Tuesday, 23 March 2021

Social Spotlight: Drift wins by keeping things personal

We’ve written a lot of Social Spotlights over the past year. And while our writers typically rely on outside observations and research to inform our content, we thought it only fitting to make this spotlight a bit more…personal. After all, personal is what revenue acceleration platform, Drift, does best.

That’s why we were thrilled when Drift’s Social Media Manager, Pat Timmons, agreed to share some insider insights with us so we could deliver strategic advice straight from the source.

If your brand is looking to step up your social game, take notes (especially if you’re a B2B technology company). Few do it better than Drift.

1. Keep it helpful

Drift’s Revenue Acceleration Platform enables brands to deliver real-time engagement and personalized conversations to their audience across the entirety of a buyer’s journey. Their commitment to keeping customers at the center of their work is kept especially well on their social channels—which, Pat tells us, is quite intentional:

“We have eight Leadership Principles that keep us grounded–the first (and perhaps most important) being to put the customer at the center of everything we do–so that is also central to our goal and philosophy of our social channels. With every interaction we aim to be helpful and ensure our customers have the information and support they need.” 

And wow, do they deliver. After all the time I spent studying their social channels, one thing was crystal clear: Drift really, really wants me to succeed. Across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube, there’s no shortage of valuable content focused on helping me—the consumer—learn, grow and meet my goals. Here, Pat sheds some more light on Drift’s content pillars:

“The majority of our social calendar centers around our content from our blog, podcasts, Drift Insider, thought leadership from executives and other Drifters, and tips on how to use our products and solutions that we know will be relevant for our customers.”

Make it yours 

The next time you’re brainstorming for your content strategy, consider your most frequently asked customer questions, relevant industry topics and what’s top of mind for your audience. Aim to add value in everything you share and consistently create new ways to support your customers.

2. Keep it human

Something else I noticed right away looking at their social channels—particularly Instagram—were all the faces. And when there’s not a face, there’s likely a quote or some good ‘ol UGC in its place. As a B2B tech company, it’s so important to remind your audience that there are real humans behind your brand—not to mention pretty dang smart humans with a lot of valuable experience and expertise.

That’s why I love that Pat’s team often pulls fellow Drift employees into conversations with their community:

“When someone earns a certification from Drift, multiple team members will congratulate them. If a customer has a question, often the person who is directly involved with that piece of the business will respond. It shows our community and customers that we hear them and are there for them.”

Make it yours 

If you don’t already, consider implementing a “Meet the team” series in which you introduce your audience to the brilliant folks you get to work with every day. If you want to take it one step further like Drift, see if you can get those same teammates to interact more with your community—whether it’s answering questions or maybe even short account takeovers.

3. Keep it open

Not only does Drift use social to open up communication between company and community, it goes one step further by building a bridge to its executive team. Drift founder and CEO, David Cancel, is a familiar face on the brand’s social channels—which is a smart move considering more than half of consumers want CEOs to have a personal presence on social. And according to Pat, it pays off:

“Thought leadership from our executive and senior leadership teams always perform well. For example, our founder and CEO, David Cancel, has a newsletter called The OneThing — and insights from that are frequently shared on social media by our community.” 

Make it yours 

The newsletter idea is pretty genius—you could even lessen the scope while maintaining impact with an open letter, update or post from someone at the exec level. Or, you could try an hour of a (moderated) exec AMA. Another idea could be to take an existing pillar of content (product updates, article sharing, industry news, etc) and just have it consistently come from someone at the executive level vs. your social team.

4. Keep it shareable

Remember those podcasts Pat mentioned earlier? They’re a staple in Drift’s content strategy—and for good reason! They’re basically the intersection of everything that Drift does so well (both on social and off): conversation, growth tips, thought leadership, humanity, empathy, transparency and visibility.

These podcast episodes then become a gold mine for social content. So instead of just sharing a link to the episode, smart social teams like Pat’s will break that content into smaller, more digestible pieces like quotes or short clips to share across their networks.

“At Drift, we believe that content can (and should) be used across multiple channels and podcasts are a huge part of this strategy. Mark Kilens, our VP of Content and Community, often refers to our strategy as a solar system. The Sun is the original piece of content (e.g. a podcast, event, webinar, etc.) and the planets are social posts, blog posts, emails, and more.” 

Well let me just say, Pat: That strategy is…out of this world (forgive me).

Make it yours 

Consider how you might turn one piece of content into multiple pieces to share on social by highlighting its most impactful parts. Quotes are always a great option, as is sharing others’ positive reactions to that bigger piece of content—which is a great way to communicate value without having to say it yourself.

5. Keep it on camera

As part of that solar system strategy, Drift also video records its podcast tapings—transforming them into digestible clips for its audience. Which makes sense—not just because video performs so well on social, but also because it’s been a core piece of Drift’s strategy since day one. In fact, three of Drift’s first marketing hires were video producers. Pat even started out as a video intern. Not to mention their Drift Video solution.

And while video has always been somewhat of a challenge for growing marketing teams, the pandemic has only made things more difficult. Luckily, Pat shares, Drift had a solution for that too:

“It was a huge pivot when we went remote. We host a variety of events that are now virtual, so our team quickly created at home film kits for speakers, and for our most recent Drift Insider certification each instructor was sent a filming set up so they could film in the comfort of their own home.”

There’s that signature empathy again.

Make it yours 

Record as much as you can. Events, podcasts, AMAs, personalized responses to customer questions, product walkthroughs, etc. Share short clips on social to tease future events and conversations, and to provide ongoing value to your audience in the most engaging format.

This post Social Spotlight: Drift wins by keeping things personal originally appeared on Sprout Social.



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