As social media evolves within your organization and the toolset, analytics, and data improve around your efforts, you will need to evolve your goals and KPIs to go with the rest of the evolution.

When a lot of organizations get into social media they often encounter similar challenges. Where is the social campaign going to sit within the organization? What resources are going to put behind the campaign? How is the organization going to measure it?

By the time a company’s social efforts have gained some traction, many of these questions have already been answered on some level; often as a piece of their greater integrated marketing program. However, the next level of evaluation sometimes has yet to be considered.

It is important for organizations to re-evaluate their KPIs and goals after they have established their programs and toolsets in order to drive continued success. Looking back on initial goals and tightening them up based on a campaign’s current position will help foster continued growth and engagement. For example if one of your initial goals was to generate webinar signups through social media, this should evolve away from acquiring signups and towards deciphering what content is bringing in quality leads. Also evaluate the platform being used, the content that people are engaging in, and the tactics that are generating the higher quality signups.

Continue to build out your program but remember as it expands the complexity of your goals and KPIs should grow simultaneously.

In the last few months there have been a lot of blog posts in the social media space where people are trying to hammer out the true value and impact of Klout. Simultaneously there have been a lot of posts on how horrible the BCS is and why college football needs a playoff. While absorbing these disparate pieces of information it occurred to me that people dislike the BCS and Klout for the same reason, both are trying to rank things that are highly objective.

Trying to determine the best football team in America based off polls, computer programs, and formulas isn’t the way to determine a National Champion. That can really only be decided on the field by a playoff. Klout is trying to determine influence based on a proprietary formula that bypasses equal comparison and instead seems to consider pretty superficial data points like the sheer amount of posts a user puts up.

The problem with Klout is everyone is always going to have a slightly different view of how to measure influence.  And unlike the BCS there is no head to head solution that can determine a clear “winner.” So unless you have two influencers invite their social circles to the Catalina Wine Mixer and then compare what sort of impact their opinions had on the crowd, we are all still going to need to rely on some sort of formula to rank influence.

Ultimately, the debate surrounding the BCS playoff has potential to go away with the creation of a playoff while the debate around influence and how to measure it is going to rage on with no clear solution.

What are your thoughts on Klout?

*(Note: I wrote this before I was selected to a promotion by Klout called Two Days in Seattle which I am participating in. This might change my ambivalence but I wanted to make sure I was transparent about this.)

One ring... err I mean one tool to rule them all

I understand the desire to have “one tool to rule them all,” or an individual software suite that makes me more efficient at all the parts of my job. But at this point, I have seen more social media “dashboards” than I ever cared to and many blended tools that simply don’t deliver.  None have ever had enough of what I consider useful or any sort of features I feel I must have.

So here is the social tool that I want. (Sure some of this might be next to impossible… but it’s my dream tool, so bear with me.)

It must connect to my CRM – My dream tool needs to be something that sits on top of my CRM or is a stand-alone program that connects to it. One thing is for sure, it can’t be a new CRM because most large companies aren’t going to make a switch. Even in smaller companies where the sales department controls which CRM they use it is unlikely they would make a change. (No matter how great a new product is sometimes replacing a legacy product is just an impossible sell.)

It needs to be able to connect with additional key databases – If a lead’s purchase history isn’t in the CRM I need to be able to import that data from my existing database.  This is because when interacting with someone who is talking about my brand I want to see if the individual is a customer and what type of customer he or she is. Does she buy from us? Does he book rooms? How long has she been a customer? Etc.

It needs to show me the social profiles the customer uses – I love Rapportive for Gmail, but I dislike having to go into Gmail to see the type of social information it retrieves. Tools like Radian6 and Hootsuite can also pull data from customers’ social profiles, but it remains inconvenient to need a separate tool whenever I want this information. If this feature were attached to the CRM portion of my dream tool (with the ability to edit a customer’s information) it would be amazing.

It must show all the customer’s interactions with my brand – My dream tool would show every interaction my company has ever had with a customer and if he or she ever mentioned my brand in the past.

It needs to tie into my customer service program – my tool must tie into Zendesk or Gets Satisfaction so I could see the history of any individual’s customer service issues. Ideally this is data the CRM feature would already pull, but because companies often have different toolsets for leads than customers this would be a key feature.

By having customer service information combined with the CRM and social media interactions, I could paint a full picture of the customer and his or her relationship with my brand.

A monitoring level- Basically just plop a Radian 6 type product in here and it would be good to go. When paired with all the other features discussed above, users would gain a lot of context about who is talking about their brand.

A Social Profile management level- A Hootsuite or Tweetdeck type of setup would be fine.

Now, this is a social media tool that I would get excited about.

What features would make up your dream social media tool?

Multisite is Perfect for….

Sites that want to branch out beyond just one web site. Some examples of sites we have deployed Multisite for include (but are not limited to):

• Blog Networks – sites that want to host a main site as a network hub, and invite their users to start a blog within the network. This type of implementation is typically geared toward a niche market and groups with similar interests, such as photography sites, bridal networks, tech blogging networks.
• Corporate sites/Multiple domains – many online businesses (both large and small) have multiple web properties for different divisions of their product lines and services. Using Multisite (with or without domain mapping) gives them the ability to run multiple sites under one roof.
• Internal Networks – sites don’t always have to be viewable by the general public and in this case, we’ve implemented the Multisite feature to give companies/schools/groups the ability to host multiple internal sites for communication, networking and organization.

One Installation – Multiple sites

Until the year 2011, if you wanted to run several different web sites on the WordPress platform, you were forced to depend on multiple installations of WordPress. For users who have a network of sites, or maintain several web sites of their won, this can be cumbersome. With WordPress Multisites, you now have the ability to host one or one hundred (or a thousand) sites with just one, single installation of WordPress. Probably the biggest, and most successful, example of a large WordPress Multisite network that showcases the largest Multisite nework currently in operation on the web today is the hosted service found at WordPress.com, which currently hosts over 350,000 blogs on its service, at the time of this writing.

The concept is pretty easy to understand:

1. We install WordPress on our client servers.
2. We fire the configuration that tells WordPress to include the Multisite feature.
3. We set up Multisite and optimally configure the Network for our clients use.

Our goal is to encourage autonomy and independence through education and training. When done, our clients understand the basic tenants of the Multisite feature enough to add sites to their network easily and quickly, with complete confidence. WordPress makes it easy – our education and training make it even easier.

Network of Sites

With WordPress Multisite installed – the primary domain that it gets installed on is considered the primary site, or blog. So, if we install WordPress on http://domain.com – the live site on http://domain.com operates just like a regular WordPress web site. We can create a new theme with its own features, just as we would with a regular WorddPres siste. Once Multisite is installed and set up, the process of adding new sites on a WordPress Multisite set up is relatively easy. With Multisite enabled, WordPress splits the typical Dashboad into two distinct parts:

• Site Admin Dashboard – the control center where users manage and maintain the primary site, or blog..
• Network Admin Dashboard – the control center where Adminstrators manage and maintain the network of sites created with the use of the Multisite feature.

Within the Network Admin menu, users have access to six different items that they use to configure, manage and maintain the new Network:

• Admin: Create new sites and new users in your network.
• Sites: View a list of the sites in your network, along with details about them that enables users to manage sites within their network.
• Users: See detailed info about current users in your network, , along with the ability to manage users within their network (including which sites they are subscribed to, profile information and login/password information)
• Themes: View all the Currently available themes to enable or disable them for use in your network.
• Options: Change settings and configure your network.
• Update: Upgrade all sites in your network with one click.

Upon set up, we need to make a decision on whether we’d like individual sites to utilize a subdomain or a subdirectory within the network. The difference is this:

• Subdomain – when new sites are created, the URL of the new sites looks like this: http://newsite.domain.com (where ‘newsite‘ is the name of the site added to the network).
• Subdirectory – when new sites are created, the URL of the new sites look like this: http://domain.com/newsite (where ‘newsite‘ is the name of the site added to the network).

There are different things to consider when deciding to use either the Subdomain or Subdirectory configuration for WordPress Multisite (such as web server configuraitons, domain mapping needs to name a few), and this is something I would strongly recommend discussing with your developer before proceeding with a WordPress Multisite installation.

Domain Mapping

Through the implementation of a small add-on for WordPress Multisite, users can configure specific domain names for sites within the Multisite network. With domain mapping in place, instead of the default subdomain (newsite.domain.com) or subdirectory (domain.com/newsite) domains, users can register domain names and use them within the Multisite Network and have individual domains (like yourdomain.com, mydomain.com) as the URL for each site within the network.

We assist our clients with the server side set up for the use of domain mapping, which does involve some special apache and DNS configurations – and once in place, not only can you host several sites within a WordPress Multisite environment, you can host multiple domains, as well!

SEO, Analytics, Sitemaps & Social Media

WordPress Multisite works much in the same way as regular (single-user) WordPress. We assist our clients with the Search Engine Optimization, Plugin recommendations (specific to their individual use case) and configuration, Sitemaps for Google and other major search engines and social media integration with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more.

Convertiv Case Studies

Recently, we have successfully completed the implementation and deployment of several large scale sites utilizing the WordPress Multisite platform. Here are two sites that use the Multisite feature to meet their individual goals:

• Cheapflights.com – Cheapflights is a London-based company specializing in helping their customers find great deals on flights, hotels and travel. Cheapflights has several different properties around the world, each with a completely different focus for regional travel destinations. With domain names like news.cheapflights.com (USA), news.cheapflights.co.uk (UK) and more, the folks at Cheapflights wanted to use the same design for each of their regional blogs, as well as the same features – but each with different content that is regionally specific. We implemented the WordPress platform with Multisite features for them, with a custom design and custom features (specific to their needs) and they now can easily deploy additional sites for their different regions, all within one installation of the WordPress software.
• Bostinno.com – Bostinno is a tech-based news site located in Boston, MA (USA). We launched their site on WordPress with the Multisite features in place so they can grow their tech news reach into other regional areas such as New York City, Philadelphia and beyond! Initially, we launched their Boston initiative at bostinno.com – but as they prepare to launch their sites within other citiies in the United States, using the WordPress Multisite feature, they will be able to easily launch those sites, apply the custom design and development we already completed and start building regional web sites easily and successfully. Bostinno.com utilizes the domain mapping feature that will allow them to add their sites with their own specific domains (such as nycinno.com, phillyinno.com, etc).

1. Ask and Receive – People want to be heard. People like to be heard. Don’t just use your platforms to speak and sell your message, but start a conversation. Polls and blogs designed to promote conversation about what your followers want to see/more less of can be extremely valuable. You might also learn what the competition isn’t doing that can give you a step up.

2. Develop a Strategy with Clear Goals – Take what you’ve learned and develop a plan that gives the people what they want and helps you achieve your marketing goals. Let’s say through a Facebook poll you find that your fans want to be involved in processes. You also want to change the design of your site or provide better functionality to some of its features. According to your editorial calender, you’re due for a Facebook campaign. Why not host a contest in which fans get to submit design ideas/illustrations?

3. Put the Social in Social Media – This is a very simple practice that means you should share content that isn’t just your own and interact in other communities. Besides helping you become more in tune with your target audience, current audience, and others in your field, actively participating in other forums, groups, and blogs will keep you apprised of what strategies others are employing and can help foster ideas that work for you.

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You’ll be able to tell which of your videos receive the most views and how long people are viewing them. Traffic sources are broken into Views From YouTube, Views From Outside of YouTube, and Mobile Apps & Direct Traffic. If you use YouTube videos to help market your brand, tracking how often videos are shared and marked as a favorite comes in handy.

The new Commenting report reflects how many people are commenting on your videos and provides a cloud of the most used keywords. One really positive change is the ability to download specific reports versus all the data pulled.

If you’re not able to access the new YouTube Analytics yet, it should be available to everyone by tomorrow. There’s a great breakdown of the changes here. 

1. 1800-Flowers: They’ve recently launched an app inviting users to like their page and share what they’re thankful for this holiday season. A random winner will receive a prize. It’s a very simple campaign based around a simple design.

Something like this utilizes one of the tips we wrote about before: the entry bar is set extremely low. Users simply have to leave a comment to win a prize. This type of utilization also raises the brands insights numbers.

2. JC Penney – The department store chain has managed to integrate their mobile app with a Facebook app centered around mobile coupons. Users who have liked their page can provide their contact information to receive mobile alerts on their smartphones with coupons and deals.

In the fine print, it’s disclosed that users are agreeing to receive up to 8 mobile alerts per month as well sales info any time they are near a JC Penney location.

If your business is internet-based with no physical locations, this can still be useful to alert people to new content, sales, contests and promotions when they’re away from their computers, and then use the notifications to direct the user to your mobile site.

3. Harley-Davidson – Here’s a campaign that makes great use of a Facebook app. Harley-Davidson has invited fans to create a campaign ad for their brand. The H-D Fan Machine is a unique way to sell what the brand is about while encouraging fans to define it. Sounds complicated and counter intuitive, but it works. They’ve set the tone in their directions. “… always been about freedom, independence, and doing things differently…” So, while fans are encouraged to “flex their creative muscles,” they’ve also been given parameters. How will the fans define freedom, independence, and doing things differently? Other fans vote on the submissions and a pre-determined number of winners (not specified) are chosen. That detail is key in case there are a ton of great ideas or a golden one in a pile of stinkers.

Finally, this isn’t really making use of an app, but it seems to be an effective way to spread brand awareness. Kraft posted a simple graphic on their Facebook page and invited fans to share it. For every 1,000th share, they’d donate $200,000 to a charity (up to $1 million).

That’s it. Very simple. And, if you do the math, they only need 5,000 shares to hit their self-imposed cap. They’ve already gotten over 18,000 shares.

Maybe you don’t have the dough to do something on this scale, but you could certainly think of creative ways to get people to advertise your name/brand with a similar premise. Facebook now makes it easy to track how many times your posts/photos are shared and it involves very little effort on the fan’s part.

What are some creative usage of Facebook apps you’ve seen this year?

Instead, the common advice should be to consider Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and others communication tools. People cannot buy what they don’t know about. Having a Twitter account or Facebook page is as necessary when marketing yourself or brand as having a phone number. Use them to tell as many people as possible what you’re offering and to receive feedback.

Can these tools help you sell some? Of course, but your expectation can’t be to get rich by sending off a few dozen tweets. Knowing how to use Twitter and others effectively should be your primary focus: knowing the difference between self-promotion and spamming, launching effective campaigns, etc.

Also, understand why people are online and what they’re doing while they’re there. This will help you direct your efforts for maximum results. Again, those results may not be astronomical sales and they definitely won’t occur overnight.

So, what are your social media expectations? 

The latter is a big deal for companies utilizing the service to power conversation between themselves and their customers. With the Hootsuite integration, brands can easily monitor and filter conversations and topics. Additionally, with the other apps, you’ll be able to do the same searching for videos, photos, and other media content that you’re used to, but share/post it all from your Hootsuite dashboard.

The addition of other third party apps, including DISQUS, are coming soon. The new app integrations will eventually also be available to Hootsuite users without a paid account. It’s exciting to see where the Hootsuite platform is going and how these apps will help them get there.

Are you a Hootsuite Pro or Enterprise user? Have you tried out any of the new apps yet? Which other apps would you like to see Hootsuite use in the future?