Dan is the author of the bestselling book “Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences on Social Media”, and co-host of “The Experience This! Show” podcast.
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About Dan
Dan was a twenty year corporate marketer working for brands like Human, Discover and McDonalds.
His last role at the credit card company Discover was the head of Digital Customer Experience. He was assigned his first social media team as part of that role.
He signed up for Twitter the same day he started doing social for Discover and it became his favorite.
As a marketer, Dan says social was essentially the only channel with the exception of TV that he didn’t have a lot of experience with.
He realized quickly that it was the only marketing channel where people could talk back to you. The opportunity was fantastic and he really focused in on the customer service aspect of social media.
How to Get Your Social Media Channel to Start Talking
Dan has developed a five step methodology called WISER that teaches companies how to create positive experiences that people want to share.
Research proves that people are actually more willing to share positive than negative experiences, but Dan says people don’t actually have a lot of positive experiences.
Dan is set to help people create remarkable social experiences
W—Witty use language that helps you stand out from the crowd.
I—Immersive creating experiences that people feel and are consistent.
S—Shareable. Provide the right spot in the journey and provide the appropriate tools to share your content.
E—Extraordinary. This doesn’t need to be expensive and extreme. Dan says to be extraordinary you really only have to be a little bit better than ordinary.
R—Responsive. Be actively engaged in social media. Monitor the account, respond to comments and engage with your customers.
Where to Start with WISE
Setting responsiveness apart, Dan says these elements are all important, but he suggests you set yourself apart with witty.
He points out that this isn’t about using humor, but rather clever with language. Getting rid of industry jargon, acronyms and difficult language.
He recommends taking a look at every piece of communication you have and seeing if there are any opportunities to make the experience better.
Dan uses the iFlix disclaimer title “Covering Our Butts” as a great way a company used witty language to draw people in.
Dan says what everyone is looking for in the companies they do business with is that they are covering the basics (honest, fair etc.) but that there is a human connection with the companies that we do business with.
Social is powerful because that is where we connect with real humans in a company. Dan says he believes we are now to a point where competing on price is a losing game.
Competing on product is also becoming increasingly difficult because everything is easily and infinitely copyable. That leaves customer service as the last frontier for competition.
This is the best place to compete with customers and Dan says that bringing as much humanity as possible to your business marketing is the only thing not copyable.
Making it Shareable
Dan says you really shouldn’t ever need to tell people when they should share something.
A good example is how the British Gin Company Sip Smith revamped the entire experience of product tasting by creating an extraordinary, immersive experience.
After crafting a custom Gin and Tonic, the company asks customers to name their drink by giving them a small card to fill out that clipped to their glass.
Dan says that there wasn’t anything obvious compelling you to share what you had done, but almost everyone immediately shared a photo of ‘their’ drink on Instagram.
Finding that moment can be a great opportunity. If all else fails, find the moment in your customer journey when people are most happy.
The more pieces from WISE that you have, the more amazing your customer experience will be.
Create great Signage.
Dan says that signage, even in the digital space is critically important. Be empathetic, be witty and think of how you can proactively connect with people.
Insider Tips
If we’ve inspired someone to take their first step with social media Marketing – what do they need to know to give themselves the best chance of success?
Just do it! Get out there and start posting. So many people get on social media and just lurk.
Dan says that the best thing you can do is simply get out there and start doing the work.
Once you’ve started of course you’ve got to ‘keep optimising’! So what’s your favourite way to improve social media marketing performance?
Lately allows you to plug in content from podcasts, videos etc. and uses AI to create posts with that content.
It also allows automaton for posting, which Dan says open up time for engagement.
It’s impossible to improve our marketing unless we’re monitoring the performance – but the list of stuff we could monitor can be overwhelming. So what, for you is the number one social media marketing KPI?
For eCommerce, Dan says your organic social media KPI should be click through to your website.
Crystal ball time – what’s coming up in the next 6-12 months that we should be getting ready for in social media marketing?
Customers are frustrated with the phone, especially with the pandemic. Customer service will likely need to show up more and more on your digital channels.
Make sure you are being responsive on social media.
Interview Links
Dan on Social media:
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