social media « Email is Alive

26Mar/101

Guest Posting on KyleLacy.com

I was privileged to be asked to post an article with Kyle Lacy on his website. Without further adieu - "E-Mail's Role in Social Media"

I really appreciate the openness of the interactive marketing community and being able to share knowledge through other sites as well as my own. Big thanks to Kyle for having me on his blog as a contributor.

Tagged as: death of email, E-mail Marketing, email, facebook, interactive marketing, linkedin, social media, Twitter 1 Comment

1Nov/090

Social Media and the Corporate Attack Plan

I’m an avid Tweeter, Emailer, Facebooker and I love everything – Internet. My daily world consists of multiple social applications running, Exact Target glaring into my face and Google Analytics giving me more data than my brain can handle. I’ve learned to multi-task on a level that would make chefs jealous using a myriad of alt+tab and precise mouse clicks – it’s my life.

Through this submersion into everything online I’ve come to appreciate and understand the purpose of each social community; I’m careful not to tread heavily in certain arenas due to the receptive nature of each community. However, the value of each community is still equal to one another, just not applicable to the same tactics – i.e. Twitter and Facebook are both of equal social importance, but not equal in receptiveness depending on the tactics of the campaign. Some would argue in the B2B space that LinkedIn is the vehicle to channel due to its corporate focus; I would say that’s not always the case. (But I’ve been proven wrong before) Point being; each social channel has its benefits and can be leveraged in tandem with other to create a strengthened presence online. To limit a company to one would not only be a narrowly focused attempt at social marketing, it would create a one dimensional approach to a multi-dimensional problem.

So, you say, “How do I implement a strategy that encompasses more than one channel?” I’ll tell you; find the voice of your company within each of the channels and actively pursue the users in that space with relevant engagement. You say, “HOW?” Well, that depends on the channel, right? Right.

Think of it like this. Facebook is a ‘Friend-based community’, approach these people as ‘friends’ and treat them as such. Don’t think that you can get away with a sales pitch to your friends, it won’t work. However; you can provide them information that may profit you – as long as it profits them too. i.e. – A brewery gives up information on a new seasonal beer and the date the beer becomes available. “Why is this relevant? It’s not selling anything.” Au contraire mon frère – The brewery just gave valuable information to it’s ‘friends’ about beer they may be interested in. Therefore, they go out and buy it. The brewery didn’t need to say, “Buy our beer”. It simply updated its ‘friends’ on a new release.

A different approach should be used for Twitter; this community is ‘Follower based’ allowing the ‘Followed’ to apply more implied direction than Facebook. The followers are more engaged in what’s said, BUT are looking for valuable information. Twitter is a real-time micro blogging platform that’s most valuable when leveraged multiple times a day, creating an active feed worth following. A once a week/month Twitter account isn’t going to receive as much attraction due to the nature of the community – it’s fast and furious with an unquenchable desire to consume. The more you Tweet relevant data – the more followers you’ll receive, giving the account more authority in the Twittersphere.

Using the appropriate approaches in each community is the key to the effectiveness of the campaign. Social media is exactly what is says, social. A company can’t insert itself into a community without making friends and playing by the rules and expect to succeed. The community decides who’s welcome. Respecting the community and applying marketing efforts appropriately to the attributes of the people involved plays volumes in growth and viral affect of the campaign as well, adapting to the community is where the most value is found. The community won’t adapt to the marketing, it’s vice versa.

To conclude; take the time to evaluate who in the organization would be best for these efforts. There are natural online socialites that will carry these efforts without skipping a beat. Forcing unsaavy marketing employees to update Twitter 10x a day isn’t the right approach, choose someone already involved in the community and who has already established a following or a friend base (They may even be in Accounting – I know, scary right?). These people are priceless for corporate insertion into the online social world – they know the rules, they know the people and they like to do it. Why not pay them for it?

Tagged as: facebook, social marketing, social media, Twitter No Comments

6Oct/080

Understanding How Social Media Helps Your Business Online

If you're looking to grow your presence on the internet, you're probably hearing all the talk about social marketing, viral marketing and the like. You've probably browsed through YouTube, Facebook, Digg, Technorati and tons of other online social outlets only to be confused how these all tie together to create a "buzz" around your site and your brand. Don't feel bad, it's not an easy task, but it doesn't have to be intimidating. Understanding the vehicles that can deliver your brand online is the first step to building your social brand. Let's go through a few.

Blogging

Blogging is the probably the most popular way to dip your toe into the social activity on the web. Most blogs are free to setup, easy to use, very manageable and search engines love them. A few of the most popular blog platforms would be WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and LiveJournal. Personally, WordPress is my favorite. This platform is very customizable, scalable, hosted locally or through wordpress, has tons of plugins and is very well supported. Feel free to use a few in order to find out what you like the most, but if you're looking for a robust platform out of the box, WordPress is a wonderful social platform to get started with. It will grow with your business allowing you to expand effortlessly into the social web.

Forums

Forums are another wonderful way to expose your business to the masses. While most forums are tightly moderated to make sure there are no spammers filling their sites with marketing posts, they allow you to reach specific groups of web users with information about your business in an informal setting. You can also establish relationships with other people in your industry that may become link partners or social evangelists for you. Forums are a great way to test your products or solutions against the social market to gauge interest for what you're selling. If you create a buzz...hold on for the ride!

Main Stream Social Outlets

This is probably the section you've been waiting for...wait no longer. Main Stream Social Outlets like YouTube, Digg, Technorati, Myspace, etc are very highly used sites that can be detrimental to your online persona if not used properly. I say this because in the realm of these types of online societies you can be made into something you didn't want to be very quickly.

Don't get me wrong, these networks can be leveraged to create a massive following for your brand and company. They also give you many avenues into the online social marketplace and an ability to drive traffic to your site with relative ease. However, without properly measuring the repercussions of driving users to a website that's not ready for the masses can severely tarnish your online reputation. Don't do that.

The positive light here is bigger than my pessimistic warnings, hold on, I'm not a complete social grinch.

Let me redeem myself.

YouTube - is an amazing and easy way to create a buzz around your site and brand. Not only can you use YouTube to give the online word a view into what you're all about. You can also use YouTube to host your videos and embed them into your blog or website. That's an awesome way to create and retain interest on your site. Video is being used more and more on the web and YouTube is a cost efficient way to spice up your site and promote your brand with video media.

Digg - this is one of the heaviest used social networks for fresh relevant media. Not only does this site receive oodles of traffic, but the viral capacity of this site is stunning. Go to labs.digg.com to view their social network grow and intertwine in real time. It's amazing to watch. Once you've seen that you'll be excited again about social networking...i promise.

MySpace/FaceBook - these networks aren't spidered by search engines and the links are irrelevant to SEO. So, why are they so important in the social world? Facebook offers highly targeted marketing to specific groups of users online. You sell T-Shirts that are targeted to 20-30 year old males that like rock and roll and cycling, you say? Done. Oh, and you need them to be specific to Bend, Oregon. No problem. Myspace on the other hand is more highly used by the younger generation so your presence there may or may not be relevant, but the amount of eyeballs that potentially could see your brand is tremendous.

Both of these networks also allow you to setup accounts that you can use to network into these spaces. This also is a great way to informally introduce your business to the online social community to gauge interest and brand perception.

I'll be introducing more in my next post so stay tuned!

Tags: SocialMedia, Social Marketing, web site optimization, colorado, seo, blogs, blogging, forums, WordPress

Tagged as: blogging, blogs, delivering your brand online through social, digg, facebook, social marketing, social media, social networks, technorati No Comments

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