Capulet Communications

This post, written by Julie, first appeared as a guest post on Sage's Business Management Blog:

“My boss says we need a Facebook page.”

As social media strategists we hear that a lot. Our response is often, “why?” Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean a Facebook page is the right choice for your business. Here are a few questions to ponder before diving head first into your corporate Facebook account.

Are your customers on Facebook? With 500 million people on Facebook, it’s likely your customers have Facebook accounts. But, are they using Facebook for business or as a personal networking tool? If you’re a very technical B2B business–maybe you sell circuit boards for solar panels–then it probably makes more sense to build a community in the more corporate LinkedIn.

Do you have internal resources for managing your Facebook page? This is a serious consideration and one that often gets overlooked. For Facebook to work as an engagement tool, you’ll need to create and run contests, offer giveaways, write useful articles and point fans to quality content elsewhere on the web. These marketing activities take time and effort. If no one in your organization takes ownership of the project, your Facebook page won’t succeed.

Is Facebook a PR liability? A corporate Facebook page provides the perfect public platform for people to vent their frustrations with your organization. If your business regularly endures public criticism–say you’re a sports team, an airline or an oil and gas company–then be aware that Facebook may create a PR burden for organization.

Will Facebook (and other social media channels) take away from current marketing activities? Social media can be a fruitful addition to your existing marketing programs, but shouldn’t come before old-school marketing activities that are working well. Time and again we see email marketing results out-perform Facebook and Twitter when it comes to sales and conversions. Though it can be tempting, don’t abandon existing programs for the shiny new bobble.

Is it imperative to get Facebook fans to your website? Converting fans to customers is easier said than done. One reason is because once people are in Facebook, then tend to stay there. They’re disinclined to click a link to your website that takes them out of Facebook. So, if you can’t replicate your website’s functionality in Facebook with a Facebook app–a widget that registers fans for your workshop, or enables them to sign a petition or buy products directly from your Facebook page–you may be disappointed by the number of fans that actually make it over to your corporate website.

There are hundreds of examples of successful Facebook pages that actively engage fans and reflect positively on an organization’s brand. Coca-Cola and Unicef, for example. But, for every success there are thousands of flops. Before you click “Create a Page”, be sure you have a clear understanding of how Facebook will complement your marketing goals and who in your organization will “tend the garden”.

I've been helping Lee-Anne Ragan of Rock Paper Scissors get her blog up and running. We've had a great time discussing the ins and outs of social media and the benefits of using the Web and blogging for marketing.

Lee-Anne's dedication to blogging is remarkable. She consistently writes three posts a week, and all of her posts are thoughtful and relevant to her work as a corporate trainer. Given that our last blog post on Capulet.com was March 25 (this is where I hang my head in shame), I'm impressed with Lee-Anne's commitment to her blog.

Yesterday, Lee-Anne posted something that intrigued me. It's a six question, multiple choice creativity assessment. I took the assessment and discovered that I'm missing a solid process for harnessing creativity.

Now, I have the chance to learn from Lee-Anne! I'm attending her one-day workshop, "Embracing Creativity: How to Rediscover Your Creative DNA" on June 23rd and hope to find some creative inspiration to share with clients. Want to get a creative shot in the arm too? Here's the goods:

Embracing Creativity: How to Rediscover Your Creative DNA
June 23rd, 2010, 10 am to 5 pm
Langara College, Vancouver

Lee-Anne says: "You’ll leave the workshop engaged, refreshed and with a plan for how to put your newly (re)discovered creativity to work." For more information about this creativity workshop go to the Langara website or email or call Leslie Kemp at 604-323-5981 or lkemp@langara.bc.ca.

I've long admired Vancouver Opera's approach to its Blogger Night program and got the opportunity to experience it first-hand when Darren and I were invited as blogging guests to "Nixon in China", the Vancouver Opera's most ambitious project to date--at least financially.

First, a little background. For the last year, social media manager Ling Chan has been engaging with online influencers, initially a radical approach for a traditional organization with an aging audience. Ling also launched the successful Vancouver Opera blog. Likewise, the Opera's Facebook page (more than 1500 fans) and Twitter efforts (more than 2200 followers) have grown continually, bouyed by the Blogger Night program.

Blogger Nights at the opera offer a way to introduce and engage a new audience with an old art form. Not only do Blogger Nights provide a reason for online influencers to write about the opera--either about their experience or to review the show--the program represent a genuine effort to educate a new generation of potential opera fans.

Educating our little group was what Vancouver Opera did best at "Nixon in China". Prior to the opening night performance, bloggers got a backstage tour of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Darren and I had a previous engagement so we missed the tour, but it sounded like an informative peek behind the curtain. Before the show and during intermissions (yes, two intermissions!), we were encouraged to hang out at the Blogger Night table. A surprising number of guests approached the table and chatted with us opera newbies. Personally, that set-up is a bit public for my liking--print reviewers aren't asked to write their reviews in-situ--but the other bloggers didn't seem to mind and it did provide a chance to chit chat with colleagues.

At Capulet we talk with a lot of not-for-profits about using social media effectively. Vancouver Opera's approach to new influencer outreach really is an example of blogger outreach done right. After seeing a Blogger Night up close we'll continue to tout this model as an effective way to build a new, real-world audience.

Having a social media presence is mostly about building relationships, not unlike conventional marketing. But in social media, communication works both ways and in real time.

If a hard copy journal gives your product a bad review, the copy disappears from the shelves in a month or two and you can move on. Not so with a bad online review. Google’s cache system and internet archives ensure bad reviews stay online forever.

So, what can you do about it?

Domino’s Pizza was getting a lot of negative attention about the quality of its pizza on Twitter and in focus groups. Rather than ignoring the feedback, they took the opportunity to make a better product and responded to criticism on social media channels. They even went so far as to change their pizza recipe. They tell the story with a video called Pizza Turnaround and the Twitter hashtag #newpizza. When they were criticized for initially censoring negative comments on their own website, they decided to post them along with an explanation of what they were doing to make customers happier.

Domino’s turned a negative situation into an opportunity for engagement. Not only did they respond to the problem, they showed the world what they were going to do about it.

If your customers or critics are on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter, you should be too. Not responding to online criticism makes it look as though you are not a part of the internet community and that you are not monitoring the web closely enough. Even worse, it looks as though you don't care what customers and critics are saying. Though a negative review may last indefinitely on the web, so will your response and evidence of dialogue with your community.

As Jane Goodall discovered, the best way to learn about a species is to live among them. The social web can be a bit like the “wild west” of online communication. But there are some key communication protocols to be aware of before striking up conversations with the locals.

If you understand the social web’s code, you’ve got a better chance of breaking into the inner circle and getting mentioned or reviewed by online influencers. They can send thousands of visitors your way. Remember the golden rule of the social web is this: Listen First.

By emulating the behavior of influencers and learning their dialect, you can become more confident when approaching them. Begin by finding blogs and online communities that focus on your product, organization, or industry.

You can start by doing a search for [your company] blog and you’ll probably find references to your company. Poke around any associated blogs to find more references. Then, start reading them regularly.

If you can’t find blogs dedicated to your company, try searching for [your competitor’s] blog. Start reading these corporate blogs and the third party blogs that cover your competition.

You can certainly find blogs dedicated to your industry. Don’t believe us? Try searching “funeral blog” and you’ll find dozens. Now try searching for [your industry] blog. If your industry has newsletters, conferences, and magazines, it has bloggers. Find a few and start reading them today.

With just a few clicks, you’ve got a virtual stack of reading material that will help you get to know the new influencers in your industry. Find out what they are talking about, and which companies they’re watching. Perhaps most importantly, find out what they’re not talking about. You don't want to pitch bloggers irrelevant stories because that wastes both your time and theirs.

If you do your homework and read the right blogs weekly, you lay the groundwork for future, positive interaction with these influencers.