Low-cost Marketing Techniques using Social Media Erwin Taets VIVES Flanders Leisure Academy 25/09/2014. Get insights. insights. Get Get educated. educated. Get Get inspired. inspired. Get

Hello world! • Erwin Taets – lecturer and researcher at VIVES Flanders Leisure Academy • leisure event cost‐effectiveness and profitability • attractions yield management • social media communication analysis and consulting for leisure attractions

– [email protected] Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Why social media? • is there anything about social media you don’t know yet?

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Some things • … to think about regarding social media

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

First things first • Social media is about much more than what you put on Facebook.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

First things first • Social media is about much more than what you put on Facebook. • It’s also about Twitter, Pinterest,                     YouTube, Tumblr ….

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

But … • it’s also about how you interact with what others put online about you: – on blogs and forums – on fan websites – on your social media page – on the social media pages of others Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Social media • is not about communication: YOU   your MESSAGE   AUDIENCE Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Social media • is about the conversation: – they’re talking about YOU right now – they’re saying good things about you – they’re saying bad things about you

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Social media • is about the conversation: – – – –

they’re talking about YOU right now they’re saying good things about you they’re saying bad things about you they’re saying very bad things about you

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Conversation management • they’re talking about you • why not: – listen to them? – talk with them? – turn your communication into conversations Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

It’s easy! It’s free! • Well, first of all: social media are not free.          If you’re not paying for something,                     it’s because you’re not the customer                   but the product.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Second • Most social media companies will find ways to make you pay! • e.g. sponsored tweets on Twitter sponsored stories, boosted posts on    Facebook Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Third • running a Facebook page is something for professionals – it will take staff – technology – marketing – communication – language skills Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Take it seriously • Social media are serious businnes!

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Trends • fastest growing demographic on Twitter is  the 55‐64 year age bracket • 3/5th of all Facebook’s users are “mobile only” • YouTube reaches more US adults aged 18‐34 than any cable network • 85% of smartphone using teens say they can’t recall the last time  their smartphone wasn’t next to them • Google search results of social networks deliver only 15% of what search results of blogs and websites deliver

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

So … • embrace your fans who write blogs and forum posts >  they’ll get you more Google results than any Facebook  post! • think mobile, but don’t think mobile is all about apps ‐ most people only use 8 apps on average on their smartphone on a regular basis • make sure you are active on Facebook and Twitter – and measure it! Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

social media • everybody does it • almost nobody measures it

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

measuring • most social media environments  give you very little  information about your users – – – –

general age distribution general gender distributions general location distributions likes

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

the like‐illusion • for many companies, the number of likes or followers is the most important measurement of how well social media are doing

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

facts • 100 000 likes does not mean your message will reach 100 000 people

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

factors • most important factor = social interaction Facebook stops displaying your message to people who don’t interact with your message Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

our research • a random message sent to an account of > 100,000 likes only received 3,117 views

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

increased interaction = increased views • who are the viewers? • if you have 100,000 followers,                                   you probably prefer 100,000 views • if you only receive 5,000 views,  who do you want these viewers to be? Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

the echo trap • Facebook shows your message  more to people         who interact with you • people who interact with you,                              already have an affinity for your product • you’re creating an echo pit and your most loyal customers echo your message – amongst themselves! Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

our research • of one leisure destination                           Facebook‐account in Belgium,                              we analysed all interactions in 2011

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

our results • account > 30,000 followers • in one year, more than 25,000 interactions (like,  share or comment) • 82% of all interactions were by a                                  small group of less than 400 people • 25 people even liked or commented upon almost 90% of all posts Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

focus • who is your message for? • who is your target audience? • you cannot and will not reach all target groups by  one single social media account • if you focus on everyone, you will mostly target those customers who like all of your messages: your “devotees” Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

social media ≠ social medium • not all social media are alike • Twitter ≠ Facebook ≠ Foursquare ≠ YouTube ≠ your own blog • every social platform has a different user base: – different gender distribution – different age distribution – different education level distribution Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

our research • in the Benelux‐countries, almost no leisure  companies really differentiate between their  different social platforms • target audiences are all over the place: some messages are directed towards fans, others towards youngsters (language and visuals for children), others towards adults, B2B, etc. Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 1. Create different social media venues for your different target groups “everybody wants to know                                     about your new ride, but only “fans”             want to see pictures about every single phase  of the construction” Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 2. Ask your social media manager for the  real numbers: interactions count,  not just the likes or views, and analyse  who’s viewing and interacting with you

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 3. Is your social media expert an IT‐person or a communication‐person?                    He or she should be both! 

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 4. learn to know the online behaviour of                   your followers: – when are they online? – what kind of messages do                                            they react the most to (pictures, video, questions, etc.)? Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 5. don’t talk to. talk with. engage. but beware of topics that might start negative reactions e.g. “what do you think of our new show”                      if you know that your fans don’t really like the show  > they will dominate the conversation Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 6. don’t patronize. People on social media               want to be seen as real people.                                 Don’t let your characters do the talking for you, let your people do the                  conversation.  Be real. Be authentic. Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 7. think about crisis communication before a  crisis happens. Don’t let one stressed‐out conversation manager be responsible for your crisis communication. Act quickly but according to crisis communication guidelines.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 8. social media are social. Don’t ignore your customers, even if they ask stupid questions.  Don’t let questions go unanswered.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 9. learn your high profile staff to handle Facebook and Twitter. They should know about privacy settings, technicalities of sociale media  and advanced settings. Make guidelines on how and when and if they can communicate about their job, your business and in what capacity.  Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

10 essential tips 10.We don’t know the future of social media.  Don’t base your entire PR, communication and internet marketing on social media. 

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Bonus: 5 insights • don’t trust social media • if you have 100 000 fans that like your product, that’s 100 000 people that Facebook  can sell your competitor’s products too as well

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Bonus: 5 insights • Facebook only sells you figures: 300 000 fans,                30 000 views, 500 likes, 100 shares …  • Don’t get caught up in these numbers! • The most important figures still are:  – are you getting more visitors?  – are they spending more?  – are you making more profits?  Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Insight 1 • social media is all about trust

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

BELGIAN TRUST INDEX 2013 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10. FIRE BRIGADE (96%) 11. DOCTORS (91%) 12. TEACHERS (85%) 13. COMMUNITY LEADERS (78%) 14. POLICE (71%) 15. POSTMEN (69%) ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (63%) 16. 17. JUDGES (58%) 18. PUBLIC SERVANTS (58%) 19.

ARMY (57%) CHARITIES (55%) MARKETEERS (51%) UNIONS (49%) LAWYERS (48%) BANKS (44%) JOURNALISTS (37%) CEO’S (32%) PRIESTS (17%) POLITICIANS (14%)

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

But: • the Belgian Trust Index is really a top‐20!

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

BELGIAN TRUST INDEX 2013 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10. FIRE BRIGADE (96%) 11. DOCTORS (91%) 12. TEACHERS (85%) 13. COMMUNITY LEADERS (78%) 14. POLICE (71%) 15. POSTMEN (69%) ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (63%) 16. 17. JUDGES (58%) 18. PUBLIC SERVANTS (58%) 19.

ARMY (57%) CHARITIES (55%) MARKETEERS (51%) UNIONS (49%) LAWYERS (48%) BANKS (44%) JOURNALISTS (37%) CEO’S (32%) PRIESTS (17%) POLITICIANS (14%)

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

BELGIAN TRUST INDEX 2013 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. FIRE BRIGADE (96%) 13. DOCTORS (91%) 14. TEACHERS (85%) 15. COMMUNITY LEADERS (78%) 16. POLICE (71%) 17. POSTMEN (69%) ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (63%) 18. 19. JUDGES (58%) 20. PUBLIC SERVANTS (58%)

SOCIAL MEDIA (97%)

ARMY (57%) CHARITIES (55%) MARKETEERS (51%) UNIONS (49%) LAWYERS (48%) BANKS (44%) JOURNALISTS (37%) CEO’S (32%) PRIESTS (17%) POLITICIANS (14%)

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Why is that? • there is no social medium, there are only social media • we choose ourselves: – who we follow, who we like – which people can be part of our digital social network – whose opinions are important and whose opinions are not Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Insight If your FEC is able to become part of someone’s digital social network, you become part of what they trust.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

What does that mean? • • • • • • • •

be authentic be honest find your own personal voice don’t be too commercial know who your audience is treat your customers like insiders empower your brand advocates let your employees be social representatives

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Insight 2

There’s too much  information!

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

STATISTICS (FEBRUARY 2014) • the average person in Europe on Facebook: – has 341 friends – likes 172 pages

• together: these friends and pages produce  numerous messages

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

STATISTICS (FEBRUARY 2014) • the average person in Europe on Facebook: – has 341 friends – likes 172 pages

• together: these friends and pages produce  numerous messages

2144

messages each day Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

That’s way too many posts • Facebook does not display  every single message • it makes these choices for you

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

movie > photo > text share > reaction > like

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

How recent is my post?

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

INSIGHT 3 YOU CAN MEASURE ALMOST EVERYTHING Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Remember this one?

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

You want to measure when your followers are online!

• • • • • •

HootSuite SproutSocial WildFire van Google EdgeRank Checker  Social Crawlytics BuzzStream Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Peak attendancy times #1 SAT 22h | #2 SAT 20h | #3 SUN 19h

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

INSIGHT 4 Let your competitor do the work

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

• General rule of the  internet: if you’re not paying for  a service, then you’re the  product, not the customer.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Free pages? • Why would Facebook allow you to make a  page for free?

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

a free page = a database of people who share the same interest in a product or service

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Imagine • You are from Amsterdam and you sell  goldfish. • You create a free Facebookpage about your pet store.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Imagine • You are from Amsterdam and you sell  goldfish. • You create a free Facebookpage about your pet store. • You want lots of followers, so: you spend a lot of time  doing all sorts of cool things to attract new followers. Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Imagine • You are from Amsterdam and you sell goldfish. • You create a free Facebookpage about your pet store. • You want lots of followers, so: you spend a lot of time doing all sorts of cool things to attract new followers.

GREAT JOB! You’ve got 1000 followers! Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

What have you just done? • You have just given Facebook a free database  of 1000 (potential) customers: – people from Amsterdam – people who trust you – people who like goldfish – People who want to spend money on goldfish Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

So … • what happens when another pet store in  Amsterdam wants to start a Facebook‐page? • Two options: – (1) he can do all your work all over again – (2) he can just pay Facebook to get access to your followers Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

You’ve just done all the work for Facebook. You’ve given your customers to Facebook. And to your competitors. FOR FREE.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

So … • Facebook‐page rule number one: When starting a page, check if there’s a  competitor who is selling a similar product to a  similar group of people. you 

If not: don’t advertise on Facebook. They will probably not get  many really interesting followers. If so: buy your followers from Facebook by using the database of 

your competitors.

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

(and beware of the risks of doing it yourself for free)

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Only the beginning! • • • • •

social media is still brand new changes almost every day new media, new possibilities everything is mobile economics → likeconomics

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.

Thank you! Erwin Taets [email protected]

Get insights. Get educated. Get inspired.