How relevant are online networks to your business? And, how do you know if social media use is right for your business?
Today’s guest contributor Denise Tung tackles these questions and provides some solutions.
And, she introduces us to a fantastic tool that allows you to hear what people are saying about your business.
How relevant are online networks to your business? Deriving value from online networks requires entering this space with a level of awareness of what online networks entail and setting clear intentions on why you want to become involved, as well as articulation of potential benefits that might come out of your investment. These steps should not be radically new to any entrepreneur; in fact they correlate perfectly with questions that you would ask when pursuing a business idea or opportunity. There is a mountain full of literature online (see here for results of a Google search on ‘social media business’) that you can definitely sink your teeth into. Another good reference site for small businesses is Flying Solo.
Some bite-sized facts on what the hype is about (since less is more!):
- Online networks are made up of communities of people who could potentially benefit from using your product/service – a customer waiting in the midst!
- Social networks store vast amounts of conversation that might help you shape your business – Doing a search on Twitter is now easier done than said.
- Unlike traditional media or communication channels, you can connect to and converse with people in your area of interest, directly. Your insights come in real time, helping you make timely decisions for your business.
- There’s possibly a of talk about your business, product or service already happening. Irrespective of whether you’re in Marketing, Sales, Customer Service or Product Development, these conversations give you invaluable insights into a multitude of opinions, interests and personalities within these communities.
Here are some steps that you can take to determine whether there is any value in social media for your business: Establish what Keywords best describe your business. Revisit the crux of your business, looking at the products/services you offer, aspirational statements of benefits that your product or service may provide, the industry that you’re in and names of key competitors. Jot down words that would typically describe these areas (e.g. Woolworth’s keywords could include fresh food, affordable, Coles, value for money, supermarket). Search the cyberspace with these keywords. These same keywords can be used to search conversations on the web. Aside from Google, the best in breed search tool is Social Mention. This site searches across blogs, social networks such as Twitter as well as forums and comments on all social media related sites. The results from your search also give you very handy summary of the sentiment (positive or negative references to your keyword/s), reach (the number of unique authors referring to the keyword in question) and sources (a tally of where most of these conversations were sourced from). Here’s an example of the results from search on ‘Woolworths’ and ‘supermarket’. Formulate trends and findings. The findings from such activity are invaluable across any discipline. Listening is one thing, but taking action on these insights is where the difference is made. With these insights you can start thinking through:
PR activities that may help manage brand reputation.
• Working with the Woolworths example, the following insight from Twitter user @zanita, ‘Now off to Harris farm to buy vegetables for lunch. I hate Coles and Woolworths – evil monopoly! And lesser quality,’ signifies a need to consider a potential campaign that would help address the ‘quality’ perception in the market.
Customer Service activities that engage and influences customer opinions and preferences.
• In the same example above, Woolworths may choose to converse with @zanita and tap into reasons as to why @zanita feels so strongly about the lack of quality. This is a form of market research as well with timely benefits, provided that social media etiquette is adhered to.
TODAY’S TASK Use Social Mention to learn what is being said about you, your industry, your competitors. Make a decision, a step that you’ll take as a result of what you’ve learned.
Until tomorrow, Suzi
