What Sort of Social Media Services Should An Online Marketer Offer Clients?
Monday, March 03, 2008
Here are the services an online marketing company can (or should) offer clients:
- Blogging: Providing blog content, including content that has a "real" voice and is calculated to drive traffic/comments/interaction. Metrics to measure the effectiveness of this include # of comments, traffic, link-tos, and Technorati ratings.
- Blogger Outreach: This involves first creating contact lists carefully targeted to the client in question – and having the ability to identify the influential bloggers within a particular niche. Then the bloggers are contacted regarding the client story in question. This is similar to traditional PR, but involves a far more personal hand, and the ability to network and create relationships online. Traditional press releases do not work in this outreach – they must be short, friendly letters. Metrics for this include hits and link-backs to your site.
- Forum Outreach: Similar to blogger outreach. Part of this is identifying in advance what forums might be useful to the client and developing a relationship with them BEFORE making the "pitch" on the site (or else you are labeled a spammer).
- Social Networking Sites: The creating/maintenance of MySpace and/or Facebook accounts for the client, including the creation of Groups, Friending, sending out bulletins, etc. In addition to Facebook & MySpace there are many other social networking sites to focus on, both broad-based (like Bebo) or specialized (depending on client’s needs). Part of offering this service is the ability to tell clients what specific sites will be best for them demographically, and keeping up with trends. Metrics for this would be page hits, increase of hits on referenced URL, number of "friends" and comments.
- Podcast & YouTube: Some clients will be particularly suited for these forms of viral marketing. Marketers should offer very basic services in making simple podcasts & videos with the goal of going "viral" within the social networks. There is also a social networking component to these podcast and YouTube communities that have to be maintained and "worked." Metrics for this would be hits, # of downloads, link-tos from other sites, and increase of hits on referenced URL.
- Social Bookmarking: Interfacing between client blogger and bookmarker to shape content most likely to be bookmarked. Metrics include # of "Diggs" or "stumbles" a bookmarked story gets, and corresponding hit spike on referenced URL.
Within all of this is the need to provide the client a list of metrics to demonstrate that the social networking is creating a result. Companies are more likely, even in the case of budget cuts to their overall online marketing plan, to keep a budget for social networking because it is relatively inexpensive – but because the technology is so new, they want to see tangible results. It will be necessary, then, for a shop to create their own methodology and protocol for collecting data for metrics and presenting them in a convenient and comprehensive manner for the client.Labels: blogger, buzz, Facebook, Myspace, new media, social media, social networking, Stumbleupon, video, Web 2.0, Youtube
Social Media and Super Tuesday
Friday, February 08, 2008
The writers have been on strike for so long, that I think we have given up on the idea of scripted programming altogether. Perhaps, during a more uneventful time period, the strike would have more dire consequences. It's a good thing we have this election to keep us on the edge of our seats and thoroughly entertained.
Just as I was scanning for news on how social media impacted Super Tuesday results, I stumbled upon the news that Mitt Romney has dropped out of the race. Out of curiosity, I wondered who had the exclusive. After scrolling back to the 30th page (yes, thirtieth, as in three - zero) of Google News results, I gather that ABC was one of the first to post the news to the site of its local San Francisco affiliate just 4 hours earlier.
So, where was I? Oh yes. Did social media have an impact on the biggest primary day?
A nice place to begin answering that question is on a blog called the Marketing Pilgrim. On Super Tuesday morning, the Pilgrim made a bold claim that the winners were already decided based on online fanfare. Its prediction: John McCain and Barak Obama would win on Super Tuesday.
The prediction was largely based on positive and negative search results on the candidates. Apparently, Obama and McCain had the most positive results.
What really happened? Yes, McCain did win, but what about the democrats?
Despite their reported dead heat, there are stark implication made by the states that were won by Clinton and Obama. A nice summary by blogger Krutic can be read here on Blog Critics Magazine.
I suppose if you count the states, Obama won. When looking closely at the states he won, however, a different picture comes into focus. Out of the 13 he won, only 3 - Connecticut, Illinois, and Delaware - tend to vote democratic and would truly count for him in a general election.
Clinton, on the other hand, won the democratic strongholds of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and California. These are all monster states in terms of population, which equal to delegates, which equal to winning the nomination.
But back to the question at hand: Did social media make a difference?
I think it is safe to say that social media has made a huge impact for Barak Obama's campaign. I would even make the claim that without his enthusiastic youth following, he would have been driven to anonymity months ago.
The more appropriate question might be: Can the youth truly decide this primary? In essence, will the difference social media is making count?
Jeffrey Feldman wrote an interesting article for The Huffington Post on this very topic. In it, he explains that while there is an exorbitant amount of attention being paid to Obama and his movement, the fact is that on Super Tuesday "the 18-24 age group typically made up only 7%-8% of the overall vote, while the 65 and over age group typically made up 20%-22% of the vote." And guess what, "Obama did not carry the 65 and older vote in a single state." Not even in his home turf of Illinois, where the senior vote was split 50/50 between him and Clinton.
With the current facts in mind, it's important to note that the race is far from over. Clinton is about 100 delegates ahead of Obama and all fingers point to this primary going to the democratic convention in May.
The basic fact that young people don't vote, yet are very opinionated online remains. So, for now at least, we might have to take Facebook polls and the like with a grain of salt. Perhaps a true testament to social media will only be seen decades from now, when the young are not so young anymore.Labels: 2008 elections, Internet, social media, social networking, super tuesday, Web 2.0
Future Trending: The Mobility Of Content And The Need To Track Its Impact
Thursday, February 07, 2008
The blog Buzz Marketing For Technology pointed out a trend for the future of online marketing: the distribution of content and the need to formulate methods for tracking the impact of that content (in terms of views, keywords, and general efficacy in achieving its objectives).
For example, in tradition Web 2.0 marketing techniques, one has a blog or website and content is generated for that particular venue. Then the impact of each post/article is tracked in terms of how many hits it generated, how viral it is, how many consumer referrals were made as a result of it, what keywords were used to find it, etc.
But, the trend is now more and more about distributing that content to other sites – whether it be communal blogs, syndicated content, content carried by widgets that can be installed on other people’s blogs or social networking pages, etc.
This trend seems to me to be part of larger one in business in which the focus is less and less about one's "homebase" -- whether it be a blog or a company headquarters -- and more about mobility. The mobile office: more people conduct their workday partially in their pajamas or dashing down Main Street. The mobile company: companies outsource their help to places halfway across the globe. Even the mobile rock and roll band: individual members of the band will record their sections individually from different areas in the world.
Back to the example of online marketing and analytics. In the (not too distant) future, content will need to be mobile in order to compete and reach its intended audiences, and there has to be something in place to measure the effectiveness of the content in those multiple locations.
Hence, the need for firms who can develop the measuring systems and methods of data tracking to keep abreast of the many streams of content and analyze their effectiveness.
And in this equation let us not forget the seemingly countless streams of social networking tools: Facebook pages, Twitters, social bookmarking, etc. Taking this into consideration, plus the rather “conversational” nature of many blog exchanges, I would recommend a management system that combines both necessary algorithms and spreadsheets plus a personal, organic understanding of Web 2.0 and natural SEO.Labels: conversational marketing, Marketing, search, seo, social media, social networking, Web 2.0
Will Google’s Vendetta Against Baidu Impact The Future Of Free Music Downloads?
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Google’s mission to oust the success of Baidu in China has been uphill, despite a move by the American search giant to larger offices in the country and increasing staff. Now Google hopes that offering free music downloads to the Chinese via a partnership with Top100.cn will turn the tide. By cornering the popular music search market – something Baidu has become quite popular in – Google hopes to make crucial inroads on Baidu’s supremacy and gain a foothold in the continent. Most intriguing in all this is the possibility that the precedents Google might set in China for free music downloads and music search, if successful, will spread to the rest of the world as well. Beyond the immediate questions of how this will affect the music industry, what impact might a legal music search/download system implemented by Google have on SEO? What sort of data might be generated by this new system of legal free downloads and the keywords used to find them? When I think of the online marketing matrix that might be created between Google, music search/free downloads, and the possibility of melding social networking with SEO, I marvel at the possibilities. For example, the music searches can be tagged in Google with keywords, particular searches bookmarked for other users to browse. Google could have a social network set up of just saved searches and playlists, a competition brewing between users as to who is the “top” searcher. Meanwhile, you have all this keyword data cropping up, including what I would think would be some great long tail results. So will Google do what Napster could not – popularize legal free music downloads? And how will this change the online marketing playing field? Stay tuned to find out…don’t touch that dial! Labels: Google, music downloads, new media, seo, social media, social networking
Conversational SEO: One Conversation You Can't Afford To Miss
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
I found this interesting blog post on iMedia Connection about conversational marketing, and it made me think of how it relates to SEO… Back in the old days of traditional marketing (which really weren’t so long ago), communication with the consumer was generally a one-way street. The consumer was told, “BUY THIS.” Period. End of conversation. But, today’s marketers & businesses must keep that conversation going. It’s called “Conversational Marketing,” a buzzword brought to global attention by 1999’s “ClueTrain Manifesto.” Here is a simple example of conversational marketing: a business sets up a blog on their webpage. The blog is there to, of course, help sell the product -- but also to provide some good content and a place where customers and potential customers can engage in Conversation about said product. Having something valuable to say and being there to listen – the hallmarks of a good friend, or at least somebody you’d want to hang out with. And that’s the key to conversational marketing, and of the sea change that has taken place in the world of marketing in general. The consumer of today is tired of being talked down to, ordered around, and generally told what he or she should do with his or her money. He or she is also getting too savvy for the bells and whistles marketers and advertisers dream up to coax them into a purchase. No, what they want is not bells and whistles – but a person to talk to. The meteoric rise in social media of all stripes – blogs, message boards, social networking, social bookmarking, news aggregate sites – have provided the perfect platform for this conversation between Business and Consumer to flourish. And, it’s incumbent upon every company, big and small, to make use of these resources. Now, how does conversational marketing relate to a public relations firm that has transitioned to SEO? Well, we can extend the conversation over to SEO pretty easily. In conversational SEO, you are not merely looking at a list of keywords, but really understanding how your audience is conversing – and then optimizing on the words they use to search! Again, the art of conversational SEO – like that of conversational marketing -- is a distinctly two-way, personal interaction. One-to-one (or many-to-many) versus one-to-many.Now certainly, one cannot live on “conversation” alone. However, making the most of social media in conjunction with a skillful SEO campaign is a winning combination! Labels: conversational marketing, conversational SEO, Marketing, media, seo, social media, social networking
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