25 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- When Does a Social Media Issue Campaign Go Too Far?
- Ask An SEO Expert – PDFs & Duplicate Content
- Promoted Posts For Facebook Personal Profiles. Do We Care?
- KitchenAid: An Excellent Example in Social Media Crisis Communications
- 5 SEO Mistakes You Should Avoid
- Social Abbreviations: 14 Abbreviations You Should Know
- The ROI of Paid Social Media Ads
- 7 Feasons I Might Not Share Perfectly Good Content
- KitchenAid – Bad Tweets Happen to Good Brands Who Don’t Manage Social Media Risk Properly
- Live Tweeting and Instagramming a Medical Procedure
- Should Klout Partner with Internal Social Network Tools ?
- Social Media Marketing Hits Cricket for Six
- Is Daily Blogging Sustainable or Even Necessary?
- Facebook Launches Its First Brand Advertising Campaign
- Social Media: A Positive Tool, Not a Negative Platform
- Social Bookmarking In This Day And Age
- How to Avoid & Tackle Social Media Proliferation (Review of an Altimeter Report)
- Pro Blogging for Businesses and How to Overcome Everyday Challenges
- Simple Social Media
- When It Is Too Good to be True
- Email Marketing is Alive and Well (Infographic)
- Create your “Social Active” Email Marketing Segment. Like, Now!
- How Do They Pronounce LinkedIn In Peru? [Video + Slides]
- 11 Free Twitter Headers: Download Yours Today
- Facebook Launches Gifts, But Do and Will People Buy Things on Facebook?
| When Does a Social Media Issue Campaign Go Too Far? Posted: 04 Oct 2012 03:00 PM PDT
It all started when Nestle made a minor change all around the world to one of its leading baby formula products. Unlike anywhere else, some Australian mothers started a social media campaign claiming the new formula was making their babies sick and calling for it to be withdrawn. Nestle tested the product and tested again. Then the independent regulator, the New South Wales Food authority stepped in and announced that the product was safe and not likely to cause the illnesses claimed. It might have been just another of those "angry mum" stories until Sydney Journalist Melisssa Davey boldly chose to challenge the mothers themselves and unleashed a flood of hate. In the Sydney Morning Herald she interviewed a leading paediatrician, allergist and neonatologist who not only defended the product, but said the mothers' campaign was unfounded and alarming and that it risked worrying parents unnecessarily. As she later reported in a comment piece , the social media campaign then went from expressing honestly held views to virtual online bullying. One mother even posted the private contact details of the doctor, who was attacked through vicious phone calls before the Facebook campaign founder removed his phone number. The reporter wrote: "This kind of witch-hunt behaviour is nothing short of disgusting. What gives any group the right to attack a senior doctor in this highly personal way? This is a senior specialist who has helped thousands of babies, contributed significantly to research in the areas of infant health and who dedicates his life to ensuring children are healthy. Is this the response from a rationale, balanced group? It's one thing to disagree with a doctor. It's another thing altogether to vilify one." Predictably the group's Facebook page went into hyperdrive. "She's an idiot, an absolute idiot" "Mothers know their babies best and know when something is different and wrong. Attacking mothers and calling us militants is disgraceful." "Does the writer of the article even have a baby" and much more in the same vein. As Melissa Davey concluded: "The militant mother mentality has to stop" It is a noble thought, but experience suggests she is wasting her breath. What about you? What are your thoughts? photo by: devinf |
| Ask An SEO Expert – PDFs & Duplicate Content Posted: 04 Oct 2012 01:30 PM PDT Everyone in the inbound marketing industry understands that Google does not like duplicate content and it seems like a simple situation to avoid. Just do not copy someone else's content onto your website or Google will find it and you will be penalized. But there are certain situations where it's not so black and white. Take for example this week's question on Ask an SEO Expert. This user would like to know how an ecommerce site could include a PDF of product information from the manufacturer, which could be the same PDF for several different products across several different sites, and not get dinged for duplicate content. This type of content happens to actually be very useful for the customer, so how can an ecommerce site communicate that to Google and avoid being penalized? In this week's Ask An SEO Expert feature, Jesse Laffen offers several tips on how you can provide relevant and useful information for the customer and avoid hurting your search engine optimization efforts.
This question is a really good one, actually. I like this one a lot. Can adding a PDF instructional manual – that the manufacturer provides – adding that PDF to a product page, even possibly across multiple products of the same brand, have a significant effect on your SEO for that page or pages? For example, many websites that sell the same product have the same PDF's from the manufacturer. Does it count as duplicate content even though it helps customers? So, there's two great considerations here. The first one is it helps customers, right? A lot of this information is really, really good. The second one is it could be kind of be seen as duplicate content, right? Here's the exact scenario that we're talking about here. You're a reseller, and this is the manufacturer and that's their warehouse as you can see. Great artistic warehouse. They have a PDF and they want to hand it out to all the people who are reselling their products. So, I take this PDF right here, and I walk over to my website, and I slot it in right here under one of these pages. Now, all of a sudden Google walks by and it says, "Oh, okay. I see that you can I actually mitigate or how can I show this really useful information? There are actually a couple ways. The first one is that you can replicate it in HTML on another part of your website. So, benefits there are it's crawlable, right? You can use a canonical tag to kind of point it to another page on your site or to the actual manufacturer's, assuming they are not really selling the product. They're just providing it to you to sell. That can create additional problems, though, because obviously we're trying to avoid duplicate content. Now, I've taken this PDF here and I've said, "Oh, not only is it right here on my site, but that text also lives over here." So that's not entirely the most useful way to do that. The other way that you can do this is you can go into your robots.txt file and you can actually disallow the crawling of that PDF. Again the problem with that though is that you want the search engine to understand that this is a valuable resource, right? "Whenever you see this product anywhere else on the web, you're seeing this PDF, but we're blocking it from you." That doesn't really make any sense. So, I did a little digging, and I think the solution that we would prefer is to actually use a canonical tag on the PDF file itself. "Wait a minute," you might be saying. "I thought canonical tags were an HTML element. This is a PDF file, how do I do that?" Turns out, Google does support using a link in the HTTP header of the request on the PDF. So if you have control over your own servers, and if you can kind of write some of those rules and can control those HTTP requests coming in to your own server, then you can actually write something that says, "Hey, this PDF file," or even this word document, this excel spreadsheet, almost any file type, images even. "This is the original source for that. In the case where this PDF is coming from the manufacturer, I'd actually recommend saying, "Yeah, the canonical source of this content is over here and it belongs with this manufacturer." Or if it's something that you produce, maybe you can point it back to another page on your site, too, if that's a problem. But I think that the HTTP link header canonicalizing this file right here, is the right thing to do, just to show a search engine that, "This is useful to our end user. That's why it's here. But we're really not really interested in trying to go out and kind of steal somebody else's copy and put it on our own page." have that PDF here. I also see it from the manufacturer site here. Then I see it on all of these multiple other competitors who are selling the same product over here. I don't like duplicate content because I'm Google and that's just my stance on duplicate content. |
| Promoted Posts For Facebook Personal Profiles. Do We Care? Posted: 04 Oct 2012 01:25 PM PDT 2010 - Facebook was completely free to users. 2012 - Facebook is still free but you have to pay to get posts to reach all your friends. 2014 - Facebook is still free. All they ask for is your home, your bank account details and your first born as offering to mighty Lord Zuck. Welcome to the expected news of the decade! Facebook has started with an option to promote your personal posts to friends, for a fee.
The reigning king of Social Media recently announced that users will be able to promote their posts and make it reachable to more friends, for a fee. Already their 'so-called-algorithm' makes sure that not all posts are seen by all my friends. I remember the time when Facebook was a platform to engage with your friends and have fun. Now each time I log onto my profile, the feed is full of either promoted posts of brand pages or random stuff. Wasn't this the same website that had said its "algorithm" would show us news relevant to us? Ya right! Earlier this year, Facebook had rolled out the option for Businesses to promote their posts and make it reachable to more people. That made a bit of sense even. But the aftermath was that many brands saw a decrease in engagement unless the posts were promoted. It was like Facebook declaring – "Pay us, else we won't show your content to anyone! Buhahaha" The same stuff is happening here. Facebook is trying every possible method to make money. Yes, I agree it is also a business. But its turning out to be a pure business and slowly losing out on its charm it was known for – A Social Networking Website. At present it behaves more like a Social Commerce website than a Social Networking one. And whats being sold? Guess. On certain points, this move could be defended. Consider this – you are entering a contest and you want all your friends to know about it. Obviously in the normal way, you can't reach all your friends over Facebook. In such a context this promoted posts for personal accounts might turn useful. But again, why not simply mail my friends instead of spending money? Well, in India, I doubt how many people check their mail as frequently as they check Facebook. Still, it's an option. Already Facebook is making its wallet heavy with the revenue from Business Pages and its Ads. Now they are on to utilize the prospects of its 1 Billion odd members. For Facebook, it's just 1 Billion small businesses. The time is long gone they considered us as humans and not just some demographic – 22, Male, Kochi. They are just behaving like a spoilt brat now. Paying to talk to my friends they tell me. Sure, of course! Next they would ask for my house since I wrote on their "walls" and sue me for "poking" people! Mashable even conducted a poll on this. The results, as expected.
In their blog, Facebook has also informed that this feature will be available to people with fewer than 5000 friends and subscribers. Just another guideline similar to Pages having the feature to promote posts only after reaching 400 likes. The reason for all this, only they know. Must be some kind of Top-Secret-formula-cooked-in-the-kitchens-of-Lord-Zuck that wouldn't be digestible to us "demographics". Seems its high time someone at Facebook checked their main page-
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| KitchenAid: An Excellent Example in Social Media Crisis Communications Posted: 04 Oct 2012 01:05 PM PDT
We were all there for the little KitchenAid mishap on October 3rd, when a rogue tweet got sent out by a representative of the company who meant to send it from their personal account. The tweet said:
Well, you can imagine the Twitter storm that broke out about this disrespectful and unacceptable tweet about President Obama's dead grandmother! But I'm not here to talk about the issue. Instead, I'm here to talk about Cynthia Soledad, the leader of the KitchenAid brand, and what a superb and compassionate job she did at handling the unpleasant and viral situation. What is it that I often talk about in terms of social media crisis communications? Let's see (to name a few)…
And what did Soledad do? She aced it all! Let's take a look: This is the official statement Soledad issued to Mashable: "During the debate tonight, a member of our Twitter team mistakenly posted an offensive tweet from the KitchenAid handle instead of a personal handle. The tasteless joke in no way represents our values at KitchenAid, and that person won't be tweeting for us anymore. That said, I lead the KitchenAid brand, and I take responsibility for the whole team. I am deeply sorry to President Obama, his family, and the Twitter community for this careless error. Thanks for hearing me out." Here's what she put out on Twitter: And Mashable wasn't the only one she @mentioned to give a statement to. What a phenomenal job at regaining control of, minimizing and resolving the situation. She nailed each one of my bullet points above and gives us all an excellent example to learn from! Way to go KitchenAid! |
| 5 SEO Mistakes You Should Avoid Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:55 PM PDT Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been the rave in the internet world. Every NY SEO company, or any SEO company for that matter, is looking for ways to beat the search For someone with not much experience, Search Engine Optimization refers to the use of certain methods to "optimize" a particular webpage/website for a certain search term. Being optimized for a particular term (or keyword) means being placed at the top of the search engine results once that particular term is searched on the search engine. Kind of confusing, isn't it? As there are certain methods to follow in order to perfect your Search Engine Optimization efforts, there are also certain mistakes you should avoid. The following part of this article will give you tips on these mistakes you should surely avoid. 1. Avoid buying links. 2. Avoid depending too much on keyword metatags. 3. Avoid placing keywords on invisible text. 4. Do not place too much importance on page rank. 5. Creating a Flash-based website There you go! These tips will help you and your SEO company in your optimization efforts. Remember these in mind in order to enhance your SEO strategy. |
| Social Abbreviations: 14 Abbreviations You Should Know Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:39 PM PDT
Okay, so you tweet, you use Facebook, and you're using Pinterest. You know what a RT, FF, and Like are.. Or do you? Let's face it. Just like chat rooms of the day, text messaging and social media have their own sort of language, and not all of it is self-explanatory. I'm big into grammar and "Shirley English", but sometimes, I can't even figure out some of the new abbreviations and shortened versions of words. I even try to use my context clues* to find out, but that doesn't always work. In a recent tweetup, the other women I was with were using an abbreviation I had never seen, but they were saying it outloud, to make things even more confusing. Everytime something funny would come up, someone would say "O-H!", as in the letters "O" and "H". I may be a social media manager, but I had never seen or heard of this before and had to ask; "What in the world is O-H?". Luckily, I was not the only one that didn't know! ;) So, that got me thinking about what other abbreviations there are in the social media-sphere and how I might be able to help newbies with a short list. FF – I've written on FollowFriday before, but that's what this stands for. Follow Friday. It is a hashtag used on Twitter to tweet about accounts people want their followers to check out. MT – This apparently stands for "Modified Tweet", but many people, including myself use it to mean "Mention" on twitter. RT – ReTweet. When someone recycles your tweets on twitter, or repeats it, it's called a Retweet. OH – The infamous abbreviation I just spoke about. This stands for "Overheard". (haha!) DM – Direct Message. This can be on Facebook or Twitter, referring to messages that you can send to another person/account that can only be seen by you and the person you are conversing with. PM – Private Message. This can be on Facebook or Twitter, referring to messages that you can send to another person/account that can only be seen by you and the person you are conversing with. ICYMI – In Case You Missed It. And for a few easier ones; LOL – Laugh Out Loud. BTW – By The Way. FYI – For Your Information. DIY – Do It Yourself. And for platform specifics; Like – When you press the "like" button or "thumbs up" icon on Facebook, signaling that you enjoy the post or what was said. Plus 1 – Similar to a "like", however this is used on Google+, and it signals that you enjoy the post or what was said or shared. Pin or Repin – On Pinterest, you "pin" photos that you enjoy and want to share. Repinning signals that you are "repinning" something someone else shared, signaling you enjoyed it. And that is a good list of abbreviations or words that you may or may not know to help you when you are engaging on social media! Of course, if you need help with this or any other social media questions, you can tweet to me @R3SocialMedia or Facebook me! |
| The ROI of Paid Social Media Ads Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:35 PM PDT One question we hear all the time from customers is how to measure the ROI of social media. While I won't talk here about the ROI of all social media, I do want to drill into the return on paid social media advertising. This includes traditional display ads on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as less traditional options such as Facebook Promoted Posts and Twitter Promoted Tweets. For the last year or so, Marketo has been testing all these channels to determine what works and what doesn't. Here's what we've learned! Paid Advertising Opportunities on the Major Social Media ChannelsHere's a quick run-down of the various types of paid social advertisements that we've tested. Twitter Promoted TweetsPromoted Tweets can be targeted to search results (such as specific hashtag) or to specific users (your followers, or users like your followers). These tweets show up in the user's search results or timeline, are identified as a Promoted Tweet, and typically include a link to a landing page with a registration form. They are priced using a bid/auction system on a cost-per-engagement model, so we pay only when someone clicks, retweets, replies to, or favorites our tweet. Here's a recent example:
We've also found it works well to target the hashtag for specific conferences and events (such as #DF12 for Dreamforce 2012). Facebook Promoted PostsIt turns out that when you publish content on your company's Facebook page, only a small percentage of your fans will see that content in their news feeds. Promoted Posts are a way to increase the "weight" of your posts so more of the people who like your page will see the post; it will also be seen by a larger percentage of the friends of people who interact with your post. Because it shows up in the timeline (as opposed to an ad on the side of the page), a Promoted Post can have higher visibility and engagement than a regular Facebook ad. (This service has been around for a while for company pages, and Facebook controversially recently released it in the US for personal pages as well.) At Marketo, we create fun, visual posts using popular memes that engage our audience AND link to a landing page with a registration form — and then we promote the post to make sure more people see it. This gives us the dual benefit of nurturing the relationship with our fans and generating leads for us. Here's an example of a recent Promoted Post, and check out more examples in our blog article Don't Stop A-Meme-In' — Using Memes for Lead Generation and Buzz Building.
Facebook AdvertisementsFacebook Ads are the ads that show up on the side of a news feed. You can choose from a large list of targeting and interest category options (location, age, interests, friends of connections, etc.). Facebook also recently announced Custom Audiences, which let you target ads to specific users using email address, Facebook UIDs, or phone number. At Marketo, we've just begun to test these. They come in two main forms: regular advertisements and Sponsored Stories. With a Sponsored Story, the advertiser highlights the fact that someone's friend Liked a post or page, which may increase relevance versus a regular ad. You can pay for advertisements on a cost-per-click basis (CPC) or an impressions basis (CPM). Here's an example of a Sponsored Story versus a regular Facebook Ad, promoting the same content as the above Promoted Post.
We also ran a campaign called "Facebook Decals", which promoted a custom Facebook application that we created to give away cool Revenue Rockstar decals in exchange for a Like. (This was before Timeline, when Like-gates made sense.) Check out the Marketo Revenue Rockstar decal campaign. LinkedIn AdvertisementsLinkedIn offers a variety of advertising options, including a self-service option for small display ads, as well as more complex offerings including rich-media display ads, targeted InMail, polls, and more. LinkedIn offers an amazing ability to target specific B2B buyers, including targeting by Job Title and Job Function, Seniority (e.g. "Vice President" or "Owners"), Industry, Geography, and Company Size — as well as the ability to target specific companies and perhaps most powerfully, membership in specific LinkedIn Groups. (Learn more about LinkedIn adverting options at http://marketing.linkedin.com/.) SlideShareUsing a SlideShare PRO account, Marketo can create a custom-branded look for our pages and can capture leads whenever someone views one of our presentations or wants to download the slides. While this is not a paid social media ad in the same sense as the above examples, it is an increasingly important way to measure and monetize Marketo's visual content. Note: For more information on these and other ways to use social for lead generation, download our new eBook How to Optimize Your Social Channels for Lead Generation. What We MeasureWe look at two main metrics when measuring return-on-investment for various marketing programs. They are:
Note that the calculation of pipeline can be subtle depending on how you allocate pipeline to the various marketing programs that influence an opportunity. At Marketo, we look at two allocation methods. First-Touch Pipeline (FT Pipeline) allocates the entire opportunity to the Program that sourced the primary contact for a deal. While that can be useful, we pay more attention to Multi-Touch Pipeline (MT Pipeline). This approach allocates the pipeline and revenue across all the marketing programs that successfully influenced any person attached to an opportunity. For example, let's say a deal worth $100,000 recently closed, and there were three contacts involved in the deal.
In this case, we would allocate $50,000 to Tradeshow B and $25,000 each to Seminar A and Direct Mail C, as follows:
ROI of Paid Social Advertising for Lead Generation and Pipeline CreationWe've found that, when used as described here, paid social ads can be an effective channel for building your database with in-profile targets and certain types of tactics can drive pipeline cost effectively. First, here are Marketo's results from using social for lead generation over the last few months. Note that Marketo's average investment per target prospect across all paid demand generation channels is around $60.
Perhaps more importantly than new lead generation is pipeline generation. Here are our results; as a rule of thumb, we like to see a ratio of multi-touch pipeline to investment greater than 10X.
Conclusions:
A Tale of Two Tactics: Evolving Ways to Use SocialI'm struck by the wide variance of ROI across these tactics. What makes Facebook Memes and SlideShare successful while LinkedIn and Facebook Ads fail? I think the difference is that the former consist of engaging, social content while the latter are traditional display ads — and banner ads are less and less and less effective each day. Moreover, this "interruption-marketing" advertising has even less of a role on social sites than elsewhere. I'll let others opine on what this means for Facebook's stock price, but in retrospect, this is not surprising. Social networks are about people talking to people and sharing great content and ideas, not about companies promoting their products to people. Many of the best ways to use social networks don't involve program budget; they involve brains and sweat and having your fans and friends amplify your message for you. At Marketo, we're focused a majority of our social marketing efforts on this concept of "peer to peer amplification". To learn more about this, register to download the slides from our recent webinar all about The Definitive Guide to Social Media — and get signed up to attend next week's webinar about measuring the value of social marketing.
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| 7 Feasons I Might Not Share Perfectly Good Content Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:25 PM PDT I look at tons of content each week and I spend a lot of time separating the wheat from the chaff. So, when I find a perfectly good piece of content to share, you'd think I'd be all over it. Unfortunately, there can be very good reasons not to share a good piece of content. Most of those reasons, in my experience come down to format and style and plain old personal preference. Prick up your ears online publishers. Here are a few of the reasons I often won't share a good piece of your content:
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| KitchenAid – Bad Tweets Happen to Good Brands Who Don’t Manage Social Media Risk Properly Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:20 PM PDT
Woke up this morning to an inbox filled with questions about the KitchenAid tweet gone bad. It's funny how many minimize the power of Twitter. How many times have we heard "it's just a tweet." Or "what can really be said in 140 characters?" Well, ask KitchenAid this morning what impact 140 characters can have on your day and your brand. KitchenAid isn't the first to deal with such an issue. My question is when will brands wake up and realize they need to take the 140 character communication medium serious? A simple audit can help identify these issues. What happened with KitchenAid?1. An inappropriate tweet was sent from the @KitchenAidUSA twitter account during the Presidential Debate.The tweet was obviously meant to be sent from a personal account.
2. A tweet was quickly sent from the same @KitchenAidUSA account taking full responsibility for the tweet and apologizing.
3. A follow-up tweet was sent directly to President Obama apologizing.
4. Cynthia Soledad, head of the KitchenAid brand immediately took responsibility and positioned herself as primary contact for all media. She was quick in responding and being proactive in making herself available to represent the brand, the issue and PR crisis one 140 character tweet has caused.
What KitchenAid Did Right
Bad Things Happen to Good BrandsThere are many lessons to be learned from this and many other incidents that have gone bad with global brands. How many of these case studies do we need before brands big and small take social media, Twitter and their communication on such platforms seriously? It is time brand and business leaders take social media serious. It is not a game. Social media is real. What is said via a 140 character Tweet goes straight to blog posts, Facebook, TV, radio, newspaper and viral word of mouth. One late night tweet from a team member can have devasting impact to a brand. How could this have been prevented?
My guess is one quick look at their social media team setup we could have identified the risk. A few of our first questions would have uncovered the following:
We have reached out to KitchenAid and invited them to join us on #GetRealChat Twitter chat to talk about this situation. We hope they will be open in sharing their experience for brands large and small. We are all learning in this space and are much better working together than we are bashing one another. I think we can all learn from mistakes such as this. No More Excuses!
If you do not have a social media policy in place, have not looked at your processes and procedures, don't know who has access to your Twitter, Facebook and other accounts, you better find out and fast! Do your own audit. Hire someone to help you do an audit. Uncover the risk. You can't mitigate risk that you don't acknowledge or know exists, period. Brands, step up, take social media serious and proactively manage your future. Nobody else is going to do it for you. Need help? Call us at 813.643.3202. If not us, call somebody who can help! What you say?What are your thoughts? Do you see risks at the company you work for or have worked for? Take Action & Get a Grip on Social Media:This is part of the series titled "How to Get a Grip on Social Media." The series will include a free newsletter, webinars, whitepapers, tips and best practices to get a handle on your business and social media. Subscribe to stay updated and be the first to be invited to upcoming events including free webinars.
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| Live Tweeting and Instagramming a Medical Procedure Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:15 PM PDT
In this Web 2.0 world the use of social media in the healthcare community is changing with each passing day. Physicians, RN's, and patients are using social media to connect and communicating through different social platforms that are making some of the most web savvy individuals blush in amazement. How would you feel if for the last 20 years you had been losing your hearing and the last five of those years you were completely deaf. You could regain your sense of hearing with a cochlear implant, but the surgical procedure was going to be live-tweeted and Instagrammed for all to see? If this idea seems completely farfetched, think again. On October 2nd, 2012 the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, WA had Eleanor Day scheduled for a cochlear implant to be put in. The thing that makes Mrs. Day's procedure unique was the fact that the entire medical procedure was going to be documented via Twitter and Instagram for the world to see and follow. Now, the documentation of the procedure wasn't being done just for kicks and fancy ironic images. Information about cochlear implants is far and few between. So for educational purposes and to raise awareness of the procedure the Swedish Medical staff and Day family had agreed to document it via the social media outlets Twitter and Instagram. Just like most things on the social media platform Twitter, the procedure had its own hashtag (#SwedishHear) for the world to follow along with. Live tweeting the cochlear implant procedure was Digital Media & eHealth Strategist Dana Lewis who is also the founder of the healthcare social media (#hcsm) weekly hashtag chat. According to Lewis, this wasn't the first time Swedish Medical had live tweeted a procedure, but it was the first time a procedure had been Instagrammed. Looking through SwedishHear hashtag the support and wonderment from viewers around the world was amazing. RN's, news publications, and interested Twitter followers each chimed in and offered their gratitude to the Swedish Medical staff and the Day family for their participation in the awareness raising procedure. If you're interested in Instagrammed pictures from the procedure or tweets from around the world, you can search for the hashtag or go directly to the blog post Dana Lewis wrote about the entire event. What are your thoughts on live tweeting and Instagramming a medical procedure? Is an event like this in bad taste or is there something to be learned from live documenting this procedure? Is awareness for cochlear implants actually being raised or is this just a spectacle and circus like event for a normal medical procedure? |
| Should Klout Partner with Internal Social Network Tools ? Posted: 04 Oct 2012 11:30 AM PDT
Klout is making a big play for your external social influence and with a recent strategic move with Bing and continually trying to push recruiting to use a person's Klout score within the hiring process the next big play it needs to make is internally. And here's why. TIBCO's tibbr made a big splash with v4 last week at #TUCON and strengthened its positioning among perennial favourites like Yammer as the social tool of choice for the organisational network. But while all these tools offer the SysAdmin analytical capabilities to monitor how the network is being used what they don't offer is a peek at just who the influencial users are. Collecting badges and gamified reward schemes for engagement is one thing, but to determine just who in the network is frequently seen as the go-to-person for information on a topic and just how widespread their sphere of influence is is currently an unknown and potential goldmine for HR and organisational design consultants. It also reinforces my beliefs that internal networks will self-organise naturally rather than stick to traditional hierarchical boundaries. I wrote a couple of years back how using networked communities and social enterprise software can help monitor and track individuals worth keep hold of that old silo'd and hierarchical org structures would keep hidden from view (especially if they're perceived as a threat by peers) There's another advantage in understanding the social enterprise network dynamic. What is the impact of a key networked resource leaving the organisation. Right now it's build on their place in a traditional hierarchy and how many people sit below and above them in the chain. Under a community operating model that span of influence could be exponential yet completely hidden. Would you really let this person go if you understood how much the larger community relied on them ? I seriously doubt you would. Like I wrote in Rebels vs SMEs, subject matter experts know the business by the book but it's the rebels who push the boundaries of the art of the possible and using something like Klout can expose them as the real champions of your business. There's incredible resistance to using Klout, Peer Index, Kred and so forth to screen candidates for job positions but there's a much bigger play at stake. If Klout is listening it needs to focus within the enterprise to win in the long term. |
| Social Media Marketing Hits Cricket for Six Posted: 04 Oct 2012 10:00 AM PDT If you think that cricket is boring and perhaps one of the least likely candidates for social media marketing success then you may have to think again. If I were to tell you that a large multinational organisation that has been associated with Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Madonna was going to undertake a joint social media campaign with cricket's ICC, would you start believing me? So, a recent press release from the International Cricket Council announced plans to work with social media giants Pepsi (that's where the celebrity name dropping came from above) and Castrol on their Twitter marketing activities as well as numerous other joint-branded social media initiatives. You may be asking yourself why cricket would want to actively work on social media campaigns so let's look at some social justification to support the ICC's decision (I've no affiliation to the ICC by the way but I do enjoy a good social justification workout). Reaching a new audience with TwitterWhen you think of a stereotypical avid cricket fan, you probably don't immediately think of someone that tweets a lot about; nights out, what films they've watched, what they are doing today and their social plans for the coming days and weeks right? So what you are saying is that there is a massive social potential here to reach out to an entirely new potential audience for the sport of cricket. With the UK having invented the game and also having the 4th biggest uptake of Twitter users in the world, the alignment of Twitter marketing and cricket seems to be drawing closer together. Engaging with people sociallyCricket's move into the social media arena is not going to be limited to Twitter updates alone. They have already detailed some plans for Facebook marketing too with cricket's ICC, Jon Long, acknowledging the role of Facebook and Twitter when it comes to engagement. He notably discussed the role that multiple screens have with engaged cricket fans and the role that Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms can have with 'in match' comments from viewers. When you think about being able to watch the game and chat with your friends at the same time, you can really start to see cricket appealing to a younger demographic and adding some great social success to their sport in general. |
| Is Daily Blogging Sustainable or Even Necessary? Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:50 AM PDT Testing The Effort of Blogging Daily & Logging The Results August Efforts & Results While my frequency of publishing posts in August didn’t really increase in August over July and my @Sparkle_Agency Klout score remained stable around 59-60, my article tweets from @B2Community increased significantly (I felt like a bit of a blogging rock star!) and my own Sparkle website traffic did see a significant 42% increase in page views August over July. September Efforts & Results More importantly, I did succeed at blogging daily in September and although it kept me up many nights until after 1am readying the post for the next morning, I am happy to report I published 31 posts in the 30 days of September. I also figured out a number of new photo sharing and transfer apps, began to understand that my iPhone camera really doesn't allow me to photograph the quality images I want, and I learned a number of movie editing apps and programs that work significantly faster than my Dell notebook and Windows Live Movie Maker; it will need to be replaced soon since it usually overheats and completely shuts down in less than an hour of non-video web surfing, socializing and writing. I also managed to begin interview blogs myself and launched my long anticipated social media turnaround show #SparkleSOS on Google+ Hangouts on Air. The first episode was quite the valuable learning experience, and I am happy to report the next episode is already garnering interest and support; we'll be talking about the hard work and tough choices faced by book authors (using social media to self-publish, or go after an agent & publisher, or both?), co-hosted by my new Sparkle guest blogger and old Sparkle client, fiction author Richard S Todd. Ultimately, the exercise of blogging daily gave me an outlet for covering many of the best events I attended (Fashion Cares 25 and Olympic Heroes Parade & Gala), sharing the best client content I produced (Facebook Engagement Video for Car Dealers) and my Sparkle blog showed a smaller but satisfactory 6% increase in page views over August. I probably wrote and published nearly 30,000 words in September, which puts me well on my way to developing the writing habit to produce my own Sparkle social media insights book. This week I started in Lindsay Wilson's weekly social media sales Mastermind program and I'm looking forward to (separately, but related) implementing a "Pumpkin Plan" on Social Sparkle & Shine business activities. My question is, will I be able to keep on blogging daily when I'm focused on working other activities and selling my social media speaking/keynote presentations, classes and consulting, while continuing to work full time on cafe moba? Will it impact my blog traffic positively or negatively? More importantly, will the shift in focus impact my business positively or negatively? My bet is I'll be quite happy at the end of a banner business month in October, whether I manage to blog daily or not. |
| Facebook Launches Its First Brand Advertising Campaign Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:40 AM PDT It’s Facebook official, the newly publicly traded company which just hit a major milestone of 1 billion users, has launched a brand advertising campaign targeting 13 countries. Zuckerberg took to the Facebook blog stating, ”Celebrating a billion people is very special to me. It’s a moment to honor the people we serve. For the first time in our history, we’ve made a brand video to express what our place is on this earth. We believe that the need to open up and connect is what makes us human. It’s what brings us together. It’s what brings meaning to our lives. Facebook isn’t the first thing people have made to help us connect. We belong to a rich tradition of people making things that bring us together. Today, we honor this tradition. We honor the humanity of the people we serve. We honor the everyday things people have always made to bring us together. Chairs, doorbells, airplanes, bridges, games. These are all things that connect us. And now Facebook is a part of this tradition of things that connect us too. I hope you enjoy this video as much as we do. Thanks for helping connect a billion people.” The ad, which was created by Wieden and Kennedy and described by Facebook’s press release as “meant to express who we are and why we exist." focuses on connectivity, and more specifically, the things we sit on. Though the ad is heavily geared towards existing users, you can sense the emphasis on what facebook’s most valuable feature for persons and businesses alike – the importance of engagement. This article was originally posted on the Konrad Group blog. For more information about the company and their services, please visit www.konradgroup.com. |
| Social Media: A Positive Tool, Not a Negative Platform Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:30 AM PDT A couple months ago, I experimented with social media by simply "listening" for a day. I didn't post anything, but I scrolled through my Facebook feed and my Twitter stream like I regularly do. Listening without the expected next action of responding or liking or sharing takes you out of the equation and lets you view the content you are seeing with a different perspective. What I saw was rather shocking. Overwhelmingly, there was a great negative pall over my online reality. Most common was the update or tweet that offered up a complaint about something. Politicians were a common target. The government was a common target. The state of the world as seen through an individual's perspective was of course also present. In stepping back, I of course realized I'm just as guilty of contributing to that smoggy cloud as anyone. I lament the state of the world. I lament that there are genocides going on that nobody seems to care about. I lament that people are more concerned about the next iPhone than they are about the shaky economic forecasts gathering for 2013. Humans, as a rule, like to feel better when they don't feel good. This traces back to our childhood. When you fell down you went to your mommy because you knew she'd make it better. When you are stressed about your job, you go running or eat a tub of ice cream, or both, because you know it will make you feel better. But I discovered another interesting thing as I listened for a day. People who complain on social media platforms don't seem to want to be comforted. We want to complain. We want our complaints to be validated by likes or retweets. We want to stir up the fire but we don't want to put the fire out. After viewing the negativity that surrounds my online presence, I decided to try to make a conscientious effort to turn potential negatives into positives. To me, it seems like we most often identify social media as a voice amplifier. If we have a complaint, we can reach a lot more people with it thanks to social media platforms. But in thinking about it, social media can be a lot more than that. Social Media, if we let it, can be an action amplifier. It can be the spark that lights a fire of positive change instead of a fire of negativity that creates a lot of choke-inducing smoke. If there is something you are unhappy about, social media offers you an unprecedented opportunity to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. There are countless examples of people who have started to use social media to create positive change. Mark Horvath's InvisiblePeople.TV is a fantastic example of this. The power of social media enables Mark to give a voice to the homeless of our country. Scott Stratten used social media in the #tutusforTanner effort a few years ago because he didn't like that a family was struggling to fulfill their boy's desperate last wish. He could have just written up a blog post about it or lamented the situation on Facebook. Instead, he did something about it. Dan Perez uses social media to share his videos to raise awareness, his latest effort being a focus on kids struggling with Dravet Syndrome. Razoo uses the power of social media integrated with offline efforts and in doing so, they have helped raise millions of dollars for causes across the country. The list goes on. Sadly, the majority of the people who complain the most and the loudest seldom participate in these kinds of efforts. However, if enough people shift the focus from "I can complain" to "I can change this," I think everyone will eventually be swept into the tide, and those that staunchly refuse will increasingly be seen as people who simply want to be miserable. We live in tumultuous times. Complaining is easy, especially with social media and technology advancing like they are. Fighting with people we may never have to meet in real life is one way we can choose to spend our time. I don't know about you, but I would much rather reign in the power of this new means of communication and use it to improve the things that need to improve. What do you say? Are you in? Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minimalisation/7942393032/ via Creative Commons |
| Social Bookmarking In This Day And Age Posted: 04 Oct 2012 08:56 AM PDT The way that people are using social bookmarking online nowadays is different than how they used to approach it. Some of the original bookmarking sites have been put to rest and new ones (as well as new approaches) are here. The definition of social bookmarking Social bookmarking is the act of tagging and saving an informational item in order to go back to it at a later time. Because they are online, you can share them easily with other people. In fact, you can create a viral situation if it catches on in a broad enough manner. The trends in social bookmarking sites Social bookmarking sites are very interesting because a site can be completely on fire one minute and be on its way out the door the next minute. There were a select few sites that were the heaviest contributors to the social bookmarking scene in the last few years. In the middle of 2011, some of the more popular sites (such as Digg and Yahoo Buzz) started to lose popularity. They were replaced by the next generation of sites, such as Pinterest and Stumbleupon. Interestingly, the older sites were replaced by sites that each has something extra to offer. Using the new social bookmarking sites First and foremost, it is critical that you have a deep understanding of your target audience. It is essential that you focus the social bookmarking of your content on your audience so that you can give them what they need and want and thus solve their problems. You want to get them excited about what you can do for them and truly engage them to a level that makes them want to keep returning to you in order to have stimulating and informative discussions. The concepts that will earn you success When coming up with concepts and topics that will draw your audiences' attention, there are several approaches that you can take, which will allow you to achieve success. Including humor and other creative aspects are effective and your results will most likely be excellent. Nothing captures the readers' attention less than dull content. Your content definitely doesn't have to be dull. It can be full of exciting words that entice your readers and compel them to keep reading. Conclusion With the difference in social bookmarking sites and their popularity over the last few years until now, it is important not to lose sight of what is important.
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| How to Avoid & Tackle Social Media Proliferation (Review of an Altimeter Report) Posted: 04 Oct 2012 08:45 AM PDT
Here 7 key facts and highlights from the report. Thanks to Jeremiah Owyang for allowing the re-posting of the report:
Obviously, the Altimeter report is a model that describes an ideal scenario. Not all companies will be able to implement this in the ideal form. The reality is that social media work is often under-resourced. Even with the best intentions at the start, priorities shift, politics get into the way, and things take more time than expected. Further more, even if there is training, people often ignore it or don’t have time to take it. But, the Altimeter report provides a wonderful framework to start you onto the path of becoming a social business. As long as you are realistic and honest about your organizational abilities and constraints, the report is a great tool. In regards to an SMMS solution, from my own experience, it can be a tough call whether to purchase an in-house SMMS, hire resources and build expertise, or outsource the process to an external vendor. With the market consolidation in the SMMS space (example: Wildfire being acquired by Google) there is the risk that the SMMS tool you are using could be acquired by a competitor, or vendor you don’t want to do business with, and you’d have to start from scratch. On the other hand, there seems to be high turn over at the external agencies that offer these type of services. I’ve seen it where the dedicated agency resource left and the enterprise had to start from zero, training a new person to get up-to-speed on their situation, sometimes even the SMMS tool. A solution can be a dual strategy of keeping it partially in-house and partially outsourced. In that case, outsourcing monthly reporting often makes sense (but make sure to at least spot check the reports). Here the original Altimeter report: A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation from Jeremiah Owyang Want to learn more? Don't miss MarketingCamp Silicon Valley! Topic submissions and voting are now open. |
| Pro Blogging for Businesses and How to Overcome Everyday Challenges Posted: 04 Oct 2012 08:35 AM PDT Content is king: it's the ubiquitous phrase that has become synonymous with SEO. It is no secret that updated, searchable content appeals to not only potential customers, but also search engines. Blogs are a profound way to increase your overall web presence, build a formidable audience, promote social engagement and, of course, get more pages linked to your website. Exceptional content garners the trust of current customers and invites new ones to your site. Many small business owners either disregard the benefits of having a blog or, more often, simply do not have the time to contribute content on a regular basis. Enter professional blog writers, who provide expert material at a low cost and allow companies to regularly offer insight in their field. Regardless of the niche, professional bloggers create informative content for a client's target market. As you can imagine, however, it can oftentimes be a challenge for said bloggers to drum up ideas for a topic they have little to no knowledge about. Without direction from a particular client, bloggers rely heavily on their own research. What are some best practices for professional bloggers who lack acumen in a certain field? How do bloggers create new and evoking content on a daily basis? Generating ideas for a blogTrust me, I've been there before—literally staring at a computer monitor for hours on end, hoping for the Little Blog Fairy to come along and make things all better. I've done it several times to no avail. Blogging for a specific niche can be an arduous and sometimes frustrating task. Nailing down a list of topics for a weekly or even daily blog can be downright daunting, especially when facing a mounting work load and strict deadlines. For any writer, time is valuable. And any time wasted stressing over what to write about can be detrimental to your client. When first writing a blog, research is pivotal. Read and educate yourself on all related material, jot down your findings and read some more. But, like one colleague put it, after writing a blog post or two, it becomes more about conducting research to find a topic that relates to an industry rather than conducting research about the industry itself. 1. Put yourself in the readers shoes (via Dan Shure)Dan Shure recently wrote an extremely thorough post on the many ways to help improve your blog (17 to be exact). The example Shure used was about a blog entitled, "Noah's Dad." The blog, authored by Rick Smith, is about Smith's son, Noah, who has Down Syndrome. In order to remain creative, Shure recommends writers put themselves in their target audiences' shoes and ask simple questions.
Like Shure points out, tools such as Ubersuggest and Soolve (which use an array of search engines to provide vast results based on a keyword or phrase) are valuable for sparking new ideas and developing fresh, creative angles. As shown here, inserting the word "can" before the topic cued a bunch of notable ideas. Shure also advises pro bloggers to utilize Google in a way a potential reader would search for a particular topic. Google's suggest feature makes it simple for bloggers to steer in a number of directions with any given subject. It's a great tool for linking unexpected but somehow related topics. Stumbling across a wealth of information via Google provides you with plenty of content for a blog post. I recently had to write a post for a big game hunting outfitter that specializes in elk hunting. For someone who's never fired a bow and arrow or even been on a hunting trip before, compiling any sort of useful blog on this topic was seemingly impossible. After a quick search, I discovered several pages leading to tips, videos and top destinations. I ended up writing a post highlighting tips about archery elk hunting, but I also came away with several ideas for future posts.
But like Shure says, perhaps the most forgotten tool of them all is none other than your brain. Nonetheless, writer's block can be rather maddening. Take a deep breath, give it a break. Coherent thoughts aren't going to magically appear. I find it very helpful to get up and physically walk away from your work for a few minutes to regroup. Typically if I'm struggling with a certain post I will begin to work on something else. Of course, don't procrastinate. Give yourself a strict time window of when you need to tend to that blog. Keep working at it. Sometimes writing even the slightest bit can help spur novel ideas. 2. Random Affinities (via Ian Lurie, CEO of Portent)Perhaps one of my favorite posts in regards to blog writing is Ian Lurie's post about Random Affinities. "Your new client makes pollen-resistant underwear? Congratulations. You're now an author specializing in allergen-repelling undergarments," Lurie quipped. Lurie points out that it can be fairly difficult to write 15 blog posts per month about such a unique and specialized topic. So Lurie coined the term "Random Affinities" to help combat this issue. So what's the recipe for a Random Affinity, you ask? Two ideas plus no obvious connection aside from your target audience and boom! (i.e. those who go deer hunting or more likely to drive a truck.) There you have it. While Lurie suggests Random Affinities be used no more than 20 percent of the time, they're a great way to fill blog requirements with creative, unique topics. While a blog is designed to boost business and make customers happy, it's also there to attract readers and keep them around for a while. Like Shure, Lurie utilizes several tools such as Facebook Ads. By taking the initial steps in creating an ad (note: you don't actually have to create one), you could discover suggested likes related to your precise interest. He also points out Google Suggest and even Reddit and Amazon as potential havens to uncover fresh ideas. I’ve also found it helpful to use Google News to dig up notable information.
A quick and easy search led me to sources for a potential blog post in a region of interest. 3. Interview business owners and specialistsFact: Everyone likes to talk about what they're most passionate about. So it's likely your client would be willing to set aside 10 minutes of their time to chat about an industry-related topic. As a recovering sports journalist, asking well-rounded questions has become almost second nature. Jot down a list of five to ten questions for your client or a specialist in a specific field and hammer out an interesting blog post. Writing for a hunting outfitting service? Talk to a guide and have them describe an exciting bear hunting excursion. Highlighting an experience can evoke readership and give a respective blog a more personable feel. There's no substitute for a good story. Furthermore, by picking your client's brain, you're likely to pick up on a wealth of knowledge regarding more specific issues. Just like the aforementioned practices, by interviewing a client or a client's customer, you can spark more ideas for a future blog post. Stop struggling, start bloggingDepending on your audience, there are several ways to uniquely spin a blog post in a way that can captivate your readership. Think outside the box. Blogs can vary by style, voice and subject matter, but also how you present the material. Unorthodox blogs such as infographics and debates can be fun to piece together, too. Invite a guest blogger or a colleague to lend a hand and take a side to help list the pros and cons of an industry related product. Be sure to converse with others in an editorial meeting to brainstorm ideas for blogs. Be proactive and always use search engines to further explore into an unknown industry. Check out what's trending on social media networks, because you never know what ideas may relate to a specific blog. Also, don't forget to give tools like Soolve and Ubersuggest a try, as well as Ian Lurie's Random Affinities. While these tips may not simply eliminate writer's block altogether, they may help pave the way toward greater concepts and ideas. (view original post on Mainstreethost Search Marketing Blog) |
| Posted: 04 Oct 2012 08:25 AM PDT Social Media is all the rage these days but there are pitfalls as well as possibilities. The five tips below will help you find the most effective approach for your organisation. 1. Choose your medium Not all of your customers will be on all social networks, and each has its benefits and disadvantages. Different networks attract different audiences, and your intended message may be carried more effectively by one channel than another. To effectively engage your target market, find out what media they're using and why. If your target market is into recipes, fashion and art then maybe Pinterest is a good way to go. If your target market is business-oriented and enjoys networking, LinkedIn could hold benefits for you. If your company is still unknown, perhaps Facebook is the key to building awareness. 2. Develop a voice Your social media efforts should reflect your brand voice, or they won't seem authentic. Social media should be an extension of your marketing arm, and it reflects on your brand as much as advertising and press releases do. Set out guidelines for your social media strategy before getting started; that way you'll always have rules and requirements in place to help keep things on track. If you present a strong personality through social media that reflects your brand, your target market will find it easier to connect. This link creates a (very cost-effective) channel for direct communication. And make sure to offer your audience something that's valuable to them; don't just spam them with marketing for your products. 3. Get involved (even with negative posts) When your customers start interacting with you, don't ignore them. Social media is an open place and by participating you're inviting your audience to voice its feelings and problems. Some of your interactions will be positive and some will be negative. Negative feedback shouldn't be deleted, and definitely not ignored. Moderate your user-generated content so that it contains nothing discriminatory or illegal, especially now that companies can be held accountable for content on their social media pages. Dealing with negative feedback can be tricky, but often apologising is the best way to start. Respond quickly and – once you've publicly established the fact that you're going to deal with the problem – take the discussion offline. By moving the interaction out of the public eye, you can deal with it without the situation being inflated by other commenters. It's helpful to have a process in place, including setting expectations with the customer for the resolution of the problem. Once the problem is resolved you might consider a public comment along the lines of 'Thanks again for your feedback, we hope the resolution reached was satisfactory for you.' This will show other users you're responding to the feedback and that a resolution was met. 4. Coordinate your channels Another great thing about social mediais that you can get great value from just one piece of content. Using resources to create new content for each channel can be expensive and duplicate work. When you post something new on a social mediasite, you can promote it with Twitter, ask a question about it in your networks on LinkedIn, and link to it from Facebook. Also think about how you can customise work your brand is doing elsewhere for different channels, including social media. This will mean you're populating your social media feeds with minimal work, and making your content go the extra mile, connecting with as many people as possible. 5. Plan your content The most effective social media marketing is regular and frequent. There should be a balance between these – don't post too frequently or followers could get tired of you and un-follow. If you know your users well enough, you can also try to post content when you know they're most online often online. Furthermore, not all posts need to be long and complicated; sometimes just a 'Tweet from the team', or 'This is what we're reading' is enough to keep people interested in your brand. There is a range of applications that can help you to maintain regular posting, many of which are free. Try Hootsuite (hootsuite.com), Buffer (bufferapp.com), or LaterBro (laterbro.com). Using these tools, you can clump your social media preparation into an hour and have posts sent out automatically at a programmed time. Published by Mitch Brook- Editorial Gun at strategic content agency Edge. Winner of ‘New Journalist of the Year’ Award from the 2011 Publishers Australia Excellence Awards. |
| When It Is Too Good to be True Posted: 04 Oct 2012 08:20 AM PDT I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, 'If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.' Well, in the Internet world, I say, 'If something sounds too good to be true, it definitely is.' When a company offers a service that is too cheap and makes too many "pie in the sky" promises, your initial reaction should be one of skepticism, especially when things on their website just don't add up. I am going back to the basics of my high school economics class when I say that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If an offer is truly better than anything else out there on the market, why would that company be willing to take a loss and give you a deal? Do you really think you're that special? In this economy, we operate by Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory of "survival of the fittest." When everybody is left to fend for themselves, we must learn to trust nobody. Otherwise, we open the door for scammers and people who will, simply put, rip you off. Why is it that so many people get duped and get swindled by these offers? Are they just dumb or uneducated? There is no doubt that we will all be tempted at some point to take what seems like a shortcut and purchase something that seems too good to be true in order to lessen the blow to our wallets. However, we must realize that we are taking a risk of being taken advantage of. Experience will show that, more often than not, the risk is not worth the perceived benefit. Take SEO companies out there who guarantee top rankings with all major search engines and lure in gullible buyers who are desperate for online exposure. A word of advice? Avoid these scams like the plague, because you would be better off flushing that $99 to $499 monthly fee down the toilet. Absolutely no SEO company can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, no matter how many years that company has been in business or how qualified their reps paint themselves out to be. Reputable and savvy SEO companies avoid this careless mistake and will never promise anything that they cannot deliver. If you are not willing to take a loss, then be sure to take a step back and do a bit of research on the company before you make an assumption about their capabilities in delivering what they promise. Can you find any reviews or ratings of their company performance in the past? Or are they guilty of false advertising? Call the company. Ask questions. If the individual assisting you cannot seem to address your questions or steer you in the right direction, this is the most obvious red flag you will encounter. When the offer or service is just 'too good' or 'too cheap,' think twice, because "Something is Rotten in Denmark." |
| Email Marketing is Alive and Well (Infographic) Posted: 04 Oct 2012 07:50 AM PDT Creative email marketing goes beyond your latest offer or newsletter. It's about engaging with your clients (and potential clients) and contributing to a conversation that leads to them making a positive action. Great email marketing will reaffirm that you understand your clients' needs and offer trusted solutions to their challenges. It is best delivered at a time to suit your clients' busy lifestyles and should be accessible via their preferred technology (e.g., Laptop, tablet computer, or mobile device). Building a successful strategy will take time and effort as you plan, develop, analyze, and learn from your best (and worst) attempts. You already know that email marketing works for you. Now think, what could an increase in your creative email marketing strategies do for your business? But just how far can great email marketing take your business? The following infographic from iContact paints an incredible picture demonstrating the health of email marketing and the opportunity available to marketers. |
| Create your “Social Active” Email Marketing Segment. Like, Now! Posted: 04 Oct 2012 07:45 AM PDT While many email marketers have set up segments for key interest categories, segments for frequency and recency, and even segments by domain and geography, many may be missing out one of the most relevant (the ultimate email marketing buzzword) audiences within an email database–what I would call the “Social Active” segment. First, this is how I would recommend defining your Social Active segment within your email marketing database:
While this may not be a large segment, the time that you spend on creating it could more than pay for itself in improved an improved customer relationship and increased customer loyalty. What to do with your Social Active segment Thank Them
Reward Them
Engage Them The thoughts and opinions of this group should matter to your organization. So this may be an opportune time to collect valuable insights from some of your most loyal customers. However, make sure that the process is efficient and pain-free. Here are some ideas:
In an earlier post, Don't Forget, Email Marketing IS a Social Media, I discussed how many organizations view email marketing as a one-way street. This seems to be an extremely short-sided approach which can be easily remedied by better leveraging the data available for their email audience. The possibilities of developing a tightly integrated email marketing and social media strategy go far beyond what has been outlined here. That said, the tactics referenced above are not only reasonably accomplished, but they have the potential to advance your customer relationship marketing at a time when loyalty is at the top of most CMO's priority list. |
| How Do They Pronounce LinkedIn In Peru? [Video + Slides] Posted: 04 Oct 2012 07:05 AM PDT Earlier this year I was contacted by a postgraduate school to come and speak about LinkedIn and recruitment to an audience of HR and recruiting professionals (thanks to Twitter by the way). Sounded good I thought, the only little snag is that the University del Pacifico is in Lima, Peru – basically half way around the world. We were emailing back and forth for a while and I said I would do it but never thought it would actually happen… But it did and last month I had the pleasure of spending a few days in the Andean metropolis that is Lima and banging the drum for social media and LinkedIn in particular. Skills shortageThe reason companies in Peru are increasingly using social media is because there is a serious skills shortage in the country. The economy is booming and businesses are struggling to find the right talent. This means there is a massive opportunity to use social media and especially LinkedIn to reach out to skilled professionals in places like Colombia, Spain, the US and anywhere else they may be. The biggest shortages seem to be in mining, construction and other infrastructure roles. The country is experiencing a commodities-driven growth, silver and gold are among the big exports. This reminds me of South Africa or Australia a few decades back, definitely the place to be if you want to grow your career or business. My interview in Gestion (the FT of Peru): TerminologyOne thing I had to get my head around in Peru is that they don't use the term recruiter as we do in the UK; over here it would typically be someone working for a recruitment agency. Agency recruiters over there call themselves headhunters – to avoid any doubt I suppose! And corporate recruiters, or talent acquisition specialists as some would call them, are known as HR in Peru. Summary of my presentation on LinkedIn and recruitmentWhat's great about Peru?This was one of my first questions when I arrived and the usual go-to person answered it. The taxi driver said the food in Peru is spectacular; it's a blend of Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, native Indian cuisine. And from what I tasted, the food was indeed spectacular. I would recommend trying ceviche which is essentially raw white fish in a lime brine. If you like sushi, pickled herring or smoked salmon you'll love ceviche. And then there's the drink… I tasted the #1 Peruvian soda which is called Inca Kola, it basically tastes like bubble gum and leaves a nice layer of sugar on your teeth :-) . Apart from the food I would say the people are all very warm and friendly, which has always been my experience of South America. The country also has lots to offer such as Machu Picchu, the Amazon rainforest, the coastline (including penguins I'm told) etc – sadly I didn't have enough time to explore these this time around. I hope to return to Peru sometime soon, many thanks to Karen and everyone at the University that made me feel so welcome! And finally here's how to pronounce LinkedIn, Peru style… Image credits: Myself! |
| 11 Free Twitter Headers: Download Yours Today Posted: 04 Oct 2012 06:55 AM PDT Following my last post's focus on the advantages of Twitter headers, I figured I'd try my hand at creating a few of my own. The "social media web" and photography headers below are free to download and use for any Prime Social Marketing visitor. Simply save the file, upload it to Twitter under default settings, and your avatar will appear in the space indicated. So go ahead and liven up your new header space with one of the graphics below! It's on the house.
(view original post on Prime Social Marketing) |
| Facebook Launches Gifts, But Do and Will People Buy Things on Facebook? Posted: 04 Oct 2012 06:55 AM PDT Remember those horribly corny yet ubiquitous virtual gifts on Facebook circa 2007-2010? Admittedly, to my chagrin, I can recall sending and receiving several virtual smiley face balloons, birthday cakes, glasses of champagne, and roses. (Hey, at least I never once played Farmville.)
(The piñata was a personal fav, as were those two creepy bears locked in an embrace with an expression of terrible, intense, and unexplainable fear in their eyes.) Facebook discontinued these gifts in 2010; however, last week, the social networking site announced the return of Facebook gifts—only this time, they're real, not virtual. Soon Facebook users in the U.S. will be able to give presents to their Facebook friends in commemoration of a birthday, wedding, engagement, etc.: things like Gund teddy bears, Starbucks gift cards, and Magnolia Bakery cupcakes for all those women who will simply never get over their Sex and the City obsession (me included). TechCrunch terms these gifts the "rebirth of the gift app Karma," which Facebook acquired in May. Here's how it works: We'll be able to give our Facebook friends gifts directly from the birthday (or engagement or marriage) announcement on our news feeds.
Or we can go to an individual friend's timeline and choose the "Gift" tab.
As of now, the gift categories include: food, apparel/accessories/beauty, home/design/digital subscriptions/gift certificates, baby/kids/pets and wine/beverages. Our friend will then receive a notification; he or she can unwrap a preview of the gift, and the actual gift will arrive a few days later. We can pay for a gift immediately, or we can add payment details later. Our Facebook friend provides his/her address. Facebook is even taking the onus off gift givers by simplifying the gift-giving process (while taking a percentage of the sales, of course): our Facebook friend can choose the color/size/flavor of the gift, or they can exchange it for something of equal value. I think Facebook gifts sound like a smart idea: they're perfect for last-minute shoppers (those of us who forget it's someone's birthday until we see a Facebook reminder); the process seems virtually effortless; and we don't have to concern ourselves with details, because Facebook makes it possible for the gift recipient to personalize the present to his or her liking. F-Commerce: The Pros and the ConsThis recent launch of personalized presents prompted me to wonder: "Is this the sign of something to come? Will Facebook gifts herald in a new era of f-commerce and virtual Facebook storefronts?" I'm unsure of the answer to that question, but in reading about Facebook gifts, I found myself musing over the foibles and flaws of f-commerce. None of the brands I follow make it possible to shop for and buy products directly through Facebook, though even if they did, I'm unsure if I would make purchases via the social networking site. For one, I use Facebook primarily to stay in touch with friends; when I log onto the site, I'm very socially-minded, not materially-minded. Sure, I like many brands on Facebook, but I do this to learn about new products, special deals, and recent developments. F-commerce seems inherently flawed to me, because the site's raison d’etre is facilitating social connections, making it easy to stay in touch with family and friends. Storefronts just don't seem to align with the nature of the site; however, that's not to say that they can't work. Another reason behind my tepid feelings toward f-commerce: my hesitation to putting my credit card information on Facebook—even if that fear is illogical and ungrounded. As well, sometimes I wonder about the point behind f-commerce. A brand wants to capture consumers' purchasing powers when their interest for said brand is peaked (that is, when they're on a brand's Facebook page) and make it easy for people to buy products. However, online shopping is already easy. Last week, a post by one of the brands that I like on Facebook appeared in my news feed:
Jack Rogers posted a link that takes me directly to the product page for this shoe. They make it extremely easy to buy this merchandise, no f-commerce capabilities necessary. However, this link did direct me to a page outside of Facebook (obviously), which might be a con. Usually, when I'm on Facebook, I'm on Facebook for a reason. I want to stay on the site, and I don't want to be directed elsewhere. Do other people feel the same way? If I could stay within Facebook and buy a product, would that make me more likely to buy the product? I'm unsure. Investigating Storefronts, Sales, and SpendingI wanted to investigate f-commerce and see which brands have had success with it, and also which brands have not had success with it. I also wanted to see whether or not the triumphs and fails of Facebook storefronts can shed any light on the purchasing proclivities of Facebook users, and what these tendencies might mean for Facebook gifts. I found many examples of f-commerce fails. Bloomberg published an article in February highlighting stores that tested out Facebook storefronts only to close them after a period of time. GameStop, Gap, J.C. Penney, and Nordstrom tried and failed at f-commerce. Bloomberg quotes an analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who said this: "There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop," Mulpuru said in a telephone interview. "But it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they're hanging out with their friends at the bar." Coincidentally, Gilt Groupe's chairwoman Susan Lyne made a very similar analogy when discussing f-commerce in Business Insider. Gilt Group experimented with f-commerce last August but eventually terminated its Facebook store. Lyne told Business Insider: "One of my friends said that it was like trying to sell something at a bar." She also offered some context through a comment on the article:
Her reference to Facebook users' "intentions and mindsets" captures my sentiments about the futility of Facebook stores and the way in which they contradict with the true nature of Facebook. However, some brands currently use Facebook stores. Omaha Steaks launched their Facebook store using ShopIgniter in April; Adweek terms the store "e-commerce lite and Facebook-specific." I explored it briefly and found that Omaha offers different products on Facebook than they do on their ecommerce site; in fact, some products were available only on Facebook. According to Adweek, because Facebook users expect "some sort of bonus for being a fan," Omaha aimed to acknowledge the unique fan-brand relationship through the store. Hence, the distinctive products and the ability of fans to earn points and badges when they spend money in the Facebook store.
The similarities between my culinary preferences and the badge name: uncanny. Senior Vice President of Omaha Todd Simon said that not having a Facebook store is akin to not having a brick-and-mortar retail store. I'm unsure whether I agree with this. Omaha's store seems like a solid effort, though the selection on Facebook seems somewhat limited compared to Omaha's ecommerce site. But then again, Facebook-unique products may provide people incentive to shop and draw them in with that vibe of exclusivity. Other major brands have seemingly had success with f-commerce, as their Facebook stores have been open for over a year: Coca Cola, Lady Gaga, Delta Airlines are a few I found. Peruse on Facebook, Buy ElsewhereNow, while investigating f-commerce, I came across a few brands that allow Facebook fans to browse merchandise and press unique buttons broadcasting their love for a given product to all of their Facebook friends. American Apparel is one such brand:
American Apparel works with social commerce platform 8thBridge Graphite, which rather than attempting to lure users into Facebook stores, allows users to peruse selections, showcase some product love, and then buy on a traditional ecommerce site. This approach allows users to do everything short of completing a transaction on Facebook alone. I can see people who want to share their favorite items with their friends or who want feedback on a purchase they're contemplating using these buttons, but if I have to buy something on an ecommerce site anyways, why wouldn't I just peruse products there? Prophesying the Future of Facebook GiftsF-commerce has an interesting, mixed history: it failed many brands, but other brands are currently using it. There are some things that suggest that people don't readily buy products via Facebook. Is this a death knell for Facebook gifts? Do the many closings of Facebook stores signify that people simply won't buy things on Facebook, including the new gifts? I don't think so. In fact, I think Facebook gifts have the potential to succeed, primarily because gifts and stores are very different: they operate differently, and they have different dynamics. Head of Gifts Lee Linden told TechCrunch that gifts are a "natural extension of what people do on Facebook," i.e. congratulate each other, say happy birthday, etc. I think this comment is on point. Sure, there might be a difference between writing "happy birthday!" on someone's timeline and actually spending your own cash on a birthday gift for them, but why not send a $5 or $10 Starbucks card via Facebook to a friend a few states away in honor of their birthday? I think gifts fit very well with this tendency we have to publicly applaud and cheer each other's personal accomplishments through social media. Gifts seem to gel with the fundamental nature of Facebook, while I'm not convinced Facebook stores do. I think that through gifts, Facebook socializes our purchasing in a way that seems very natural, seamless, and harmonious given the way users behave and interact on the site. And even though we have the option of making a gift private, does anyone think that in the age of social media sharing (and oversharing), a person will not want all of his or her friends to be acutely aware of the thoughtful, gift-giving gesture? I'm thinking no. Facebook makes it possible to give gifts to yourself, so as soon as the gifts roll out, I'll be shamelessly purchasing a Build Your Own Chocolate Bar for none other than me and subsequently channeling my inner Liz Lemon: However, this is one instance where gift giving should not be broadcasted on a timeline. View the original post at Mainstreethost. |
Transcript:
Image Courtesy: newsroom.fb.com
I often talk and show examples of the mistakes companies make when it comes to their social media crisis communications and planning. But when a company does it right, and enables themselves to take a social media issue and refrain it from becoming a crisis, well, I just LOVE to share those success stories and cases! There's just as much to learn from the success examples as there is to learn from the failed ones. Today, I have a good example to show you!
engine algorithm and be on its first page for a particular term (or keyword).
OH, RT, LOL.. Do you know your social abbreviations?
1. Prominent errors are a dealbreaker
7. Subscriber only content excludes most users
The first thing we do with any client who wants us to help them integrate social into their business is an
Bottom line, bad things can happen to good brands and good people. However, that is NO excuse. The risks and problems can be mitigated with a bit of extra planning.
Altimeter’s report “A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation” is an enlightening read, highlighting an important problem of our time: social media proliferation. Many companies have too many social media accounts that lack a strategy, compliance with the brand, and/or accountability.
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