Social Media Communication:

1. Social network theory: crux of everything we are going to study.


social - all kinds of interaction

interaction with bots, ai

network theory is about understanding these relationships of interactions. 

Definition - the study of the behaviour between individuals or groups within society and
the behaviour within these relationships. 

a. one to one relationship - your relationship with different people (mom, dad, friend,
partner, boss) is unique. naturally, the behaviour is different. we’ll get into how and why
we’ll do it. 

b. one to many - teacher - students, political leader - community, team leader - team.
they behave the same with same set of people.

c. many to many - one organisation with other organisation, govt of india to govt of us,
microsoft with facebook, nokia vs samsung, apple vs samsung, one cricket team with
another cricket team. 

d. many to one: organisation with one specific consumer,

THE THEORY IS BASICALLY STUDYING THE RELATIONSHIP AND BEHAVIOUR

BETWEEN THESE GROUPS OF PEOPLE.

⁃ the individual in these relationships are called nodes.

⁃ hierarchy beneath apple ceo - tim cook.

⁃ each individual in this hierarchy is known as node.

⁃ alternatively they are also called actors.

⁃ although they are not conveying trained dialogues, but their behaviour with
each individual is different hence why they are called actors.

TYPES OF NETWORK:(relationships)

A. EGO - CENTRIC - (By default). you expect things in this relationship by default. my
mum should care for me, my dad should send me money, sister should clean my room.
these relationships are by default hence they are ego centric. you expect certain things

Definition - this is the primary network an individual is part of by default and behaves in a
similar way with the other members in the network. eg - being born into a family, behaving
with certain family members in a certain way. 

whatsapp is a very ego centric platform

religion, sex, city.

B. SOCIO - CENTRIC (BY CIRCUMSTANCE/CHOICE)- These networks that you either

choose or are put into by chance. its because of circumstances that you have a
relationship with these people.

Definition - this type of network is when a set of individuals are grouped because they
chose to be a part of that network or they became part of that network by circumstance.

Eg - peers in class, colleagues in a company,

with colleagues you’ll be using outlook, google chat, skype

friends, spouse, combination of choice as well as circumstance.

C. OPEN CENTRIC (BY CHOICE) - By choice and by effort. it is a network because of

choice and effort towards that choice.

when you have to use #indvspak, you use twitter or facebook.

Definition - this kind of network is the most complex and is usually created through the
efforts or choices of individuals to be part of such a network, with the options of others
also to be part of such a network,

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eg - fans of a football club, a lobby group, or even a social cause.

Behaviour - admiration, unbiased support


BEHAVIOUR OF PEOPLE IN EACH OF THESE NETWORKS:

SOCIO-CENTRIC (FRIENDS)

usual topics of conversation - Aur bata, daily activities, personal stories/experiences

gossip

Company - heirarchial

EGO CENTRIC (MOM-DAD)

( YOU)

1. health & wealth - dhyan rakhiyo

2. family gossip - suna kya

3. education & career- padhoge likhoge toh banoge nawab……

4. vacation plans

5. ego centric

OPEN CENTRIC ( FAN CLUB)

1. WAH WAH WAH - admiration - i am a believer

2. KYA KHABAR - Updates

3. AAP AAP AAP. - competition sucks

4. bhai bhai bhai - unbiased support

OPEN CENTRIC (COMPANY-COMPANY)

A. PROFESSIONAL WORK RELATED

B. GOVT. REGULATIONS

C. COLLABORATION/COMPETITION

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

How to make social media posts more effective ?

How do people usually discover your content on social media ?

A. hashtag

B. follow

C. relatable / interests

D. shared

discover, subscribe, shared

Why influencers (explained)

Centre of the network - as networks are grown around relationships mostly made on
choice, the actor/node become the centre of the network, thereby playing the crucial role
of spreading news or content in the fastest possible time.

INFLUENCERS

Using the same principles of the centre of network, influencers can be actors on social
media platforms who are able to talk to the network easily about their choices and likes.

HASHTAGS

⁃ Help discover content. - social media platforms have created them for their
own benefit. they have asked you to use these hashtags so they can figure out what
category your content relates to. they are used as keywords.

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 ⁃ always use existing #tags - most people are searching with hashtags that are
suggested by the platform or which come to them naturally. use hashtags which are being
used.

TRENDS

⁃ what is a trend? how do i make my content trendy?

a topic growing in popularity/decline. It’s the frequency and not the volume which
determines a trend. it could be upward or in decline. multiple posts of a single topic.

JCB memes.

why do trends become viral?(trend is starting point of being viral)

⁃ relatability of the topic pushes it beyond networks.

trends are social media phenomenon which capture the imagination of social media users
going beyond the boundaries of the users’ usual set of networks. Similarly, the decline of
a trend is attributed to the users’ decline in interest to that particular topic with focus on
more of their primary interest.

detecting trends and catching them early -

1st approach -

understand that the topic has to appeal multiple set of communities, networks and
multiple centre of networks.

we tend to forget the crucial role the centres of networks play.

techniques to track trends: social media platforms have tools

twitter - go to trends

virality -single post. trend is about a topic, multiple posts but centred around jcb.
have to appeal to each of the geographical networks.

how to use influencers?

1. monetary compensation works the best

2. barter - give them material instead of cash

3. affiliate commissions - coupons, discount, commissions.

first brand strategy is to use them.

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS SOCIAL MEDIA

B2b social media marketing is applied differently compared to B2C social media
marketing, where in a b2b context the communication has to be over multiple high touch
points and individual communications.

In a company’s hierarchy, multiple individuals hold different interest and behaviour in

relation to a b2b product.

Eg- for a CFO, a chief financial officer, the primary objective of inclination for a certain
product maybe just the savings in expenditure. Whereas, for the CEO, it might be in
relation to creating strategy and known for his innovation. On the other hand, for a junior
level employee, like an eng. or an associate, it might be just for technology or even simply
to get a raise.

Therefore, in a b2b communication over social media, the following points are crucial to
remember.

Here, not just one but a chain of people need to be influenced for the company to buy the
products.

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1. High touch points - The company’s strategy for B2b social media posts or social
media content has to be aligned with the high touch points in relation to the brand or
product. Eg - talk about its tech innovation, talk about its business performance, talk
about their CSR activities or even talk about their organisation culture. 

for every touch point, the strategy needs to be changed so that each of the person in
the chain is influenced, thats why it becomes more complicated. Hence we have to
look at individual communications.

2. Individual communications - In relation to the first point, it is therefore necessary for

the business to make individual social media content and post which are aligned to
the interests and behaviour with the buyers’ (individuals/employees in the buyer
company) interest and behaviour. 

For Sreeram sir, it needs to be shown that this is the most reputed company,
Sandeep sir needs to be shown that technologically its the best, accounts deptt
needs to be shown that its value for money, siu has bought before.

3. Thought leadership - For a business, a key element to social media success is how it
creates a perception of being the leader in that industry, followed with an experience
in that regard. Eg - apple makes the best phones, dhl ups is the fastest way to send
stuff, amazon is the best for online shopping.

the best mobile phone design according to you - is apple. Why do you think that is ? If
I then ask, the best cafe in town? Then you’ll be divided there’ll be no one answer.
Now when I ask you, the best hotel in town, there’ll be 1-2 answers. How are we able
to determine that these are the best ? What makes you believe they are the leaders in
this category? Perception with experience. Referrals also. alot of time its just
perception. Sometime its perception followed by experience. Steve jobs was able to
gain attention with thought leadership in design.

4. Influence & affiliation - a key aspect for a company to be successful in achieving the
above three is to find and utilise the right influencers across the touch points whether
from within or outside the organisation or even create affiliations with partners who are
though leaders in a similar industry. Eg - mark zuckerburg is thought of an influencer
in technology whereas Sheryl Sandberg is thought of an influencer for operations and
human resource. 

affiliation eg - companies such as airbus using emirates to showcase their influence in
air travel.

Platforms - linkedin/twitter

youtube/whatsapp business

Facebook

Things we’re looking for in a b2b communication:

cost/value

Innovation

Recognition

leadership/influencers

Support

Facebook ads are 1. Ad Break 2. Facebook Ad network.

Reach is defined as the number of nodes the social media communication is able to
reach or touch across networks.

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Example: A facebook post having a reach of 50k demonstrates that 50k fb profiles were
able to view that particular post.

How do I extend my reach ?

There are 3 mediums how people find your post

1. D i s c o v e r - o rg a n i c a l l y ( u s e t h e b e s t p o s s i b l e h a s h t a g s a n d t a g s ) /
inorganically(promotions, boosts and simple ads)

2. Share - There has to be a CTA, relatability. The content has been designed in a way
that it relates to their behaviour.

3. Subscribe - the more you grow your audience, the more your reach becomes higher.

Impressions - different than reach - unique viewers who view the post. Impressions are
the views. Reach is the number of profiles it reached.

Impression is that social media metric which gives us the number of total views across all
the nodes that hv been reached through the social media communication. Eg - a
Facebook post, might reach 15000 unique profiles but may have 20000 impressions
which denotes that some of these profiles saw the post multiple times.

Engagements - this social media metric defines the unique number of times the nodes
react or engage with the social media post.

Eg- on a fb post, there can be a like plus a share and multiple comments plus
engagements on other’s comments which are going to count as engagement. For a single
node, infinite engagements are possible.

Mentions -

This social media metric is defined as the unique number of times the profile or related
topics to the profile are used in posts by various nodes across the social network.

Eg- for coca cola, the number of times @cocacola and related topics such as #coke
#sharehappiness #openhappiness etc are used in social media posts by multiple profiles.

A technique called data mining is used to search topics related to your brand.

Tool - mention.com

Sentiment Analysis - people are talking about you but they maybe talking bad about you,
therefore it is important to know the nature of content people are talking about.

This is the social media metric which allows the brand to analyse the sentiment or
behavioural trait in relation to their mentions about the brand. Eg - in a particular day, their
might be thousands of mentions around coca cola but a large chunk of them might be
negative due to various factors.

How to analyse? - Keyword/Phrases with their proximity to being positive/neutral/

negative.

Eg - I did not like the taste of coca cola in the new flavour

I hated the new flavour - higher proximity to negativity.

Share of Voice - Your number of mentions V/s The number of mentions of your direct
competitors combines. (divide)

The total share of voice for a brand is the metric to find the total number of mentions for
that brand for a specific time period v/s the total number of mentions for their competitive
brands combined together in that very same amount of time. It gives a sense of authority,
a competitive edge of the brand in social media conversations compared to the
competitions. Eg - coca cola can analyse their total number of mentions in the last year
compared to that of pepsi, parle and appy fizz combined. It is across platforms.

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Audience growth - the audience growth parameter is the comparative metric, done month
on month or quarter to quarter or year to year to measure and analyse the growth or fall in
the number of nodes subscribed to the brands’ social media profiles. An extension to the
audience is sometimes also considered, known as affiniate.

On a facebook profile or a page, the number of followers in a certain month in

comparison to the number of followers in the previous month

Cost analysis - most companies spend on social media communication to achieve any or
more of the following objectives :

1. Brand awareness

2. Lead generation

3. Customer retention

BRAND AWARENESS - For a company, one of the initial objectives of using social media
communication is to create awareness of its brand, products or its corporate affairs to the
core demographics of relevant social networks.

Eg- A brand like first cry needs to invest its social media communication to make
networks such as caring mothers aware of their nursing affairs.

Cost associated with brand awareness -

1. The content - people making the content, uses Time effort and money.

2. Affiliations - find people who relate to the brand or product, would charge money or
take something in kind.

ROI on brand awareness- how to measure your returns on promotions

Incorrect to measure in terms of money

It’s in terms of - reach and engagement.

Why reach not impressions? - unique touch points.

The cost analysis, specially the return on investment on brand awareness is typically not
measured in monetary return value but usually in the number of reach and engagement in
the brand awareness.

LEAD GENERATION
Lead V/s Customer

Companies and brands are also required to make more direct campaigns with the intent
of reaching a potential set of prospects from their core demographics of consumers/
customers to buy one or more of their products. For a children’s dress - consumer is a
child, customer is the mother. If the child insists then they can be the customer. However
it has to be noted that the final cycle of sale is not under only social media’s purview.

Costs associated :

1. Finding the right customer/ filtration of sub segment of consumer

2. The content

3. Integration with sales

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ROI - the return on investment on lead generation campaigns initiated over social media
communications, has to be measured with the amount of eventual monetary sales that it
has influenced.

CUSTOMER RETENTION

A brand or a company also uses social media communication to retain its existing
customers by offering them customised or relevant set of values to make them buy a
similar or the same product.

Cost on customer retention -

Tracking and filtering

Content

Integration with sales

Inorganic spends

Influencer marketing

ROI on customer retention - Its called the lifeline value. In the case of customer retention
campaigns the primary ROI to be measured is the lifetime value of the customer that is
what has been the historical value of all the sales done by the customer by influence of
social media communication.

Cost Per Engagement - In social media communications and marketing, one of the finer
metrics of cost analysis is the amount of money spent to get a single engagement. This is
termed as CPE which is equal to cost/total number of engagements. This is usually done
for brand awareness campaigns where the ROI can not be measured monetarily.

CPI - in social media communications and marketing, one of the micro - parameters of
measurement is CPI (cost per impression) COST/ No. OF IMPRESSIONS. It is specially
relevant when the company is only focused on gaining a share of voice around specific
topics. Eg - BJP V/S CONGRESS.