Use the honeycomb model to help inform your social media strategy
Back in 2011, a group of professors from Canada; Jan Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens and Ian McCarthy created the Honeycomb Model to review social media effectiveness, looking at reasons why users engage with social media.
The idea behind the honeycomb model is that of the 7 key building blocks delineated by the model, companies can select the ones most relevant to their business, and focus their attention on the key functionalities.
We created this simple table to help you evaluate each of the seven blocks, so you can decide which ones, and how many, your organization should focus on.
Social media building blocks:
Identity: Data privacy controls and tools for user self-promotion Presence: Creating and managing the reality, intimacy and immediacy of the context Relationships: Managing the structural and flow properties in a network of relationships Reputation: Monitoring the strength, passion, sentiment, and reach of users and brands Groups: Membership rules and protocols Conversations: Conversation velocity, and the risks of staring and joining Sharing: Content management system and social graph
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Social media marketing model
In summary, the Honeycomb model is a great framework for considering social media networks but it is not a decision tree and therefore the final decision as to ‘which network should we select?’, still, needs to be taken within the organization.
What are the basic rules you should follow when developing yoursocial mediacontent and social media strategy?
To help marketers and business owners succeed, social media guru Angie Gensler created an infographic (below) that covers 24 essential do's and don'ts.
It looks at some key approaches that you should definitely take, such as varying your post types and narrowing your focus.
The infographic also delves into approaches not to take, such as focusing on vanity metrics and being overly promotional.
Facebook is by far the social platform Americans say they use most often, but its popularity is waning and use varies widely among different age groups,according torecent research fromEdison Research.
The Infinite Dial 2023 report was based on data from a survey conducted in January 2023 among 1,500 people age 12 and older in the United States. The researchers weighted the data to national population figures.
Some 46% of social media users say Facebook is the platform they use most often, 18% say Instagram, 14% TikTok, 7% Twitter, 6% Snap, and 3% Pinterest. A fraction (6%) cite other social platforms.
Fully 74% of social media users age 55+ say Facebook is the platform they use most often, compared with 55% of those age 35-54 and just 20% of those age 12-34.
Among social media users age 12-34, Facebook declined 14 percentage points between 2022 and 2023 in the share who say it is the platform they use most often.
Among social media users age 35-54, Facebook declined six percentage points between 2022 and 2023 in the share who say it is the platform they use most often.
Among social media users age 55+, Facebook declined three percentage points between 2022 and 2023 in the share who say it is the platform they use most often.
About the research: The Infinite Dial 2023 report was based on data from a survey conducted in January 2023 among 1,500 people age 12 and older in the United States.
Since 2015, customer acquisition costs have surged, increasing by more than half, and the recent Internet Trends report from Mary Meeker suggests there are areas where these costs may be rising to unsustainable levels.
In this extremely crowded market, competition for the attention of new customers and rising costs are not the only challenge marketers face. New privacy regulations, such as the GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in the US, have depleted databases and changed the rules around how marketers can identify consumers via personal data.
So how are marketers responding to these challenges with customer acquisition? We sought to find out.
At the end of 2019, we surveyed over 200 UK and US marketers working in eCommerce*, to understand how customer acquisition strategies are evolving as we start the new decade.
Inside this guide, you’ll find the new rules of customer acquisition (and retention), backed by data, together with an in-depth look at industry (retail and travel) and market (US and UK) trends.
*Methodology: This research was conducted by Censuswide, an independent market research consultancy, with 207 UK and US ecommerce marketers who work in retail and travel: 100 in the UK and 107 in the US. Fieldwork was carried out between 11.09.2019 – 17.09.2019. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society. All survey panellists are double opted in, which is in line with MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR standards.
Rule #1: It’s all about balance…
In 2018, we asked 200 marketers where they focused the majority of their efforts when it came to balancing acquisition and retention, and the results were a little surprising.
Despite the oft-cited fact that acquiring new customers is getting more expensive, and can cost up to 5x more than retaining an existing customer, marketers were still focusing 60% or more of their timeand effort on attracting new customers. Revisiting the same question in 2019 revealed a notable shift in approach:
As the data reveals, marketers are shifting toward a more holistic approach, balancing their acquisition and retention efforts much more equally. In 2019, nearly half of marketers (47%) were spending equal effort on both attracting and keeping customers, compared to just 11% who said the same in 2018.
However, it can be said that acquisition is still king, with 45% still prioritizing this, and gains to the more balanced approach largely coming from those previously weighted toward a greater focus on acquisition.
Industry and market trend spotlight
US (53%) marketers are much more focused on acquisition than the average (45%), and their UK counterparts (36%).
Travel marketers were slightly more focused on acquisition than their Retail counterparts, perhaps given the more one-off nature of travel purchases.
UK marketers are the most balanced in their customer acquisition and retention strategy – 57% are equally focused on both aspects of the customer journey.
Rule #2: Privacy requires proactivity
In May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect to protect the privacy of EU citizens, and in January 2020 a similar regulation came into effect in the US: the CCPA. The impact of the latter remains to be seen, but we do know how GDPR impacted UK marketers.
With the average marketer losing 23% of their hard-acquired customers (i.e. email database) due to the regulation, we saw that survival in the new era of privacy requires a proactive approach to data capture.
Businesses in retail achieved some of the best results, growing databases to 101% of their pre-GDPR size via a wide range of strategies, from loyalty programs to content optimization, as well as more traditional approaches such as competitions and incentivized newsletter sign-ups.
This shift toward a more proactive approach to acquiring customer data is also visible from the change in focus noted in the chart below:
Industry and market trend spotlight
Interestingly the UK marketers were not as focused on acquisition as those in the US despite the advent of GDPR, suggesting many UK businesses have got their house in order when it comes to privacy and acquisition.
Travel marketers shifted their focus less than retail, perhaps explaining the slower recovery from GDPR we saw in this sector.
Rule #3: Social media is king when it comes to channels
According to respondents, the top three acquisition channels marketers across verticals and markets are focusing on are: social media (66%), paid search (52%), and email (51%).
The high placement of social media is an interesting one, especially as social commerce finally seems to be gaining traction. In the next section, we’ll examine how these channels are perceived in terms of ROI to see if this focus is deserved.
It seems that marketers are still largely prioritizing paid channels such as paid search, display, and of course to some extent social, over strategies such as SEO. This approach remains despite rising acquisition costs, so it is worth noting that it may become unsustainable heading into the new decade – marketers will need to evaluate how they can switch up their strategies when it comes to acquisition channels.
Industry and market trend spotlight
The US is much more focused on paid activity than other markets, which makes sense given the greater focus on acquisition we’ve seen from this group so far.
After social, email was the biggest focus in the UK. Again this aligns with these segments’ greater focus on retention.
Affiliate marketing was the channel that received the least focus. This channel was most popular with US marketers and in Retail.
Focus of different groups on key customer acquisition channels
Rule #4: Top focus doesn’t automatically mean ROI
Looking at the top channels for ROI, there weren’t too many changes, for example, social media still came out on top, with 52% of marketers ranking it within their best three channels for ROI. What was most interesting here was the discrepancy when comparing the focus or effort applied to particular channels, versus the ROI they were perceived as generating:
We see an interesting pattern emerge here, the top-ranked channels for focus, such as social media and paid search, performed less well on ROI, while those who had been ranked lower, such as affiliates, actually performed better.
So should marketers switch up their strategy to focus on these ROI-driving channels? Not necessarily. What it suggests to us is that the customer journey for channels like social media and paid search needs to be improved.
Why? It all comes down to intent. If you think about a user visiting from an organic search or an affiliate, the intent to buy is likely to be much higher, and thus these visitors are more likely to convert, boosting ROI. For channels like social media, a visitor may be in ‘discovery’ rather than ‘buy’ mode, and so needs a helping hand to move down the funnel toward conversion. In 2020 it is essential that marketers improve the customer journey from click to conversion for social media, paid search and email.
Industry and market trend spotlight
US and Travel marketers reported much higher ROI from display than other segments, suggesting they are doing a better job of continuing the customer journey post-click.
Travel also reported a higher ROI from affiliates than other groups, perhaps due to the higher AOV seen in this industry or because these visitors are showing a strong intent to buy.
% of marketers reporting good ROI
#Rule 5: Better data collection is the foundation of success
Everything we’ve seen up to this point suggests that marketers need to evolve their approach to acquisition and retention, but how?
The discrepancies between channel focus and ROI achieved point toward a need to improve the customer journey. The top strategies marketers plan to use to optimize the customer journey in 2020 include Marketing automation and website personalization, but neither of these are possible without a solid foundation of data.
Smart acquisition (and retention!) in 2020 will rely on:
Effective data capture: careful targeting at the right moment in the customer journey to collect data and build a granular view of visitors
Smart segmentation: based on available and collected data, segmenting visitors allows for scale and efficiency when it comes to both data collection and personalization, allowing you to target a new visitor and a loyal VIP differently.
The ability to act on behavioral data: when you don’t have personal data, you need to recognize and act on intent. For example, personalizing your approach for visitors from high versus low intent channels.
With billions of people accessing Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube every day… with even more hopping on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and others… there’s incredible opportunity there for businesses.
Businesses that are prepared to take advantage of social media can position themselves to connect with new audiences and engage potential customers!
But not without cost. While any business can create a Facebook Page or Twitter profile for free, it takes planning and determination and skill to make good use of those social media platforms. Savvy business owners and social media marketers will establish profiles, create a strategy, and then execute that plan. They’ll map out topics and themes, ensure they’re sharing a consistent message, and craft posts that resonate with their audience and drive business results.
The challenge for businesses that want to be successful on social media is that they need to create a plan and then execute it.
That’s what the Social Media Planner helps you to do.
Packed with actionable advice in the form of worksheets and calendars, the Social Media Planner will give you 12 months of consistent, directed social media activity. And when it comes to social media marketing, consistency is key!
Although social media influencers are often lumped together as one group, the truth is that they fall into different buckets.
Specifically, influencers tend to land in different tiers of follower counts, and each of those tiers has unique characteristics.
An infographic (below) from MediaUpdate, which is based on content from Acodez, covers five types of social media influencers based on follower counts.
The piece looks at which types of individuals tend to fall into the different tiers, and what that means for marketers looking to work with influencers.
Both social media and search engine optimization (SEO) can be highly effective inbound marketing tactics.
So which should marketers choose?
An infographic (below) from Orbit Media explores what separates the two and which is better suited for various situations.
Specifically, the piece looks at the differences between social media and SEO in nine key areas: topics, formats, audience targeting, conversion likelihood, speed, upper limits, effort and durability, measurement, and interdependence.
Looking to boost website traffic? Haven't had much luck with traditional tactics? Give these six new ways a try.
BY DAKOTA SHANE, CO-FOUNDER, COPY BUFFS@DAKOTASHANE_NUN
No matter who you are or what your business does, increasing traffic to your website is something we can never get enough of as entrepreneurs. Whether you would like to increase the number of readers for a certain blog post, the number of subscribers to your email newsletter, or something else entirely, you'll need traffic to those pages to jump-start the process.
If you have exhausted your list of website traffic tactics or are simply looking for new strategies to try out, give these six tips a try.
1. Get Active on Medium
Looking for a way to bolster thought leadership while also increasing the number of website visitors? Medium could be the answer. Think of Medium as the "YouTube for Writers", where users publish blog posts on any and all topics.
To begin, start submitting finished articles to your favorite publications for review. Within the article itself, be sure to include a call-to-action at the bottom of the article with a link to a squeeze page promoting a relevant "lead magnet" or email grabber.
2. Post Articles on Steemit
If Medium and Reddit had a baby, it would look a lot like Steemit. For those unfamiliar with the platform, it's a community that allows members to upvote the content, from articles to videos, that they love the most. Based on the number of upvotes in addition to other factors, content creators are compensated.
If you're looking to get a head-start on a new and emerging platform that could bolster your thought leadership in your area of expertise (which, in turn, leads to more web traffic), then begin publishing blog posts on Steemit.
3. Leverage IGTV
As if Instagram wasn't dominating the social media landscape enough, they recently rolled out long form video content with IGTV. Because the feature is still new, publishing on it won't only be advantageous due to low competition, it will also mean your content is much more likely to be prioritized by the Instagram algorithm given that's the trend we always see after the initial roll-out of new features (Facebook Live, Facebook Video, Instagram Live, etc.).
For inspiration and potential ideas for IGTV videos, try discussing the topic of a blog post you recently created and encourage viewers to visit your website to access the content. By establishing yourself on IGTV early and consistently pointing your audience in the direction of your website, your traffic will benefit as a result.
4. Use Links in Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories have grown like absolute wildfire since their launch in 2017. To date, there are approximately 400 million daily active users on Instagram Stories, and with new interactive features like polls and questions being unveiled regularly, it's unlikely their momentum will stop any time soon.
Next time you publish a blog post or a video, try announcing it on Instagram Stories. Within the Story, tell your audience a little bit more about what the post or video is about, include a link to it and encourage your audience to visit the link as well as share it across social media.
5. Create a Better User Experience on Your Website
Okay, this may not exactly be new, but it certainly is more important for your company's SEO than ever before. Google has made it clear they are now taking user experience on websites into stronger consideration in terms of how your website ranks on their search engine. Because of this, measurements like average length of website visit, bounce rate, whether or not your site is mobile-friendly, click-through rates on your content and more will be more critical to SEO success than ever before.
To start making your overall user experience on your website better, use a heatmapping tool like Crazy Egg or Mouseflow to see where your visitors are getting stuck and spending the majority of their time. You should also make sure your images are properly compressed.
6. LinkedIn Video
Back in August of 2017, LinkedIn unveiled native video on their platform. Despite it being around for almost a year, there is still a lot of room for growth due to the low level of competition and creative concepts that have yet to be explored with the feature. Additionally, the LinkedIn algorithm currently prioritizes video, so take advantage of it while you can. Within the video, encourage your viewers to visit your website to learn more about your services.
There are a lot of ways to increase website traffic. Because traffic is so significant to your success as a business owner, it's important to always be exploring and experimenting with new ways to boost your web traffic. Throughout the remainder of 2018 and beyond, give the tactics discussed in this article a try. It could very well be the thing that makes all the difference. Best of luck.
Sometimes clients don’t fully understand, make full use of or give credit to the value added by communications pros. Yet, these individuals work under intense time or performance pressure, a reason why their positions are ranked as among the most stressful jobs. This work can be a balancing act, weighing big-picture and micro decisions, orchestrating operations across teams of many roles and levels.
Yet communications work can be very satisfying. As I’ve watched communications pros at work over the years, I’ve noticed that something more among the real greats. For them, it’s more than a transactional business.
There's a deeper way that these people learn and connect.
They have a real curiosity about life, which results in their leaving a real impact even on the days when the going gets tough. In thinking about the qualities of seriously effective communications people who’ve inspired me, here are a few key points below:
1. Studying people.
Everything in the communications field hinges on understanding how people think and work.
I’ve noticed that the best communications pros are able to “get under the skin” of their target audiences and really relate to their story, their needs. How do they make decisions? What are their aspirations, pains, unrequited goals?
Look at a target audience. Think about the work of these individuals, their day-to-day hopes and frustrations, the things they wish for while driving to work and what they try to make sense of as they drive home.
With closed eyes, imagine being the audience. Or speak to some members of the ideal audience. Ask lots of questions and really learn from their answers. Become a student of people and build an understanding that leads to having a real communications impact.
2. Understanding stories.
Crafting stories is an art form for top communicators. So often people forget that what seems like a whole book is actually just a chapter, part of a longer-term vision being built. Good authors often have the gift of seeing chapters as whole stories, making them complete while knowing they’re only part of a larger arc.
Understanding how stories work -- and how the human mind responds to them -- is the craftt of top communications professionals. Looking for classic heroes, villains, victims and other archetypes, to the structure of timeless human drama and narrative structure will allow for seeing the world -- and work -- in new ways.
3. Mastering the counterpoint.
I’ve often heard people praise excellent communications partners by saying, “She helps me see the big picture” or “He gets me out of my comfort zone.” A strong devil’s advocate can push others into deeper understanding and prepare them to address unexpected alternatives to the way they see things.
This takes finesse: The idea is to help broaden and strengthen a point of view and not necessarily to change it.
Practice thought tennis. Be the person who makes other people smarter by helping them sharpen their thoughts and expand their view.
Come up with questions (“What would your competition say?” or “What if that never happened?”) that artfully guide people out of their comfort zone. This will elevate the potential impact.
4. Zooming out. Zooming in.
Communications professionals who can immerse themselves in the bigger picture see a whole different view than those on the ground -- and that’s a huge value when it comes to mapping the right path.
Be the thought partner who can go way up to the drone’s eye view. Look at a situation as part of a bigger picture than someone close to it normally would, mapping it out to a bigger landscape. It’s hard to zoom out while being right in the thick of a situation.
5. Geeking out.
Those who skim the surface don't do enough to excel.
In helping people grasp something, be curious enough to understand it. Yes, it takes work to really understand, but do that by researching or always asking questions, digging deeper, learning more. Collect the dots that ultimately allow for connecting them (the more dots, the more connections). And that’s key to excellence in communications.
6. Venturing out.
Communications isn’t a desk job. Communications pros spend a lot of time on the phone and keyboards. But at the end of the day that’s not where it really happens. Being relevant, connecting with others, developing a sense of what’s really happening -- all of that happens best when someone is out in the real world.
Yes, it can be hard to break free, especially in client-driven work. But the best communications people I’ve known have taken lessons from sports, art and the outdoors and inspiring leaders. They try new things, ask new questions and always keep expanding their comfort zone. I like how Steve Jobs talked about it, somewhat irreverently.
7. Earning trust.
Communications pros earn trust when they're informed (studying people, geeking out, getting out), have a ready tool kit of knowledge and experience (understanding stories, zooming out), have the courage to be honest (mastering the counterpoint) and embody the integrity.
Develop these skills and rise as that go-to person who truly creates an impact at work -- and it's possible to gain a lot of satisfaction to boot.
