We are in the age of the Social Consumer, where social networks are transforming business as the attention of the consumer is focusing on their social streams. They learn, discover and share with their friends.

Facebook has generated a lot of BUZZ lately with its unveiling of a new location based “Places” with local deals. Successful companies are integrating Facebook into their marketing strategies. Fortune 500 companies are racing to see who can get the most “likes” and companies like WalMart are banking that you will share their deals with your friends.

Here are 5 reasons it is imperative that your business have a Customized Facebook Business page.

1. Fish Where the Fish Are. With over 500 million active users and 50% of them logging on to Facebook in any given day you are bound to have clients on Facebook.  Companies embracing social media will hold a strong competitive advantage.
2. Engage and Build Relationships. It’s not about selling your products and services but building relationships. To build relationships you need to create followers or fans of your brand, otherwise known as those who “Like” your page and content. Facebook’s Wall element provides a perfect opportunity to engage your visitors in 2-way conversations. Status updates can engage your clients by providing value as well as direct visitors to answer questions, post their comments and share their photos and videos.
3. Effective and Reasonable Marketing (Ads). Facebook ads are reasonably priced and you control your daily budget. You can target your niche market with pay-per-click and pay-per-impression options. Ads can be directed back to your business page to grow your fan base or directed to your website to make a purchase or redeem a coupon. Facebook recently included a social element to their paid ads with a set of metrics for the ad administrator. Nielsen report claims that almost 70% of users are more likely to click on an ad previously visited by their friends.
4. Maintain Strong Brand Awareness. You can build brand awareness with a customized Welcome page,  Product or Service page. Facebook Contests generate brand awareness especially when used in combination with Facebook ads. Users submit essays or photos and then ask their friends to vote for their entry. They can also share their entry on their wall making your brand visible to all of their friends.  You can also increase brand awareness results by integrating Facebook with traditional marketing channels.
5. Provide Customer Value.  Value can come in the content you share, from how-to videos to customer service tips. You can offer specials for Facebook users only. Facebook Places is a location based tool for smart phone users like the iPhone and the Android. Once a business claims their place they can offer a deal or coupon for mobile users who check in at their location. The deal then appears on the users news feed where all of their friends can take advantage of too. You can also receive company value through polls and surveys and gather research from questions.

The results of these 5 elements will be the number of “fans” or “likes” your Facebook Page will produce.  How much is a Facebook fan worth?  Retailer Daily concludes,

“The average value a Facebook fan provides a brand is $136.38, but it can swing to $270.77 on average for “best” fans or go down to $0 in the “worst.”

Entwine Digital has created and managed many custom Facebook pages where clients have grown their fan base significantly. Darin Kidd’s page received over 1000 fans within the first 48 hours.  Our most recent project with Tony Williams, song writer and musician of Call the Law it’s Christmas, is to use Facebook to promote the Black Friday release of the animated video of the holiday song. Williams said, “I don’t know much about it but I do know I have to be on Facebook to let people know about my song and get the video to go viral.”

Integrated Media Marketing is when you effectively integrate social media with traditional marketing. Here are 23 ideas for integrating Facebook and Twitter in PR, direct selling, customer services, advertising and sales promotions.

Back of Business Card

1. Add Facebook Widget /plugins to website or blog
2. Show Twitter stream on website
3. Use buttons in footer, contact page and sidebar of  website
4. Add Share/Like/Tweet buttons on products and content on website
5. Include links on your business cards
6. Include info in email signature file
7. Add Facebook /Twitter to voice mail messages (office and cellphone)
8. Include Facebook/Twitter info on invoices and receipts
9. Incorporate Facebook/Twitter in radio and television commercials
10. Add Facebook/Twitter to all printed brochures and catalogs
11. Include info in newsletters
12. Incorporate Facebook/Twitter logos in silk screen designs for t- shirts, canvas bags, umbrellas, hats
13. Include Facebook/Twitter info on menus and place mats
14. Include in proposals and RFP’s
15. Add info to billboards
16. Include Facebook/Twitter info with hours on storefront doors
17. Add Facebook/Twitter everywhere you include a phone number
18. Include on tradeshow displays
19. Add to tradeshow giveaways (pens, notepads, rulers, etc)
20. Add links to other social networking profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Yelp, Google, Bing, Yahoo)
21. Include links on PowerPoints and other presentations
22. Include links on YouTube uploads using annotations
    

    Direct Mail Catalog

23. Remind customers to follow you when they call customer service lines

This is a pretty comprehensive list but I’m sure there are others.  Let’s build an incredible list, add your ideas in the comment area below.

Digital Marketing synergizes social media with other media channels to realize ROI. Many companies launch into social and mobile media without creating a strategy.

The old school marketers are transaction oriented. Their strategy is to buy more media eyeballs, potentially creating “buzz” and sales. The new media marketers are customer focused, generating interactivity and relationships.

The five phase Digital Marketing Strategy  is comprehensive, customer-centered, and focused on delivering ROI.

Five Phases

1. Assessment
2. Strategic Branding
3. Online Hub
4. Integrated Media Marketing
5. Monitoring/Evaluating

The Assessment Phase utilizes customer insights, touchpoint analysis and digital footprint to determine a company’s market position. Strategic Branding incorporates these findings into a strategy and a Brand. The third phase, Online Environment (website, blog, landing page), is the Hub of the Digital Marketing Strategy.  We select and integrate traditional and social media tools that drive clients to your Online Hub.  Each tool is targeted to different stages of the Integrated Digital Marketing Lifecycle.

Entwine has three new clients that are approaching Digital Marketing from a holistic perspective. David James Custom Homes is one of the largest custom home builders in Virginia. They have a strong reputation for building quality homes. They have been using traditional media (TV, radio, print, direct mail) to gain customer recognition in the market place. Management wants to determine which media channels are most effective at moving a customer through the touchpoint conversion lifecycle – from Awareness to Interest to to Action. They have focused on Assessment before embarking on a Integrated Digital Marketing Plan.

Nancy’s Candy Company, a wholesaler of homemade chocolate candies and confections, has recently opened a new retail store. They are looking at Social Media Marketing as a way to drive traffic into the new storefront. They decided to start with Facebook to test the social media waters.  When they came to Entwine they had a very basic business page with 30 fans/likes.  By using a digital optimization strategy including keyword optimization, custom welcome page, engaging updates and Facebook ads; Nancy’s Candy’s Facebook Page has grown to 240+ fans/likes. The next phase of the project will include a customized targeted Facebook Contest meeting the Facebook Promotion Guidelines. Here’s a sneak peak of the contest.

BMS Direct Inc is a B2B direct marketing solutions provider that upgraded their online environment to be social, interactive and content managed. Our Strategic Branding sessions revealed their need to expand their brand and offer comprehensive solutions. We designed and optimized a WordPress site for their Online Hub, with FTP and ecommerce functionality and a Facebook business page and Twitter account to build an integrated marketing platform.

Entwine Inc was selected by the Adhesive and Sealant Council to educate industry leaders about social media and B2B marketing at the 2010 Adhesive and Sealant Spring Conference in Savannah, Georgia. Ira Kaufman and Patsy Stewart studied the industry and gathered examples of companies starting to embrace social media such as Lanxess, H.B. Fuller, Cytec, Hexion and Arizona Chemical. It really wasn’t a surprise, but  the adhesive and sealant industry has barely tapped into social media.

Social Media Revolution – Creating Value for Your B2B Business

Our presentation, Social Media Revolution – Creating Value for Your B2B Business, introduced industry leaders to the value of Social Media when used in an Integrated Media Marketing Strategy.  We divided it into three parts; the case, the integrated strategy and the social media marketing tactics.

Industry executives were quite interested but shared their skepticism.  Eva Ackerman, VP Research & Technology, Rectorseal Corporation, commented,

“Honestly, using social networking for more than social chatter was new to me. I was quite skeptical. Your workshop showed me the value and made me a believer. I see new opportunities to try social media for our company.”

They were challenged by a lack of understanding of the power of social media, how to apply it to their company and integrate it with current marketing efforts and how to measure the results. Larry Owen, Senior Vice President of Franklin Adhesives & Polymers said,

“I need to get involved in social media, our company needs to get involved. I have committed to our marketing department that I will research and learn more.”

Larry Owen, Ira Kaufman, Les Burch

The presentation demonstrated how B2B companies are embracing social media to generate results. An Integrated Media Marketing Strategy incorporates social media to increase customer touchpoints to engage with clients and build relationships. Social Media Marketing tools help to expand a B2B company’s digital footprint. Your online environment is your hub; this could be your blog, website or landing page. The spokes or social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn drive traffic back to the hub and create buzz.

Les Burch, President of Sashco shared,

“Your presentation helped me understand how the many pieces of social media fit together strategically and how they can develop communities that care about our products and create a buzz about them.”

To help us better understand the needs of the Adhesive and Sealant Industry we are conducting a survey of the attendees. We will compile the data and determine ways B2B can best benefit from the inclusion of social media in an integrated marketing strategy.

You can view our entire presentation on Slideshare.  Click here to view the slides.

The vast changes in media have triggered a revolution in marketing.  Rupert Murdoch noted it in 2006.

“To find something comparable, you would have to go back 500 years to the printing press or the birth of mass media… Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now, it’s the people who are taking control.”

Business Response

Business is quick to acknowledge the changes but their response is varied.  In a recent survey of small business owners

“67% agreed that social media is a good way to increase business, yet 39% did not plan to use social networking in their marketing plan in 2010.”

79% of the  Fortune Global 100 are using at least one social media platform.  Most of the companies have had success with social media.

Office Max: “Marketing is all about change… At OfficeMax, we’ve embraced social media and incorporated it into our marketing strategy to reach today’s digital consumer through humor, entertainment and personalization.”

Cisco: “We see social media, such as blogs, as a great way to build your business and tap into the ideas and input of people using your products.”

Another study suggests “47% of brands are still in the experimental phase with social media”, meaning they “exhibit lots of social activity with little connection or integration with each other.”   Businessweek reports

“Over the last two years, social media have dramatically transformed the pace at which information is shared….71% of companies plan to increase their investments in social media, but only a third have guidelines for how it should be used.”

Clearly there is a marketing opportunity!  But business owners and marketing managers are overwhelmed with the new learning curve and question its effectiveness. Agencies are active in the social space, trying to make sense of all the new tools and prove its value for their clients.  Yet a new evolving group, focusing on Integrated Media Marketing and using social media as art of a comprehensive strategy, is opening up new markets and strategic opportunities.

How are you on implementing Social Media into your marketing efforts?

Traditionally marketing is about advertising or promoting something.  We scream “something”; we hope it is loud enough to interrupt the consumers’ attention and motivate them to take action.  That’s one way to do it.

Marketing has progressed — customer databases target select groups and the internet provides customers with search that directs them to company websites. We say something to the world, await a response and then respond back.  But the communication is still one way.

Social Media, the New Solution?

Enter social media. Two-way conversations are realized in real time – open communication is the objective, controlling the message is almost impossible. The focus is to promote conversations among customers and potential customers. Each conversation is a “touchpoint” with the consumer and provides the company with insights, data and new marketing connections.

To date most marketers see social media as a tool or a component of the marketing mix. Social media is much more than a promotion tool; it is the “atmosphere” or cloud in which more traditional efforts are magnified, grow and flourish.  It requires a comprehensive strategy to be successful.

Social media has begun to impact business communications (e.g., branding, customer service, recruitment, organizational development).  But it has not been integrated into ongoing traditional marketing efforts and the marketing mix.

Integrated Media Marketing, Generating Marketing Capital

Enter Integrated Media Marketing, the next step in the marketing revolution. This strategy is the seamless integration of traditional marketing with online, public relations and social media. This builds on the recent Forester study,  No Media Should Stand Alone which suggests;

“All types of online media can play specific roles in meeting marketers’ objectives — especially when seamlessly working together.”

From the outset Integrated Media Marketing is designed to be holistic; it is not just adding social media as another silo to the other media channels; but blending or “entwining” the components (TV, radio, online, public relations and online marketing) as a unified strategy.  Social media must permeate all elements of their marketing mix, as the driving force of an Integrated Media Marketing Strategy.

This Strategy augments and synergizes the different media components to generate a new asset, marketing capital. The resulting marketing capital is greater than the sum of each of the media inputs, generating new value added by

• Expanding exposure by effectively driving your message across all media
• Efficient use of marketing dollars
• Accessing the viral power of user distribution
• Addressing sensitive and negative issues
• Expanding customer touchpoints to gain new insights on their brand (corporate, employer); interactions on customer service; opportunities for recruitment and product research.

The Obama Presidential campaign successfully generated marketing capital with a unified brand of “Change”. President Obama’s team used all forms of social media and wove them seamlessly with traditional media and PR, while “integrating online advocacy into every element of the campaign.”  His expanded marketing capital resulted in an empowered volunteer network,  high approval ratings, 90% of donors were under $100 and a landslide election victory drawing from political center.

An Integrated Media Marketing Strategy develops engaging customer relationships which generates new marketing capital and a sustainable competitive edge.

Strategy! Strategy! Strategy! -  the key to successfully integrating social media into your marketing mix.  Business Week points out that  companies are moving from Discovery to Experimentation and finally to Adoption in their social media experience.

With this growing expertise, experts agree that 2010 is the year for Developing Strategy,  Integrating Media and Designing Metrics.

As Social Media Marketing is becoming more strategic, companies are adopting a strategy to align their objectives with metrics that define and reflect an Integrated Media Marketing approach.  This will define their success. Mani Karthik compiled an awesome list of ten social media presentations by thought leaders in the industry. These companies are using a social media strategy to achieve their objectives. We thank Mani for including the latest Entwine presentation as the first on his list.  We shared this presentation with executives at the Salem Roanoke County Chamber event in Salem, Virginia.