Regardless of whether you were happy or sad (or indifferent) about the outcome of the Super Bowl this weekend, one thing is certain: like every year, several brands battled it out in the commercials.
Pre-game, SHIFT took a look at some of the biggest brands out there to see who would win the “Social Bowl” this year. Check out the game:
Do you agree with this assessment? Is Coca-Cola really the “winner” when it comes to social media? Let us know with a comment below!
I have to admit: when I heard that Dana White would be keynoting at NMX 2013, my initial thought was, “Who?”
Our co-founders, Rick Calvert and Dave Cynkin, were extremely excited, both being huge UFC fans. But as someone who is not into UFC or other fighting sports, the name was not familiar to me. It is now, in a huge way.
With over 2.3 million fans on Twitter and a complete sports empire built on social media, anyone in the social space would be shooting themselves in the foot not to listen to what this guy has to say. After his keynote at NMX, Dana sat down with Rick and Dave to talk about Twitter and dish out a little general social media advice to anyone smart enough to listen. How did he grow his personal following and his business using social media? Check out what he has to say:
You can see Dana’s full keynote at NMX University, where you’ll also find access to more keynotes from our 2013 event, bonus interviews with other speakers, and more.
Social Media Success Secrets with Dana White Transcript
Rick Calvert (0:05): We are backstage in the green room, here with Dana White. Dana I know…
Dave Cynkin (0:10: At New Media Expo!
Rick (0:11): At New Media Expo. And I know you get this, I mean, as Dino said earlier, was talking to you. I don’t get star struck either. I’m freaking star stuck, man.
Dana White (0:21 🙂 Thank you. I’m honored.
Rick (0:23): I mean, we’re huge fight fans. Thank you so much for coming to the show, we really appreciate it.
Dana (0:26): Pleasure.
Rick (0:27): You said something in the keynote that you love Twitter. Why do you love Twitter so much?
Dana (0:33): I love Twitter because, first of all, it give me the ability to cut out all the middle men. Meaning the media or whoever it might be. And I can talk directly to our fans or whoever wants to talk to me. You know, you’d be surprised how many, you know, how many amazing things that I’ve done, you know, real time with our business through Twitter.
Rick (0:56): By the way, is this the strangest place ever don an interview before?
Dana (0:59): No, actually it’s not. Funny you should ask.
Rick (1:01): What is the strangest place?
Dana (1:02): I’ve literally done one…I did this interview one time in the bathroom at the Hard Rock. Because the guy liked the tile in there, so we did it in the bathroom.
Rick (1:11): And were people coming in and?
Dana (1:12): Yeah, people were walking by us and, whatever.
Rick (1:16): Very good. So, Google+, you haven’t used Google+ yourself, but I was talking to your content guy earlier, and I know you said you weren’t using Instagram. But as an organization, you’ve got people on almost every social channel.
Dana (1:28): Every platform. Every platform or social media that has ever been created, we’ve been on and we’re engaged in some way. But me, personally, Twitter is for me. It just works a lot easier for me. Twitter is…Twitter is what I’m into.
Rick (1:43): Do you think it’s important to pick one platform and just kind of live there? Or can you do two or three different things good?
Dana (1:49): I think you can do two of three things good if you’re really into it. I’m really into Twitter. It’s easy for me, it’s fast, it’s simple. You know, it’s what works for me. And that’s the thing. When I talk about social media, whether your thing is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever it might be. Whatever works for you, you absolutely 100% should do it and figure out what does work for you and what works for your business or your brand or whatever it is you’re into.
Dave (2:19): What about control? I mean, you, I don’t want to say let things get out of control, but most companies are so shielded and so guarded about what they say. They don’t let people from their company speak without following a specific legal policy. And you let it fly, and it’s great because everybody…all these fans feel like they’re like you, and you’re like them. You’re just another fan.
Dana (2:37): It’s what’s made us unique and makes us different than every other sport. You know, I’ve been the way that I’ve been day one, since we started this company. And it has allowed me more slack than some of these other guys have or will ever have. But I think that it’s…The way that I run the business, the way that I interact with the fans and the way that the UFC does things. I think it’s the future. I think you have to be this way, you have to be. The younger generations, they live on social media. This is where these kids live. They live on the Internet. They live on YouTube, the Internet, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and all these others. That’s where they live. If you don’t go meet these people and engage with them where they live…I don’t know. It’s not good for the future of your business.
Rick (3:31): So, one of the questions I was going to ask is if you think the UFC is particularly positioned, you know, in the world that you’re in makes social media easier for you? And, say, maybe a Fortune 100 company, maybe Ford, can’t be as transparent as you because their business is different than yours. Or do you think they should be just as transparent as you?
Dana (3:50): No, it’s not about being as transparent as me but, I don’t care if you’re Ford or Microsoft or whoever. You should live where your fans are. You have to get in there at some point and live where your fans live. You have to be there. Or your customers, or whatever you want to call them. You don’t have to be like me. I would never recommend going out and acting like me on Twitter or any other place because that might not work for you. But it worked for me.
Rick (4:18): And, when I hear you talk about the UFC, and you said you’ve been a fight fan since you were a kid. We were talking about that a little bit before. Do you feel like you have a responsibility to fight fans? Not just UFC fans, but fight fans in general with the way you guys direct the UFC and where you’re taking it.
Dana (4:35): I think so, yeah. You know, at the end of the day, the way that I Iook at the business and the way that I look at my job and what I do is; I’m asking you to stay home on Saturday night and sometimes put down 45, 50 bucks, watch these fights. And, yeah, I think that it’s my job to give you the fights that you want to see. To give you as much access to the UFC as we possibly can. That’s another thing that we’re really big on, is giving the fans as much access as they can possibly have. Looking behind the curtain, getting behind the scenes. And really making them feel like a part. Because I remember being a kid and what a huge fight fan I was. And, for me, and I keep talking all this stuff that shows how old I really am, it’s like, all I had was the newspaper. Every Sunday, they would come out on the back page and it was all boxing. It’s the only thing I read. I wouldn’t read any other part of the newspaper except that boxing section. And I remember how engaged I was, how…I just couldn’t consume enough information about the fights. And I told you guys earlier, I knew everybody, man. The guy over here that rang the bell. I knew the guy who, you know, the cutmen. I knew everybody. And that’s what’s really, you know, the way that the UFC was built and designed is that fans who are really, you know, into it…everybody is interactive. You can interact with everybody from the octagon girls to the cutmen, the referees, I mean everybody.
Dave (6:07): You know, the fighters, the businesses, now, that came to this conference that are learning from you. Is there anybody that you see using social media, where you watch what they do and you say, “That’s really a good idea, I didn’t think of that,” and you learn from them? Is there anybody that you kind of…?
Dana (6:22): You know, I follow a lot of different people on there and everybody has their own unique style of tweeting. And, you know, putting out whatever message it might be. I can’t stand people who keep constantly tweeting ads. Or always pitching or selling or doing something like that. It drives me crazy. I block those people. And I don’t block many people. I like people…I follow people that are real. I like people who talk real. I like people who are interesting, and will tweet interesting things. But I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody that was like, “Wow, this guy has really got it on lock down. I gotta do what this guy is doing.” And not to sound like a cocky idiot, but a lot of people follow what we do and start, you know, doing the stuff that we do on Twitter.
Rick (7:15): It sounds like you’ve learned some things what not to do by seeing what other people do.
Dana (7:19): Yeah, and that’s…I’ve done that my whole life. I look at what people do that I don’t like and making sure that I don’t do that.
Rick (7:27): You mentioned that about boxing earlier, you don’t want to be like them.
Dana (7:28): Yeah, that was our model. Is to do the exact opposite of what those guys have done over the last 35-40 years.
Rick (7:34): So, you guys do this amazing job engaging with your fans in social media and giving us access to things that we wouldn’t get in other places. How’s the culture inside the UFC? Do you guys use, you said earlier, if anybody wants to know what’s going on with the company who works there, watch your Twitter feed. You guys talk to each other on Twitter? You send direct message to people in the company?
Dana (7:55): Yeah, I’ll see people in my company that pop up on my Twitter and say stuff. You know, we do things, you know…we let the fans see a lot of personal stuff through Twitter. At our Christmas party, we were Tweeting, you know, pictures of, you know, we had the Red Hot Chili Peppers play at our Christmas party. And people were sending out pictures of that. I was on stage drunk; I saw a few of those pictures out there. There were a lot of things going on. So we let people in. We let them deep in. And that’s part of the fun of being a fan of the UFC. There’s nothing that we don’t let people see. We let them see everything. We let them see behind the curtain.
Dave (8:34): You know, something that you mentioned today; you don’t like it when the athletes think they’re comedians and make mistakes. And I’ve seen those things and…
Dana (8:42): I’ve made mistakes too.
Dave (8:43: I just going to ask. You’ve done a lot of great things. What you done anything that you thought, “Wow, that was a real mistake,” and what did you do about it online?
Dana (8:52): Yeah, I mean, you know, to say that I’ve never tweeted anything stupid would be stupid. I have tweeted some dumb things myself. That’s always my philosophy. When somebody does something wrong, the world freaks out. Like, “Oh my God, how could this happen?” Because we’re human beings. And we’re all going to make mistakes, and we’re all going to do stupid stuff sometimes. Everybody’s had that tweet that they wish they could reel back. But, you know, once it goes, it is what it is and, there’s, you know, you have to deal with it here and there.
Rick (9:24): Own up to is, accept it.
Dana (9:25): Yeah, it is what it is. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. If you consistently keep tweeting stupid stuff, then it’s a whole different level. You know. Then we’ve got to talk.
Rick (9:38): Dana, thank you so much for all the time. We’re honored to have you with us.
Dana (9:41): Pleasure, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
We often think of LinkedIn as a professional social network for individuals, but did you know LinkedIn could also help build your business? At BusinessNext 2013 (presented by NMX), speaker Stephanie Sammons, CEO of Wired Advisor, presented “7 Powerful LinkedIn Marketing Strategies for Building Your Business” – and today, I wanted to talk about one of the most important aspects she covered: profile creation for your employees.
“Everyone in the company needs to understand how to set up a good profile.”
The more your employees are visible on LinkedIn, the more your business will be visible on LinkedIn. Visibility leads to brand recognition, talent acquisition, and more, so it’s definitely good for every company to have a presence on LinkedIn. Consider spending a day training your employees on this platform, or at least covering the basics of creating a good profile. According to Stephanie, here’s what your employees need to keep in mind when creating a profile.
Professional and Accurate Information
One of the biggest mistakes people make with LinkedIn is not keeping the information up-to-date. An employee who is now a manager or even higher in your company might still have their previous job listed. Worse, employees might choose to have unprofessional information listed on their LinkedIn profile, which could reflect poorly on your company as a whole. Go over what is appropriate with your employees and encourage them to update often.
Frequent and Consistent Status Updates
Most people who use LinkedIn do not use the status update capability or they have it linked to Twitter, where updates are commonly pretty casual. Instead, encourage your employees to update LinkedIn during the day, posting professional (and non-confidential) information about the daily happenings at the office.
Network Growth
Make sure your employees are linked with one another and encourage them to allow connections with other people they know. More 1st level connections lead to more 2nd level connections, which lead to more 3rd level connections…and these are all people who are, in some way, connected to your company. If your employees grow their connections, your visibility on this platform grows as well.
This just scratches the surface of Stephanie’s BusinessNext session at NMX 2013. Want the whole thing? Check out our 2013 Virtual Ticket, available exclusively at NMX University for access to her session as well as hundreds of other session recordings from our event.
One of the biggest frustrations for businesses is turning all of their online activities into actual sales. You can have 50,000 Twitter followers and post to your blog three times a day, but if doing these things isn’t ultimately leading to customers, you might as well be banging your head against the wall.
In this video, NMX speaker Ann Handley from MarketingProfs talks about this very problem. How do you turn social into sales?
[youtube]http://youtu.be/g1VRExiBb04[/youtube]
To add to Ann’s great advice, I would also say this: Before you decide there’s no ROI in what you’re doing, make sure you’re measuring ROI correctly. If you’re using traditional techniques, you might not see great numbers, but that might mean you’re looking at the wrong stats.
For example, if only one person bought something after posting about a sale on Facebook, the ROI isn’t looking so hot. But if 500 people became aware of your brand due to others sharing about your sale, and even just 10% of them become future customers, suddenly Facebook’s ROI looks a lot better.
At the same time, make sure you’re not reporting stats with a spin just to convince yourself that there’s a good ROI of your online activities. Using the same example, if you made 50 sales after posting about something on Facebook, that might be look good at first, but if the majority of those sales were people who were already your customers and would have purchased something anyway, regardless of your Facebook posting activities, the numbers suddenly don’t look so hot.
So measure, measure, measure…and always make sure you’re measuring the right things and analyzing the numbers properly.
With all of the banner ads out there promoting holiday shopping, how do businesses stand out online? How do they get their products under the tree? Smart businesses are finding new ways to reach consumers without distracting them from content they enjoy. They’re becoming a seamless part of the online conversation and, as a result, stay top of mind for consumers as they shop for their holiday gifts. Smart brands tell stories that create a connection to their brand.
So how are companies connecting with their consumers using storytelling in social media?
Here are a few examples of companies that are getting their story out there this holiday season.
jcpenney
jcpenney gets it right with creating stories about their products that are relatable and interesting to readers. They even do it in Spanish. One example is their social campaign to showcase a new clothing line from Liz Claiborne. They worked with bloggers like hablasfashion to create three different outfits from their fall clothing line. The readers then voted on their favorite outfit and commented on the line. This is a perfect example of social done well. By working with an influential blogger, jcpenny was able to create a personal story around their products that was authentic and engaging to readers.
Udi’s Gluten Free
Udi’s makes products that are gluten free for people with celiac disease or who just want to live a gluten free lifestyle. Their community page is a perfect example of how they are staying top of mind for consumers. This season, Udi’s is telling stories that relate to the holidays. They highlight stories about gluten-free living and how to survive the holidays. The content creates an emotional connection with the brand because they talk about a personal experience, living gluten-free. It makes shoppers feel like Udi’s cares about them and their lifestyle.
Operation Christmas Child
This charity organization packs boxes full of toys and personal items for children in need that are delivered around the holiday season. They worked with bloggers like 2wired2tired to create narratives about packing boxes for their programs. The stories were first hand accounts of bloggers teaching their own children about social good and the needs of others around the world by packaging boxes for social good. The stories are personal and heartfelt blog posts that drive readers back to the Operation Christmas Child website where they can also begin the process of packing a box for charity.
Storytelling works because it is the natural way that people communicate. When you hear a heartfelt story about a personal experience shopping for the holidays, read about a recipe that someone created, or learn how someone taught their child to care for others, you feel an emotional connection with the writer. Brands that join the conversation and tell stories that mean something to the reader become more relatable. When consumers connect with a brand, they buy their products. Nothing connects consumers to a brand like a good story.
There is no simple formula for inspiration. There isn’t a single process or “8 simple steps” that will help you change customer behavior. Everyone is different. We are all inspired by different things and at different stages of our lives. As a boy, I was so inspired when Daniel-san “laid the smack down” on Johnny Lawrence of the Cobra Kai in the Karate Kid that I begged my mom to sign me up for Karate lessons. Today, those things don’t really inspire me much anymore, well maybe a little … oh, and Karate lessons only lasted a few months.
But one question that we must ask ourselves is whether a brand can actually inspire their customers?
I believe it can. But it requires a fundamental shift in how we as marketers behave, act, communicate, plan and go-to-market. We must stop referring to customers as target audience, segments or page views; and consider that they are real people, with real emotions. We must learn to give without any expectation at all of receiving anything in return. I call this reciprocal altruism and sometime it’s as easy as just saying, “thank you”, maybe an @mention to a customer or maintaining a positive attitude when we are getting grilled online.
Certainly ROI and business value are important here and I am not saying that we must be scared of the “hard sell.” The great thing about content marketing is that you can move customers up, down and through the purchase funnel by simply providing content that matters – the right content, at the right time, in the right channel to the right customer; and not forgetting about how paid, earned and owned media work together across the social eco-system.
It reminds me of a book that was written well over a decade ago and it was definitely pioneer thinking at that time. Seth Godin’s “Permission Marketing” was written on the premise of reciprocal altruism. He argued that marketers must build trust and credibility with their customers and then “ask them for permission” to market their services. Same concept today and even true for IRL relationships. It’s simply applying what we already know to be true as humans.
And the truth is, there are some companies that inspire for one reason and one reason only. They have bad-ass products. I don’t care at all if they say “thank you” on Twitter or crowdsource community feedback because they are looking to create a new product. As long as they continue to innovate and stay bad-ass, I will continue to be inspired, buy their products and tell all my friends about it.
The challenge for most companies is trying to operationalize this behavior and build repeat processes that allow for scale. This is why I am really excited to be teaming up with Matt Ridings of Sidera Works for our session at the upcoming BusinessNext conference in Las Vegas. Our session, “The New Influencers: Brand Advocacy Inside & Out,” will give key insights and actionable take-aways in order to build brand advocate programs externally with your customers and internally with your employees. We hope to see you there!
If you are gearing up for this January’s New Media Expo/BlogWorld event then you’re probably interested in promoting your brand and blog. Since hundreds of agencies and large brands use our product (GroupHigh) to identify bloggers, research analytics, and manage blogger outreach campaigns, I thought it would be great to share what our clients think makes a great partner blogger.
In the past, outreach lists were built using an Excel spreadsheet, Google Blog Search, and a good amount of manual labor. The arduous task of finding and qualifying blogs for a campaign stood in the way of efficiently reaching out to bloggers. More importantly, this process didn’t help decipher which blog outlets were a proper fit for a given campaign. Today, there are many shortcuts and knowing how agencies and brands look for blogs is critical if you want to be included.
Searching Twitter Bios
There are many tools that make searching Twitter bios quick and easy, but Follower Wonk is probably the best. There is still a lot of hunting and pecking for bloggers, but Twitter specific metrics such as follower count help focus research on higher-quality outlets.
What this means for bloggers: A Twitter Profile That Links to Your Blog Is A Must!
If agencies and brands are finding blogs by searching on Twitter it only makes sense that you ensure that your or your blog’s Twitter identity is clearly linked to your blog’s homepage. It is also a good idea to build your follower count, as followers is quickly becoming a leading factor in blog selection for outreach.
Blog Marketing Platforms
Tools like GroupHigh allow firms to search for and filter bloggers by almost any metric and content imaginable. Firms can easily find blogs by the content they write about most often, as well as how open they are to common marketing tactics such as guest posting, sponsored posting, contests, and product reviews.
What this means for bloggers: Ensure that your blog’s content reflects your ambition!
If you are open to running contests on your blog, start today! Grab the PunchTab Giveaway Appand run a small contest. If you are an aspiring fashion blogger, make sure that the title of your blog post denotes that you are reviewing a product. For example:
Product Review: Levi’s 501 Demin Jeans
First Thoughts: Levi’s 501 Demin Jeans
Just Purchased: Levi’s 501 Demin Jeans
Being obvious about what your content contains will help brands and agencies find you and pitch you more accurately.
Extra Tip: Many firms are beginning to target bloggers via Pinterest and Instagram. This is especially true for campaigns that involve rich media elements such as pictures and video. If you want to be considered for these campaigns make sure you have Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube channels clearly listed on your blog. Less than 2% of active bloggers list these modern social networks, but they are increasingly being used to target bloggers. It also won’t hurt to have followers and subscribers, as most firms seek blogs with over 1,000 followers/subscribers.
Blogger Networks
While blog networks initially existed to consolidate advertising across blogs of similar topics, they are also a common resource for firms that don’t want to spend a lot of time researching and building personal relationships. Firms that use a blog network typically pay for access and are guaranteed a certain reach, similar to the way banner ads are sold. Though this saves the firm time, the downside to this approach is that the authentic relationship between the firm and blogger is immediately compromised. It is then based on pay-to-play rather than a mutually beneficial relationship.
What this means for bloggers: Join a network? Maybe?
There are many pros and cons to joining a blogger network. If you want to get involved with blogger networks that deal in sponsored posts, check out IZEA or BlogFrog. Additional information on blog networks can be found below:
In addition to looking for blogs in the aforementioned locations, firms also review a variety of metrics when deciding which blogs to build relationships with. Based on several of our highest-quality users, here is what we’ve seen over the past three months.
Firms are looking for:
The ability to amplify a message socially. So make sure to list social profiles prominently on your site.
A solid base of traffic and pageviews. While never completely accurate, most firms rely on Compete.com traffic data to make decisions. Once you begin building a relationship, don’t be offended if they ask for proof of your traffic from Google Analytics, this is commonplace especially among larger brands and agencies.
Twitter Followers. The more the better. While 10 years ago firms would use Google’s PageRank as a quick barometer of your blog’s quality, today Twitter followers is the number one quality metric we see firms using to select blogs. Most firms look for bloggers with a minimum of 500-1,000 followers.
Google PageRank. Despite its aging status, many firms still rely on this statistic to include/exclude blogs from campaigns.
Facebook Likes. While not as widely used as Twitter followers, Likes is often included in a custom score.
How are these numbers used?
Rather than rely on a debatable ranking or score, most firms take some combination of the above key metrics and create a custom metric in Excel. This could be something termed Social Reach, which could be a combination of Twitter followers and Facebook Likes. Other times it could be a total campaign reach, which would include followers, Likes, and traffic numbers. The highest rated blogs get included based on metrics like this very often.
In any event, I hope this post sheds a bit of insight into what the best agencies and brands are looking for in bloggers. Best of luck building your brand and I look forward to seeing you at NMX/BlogWorld in January.
Just the other day, I went shopping with a friend of mine who is obsessed with her phone. She checked into the mall via Foursquare, telling others exactly where she intended to shop. We found some cute shoes, which prompted her to like the brand on Facebook, and before leaving the store, she double-checked movie times for the film we wanted to see. We had some time, so we stopped for a bite to eat before the movie, and of course, she had to share a picture of her meal on Instagram. During the movie was the longest she was away from her phone all day!
It’s easy for me to point fingers and snicker at my friend’s phone addiction, but I’m not much better. Even when I’m at home, I sometimes find myself using my laptop, phone, and Kindle at the same time.
Today’s consumers are connected. There’s no doubt about that. The only question is this: is your business connected too or are you being left behind in the dust?
Social Trust
At BusinessNext Social 2013, Mobile Marketing Academic of the Year Lin Humphrey will be be presenting “The Connected Consumer,” a session where he’ll talk about his study findings on psychographics of social media users and what some digital marketers are doing to feed into this need for connection.
In an interview with USA Today, Humphrey remarked, “Research shows we trust our network more than advertisements or celebrity spokespeople, so it makes sense for a business to encourage photography and social endorsements.”
Social networks enable this kind of sharing, but what is your company doing to connect with consumers who want to use these networks?
Are you easy to find on social networks?
Do you reply to consumers’ questions and complaints via social media?
Are you actively looking for people talking about your company?
Do you reward social sharing, encouraging customers to talk about your company online?
Do you say thank you when people are complimentary about your company?
You have to be able to scale your social media efforts; talking to every single customer or potential customer isn’t sustainable. But you’d be amazed at what any kind of social presence can do for your company.
Best Online Marketing Practices
So what can your digital marketing team do to engage consumers via social media? There’s a laundry list of techniques, but something the best marketing campaigns have in common is enabling self-expression and connectivity not just to the brand, but to other users.
Clothing company Betabrand gives $20 discounts to users who take pictures of themselves wearing Betabrand items.
Coke and Pepsi both unveiled programs allowing consumers to buy a soda for someone else at a random vending, and then watch the receiver’s surprised reaction. The person could then send back a thank you note.
Back in 2004, Burger King already realized the power of online self-expression and connectivity. In the “subservient chicken” campaign, they allowed users to log online and give an actor in a chicken suit commands to follow. The site is still live to this day, and promotes Burger King’s “have it your way” philosophy.
Of course, hiring an actor in a chicken suit isn’t the right course of action for all businesses, but there’s still something to learn here about connecting directly with your audience. For even more “best practices” and tips for digital marketers who want to reach the customers, make sure you attend The Connected Consumer session at BusinessNext.
This fall, Mark Fidelman, our Conference Director of BusinessNext Social, set out to find the most socially active group of CMOs in the Fortune 100. Surprisingly, the group is overall not on the early adopter end of the social media spectrum. Only one in five CMOs or top-level marketing / communications executives from the Fortune 100 list have an active public presence on social networks. In our experience, having a large digital network is a significant advantage for anyone in positions where communication and influence are key ingredients to success.
The study revealed that the following individuals have social influence which distinguishes them from their peers. Mark said, “These visionaries have demonstrated their ability to sustain an adaptive social business by implementing new strategies, embracing cutting-edge mobile and social technologies and developing engaging content.”
Note: Only the highest ranking marketing executives were considered in each of the companies.
Methodology
While CMOs may apply different methodologies for engaging digital communities on an array of social platforms, these few rank highly on a formula pioneered by Mark Fidelman that considers metrics such as Twitter followers, retweet frequency, social engagement frequency, social mentions, KRED scores, and Klout scores. Weights are assigned to each factor to determine the final rankings of each CMO’s social impact.
Why Is This Important?
There is obviously a major discrepancy between the low social rankings of most CMOs and the significant focus placed on the impact of social media in business and the evolving role that marketers are taking in social media activities. A recent CMOSurvey.org study predicts that social media spending as a percent of rising marketing budgets is expected to increase from 7.6 to 18.8 percent over the next 5 years, while Gartner Research predicts the CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO by 2017.
Ironically, these 100 CMOs are charged with leading social initiatives for the world’s largest enterprises, yet our analysis shows that the majority have relatively little experience building influencer communities. “That is a major stumbling block,” says Mark. “The consensus among the people who top our list is that CMOs need first-hand experience building online communities to connect with customers and foster loyalty, trust and engagements.”
“An adaptive business is the only business that will survive the new challenges ahead, challenges caused by a massive shift of power from corporations and traditional media to customers and influencers. Companies that don’t make the transition to adaptive, social business will face overwhelming challenges that they are ill-prepared to overcome. Too often, we’ve witnessed organizations fail to understand and act on these shifts, and surrender to their competitors and creditors.
We want to change that.
At BusinessNext Social, we’re giving business leaders the opportunity to learn how the most successful companies remain relevant, sustainable and profitable. What’s the secret? Combining new social and mobile technologies with smart content. When produced in the right culture, this creates a powerful growth machine that can automatically adjust to changes in market conditions.”
– Mark Fidelman, Conference Director, BusinessNext Social
If Mark’s vision for social business sounds too good to be true, then we have to recognize that the transition to social business is incredibly difficult. And, effective change needs to start at the top. Only by “walking the talk’’ can CMOs and other C-level executives demonstrate credibility and set the example for fellow workers. Clearly, some CMOs already “get it.” Dozens will be speaking at the upcoming conference and hundreds more will join. But what about Fortune 100 executives leading some of the most prominent brands that touch our everyday lives? How many of them are leveraging the power of social as a best business practice?
What do you think? Does the future belong to those who know how to grow and influence their own digital networks? Are CMOs and other C-level executives equipped to drive social inside the organization and out?
President Barack Obama made social media history with a tweet posted right after he was named the winner of the United States 2012 president election. This tweet surpassed tweets by celebrities like Justin Bieber to become the most shared tweet in history. As of writing this post, the tweet has been retweeted 0ver 793,000 times and favorited nearly 283,000 times.
It’s not surprising that a tweet from the POTUS after winning a second term went viral, but the circumstances are just part of what made this tweet so readily shared. Let’s take a look at why Obama’s tweet became the most popular of all time and what you can do to add some of that special sauce to your own tweets.
Visual Tweeting
The first and most obvious takeaway from Obama’s tweet success was that people respond to visuals. According to the Encyclopedia of Distances, about 65% of the general populus are visual thinkers, which is why teachers often make an effort to include visual aids when explaining a new topic and why infographics and Pinterest have both risen in popularity in the last year. The lesson here is to share images on social media when possible, especially if they help tell your brand’s story. People find these kinds of pictures easy to share.
Opportune Timing
Election night was a busy time for Obama and his staff, but they didn’t wait until a week later to celebrate Obama’s win with a tweet. They capitalized on the excitement of their audience by tweeting quickly after the election results were announced. The sunshine in the background easily gives it away that this is not a live picture, leading me to believe that staffers planned this tweet (and probably had tweet planned in case he lost as well). Can you take advantage over your audience’s excitement about something? Think about the timing of your tweets and plan them well.
A Personal Moment
It’s rare to get a look into the personal life of Obama, but this was an extremely personal picture with his wife, Michelle. Do you get personal with your audience? You don’t have to do so with every tweet, but allowing an occasional peak into your personal life can really help your audience connect with you. We’re all more likely to buy products from people we know, like, and trust. Personal moments allow people to get to know and like you, and from there, you can build trust.
Brevity
One of the biggest mistakes you can make on Twitter is not giving people the space to retweet you. If you’re right on the 140-character cusp, you’re not leaving room for “RT @yourname” or any comments about your tweet. This forces people to edit your original tweet if they want to retweet it, and frankly, most people won’t take the time. Obama’s very brief tweet helped to make it extremely shareable.
Emotional Tweeting
Lastly, Obama’s tweet is extremely emotional. To see him hugging his wife is not only a private moment, but also one that tugs are your heartstrings, even if you you didn’t vote for him. Anything emotional, whether it makes your laugh or cry, is easy for people to share, so think about how you can elicit these feelings from your followers.
Of course, a tweet that becomes as popular as Obama’s is something most of us can only dream of, but we can still adjust what we’re already doing to make our tweets more popular. For even more tips, tricks, and techniques for using social media for your business, check out our BusinessNext conference, featuring sessions like “How to Become an Effective Social Business Today,” “Social Media and the Law: Emerging Legal Issues and Obligations,” and more. And if you’re a content creator, definitely check out our next NMX event in Las Vegas for tips on promoting your blog, podcast, or videos using social medial.
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