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As an online marketer trying to figure out how to leverage social media, you may be facing a similar information overload of content on *social marketing how-to* leaving you unsure of where to start. In the guest post below, Joe Chernov, Director of Communications & Social Media at Eloqua, shares how Eloqua can get you from Zero to Social in three easy steps.

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It’s virtually impossible to discuss marketing without the conversation shifting to social media.  For many of us, social media and marketing have become almost synonymous.   But with this spike in attention comes a surge in information.  There are countless books, blogs, reports, tweets and articles on the topic of social marketing.  This staggering amount of content can cause marketing paralysis:  With so many paths to follow, taking the first step can be daunting.

When facing an impasse, it’s best to keep moving.  And when it comes to social media marketing, the best move is the one that allows you to get started.   It’s this awareness – the notion that marketers don’t want to do everything in social media, they want to do something in social media – that drove us to create our new Social Sharing & Reporting tools.  What is it?  It’s a simple way for our clients trigger conversations about their products and join conversations already underway.  Because when it comes to social media, all conversations matter.

In the end, social media isn’t about products, marketing or even media.  It’s about people.  So my colleague, Jody Mooney, created this super-short video in which she explains, person to person, how Eloqua can take you “from zero to social” in three easy steps.

Once you get started in social media, it’s critical to stay engaged.  You cannot pop in and out when it suits you.  Unlike traditional communications, in which marketers dial-up and dial-down messaging based on corporate developments, social media is not a sine wave.  It’s a flat line. It’s an ongoing conversation with your customers, your partners, your fans and even your detractors.

And for those of you who want to dive a little deeper into social media marketing, I recommend MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Social Media Marketing & PR Benchmark Guide.  This book contains every chart conceivable on marketing across the social Web.  You will be an expert in no time.

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Click here to view.

The Marketing Insights team recently did some short marketing best practice videos and one was on four key areas you need to focus on to drive registration and drive attendance to your online event.

They include:

1. Multi channel promotion
2. Landing page conversion
3. Confirmations
4. Reminders

Take a moment to view some good tips for driving registration and attendance in this
short 3 minute video.

For those of us who have been doing online events for years I want to highlight one tactic I mention in the video that you should try… if you haven’t already. This works not only get your target audience to register, but more importantly to actually view your event.

I’m talking about ‘reminders’. Don’t rely on a single email reminder the day before your event! MarketingSherpa has tested their own approach and seen significant results on email reminders sent ‘one hour before’ the event, as well as the ‘day after’.

Lastly, don’t forget to leverage your call center or call-on-demand technology to remind registrants the day of the event. This has shown an average increase in attendance of up to 20%.  Remember, online events provide an interactive experience that will energize your marketing efforts. Take the opportunity to fully leverage them, they connect you with people you wouldn’t normally see and when you archive them they provide an asset you can use time and time again.

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In my role at Eloqua I work with a lot of customers every week. Over time, I’ve learned which ones like to communicate via email and which ones prefer a phone call instead. This hit home to me this week when one of my customers had not responded to the last several emails I had sent to her. When I picked up the phone, we ended up having a great chat and now I’ll remember that she prefers that method of communication instead.

Next time you’re kicking off a campaign, consider making it multi-channel. Perhaps some of your past non-responders would do better with an automated phone message this time around? Do you have an opt-in list of SMS contacts? If so, send them a text message with a URL to register for your event or learn about your offer. Don’t forget to add Twitter and Facebook to your next campaign outreach as well.

Your prospects are listening on different channels, so make sure you’re talking to them in the places where they’ll hear you.

[Photo credit: RickMacMerc via Flickr]

Kai Turner recently posted an excellent article on Mashable that I would highly recommend as you’re ready to get started. His eighth and final point is actually something I would have listed as #1: get started on Twitter by listening. This is easy to do with TweetDeck because you can set up searches on keywords that interest you (for example, your company or product name). See what people are saying and how they’re saying it, then when you’re ready to jump into the stream, you’ll understand the flow that you’re becoming a part of.

TweetDeck - b2b search

Here is an image of my “b2b” search term that I set up this week just to see what kind of chatter appears there. It’s a broad term (“b2b marketing” might be better…I’ll try that next) but I like the eclectic mix of items that pop up on it and I’ve found a few interesting folks on there that I’m now following. (By the way, I’m sure there are a ton of great tools out there that accomplish the same goal of searching the Twitterverse – I just happen to like TweetDeck.)

Another interesting point that Mr. Turner makes is the idea of having a casting call for your brand voice: “Most likely it will be someone from the marketing or the PR team. Maybe even a junior intern who has been given a list of things to post on Twitter. A more successful tactic would be to find someone, internal or external to the company, who is already on Twitter and speaking naturally in a tone of voice that matches your Brand Voice.” I just love this idea! With Twitter you’re learning to think outside the usual marketing and branding box, so you might as well go all the way and continue thinking outside the box when you find your “speaker”.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this topic. Have you recently stepped into the Twitter waters and have some tips to share with the rest of us? Are you considering it but still have concerns?

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I believe that Twitter is a useful tool for any marketer in any industry; however, the way you use it may be different depending upon your communication objectives with prospects and customers as well as your own career needs.

Learn
I personally started out just listening to the Twitter elite and marketing gurus to see what they posted about marketing topics that I was interested in. It was a great way for me to check in, get a pulse for  trends, and drill down further when I had time to research. I would certainly encourage any marketer to leverage Twitter in this way.

Tip: You don’t have to be “on Twitter” all day long – it can quickly become a timesink. Set up times in your day or week to tune in and review tweets.

Listen and Engage
Then, I discovered TweetDeck and become a much more efficient Tweeter by organizing my followers in groups and searching on keywords, etc. Now, I am able to really connect with Eloqua customers and partners – it has been incredible to watch the our active and growing community here. The ability to reach out and answer questions or direct people to resources in the moment has proved helpful to internal employees, customers, and partners alike. Are your customers, partners, and employees talking about your brand or asking questions you can answer on Twitter?

Tip: Maybe you just want to listen. LinkedIn has a great integration called Company Buzz where you can monitor tweets on certain brand names if TweetDeck and other tools appear daunting.

Embrace
Now, I feel that I am hitting the next frontier of Twitter – sharing and exchanging ideas. Now that I have a voice via this blog, I want to get the messages and ideas out to our community and beyond. I also want to hear more directly about what is working for people and what is not so that I can share this back with my clients.

So I am exploring a new set of chirping tools to maximize the dialogues I can have with my network on Twitter. First, I discovered auto DM functionality with TweetLater. I was intrigued enough that I set one up to welcome new followers:

 Thank you for the follow! Hope my tweets inspire your own marketing efforts.

My assumptions were as follows: (1) I advocate the best practice of a welcome, why wouldn’t I practice here? (2) I can go days and sometimes weeks when I travel without logging in to Twitterland…if I welcome them weeks later, will they even remember me? I did read some “best practices” to not self-promote and tried to make it about the follower and not me. Some Twitter purists, disagree, however. Some advice from a 10-year old – The Top 4 Common Twitter mistakes:

 Seriously, get rid of those auto responders. Auto responders are impersonal.

But, do they really have to be? Is it possible to have a warm, value-add auto welcome to a new Twitter follower? Or, are they simply a No-No in Twitterquette? I am certainly still learning how best to leverage this medium and welcome thoughts on if Auto DM Replies can work. I am now considering revising mine to:

 Thank you for the follow! What marketing topics are you most interested in?

Please comment or vote on our poll or send me an @jenhorton on Twitter with your thoughts!

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There are two critical points in your relationship with a buyer where you have their greatest attention:

(1) when they learn you might be able to provide something of value to them; and,
(2) when they actually do business with you.

 As marketers – we are typically great at welcoming our customers into the family after they sign the contract or give us a credit card number. But, why do we wait so long to “welcome” someone to our organization? Why not welcome them at the point they explicitly express interest in our organization?

When to welcome. You want to welcome someone because they raised their hand for more information. Think information desk visitor versus door-to-door vacuum sales. Also, consider where your buyer is coming from and why so that you can tailor your welcome appropriately. In a transactional purchase – it may very well be the first purchase. In a more considered purchase, it may be the first time they download some information from your resource center.

 “Thank you for your interest in {what they expressed interest in, or came from, etc.}.
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the {insert brand name here} family.”

Be human. Nobody wants to be welcomed to a distribution list and reduced to a mere email address. Use language that really highlights specific value to your buyer when welcoming a new email subscriber. And, set the tone and let them know what type of communications they can expect. Chad White of Email Insider Blog gives some great examples from retailers that “get it” and those that don’t.

“Welcome to our VIP group! As a member of this group,
you will get first dibs on special offers and savings with us.”

Build loyalty. Delivering value is the best way to build loyalty with your customer. If you are going to ask them to provide more information about themselves, be sure to use that information to personalize and tailor the next communication in a way that adds value to them. If you demonstrate that you are leveraging the datapoints to create value – they are more likely to provide additional details in the future. And, please do not ask for the same datapoints over and over again.

“Thank you for taking the time to tell us more about yourself.
We thought you might find {insert unique offer here} of value.”

Go beyond a single touch. A multi-touch Welcome Campaign is a great opportunity to watch and determine what their level of interest really is. If they engage with your initial welcome continue to the dialogue based on their interests and then score them at the end to determine if they are close to purchase or not. If they are – ensure the right sales resources are alerted. If they are not – nurture them until they are ready. A simple program may look like: 

Step 1: Look to see if inquiry is new to the database.
Step 2: Send initial welcome email from Company X . Provide special offer by answering one or two profile questions.
Step 3/4a: If person engages, serve offer relevant to question answers. Send final email with links to additional resources person may be interested in.
Step 3/4b: If person doesn’t engage, acknowledge intent is to help and not annoy, so please let us know if you would no longer like to receive these communications.

Your buyer wants information. You have their attention. This is a great opportunity to listen to your buyer, route them to the right resources, and consistently introduce new audiences to your unique value proposition. If you do not have an automated Welcome Campaign for your new prospects – do not wait any longer to get one in place. If you have one in place, please re-evaluate from your customer’s point of view to identify opportunities for improvement.

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