Blog | PPC Freelancer - Part 5

A Paradigm Shift – The Future of Marketing, Advertising & PR

Posted on by in Marketing Strategy, Social Media | Leave a comment
[facebook_ilike] Earlier this week I attended the ever interesting and insightful Conversations About the Future of Advertising (CATFOA) organized by Tim Brunelle and sponsored by the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) and Minneapolis College or Art and Design (MCAD). This is by far is the best speaker series in the Twin Cities, where you’ll find nationally renowned digital experts talk about where the future of marketing, advertising and public relations is headed.

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Faris Yakob speaking at CATFOA

I’ve attended about 5 of these events, put on every winter/spring, and have recently noticed the demographic of the audience has been changing from just the digital geeks to …how should I say this…older… ahem….more experienced business professionals who have begun to realize that the digital space is becoming increasingly social and more relevant to their world. I say kudos to them.

Faris Yakob, formerly the Chief Technology Strategist at McCann Erickson, was the speaker at this CATFOA event and his theory that once you hit 30 years of age, everything you’ve learned up to that point about marketing, pr and advertising is now hard wired into your brain and new technologies and cultural dynamics have a harder time breaking through to your consciousness.

His point is perhaps a bit extreme but it holds a grain of truth as there’s been a rapid paradigm shift in the way communication technologies have become faster and more pervasive, as Faris talks about in his Fast Company article on Cultural Latency. Thus companies (mostly run by people older than 30) are slow to catch on to this paradigm shift and realizing this isn’t just a fad. This is real, it’s growing in significance, and it’s going to have serious repercussions for organizations if they don’t quickly grasp this new world of interactive social engagement.

People are starting to slowly catch on though as witnessed by the demographic shift at these events and the droves of Minnesota professionals flocking to such associations and events as:

  • MIMA – 1,400 members and counting
  • Social Media Breakfast (SMBMSP) – average event attendance: 300+
  • CATFOA – average event attendance: 250+

Organizations such as the MN American Marketing Association (MNAMA), Advertising Federation (AdFed), Midwest Direct Marketing Association (MDMA) and Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) have been slow to incorporate interactive programming and have been losing members and event attendance to these groups. They will be in serious trouble if they don’t start bringing more interactive and social media content to their event schedules.

My guess is that five years from now we won’t be talking about digital marketing or social networking as it will be one discipline; marketing. And it will further blur the lines between what we perceive as marketing, public relations and advertising. There will definitely be an interesting shake out in the agency world in the next few years.

It’s a confusing world out there right now as for marketing and communication professionals as the digital space is constantly changing and the only means for learning about the newest and latest trends will from listening to such thought leaders as:

… as well as the attending events at the Minnesota associations mentioned above: MIMA, CATFOA and SMBMSP. You won’t be able to find this type of programming at local universities and colleges (MCAD is an exception) as it’s moving much too fast for schools for tenured professors to keep up so my recommendation is start learning fast by reading blogs, attending events and of course participating in the online social space through blogging, tweeting, commenting, rating, digging, voting, friending, linking, etc…

Don’t be left behind……See you at the next event.

Social Media & Retail Marketing

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, eCommerce, Retail, Social Media, Trends, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

RetailI recently attended a very interesting Twin Cities Social Media Breakfast (@SMBMSP) panel discussion at the Mall of America on the subject of social media & retail. The four panelists included

It was good to see such a broad range of retail experience and each panelist brought up some interesting points on how they approached social media. It was surprising to see that Best Buy, Izzy and MOA didn’t really have a social media strategy before engaging on social channels but it made sense considering they were early adopters of the technology.

Jennifer admitted that it would have been preferable for Best Buy to first build a social networking strategy around their business objectives but there really wasn’t a roadmap for them to follow. The same was true for Mall of America in that they just started tweeting and building a Facebook fan base before considering how it was going to be integrated with their more traditional efforts.

I greatly appreciate these companies for being early adopters and I believe other companies can learn a great deal from their efforts. All panelist admitted to making mistakes but they learned from them and have incorporated those insights into their communication efforts which has greatly enhanced engagement with their key audiences.

Social media has now matured enough were companies can now learn from these early adopters and build a social strategy that has a foundation in overall business goals and objectives. Just imagine if these companies knew then what they know now; I imagine they’d be able to come up with an incredibly effective marketing strategy.

My advice for retail companies considering a social media marketing strategy is to learn from these companies and build on their best practices.

Building a Social Media Strategy Based on Business Goals

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Return on Investment, Social Media, Social Media Consulting | Leave a comment

strategy-and-consultingI spent this afternoon listening to Charlene Li and Jeremiah Owyang’s webinar on Developing A Social Strategy that I think is one of the better resources for companies thinking about creating a well structured, long-term strategy for engaging customers through social media.

They brought up some great points on how a company should go about building a social media strategy and I definitely believe in their approach which emphasizes that it’s not all about the technologies but about how you build long-term relationships online.

They did a good job of showing how companies like Dell, Wells Fargo and Kohls are using social media to build community, provide customer service and drive sales, however I would have preferred to see more examples of how smaller companies are succeeding in this space (See Duluth Pack). There were, though, a good variety of sectors like retail, B2B, financial, CPG and technology to glean some interesting tidbits.

Developing A Social Strategy Webinar

View more presentations from Charlene Li.

This webinar is a great place to start for companies thinking about creating a strategic approach to their social engagement strategy. I think Social Persuasion blog had a good synopsis for the key takeaways from the webinar:

  • Social Strategy is More Than Promotion
  • Don’t Forget Your Employees
  • Understanding the True Value
  • Social Strategy Means New Workflows
  • Practice Open Leadership

They have another webinar coming up in April about getting your company ready for social media that I highly suggest.

LinkedIn: The Forgotten Social Channel

Posted on by in Marketing Strategy, SEO, Social Media, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

linkedin logoWith all the hoopla surrounding Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube many companies seem to forget the one social channel that’s probably most relevant to their sales activities; LinkedIn. Many companies are still trying to figure out how to make social media relevant to their business and are dipping their toe in the social waters by first throwing up a Facebook Fan Page or a Twitter account. However, they’re not thinking of how they can strategically utilize LinkedIn.

What I’m finding with many of my clients is that they don’t realize all the tools available on LinkedIn and how it can actually help address their company’s objectives. In fact, I’ve put LinkedIn at the top of most of my client’s social networking priorities, as it’s been a great tool for:

  • Delivering sales leads (B2B focus)
  • Driving web traffic
  • Enhancing SEO
  • Researching competitors
  • Finding service providers
  • Recruiting employees
  • Conducting market research

I’m still amazed at how many companies never stop to consider how they use LinkedIn as an organization and how their employee’s professional connections can help them with opening doors to such things as potential clients, new employees and prospective vendors.

Consider how many people are in your company and then think about how many people they have in their professional network and you then start to realize the power of the LinkedIn. Just look at your LinkedIn Network Statistics and you’ll find how many people you’re separated from by 2 or 3 degrees. I have around 480 connections and through them I have over 73,000 2nd degree connections with whom I’m a phone call or e-mail away from being introduced. Now think about how many connections your employees have and how powerful that network can be to your business.

LinedIn Network Image

You’ve probably already heard quite of lot of buzz about how LinkedIn can help network into a new or better job but consider how it can help your company reach its overall objectives. Here are a few useful resources to get you started:

Create an Effective LinkedIn Group For Your Business

Latest Ratings of Reputation Management Tools

Posted on by in Reputation Monitoring, Social Media | Leave a comment

toolsI’ve been receiving a lot of questions regarding the best free and paid social media monitoring tools so I started to do a little research on the subject. I can’t speak to many of the paid tools out there, as I’ve only used Scoutlabs, but I’ve compiled the most comprehensive rating resources to help companies find the right one for them.

Paid Tool Reviews

The most up-to-date review of the fee based reputation monitoring management tools seems to be from Dr Dave Chaffey’s blog titled: “Online Brand Reputation or Social Media Listening Software – a Review of 26 Tools.” With the help of Michael Brewer they have compiled a very comprehensive directory of the leading brand monitoring tools. Here are a few other reviews that I found.

Free Tool Reviews

For those that aren’t ready to lay down some cash yet there are a few options that can be cobbled together to give you an idea of the conversations that are taking place around your brand. These are cheaper but they’re not as comprehensive as what you get from the paid services. Here are some sites that rate these free tools:

Feel free to share any more tools (paid or free) that you’ve used and would recommend.

Duluth Pack Finds Success with Social Media

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Minnesota, Return on Investment, Social Media | 1 Comment

1151.jpgIn my many years of hiking, canoeing and camping throughout the Minnesota’s Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA), I have acquired quite an arsenal of camping paraphernalia, including my most prized position; a #4 Duluth Pack that safely caries all my gear through rain, snow and wind. It’s one of the few products on the planet that are built to last. In fact, Duluth Pack guarantees their packs…for life.

As an interactive marketer, I thought that this company would be a perfect fit for social media as it has a loyal customer base and manufactures a product that invokes great memories of past adventures. Much to my surprise, this old company had already taken to the new media with a significant presence on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere.

Return On Investment

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Molly Solberg, who is behind all this social networking for Duluth Pack, and was able to get her take on how they have approached social media and if they have managed to realize an actual return on investment.

As it happens, they have been able to build significant sales growth through their social engagement with little capital investment. They’ve been able to drive significant amounts of traffic to their website via Facebook, Twitter and their blog; all within one year. Through their social networking they managed to get the attention of a New York Times reporter and were mentioned in a NYT article that eventually resulted in a flood or orders from all over the world. This led in turn led to further mentions on blogs and other social networks and eventually resulted in a couple of significant new corporate accounts. Talk about a return on investment.

Keys To Success

Much of Duluth Pack’s social media success can be attributed to Molly who has the gift for gab and is comfortable being social in an online setting. Her interactions on Facebook and Twitter are quite genuine and friendly with and most importantly; engaging. Her blog posts on river canoe trips, winter camping and the BWCA speak directly to their target audience and in essence act as a resource to people interested in these activities.

Molly doesn’tDuluth Pack Twitter just talk about how wonderful their products are but she makes sure to talk about camping and canoeing while also being conversational , mentioning things like the Vikings game, how cold the weather is in Duluth, links to bears having babies….you name it. She engages people in everyday conversations and makes the effort to thank them for their comments and suggestions and is willing to share what’s going on with the company. Its not just about selling, it’s about being social, which eventually leads to a sale.

Observing Duluth Pack’s social media success has solidified my belief that one of the most important aspects of a successful social networking strategy, not only relies on a solid plan, but also greatly depends on who you have conversing on those social channels. Identifying the right people who have the proper temperament, social skills, passion, and know-how can make the difference between wasting staff time and driving major sales opportunities.

Duluth Pack Finds Success with Social Media

I’m an avid camper and make it my mission to take as many camping trips as possible in a year. My main love happens to be Minnesota’s Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA), one of the country’s largest and most pristine wilderness areas. In my many years of hiking, canoeing and camping throughout the BWCA, I have acquired quite a arsenal of camping paraphernalia, including my most prized position; a #4 Duluth Pack that I received as a wedding present.

This pack is a true camping companion carring all my gear through rain, snow and wind and is on of the few products on the planet that are built to last. In fact, Duluth Pack guarantees their packs…for life. What’s not to love about that. I’m even lucky enough to have a friend who works at the company (founded in 1882) and was lucky enough to go on a tour of the factory. I was surprised to see how small their building is and even more surprised to see how everything is done by hand…the old fashion way. What a concept.

As an interactive marketer I thought that this company was a perfect fit for promoting itself through social media as it has a loyal customer base and is one of those products that invokes great memories of past adventures. Much to my surprise, this old company had already taken to the new media with a significant presence on Twitter and Facebook.

And I found out, that my friend, Molly Solberg, was behind all this social networking, so as you can imagine, I was very excited to get her take on how they approached social media and if they managed to realize a return on investment.

As it happens, they have been able to build significant business through social engagement. Through their presence on social media, they’ve been able to drive significant amounts of traffic to their website via Facebook, Twitter and their blog within one year. Through their social networking, they also have been mentioned in a New York Times article that produced orders from all over the world, that also led to mentions on blogs and other social channels and eventually led to two new significant corporate accounts. Talk about a return on investment.

Much of Duluth Pack’s social media success can be attributed to Molly who has the gift for gab and is comfortable being social in an online setting. Her interactions on Facebook and Twitter are quite genuine and friendly with and most importantly; engaging. She doesn’t just talk about how wonderful their products are but also talks about camping, canoeing, the Vikings game, weather….you name it. She also engages people and thanks them for their comments and suggestions and is willing the share what’s going on with the company.

It made me realize that a successful social media presence not only relies on a solid strategy, but depends on who you have conversing on the social channels. There truly needs to be a personality fit with the channels and doesn’t necessarily have to be someone from the marketing or public relations department.

C-Suite Expecting Social Media To Do Some Heavy Lifting in 2010

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Return on Investment, Social Media, Trends | 1 Comment

chief-executiveJust this last week I had the opportunity to attend the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Event where attendance was around 600 people with a large contingent of executives from companies such as Xcel Energy, 3M, Ecolab, US Bank, Comcast, and Securian. I had the opportunity to chat with a few of them and when I mentioned my experience with social media and interactive technologies they all immediately asked me the ROI question.

That elusive social media return on investment question that until recently had not been answered to anyone’s satisfaction. Especially those chief marketing officers (CMOs) whose lifespan at a company averages around 28 months. That’s not much time to make a difference so it’s no wonder their focus is on getting results….and fast.

A recent CMO study by Bazaarvoice (CMOs Plan for Higher Social Media Measurability in 2010) recently came out with some interesting stats on how they see social media in 2010. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Only 36% of CMOs measured social media’s impact on conversion
  • Only 22% measured social media’s impact on revenues in 2009
  • 72% CMOs who answered that they did not attach revenue to social commerce in 2009 said they would create such a link in 2010
  • 81% expect to link up to 10% of their annual revenues to their social media investment in 2010
  • The fastest-growing metrics to be tracked in 2010 include revenue, conversion, and average order value

Things have started to change and marketers are starting to find ways to effectively gauge and measure their social presence but there’s still some work to do. It’s not all about the conversation anymore; it’s about how the conversation can influence bottom line sales. Social networking now has the attention of the C-suite so it’s now time for social media to step up, start doing some heavy lifting and show its true business value.

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