Spring 2017


09


secret. So, the challenge was to take that story from inside to outside the company. But what kind of wonderful stories can you tell about casualty insurance or motor vehicle insurance? One example is sharing an experience in which the company comes in and saves the day. Or maybe it’s a financial company following a small business they gave a loan to and watching them have success. One of my clients does flooring. I looked at their Facebook Page and said, “Everything on your social media is about floors. There’s nothing about humans.” They said, “Wow! You’re right.” And they began including people in their product photographs.


Q: What are the most common mistakes you see in social media/Facebook marketing efforts?


MS: In my book, The New Relationship Marketing, the central idea is that marketers need to understand that people want to know they are valued, that we are listening to them. One of the ways brands don’t do that is by not responding to or acknowledging people when they share your content. Brands will often pay to promote a post and receive a lot of comments on it. Then there might be some negative comments or people pitching their businesses, and it stands out when the business does not respond. KLM, the airline, does a great job responding to inquiries and comments on social.


Q: Should companies look to employees to become brand ambassadors by using their personal Facebook pages? What are the risks?


MS: I’m a big fan of employee advocacy and companies that have an official advocacy plan in place and bring in training. You can mobilize a bigger audience. The important thing is that it has to be derived from a great culture. Zappos is renowned for their extraordinary customer service, which is derived from their culture. If your employees love the brand and love their jobs, I would advise using your employees to get involved. If employee culture isn’t great, then it’s a risk. I really believe that direct-sales franchises and companies with large numbers of employees can benefit from social media training across the entire company, because it helps deliver unified branding.


Q: What is the toughest change you have helped a client overcome by using social media more effectively?


GETTING STARTED


If you’re a novice at Facebook marketing and it all sounds a bit too confusing to fully grasp, don’t fret. Here are some useful thoughts and tools from Mari to consider as you get started:


1


Don’t put money behind every post. Do it strategically. As you spend money with Facebook, it will increase your organic reach. If you have $300 to promote a post, split that up and allocate $100 to a few different audiences.


2


Start with the end in mind. Have a conversion strategy based on your needs. If it’s leads you are after,


3


MS: We worked with a start-up direct-sales company in the beauty industry. Starting from zero, their goal was to have 1,000 distributors by the time they launched. My team and I created a “passion page” on Facebook called “All Things Gorgeous.” It was an interesting page with beautiful and fun images, where people could see the content and share it. Through that page and my social media training, the company had 5,000 distributors before anyone had even seen the products.


Q: What are you seeing as the breakout social media trends for this year?


y


W B T


Have a strategy and be consistent. When I look at a brand’s total


marketing message, I want to see a seamless look and feel from their website to their social media channels.


Spend smartly.


determine how you can build a relationship by using Facebook, then get those people to sign up for your email newsletter.


Use Messenger. Messenger is a great tool that now allows calls to action to be integrated into ads. It’s a perfect opportunity to begin a one-on-one, personal relationship.


4


Put some moderators in those places and look for super fans who constantly share your content. That kind of data is golden. People get stuck looking at reach and engagement numbers, but these people are invaluable. Even a small company could incentivize those people to be brand ambassadors.


5


MS: I think Snapchat Spectacles could take off. With regard to Twitter, their integration of Periscope could be widely used. The whole area of live content could explode. Otherwise, Pinterest is going to do an IPO, and perhaps Facebook will buy Netflix. Oh, and here’s a wild one for you: I think Mark Zuckerberg is beginning a process now that will one day enable him to run for president. Facebook has structured his stock so that he could step away for four or eight years and not have his stock impacted. He has said that his goal this year is to go around and meet real people. So, you heard it here first. 


WIN ONE OF MARI’S BEST-SELLING BOOKS! The New Relationship Marketing and


Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day.


Scan the QR code to enter, or visit:


modernlitho.com/Spring2017Register Use community platforms.


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