Hootsuite CEO 改變企業社交媒體使用方式的五大趨勢

Duke University recently published a study on social media that left many managers scratching their heads. Social media spending at companies, the report showed, currently represents 9% of marketing budgets, and that’s forecast to rise to nearly 25% within five years. But half of marketers interviewed said they couldn’t show what impact social media had on their business – at all.

杜克大學最近發表的一份關於社交媒體的研究令許多企業管理者撓頭。該報告顯示，許多企業的社交媒體支出約佔企業營銷預算的9%，預計未來五年內，這個比例將激增到25%。但半數受訪的企業營銷人員表示，他們根本無法證實社交媒體對他們的企業究竟產生了哪些影響。

Critics were quick to call the surge in social media spending a case of throwing good money after bad. From my perspective, however, these conflicting stats tell an entirely different story: that social media is evolving at breakneck speed and companies are struggling mightily to keep up. Businesses are reaching larger audiences and seeing increasing benefits, but the shifting social media landscape makes getting consistent results – and measuring them – an enormous challenge.

很多批評人士認爲，企業一窩蜂地在社交媒體上燒錢不過是在填一個無底洞。不過我認爲，這些矛盾的數字卻說明了另一個問題：社交網絡正在以飛快的速度發展，同時企業也正不遺餘力地跟上。雖然企業正在通過社交網絡接觸更多受衆，也正在看到日益增加的好處，但持續變遷的社交媒體圖景使得獲得持續的成果，以及衡量這些成果，成爲一個巨大的挑戰。

In 2015, the pace of social media change is – if anything – poised to accelerate. But for businesses, there’s one important difference from the past. Hungry to monetize, the major networks are figuring out ways to make it simpler and more productive for companies to engage with customers. Meanwhile, tools are proliferating that make it easier to track the impact of social media spending and even measure return on individual Tweets and posts.

2015年，社交媒體變革的步伐註定會進一步加快，但對於企業來說，現在與以往存在一個重大差異：主流社交媒體爲了生錢，正在想方設法使企業能更輕鬆、同時更富有成效地與消費者進行互動。同時，隨着各種工具的不斷涌現，追蹤社交媒體支出的成效，甚至衡量每一條微博的收益，也會變得更加簡單。

In short, 2015 is the year that the impact of social media on business gets easier to show and possibly impossible to ignore. Here’s a look into the crystal ball at what the year ahead holds for businesses:

簡言之，2015年是企業利用社交媒體的成效更容易顯現，也更不容易被忽視的一年。現在就讓我們透過“水晶球”，看看明年的社交網絡會給企業帶來什麼。

Staying relevant on Facebook will cost companies more

在Facebook上搞營銷將花費企業更多的錢

Your company’s Facebook Page has thousands of Likes, so that means thousands of people see your updates each time you post, right? Nope. Historically, Facebook’s proprietary algorithm limited reach to just 16% of brands’ fans. But a report published by researchers at PR firm Ogilvy earlier this year showed that number has since declined to around 6% and may fall further. “Increasingly, Facebook is saying that you should assume a day will come when the organic reach is zero,” explained the paper’s author, Marshall Manson.

你們公司的Facebook主頁已經有了幾千個粉絲，所以這意味着每次你更新內容的時候，都會有幾千人看到，對不對？錯！在Facebook專用算法的限制下，每條營銷內容大概只會接觸到一個品牌16%的粉絲。不過奧美公關公司的研究人員今年年初發表的一份報告顯示，目前這個數字已經下降到6%左右，可能還會進一步下跌。該報告的作者馬修o曼森認爲：“Facebook等於是說，可能有一天，營銷內容的‘自然觸及人數’可能達到零。”

Why has this happened? First of all, there’s more potential content than ever flooding users’ news streams, which means that less and less of it actually gets shown. At the same time, Facebook is encouraging companies to use its paid social ads, which reach a significantly larger percentage of fans than organic posts. These so-called “native ads” look just like normal Facebook posts and show up directly in users’ news streams, not along the side of the page like traditional banner ads.

那爲什麼會發生這種情況？首先，用戶的消息流中，涌入的內容只會越來越多，也就意味着每條營銷內容被看到的概率也會越來越低。與此同時，Facebook還在鼓勵企業使用它的付費社交廣告，它所觸及到的用戶要比企業發佈的普通內容多得多。這些所謂的“原生廣告”就像普通的Facebook消息一樣，會直接顯示在用戶的消息流中，而不是像傳統的橫幅廣告一樣顯示在網頁邊緣。

What does this mean for businesses in 2015? Staying relevant on Facebook FB 1.90% will require doubling down on paid social ad spending. At the same time, we’ll also see companies diversify their social media efforts to include other social channels, including Twitter TWTR 1.25% , Instagram and even China-based messaging service WeChat. This “platform-neutral” approach is both a hedge against further changes at Facebook and a smart way to reach different demographics flocking to other networks.

這對2015年的企業意味着什麼？這意味着，要想在Facebook上做好“微營銷”，企業可能要在付費社交廣告上砸雙份的錢。與此同時，企業還會把雞蛋往其它的籃子裏放幾個，比如Twitter、Instagram甚至是中國的微信等等。這種廣撒網的方法雖然對Facebook的未來發展不利，但對於企業來說不失爲觸及不同人口羣體的好辦法。

Finally, more tools to see if Tweets actually produce sales

如果“微營銷”真能促進銷量，我們還會看到更多的工具

It’s easy enough to flash around vanity metrics showing your company has thousands of Twitter and Facebook followers or gets tens of thousands of Likes on Instagram. But how does that all translate to sales and revenue? Until now, that question has largely been evaded, with spending justified on the basis of vague terms like “exposure” and “mindshare.”

在Twitter或Facebook上有幾千個數絲，或者在Instagram上收集幾萬個“贊”來秀一下虛榮心，的確不是很難的事。但它們如何轉變成銷量和收入？一直到現在爲止，這個問題很大程度上都被規避掉了，企業在社交媒體上砸了那麼多錢，只是基於“曝光度”和“注意力份額”等空泛的術語。

That’s changing, fast. A new crop of tools are bringing the same rigor to the social media sales process as older-generation measurement tools brought to the online sales process. For starters, analytics software (like the uberVuTool that my company uses) can now pinpoint which social networks drive the most clicks and traffic, bearing in mind what type of content you’re sending (text, images or video) and who your intended audience is. Applications can auto schedule messages to be delivered at optimal time of day and report back not just on how many people viewed but on the relative clout and influence of those viewers.

但是這種情況也正在迅速改變。很多新工具正在涌現，它們給社交媒體營銷流程帶來的精確性，就猶如上一代衡量工具之於網絡銷售流程。首先，有一些分析工具已經能夠指出哪家社交媒體最能吸引流量和點擊率（比如我們公司使用的uberVuTool），並且會記住你正在發送哪類內容（文字、圖片還是視頻），以及你的目標羣體是誰。這些應用可以自動規劃消息的發送時間，使它們在一天中最佳的時間發送出去。同時它們不僅可以報告有多少人閱讀了你發送的內容，還可以反饋這些讀者的相對影響力。

Combine these tools with Google Analytics and social customer relationship management software like Nimble (for logging customer interactions over social media) and it’s possible to directly track how all of these efforts translate to visits to company websites and, in turn, leads for salespeople and even purchases via ecommerce channels. Finally, we’re reaching a point where specific Tweets and posts can be linked directly to sales and assigned a real monetary value, not just an aspirational one.

將這些工具與GoogleAnalytics和Nimble等社交客戶關係管理軟件（它可以記錄客戶在社交媒體的互動情況）結合在一起，企業就有可能追蹤到，所有這些“微營銷”的內容如何轉變爲企業網站的訪問量，甚至可以追蹤到有多少人聯繫銷售人員，或者直接通過網購渠道購買。最後，我們就可以明白一條特定的微博可以產生多少實際的銷量，帶來多少真金白銀，而不是想當然地猜測。

Social networks will dive deeper into ecommerce

社交網絡將與商業聯繫得更緊密

In November, Snapchat announced the launch of Snapcash, becoming among the first major social networks in North America to allow users to transfer money to one another in messages. The service uses debit card information and appears to be, at least for the moment, free of charge. Once information is stored, it doesn’t have to be entered again – funds are transferred from one bank account to another with a few taps and swipes.

今年11月，Snapchat公司推出了一款叫做Snapcash的產品，由此成爲北美第一家允許用戶通過消息向其他用戶轉賬的主流社交網絡。該服務使用的是借記卡信息，而且至少目前爲止還是免費的。一旦它存儲了你的信息，你就無需再次輸入，只需要在手機上點點劃劃，就可以把錢輕鬆地從一個賬戶轉到另一個賬戶。

Expect other social networks to soon follow suit, as part of a larger race into mobile payments. In fact, hacks released in October show a hidden payment feature already buried deep inside Facebook’s popular Messenger app. If activated by the company, it could allow the app’s 500 million users to send money to each other.

隨着移動支付大戰的升級，其他社交網絡可能很快也會如法炮製。事實上，今年10月的黑客事件顯示，Facebook已經悄悄地在其備受歡迎的Messenger應用程序上嵌入了一個隱藏的支付功能。如果該公司將其激活，該應用的5億用戶就能互相轉賬了。

Peer-to-peer payments, however, are likely just the start. It’s not much of an intuitive leap to see how this functionality could be opened up for payments to merchants, as well. This, in turn, paves the way for social networks to dive into the world of ecommerce. Retailers would be able to send out offers for specific products in the form of Tweets or Facebook posts, for example, then consumers could buy with a tap or two. In fact, we’re already seeing exactly this convergence of social media and ecommerce in the “buy” buttons currently being beta-tested on Facebook and Twitter streams.

不過，這種點對點支付還只是一個開始。預測這種功能即將向商家付款開放，並不需要很大的直覺跳躍。這反過來將爲社交媒體潛入電子商務世界鋪平道路。打個比方，零售商可以以推文或微博的方式發送特定產品的信息，而消費者只需在手機上點一兩下就完成了整個網購流程。實際上這種社交媒體與電商的“合體”已經發生了——目前Facebook和Twitter已經開始對“購買”鍵進行beta測試。

And there’s one other twist to this story. For merchants, receivinglow-cost or no-cost payments via social media is much more attractive than getting paid with credit cards, which generally skim a 2-4% interchange fee off the top of every transaction. As social networks become associated more and more with financial transactions, we may well see Facebook and other platforms branch out to offer a cheaper, easier-to-use alternative to the traditional credit card system in the years ahead.

另外，對於商家來說，通過社交媒體接受低成本甚至零成本的轉賬，比接受信用卡支付更有誘惑力，因爲信用卡支付每筆都要收取2%至4%的手續費。隨着社交網絡開始參與越來越多的金融交易，用不了幾年，Facebook和其他社交平臺有可能會推出比傳統的信用卡體系更廉價易用的交易系統。

Customer service: Social media and phones work in tandem

客戶服務：社交媒體與手機齊上陣

Airlines, Internet, cable providers and many other industries have reported significant benefits from handling customer service on social media. Consumer satisfaction goes up because the experience is more personalized and responses are often much faster than communications via traditional channels like 1-800 numbers or email. Because conversations are generally public, clients with legitimate gripes have a better shot at equitable treatment and companies that handle problems well get instant recognition on social media.

航空、互聯網、有線電視以及許多其他行業都表示，把客戶服務搬上社交媒體後，給他們帶來了顯著的效益。消費者的滿意度之所以會增加，是由於社交媒體的客服體驗更加人性化，同時也比“800服務電話”或通過電子郵件聯繫更加方便快捷。由於對話基本上都是公開的，因此有合理的理由發牢騷的顧客往往會獲得更好的待遇，同時企業如果處理得當，也會很快在社交網絡上得到認可。

But those same benefits can be liabilities. Lots of customer information is too sensitive to discuss openly on social media. Complex problems can be hard to resolve in a series of 140-character Tweets. And, of course, not every company is eager to have its dirty laundry aired to the world. New offerings, however, are bringing together the best elements of social customer service and phone service, while reducing potential blowback.

但這些好處也可能成爲負擔。很多客戶信息非常敏感，不能在社交媒體上公開討論。另外有些問題比較複雜，很難在140個單詞的微博裏完全解決。當然，也不是每家公司都想把不體面的事情公諸於世。不過，一些新的產品正在整合電話服務和社交媒體服務的長處，同時還能減少潛在的負面影響。

One new option you can expect to see in the year ahead is the riseof personalized Tweet-to-call links. Say a customer reaches out via Twitter with a tricky problem. This technology enables a company to Tweet back with a custom link that works only for that particular customer. Clicking on the link leads to a special phone number that connects directly with a service rep, who can handle the issue. Once the conversation has ended, the phone number is deactivated.

明年有可能出現的一個新功能，就是所謂的“推文回電”鏈接。比如一個顧客通過Twitter反映了一個棘手的問題，一家公司就可以發送一條單獨的鏈接。點開該鏈接，用戶會得到一個單獨的電話號碼，可以直接聯繫到能夠解決問題的某一位服務代表。一旦通話結束，該號碼就會失效。

In this way, customers get the quick response times of social media coupled with the privacy and versatility of traditional phone service. And companies can offer discrete, on-demand phone service for those special problems that can’t be handled effectively via low-cost social channels.

通過這種辦法，用戶既能享受社交媒體帶來的快捷的響應時間，又能享受到傳統電話服務的隱私與全面性。另外企業可以繼續提供獨立的電話服務，以解決那些通過低成本的社交渠道無法有效解決的特定問題。

The biggest social media innovations will come through the back door

最大的社交媒體創新或從“後門”而來

The cloud has changed the way software and technology – includingsocial media – enters companies. In the past, IT directors called the shots. Now, however, employees in all departments are actively seeking out the apps and services that let them do their jobs best. Freemium pricing, which allows access to basic versions of software at no cost, makes it easy to test-drive new products. And these cloud-based tools tend to be intuitive and easy to use, just like Facebook and other consumer-oriented apps (a trend known as the “consumerization of IT”).

雲計算改變了軟件和技術（包括社交媒體）進入企業的方式。過去一切都是IT總監說了算，但是現在，所有部門的員工都在積極尋找能讓他們的工作做得更好的應用和服務。很多應用使用的免費增值模式使用戶可以免費使用一些應用或服務的基本版，也使用戶能更容易地試用新產品。這些雲工具一般更加直觀也更易用，就像Facebook和其他消費型應用一樣（這種趨勢又被叫做IT的“消費化”）。

All of this means that, while it’s near impossible to predict exactly which apps will take off in the year ahead, the next great social media innovation may already be percolating through the ranks of your company. Just as it was frontline employees who spurred the adoption of now ubiquitous time- and money-saving social tools like Yammer (for internal social networking), Dropbox (for file sharing) and Google Hangouts (for conference calling), so will the next, best social media tools rise from the bottom up within companies.

所有這些趨勢意味着，雖然很難預測明年哪些應用會真正大紅大紫，但是下一波重大的社交媒體創新，可能已經在你的公司裏悄然醞釀。正如現在已經非常普及的效率社交應用Yammer（用於內部社交）、Dropbox（用於文件分享）和谷歌的Hangouts（用於電話會議）等應用首先在一線員工中流行起來一樣，下一波更好的社交媒體工具也會從企業的底層先火起來。

Want a peek into the social media future at your business? Ask to borrow the laptop or phone of the newbie straight out of college (or, better yet, the 19-year-old intern) and see which apps she’s using.

想看看你的公司以後會用哪種社交媒體嗎？不妨找一個剛進公司的新人（有19歲左右的實習生更好），把她的筆記本電腦或手機借來，看看她正在使用哪些應用。（財富中文網）