Benny Lewis has quite the interesting concept, every 2 or 3 months he moves to a new country and learns a new language. He blogs about his travels, and funds all of this by selling one digital product.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Nov 7th, 2011. 
Online slander is never good for an individual or business. Steven Wyer, the founder of Reputation Advocate, knows this first hand since he saw his business and reputation destroyed after false information was spread on the Internet.
As he worked to turn his reputation around, he realized that a lot of other people and businesses have had to deal with the same issues. For this reason, he is now helping others protect their online reputation through his business and his new book called Violated Online: How Online Slander Can Destroy Your Life & What You Must Do to Protect Yourself.
He told us that people should be proactive about their reputation. He advises that they regularly monitor what is said about them online and address any issues before they get out of hand.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Oct 2nd, 2011.
It used to be that clients came to us and said, “We need a new brochure.” Then they started saying, “We need a new website.” Now it’s, “We don’t know what to do with our Facebook page. Can you help?” As an integrated marketing strategy firm, we believe that addressing tactics or channels in a vacuum is a mistake. We always counsel our clients to start at the top (with objectives) then work their way down the ladder to target, then identity, and ultimately, tactics.
This is true when developing a long-term, strategic brand platform and marketing plan as well as when developing a social media program. My previous posts in this series covered the WHO, WHAT and WHY of social media. This one covers the HOW, the strategy development process for social marketing.
Social media deserves a well-defined strategy just like any other channel category needs a guiding strategy. Most companies probably have an overarching brand or marketing strategy, but probably also have (or should have) complementary sub-strategies for:
- Paid media placements
- Public relations
- Direct marketing
- Promotions
- Etc., etc., etc.
Social media should be treated like any other channel category and the following steps should be taken (in order) BEFORE undergoing any tactical implementation:
- Gain consensus among key leaders around a singular objective; what are we trying to accomplish with social media?
- Develop a detailed target profile; it’s important to understand our primary audience demographically, psychologically, and from an online behavioral standpoint
- Create a distinct brand position in the social media space; define how you will relate to your target and how will you stand out from your competitors
- Design a communications plan that will address your objective, most effectively reach your target, and best support your brand identity; in other words, determine which social media outlets, what types of content, and when to post/respond/share
I can’t stress enough how important it is to address each of these items in order before you launch into social media. If you’ve already started your social media endeavors, you can still evaluate your actions using these four guidelines. A sound social media strategy is imperative to put your brand on a path to success. And this strategy should mesh well with the rest of your brand’s marketing program in order to create a seamless experience for your target audience.
That wraps up this brief series on social media. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to read more about my additional precautionary guidelines dealing with the WHO, WHAT and WHY of social media.
Author: Emily Griebel, an Integration Architect at McKee Wallwork Cleveland. Emily leads our Integration Architecture practice and is responsible for ensuring our clients’ marketing plans are seamlessly interwoven. If you’re interested in an audit of your marketing plan, you can reach her at EGriebel@mwcmail.com, or @MWCemily on Twitter.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Sep 30th, 2011.
This week, Twitter announced that it now has 100 million active users. Of these users, 60 percent sign in to read and don’t actually tweet. This means that people are mostly turning to Twitter to find firsthand information rather than to post and share it.
It’s become clear how the service enables citizens to organize around common political causes and take action, such as the Arab Spring, and track events related to natural disasters. In response to Hurricane Irene, for example, @Fema created a list of accounts providing the most updated information for users to follow.
Several of the world’s leaders, governments, humanitarians, and news organizations can be found communicating to their respective audiences on Twitter. For example, the White House tweets web-only videos of President Obama’s speeches via @whitehouse. During the Japan earthquakes, Americans may have turned to @RedCross to learn where to send donations. Twitter has become the dominant source for real-time information. In many instances, people are no longer willing to wait for websites to be updated. Immediacy is key.
What can your brand or business learn from these examples?
Post current industry news and information to help your customers make the best decisions. Discuss strategic alliances with industry partners wherein you connect your followers with them, and they do the same for you. Create lists to let your followers easily connect with each other and your industry partners.
Overall, regardless of the platform being used – whether it’s custom-built or an already-existing one such as Twitter – companies who take a long-term approach with social media will find more success. All along the way, matching your tactics with the various customer touchpoints is crucial. The results of a brand’s digital strategy will eventually be as strong as its implementation. Deep and consistent integration of the various online channels being used, compelling tactics and solid implementation will help any company, business or brand reach or surpass their marketing goals.
What challenges are you facing with your digital strategy? Leave them or any other comments below. If you prefer email, please send them to social@piehead.com. We’re happy to help!
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Sep 9th, 2011.
Last week, many Facebook users were alarmed when they thought Facebook was publishing all the contacts in their phones. As it turns out, for those users that sync their mobile phone contacts with their Facebook contacts, the company was pulling the numbers from their phones and consolidating them in one place in their Facebook Phonebook.
However, the social network was not publishing the contacts to other users. Social media strategist Tamar Weinberg was one of the first users to notice this feature and, although initially taken aback, she told us that it was convenient way to access her contacts.
In an effort to squelch some of the rumors going around about the issue, Facebook released a statement assuring users that it was not publishing the contacts. It also said the feature had been around for a “long time,” which is odd since no one had mentioned it previously.
What do you think of the feature?
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Aug 18th, 2011.
