Internet Marketing is still a relatively new game. The rules of the game are still evolving and new players are entering the game all the time.
Every sane business by now has a website, but a website alone only enters your business into the game, it doesn’t make you a winner. To achieve web success, your website needs targeted traffic and it must provide a high level of conversions (traffic converted into customers).
You can’t win the game if you don’t know the rules. The three rules of the game for securing website traffic involve: Search, Surf, and Social.
- People SEARCH for specific information or products via search engines – high organic ranking via SEO and/or sponsored ads (PPC) is needed to reach these people.
- and… People SURF their favorite websites for news and entertainment – display ads placed in popular websites that geographically and demographically match your marketplace are needed to reach these people.
- and… People SOCIALIZE in SocNets and content-sharing websites – participation in and advertising in social media websites is needed to reach these people.
If you have a website, but are not dealing with the realities of the SEARCH, SURF, and SOCIAL behavior of people, then you are not a real player and you will not win the game.
It does not matter if your business is B2C or B2B in nature. In the end, it’s a person who buys your stuff and all people SEARCH, SURF, and SOCIALIZE online all of which influences their buying decision. You need to be where the people are if you are going to influence them.
Internet Marketing is a mix of direct marketing, branding, reputation management, lead generation, and customer relations. To accomplish all of the above you need to deal with search, surf, and social environments.
The end game is more sales and prosperity for your business which can’t be accomplished without targeted traffic. If you want to win the game, you need Internet Marketing strategies and tactics that funnels the Searchers, Surfers, and Socailizers to your website where you have a chance to convert them into customers.
You need an Internet Marketing roadmap to guide you along the way. We have provided a roadmap to web success for many, many companies… contact us for your copy.
Tags: Internet Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
Wikipedia describes Social Media as:
Social Media is a term used to describe the type of media that is based on conversation and interaction between people online. Where media means digital words, sounds, and pictures which are typically shared via the Internet and the value can be cultural, societal, conversational, financial, or business oriented.
Social Media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social Media uses web-based technologies to transform and broadcast monologues into social media dialogues. They support the democratization of knowledge and information and transform people from content consumers to content producers.
The term Social Media has evolved from the terms “Web 2.0″ and “User Generated Content (UGC)”. Social Media became the populist term because it involves people socailizing online. But the key to it all is public generated content. For that reason, it seems to me that the correct name for it is Public Media.
Until Social (AKA Public) Media came along, information publication was controlled by a relatively few, but very large media companies. Companies used traditional media publication sources to broadcast their messages (AKA commercials). Whoever could afford air time or print publications spoke and the public listened. There was no practical way for the public to mass respond to broadcast news and ads.
With the evolution of Public Media (AKA Social) the public now has a mass publication method and the flow of information has become open to all. Companies now have to listen, not just talk.
I read that Amazon has been credited to be one of the first websites to tap into Social Media for business use. Amazon in the late 90′s added customer reviews of purchased products to their eCommerce function in the form of forum postings on the Amazon website.
From there social spread to other eCommerce websites and eventually to the mega sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc, etc, etc.
The invention of the large social sites has transformed mass communication. the public now has a broadcast method for their voice. Socail Media has moved past being just a place to socialize. Social Media is now a full fledged source of public information exchange.
I vote for renaming Social Media to Public Media. What do you think?
Tags: Social Media, Social Media Marketing
Change happens. Here is a video about the last ad agency in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERGrSQoY5fs&feature=player_embedded
You really, really, really need to get on board with Social Media Marketing.
Need information?
Follow the WSI webinar series about Social Media. The next webinar is on May 27 – register via the below link:
Surf or Turf through Search and Social (a WSI Webinar), Thursday, May 27, 12:00pm to 1:00pm CDT – Join a WSI Search Marketing Strategist for a special webinar presentation entitled “Surf and Turf through Search and Social”. This dynamic presentation will broaden your understanding of how search marketing and social media impacts a person’s decision to either “surf” through your site or “turf” it from the get-go. Make plans to attend this webinar, where a WSI expert speaker will reveal key tactics that you can implement into your online marketing strategy to skyrocket your results.
Click here to register!
Archived Webinars: Video Marketing, Facebook and LinkedIn (Note: Video starts about 1 minute into audio.)
Tags: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, social networks
Internet Video Marketing is hot. Done properly video can enhance SEO, inform, educate, go viral, and help close a sale. Knowledge is power – watch the below archived webinar for a look behind the curtain at how the magic happens.
Video Marketing Webinar – strategies and future trends. Enjoy.
http://downloads.mapssystem.net/ECWebinars2010/VideoMarketingUS.wmv
And here is the companion whitepaper – Video Marketing: Proven Strategies and Future Trends”: http://getwsipowered.com/videomarketing.
WSI is pleased to announce the next webinar on May 27 at noon CDT entitled “Surf or Turf through Search and Social”
Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/936951361 and a whitepaper will be available shortly before the webinar
Tags: Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Video Marketing
In physics, speed is defined as Velocity. Velocity is a measure of average or constant distance covered per unit of time like feet/second. Acceleration is a measure of the rate of change in speed or velocity and is measured in feet/second/second. The term ‘Jerk’ (AKA Jolt, Surge, or Lurch in some systems) is a measure of the rate of change of Acceleration measured in feet/second/second/second.
If something is traveling at a constant speed its progress can be measured by Velocity. If the object or activity is speeding up at a costant rate, its change in progress can be measured by Acceleration. If an object or activity is speeding up at an increasing rate, its change in progress can be measured by Jerk.
So what does this have to do with Social Media Marketing (SMM)?
Is SMM moving along at a constant Velocity or experiencing uniform Accelerating or is the reality that SMM is being Jerked at a pace that could propel SMM into a position of Marketing dominance?
In the last 3 years, Social Media has gone from a relative unknown to a major activity for the majority of Internet users. Networking portals like Facebook are challenging old standbys like email as the online communication method of choice. Sharing websites like YouTube are challenging traditional news sources for attention. Twitter keeps followers in touch in real time. Clearly SMM has been in, and continues to be in, a Surge period.
Marketing budget emphasis is changing to follow the Surge in Social Media user activity. Marketing budgets are being reallocated to SMM activities. Sure… websites, SEO, PPC, Banner Ads, and email are still part of the game, but those activities are not Accelerating, much less Surging; they are moving along at a constant pace.
The budget Surge in SMM is coming at the expense of traditional media like radio, newspapers, Yellow Pages, and similar old-line media that is in a Decelerating period. Is your marketing budget still dominated by activities in declining media? If yes, why?
SMM is leaving what marketers call the early adapter stage and is entering the mainstream stage. The biggest obstacle to successful utilization of SMM among businesses is lack of understanding how to profit from SMM.
If you see the light and don’t want to miss the Surge, contact us. We can provide a Social Media Marketing Plan tailored to your business and marketplace.
So don’t be a jerk; but rather take advanatge of the Jerk – Surge that is – In SMM.
Tags: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
Internet Business Solution Skill Sets
Business class web success at a high level requires multi-disciplinary skills that are impossible to find all in one person.
Business class Internet activities require skill sets in: technology, programming, graphic design, copy writing, marketing principles, salesmanship, psychology, analytics, business strategizing, and of course a depth of understanding about your products & services.
Training and experience are needed in website development & webmaster skills, search engine optimization, search marketing (PPC, banner ads), advertising copy writing, email marketing, content marketing, and even the laws governing the Internet.
Application and administration skills must also be acquired to interact with programs like website content management editors, eCommerce packages if you need one, Google AdWords, Google Maps, Google Analytics or similar, multiple Social Media websites, measurement & tracking software, and report programs.
No one performs at a high level with all of the above; not a business owner or manager nor does an IT guy, a marketing specialist, a salesman, an accountant, a bright college kid, nor any one person within a company.
So how is high level Internet business success accomplished? It takes a team.
- If you are a small company, chances are the owner or manager tries to be a one-man ‘team’ who gets help from friends who know a little of this or that plus the help of a contract specialist who does spot duty in an area beyond the manager’s ability. Chances are the manger will also invest in ‘bargain basement’ tools and services.
- If you are a large enough company, you can pull together people from within your organization who collectively have the skill sets needed and add your Internet Solution to their job duties. You will need to equip them with tools and train them in what they need to know about the Internet business world plus hire specialists to fill in any gaps.
- Or you can take a few key individuals within your company to team with an outside Internet Business Solution firm that has the specialized tools and people with the necessary internet knowledge and experience.
- Or you can outsource nearly all aspects of your Internet Business Solution retaining only strategy approval and product knowledge input.
Which online path to success you take depends on your business philosophy.
- Do you prefer vertical integration (keep everything you do in house)? If you don’t like anything ‘not invented here’ or think an internal solution will cost less, then you will be okay with tying up a lot of time & valuable internal resources and pathway #1 or #2 above is for you.
- Do you prefer to use your time and internal resources on your core business competencies and rely on outsourcing for specialty needs like Internet Solutions? If you don’t like tying up valuable internal resources on a rapidly changing specialty, then path #3 or #4 above is for you.
It comes down to do you want to immerse yourself and your staff into mastering the many skills, tools, and nuances of developing a high level Internet Business Solution or do you just want to be able to use an Internet Solution to the benefit of your business?
If you prefer a do-it-all-myself approach, then good luck and my best wishes.
If you want the benefits without a steep learning curve and huge time & internal resource commitment, then partner with a company who has assembled a team of experts to work for your web success.
Tags: Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, Web Success
What is the #1 barrier to a successful Social Media Marketing Business Strategy?
According to a survey conducted by MarketingSherpa, lack of knowledge is the number one barrier to social media adoption. This means many organizations that try to play in the social media realm are at the risk of creating an atmosphere that can backfire on their marketing strategy if they are not knowledgeable.
You might or might not understand that starting a conversation online is important – but listening to what users are saying is not something that should be overlooked. The first thing to know is that Social media is not one of those ‘set it and forget it’ strategies. You need to monitor, listen to, and participate in what users are saying about your brand, product or service. There is a self defense aspect to Social Media if you start things or not.
The challenge for most organizations is finding the time to respond to threads, comments, and tweets. The more social networks you are on, the more resources are required for tracking the activity in those channels. A lot of organizations fear opening a channel of conversation also calls for opening a can of worms for users to post their frustrations, complaints, and bad experiences. Sometimes, but that is going on if you are participating or not.
What most organizations fail to realize is if they do not start the conversation on a positive note in the first place, where they do have control over what is being said, that is not going to stop anyone from creating that Facebook Group, or YouTube Channel, or blog that focuses on the negative experience with your brand.
For example, there are many Social Media pages, like in Facebook, that are dedicated to users who hate Microsoft. There are over 50,000 websites, 5500 blogs, 200 Facebook groups, 500 videos online, and dozens of tweets on Twitter hourly that have some reference to ‘Microsoft Sucks’. In the case of Microsoft, they have a large enough installed base of more or less satisfied clients who are tolerant to the nuances of Microsoft products so Microsoft can survive such banter. Even so, Microsoft watches this dialogue carefully and conducts counter measures.
Most small to medium sized businesses do not have to worry at such a large scale about brand protection, but remember even 1 website, 1 video, 1 Facebook page or 1 tweet can be enough to do some serious brand damage for a small business. By proactively participating in and monitoring Social Media channels even small businesses can protect their reputation and build brand loyalty.
The key is finding the right Social Media mix – tro get started, find out where your customers hang out online. Social Media might be the question that is being discussed at meetings in your organization, but it is not always the answer. You need to look at what the objective of the campaign is, what you consider a success, and then determine if Social Media is a mechanism that is going to help fulfill that plan.
Social Media should not be a replacement for a marketing strategy you are implementing, but should be part of the mix of activities you are executing.
- Your Internet Marketing System including a website
- Pay Per Click
- Email Marketing
- Banner Ads
- Social Media
- Search Engine Optimization
Forward thinking, contemporary companies have already started and feel that Social Media is an important aspect to their business strategy. So whether it is a large portion or small percentage of your overall campaign, success comes with testing, measuring and analyzing results.
Conclusion -
So where do businesses start? Should they create a page on LinkedIn or MySpace? Should they start a blog or start a Twitter campaign? To answer these questions, it is important to understand that different social networks attract different types of people – so you need to match the users of your product and service to the network your target audience is most likely to engage in.
For example, if you are selling consumer goods, Facebook might be the better area to start promoting opposed to LinkedIn, which is a more B2B environment. We can consult and help put the pieces of the Social Media puzzle together and recommend a plan that is right for your business. Social Media can be fun, drive a lot of targeted traffic, increase visibility, and generate more business, but without the knowledge and experience of executing the campaign, your social strategy is going to turn, well… very unsocial.
Get the advice and consult with experts.
Tags: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, social networks
Don’t Believe These 5 Social Media Myths
There is a lot of information floating online that rants about everything from how great social media is to how much of a waste of time it is. Below is a list of common misconceptions around this topic that I often encounter when educating businesses about social media.
1. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are for Kids -
Fear: Businesses have a difficult time grasping the concept that the same network their children use to gossip to their friends about the party they went to over the weekend is the same channel that is going to connect businesses with their customers.
Fact: Yes, it is true that there are a lot of teenagers and college students that are on social networking sites. However the fastest growing demographics on Facebook are those 35 years and older (Facebook). On Twitter, 45 to 54 year olds make up the highest indexing age group (eMetrics) and Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6% of MySpace visitors (comScore). So, social media is not just for kids, but a way for organizations to reach out and connect with the right people to grow their business.
2. Building Online Relationships is a Waste of Time -
Fear: There is no point of networking with people you are never going to meet. It is simply a waste of time as it will not drive me any more business.
Fact: This is far from true – social media has opened the doors where it is possible to network with your customers, clients, prospects at ease. Not all of them are going to turn into customers, but that does not mean you cannot collect valuable feedback on your product or service. In addition, building your online fan base is another way for you to promote your products and services and help keep people informed about what is happening in your organization. There is no such thing as time being wasted when it comes to networking with your target audience.
3. You Can Not Measure Social Media -
Fear: It is not possible to measure an ROI on social media.
Fact: The very fact that social media is Internet based means it can be measured. When it comes to measuring social, there are typically different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) businesses look at when determining ROI. For example, the goal of your website may be to measure the number of completed downloads, the number of items added to the shopping cart, or the number of newsletter sign-ups you receive. However, on your social media campaign, you might look at the number of fans that increased over time, the number of comments posted on your channel, the number of discussion threads on your forum, or the number of ratings your video received. All these Key Performance Indicators can be measured and analyzed to determine if the campaign was indeed successful.
There are several tools available that allow you to measure the traffic you receive from social sites and analytic software such as Google Analytics can be used to determine which social sites brought the most conversions for your product / service. So yes, considering all this, social media can be measured.
4. Social Media is Free –
Fear: I can create my own YouTube channel, or LinkedIn page, or Twitter account. There is no cost for me to set up my network on those portals, so why am I being told it is going to cost me money to implement a social media campaign?
Fact: A lot of the technology is free, but simply creating an account on Facebook or registering your product name on Twitter is not a social media campaign. You need to ask yourself:
• How do I increase the number of fans I have on my Facebook page?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my YouTube channel?
• How do I get people to retweet my message to their followers on Twitter?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my blog?
You still need the campaign, the creative, and the drive to get your social media plan working for you.
5. This is Something I Can Probably Do In-House –
Fear: We have employees that use social networking sites on a regular basis, and they are familiar with the technology, so why not use them to grow our business online?
Fact: In most cases, employees are using social media for personal reasons, and use it to connect with their friends, share photos, and find out what’s happening and where. But when it comes to leveraging and monetizing social media for business purposes, it is a completely different ball game. This is where creativity, campaign ideas, and of course experience is key. Organizations need to turn to the experts in this field to help them put that plan in place. There is no pre-defined process for social media. Depending on your target audience and your product or service, the networks you participate in, the message you decide to deliver and the way you deliver it are crucial to the success of the overall campaign.
Contact experts with years of social media business strategy experience.
Tags: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, social networks
The buzz about Social Media is because it is where a lot of people ‘hang out’, it is growing, and it really works as a business promotional tool. About 50% US Internet users visited social networking sites several times a month in 2009 and this number is increasing.
Businesses today need to look at all the alternatives to get in front of their customers. This is true for national and local businesses. Print Yellow Pages, newspapers, magazines, radio, etc are all in decline relative to viewership. So a business must be online, but simply having a website is not enough anymore. Going social must be part of the mix to reach the broadest audience and to be more easily found via search engines.
Consider the promotion of your brand. Have you ever searched for a company name, brand name or product in a search engine before you made a purchase or decided to do business with that organization? Your online brand is extremely important to monitor and manage. Very often social media links show up with website listings in search engines.
Having one negative listing in the top 10 results of a search engine could be enough to cause prospects to steer away, leave your existing customers in a state of panic, and damage your brand to the point where business starts to go south.
Let’s take a look at United Airlines, a major United States airline that faced a public relations nightmare after an angry passenger created a music video about his guitar being broken during a trip using the airline. The passenger, Dave Carroll, a Canadian musician spent a year trying to get compensation from United Airlines, and when he received no response, he proceeded to take his own actions by creating a song about how United Airlines broke his guitar. The music video became an instant hit, and has millions of views registered on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
Not only did this video go viral in nature, but even doing a search in Google for United Airlines showed the video on page one of the search engine results page. So with recent numbers like 5,752,254 views, 22,614 comments, 36,357 ratings, 27,567 users adding this video to their favorites, and 2,240,000 monthly searches in Google for the term United Airlines, you be the judge if this simple 4-minute, 36-second video clip did any damage to the United Airlines brand.
And you need to reserve your brand. Much like purchasing a branded domain name, it is important that companies also register their branded names on social channels. Each social site has their own rules on registering trademark or branded names, but there are a number of companies that have become victims of users squatting on their branded channel because the companies were not quick enough to act.
For example, Microsoft does not own http://www.youtube.com/Microsoft, a channel with considerable number of views. And you would think that McDonalds owns http://www.youtube.com/McDonalds, but they are another victim of a company that had their channel name taken. Apathy and sloth can result in painful consequences within the online business world.
The next article I will post is about the myths surrounding Social Media
In the meantime, if you are seeking a professional approach to social media, contact experts who have been in the social media marketing arena since its beginning.
Tags: soc, Social Media, Social Networking, social networks
Social Media can help build your brand, promote your product and services, collect feedback from your customers, increase your website traffic. and generate leads for your business. Social Media can do all sorts of magnificent things for your company if you use this medium as part of your online marketing strategy. Whether you are a small business that services a local area or an international one that works on a global scale, Social Media is a proven business resource.
Social Media is not a new concept. Social media has been around for some time – but it is only now that organizations are starting to routinely leverage this medium. Let’s take it back and see how the Internet has changed over the last several years and how it eventually gave birth to social media.
How It All Began - Remember the days when we ‘surfed’ the web? In today’s world, we do not surf; we search. There are about 250 million searches per day conducted just in Google. With smart phones like the iPhone & Blackberry, game consoles like Xbox 360, and mobile Internet sticks you can purchase from your Internet Service Provider, we can now surf online virtually any time and anywhere.
Remember when America Online (AOL) launched in the United States and with every incoming email you heard the famous ‘You’ve Got Mail’ audio? Now imagine in today’s world hearing that same ‘You’ve Got Mail’ each time you receive an email – how annoying would that be?
The Internet has changed and it is still changing today faster than ever. Businesses need to keep up with the current trends if they want to survive online. During and after the dot com boom in the late 90s, most businesses jumped online and created websites, but websites back then are much different than they are now.
In the early years, web users would be limited to only reading information from a website. Websites were one dimensional and visitors needed to go back frequently to see if anything had changed. But as the Internet started to grow, it opened the door to other types of websites, like forums and newsgroups, which allowed users to post questions, share comments, conduct ratings, and become part of a conversation online. Soon we started hearing about Web 2.0 and sites like Wikipedia that exploded based on user generated content.
Websites evolved from being mere pages developed within the organization and became portals of public users generating content for them. Next thing you know, we have all sorts of Web 2.0 things emerging – like blogs, widgets, and social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube coming into the picture.
Businesses no longer had to wait for visitors to come to their website; they could now push information directly to their customers, and in turn customers had the opportunity to contribute and share that information with their network of friends online. Social media opened the door for information to be passed quickly and naturally – leaving the opportunity for viral growth for marketers.
But as exciting as it sounds to have raving fans promoting your business, what happens when a group of angry or frustrated customers decided to share their experience online? Let’s take a further look at some of the reasons why it is important to plunge into the social media realm.
The Importance of Going Social - There is about 150 million USA regular users of Social Networking websites and the number is growing. About 50% of regular SocNet users login multiple times each day using their PC or mobile devices. Online businesses today need to look at other alternatives to get in front of their customers as simply having a website may not be enough anymore.
The next post will discuss the buzz around Social Media. It is important that businesses understand the new normal Internet or get help from professionals in Internet Marketing who do understand.
Tags: Socail Media Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Optimization
Did you know this about Social Networks (SocNets)?
USA web users currently spend on average just over 6 hours per month in SocNets?
In the top 10 countries, web users spent about 5.5 hours in SocNets in February.
About half of all SocNet traffic is within the USA
The unique SocNet audience in the USA grew about 30% year to year, from 115 million in February 2009 to 150 million in February 2010.
Facebook is the most popular SocNet site with about 50% of global SocNet traffic. MySpace is in second at about 15% of traffic.
Facebook passed Google last week as the most trafficked website. Facebook is more popular than email for communications.
Almost 50% of all global marketers currently use SocNets for business purposes with another 20% planning to jump in this year. Almost 60% of USA marketers currently use SocNets.
About 50% of users (especially those under 25) log into Social sites like Facebook and Twitter during the night or as the first thing they do in the morning. Almost 20% of all user age groups log into SocNets before turning on the TV or radio.
60% of users under 25 years old do not go longer than a day before using a SocNet and 50% for users over 25 do not let more than a day go by without going to a SocNet. About 40% of <25 and 25% of >25 year olds check SocNets several times a day.
Mobile devices are popular SocNet connectivity methods because users check into SocNets so frequently whenever they have a spare moment wherever they are.
Is your business adapting to the SocNet environment and trend with valuable Social Media Marketing tactics? Not sure how? Get some help from experts. Contact Us.
Join our webinar this Wednesday, March 24:
Topic: Monetizing Facebook for Businesses: 5 Deadly Mistakes Businesses Can’t Afford To Make
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/957409281
Tags: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, social networks
For a long time, Google has been the undisputed leader in web visits. Not anymore. According to Industry watcher Hitwise, last week visits to Facebook surpassed visits to Google in the USA.
Facebook and Google both have about a 7% market share of all Internet traffic with Facebook currently having a slight lead in visits over Google. If the other top Social Media and Social Networking websites are added in, collectively they far surpass Google traffic.
Being social is the top single online activity – let that sink in and think about the business opportunity that creates. Social does not mean just friends getting together. Social includes business networking, idea sharing, lead generation, advertising opportunities, recruitment or job hunting, and linkages to improve search optimization and increases in your website traffic – all good things.
The growing popularity of Social websites underscores why Social Marketing has become a must-do for the business world. A foundation of marketing & advertising is to put your message where the crowds are located - where your customer’s eyes and ears are hanging out.
Marketing is done where people prefer to spend their time and you have a chance to grab some of their attention: watching TV, listening to Radio, reading newspapers & magazines, etc, etc. But those traditional hang-outs are in decline. More and more people are online doing searches and being social.
Businesses can not afford to ignore this trend – shift happens. Marketing budgets must be flexible to change with the times.
Some businesses are adverse to change, especially if it involves technology. If you have not already adjusted to the new normal in the marketing universe , my advice is to get over your apathy or fear or whatever is causing you to ignore reality and embrace Digital Media Marketing.
If you are not sure how to approach integrating Digital Marketing into your overall marketing mix, get help from Digital Marketing professionals. Contact Us.
Tags: Facebook, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, social networks
0