HubSpot TV - How to Fail at Social Media

Episode #76 - January 22, 2010
(Episode Length: 24 minutes, 3 seconds)

Intro

• How to interact on Twitter: @ karenrubin and @ mvolpe with www.HubSpot.tv in your tweet.
  
• Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.hubspot.tv
  
• Brian Halligan is speaking at the Franklin Club in Boston on Feb 1st at 6pm -- Cost $65 (Use coupon code hubspottv and save $10)

Doing it Right

• Partners in Health launched Stand with Haiti
• http://www.standwithhaiti.org/ haiti - Website Grade: 89
• Twitter - http://twitter.com/PIH_org - Twitter Grade: 99.8
• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/ partnersinhealth
• Blog - http://www.standwithhaiti.org/ haiti/news - posting multiple times per day with updates

Headlines

Twitter User Growth Slowing

• Twitter User Growth Slowed From Peak of 13% in March 2009 to 3-5% in October
• In October 2009 the Twitter user base grew 3.5% - robust growth for most web applications, but far below the 13% growth in users Twitter experienced in March 2009.*
• Today the average Twitter account has 300 followers; in July, it had 70
• The average account now follows 173 accounts; in July it was only following 47
• The average account today has posted 420 updates; in July that number was 119
• Marketing Takeaway: Twitter is just one of many social media channels.  Diversify!

How to Fail at Social Media

• How to Fail at B2B Social Media
• Siloed Social Media Practitioners - No matter if you work internal for the company or are providing social media services through an agency or as a consultant, you must be connected to the rest of the marketing or communications team.
• Lack of Engagement - After establishing accounts on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, you only tweet out your own content. You set up automated tools to gradually grow your followers, but you do not engage with them.
• Rely Only on Social Media - Continue to invest in traditional communications, but always include links to social sites to build those communities. A customer who is a heavy Facebook user will notice a Facebook logo on your printed catalog and become a fan.
• Don't Give It Enough Time - Building a community takes time and making drastic, knee-jerk changes too quickly without allowing natural growth will ensure your failure.
• Marketing Takeaway - Social media is a PART of your inbound marketing strategy. Create good content and use social media to help you promote it.

Marketers Shifting Budget from Outbound to Inbound

• 84% of Marketers to Shift Portion of Direct Marketing Budgets to Social Media
• 66% of marketers plan to invest in social media over the next 12 months, but only 36% plan to monitor and analyze the success-or failure-of their efforts
• 84% of Marketers are shifitng a portion of thier direct marketing (outbound) budgets to social media (inbound)
• Marketing Takeaway : Make sure you are re-allocating your budget and efforts regularly, based on results.

Forum Fodder

• From Cynthie at www.Inbound.org -  How can I get my baby boomer clients to interact with us more through Twitter or Facebook? We do a lot of work with what we call "Active Adults", "Active Seniors", or "Super Seniors". Ages ranging from 55-95. Most are okay with email now, which has improved in the last 5 years. Some are starting to look at FB.
• Community answers: Add links to your different social media profiles to make it easy for them to find you
• Why do you want to make them do this?
• Maybe try educating them in a seminar, video or article?

Marketing Tip of the Week: Don't put your eggs all in one basket. Make sure you have a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy.

Closing

Video: How to Use Social Media to Manage Your Company Brand Online

Learn how to use social media to manage your company brand. Download the free video and learn how to manage your company brand effectively using social media.