A terrific rundown of social media benefits, terminology, tools and real world stories featuring slides from H&R Block's own Social Media Director, Zena Weist.

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Are you a SocialAre you a Social
Media Square?Media Square?
Why Bother?
SM4
Mediate
Monitor
ManageMeasure

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©2010 Buzzient, Inc
Your Customers are talking…about YOU
Are YOU listening?
Got SM4?

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Is it really a choice?
• Even if you have "decided" not to
actively participate in social media, it’s
really not a choice.
• Monitoring helps with branding and
marketing but…
• Monitoring is only one piece of the
puzzle - how do you know if what you’re
doing is effective?

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What can social media really do
for us?
So, what ARE the benefits that social media provides for
businesses?
Marketing Benefits – Social media allows a business to track and increase word of
mouth.
Research Benefits – Social media is one of the most powerful research tools
available to business owners.
Support Benefits – Social media is also a great tool to use for customer service.
Many businesses struggle with defining the actual benefits that social media
can provide for them. It is the primary reason companies “opt” out of
participating in social media…

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Customers are becoming conditioned to using
Social Media to report problems and issues…
©2010 Buzzient, Inc

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But don’t forget your champions and potential
new customers are out there too…
©2010 Buzzient, Inc
@H&RBlockAnswers responded and resolved the
issue. I am happy!

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So how do you sort through it all??
©2010 Buzzient, Inc
W
ho?
W
hat?
Where?W
hy?
Can I track it?
Can I report on it?
Can
I route it?
Can I measure it?
Can I prove it’s effective?

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“I recognize the importance of social media
data but don’t know what do to now…”
“I need to provide proof that our social
media marketing is working…”
Believe it or not, many companies are still
catching up with simple brand tracking
through social media.

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Let’s start with some definitions
There are few terms you’ll want to
familiarize yourself with before we talk
about the various monitoring tools, so
let’s take a moment to cover them
before we jump into the details…

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Social Media
Let’s try to break it down in terms that may prove most
effective…
If Media is an instrument of communication (think
newspaper or a radio or television)
Then…
Social media is a social instrument of communication – a two way
street.
As defined by Wictoniary is: Interactive forms of media that allow
users to interact with and publish to each other, generally by means
of the Internet.
Oh yeah, that’s crystal clear now…thanks?!??

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Influence
If you find there are customers who have a
strong opinion of your brand, it’s
important to understand the influence of
those customers.
• How many followers do they have?
• Do they get re-tweets?
• How many external links point to their blog?
• How many comments do their blog posts
attract?
What lists are they one?

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Sentiment
• Are the comments positive or
negative?

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Volume
• This is simply the amount of "buzz"
that exists.
Many monitoring tools give the ability
to chart volume for specific keywords
over time.

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Social Intelligence (Manage)
The power of data from social media must be harnessed
to serve a wider audience – a concept called Social
Intelligence.
Social Intelligence is a new way of thinking about social media. It
involves gathering, processing, and deriving insight from social
media to improve the marketing
…and then sharing that information so your company, and all it’s
teams, can benefit from the feedback.
© 2010, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited March 12, 2010

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Social Media Monitoring
Social Medial pro’s and teams use a series of tools called
listening Platforms to keep up with the disruptive
nature of social media data. In short, they’re
listening.
Listening platforms are a technology that mines online
and offline sources to produce insight that drives
marketing strategy.
Listening platforms each follows a
three-step process:
1. Data collection;
2. Data processing; and
3. Insight delivery
Social Media Monitoring = LISTENING

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Social Networking (Mediate)
Wictionary defines Social Networking as:
1. The interaction between a group of people who share a
common interest.
2. Using social contacts to network.
3. (Internet, business) The use of Internet communities to
network and communicate using shared interests, related
skills, or geographical location between consumers and
businesses.
Though the term “social networking” is relatively
new, the concept is as old as humanity itself…

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Social Media Measurement
Measurement is more concerned with
metrics over a specified time period.
Measurement answers questions like:
• How did my keywords perform over time?
• How does that compare to my competitors?
• What are some trends I can glean to make my
product more usable by these people who are
giving me feedback?”

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Workflow
• The process of assigning, tracking and
responding to social media, typically in
a team environment.
An effective social media workflow can prevent
double responses and missed opportunities.

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Revolving Hub & Spoke – H&R Block
Social Media
Team
Legal HR
Product
Field
Com
IT
Marketing
R&D
CS

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So you’ve got the team…Now what about
the tools?
Ideally, your system of choice should:
• Go out and look for articles where a defined specific
combination of keywords occurs.
• Tabulate occurrences & present them to you in relevant data
reports.
• Be able slice and dice the data by source, date, & other
dimensions
• Drill down to the social media “atom” level — the individual
message — if you need to.
…and why is that important??
Constant benchmarking is the only surefire way to know if
things are working.

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Some tools that will save you
time & help you quickly find the
solution that’s right for your
specific business needs!
Let’s take a look under the
hood…

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Google Alerts
• An oldie but a goodie! Google Alerts allows you to set up keyword
searches for the name of your company or competitors, for
example, and receive updates in your email inbox or through an
RSS feed.
• When combined with iGoogle, you can create a pretty nice
consolidated page that contains the latest findings for your
selected keywords. When it comes to monitoring social media,
this is the least you should be doing; it’s free and an absolute snap
to set up.

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Twitter Advanced Search
• By using the advanced features in Twitter’s search tool, you can
use simple Boolean logic (true or false conditions) to perform
some pretty powerful searches.
• Once you set up your search, you can save the query as an RSS
feed so you can keep up to date on the latest news.

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IceRocket
• Used by many, Icerocket helps you keep watch over Twitter,
blogs, web, news, images and more. Features include a topic
cloud and basic listing of mentions. This social media monitoring
tool also offers the ability to bookmark your search results for
later reference.
• Although helpful, some users might find the interface and the
style of the search results pages a little archaic compared to the
other options.

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Addict-o-matic
• This tool is a consolidated page with search matches across
blogs, Twitter, Digg, Flickr and more. Featuring an appealing
interface and one-page dashboard, Addict-o-matic is one of the
best FREE tools available for summarizing all your "buzz" in one
place.

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BoardTracker
• Boardtracker focuses on grabbing "buzz" from message boards
and forums. Features include a topic cloud and influencer list.
There are ads mixed in with your search results which may turn
off some users. A premium version is offered. If your target
customers are more active on message boards than other
channels, this could be the right tool for you.

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Twazzup
• Of the Twitter-focused monitoring tools we’ve come across,
Twazzup does a great job of getting everything on one page.
Sentiment, top links, and influencers are available.
• The ranking of influencers, however, seems a little mysterious. A
quick check of Klout scores on profiles for a few key topics didn’t
reflect a high level of influence, so Twazzup must be using a
different calculation.

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Social Mention
• This social media monitoring tool features an interesting
combination of easy-to-read metrics including reach, sentiment,
passion, and strength (volume/day). Social Mention tracks blogs,
blog comments, Twitter, mainstream news, images, video, and
audio. Searches can be saved as an RSS feed so you can easily
stay up-to-date.

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HootSuite
• HootSuite is a popular tool that can be used to manage multiple
accounts across Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, WordPress, Foursquare
and LinkedIn. Although HootSuite could be categorized as an account
management tool rather than a monitoring tool, I believe it deserves
mention here because of its large user base and powerful functionality.
• You can push updates to one or more profiles, track click-through,
deploy timed updates, monitor your social media buzz across multiple
web services, and assign tasks among team members based on roles. If
you use HootSuite, you’ll want to use an additional tool to supplement
monitoring of forums and blogs. HootSuite apps for both iPhone and
Android are available.

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Scoutlabs
• Scoutlabs has a great clean interface and overall excellent features for
volume trending, sentiment-tracking, learning about key quotes (based
on sentiment), and managing workflow for response management.
Unlimited results helps protect you from increased monthly cost due to
unexpected spikes in volume.
• It’s a great option for agencies and freelancers because you can give
clients access to a dashboard with your logo on it, branding the service
as your own. Note that it can be a challenge to output some graphs and
reports which may be an issue if you want to produce reports for your
clients.

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Buzzient & Radian6
• Buzzient along with Radian6 and others are real powerhouses, the “next
generation of data analysis tools” that gives you the ability to slice-and-dice your
data to your hearts desire. These types of tools give you a complete platform to
manage monitor (listen), measure and mediate or engage with your customers
across the entire social web. Integrated workflow, alerts, sentiment, monitoring
across blogs, forums, news, Twitter, and more is what these social media
monitoring tools have to offer.
• The amount of monthly volume can influence pricing which is a little scary for
companies that may experience wild swings in monthly volume. This is not the
type of solution you should set up and hand over to your clients; it provides you
with a wealth of information so you can become the go-to expert for them. If you
invest the time to learn this tool, you can discover insights that will make you a
hero to your clients.

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So how do I begin or continue fine
tuning my social media process?

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It’s a huge challenge to keep on top of all
the activity in the social web.
• Managing and monitoring, is clearly not
enough.
• The sheer volume of data requires a solid
enterprise-class process and platform.
SM4
Mediate
Monitor
ManageMeasure

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Let’s “Listen” in further on some
things H&R Block is doing…
Did you hear
about…?

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Our business and our job is
about helping people
- Russ Smyth

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We Listen (Manage & Monitor)
–2:1
–2 Big Ears
–1 Brand Voice

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We Listen (Monitor)
–Listening Platforms
Social Radar Radian6
Micromedia 6371 23,570
Blogs 1674 15,497
Forums 200 4982
Other 7051 4920
Total 15,482 48,969
Brand Mentions

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We Monitor the Pulse of our Clients

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We Monitor & Mediate– 1:1
• Get It Right
Q&A
Community
• iPhone App
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blogger
Outreach

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We Monitor & Mediate
–1:Many
• Get It Right
Community
Blog
• Facebook
• YouTube
–3:1
• Content

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We Mediate & Measure
– 5,200 responses (Facebook and Twitter)
– 10,700 CS-inquiries resolved (Facebook, Twitter,
Community)
– 114,000 questions answered on Get It Right
Community

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Continue, Expand & Measure
– Proactive Offense: Be there before they ask
• Client attrition prevention
– First alert system and improve client service through early
intervention – mirror CSO KPIs (client retention channel)
– Extend Facebook/Twitter CS-response to include other relevant
sites – blogs, forums, discussion groups, etc.
• Low-cost, year-round dialogue - Be THE trusted tax
resource
– Media
– Industry influencers
– Enthusiasts
– Segment relevant consumers
• Client Acquisition
– KPIs tied to HRBlock.com
– Reactive Offense: Amplify Positive Conversation Halo Effect
• Highlight Client Testimonials, Industry Kudos, Positive Press (Blog feature, RTs,
Facebook thank you’s, etc.)

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Continue, Expand & Measure
– Proactive Defense: Heavy Lifting through Brand Advocates
& First Alert System
• Educate and train associates who are social media enthusiasts
(1000 TPs, FB fans, etc) to be brand champions online, notify team
of issues to resolve, help course correct
• Tap advocates during season to help shift sentiment/provide
“People Like Me” defense/course correct conversation/chatter
• Continue using social media listening tool to monitor conversation
pulse, aid content strategy
– Reactive Defense: Respond Decision Tree - Decide
if, who, when, what
• Customer Service
• Corp Com
• Field
• Legal
• HR
• Marketing

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Our Response Process
David Armano, Edelman 2010. Repurposed with permission by H&R Block.

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•Understanding the significance of social media data and acting
upon it are two different things.
•Most companies remain confused by social media data and often
try applying their old practices to new channels. They must still figure
out the new metrics and establish measurement practices around social
data.
•Seventy-eight percent of CI (Customer Information) professionals
deal with social media data by adding listening into their strategies.
But most still don’t integrate listening into other aspects of their marketing
strategies.
•Developing a strategy to make listening a core part of the bigger
picture is a must.
Marketers Know The Importance Of Social Data
But Not What To Do

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• Management buy-in is the key to successful social customer-
engagement programs. (Manage)
• Integrating social channels with traditional service processes is
paramount. (Manage & Measure)
• Identify the social channels that your customers engage in
(Manage).
• Engage with social customers in multiple channels if necessary
(Monitor).
• Customer support staff should take time to engage with customers
on social channels (Monitor & Mediate).
• More interactions generate a higher positive impact with social
customers (Measure).
• Companies with a longer history of engaging customers on social
channels from a service perspective experience a more positive
impact on their service goals (Measure).
• Facebook and Twitter ranked similarly for effective engagement
overall. (Monitor)
Key Suggestions and Points to Start Improving
your Company’s Social Channels

47. #vitec
• Management buy-in is the key to successful social customer-
engagement programs. (Manage)
• Integrating social channels with traditional service processes is
paramount. (Manage & Measure)
• Identify the social channels that your customers engage in
(Manage).
• Engage with social customers in multiple channels if necessary
(Monitor).
• Customer support staff should take time to engage with customers
on social channels (Monitor & Mediate).
• More interactions generate a higher positive impact with social
customers (Measure).
• Companies with a longer history of engaging customers on social
channels from a service perspective experience a more positive
impact on their service goals (Measure).
• Facebook and Twitter ranked similarly for effective engagement
overall. (Monitor)
Key Suggestions and Points to Start Improving
your Company’s Social Channels

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“As organizations adopt social tools and strategies
to engage customers from a service perspective,
they expect this to have a positive impact on overall
customer service goals and objectives.”
Survey conducted by:
The Social Customer & The Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, June 2010
Of the 118 respondents, 61 percent (72) said
efforts so far have had a positive impact, 36
percent (42) reported no noticeable impact, and
only 3 percent (4) reported a negative impact.
Survey conducted by:
The Social Customer & The Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, June 2010

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The social networking community is:
• A place people can return to
• Where you can publish a lot of diverse content
• Where you can offer unique value
• A place you can differentiate yourself, your
company and its offerings and programs
Corporate social networks strengthen the ongoing
client relationship and allow for delivery of
extraordinary value…
A Conversation with Mark Yolton, Senior Vice President The SAP Community Network

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Questions?
@vitecinc
@zenaweist
Copy of this presentation?
www.vitecinc.com – V-Club
SM4
Mediate
Monitor
Manage
Measure
…and that’s how the Social Media Square shapes up!
Sustain your own Social Media Square through proper nurturing, measuring and
adjusting!