10 Ways to Get to #1 in Social Media

Wayne Sutton came to SAS today to talk about our social media involvement. Can SAS be #1 in social media?

He started out by altering the famous quote, “With great power also comes great responsibility.” Wayne’s version is: “With great analytics software also comes great social media.”

The Internet is now social. LinkedIn has more than 70 million users, Twitter has 190 million, and Facebook has hit the 500 million mark. You can no longer afford to ignore social media. Now, you might be asking yourself, “What’s the point?” The core of social media is building trust and relationships. People want you to talk to them. To know that you care about them. “Everybody has a voice” (Wayne).

As a business thinking about social media involvement, you must start with your goals. A social media plan can’t come without a marketing strategy. How will you use it? Make sure your goals line up with what you set out to measure.

What’s next?

What’s the next big thing? Wayne asks instead, “How successful are you with the big thing now?” By the way, that “thing” should be your customers.

Here’s what Wayne says SAS should be looking at as a part of our strategy:

• The rise in analytics companies. They’re increasingly more popular.
• The cost of analytics dashboards is going down.
• Social gaming: Interactions in online games can lead to purchases in real life.
• Geo-targeting customer loyalty programs.
• The growing mobile web: (global + social + mobile) How are you reaching customers across the board?

10 ways to get to #1

Wayne ended his presentation with a list of 10 steps SAS can take toward becoming number one in social media. (They’re applicable to other businesses too!)

1. SAS online forums (like sascommunity.org)
2. Blog outreach strategy
3. Custom landing pages
4. Visit Universities where they’re using SAS products
5. LinkedIn groups
6. What makes SAS best place to work? Our culture is our brand.
7. Ongoing webinar series
8. Ongoing newsletter
9. Social media training and workshops for employees
10. Make sure everyone knows their role in social media

“The company strives to be approachable, so customers recognize SAS as a reliable partner and not just a vendor. It is about being customer-driven, engaging with customers to find out what they want and helping to solve their problems.” –SAS website

What will make SAS #1 in social media? Wayne says the determining factors will be if employees can embrace the social web, and then grow together toward one goal.