and engage more prospects. Social sharing features allow you to leverage the power of viral marketing to reach contacts outside your CRM.

I hope we’ll see the day when virtually all marketers use automation tools. These platforms provide marketers with ways to work smarter and do a better job. Plus, we’ll dodge a few headaches. That’s a win in everyone’s book!

Disclaimer

This blog will feature a variety of references to vendors, consultants and thought leaders. I will try to highlight a variety of providers and their philosophies. Reference to a specific vendor doesn’t constitute an endorsement of their product.

Deborah Anne Gibbs  (1 Posts)

Passionate about product marketing, lead generation and marketing automation, Deborah Gibbs has over 10 years, experience in communications and program management. Her marketing experience includes a wide range of industries, including high tech, automotive and medical devices. She is Pragmatic Marketing certified and, for fun, enjoys jazz, Portuguese and anything Brazilian.

Deborah Anne Gibbs  (1 Posts)

Passionate about product marketing, lead generation and marketing automation, Deborah Gibbs has over 10 years, experience in communications and program management. Her marketing experience includes a wide range of industries, including high tech, automotive and medical devices. She is Pragmatic Marketing certified and, for fun, enjoys jazz, Portuguese and anything Brazilian.

Back to basics is a theme I’ve seen with many nonprofit organizations over the past couple of years. With the economy slow to rebound, many NPOs have found that investing money in new ideas and new platforms isn’t really the right move for right now. This also means that many NPOs have avoided jumping into social media or expanding on their use of it. The basics are good – it’s what put most large NPOs on the map. The problem is that in the ever changing landscape of business and technology, even the basics have to change a little. NPOs need to embrace this change and learn to innovate the basics. Social media can do just that.

So what are the basics? It’s different for each NPO, but most organizations have a menu combination including some or all of the following: special events, year-end appeals, major gifts, education and/or advocacy programs. Sticking to what we know is good. But we can use social media to innovate all of these platforms to increase revenue and awareness.

Special Events

No matter what type of event has become your signature money maker, social media can help make it better. If you are planning a fundraising walk, run, or bike ride then social media is an optimal place for you to start recruiting. Promote the event on Facebook and Google+, highlight top fundraisers on your blog or Twitter, and make sure your website has a thermometer to keep track of where you are to goal on the event. Hosting a dinner auction? Create weekly posts to show off the best auction items you’ll have to offer. Create an invitation to post in all of your LinkedIn group message boards. Take advantage of the opportunity to sell more tickets online. Try special online sites that help you organize, plan and promote your event like Eventbrite. For more information read Mashable’s article “How To: Plan and Promote Events with Social Media.”

Year-End Appeals and Major Gifts

People give to your organization for many different reasons. But one thing many donors have in common is that they give because it feels good. Being recognized for good deeds also feels good. Take advantage of your built-in audience on social media sites and highlight and thank your most generous donors. You’ll want to get their permission first, but publically thanking people goes a long way to creating an ongoing relationship. For more information about innovating year-end appeals, read my December blog post “Nonprofits and Social Media: Putting the Appeal Back in Annual Campaigns.”

Education and Advocacy Programs

Education and advocacy programs probably aren’t making your organization a lot of money, but it’s key to developing awareness and cultivating relationships. The best press is free press and social media allows you all the air time you want to advertise your programs. Take it a step further and put up fast facts about upcoming program topics on Facebook and Twitter or spotlight a guest speaker in your blog. Post clips of videos from your last program on YouTube or Google+.  Put up links to your website that feature research articles, inspirational stories and other items you think will be of interest to your audience. While broadcasting your cause is important, remember the key to success is creating conversation. For more tips on how to use social media to further your advocacy efforts and promote education, read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s article, “How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media to Spark Change.”

The basics are good. Innovating the basics is better. Whether you’re just starting with social media or your efforts have just stalled out, there’s no time like the present to get back on track.

Amy Stephan  (7 Posts)

This monthly Social Media and Nonprofits post is contributed by Amy Stephan. Amy is a consultant and non-profit professional with more than 10 years of field experience working in fundraising and development. She provides nonprofits with help in fundraising and major gifts, capital campaigns, board and volunteer development and staff leadership, working with organizations of all sizes to plan, implement and assess social media strategies. While holding leadership positions with local branches of organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the American Diabetes Association, Amy developed a passion for all things related to fundraising and non-profits. In addition to her non-profit work, she is a freelance writer and blogger who has worked as a full-time writer and editor for daily newspapers and magazines.

Amy Stephan  (7 Posts)

This monthly Social Media and Nonprofits post is contributed by Amy Stephan. Amy is a consultant and non-profit professional with more than 10 years of field experience working in fundraising and development. She provides nonprofits with help in fundraising and major gifts, capital campaigns, board and volunteer development and staff leadership, working with organizations of all sizes to plan, implement and assess social media strategies. While holding leadership positions with local branches of organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the American Diabetes Association, Amy developed a passion for all things related to fundraising and non-profits. In addition to her non-profit work, she is a freelance writer and blogger who has worked as a full-time writer and editor for daily newspapers and magazines.

There is so much buzz lately surrounding the term “Relationship Marketing.”  My friend and social media guru, Mari Smith’s newest book is titled “The New Relationship Marketing: How to Build a Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web.” In her book she outlines the ways in which people and brands can use social media to build a tribe of influencers and brand ambassadors to help them reach their core audience.

As a lifelong networker and alliance marketer, I find that the fact that these ideas are now getting focus is a bit backward.  Relationships should ALWAYS be the focus of our interactions.  However, I understand the “Mad Men” mentality.  Convincing people to buy through the use of advertisements was the pervasive philosophy back in the day, and worked for years and years.  The ad agency model was one of “give the agency your creative ideas and let them come up with something.” Brands were (and are) reluctant to change, and that’s where they run into trouble.

With the explosion of social media, companies and service providers are forced to adopt a different mindset.  The mind shift I’m referring to is from “convince and convert” to “converse and convert.”  Traditional advertising and marketing on one-way channels was about convincing people to buy your products.  Many times this included cutesy catch-phrases (remember “Where’s the Beef?”) or not-so-subtle comparisons to competitors’ products brands used to convince people to buy.  Today companies need to converse with their audience using the two-way communication of social media. They need to offer great information on ways and whys to use their product, and only periodically turn on the sales spigot.  In other words, brands have to take back the ownership of their voice rather than letting someone else come up with a catch-phrase or ad copy.  Plus, the conversation must continue after the sale to reinforce the relationship with the brand. In today’s world, brand loyalty is captured by continually offering good content, great customer service and responsiveness.

My friend and soon-to-be co-author, Ted Rubin, has been using the term the “Return on Relationship ™” since 2009 when he realized this mind shift.  While so many were looking at the “ROI” or return on investment in the traditional sense, marketers like Ted and I were looking at it from a different vantage point.  While many people were attempting to quantify the “value” of a Facebook Fan or a Twitter follower I felt they were asking the wrong question.  In my opinion, there is no real way to put a dollar value on a bunch of people who “like” or “follow” your product.  The real value is in the people who are the “super” fans or brand evangelists who market your product for you.  Measurements like people talking about you on Facebook and watching for the RT’s and mentions on Twitter (or check-ins on Foursquare) are more likely to give you an idea of value.

What is the return on the relationship measurement?  Simply put the value that is accrued by a person or brand due to nurturing a relationship. ROI is simple dollars and cents, whereas ROR or (#RonR) is the value (both perceived and real) that will accrue over time through loyalty, recommendations and sharing.

I realize many marketers don’t want to invest the time in the philosophy, but I have learned (and so will they) that the time investment is well worth it.  There have been published studies that show the recommendation of a “friend” or “follower” is far more valuable than traditional advertising.  I’m not sure why there is even a need to write and speak about this; personal recommendation has always been by far the best way to generate buzz and positive sentiment about a brand.   Social media makes it more visible and easier to share and disseminate, so people are more likely to do it.  If they have to call ten friends or stop then people on the street they are less likely to spread the positive message.  But the average Facebook user has 130 friends—so sharing positive (or negative) information about a brand can be viewed and shared much easier and at a much faster rate.

How do you measure the value of a relationship?  You see it in the engagement you receive.  There are also tools that measure brand “sentiment” that can help you see the #RonR of your efforts. Search.twitter.com can give you snapshot, other tools like SproutSocial and Radian6 are paid tools that give in-depth analysis of consumer brand sentiment.

Here are some #RonR tips you use to foster better relationships with your clients:

1. Listen – any social media campaign I begin for customers begins with a listening campaign.  What are people saying about you, your brands and your competitors?  Formulating a Return on Relationship game plan is much easier when you know the players and positions.
2. Find out what your constituency wants – whom does your product or service serve and how does it serve them?  When you flesh this out it is easier to figure out what your market wants to hear about from you.
3. Figure out where your market lives – don’t try to be everywhere.  If your target market lives on Facebook and Twitter, spend 75% of your time there and 25% of the time on other channels.
4. Learn the landscape, jargon and etiquette of the tools you use — For example: Please, please, do not post using hashtag (#) symbols on Facebook. The hashtag symbols are exclusively used on Twitter, and since most Facebook users are NOT on Twitter, it looks totally out of place and could alienate your audience.
5. Be consistent and communicative — Many of the larger brands I work with still think that tweeting three times a week is a good strategy, or that posting on Facebook twice a week will get them engagement.  Use the tools properly.  Also, be responsive; some bigger brands still require me to run every response through their legal department.  Many times it is several days before I am able to get an answer to a question. This is not how social media works, and those who use it will not get the return they desire.
6. Have disaster communication plan –  You cannot please everyone, so take the time to figure out what you are going to say and how you are going to say it when the inevitable negative comment is written about you or your brand.  Do not assume ignoring it will make it go away.
7. Measure, measure, measure — Don’t just measure numbers of fans and followers; measure the number of comments, shares and retweets that your messages are receiving.  Look at the demographics of your fans and followers.  Are you reaching your target market?
8. Tweak your efforts — realize that while a magazine ad or TV advertisement lasts weeks or months, you may need to tweak your social media strategy as much as daily if your message is not resonating. Thankfully, the immediacy of social makes that task much easier.

So tell us, what are your thoughts about the Return on Relationship™ philosophy? Do you have any #RonR tips to share?  Be sure to include your Twitter handle in your comment so we can tweet it out.

Kathryn Rose  (1 Posts)

Kathryn is an author, social media and marketing keynote speaker and trainer specializing in alliance and relationship marketing. Kathryn is the CEO of the Social Buzz Club the world’s first online marketing collaboration and content syndication system. Prior to her career in social media marketing, Kathryn was a top Wall Street sales executive, responsible for over $100m in sales per year. She used her collaboration skills to partner with salespeople from other companies to form a lucrative referral network. Kathryn is the author of 6 books on social media marketing available on Amazon.com.

Kathryn Rose  (1 Posts)

Kathryn is an author, social media and marketing keynote speaker and trainer specializing in alliance and relationship marketing. Kathryn is the CEO of the Social Buzz Club the world’s first online marketing collaboration and content syndication system. Prior to her career in social media marketing, Kathryn was a top Wall Street sales executive, responsible for over $100m in sales per year. She used her collaboration skills to partner with salespeople from other companies to form a lucrative referral network. Kathryn is the author of 6 books on social media marketing available on Amazon.com.

I recently changed my main Twitter client (more information on that below) and decided to create a new LinkedIn Poll for Groups in my Social Media Strategies for Business LinkedIn Group to find out what others use. I asked my 2,500 group members: What Twitter client do you use for business? Statistically speaking, the results can not represent the entire user base for those who tweet, and I only gave the poll readers a choice between 5 popular clients: Twitter.com, HootSuite, TweetDeck, CoTweet, and SproutSocial. The leading client in the poll as I write this blog? SproutSocial.

Cibo, a digital agency based in San Francisco, saw my tweet and responded as follows:

@NealSchaffer Interesting poll, a quick query of 5,000+ agency accounts and 1.5M+ tweets shows that HootSuite leads. twitter.com/cibostudios/st…

— CIBO (@cibostudios) January 15, 2012

I am assuming that Cibo pulled in this data directly from the Twitter API, so I believe these results are a good enough sampling to be pretty indicative as to the top 20 Twitter clients being used in 2012. Chances are you are using one of these, but with the changing social media landscape and your potentially shifting objectives and ways in which you and your business use social media, I thought it was a good idea to do a short review of the top clients in hopes that you might want to try a client or app you may have never heard of before.

1. HootSuite is a web-based social media dashboard designed to manage a whole slew of social media platforms above and beyond Twitter — Facebook, Linkedin, and have even begun limited support for Google+ — and multiple social profiles in one interface. It also offers the ability to produce reports based on custom analytics to better track brand awareness, follower growth and other pertinent demographic data. Initially built for internal agency use, we can now say that HootSuite is the most popular Twitter client in 2012. Needless to say that if you haven’t tried HootSuite yet, you owe it to yourself to sign up for a free HootSuite trial!

2. The “web” entry refers to those who send out a tweet from  Twitter.com, which underwent improvements and now sports a new interface, is still a relatively simple and elegant approach to tweeting, searching and discovering. If your business only has one account for tweeting, Twitter.com is still an option, and even if you use other clients listed here, you still might be finding yourself coming back here on occasion.

3. Tweetdeck, which was acquired by Twitter last year, is a social media dashboard application for managing Twitter and Facebook accounts, and it is safe to say that it was the leading client outside of Twitter.com before the emergence of HootSuite.  Once only available as an Adobe Air application, it is now compatible with several operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Chrome OS and Linux and is also available for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future to this application, which is another good reason to search around for alternatives just in case…

4. Twitterfeed is a utility that allows bloggers to “feed” their blog posts or other RSS content to Twitter, Facebook and other platforms thereby enabling publishers to reach a wider audience and while receiving real-time data. Yes, that’s right: The fourth largest client for tweeting is an automated one…

5. Facebook features the ability to sync one’s Twitter account to his or her Facebook page. This allows your Facebook posts to be automatically tweeted and retweeted on your Twitter account. I’m personally usually not a big fan of cross-posting from one social media website to another, where hashtags mean nothing and the @FacebookUsername don’t translate to @TwitterUsername.

6. The Tweet Button is a small widget that can be embedded into websites (such as online magazines and news sites, including this blog) which gives viewers and readers the ability to share articles of interest to their followers. It is fascinating to see the amount of sharing of content that internet users do on Twitter. This means that if your website doesn’t have a Tweet Button, you’re missing out!

7. Twitter for iPhone is the official app that is compatible and can be downloaded to an iPhone, iPad or an iPod touch powered by at least iOS 4 or later. Twitter developed this application by purchasing the creators of the best client for the iPhone at the time: Tweetie.

8. CoTweet is a social media management tool that allows teams  to manage one or more Twitter accounts by offering such capabilities as tweet assignments, notes, and on duty status. Similar to a HootSuite or a TweetDeck, I praised the “archive” functionality in CoTweet and announced that it was one of my Top Twitter Applications in a recent blog post. However, CoTweet’s parent company, email marketing software company ExactTarget, announced just recently that the free edition of CoTweet will no longer operate after February 15, 2012. While ExactTarget will be releasing a new social media management dashboard called SocialEngage to replace it, I have already switched to a new client (keep reading!).

9. Twitter for Mac is a desktop application designed specifically for the Mac. It is a sister app to the official iPhone and iPad apps that was originally known as Tweetie. Amazing how many Mac users are also heavy tweeters!

10. The web service dlvr.it allows bloggers to publish, distribute and syndicate their content across various social media platforms. Dlvr.it has become popular recently as a TwitterFeed replacement in that it gives you more robust filtering and analytical capabilities. Once again, though, this is a platform for automation.

11. Paper.li enables people to publish online newspapers based on twitter topics — stories and articles — that they like, giving their readers fresh news daily, automatically, like a personalized broadcast. If you thought you’ve been seeing a lot of Paper.li tweets recently, you’re not alone. As a source of tweets Paper.li is now a huge player, and it will be interesting to see if this trend continues – and how it evolves.

12. Originally known as Tweet Later, offering the ability to back then a cutting edge way of scheduling your tweets to post in the future, SocialOomph is a service, both free and paid, that offers productivity solutions for social media users. Among its many features are the ability to manage many accounts, post scheduling and blog integration. I know many Internet marketers who are still heavy users of SocialOomph, but I don’t know how many enterprises have adopted them.

13. I was happily surprised to see another app that I regularly use and highly recommend, Buffer, make it to the top 20 Twitter clients in 2012. Buffer offers a smarter way to schedule your tweets.  Plan out all your tweets for a particular day, fill up your Buffer with your desired tweets, then Buffer schedules them for you. While not a true client per say, Buffer is a perfect complement to help you schedule your posting on Twitter and on their recently added support for Facebook.

14. Tweetie for Mac was designed originally for the iPhone and later made available for desktop, but after being bought out it is only available now as the official Twitter client. I assume that these are the diehard Tweetie users who have yet to upgrade to the “official” client for whatever reason, but this obviously isn’t an option anymore for you or your business.

15. Echofon is a client that this available for iPhone, Mac, Windows, and Firefox. It has the ability to automatically sync unread tweets between a computer, and iPhone and other devices. While Echofon has always been a popular Twitter client for the iPhone, it now supports browser and PC environments as well. I was honestly surprised to see it make the top 20, but apparently a lot of you out there are using them!

16. Twitter for Blackberry is the official app specifically for use in Blackberry handsets.

17. Twitter for iPad is another official app that was developed after the release of the iPad and is a sister application to the official iPhone and Mac apps.

18. MarketMeSuite is a social media tool and software created for social media marketing and management. Its creators aim is to turn one’s followers into customers via better online engagement. Once only used by Internet marketers and social media enthusiasts, MarketMeSuite is now used by more than 20,000 businesses. To be honest, this is the one tool on this list that I’ve been looking to spend more time investigating, so if you’re a user, please share your impressions in the comments. Thanks!

19. SproutSocial is another social media management tool for Twitter and Facebook, but this one offers contact management, competitive insight, lead generation and more unique functionality. Since SproutSocial also had the killer archive feature I was looking for, and was also available for the iPhone, I switched over to using SproutSocial as my main social media client early in 2012 and am not looking back. If you haven’t, sign up for a free SproutSocial trial - and discover what you might be missing!

20. The web service bit.ly is a tool that helps collect, organize and shorten links and URLs. It is available via web or mobile. Many users use the bit.ly bookmarklet to easily create tweets with shortened links which they can then analyze the results for later.

When you analyze these top clients and realize how many are for mobile, iOS, automation or are or will be discontinued, it is safe to say that the top Twitter clients in 2012 for any business to consider come down to:

• HootSuite
• Twitter.com
• TweetDeck
• SocialOomph
• Echofon
• MarketMeSuite
• SproutSocial

For any business that tweets, however, they are undoubtedly using Facebook and are looking for a cross platform social media dashboard. Those 5 clients in bold above are what you should be investigating if you are looking for a new client to use in 2012.

I find that active tweeters often have very deep and passionate relationships with their social media apps, so now it’s your turn: What do you use for your Twitter client and recommend to the world? Any surprises in the above results?

Neal Schaffer  (346 Posts)

Although social media enthusiasts would be quick to encourage you to outsource social media as soon as possible, that type of investment doesn’t always fit within your organization’s budget. Like most marketing activities, timing the outsourcing of your social efforts just right will improve your results. Any of the following opportunities are perfect times to explore this outsourcing for your company.

You’re just getting started with a social program.

If your company has barely established a social presence or is just beginning to consider participating with your clients on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, time with a social media consultant can be a valuable investment. Your consultant can help you set objectives for your social efforts. Oftentimes companies will jump into social without a clear plan, benchmarks or strategy. This is a waste of time, waste of money and can be detrimental to a brand.

By outsourcing social media strategy, your company can set goals for each channel with the advice of an expert. An appropriate consultant can also help your team members understand the best practices for each channel. They’ll have clear targets to shoot for, know how to reach them and understand how to measure success.

You’re disappointed with your social results.

Social already has a proven track record for most industries – so if you’re disappointed with your results, it’s time to call in the pros. Social media outsourcing can help you discover exactly why your efforts aren’t paying off. With an expert consultant on your side, you can zero in on the techniques that are wasting your time and your resources.

For example, you may have been putting all of your efforts into Twitter marketing because you’ve read a few white papers and are excited about the medium. However, if your results have been lackluster from Twitter, outsourcing to a social media expert can help you see why you’re getting those results. They will also help your company explore other alternatives that may be a better fit for your goals.

You have a new team member in charge of social implementation.

Outsourcing social media services at this point in time might seem counterintuitive. However, unless you’ve hired a specialist, your team member will benefit from professional assistance. A social media consultant can set your team member on the right path and ensure that your accounts are handled professionally moving forward. This can also help your company smoothly make a transition from one team member to another as the new team member takes over the accounts and the “voice” of your brand.

You’re shifting focus and appealing to a new market.

Different target markets speak languages all their own. If your company is expanding its services or product offerings it’s worth an investment to engage a social media provider who is well versed in that language. You can either find a expert who has experience with the new target market, or you can work with a consultant who can help you formulate a strategy to approach this new market. This can include targeting social media content and reaching out to key influencers.

Outsourcing social media and strategy isn’t likely to be a one time occurance in the life of your business. If you time your outsourcing right by looking for these four times, you’ll get the most out of the process and have more success with your social presence.

Courtney Ramirez  (2 Posts)

Courtney Ramirez is a content marketing consultant and SEO Copywriter. As owner and head copywriter at Six Degrees Content she creates optimized web pages, blog posts and other online content pieces for companies in both B2B and B2C industries.

Courtney Ramirez  (2 Posts)

Courtney Ramirez is a content marketing consultant and SEO Copywriter. As owner and head copywriter at Six Degrees Content she creates optimized web pages, blog posts and other online content pieces for companies in both B2B and B2C industries.