How to Increase Your Social Media Following by Over 700%

Are you looking for creative ways to grow your social media following?

Are you dealing with limited resources?

Then you’ll want to study what Microsoft Dynamics did.

How is a giant like Microsoft the same as everybody else when it comes to social media marketing?

They have the same challenges as any company. They have to figure out:

    Whom they’re talking to
    What their needs are
    Where and how to talk to them

And even though they’re Microsoft, they still have limited resources to do it all. So how does Microsoft do social media? They start by trial and error, and then see what works and what needs changing. Sound familiar?

Over the past two years, Microsoft Dynamics, a business group of Microsoft, pruned their social channels by half, but now reaches more customers.

I spoke with Kelly Rigotti, senior marketing communication manager of social media for Microsoft Dynamics, to learn how they did it.
microsoft vine video

Microsoft Dynamics uses Vine videos as visual elements in their Twitter stream.

Social Media Handles and Stats

    Website
    Blog
    LinkedIn showcase page – 1,488,797 followers
    Twitter primary account – 13,813 followers
    Facebook primary account – 31,013 followers
    YouTube – 6,319 subscribers; 904,542 views

Highlights

    In 2011, had over 40 social accounts and blogs. Now has 23 accounts and blogs
    Up to 75% of followers of their LinkedIn showcase page see their updates
    YouTube views per month increased 700% over the last 15 months
    Facebook fans increased 900% over 15 months with 99% unsponsored posts
    Twitter account started from scratch in 2012 grown to over 13,000 followers

#1: Who’s in Charge of Social?

Before Rigotti was hired two years ago at Microsoft Dynamics, they had over 40 social media accounts and blogs spread over multiple platforms. A lot of people had social media as part of their job. But no single person was responsible for it as a whole.

Rigotti sees the way things evolved at Microsoft Dynamics as similar to what happens at many companies.

“Nobody would dream of going off and doing his or her own website,” she said. “You don’t go off and do your own advertising campaign.” But teams would start their own social channels because it was so easy.

“Somebody would hear about something new, like a blog, and get the okay from their manager to start it,” she said.

But the company realized they needed to start thinking strategically about social media. They created a new position and hired Rigotti, who had consulted for them previously. Her sole responsibility would be to manage social media.
microsoft social acccounts

Microsoft Dynamics started looking at social accounts strategically.
microsoft pared social acccounts

Microsoft Dynamics pared social accounts and groups to 23 from over 40.
#2: Storytelling vs. Talking About Products

Rigotti’s hiring coincided with a shift in marketing strategy for Microsoft as a whole. She characterizes it as a storytelling approach vs. a product-centered approach.

“We wanted to start talking to customers about what their needs are as opposed to what our products are,” she said.

Instead of talking about individual products, they would listen to their customers and then show how they could help them do their jobs better.
microsoft customer service update

Microsoft Dynamics shifted to addressing customer concerns with their social updates.

Many of the existing social accounts had been started by product specialists and had a product-centered approach. The shift meant these accounts would need to be cut, tweaked, repurposed or updated.

This required a diplomatic approach on Rigotti’s part. But first she needed to track down and evaluate what they had.
#3: Selling the Idea Internally

She searched to find all of the Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and other social accounts containing “Microsoft Dynamics” and figure out who owned them.

At the same time, she and her team of two were developing the messaging and talking to the people managing the accounts.

Since they would need to give control over to Rigotti and her team, she made special effort to bring everyone on board with the idea.

“We were not saying, ‘Thanks for your two years of work, but that doesn’t matter anymore,’” Rigotti explained. Instead she touted the benefits of letting her team take over the time-consuming tactical aspects of social media.

“You share your expertise with me and I’ll make sure we grow the audience for that content,” was her message.

It wasn’t always an easy sell. “People are really rational when they see you’re not abandoning something, but instead bringing things together,” she added.

By the end of the first year, Rigotti’s team had pruned their social media accounts to four platforms, focusing on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Rigotti said she is often in the role of traffic cop, tracking down unofficial accounts that still pop up. “It’s a constant effort through education and communication,” she said. But she explains the reason for curbing additional accounts this way:

“We always ask, ‘Can we reach an audience with this account that we can’t reach on our other channels?’”
#4: Content + Connections

The company has a range of audiences, including end users, purchasers and solution partners in each of five priority industries.

“We don’t have specific social media communities for each one of those audiences,” said Rigotti.

So how do they reach more people with fewer social accounts? They think about what ties all these audiences together.

“We asked, ‘What’s the story we can tell that will appeal to as many of these people as possible?‘” Rigotti said.

The message they developed was that the technology you use makes a difference in the way you work. That story is the common thread they use in all their content on all their social media channels.
microsoft linkedin update

Even when talking about products, the focus is on solutions, not features.

For content, Rigotti and her team rely on product and industry specialists, such as manufacturing industry experts who know what that audience cares about. Then they think about how they can socialize that information.

About 30 people contribute content as determined by an editorial calendar. “It’s all about great content and great connections,” Rigotti said.
#5: Evaluating Results

The link between social media and product sales at Microsoft Dynamics is not direct, because end users typically purchase through a solution provider.

To evaluate social media activity, Rigotti said they approach it similarly to PR. The focus is on awareness and engagement.

They use the enterprise social media management program Sprinklr to track metrics such as reach, hashtag use, etc., and NetBreeze, which Microsoft Dynamics acquired in 2013, to track sentiment and mentions.

Though their measurement data is proprietary, Rigotti noted that they are getting great visibility with LinkedIn. Up to 75% of followers are seeing content from their LinkedIn showcase page. That translates to over a million followers getting their updates.

Their main Twitter account was started from scratch in 2012 and has grown to over 13,000 followers to date. Facebook and YouTube followers have grown to 10 times and 8 times their previous numbers, respectively, since mid-2012.
microsoft parature tweet

The Microsoft Dynamics Twitter account, new since 2012, has an engaged follower base.

Rigotti stresses that whatever metrics you evaluate, the most important thing is to be consistent over the long-term. Looking at a snapshot of data or a small sampling of posts won’t tell you much. Pick something to measure and evaluate it over time.

“Even if [the criteria] are not the most accurate, we can measure over time to see progress,” she said.

What do you think? Is your company overextended on social media? Could you benefit by pruning your accounts and focusing on storytelling to your core audience? Include your comments and questions below.

Story as Strategy: How Social Storytelling Leads to Business

Do you use storytelling in your business?

Are you wondering how to use stories in your social strategy?

To learn how you can use stories to sell, I interview Gary Vaynerchuk for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It! andThe Thank You Economy. He’s also the CEO of VaynerMedia. His newest book is Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World.

Gary shares why storytelling is important for your business.

You’ll learn how to discover deeper data and why analytics are an essential part of your social strategy.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.

Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Story as Strategy

The story behind Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

Gary explains how he had an epiphany that he might have let people down by over-indexing the act of giving in The Thank You Economy. Although he knew his readers would understand that to give is great, they wouldn’t necessarily understand that at some stage you have to ask.

The book title, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, stands for Give, Give, Give, Ask. You have to remember to give value, which eventually leads to putting out a good call to action, which leads to business. Gary says that even some of the best social media people don’t know how to ask for business.

Gary's new book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World.

The idea behind the book was for it to be a utility for people. It looks at individual pieces of content as case studies.

You’ll hear why Gary wanted to write a how-to book and why the title is a boxing metaphor.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary looks at social media as a science.

What boxing teaches us about social media marketing

Gary explains that it’s the crossroads of the analytics and being creative to create business results.

He feels like a lot of social media experts don’t put enough effort into analyzing data. Gary didn’t put in the effort either until he started VaynerMedia. Now he has seven full-time analysts. This has given him a much deeper insight into the black-and-white of it all.

VaynerMedia on Facebook.

There are also people who think it’s all algorithmic. They underestimate the value of the human touch and creative, which is the art. Analysis is the science. It’s the crossroads of the two.

Most social media marketers don’t look deep into their analytics because of time or capacity. Most are consumed by speaking, consulting and selling content. Gary feels that it’s time and money that hold most people back. This is why he wanted to share his ideas.

Gary recommends that you use Facebook analytics to test for deeper data. It’s a great tool that has a ton of uses.

You need to think about and test what you put on your Facebook page and Twitter.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary likes to isolate himself into ‘doing’ versus ‘consuming.’

Common traps marketers fall into when it comes to social media

Gary advises that you need to be careful and be able to back up what you say.

He believes that he gets away with a lot of stuff because of the huge success he has had with Wine Library TV. Plus VaynerMedia is an eight-figure business already, where the number of employees has grown from 25 to 300.

Gary has had huge success with Wine Library TV.

You’ll find out why self-awareness is important and what else you need to consider when you want to help people.

Listen to the show to find out why execution matters.

Why storytelling is important

Gary says that storytelling matters because stories are powerful and everlasting and they are what turn a commodity into a business. He believes that a story matters more than anything else.

It’s brand equity. It’s why we buy name-brand products. It’s why fashion works. It’s what cool is about. It’s our sense of place in the world.

The best way to do it is contextually. His book includes 86 case studies that show individual pieces of content that are good and bad. Gary’s biggest goal for the new book is for it to be on everyone’s desk as a reference for when they want to put content out there.

You’ll hear why Gary always starts his talks with his own personal story and whyYouTube and Twitter were the two platforms that became important to him.

A recent New York Times article talks about how Gary and his team at VaynerMedia helped Nilla Wafers exponentially grow their business results with content only onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The New York Times recently featured Gary and his team at VaynerMedia.

You’ll learn about what type of content works best for each platform and the importance of having respect for the context of the platform you tell your story on.

Listen to the show to find out what you need to ask yourself to turn a boring product into an interesting one.

What is micro-content? 

When it comes to storytelling, Gary explains that “micro” means fast. When you think about how quickly content is consumed on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram from a mobile device, then you need to put content out there that can capture attention in about 1/100th of a second.

It has to be lightweight and can include memes, animated GIFs and Vines.

You’ll learn about the different types of stories you can tell and why it’s important totalk about your value proposition.

In Gary’s book, he talks about the formula, micro-content + community management = effective social media marketing. When it comes to the community management component, Gary says it’s the proudest aspect of who he is in the social media space. He says that 90% of his tweets are @replies. You don’t just throw your content out there, you have to engage.

You have to engage with your audience.

You’ll discover why Gary chooses engagement over consumption and entertainment.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary believes that Twitter is the one true social network.

How to use a story effectively to drive conversions and sales

Gary says it’s important to engage, engage, engage and create context, so when you ask someone to buy from you, they feel like they owe you something.

Listen to the show to find out why it’s important to continue to deliver.

The importance of effort

You have to put in the effort and the time. A lot of people know what to do, but don’t follow through and actually implement. Gary believes there are a lot of thought leaders who put out blueprint without doing what they are teaching.

It’s part of the opportunity for these leaders to separate themselves from the pack.

Listen to the show to find out why Gary’s latest book is still gaining momentum in presales.

This Week’s Social Media Question

Doug, who is starting a social media strategy company helping small businesses in the Orlando, Florida area, asks, “What is the most effective way to manage usernames, passwords and logins for my clients?”

The good news for the most part is that there’s no need for your clients to give away their passwords to all of their social media accounts for you to manage. For example, with a Facebook page, LinkedIn account or a Google+ account, it will allow you to add administrators.

However, Twitter is slightly different. You’ll need a management app such asSocialOomph or HootSuite, where within the app you can delegate control. Twitter doesn’t make it easy for multiple people to manage accounts because they have a single email address tied to every account.

With Pinterest, I don’t think they have as robust of a management strategy.

If you’re in a position where you need to share (or a client needs to share with you) an ID and password for a social network, I strongly recommend that you make sure whoever is managing your account uses a secure password management tool such as1Password.

1Password is a great password storage system for managing multiple accounts for clients.

Whatever you do, don’t use your web browser to store IDs and passwords. If your laptop gets stolen, someone can pull up the web browser and essentially take over your accounts.

If you have given away your ID and password, then change them. If there are quite a few of you who share the same ID and password, then 1Password is a robust password storage system that works great across every platform.

Call in and leave your social media–related questions for us and we may include them in a future show.

Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how this works for you.

Other Show Mentions

Social Media Marketing World 2014 is our physical mega-conference, which is set to return to San Diego, California on March 26, 27 and 28.

The conference is an incredible opportunity for small business owners and marketers who work for corporations. It features more than 60 sessions across four major tracks, including social tactics, social strategy, community management and content marketing.

There are a lot of big brands that will be presenting, so if you work for a brand, you can go nonstop from brand panel to brand panel. There is also plenty of non-brand stuff for those of you who are not part of a big brand.

Representatives from IBM, Whole Foods, Century 21, SAP, Citrix, Aetna, Experian, Intercontinental Hotels and Kelly Services PLUS moderators from Cisco and Price Waterhouse Coopers will be speaking or participating in the conference.

The list of brands is growing on a regular basis, so be sure to check it out.

Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Gary Vaynerchuk on his website or Twitter.
• Check out Gary’s books: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World, Crush It! and The Thank You Economy.
• Learn more about Facebook Insights to help you dig for deeper data.
• Head over to Wine Library TV.
• Check out Gary on YouTube.
• Read the recent New York Times article featuring Gary and his team at VaynerMedia.
• Take a look at Nilla Wafers’ accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• Check out SocialOomph and HootSuite as management tools for Twitter.
• Try 1Password as a secure password management tool.
• Contact Emily at emily@socialmediaexaminer.com if you are interested in corporate sponsorships for Social Media Marketing World 2014.
• Learn more about Social Media Marketing World 2014.

Help Us Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe.

Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:

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What do you think? What are your thoughts on social storytelling? Please leave your comments below.