John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, has changed the face of Social Media one recipe at a time. How committed is T-Mobile? To the point of answering many questions and comments within an hour of the original post going live. Are you shopping for a new phone plan today? No. But down the line when you shop for a new carrier, T-Mobile is going to pop into your head with a pleasant association attached.
“The truth is, I learn almost everything I need to know to run T-Mobile [on Twitter]… I take every tweet that comes in and I read it. I forward it to people. My executive team gets them, we reply, and at my staff meeting every Tuesday, we track social media impressions, what they are and how we’ve responded to them. It takes a ton of time, it’s a lot of fun… I listen, and I respond”, said John Legere at a past GeekWire Summit.
One of the most powerful things about social media is the ability to dialogue back with a customer at any juncture of the CX journey. This is what John Legere has found as the greatest opportunity to capitalize on. Nothing but good old “listen to the customers.” When you interact with your followers you get a feel for them. If one person tells you something on social media, there’s probably many others who aren’t on social media, but are experiencing the same issues. So, you seize the moment and either amplify a great story or fix a problem and nip it in the bud.
But it’s not all luck. To discover what customers really want remains elusive and ever changing. Brands are turning to hard data to better understand their customers. T-Mobile uses data not only to tap into consumers’ explicit demands, but also their unexpressed desires. By integrating all customer data into one unified platform, T-Mobile can execute targeted marketing campaigns, personalized cross-channel experiences, and scaled experience delivery via automation. More than ever, the wireless network company is leveraging what it knows about its users to improve both customer experiences and engagement (Adobe Blog).
Want to get the John Legere experience? Follow him on Facebook.
**NEXT: Hands-on Social Media Experience Workshop San Diego
4 Facebook Strategies
Last week Facebook showed up in San Diego. I was lucky, for the first time, to watch presentations by Facebook leaders to agencies and business owners. One presentation sticks out the most. It was a 45 minute keynote on how to measure results on Facebook.
There are many social media marketers out there who have quarreled with this aspect of marketing. Let’s face it measuring results is all a client cares about.
A familiar takeaway from this presentation was that you measure results against your strategy and not simply at the end. At the end it’s too late. Let us use athletes as an example. The success of wearable trackers like Fitbit and the more robust Apple Watch, paved the way for athletic sensor technology that can do more than count steps. Advanced analytics are accessible to everyone, and now an athlete’s performance can be measured in a more accurate manner, in the following categories: Acceleration, Vertical Leap, Speed, and Efficiency (Blast Motion).
Notice performance is not simply measured in the end result. For example: Super Bowl Wins, Soccer World Cups or Wimbledon Trophies. This is what I learned from the team at Facebook. You measure objectives aligned with your strategy. If your objectives are met you achieve your end goal.
When was the last time you stepped onto a scale? Was it covered with dust from being unused for so long? I am going to guess you stepped on it reluctantly and somewhat afraid – like me, but you also knew that if you’re going to make any health changes in your life, it’s a necessary measurement. Same principle applies to measuring your social media marketing. There are 5 fundamental KPIs (key performance indicators) we teach during our hands-on, social media workshops, on how to measure social media marketing performance:
- Brand Awareness
- Engagement
- Traffic
- Leads
- Sales
Here’s an example of 4 measurable strategies to implement on Facebook:
- Branding – Increase the visibility of your brand by getting more people to watch your videos and your ads.
- Nurturing – Create audiences based on how they engage with your brand either they like your Page or they click through to a landing page.
- Engaging – Test, test, test, creative and choose what works best instead of guessing.
- Converting – Increase conversions from the audiences that are already familiar with your brand; have purchased in the past; or have landed on your checkout system.
These 4 strategies are like the legs on a table. You need a combination of all of them to generate results or you will fail. In most cases this is not something that happens overnight.
Historic Balboa Park, San Diego, Welcomes House of Peru
House of Peru will be one of the next international cottages to be built in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. House of Peru is part of the House of Pacific Relations which gathers 33 nations and it’s the largest multicultural organization in the United States. Peace, goodwill, and understanding exemplify the nations and the ethnicities that are represented in Balboa Park. It’s the epicenter of culture, history and tourism in San Diego. With more than 34 million tourists visiting San Diego every year, the House of Peru will serve as a hub that promotes and celebrates all Peruvian culture and values to all the corners of the world.
They are now at the critical stage of raising sufficient funds to finish construction, and they really could use our help. Donate today through Facebook and be a part of this wonderful dream.
About the Author
David Wagner is a keynote speaker and Lead Consultant at 1marketingidea LLC, a marketing agency that leverages the social media experience to transform personal brands who struggle at connecting and engaging with their networks, resulting in deeper and stronger relationships, repeat business, referrals, and higher profits.