messages, Reale discovered that Twitter can help her company reach goals beyond marketing and sales and aide in customer service management as well as product creation and improvement.
“I believe that in business-to-business (B2B), people respond to people. Most companies segment by product or customer base. I thought it might be a good idea to segment by our people in their area of expertise. I wanted to put a human face on the RCD segments,” said Reale.
Twitter allows users to easily segment followers and the people they follow through the creation of lists. Some organizations even develop completely different Twitter accounts for each content area of their company to allow for strategic development of different types of customer leads and distribution of more targeted information. By creating different Twitter accounts and dividing followers into specific lists, Reed Construction Data is able to have different individuals within Reed Construction Data share information that is most valuable to each target audience and therefore create more loyal followings.
How a Targeted Facebook ad Helped Orabrush get on the shelves at Walmart
We were already in contact with Walmart Corporate Offices through traditional sales channels. Their local vendor program allowed individual Walmart managers to pick up local products for local stores shelves. We’d had a manager here in Utah request Orabrush to carry for the holidays, and from that introduction, many other local Walmarts picked us up as well. Sales were robust, and the prospect for an expanded Walmart launch beyond our area seemed very good, but we wanted to speed up the process.
We made a DVD with a personalized introduction for the sales rep we’d been in contact with at Walmart HQ. When the DVD starts, The Orabrush Guy and Morgan the Orabrush Tongue (our two spokesman of YouTube fame) address the rep by name and discussed all the sales figures we’d seen in our test market in UT. We included samples of our videos, user reviews, and the press coverage we’d gotten. It was unique and thorough, and we were confident it would have their attention.
Part of our strategy was to come from as many angles as we could, through the traditional sales channels, and then with the DVD. But we’re a social media company as much as we’re a consumer goods company. Our world is web advertising.
I had the idea to use Facebook ads in a very targeted way. In college, I’d used Facebook to target a single girl to ask out. It was narrowed down to only girls with this name who went to this college who are from this hometown with these interests. Now I promise this isn’t as creepy as it sounds; we already knew each other and it was a fun way to surprise her. Facebook won’t allow that narrow of targeting anymore, probably to prevent potential creepiness like I’d done, but the technique still works, even with an audience broader than one. I suppose the girls of Provo UT (home ofOrabrush HQ) can be glad I’m now happily married. No more Facebook pro stalking.
We created a Facebook ad targeted only to Walmart employees in Bentonville Arkansas who have a college degree. The only people who meet those qualification are employees at Walmart HQ. We were reaching the executives. The ad said “Walmart Employees have bad breath! Walmart needs to carry Orabrush! It will sell better than anything in your store!”
Two days and $28 in ad spend later, we got an email from a Walmart VP, letting us know that they’d seen our ad, and would we please take it down. They seem to have gotten the impression that we were broadcasting this to the country, not realizing it was targeted to their office.
They’d already heard we were good at reaching our desired audience online. Now they knew it firsthand.
—Submitted by Jeffrey Harmon, CMO of Orabrush
www.orabrush.com
Never Interrupt. Instead, Foster Dialogue.
The biggest mistake marketers make with social media, regardless of industry, is interrupting rather than contributing to the conversation. By using your own employee resources to add expertise to conversations, you can provide more authentic value to target audiences.
“My twitter feed highlights social media, marketing and business/technology news, with a spotlight on our industries,” described Reale of how each employee contributes different content to the segmented Twitter followers. “Another Reed employee, Kathy, is a technical writer for building product manufacturers. Kathy tweets a good deal about manufacturing and she follows and talks to manufacturers on her Twitter feed. She understands their pain points, the stuff that keeps them up at night.” We’ll talk more about how you can engage your employees in social media in Chapter 5.
For companies trying to reach several different target audience groups, segmentation allows the ability to provide specific information that is useful and relevant to the needs of each audience group. The result of this relevant information is that it can, in turn, develop stronger, deeper connections with each audience. Reale believes this type of segmentation will help Reed Construction Data develop better products by listening to feedback and asking questions to the right audiences. And Twitter is not the only social network to benefit from segmentation. We are also seeing more businesses that have set up multiple blogs, each focusing on different topics to appeal to various audiences. You can also set up lists within your Facebook profile so that specific messages will only go out to those “friends” most interested in your company updates. To set up a different list in Facebook, simply click on “Friends”, then “Edit Friends.” From here, you will see a link that says “Create a List.” This will allow you to name the list and add certain Facebook friends to that list. Similar lists can also be set up in Google+. These lists are called Circles.
It is important to note that social networks are not just for the young. Internet users between ages 34-44 are dominating the social media space, becoming the fastest adopters of social media use. This audience represents the incoming wave of industry leaders since they will be the 50-year-olds likely running larger corporations and in charge of making major company purchasing decisions in 10 years. From our conversations with such industry folks, they understand that using social media helps them reach a variety of business goals efficiently, from positioning themselves as knowledgable, to finding new clients, to keeping a pulse on what is happening in the their industry.
While the large social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google+) can provide great reach and access to many people, small businesses are learning that the more niche, topic-specific social networks can actually provide better access to potential clients directly seeking their services. For example, CosMed Plastic Surgery Center (www.cosmedclinic.com) frequently posts answers to community health questions in plastic surgery and weight loss online communities: MakeMeHeal.com and ObesityHelp.com. People who participate on these forums represent a core audience for the plastic surgery center and allow them to build a more personal connection with potential customers who may hesitate to share health concerns on a more public forum such as Facebook.
Social media happens fast, and new niche networks and blogs arise almost daily. A great tool to help you stay current with these websites and also monitor the pulse of the online conversation your industry is Google Alerts. This is a free tool that will email you when your chosen keywords are talked about online. Simply go to google.com/alerts and enter keyword phrases, such as your company name and hot topics related to your industry, along with your email address to be notified each time anything related to these topics appears online. As professional social media and communications consultants, Google Alerts is an invaluable tool to discover new blogs and smaller, more niche communities that are discussing hot topics where our clients would benefit from being heard.
Sometimes what looks like the smallest online community to an outsider can actually have powerful voices developing opinions and dialogue that will eventually spill over to the more trendy social networks. Understanding these core audiences, who the key influencers are, what issues are most important to them and how to get your company, products and services in their good graces can be an invaluable asset. Listening, monitoring and helping to guide dialogue on these niche, smaller sites can help you better understand the thought process behind what motivates your core audiences to support your company and your future products and services.
This listening