The Engagement Equilibrium: Social Media Strategy Meets Economic Theory

 

 

By: Alex Fernandez
Internet Marketing Strategist

Okay, bear with me. The title has some big words, but trust me – I’m going somewhere with this…

Figuring out the “right” mix and frequency in for your brand’s social media posts can be a tricky business. The word “right” is in quotes, because it’s such a subjective term. My definition of “right” is when you find consistent engagement levels along with a consistent rate of growth in engagement levels, month after month.

Engagement, in the most basic terms, means that people are liking, commenting and otherwise interacting with your brand when you’re posting. If you’re hearing crickets chirp after your social media posts – it would be wise to put some thought into what you’re sharing.

In economics, the equilibrium point, or “Market Equilibrium,” is the point where market forces meet. It is the point where the supply and demand curves intersect. Perhaps you’ve seen a common supply and demand model:

The basic idea is that supply and demand are inversely related.

A common example is with a commodity, such as apples, for example. If the supply of apples decreases (moving the supply curve left) then the demand for apples increases, raising the equilibrium point (or market price).

• Supply UP = Demand DOWN, Price DOWN
• Supply DOWN = Demand UP, Price UP
• And vice versa…

In social media, post activity and post visibility are inversely related. If you seldom post, you have a good chance of users noticing your posts in their social accounts (whether it be a Facebook news feed, Twitter stream, etc). If you post too often, users will either tune your posts out or opt-out from your brand (un-follow or hide posts). In the case of Facebook, the social network will actually cut your visibility for the user if your posts are published too frequently.

Thus, the supply and demand model can actually be adapted to describe this relationship. As illustrated below, post activity replaces “Supply,” and post visibility replaces “Demand.”

ENTER: Engagement!

Social media isn’t as two dimensional as the law of supply and demand. The bell shape curve in the visual represents engagement. Engagement is a bell shaped curve it’s non-linear. It’s very sensitive to extremes; if you do too much OR too little, it actually tapers off.

There’s a “sweet spot” with social media engagement that you have to hit just right.

Post too infrequently, and you’ll lose your audience. Sure, your posts will be visible, but no one will care what you have to say,  because you’ll have no rapport with them.

Post too often, and you’ll over load your audience, not giving them enough time to enjoy your wonderful posts. They will either miss most of what you send out or get sick of you, very quickly.

Post at the right frequency, with the right kind of content, and you’ll hit the sweet spot, the Engagement Equilibrium.

I’d like to know what you all think. Crazy talk? Some substance to all of this? What I like about merging these two worlds, is that economics and social media marketing are both applied sciences. Both would be nothing if it weren’t for the masses and how they react to things. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts!

Should you need an Engagement Equilibrium for your social media presence, email us at info(at) getpushing.com or give us a call at 239.221.2858.

Public Relations Strategy – 10 Steps to Ensure Success

As many of you know, I earned by APR (Accreditation in Public Relations) last year. Quite the process, I learned far more than I thought via studying assigned literature. One such piece, Cutlip & Center’s Effective Public Relations 10th edition (EPR 10) was invaluable.

Having practiced public relations for large and boutique firms, I felt secure in my abilities. My APR study course reassured me, but I learned a great deal about structures and systems that can me, as a public relations communications professional, do a better job. One of those is what the book calls “Public Relations Strategic Planning Outline”. It basically outlines the four step process most of us are familiar with – Research, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation (RPIE) – and adds in steps for each.

This blog post will outline the RPIE process and EPR 10′s suggested 10 steps. I’ve added in notes on how we apply these within our company with hopes that helps get your wheels turning too!

Step 1 – Research & Define the Problem

I find this surprisingly simple, but it’s so important. How many times a PR professional are we so busy trying to address an issue that we don’t even take the time to really look at it and define it. in EPR 10, they go so far as to really detail the situation in two suggested steps:

1. Define the problem and/or opportunity (What’s really the root of it?)
2. Develop a situation analysis (We do this in all of our project plan outlines at the very beginning. It’s habit now and often ensures that what we think is the issue is actually the issue in the client’s mind.)

Step 2 – Planning

No strategic campaigns can be done overnight. It takes time and careful consideration of many factors. From who the target audience (or audiences) is to the best way to reach them, each component must be planned. According to EPR 10, it starts with goal setting and laying out the structure of how you’ll get from point A (the problem) to point C (the desired result).

1. Determine the program goal (What’s the desired end result and when do you want it happen by?)
2. What’s the strategy? (Learn the difference between a strategy, objective and tactic! A strategy is the “overall action and communication plan for achieving the program goal.” EPR 10)
3. Determine the target audiences and objectives (Consider internal AND external audience members – employees, media, government officials, etc. Make sure your objectives are S.M.A.R.T.)

Step 3 – Implementation

Here comes all the fun – and the hard work. You’ve done your research. You’ve defined the problem. You’ve designed your plan. Now it’s time to put it into action! Now is when you can start determining what tactics will be used to achieve the stated objectives and start doing the campaign.

1. Action Tactics – What do we need to do to ensure this certain objective is met, or exceeded? (This could be sending out a news release or contacting media to attend the event.)
2. Communication Tactics – What is the message we need to communicate? (Remember which audience you are communicating with. What you tell employees may not be the same as what you tell media. Jargon could play a role, etc. Also consider which tool will be the best delivery method – email, social media, a news release, etc.)
3. Program Implementation Plans – Who’s going to do what and when? (Have a schedule and define responsible parties from the beginning! This is SO important. You don’t want all your hard work in planning to be delayed or messed up because something was overlooked.)

Step 3 – Evaluation

The project or campaign is over, but your work isn’t done yet! Did it work? Was the goal met? Were the objectives and strategies met or were there issues? Measuring the outcome(s) of communications is just as important and measuring sales after an ad campaign. While much of communications work is consider qualitative, there are many components that can be quantitative as well. You’ll make your evaluation job easier if you use S.M.A.R.T. goals and objectives from the beginning.

1. Evaluation Plans – First you had to determine how the outcomes would be measured, then after the project you have to them apply those measurements and determine the results. (Did we get the behavior change we were looking for?)
2. Feedback & Program Adjustment – It’s not good enough to just evaluate the program and determine if it worked. You have to then apply that knowledge, plan, etc. to future programs. (If your feedback indicated employee dissatisfaction, what will you do as a result?)

Conclusion

If you follow the RPIE plan and EPR 10′s steps, you will have a successful communications program. You may not get the results you want, but you will have done it strategically, intelligently and in a measurable way that can be learned from. I highly encourage you to read the book, even if you aren’t interested in getting your APR. I guarantee you will learn something. If you do get a copy, this outline is on page 306.

Good luck!

We take no ownership to this content or claim any rights to it. All RPIE, 10 steps and EPR 10 references are direct indicators that they are ideas and content from the book, Cutlip & Center’s Effective Public Relations 10th Edition by Glen M. Broom. This post is meant to merely share knowledge – and the book – with others looking to better their professional skills. We give Cutlip, Center and Broom kudos and HUGE thanks for writing this important book!

Meaningful Metrics

By: Alex Fernandez, Social Media Strategist

Metrics are a huge component of website analytics. Choosing the right metrics to measure can mean all the difference between gaining insight and “analysis paralysis”. For example, you’re driving in your car, and your battery light comes on. You drive to the nearest service center to have it looked at. Your mechanic isn’t going to check every component of the car – They’re going to test your battery first, right?  Web metrics are similar, in this sense: Your website is a vehicle – a communications vehicle. Your web analytics help you determine how to improve and optimize your website for your users.

Web analytics is defined by the Web Analytics Association (WAA) as, “the study of online experience, in order to improve it.” And the part of that definition that should be stressed is, “In order to improve it!”

Metrics are driven by goals, and goals are driven by the type of website you have. Here are a couple of simple examples that demonstrate how different metrics would be used depending on the goals of the website:

Example 1:

• You have an E-Commerce website.
• Your goal is to increase online sales revenue via your website.
• A appropriate metric would be the average transaction value, or average order size.

Example 2:

• You have a Lead Generation website.
• Your goal is to increase the number of new-business leads via your website.
• An appropriate metric would be the number of opt-ins or number of content downloads.

Now, the metrics in the above examples are actually more than JUST metrics. They are helping us to determine if we are accomplishing our goals – making them Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs. Avinash Kaushik, Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google and author of the book, Web Analytics 2.0, describes KPIs as “The best kind of metrics.” In his blog, Occam’s Razor, he proclaims enthusiastically, “They are our BFFs!”

Key Performance Indicators are great, because they make metrics meaningful, by assigning those metrics to real goals! Let’s look at a more specific example. Let’s say that you have a basic WordPress blog set up with Google Analytics, and the purpose of your blog is to provide information on the coffee from around the world.

1. Your website is an Informational website.
2. Your goal is to become an authoritative source about all-things-coffee. You want to publish interesting content that people find useful.
3. A few Key Performance Indicators that would measure how much your users are “soaking up” your content would be:
   • Number of user comments
   • Number of shared posts
   • Number of page views per visit.
4. After one month you measure your Key Performance Indicators:
   • You determine that your posts about coffee from exotic locations around the world receive the most comments and shares.
   • Your users are typically viewing only one page per visit.

Now, the “In order to improve it!” part:

1. You develop an action plan, based on your findings, to improve next months results:
   • You will publish more about the content your users value.
   • You will link more to related entries within your content, and add a “Related Posts” section that appears at the end of each entry.
2. Re-evaluate your goals and Re-measure.

This is obviously a very simplified example, but hopefully it helps demonstrate that web metrics aren’t about statistics, pie charts, percentages – metrics are supposed to be meaningful. They are tools to help you determine if you are realizing your goals, so make sure you’re looking at the right ones!

If you have any questions or comments, please drop us a line below. If you think this post was cool, please Tweet this. If you want to take your website analytics to the next level, with Pushing the Envelope, email me Alex(at)getpushing.com.

3 Steps to Take for Social Media Awareness

Guest Post By: Alex Fernandez, Social Media Strategist at PTE

Creating social media awareness can be the difference between success and failure for any social media marketing campaign. It’s great that you’ve started to leverage social media, and you may have some great content ideas – but you have to let the world know that you’re here! Ask yourself: do your employees and customers have multiple chances to learn about your social media involvement each time they interact with the brand?

The array of opportunities to communicate that you’re using social media is only limited by your creativity. Still, there are several basic steps all should follow when getting started. Here are a few to consider:

Internal awareness comes first. This step is often overlooked, especially with larger companies. In the early stages of a social campaign (when accounts are being created): audience sizes are very small, and it’s not set in stone who will be doing what. Internal awareness solves this issue. Your initial social media advocates should be people working within the organization. Have a meeting with your leadership team to talk about how to spread the word, include social media as a topic in your next newsletter, email links to your social assets and ask for involvement – anything to get the word spreading internally.

Integrate with other communications. Social media should be treated like any media – it needs to be leveraged strategically. While there are many nuances to social etiquette, communications should still be aligned with your overall marketing strategy. Think back to when BestBuy started their Twelpforce campaign: BestBuy launched a 24/7 Twitter-based customer service platform, and created awareness for the campaign with a fully integrated ad campaign, including TV, print, and online display ads. If a large-scale campaign is out of the question, adding social icons and links to your website’s homepage and E-communications is a great start. Social media links should also be included in your email signature.

Add social cues to your print materials. This goes hand-in-hand with integrated marketing communications, but speaks more to attracting the offline world to your social media. For example, if you are having tri-fold brochures, postcards, POS materials, direct mail, or business cards printed, be sure to make sure they have URLs, social icons, or QR codes (a common practice targeting smart phone users) to promote your social media assets. Having these cues on your print materials provides a tangible reminder of your online community.

If your brand is leveraging all of the above means for creating social media awareness, then you are off to a great start! If not, implement some (or all) of the above strategies, and think up a few new ones while you’re at it!

Should you need assistance with your social media awesomeness… [shameless PTE plug] feel free to contact us!

www.getpushing.com | (239) 221 – 2858 | info{at}getpushing.com

The Importance of Setting Goals – for Career Success

Recently we had the opportunity to attend the The Blue Chip Awards Luncheon. A wonderful afternoon filled with successful small business people, great food and inspirational stories, the highlight was key speaker, Nikki Stone.

An Olympic gold medalist, Nikki overcame much adversity and physical challenges throughout her career and stressed the importance of setting career goals in her keynote speech. Stone discussed the significance of her goals as the direct result for her success. She explained how she would write down all her goals and keep them close to her – literally in her pocket at all times (on advice from none other than Muhammad Ali!). This helped her stay motivated when those moments of giving up rolled in.

So why is it so important to set career goals? For every individual it is different because we all have different destinations in which we wish to reach. No matter what our definition of success might be, we all strive for our own version of it. By both physically and mentally defining our goals we are mobilizing our energy towards one single aim. Having a clear and concise strategy and focus will allow us all to better be able to accomplish any objective.

This can and should be applied to our work goals as well. Having a defined set of actionable items makes reaching success easier. With goals and a strategy, one can create a series of steps to reach them. Be sure to consider this when working on your marketing and communication goals.

Who are you trying to reach? What’s your end goal? How can you quantify it and measure your success as you go?

“Success is how high you bounce after you hit rock bottom.” -Gen George Patton from Nikki Stone’s speech

Failure to plan is planning to fail – Lessons on Strategic Communication Planning

This is part 3 of our 3 part series covering lessons learned and tips gathered at the recent FPRA Annual Conference.

Failure to plan is planning to fail.

Peter Hollister, APR, Fellow PRSA, CPRC of Hollister, Trubow & Associates, offered a lecture on strategic communications during the conference. Before you start yawning (no offense Mr. Hollister), as we all know strategy talk can sometimes be dry, this was a powerful presentation.

First of all, there has to be an understanding that communications plans (or really any marketing plans) must have a long range view that relates to the company or organization’s brand and branding efforts. Additionally, we have to “get” that this not something that will be developed then put on a shelf or adhered to the same way now as it will be 5 years or even 2 years. With the ever changing media and communication landscape, we have to move forward and design our strategic plans in such a way that they are flexible and a living document.

• Strategic Planning vs Long Range Planning
  • A strategic plan does not have an ending. It’s a dynamic, living thing. Components within have an ending, but not the plan.
  • A strategic plan has evaluation built into it. Benchmarks, etc. so you can tell as you go along if you are making the expected progress.
  • Strategic planning is participative. You must be involved in it, not invite an organization in and hire them to do it.

“Strategic management provides guidance, direction & boundaries for operational management.” – George A.  Steiner Strategic Planning

A strategic plan encompasses all aspects of an effort or initiative and is people and customer centered. This is of the utmost importance! Now, with social media and consumer driven/derived media we (communicators) are considering this more. Before there was a push mentality.

We would push information out. Send our messages where we thought our target audiences were. Now, we can ask them. Listen and find out what they want and communicate WITH them, not AT them. It’s really relationship management. We have to be constantly thinking about ENHANCING RELATIONSHIPS.

Every strategic plan must take this into account. And, as Mr. Hollister pointed out, this change in thinking and way of designing a strategic plan explains what PR and communications is and does for those not in our industry.