To see marketing differently, we need to turn the spotlight on social

The marketing department used to be the mouth of an organization—developing content and communicating messages to support sales. I think back to when I started in the field and my role was all about creating one-sheets, building presentation decks, planning events and helping to support advertising and awareness goals. Now, the role of marketing has fundamentally evolved, changed and grown.

At Sprout Social, marketing is not just about supporting sales teams, it’s about empowering sales. Marketing is a linchpin for revenue and our overall business strategy. But as digital transformation takes hold, more marketing leaders will find their departments responsible for not just new customer acquisition, but also influencing retention and growth, customer service and product development.

We know that our buyers want to engage digitally and that they increasingly prefer to have an end-to-end digital customer experience—only the marketing team can deliver that at scale. For 55% of consumers, that experience starts on social media.

With the power of social media, marketing teams are now also the eyes, ears and heart of an organization. As we look to the future of marketing, it will be contingent on our ability to understand, leverage and, in many ways, start with social.

Marketing strategies should start with social

To better serve our customers, we have to listen to them.

Social media teams are on the front lines, regularly tuning into our audience and our customers. The insights they capture should inform our campaigns, our content and our marketing plans overall. Social cannot be the team we go to after a campaign is built and say, “Here, post this.”

When we proactively work with social, we can test new ideas, creative assets and campaigns, and use the results to become more strategic marketers.

We can’t limit ourselves to solely listening to what our audience says about our brand. We must also listen to what they’re saying about their own lives and experiences outside the brand. It is also now mission-critical to read the room, keep a pulse on culture at large, focus on customers’ values and reflect our own values while doing so.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved the value that social can deliver, even when your strategy is on hold. When the pandemic took hold in March 2020, our team decided to pause all of our social content so we could reassess. We immediately dug into social listening data to answer questions like, “How can we most effectively serve our customers in a time of such uncertainty? What do they need from a product perspective? What are the necessary steps we need to take to help them navigate this incredibly hard change?”

The social data we found changed everything. We threw out most of the campaigns we had planned in order to prioritize more educational, supportive content. We hosted a digital event knowing our customers needed community and a network of support. We offered customers a free COVID-19 listening topic so they could benefit from the same data that we used to guide our pivots.

By using social to stop, listen and connect with our audience on a deeper level, we were able to expand our influence and support our top-line business goals amid worldwide turbulence. But it shouldn’t take a pandemic for us to leverage these insights across our campaigns. It should be ongoing. It should start with social.

Customer experience is more than a buzzword

Beyond campaigns, the bigger opportunity is in how we as marketing leaders deliver on our role in managing an end-to-end customer experience. We hold the power to ensure this doesn’t become the next buzzword or empty promise.

Organizations don’t know if they’re delivering a great customer experience if they don’t talk to their customers. When you have hundreds, thousands or millions of customers, one of the only ways to capture customer insights and actionable feedback at scale is through social—the largest real-time focus group.

Social holds up a mirror for your organization so you can see where you’re falling short, how you compare to competitors, opportunities to innovate your products and so much more.

The power of social has yet to be recognized among a lot of marketing leaders and CMOs. We didn’t have social media until well into our professional careers, so there’s often a misunderstanding about what it can help brands achieve. As a result, we’ve seen social get relegated to entry-level marketing roles and digital natives who grew up with social. Unfortunately though, their work usually ends up getting siloed, perpetuating the perception of social only as a lever for brand awareness rather than a strategic asset across all business functions.

For brands to see social differently and to use it as the powerful tool we know it to be, marketing leaders need to bridge the gap between social and the rest of the organization. With greater visibility and collaboration comes greater business results.

The keys to unlocking the power of social

If marketing’s guiding principle is to be the steward for the customer, social media managers are our experts in the field. Social has become the throughline by which every customer interacts with your brand, so social media managers see, hear and act on all of those interactions.

With guidance from social media managers, we enable our companies to not just be better at marketing, but to create the products and experiences that can make a difference in our customers’ lives.

Today, it’s table stakes for CMOs to share wins, progress to goals and opportunities to improve with our peers across the business. Going forward, we need to empower our social media teams by giving them similar access to stakeholders outside of marketing—to both expand their understanding of the business and let them share their unique expertise and invaluable insights.

Beyond creating facetime, we must encourage our social teams to get in a regular cadence of delivering social insights to other departments, be it sales, customer care, product or otherwise. This ongoing education is an important step toward unlocking social’s value across the organization, toward a day when it won’t just be social media managers logging into social media management platforms.

The future of marketing depends on social

We’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to harnessing the power of social. But if marketers are going to increasingly be responsible for driving revenue, the only way to succeed is by helping unlock social inputs across our businesses.

The good news: In the last year alone we’ve seen a surge in businesses investing in social. Overwhelmingly, 91% of executives report that over the next three years, their company’s social media marketing budget will increase. And I truly believe that those investments will pay off.

Interested in exploring more about how the future of marketing and social media will intersect? Download our latest research to take a closer look at the state of social media after a year of transformation.

This post To see marketing differently, we need to turn the spotlight on social originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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The state of social media investment: Five key takeaways for European businesses

In a year where everything changed, it’s no surprise that consumers have too. But how have they changed, and how will it affect your business?

A new survey, “The State of Social Media Investment,” conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Sprout Social has shown how the events of the last year have accelerated both American consumers’ and business’ use and expectations of social media. But what can European businesses learn from these findings?

While consumer use of social media is largely similar in both regions (87% of UK internet users report having a social media account, compared to 92% in the United States), there is a notable difference with regards to business use of social media. In previous surveys, only 40% of small to medium sized enterprises reported using social networks, as opposed to 81% in the USA.

As business use of social media grows in Europe, here are five key findings from the consumer data with actionable tips you can start to use today.

1. Potential customers are looking at much more than your website

As the world went into various levels of lockdown, it’s hardly surprising that the number one use of social media was as a way to connect with friends, family and colleagues. Nonetheless, when shops and stores around the globe closed their doors, online shopping and ecommerce exploded.

But how are customers finding your business online? It might surprise you to learn that consumers are using much more than just websites. Up to one in three consumers will use social media to learn about or discover new products, brands or services.

You can see that while your website might seem like the obvious starting spot for customer research, reading other customers’ reviews was the most influential information source about your business (85%). Similarly, social media posts from people in the consumer’s network ranks highly (71%), as do social media adverts (59%), influencer recommendations (53%) and the content that you post as a business (63%).

Take action: Build your digital presence

With consumers increasingly moving their purchasing power online, it’s important to consider your online presence holistically, beyond just your website.

Checking your website is updated is a good first step, but consider the other places that a consumer might be checking you out. Do you regularly update your social media profiles? What type of content do you share? What reviews have previous customers left? Collectively, what do all these sources say about your company?

Information, opinions and conversations about your brand will exist on social media whether you choose to acknowledge them or not. By taking an active approach to social media, you can help shape the narrative. While you can’t control what other people might say about you, you can contribute to the conversation and represent your business as well online as you do offline.

2. Customers are using social media more than ever…and that trend is set to increase

Over half of the consumers surveyed said their social media usage had increased in the last year. Not only that, but it’s a growth that’s set to continue over the next three years, especially with Gen Z and Millennials.

With social media usage on the rise across all age groups (18-74), there’s never been a better time to connect with new audiences and to create new customers.

Take action: Connect with your ideal audience with social media advertising

Understanding your customer is instrumental to effectively connecting with them on social media. Social media advertising is still gaining popularity in Europe and with 75% of consumers believing that businesses need to better customise how they interact with their audiences, there’s a real opportunity to stand out from your competitors.

Here are a few ideas to implement:

• Identify your ideal customer type: Think broadly with respect to things like age, lifestyle, hobbies, needs, location—are there any commonalities that you can identify? If this is the first time you’ve created personas, this helpful article will help guide you through the process.
• Find them online: With so many platforms to choose from, you will find different types of customers on different platforms. If you want to connect with your ideal audience, you first must identify where they are. For example, LinkedIn is perfect for professional networks, whereas TikTok might be better for a younger audience.
• Engage with them! You’ve honed in on a platform, now it’s time to engage with your potential customers. Not sure what to post? Ask your current customers, or check out what your industry peers are doing. The best way to understand what works with your target audience is to experiment—there’s no silver bullet, but you’ll find your own voice best by using it and seeing what content works, and what doesn’t. (Still not sure? Here’s seven tried and tested ways to tap into your target audience!)
• Expand your reach with social advertising: While you can grow your network through recommendations and shares, social advertising is a great way to reach new audiences of your ideal customer type faster and more effectively. All social media platforms support advertising, and you can target audiences much more precisely than with traditional forms of advertising like TV and radio. Check out this handy guide to social media advertising to help get you started.

3. Businesses are expected to engage with customers on social media

Consumers are active members of communities online—sharing, posting and interacting with their own networks and beyond.

Take action: Get creative with how you connect

Social media is used best when it’s a conversation—and no one likes a one-way conversation! Many European businesses still consider a social media presence as a “nice to have,” but that mindset is not aligned with your customers’ expectations, who consider it a necessity.

For businesses ramping up social, get creative about the ways you can connect with your audience. Of course you can use social as a broadcast channel to promote your business, but the more you put into social media, the more you will get from it. Start conversations, cultivate communities or work with influencers in order to reach your audience in more authentic ways. The best advice? Try to have fun!

Doughnut rings > engagement rings 🍩 https://t.co/9qwHZafzLV

— @LidlGB (@LidlGB) April 8, 2021

Struggling to think of fresh ways to engage with your audience? Check out these 20 social media ideas to help keep your brand’s feed fresh!

4. Social media is your customers’ preferred communication channel—at every stage of the customer journey

Social media is a great place to broadcast and connect with new audiences, but it doesn’t end there. A whopping 67% of consumers believe that the responsiveness of customer service is integral to a positive customer experience. Furthermore, 58% of your customers prefer to connect with you online rather than in your store, and 63% expect businesses to use social as their main channel of communication. A further 80% of consumers expect businesses that have social media presences to interact with their customers in meaningful ways—which means that social media is important to more than just the marketing department.

Thanks for getting in touch, Gabriella. If you could please send us a DM, with your order information and some details about the issue, then we can look into this for you? Dale

— B&Q Help (@bandq_help) April 12, 2021

Take action: Use social media for every stage of the customer journey

Social media is not just about attracting new customers. It’s also a way to interact with your current customer base—whether it be through responsive customer service, sharing engaging content or fostering a community. Consumer expectations are powerful, and meeting them on social media is an easy way to build a loyal customer base.

• Create a social media strategy: Consider how you currently use social media versus how you could use it. Chances are, there’s room to improve. Social media can be used for generating leads and new business, but also for customer engagement, brand awareness, market insights and customer service. Not sure where to start? Check out our guide for creating a strategy for everything you’ll need.
• Set realistic goals: Setting goals with any new project can be a powerful motivator. But set unrealistic goals, and you risk disrupting your progress before you even begin. While you can achieve a lot with social media, we recommend focusing on certain goals to get you started. Try to create them to reflect incremental growth, rather than an all-encompassing target. For example, you might want to get 10,000 followers on Twitter. That will take time to achieve! Break that down to a weekly or monthly target, so that you can keep on track over a period of time.
• Set yourself up for success: Now you know what you want to achieve, consider how you are going to do it. While you might not need to change everything all at once, it’s worth considering team bandwidth, training and tools which could help your business be successful.

5. Your customers can and will attract new business for you

Recommendations and word of mouth have always been important for any business. With social media however, the power, reach and impact of a referral, recommendation or positive review has never been stronger. One third of people use social media to share experiences with companies, and 40% of people will ask their social networks for recommendations. Most importantly, up to 76% of people will recommend your business to a friend or relative after a positive interaction with you.

Take action: Focus on creating a great customer experience

[quietly puts comment on every billboard in the land]https://t.co/aeY4MfESlh pic.twitter.com/uwHE8aR2fh

— innocent drinks (@innocent) April 9, 2021

Great customer experiences create great customers. Creating a great customer experience extends far beyond just social media, but word of mouth exists in a very powerful and amplified manner on social media. Growing your network of happy and loyal customers means you in turn can connect with their networks.

If you needed any more convincing that prioritising your customer’s experience is important, this wonderful insight also works in the opposite direction. Bad customer experiences will not only destroy any customer loyalty, but when amplified on social media, can deter others from doing business with you.

TL;DR? Social media is key for successful businesses

All in all, 62% of consumers surveyed believed that brands and companies which did not have a strong social media presence would not be able to succeed in the long run. Social media usage in consumers has continued to grow exponentially—and across all age groups. With significant growth in a one year period that’s projected to continue, there’s never been a better time to up your social media business strategy.

Interested in the full report? Check out all the findings, for businesses and consumers alike.

This post The state of social media investment: Five key takeaways for European businesses originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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3 Ways to Overcome Slow Email List Growth

Hitting plateaus is painful, but it happens to everyone.

I’ve been producing music for the last 11 years. There are still times I begin a new track, work on it for a week straight and make serious progress. At that point, I’m a happy camper.

Then, crickets.

I become frustrated and try to force my way out of it because it feels like it’s my fault — it's a tough thing to handle.

Ok, but how does that relate to email lists?

Growing an email list doesn't have to be complicated.

There may be times that your email list’s growth slows down. And when you manage to overcome it, another plateau may hit. It will feel like it’s your fault that this is happening.

But it’s not your fault; you’re just doing the same thing that got you to 1,000 email subscribers in hopes to get to 5,000.

If you’re currently experiencing a similar situation with slow email list growth or want to be proactive, this article will help you find things you can do today to get through it.

Why does my email list grow slow?

There’s no short answer to this question, but could happen because of one or a combination of factors:

• The email content is uninteresting
• A narrow range of covered topics
• It's not easy for users to subscribe
• You’re asking for sign ups at the wrong time and place
• People don't understand the value of subscribing
• No incentive for subscribing

Here are some ideas that might inspire new options to explore to grow your email list.

How to overcome slow email list growth

There are three things you can do today to overcome your email list’s slow growth:

1. Improve the content you produce
2. Improve the ways you collect email addresses
3. Run a newsletter referral program

Improve the content you produce.

When you’re producing content, there are four rules you need to follow:

Rule #1: Make it easy to skim

A staggering 43% of people admit they skim blog posts. So if you want people to read your articles or newsletters, you need to make sure it's easy to skim.

Check out this example from flickr, would you read that?

If you want people to read your newsletters or articles you need to break out important section with images, graphs, headers, bullet points, bold or underlined font, and more. Make it easy for readers to quickly digest your most important points.

Rule #2: Deciding who you’re creating the content for

Think about it in a higher level: Are you producing the content for humans or search engines?

This decision is going to have a significant impact on how you do things.

If you’re a newsletter business, you probably don’t care about SEO because it’s not an active distribution channel for your business. But some businesses rely on organic traffic to grow their email lists — including AWeber.

Remember this list you read?

It’s a question in H2 heading format, plus a short paragraph and unordered list items.

We used that format because it’s the optimum format for becoming Google Feature Snippets.

Ideally, when someone googles “Why does my email list grow slow?” the search engine will serve the list as an answer.

Here's an example of how that looks:

If you google “how can I be happy?”, you’ll get the following result:

Writing for humans requires a different skillset, though. 

People will join you and stick around if you’re consistently providing them content that brings them closer to their goals, educates them, or simply entertains them. 

Rule #3: Write with a mission

Think of a mission statement you can include in most of your content. It has to be a mission you believe in, and one that will resonate with your ideal audience — ideally, other people who believe in that mission.

A great example is theDONUT. Recently, their CEO talked with Dimitris Tzortzis (Head of Product at Viral Loops) to explain their mission.

theDONUT wants to offer unbiased news coverage. Their daily newsletters include news facts, with links to sources covering the fact from different perspectives.

Here’s how it looks:

Peter (theDONUT’s CEO) is a human being, and as a human being, I’m sure he has his own opinion biases.

But he wants to build a world where news organizations are less biased and at the same time become less biased himself.

He turned his personal mission into his company’s mission, and their audience appreciates and endorses it.

Rule #4: Improve how you collect email addresses

There's tons of ways to collect more email addresses. But here's a summary of what you should do:

• Build a landing page
• Use exit-intent pop-ups
• Offer gated content
• Organize virtual events

Some of the options seem apparent, but you’d be surprised how much room for improvement there is.

Landing pages

Creating a landing page dedicated to capturing newsletter subscribers allows you to communicate more information about the content you send, or your mission statement, or really anything that will make someone want to subscribe.

AWeber has a newsletter dedicated to email marketing— FWD: Thinking. Here’s the landing page page for this particular newsletter.

Plus, if you want to segment your list in the future to give subscribers personalized information, landing pages with tag support are a must.

Segmenting your email lists helps keep the user engagement high.

A highly engaged list will generate more email subscribers in the long run simply because people like to speak about things they find fascinating.

But until word-of-mouth kicks it, you can use landing pages as a magnet for subscribers and an opportunity to showcase your manifesto.

Exit-intent pop-ups

If you have a blog without an exit-intent pop-up, you might be failing to capture the email addresses of +5% of your traffic.

Sumo wrote an extensive guide about exit-intent pop-ups, but here are some things that will increase the conversion rate of your pop-ups:

1. Serving a pop-up in the proper context.
2. Not showing the pop-ups immediately.
3. Using a headline with a clear message.
4. Using the pop-up to showcase your personality.
5. Offering something of value in exchange for an email address.
6. Matching the call to action with the offer.

Gated content

Gated content is an online asset (like ebooks, videos, research papers) that requires users to give their email addresses before accessing them. 

Here’s an example from Backlinko:

Apart from the obvious use (as an email capturing mechanism), gated content could be a valuable tool for getting more information about your subscribers before even entering your email list.

Virtual events

It was about a year ago that the COVID outbreak made its way into our lives. Almost everybody started relying more on online communication systems — students attended online classes, white-collar workers operated from their homes, and musicians performed live concerts with no audience.

Whether you’re a SaaS company or a nutrition blog, virtual events offer an opportunity to minimize the cost of connecting with a broader audience.

Picture this: You run a music blog, and you organize a virtual concert with Beyonce that people can attend in exchange for their email addresses.

Maybe you don’t have a few million dollars to pay for a performance, but it’s not the point.

The point is that you can organize and host events that people can watch from home wearing their PJs. Also, having guests at your virtual event gives you access to their audience, making the top of your funnel broader.

Run a newsletter referral program

Social media and search engine algorithms drown the voices of millions of creators, writers, and journalists. That's why email newsletters are key — they let people easily keep in touch with their audience.

In recent years, creators and publishing companies started using newsletter referral programs to reach their goals cost-effectively. 

Some of the most famous examples of publishing companies using referral programs to grow their audience are:

• TheHustle
• MorningBrew
• TheSkimm
• The Gist

The Gist uses a multi-tiered rewarding system for successful referrals.

Offering multiple rewards ensures that your subscribers have many goals to reach; thus, they will share their referral links more.

If you’re wondering what kind of rewards to offer in your newsletter referral program, here’s a quick list:

• Access to private communities
• Free membership
• Access to an exclusive newsletter
• Merchandise and company swag
• Early access to new product features
• Internal currency (Dropbox used internal currency as a reward for referrals)
• Trips to meet you and your team

Even though the choice of referral rewards is only limited by your imagination, there are three things you should keep in mind:

1. Your referral rewards should align with what your brand represents.
2. Pick rewards that reinforce your product’s experience.
3. Only consider a reward system if people already enjoy your product.

The last item on the list above is of high importance; it will save you from building a referral program that doesn’t benefit your company and keep you from spending money that you don’t have to spend.

TheDONUT checks all the boxes, offering branded rewards that fit the vibe the company promotes.

• 5 referrals = DONUT popsocket
• 10 referrals = DONUT t-shirt
• 15 referrals = Hand decorated tumbler

Nothing too fancy, but their readers love it.

If you want to learn more about building, running, and improving your newsletter referral programs (including choosing rewards), I suggest you read the Actionable Guide for Newsletter Referral Programs.

You can create a newsletter referral program that works from inside the newsletters you send to your subscribers, using AWeber and Viral Loops.

Here’s how:

In summary

It’s possible for an email list to stop growing at some point. The first thing you need to do is to change your perspective on how you do things.

The things that took you from A to B may not get you from B to C.

Document the problems you find in what you do. Then try to come up with solutions that resonate with your company’s mission and current stage.

It’s a process that takes time with a lot of trial and error.

However, there are three things you can do today to overcome your email list’s slow growth:

1. Improve the content you produce.
2. Improve the ways you collect email addresses.
3. Run a newsletter referral program.

Combining the things mentioned in this article will help you get out of the situation, grow your email list, learn more about your business, and— why not, yourself.

The post 3 Ways to Overcome Slow Email List Growth appeared first on AWeber.

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Escalation management: how to keep social customers happy

The boom of social media as a customer care channel is unprecedented.

Timely and transparent, social is a prime place for consumers to seek out answers and solutions.

But many brands still struggle with social customer service.

Specifically, the volume of messages coming from social media is often overwhelming. Serious issues fall through the cracks, resulting in angry customers, negative press and lost business.

Listen: you can’t afford to treat customer care as secondary. You need to address pressing issues in a speedy, thoughtful manner without overwhelming your customer support reps.

That’s where your escalation management strategy comes into play.

What is escalation management, anyway?

Escalation management is the process of prioritizing customer service concerns, ranking issues based on severity and ensuring that they’re addressed by the right reps (in the appropriate order).

Food for thought: companies have seen a staggering 66% increase in service requests from digital channels in the past three years. Couple that with the fact that social service requests are just as legitimate to modern customers as phone calls or in-person conversations.

This speaks to not only the importance of separating your requests into tiers but also delegating responses to the right people.

Escalation management goes hand in hand with greater customer retention. Mastering it means maintaining a timely social media response time while also empowering your best-equipped reps to handle their respective tickets. The end result is more satisfied customers and positive sentiment via social.

How to handle escalation management through social media

Below we’ve broken the steps to put together a customer service escalation process as it pertains to social media.

1. Prioritize your customers’ most pressing issues

First thing’s first: you need to differentiate between tasks that deserve your immediate attention versus issues that can wait.

There are some instances where a saved response won’t cut it. Also, failure to respond quickly could cost you customers.

For example, there’s a huge difference between deleting a troll comment and de-escalating a social media meltdown from your biggest client. Below are some examples of priority issues when it comes to escalation management.

Major product and service problems

Arguably the most important issues related to escalation management involve your customers’ finances and understandably so. Some examples might be:

• Unexpected charges or fees (such as double billing)
• Service interruptions or outages
• Undelivered or unusable products or services (damaged products, broken links)

These types of issues that can snowball from a single customer issue to a full-blown call-out if left unanswered.

And again, speed counts. Consider that two-thirds of people expect a same-day response from brands on social media. Especially when it comes to massive customer inconveniences, you can’t let those bad feelings linger. These are situations where you need to own up and suggest next steps ASAP.

Inflammatory comments and call-outs

We understand: navigating call-out culture is tricky.

Sometimes it’s difficult to decipher legitimate call-outs from minor complaints or trolls.

However, if you receive a flood of negative mentions from industry players, influencers and/or verified accounts, damage control can’t wait. Whether it be a clarification or apology, brands have to find a balance between timely and thoughtful responses to keep the situation from getting worse.

This is yet another situation where the customer care rep that makes the response really matters. Leave delicate situations like these in the hands of people who understand your brand voice and values.

Opportunities to close eager customers

Not every situation related to escalation management is necessarily negative.

For example, let’s say that someone via social is shopping around products and asks about a feature or a demo. The longer you wait to set up a demo or potential meeting off of social media, the more likely they are to look elsewhere or potentially bounce to a competitor.

The takeaway? For good and bad situations alike, you need to emphasize proactive service that’s in the hand of the right reps.

Doing so is an ongoing process that requires you to both learn your social media specialists’ or customer care reps’ strengths and continuously improve your response times. Tools like Sprout Social encourage you to do both by keeping tabs on your reps’ customer interactions.

2. Determine your levels of service (and the reps responsible for them)

Simply put, you need to establish a social media policy that prioritizes your service tasks at different levels. For example:

• Tier 1 support deals with common questions, many of which could be answered by a saved reply or knowledge base.
• Tier 2 support deals with individual issues that require a personalized response but aren’t necessarily pressing.
• Tier 3 support deals with the high-priority problems that we discussed above (such as billing problems, outages and so on).

And for each level of customer escalation, you can assign different reps (think: junior versus senior reps)

How this sort of policy works in practice varies from business to business. Either way, the concept is simple enough: issues are ranked by severity and are only dealt with by the proper personnel.

For the sake of organization, consider coupling your escalation management strategy with permissions and approvals. Doing so not only keeps your reps’ tasks organized and creates a sense of accountability, but also ensures that the right tasks go to the right people.

Below is an example of escalation management using Sprout, serving as an all-in-one place for reps to tag issues by tier, go back-and-forth via comments and reply to customers without leaving the platform.

 

3. Create a process for assessing and responding to customers

Now that you’ve figured out what your priority problems are and who should address them, what about the actual process of responding?

Escalation management is largely situational. Companies can’t treat all customers identically, nor should they rely on one-size-fits-all responses to complex issues.

That said, you should absolutely streamline the process of responding to customers. Below is a step-by-step example of a customer escalation management process in action:

Step 1. The social marketing team vets any and all inbound messages. Anything deemed worthy of escalating is sent to support as a priority ticket.

Step 2. Social team members read their full conversation history with a user, as well as:

• The user’s previous seven days of tweets
• Their bio
• Relevant mentions and replies

The goal here is to gain literacy about who you may be interacting with and whether they have any ulterior motives (think: trolling, indirectly mentioning your brand or employees and so on).

Step 3. Use tagging to identify more severe incidents that may require review from another team. This could be any kind of aggressive or reportable content, messages about specific employees or issues with company conduct.

From here, messages and comments associated with internal tags can be directed to senior team members. Depending on the situation, a social manager might bounce the concern back with a suggestion or take the reins themselves.

Step 4. Over time, make sure to develop reply templates as well as internal tagging for common issues. This can help speed up your response time and likewise help newer reps with replies without totally templating them.

4. Train your reps to tackle issues before they escalate

Perhaps the best line of defense against escalating issues is making sure your reps are prepared for them.

Here are some key issues to focus on when it comes to escalation management:

Practice empathy

Modern social customer care is built around empathy and listening to people, not copy-and-pasting a canned response. Always put yourself in your customers’ shoes and make a point to reassure them.

Respect the chain of command

In short, reps should acknowledge which issues are in their wheelhouse and which aren’t. The clearer your reps’ roles and responsibilities are, the easier it is for them to hand off and address issues.

Be willing to collaborate with fellow reps

An open, collaborative culture is key to dealing with issues in a timely manner and ensuring that your reps maintain a good relationship with each other.

This is where tools like Sprout come in handy, allowing reps to go back-and-forth within a single platform and resolve issues without stepping on each others’ toes.

Do you have a plan for escalation management?

Sure, you shouldn’t assume the worst what-if scenarios for your service reps.

Even so, you need to be prepared.

Having an escalation management plan in place will make your reps’ lives easier and help you maintain more positive customer relationships at the same time. Doing so requires a conscious customer escalation process and you can’t afford to just “wing it.”

In that same vein, make sure to check out our guide to social media crisis management.

This post Escalation management: how to keep social customers happy originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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How to Write A Newsletter Subscribers Can’t Wait to Read

Top marketers have similar strategies when it comes to creating addictive newsletters. And while flawless writing and beautiful email design are important, they're not the most important things to writing newsletters that keep subscribers engaged week after week.

It’s an understanding of what subscribers actually want in their inboxes.

Because when you understand your audience's wants and needs, you can create content that interests them, addresses their problems, and more.

So what do all great email newsletters have in common?

In this post, we uncover 5 common characteristics of successful email newsletters that will help you craft addictive newsletter content your readers won’t be able to find anywhere else.

How to write a newsletter: 5 characteristics of addictive newsletters

1. Newsletter content is helpful.

If you've ever wondered how to write a newsletter that keeps readers engaged for weeks, months or years, then you've probably looked for different ways to serve your audience and be helpful.

And the best way to create helpful content is to brainstorm topics that address your audience's needs.

Not sure what your audience needs? Figure out their biggest "pain point" — or the problem that keeps them up at night. After all, people don't buy a product or service because of it's flashy features. They ultimately purchase a product because it solves a problem for them.

By understanding your subscribers' biggest pain points, you can more effectively promote your product and write convincing marketing copy. Here's how to find your customers' pain points.

2. Addictive content is interesting.

To create interesting content, there are a few writing principles to keep in mind.

First, choose a tone that works best for your audience. In many cases, taking a conversational tone can improve readability and make your brand more relatable.

However, if your audience expects a serious tone because it’s more appropriate for your industry, then keep it formal.

Regardless of whether your tone is light-hearted, witty, irreverent, or formal, you should treat your subscribers with respect, says John Corcoran, founder of Smart Business Revolution.

"I don’t talk down to people," says Corcoran. "I make it worthwhile to read my emails. I even bury jokes in the ‘P.S.’ and small font at the end just to delight and surprise people who are paying attention.”

Second, organize your email content in a way that’s easy for subscribers to read and skim.

In today’s fast-paced world, you may only have a few seconds to showcase the value of your email. Structure your content so the most important information is at the top.

Additionally, use headlines, subheadlines, and bullet points to break up large chunks of text. (It's so much easier to read on mobile devices. At AWeber, we recommend paragraphs being 2 to 3 sentences max.) To emphasize important parts of your message, try bolding, italicizing, or underlining words and phrases.

Related: 8 Top Brainstorming Techniques to Help You Write Killer Emails

3. Top email content is one-of-a-kind.

In order to make your content stand out from the rest, try taking a new angle on a topic. This will also help establish you as a thought leader in your niche.

For example, many people think that you need a ton of email subscribers to be successful with email marketing. But this isn’t the case! So we wrote a blog post about how a small, engaged email list is better than a huge, disengaged one. This post was extremely successful because it provided a unique angle on an important topic.

You can also try new content mediums where your competitors may not have big audiences. If your industry is flooded with blog posts and ebooks, experiment with other forms of communication, like podcasts or video.

Not sure what to write in your emails? Check out these 45+ free email writing templates to get you started.

4. Incredible newsletter content is transparent.

A big reason why subscribers disengage with an email list is because the emails no longer deliver the value they were expecting. So don't try to get readers to open an email with "click bait" — or a subject line that's enticing, but has very little to do with the content inside the message.

The first step to transparency with email: Explain what content you'll send and how often you'll send it on your sign up form, like we did with our newsletter landing page.

By telling people what they can expect before they sign up to your list, they’ll know what they’re getting into. Plus, you’ll be more likely to attract the right subscribers (which are more likely to engage with your content and purchase your products or services).

The second step to transparency: Stick to your promises!

If you say you'll send an email once a month, don't bombard your readers with emails every two days. If you say you'll send helpful tips and advice, don't send advertisements. If you do, you'll see your unsubscribes and spam complaints increase almost immediately, which will ultimately hurt your business in the long run.

Related: 16 Proven Sign Up Form Ideas to Grow Your Email List

5. Addictive email content builds relationships. 

We enjoy doing business with people we know, like, and trust — as opposed to a large faceless corporation. Humanize your message to increase connection and engagement with your subscriber.

The deeper a connection you make with a subscriber, the more likely they are the engage with your emails, buy products from you, and tell their network about your business.

One way to do this: Ask questions. The more feedback — good and bad! — you gather from your subscribers, the more likely your business is to succeed.

By asking your subscribers questions, you may discover a flaw in your product that is stopping them from purchasing. Or maybe they all mention one feature that they absolutely love, and that you can capitalize on in your marketing material. Or maybe they'll tell you their biggest business challenge, which leads to your next great product idea. Or maybe you gather a bunch of fantastic testimonials and case studies that you can promote on your website.

Feedback is fuel for your business.

Another way: personalization. You don’t need to be pen pals with each of your subscribers. But you should make them feel as if you’re sending them personalized emails.

Here’s why: 74% of marketers said that targeted messages and personalization of emails improves customer engagement rates.

Try including your subscriber’s name in your message. You can add their first name in the middle or end of the email copy instead of at the beginning, which draws your reader’s eyes downward and keeps them reading. Or you can collect your subscribers’ birth dates on your sign up form. Then send them a celebratory message or a coupon on their birthday.

The more you try to connect with your readers, the more successful your email marketing will be.

For more ideas on how to personalize your emails, check out this post on engaging subscribers with contextual emails.

Learn how to write a newsletter people love.

Creating a newsletter that gets people to open week after week is just one piece of the puzzle.

First, you need to build an audience. Then, you need to stand out.

Learn how to write a newsletter and see examples of the best email newsletters to inspire your own.

And tell us below what your subscribers love about your newsletters!

Additional reporting by Monica Montesa, Liz Willits and Jill Fanslau.

The post How to Write A Newsletter Subscribers Can’t Wait to Read appeared first on AWeber.

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How to elevate remote video production, step-by-step

Between innovations in image technology and the falling costs of DIY production, learning the ins and outs of video creation has never been easier. This became even more evident when we shifted to remote work life. In 2020, overall video creation grew by 135%, and 60% of those business videos were user-generated.

There are tons of reasons and ways to leverage video marketing to drive your business forward. Some of the most effective business videos focus on a single subject speaking directly to the camera to convey a message. For folks recording their own talking-head videos, these can be used for:

• Executive or departmental updates
• Project kick-offs outlining main goals and messaging
• Quarterly reports and business success presentations
• How-tos, explainers or tutorials
• Demos of tips and tricks to using your product like the Lego example below
• Live webinars or conferences

Video content doesn’t need to be highly produced to be effective. With just a mobile phone or laptop and a few tricks of the trade, you can easily create polished videos in a remote environment. In this article, we’ll walk you through setting up your remote video production, step-by-step.

1. Follow the 60/40 rule for pre-production

When you’re excited about an idea for video content, you might be eager to jump right into recording. However, your final product depends on the work you do upfront.

The 60/40 rule for pre-production rule means that 60% of your effort should be allocated to fine-tuning your plan and logistics before shooting. This includes concepting, treatment, storyboarding, scripting, prepping your tools and location scouting.

2. Choose a recording device

When choosing a recording device, consider your output quality, distribution channels and goals.

If you have an HD camera, power to you! A DSLR or mirrorless camera will afford you the highest quality image and output options. But if you’re working on a budget and have minimal video production experience, your mobile phone or laptop will do the trick.

Laptop

Use your laptop’s built-in camera and simple pre-installed recording apps like QuickTime. With additional support from video recording tools like CloudApp or Vidyard, which can be downloaded for free, you can also present your screen to walk through slides or other visual support elements as you speak. The only slight limitation when using a laptop is that most laptop cameras produce lower-quality.

Smartphone 

Smartphone manufacturers are constantly working to create the most cutting-edge, high-definition cameras. Unless you’re still rocking a flip phone, your phone camera is a great option to use for filming.

No matter which device you choose, make sure that it’s charged and has enough storage capacity before filming.

3. Accessorize

Once you’ve nailed down your filming plan and which recording device, it’s time to accessorize. There are a few other pieces of equipment that will support your shoot and lead to better quality footage.

Tripods and stabilizers

Shaky footage is a major distraction and can undermine the integrity of your video. Supporting your camera is important for a steady shot that holds the frame that you intend. There are a lot of inexpensive tripods, stands and stabilizers that you can purchase, or try out one of many DIY options. A tripod will also give you more flexibility with where you can film.

One benefit of filming with your laptop is having a built-in, stable camera. Keep in mind that the number one talking-head recording rule is to align your laptop or phone with the height of your eyes or forehead, whether seated or standing. With a laptop, you can use a bookshelf, windowsill or laptop stand to raise your camera to the right height.

Storage

We touched on the importance of having storage space on the camera itself, but it’s also a good idea to have an external hard drive or a cloud storage option to transfer and save video files.

Battery backups

Remember to fully charge batteries, phones, tablets, lights and laptops ahead of time so you don’t have to halt production. For backup, consider having all chargers available in between shooting.

Lights

Sunlight is the best light, but it’s not always an option. Video lights are a great investment if you produce video content regularly. They allow for even lighting in most indoor environments and often have adjustable settings to fine-tune their output. If you are shopping for a panel or ring light be sure to look for bi-color settings that mimic both daylight (a cooler bluer color) and tungsten interior lighting (a warmer, oranger light).

Microphone

Shooting with the internal mic of your smartphone or laptop, or using wireless headphones will provide decent sound quality, but if you’re producing video content regularly, investing in a microphone is a smart idea. It will give you higher sound quality while letting you move farther from your camera for wider shots and demonstrations.

4. Choose your layout

Consider how your audiences will most likely be watching your video. If you’re shooting for mobile, choose a vertical format. If people will be mostly viewing from their laptop, go horizontal. Stick with that format throughout your video for consistency.

5. Prep your location

When filming interviews, mini-docs, process videos and creative projects, using multiple locations will increase your production value and bring context and variety to the audience.  However, a lot of very engaging content can be made in an office, studio or at home.

No matter where you’re shooting, a prime filming location should have:

• A large window or light source in front of you
• A quiet environment for clear audio
• Options for you to configure your camera at eye-level
• A tidy background with minimal distractions

6. Find your light

Daylight is the most powerful light source for mobile and laptop filming—yes, even on a gray day.

Cameras love light. and you can avoid grainy footage, improve your appearance on screen, and set the mood of your story by increasing your frontal light. Whether you choose to purchase a video light or use the natural light in your home or office, considering the angles of your light source will also have a major impact on your video’s quality.

Place your camera at eye level and face your lighting source or sit at a 45-degree angle from it. Never be totally side- or back-lit. As you can see in the GIF above, simply shifting your angle can have a dramatic effect on lighting.

When you place your laptop or mobile phone between you and your light source, make sure its shadow isn’t being cast onto you.

7. Mic check

For crystal clear sound, turn off any fans, close windows and mute notifications or any other controllable elements that produce ambient noise. If you’re working from home and have roommates, ask them to be quiet during your filming session so your microphone doesn’t pick up additional voices. A good old-fashioned “testing, one, two, three” never hurts either and listening to video playback will help you catch any issues or background noise.

8. Look your best and feel confident on camera

Once you’ve set a location, light and camera, it’s time to focus on the star of the show—you!

Wear whatever makes you feel confident on camera, but keep in mind that pure white or black can be challenging to light evenly. Additionally, make sure your clothes are wrinkle-free and lint-rolled.

If you wear glasses, raise your light higher angle and to the side about 45-degrees to avoid glare in your glasses or a shadow falling on your eyes. Frame yourself chest- or waist-up and leave room above your head so you’re not cut off.

Bright lights tend to make everyone shiny, so consider powdering your face to dull any shine and even your skin tone.

It might sound goofy, but practice speaking in the mirror before you record. This will help you get used to seeing yourself, practicing your delivery, and dialing up the energy both physically and vocally to make your videos more engaging.

9. Action!

To ensure that everything looks, sounds and feels right, do a 10-second test recording so you can make any necessary adjustments. Then, test again. Once everything checks out, you’re ready to roll.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but make that when you press the capture button, you’re actually recording—there’s usually a red light or indication on your screen. Settle in, pause and smile at the camera. Remember that you don’t need to film all of your dialogue in one take. It’s common to break down your script into manageable portions that you can edit together afterward. Feel free to pause to redo takes, shake out any nerves and adjust as necessary.

It’s helpful to take notes as you go. These can be ideas to include B-roll to illustrate a point you make, reminders for editing or takes you want to redo.

At the end of your recording, pause before reaching out to the camera to stop recording. That way, when you’re editing, you have space to trim that out.

Get the ball rolling with video content

Video content is a highly valuable and engaging way to achieve your business goals, attract new fans and spread brand messaging. Plus, it can be a simple and fun way to flex your creative muscles.

As your business pursues more opportunities for video production, make sure you have a plan for maximizing the impact of the videos you create. Download our free workbook to learn how you can extend the life, value and reach of branded video content.

This post How to elevate remote video production, step-by-step originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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How to get Yelp reviews & improve your online standing

Founded in 2004, Yelp’s platform has evolved to be a go-to site for consumers to research and express their opinions on the businesses they frequent. Since the founding, other review sites have been introduced but Yelp still leads the pack at more than 178 million unique visitors every month.

When your business is searched for online, these review sites show up in the first page of results. Having an online review management strategy is another essential part of the larger digital marketing toolkit. For any business, you want to have a positive brand sentiment because happy customers refer other customers and become brand advocates. With the reach and visibility of Yelp, it’s particularly important to know your way around the platform and how to manage your reviews there.

Why are Yelp reviews so important?

For businesses in industries like food and beverage, local services and medical, reviews can make a significant impact on brand sentiment. Whether people are praising your brand or criticizing it, you want to be around to address them head-on.

According to Yelp’s own data, the top three reviewed business categories are home and local services, restaurants, and shopping, making up 52% of the total categories covered.

In a BrightLocal consumer trend report, 87% of consumers reported reading online reviews for local businesses in 2020, up from 81% in the previous year. This may not translate into an obvious takeaway at first glance, but it’s what happens after potential customers read reviews that really matters to brands.

Reading positive reviews or negative reviews play a role in a consumer’s decision to use the business: 94% say that positive reviews make it more likely for them and 92% say negative reviews make it less likely.

After reading positive reviews, consumers say they will head to the business’ website (31%), search for more reviews (28%) and even visit the business (17%). Having reviews makes an impact on whether or not you’ll have potential customers.

How do you get these reviews? Yelp offers up some guidelines for this.

How to get Yelp reviews without violating policies

Let’s start first with what you can’t do. Yelp’s review guidelines are very clear in how businesses can’t obtain reviews.

• Don’t ask for reviews: not in-person, not online, not on your newsletter, not even from your grandmother
• Don’t offer anything in exchange for reviews: no discounts or freebies in exchange for them posting a review.

The idea behind the guidelines are that posted reviews are unsolicited and represent the genuine and unbiased opinions of the customers. So, now that you know what you can’t do, let’s explore what you can do instead to encourage a healthy amount of reviews for your business.

Best tactics for getting Yelp reviews

You can’t ask for reviews? Is there anything left to do? The short answer is yes and we’ll cover a number of tips to get you situated. Considering Yelp’s guidelines, your focus as a brand should be in demonstrating such great service that the customer has no choice but to share their experience on Yelp. Awareness is also a key factor: they won’t know you’re on Yelp unless you tell them.

To get started with these tips, it’s important that you’ve already claimed your page for your business.

Fill out your business page

Make sure that all of your business information is updated, including any temporary hours or methods of operation. Platforms add new spaces for additional information all the time, so it never hurts to check on your profile. It’s never fun to arrive at a business only to learn that, for example, they’re cash only and you hadn’t planned for that.

If you offer a service or food service options like delivery, connect those features so clients can easily book from your page or order food. The more seamless the customer experience is, the more likely they’ll leave a positive review.

Place a Yelp badge on your website

Alongside your social media icons, place the Yelp logo so customers know that you are present on the site. For additional Yelp branding that detail your review count and star rating, head to your business account to find the review badge.

Use Yelp branding in-store

Connect the physical with the digital by ordering a free window cling from the company. You’ve likely seen these before. They’re stuck right by the front door or the menu in the window. When deciding on a location, the cling should be noticeable when entering and leaving the business.

Yelp offers a few paid branded materials like hours signage on their print shop. These additional stickers serve to reinforce the reminder to your customers that you’re on the platform.

Share your Yelp reviews on social media

You can’t ask for new reviews but you can certainly post your existing ones. Think of reviews as content. Quote the best reviews, place them into an attractive social media graphic and then post them. There’s nothing wrong with sharing how much your customers love you.

Respond to Yelp reviews

Yes, even the good ones. It can be tough to respond to critical reviews and while every business would love a perfect five-star rating, the reality is that you’ll have unhappy customers from time to time. One survey found that 89% of consumers read local businesses’ responses to reviews and they will spend up to 49% more at a business that replies to reviews.

To help with writing these responses out, take a page out of your crisis plan. Having a plan in place prevents you from writing a heated response. The customer isn’t always right but you can certainly manage how you respond to them to ensure that the interaction leaves a positive impression.

Create check-in offers

One way around the no-freebie rule is to take advantage of Yelp offers. These are deals that appear for users when they browse the site.

This business is offering a free drink for Yelp customers that claim this offer on weekdays. The offer has a two-fold benefit: weekdays are likely slower so the offer might generate more orders,  and customers will typically want to make a larger order that includes the item on offer.

Post updates from your business

Getting more into the social media sphere, Yelp offers businesses the ability to post updates. Think of these as social media posts but for big news that you want to share with your customers. Some examples include menu updates, new dishes, new services and any logistical changes.

This business posted two important updates recently: the fact that they’re celebrating 30 years and that they’ve reopened. Seeing fresh updates from businesses lets the customers know that you’re paying attention to your Yelp page and they can trust the info on it is current.

Run an ad

Businesses that place ads on Yelp show up first in search results or in the sidebar. The benefit of this is that it makes you stand out a little more from your nearby competitors.

For example, when you search for an auto service, the fastest-responding businesses who run ads are listed first, followed by those who have paid to show in the sponsored results section and finally by all results. Depending on how competitive your industry is, it might take several scrolls to get to the organic results section and by then, the customer might’ve already decided on which one to go with.

Utilize review management software

Are you getting more reviews across various sites than you anticipated? It can be overwhelming and time prohibitive to constantly check multiple sites and respond to reviews on them. Instead, use review management software like the one that’s offered with Sprout Social, to collect reviews from TripAdvisor, Glassdoor, Google My Business and Facebook.

While having a software solution doesn’t directly help you collect reviews, it does help you manage them for quicker responses, leading to happier customers.

Next steps for managing Yelp reviews

Reviews, whether they’re in person from your friend or online from a stranger, are part of the consumer experience. As more businesses continue to grow in various industries, the competition for brands is only increasing, while consumers gain an even wider array of options. The best way to figure out where to eat next or which spa gives the best massages is to conduct research. And these come in the form of reviews.

While you might not be able to ask directly for reviews on Yelp, there are a number of other options that help you raise your brand’s visibility both in-person and online. Instead of worrying about shady tactics to ‘get around’ these guidelines, focus on offering a great experience and increasing customers’ awareness of the option to leave reviews and support your business. Ultimately, doing this only helps reinforce the legitimacy of your business in a time when consumers are getting more and more savvy about paid reviews elsewhere online.

Now that you’re armed with some ideas, it’s time to put them to use on your Yelp page and explore additional reputation management tactics.

This post How to get Yelp reviews & improve your online standing originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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