Archive for July, 2010

Social Media Strategy Unclear to Marketers

July 28th, 2010

By Diane Meyer, Owner of Marketing by DM

We’re hearing it over and over again from marketers. They’re saying, “I’ve sat down through so many Webinars on social media, and they’re all telling us to develop a strategy, but what is that strategy?” Well, we’ve heard you, but now we’re listening.

There have been several leaders who have addressed this recently, such as a story by @eMarketer entitled, “What Makes Up a Social Marketing Strategy?” Quality content here. Definitely save this as a favorite. I would like to take a different approach, however, to help those that seem to struggle with integrating social media in their marketing mix.

Let’s focus in on Twitter. If you don’t understand Twitter, you cannot possibly develop a strategy. As an example, I don’t know how to play chess, so how would I be able to strategize a move that is beneficial to me? Going nowhere is not an option and quite boring. In fact, I wouldn’t hold my own attention, much less anyone else’s.

Some of you may relate better to football. First, you have to really understand the game. I actually do and certainly get it when Penn State wins. Then your coach (Twitter) can guide you (football) toward your goal (whatever you decide that to be). Setting a goal may be to connect to like-minded business executives, marketers, and/or owners so that you can stay abreast of what is happening in your industry.

You must engage everyone on your team (those you follow) in order to reach your goal. Just throwing out the football (your tweets) will leave everyone cold, bored, and unengaged. They may even quit your team (unfollow you). Know what others are doing, saying, and care about, and be courteous as though you were having a discussion in person. Choose your words wisely. This is even more important than in person.

Your goal may become very different than what it was months ago. Last August, my objective was only to learn everything I could about Twitter through the sharing of links and information from SEOs, CEOs, and marketing leaders I was following. Starting with just 30 people to follow was a choice I made so that I could keep up. I didn’t even start contributing to the communication stream until after one month. More than a year later, I’m now ready to develop a strategy that is best for me.

Depending on your goals, type of business, and who you wish to reach, you will have to decide in which social media service you invest most of your time. My recommendation would be to have a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, but not necessarily in equal parts. Hopefully, your marketing mix already includes advertising, publicity, public relations, promotions, and sales. You will now add social media.

It is unfortunate if we view ROI only as dollars in return. For example, I like to think that my investment of time in Twitter results in ROE (return on energy). The energy I put into it comes right back to me ten-fold or a hundred-fold from some of the best of the best in the social media community. How do you attach a number that?

Have you reached a stumbling block on the strategy for your social media presence? Have you integrated Twitter or some other social media service into your marketing mix? Are you still confused? Should the goal always be dollars and cents?

Posted in Diane Meyer, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Public Relations, Strategy, Twitter | No Comments »

Size Matters: How a Large Online Network Can Transform You, Your Marketing, and Your Business

July 21st, 2010

By Ken Herron, Chief Marketing Officer at SocialGrow

Investment portfolios, airline seats, and chocolate fudge cakes. What do these three things have in common with the size of your online network? Big is good, bigger is better, and biggest is where you want to be.

As marketers, we have stuff to do, and failing to reach our objectives is not an option. Our brands and businesses require us to make things happen. Customers, sales, revenues… it’s up to us. Having large online social networks gives us the juice we need to make things happen.

Over the past few months, I have seen a surprising number of articles attempting to convince me that whether I’m a B2B or a B2C marketer, the focus for my portfolio of friend, follower, and connection-based online networks should be “engagement.” Hogwash.

Size matters. Size gives you power. Size gives you control. Size gives you leverage.

Everyone is an expert in something, but no one is an expert in everything. One of the reasons to be active on social media is to learn how to use cutting-edge and proven marketing strategies and tactics. If you follow one marketing professor on Twitter, you learn his/her approaches. How much better if you follow all of the top marketing professors on Twitter in the areas of B2B marketing, B2C marketing, public relations, corporate branding, and marketing research? The larger your network, the smarter you can be.

In the concept of six degrees of separation, all of us are, at most, six steps away from any other person. This is the heart of LinkedIn’s business model. If I have one connection on LinkedIn, I’m two degrees away from everyone my connection knows. Whether I need to buy or sell, I have a personal introduction to everyone in my connection’s network. As a marketer whose livelihood depends on your ability to get things done, would you rather have one connection on LinkedIn or 1,000?

What if you had a large mailing list of people who want to receive your communications because they’re interested in what you have to say? Each of your messages can reach more target customers. The larger your online network, the more people you can sell, real-time, 24x7x365.

As marketers, part of our value is to persuade our target audience to take action. If you’re Ashton Kutcher and develop the largest online network, you’re not just in the media, you are the media. You can directly broadcast to your five million-plus member audience anytime. That’s marketing. You want each and every one of your communications to command a level of credibility so high that other media outlets are forced to report on them.

As my boss likes to say, “Your message can only go as far as the size of your network.” Besides, as any five year old will loudly and unashamedly tell you when you’re standing in line with him at the bakery, “Who wouldn’t want the biggest chocolate fudge cake?”

Posted in B2B, B2C, Branding, Ken Herron, LinkedIn, Marketing, Public Relations, Research | No Comments »

Mobile Marketing: The Most Exciting Channel to Reach Your Audience

July 14th, 2010

By Celene Mesa, Owner of Mesa Mobile Marketing

Does your business need more customers? How about something that is fast, targeted, inexpensive, and elicits immediate response? Then think mobile marketing, the most exciting channel available today to reach your audience.

Mobile marketing is a form of advertising communicated through a cell phone or smartphone that receives SMS (short message service) messages. Each SMS can be up to 160 characters in length and most commonly is referred to as a text (TXT). Text messages are safe and spam free.

Mobile media campaigns are accomplished through a software program that includes a customer database with SMS capabilities. When utilizing mobile media, a short code and keyword are integral parts of the program. The code is a 5- or 6-digit number that is used in lieu of a 10-digit phone number. This makes opting in faster and easier. The keyword is chosen by your business for your campaign and is used in your call to action. SMS are sent to willing participants only because the customer or potential customer must opt in.

Let’s say you own a restaurant named the Sandwich Board, and you want to start a mobile marketing campaign. To get your customers to opt in to your program and join your database, you should place enticing signs everywhere throughout the restaurant: on doors, counters, registers, and receipts; on the floor and hanging from the ceiling; even on employee name tags and buttons. Be creative. Make them eye catching and fun. For example, your sign could say:

“Join our VIP Club and receive timely specials! Text BOARD to 90210 to receive a FREE soda with your order today!”

When your customer sends that text message, the preset mobile media software program immediately sends a bounce back notice to the recipient’s phone, such as this example.

You have now successfully begun to build your opt-in mobile marketing database!

So do mobile marketing campaigns really pay off? They certainly can! For example, the mobile marketing push to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake earlier this year was the most successful SMS campaign to date. Tens of millions of dollars were raised by inviting donors to text HAITI to 90999. Because the request was well advertised, people responded immediately.

A call to action is critical to the success of mobile media. Consider that:

  • 4.1 billion text messages are sent and received every day.
  • 740 billion text messages were sent in the U.S. in the first half of 2009.
  • 97% of all SMS marketing messages are opened; 83% in the first hour.

According to the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), more than 89% of the major brands plan to market their services via mobile phones. Wireless marketing is expected to be one of the fastest-growing market segments for the next two to three years. And Google agrees. Says Google CEO Eric Schmidt, “The next big wave in marketing is the mobile Internet. Yes, mobile marketing will be a bigger business than the PC Web.”

Opt-in is key and is the primary reason mobile media is already showing much higher ROI than more traditional forms of marketing. If promoted effectively, your opt-in database will grow each day. Keep campaigns simple, and you will be amazed at your ROI and the loyalty of your brand’s following.

Posted in Celene Mesa, Channels, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, SMS | No Comments »

The Marketer’s New Clothes

July 7th, 2010

By Johna Burke, Senior Vice President of Marketing at BurrellesLuce

My friends and I have joked over the years about CEOs (who will remain nameless) taking on the persona of the “Emperor” in the Hans Christian Anderson tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. It was all fun and games until we let a CFO friend in on the joke, who suggested that, perhaps, marketing and public relations professionals are the scoundrels in this analogy. Ouch! This seemed harsh, but it gave me pause to reflect and better educate my CFO friend on why we are not the scoundrels.

In the spirit of his DNA, the CFO only responded to the numbers. Not just any numbers, but those that impacted the bottom line of the business. Certainly, this was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. He opened my eyes to the importance of every activity driving the bottom line, and I opened his eyes to the importance of the customer experience. Without evaluation and measurement, it was hard to know where you’ve been, where you are, where you’re going, and the most efficient way to get there.

While he appreciated the metrics I was using to manage the department (the outputs and the outtakes) and pointed out that perhaps those were simply the bolts of invisible fabric, clothing my CEO (and organization) with those metrics would be just like sending him out into the crowd naked. This was a pointed lesson that took hold and has stayed with me throughout the years.

In this analogy, is social media the cloth, the crowd, or the golden thread?

Social media is the golden thread. It’s real and it’s quantifiable. It’s how you use it in the weave of your fabric that makes it an effective cover of your efforts.

In social media, one of the easiest metrics to quantify is the conversion of an unknown to a qualified prospect. While this is an important metric to the marketing department to understand how your campaigns are performing, it’s only when the conversion becomes a sale (or outcome equivalent) that it really matters to the organization as a whole. The same stands true with engagement. While engagement is important, we should all look for opportunities to listen and learn from our customers. Until there’s a marriage or the deal is closed, it’s really all ceremony.

The moral of the story?

  • Know the difference between metrics necessary to manage your department and those important to the business objectives of your organization.
  • Don’t allow your organization or CEO to be naked while pretending to be clothed.
  • As a matter of strategy, make sure your organization’s “suit” is made of only the finest fabric, woven with solid metrics that are visible to the crowds (investors and stakeholders).
  • Don’t invest your time or resources in anything—including and perhaps especially, social media—that doesn’t cover your organization as you venture out into the crowds.

In the final analysis, trust your eyes, and if something doesn’t look right, say so. Even if it isn’t a popular thing to do.

Posted in Customer Experience, Johna Burke, Marketing, Metrics, Public Relations | No Comments »