Social Schmoozing

Over the weekend I travelled home to Vermont and stumbled upon this picture. Why is it relevant? Why should you care?

One of the lessons I have learned over the last 10 months is to let the data dictate your course of action. Excuse me while I put in my pocket protector and slide on my thick rim glasses. There we go! Yes! Data is indisputable! What I have found with many businesses is that they feel the need to build a community or engage socially, but do so without looking at their business need first. What is the data telling you? What products are down and why? How can SM help spike those numbers? Has your competition eaten into your market share? How can your social media presence help you suck back the lost market and then some? I could go on for hours with questions like these!

The worn out 6 is a metaphor for being the hot spot for all business. In the case of the Chittenden Bank in Chelsea VT, we learned that a large percentage people take $60.00 out of the ATM per visit. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how I came to this conclusion, knowing all ATM’s spit out money in multiples of $20. But that kind of epiphany has happened to me several times upon looking at data for companies. The data will tell you the who, what, how and why. Data a lot of times shines the spotlight on where you need to engage socially, as brightly…as…well…the missing 6 in the picture above.

Confused on where to engage? Start with the traditional marketing data. Simple things like what are the items being clicked on in Constant Contact (or any mailing list service you use). Research the industry by keywords, what are the keywords most prevalent in the Social Media channels? These are just one of many actions you can take to research. I am happy to talk to you further about how to find your sweet spot!