Some are using platforms like Radian6 to engage in online communication and measure the feelings and perceptions surrounding their brand. Whether to better understand consumer behavior or develop a more relationship-orientated strategy, top brands acknowledge and embrace the influence consumers have over prospective publics.

Case in point: an airline that suffered an explosively public blow to its ego from a passenger’s Twitter uproar channeled the setback into an opportunity to build a mutually beneficial social media presence. Southwest Airlines has become a leader in listening and providing solutions to customer dissatisfaction while taking positive interactions to the next level. A corporate policy dedicated to how employees respond to customer inquiries online resulted in exponential growth to its Twitter and Facebook followings, 12 million monthly visits to its Website, and over 29,000 travel guide reviews.

Tried and true, you can’t make everyone happy. Rather than being afraid of what unsatisfied customers might post to your Facebook page, counter negativity with incentivized communication, enticing audiences to think twice before abandoning your brand. I recently joined Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program for several benefits, all of which were targeted to me with the right message in the right place at the right time.

A peacock escaped from the Central Park Zoo on Tuesday, shortly after the news broke the peacock had two twitter accounts. The peacock perched in the window on a swanky Fifth avenue high rise and tweeted about his inner most thoughts and feelings. He referenced the two other escaped zoo animals. He hinted that cobras aren’t very smart and denied the allegation that he is the father of the peahen’s babies saying “I’m calling Maury!” He even started a hash tag #ReplaceAWordInaMovieTitleWithPeacock, which yielded some hilarious responses like “James and the Giant Peacock” and “How to Lose a Peacock in Ten Days.”

On the list of bad things that can happen at the zoo, an animal escaping is near the top. However people weren’t talking about what the Central Park Zoo may have done wrong. They were talking about the wit and hilarity of the smug tweeting peacock. So who is behind @CentralPeacock? Is it an astute, PR savvy zoo employee? According to his tweet, it is a freelance writer who was simply the fingers, not the brains of the operation.

-Erin
Photo courtesy of: nydailynews.com

Loyal friend and social media enthusiast Randy Johnson utilized Twitter, tapping into national sentiment on a level he never expected – exposure to 18,199,953 people – to be exact. Here he describes the experience:

Why did you choose social media as the outlet for your personal contribution?

“Social media has made professional athletes and celebrities more accessible than ever. I chose Twitter because it seems to be the preferred social media outlet for athletes/celebrities to interact with each other and a great deal of their fans. A retweet or mention by an athlete or celebrity is like the ‘autograph 2.0′, especially if you can get someone to personalize their message.”

How do you feel about the process and outcome?

“I’m absolutely thrilled with the overall support I received for Tony with messages thanking him for his service and welcoming him home. I’ll admit this 7-day project spun out of control rather quickly, to the point where I actually had a hard time keeping up with the tweets and retweets coming in. I never imagined I’d have a list of 88 athletes/celebrities from all over the world by the time all was said and done. I couldn’t be happier with the result and the huge response I received from the “twittiverse”. I can’t wait for Tony to get back and see the overwhelming support that too few soldiers receive.”

Maybe you Tweet, maybe not, but I encourage you to view Randy’s Twitter Tribute in its entirety and challenge you to utilize social media in an unexpected way – what do you have to lose?

-Stephanie C.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter provide a platform for the country to ban together and share their emotions and opinions stronger than ever before.  Some post memorial messages and notes of respect for the innocent two year old, while others question the verdict and the legal system. 

Those who disagree with the ruling found a way to condense their feelings in 140 characters or less on Twitter.  Today, there are over 90 Facebook pages titled “Casey Anthony” and even more expressing hatred towards her. 

In less than one week after the day she was acquitted, 39,000 people “liked” the Facebook page – “I hate Casey Anthony.”  In the same timeframe, more than 700,000 people had signed an online petition at Change.org in favor of a federal “Caylee’s Law” making it illegal to fail to report a missing child within a specific timeframe. 

The Casey Anthony case is often compared to when O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of murdering his wife in 1996.  The difference between then and now is that these online networks didn’t exist.

These social sites are no longer just for connecting us with people we may know or want to meet.  They have become outlets for the world to respond to current issues, a place to celebrate a life or mourn a death and a form of therapeutic release.

–Courtney

*Photo Credit: Facebook.com

I am aware of the facts about how blogging drives traffic to websites and how large companies have advanced with the utilization of social media and I know how many people are on Twitter (175 million). Despite this, I still have trouble giving advice as to the implementation of social media as a form of marketing that has direct benefit.

I have found that when I put social media in the context of public relations, I have an easier time conceptualizing results.  Companies believe in the value of having a public relations team that pushes stories, maintains relationships and is well connected within the community.  Social media platforms are the outlet for public relations and public relationships.

Two bloggers who I cross paths with regularly have very different views on this topic.  To learn more about why social media is NOT public relations click here, and to learn about why social media IS public relations, click here.  I would strongly encourage you to check out their opinions and see where it falls within your organization’s conversation.

-Kelly

photo source: designbeep.com

Everyone knows they want ROI and many have no idea how to measure it, or at least they don’t want to take the time to figure it out. Knowledge is the key, but only action gets you through the door.

Brett Relander comments to Brian Solis’ blog post   

In B2B business, Social Media endeavors are often funded as pilot programs in hopes that they demonstrate momentum and the rewards will materialize. These pilot programs might be introduced without an integrated strategy, keep the management unsure and unable to assess the return on investment.

Measuring the benefits of social media is not as simple as looking only for a direct sales return from a social media input. Increasing the revenues is the ultimate business goal in B2B. However, customer loyalty, repeat web traffic, and many other factors are measurable milestones and viable business indicators which should not be overlooked. Viewing social media holistically is more beneficial than looking for one single return.

Lauren Fisher from Simply Zesty presents The ROI of Social Media: 10 Case Studies

Social media is all about building relationships and networking. Nevertheless, Twitter vs. Facebook, guess which generates more revenue? Quality vs. quantity: how to compare the monetary value of social media channels in terms of “followers” and “likes”? Extensive research by company called Chompon resulted in fascinating findings: a Facebook “share” generated almost three times the dollar value of a Twitter “tweet”, and a Facebook “like” valued four times as much as a Twitter “follow”. I encourage you to download the PDF with their results and methodology.

Read more:

http://www.bitrebels.com/social/twitter-vs-facebook-a-social-media-revenue-comparison/

http://socialmediatoday.com/boothyboy/275569/facebook-share-vs-twitter-share-which-generates-more-revenue

-Kristel

So we’ve read what is out there about blogging, we read that 77% of internet users read blogs and that companies that blog have two times the number of inbound links versus companies that don’t and best yet 58% of people who blog are said to be most known in their industry.

We hear about Twitter and tweeting and using hashtags. One can follow people and find out the latest in the industry and learn about what other people are doing. We are sold on signing on to all of this.

Have you heard about Bloglevel and Tweetlevel? Both of these sites help to find the top influencers in their blogs and on Twitter. These tools help to sort out content by relevance and context. Then it sorts by influence. The people that are ranked the best are the best influencers in that area of expertise.

Although these tools may not be the best out there, they are great to see who are the top influencers out there and why. Keeping on eye on the competition is always a smart thing to do. It’s important to know what people are saying, why people are listening and what you can do to join in the fun.

Go ahead and check yourself out…..how are you doing?

-Jackie
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/07/14/tweetlevel-bloglevel-gps-for-navigating-influence-online/

1. Contests or Sweepstakes
2. They are a current customer
3. Interesting or entertaining content.

Not only are current customers following or liking your brand, they are influencing their friends to also follow this brand. More than half of Facebook users are following 2-5 different brands every day. Take into consideration that there are more than 200 million active users…..and over 100 million users login at least once a day….For Twitter, 13 percent of the online US adults aged 18 and older use Twitter, up from eight percent in November 2010…..isn’t it time your brand considered social media? People want to get involved and interact with their favorite brands.

Wonder what the top brands are…

-Facebook
-YouTube
-Disney
-CocaCola
-Starbucks

Have you heard of these companies? It’s time to get on board!

-Jackie

http://blog.getsatisfaction.com/2011/06/29/what-makes-people-follow-brands/?view=socialstudies

picture, compliments of:  rinehartrealty.com