Blogollob

Bolt-On Social Media not Typically Best

Is it always best to start with the agency of record to handle social media?  I am not so sure.  It is certainly no mystery why every Tom-Dick-and-Agency is suddenly (or dare I say, not so suddenly) an expert in social media marketing.  With social media budgets increasing at 34% yearly between 2009 and 2014 (Forrester Research), there’s business to be gained.  So almost everyone has piled onto the social media band wagon with an offering of course.

 

However, we have found that many businesses understand that their tried-and-true agency has just “bolted-on” a social media practice and serve it up as a core competency.  They find it's another version of the "Free Muffler Inspection" in many cases.  On the other end of the spectrum, we have all seen the multitude of “pop-up” social media marketing agencies where sticker name tags reading “Hello My Name is: SM Guru” abound (think “super f___ing awesome” guy in the social media guru video http://bit.ly/a3e4tJ).  Neither are necessarily good for the client, the agency, or the industry.

The solution is to have a few discussions with digital marketing teams and get a real sense for how they think about the opportunities…and gauge their grasp on the realities of not just what social media is, but what is involved to actually convert the substantial effort it takes to construct and operate the right program into real business results.

 

Gotta run…more to come.

So It's News That TV is Changing?

After watching a snippet from Steve Ballmer's keynote today at CES featuring a restatement of the good 'ol "TV is dying and content will be delivered via various flavors of IP-enabled devices" lines, it left me just a little puzzled.  Did he really think that audience does not get that?  Well I guess what he says these days does not really need to be very eyebrow-raising...since that swaggering brashery stuff is distracting enough that you'd probably miss the message anyway...dude, so '90's over man.

Aaanyway...what is very true as the eyeballs shift and their owners take control of the advertising consumption model, is that using data and behavior combined with the power of a biddable market could likely be a huge feature of our future marketing environment.

Whether Microsoft or Google create essentially massive global "TV" networks or not, marketers need to be prepared by understand what this means to us all.  New ways to think about marketing and engagement of course...but understanding what messages work and delivering vi the right mix of social media and marketing technology has never been more important.

“Hunker Down” is not a strategy

That is, hiding or just maintaining the status quo is really not wise.  More than ever, doing things that will create and maintain momentum is critical.  Marketing and sales organizations are stressed.  Whatever momentum organizations created in 2009 must be nurtured.  

If we look at companies that survived or even thrived during the bad times of the mid 1930’s, they placed a premium on staying in front of their customers. They didn’t hide and lick their wounds, but instead refined messaging and intensely focused their marketing activity.

In my view, when marketing managers present their ideas for driving things forward, they should be bold and push for doing more, not less. Just be on top of things and prepared to talk ROI (there’s that pesky term again).

Fortunately, with the right programs that leverage the right marketing technologies and by aligning with true experts to help guide them, organizations can indeed do more with less.

Whether it’s once-and-for-all getting a handle on social media with help from our social media services , a new and improved landing page strategy , adoption of mobile marketing tactics , upgrade of a tired email marketing platform , or even implementation of a full scale marketing “super-platform”, new technologies can present a real opportunity for marketers to operate a lean, but powerful marketing structure.  Just get the help you need to assure success.

Does Social Media Dilute Your Message?

Recently, a reader shared his view that social media, "dilutes your message to the masses". That is an interesting view that may not be unusual when thinking about the effect of perhaps a rumor or some especially titillating factoid (or falsehood). But, it brings-up a great set of issues for discussion as it illustrates how important it is for marketers to really understand how all of this crazy stuff works together.

I think the dilution concern is exactly why it is critical for marketers to do their best to stay on top of what's being said about them. We know that people will always talk. Today's social media channels enable unbridled conversation where potential prospects WILL lurk and WILL be talking. Isn't the whole idea to get as many people as possible talking about your product of service? To me, that is really goodness.

Most marketers would love the opportunity to need to deal with too many people talking about them. If that "dilutes "a message, meaning it weakens a message (dilution), that just emphasizes even more how critical it is to, 1) have a great product of service, 2) be sure you are talking to the right audience, and 3) have the right message.

The idea is that marketers need to understand how to build and RUN a fully integrated social media program and leverage the very thing this gentleman considered a potentially damaging thing..the masses' ability to spread the word. Isn't that the whole idea? Making sure we work to shape the conversation and avoid being misunderstood is, again, exactly why marketers can not ignore the importance of understanding how it all works.

This reader thought that social media will eventually give-way to the traditional sales call.  This just really illustrated how so many smart business people out there are pretty darn unclear around exactly how social media may be used. 

Social media interactions are certainly not a substitute for a sales call and in my opinion would be a bad place to try and take someone through a sales process. Sales is the downstream activity that occurs AFTER the prospect has found their way to the marketer's door (or been drawn there by good marketing)...social media tools/platforms are just another way to help the prospects see the marketer in the insanely crowded marketplace so packed with noise and invasive in-your-face advertising tactics that will never go away.

Will Marketing Kill Social Media?

Here is an interesting post-article...Is that, then, a "poarticle"? Hmmmmmm. At any rate. check it out here.  So ends my shortest post to-date...a little experiment, I suppose. Have Fun.

Landing Pages - Multivariate Testing and Optimization = Success

Savvy marketers know full-well that testing actions related to multiple versions and adjustments to fine-tune any campaign is critical if they are to maximize effectiveness.  However, the process is frequently minimized or not vigorously maintained.  To many, the idea of spending too much time "under the hood" requires more time and effort by marketers faced with so much to do every day. 

With the multiple variants possible in a given campaign permutation, truly understanding and applying proper scientific testing protocols is not as straight-forward as many may think.  To truly optimize, marketers need to engage experts.  Of course, Tim Ash and his company Site Tuners can be of great help.  Or pick-up a copy of Mr. Ash's book, "Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions"

The folks at Widemile are also a great example of a company focusing on multivariate testing. Widemile has built a platform they call Widemile Optimize.  As they will tell you, it is one of the fastest and most advanced multivariate testing technology platforms available.  While there are certainly many vendors who can do a fine job of helping you optimize, it is interesting to hear them talk about it in terms of a "platform".

As an on–demand multivariate testing and site optimization platform, Widemile Optimize appears to do a great job making it easy for marketers to set up, manage, report and publish testing and optimization campaigns. Their platform helps marketers identify and publish their top converting content without draining already stretched resources.

I'll be speaking with these experts soon and perhaps we'll explore this topic a bit further through a podcast or two.  Of course, be sure to watch for our Landing Page Bootcamp on-demand summit coming in May at Upshot Institute!

Iteration is Good

it·er·a·tion

Pronunciation: \ˌi-tə-ˈrā-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 15th century

1: the action or a process of iterating or repeating: as a: a procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result.

We've been shaping Upshot Institute for some time now.  Back in late 2007, we knew that we wanted to provide high-quality content that would help marketers make decisions around their choices in marketing technology.  However, much of our time was inevitably channeled into contract project work.  Now, we have built a wonderful platform that houses numerous resources for marketers and we are able to focus on our on-demand summits, resource portal, and vendor directory.

While performing the ever-popular "building an airplane on the runway" maneuver, we have gone through a few iterations...which is a good thing and not unfamiliar to those of us who have been at this stuff a while.  Iterative activity is frequently credited with resulting in great things. If that's true, then we must be tremendously great!

So, it is with great excitement that we have now launched our new site (here).  You'll still find everything we've had from the start but now we feature our resource portal (here), on-demand summits (here), and vendor directory.  Yes, we are still adding content, but we decided to let everyone be part of that activity.

We are hearing from many vendors who will now be presenting in our upcoming summits and we are welcoming all who would like to contribute to the Resource Portal.  Just drop us line and we'll get you in the mix!

Low Tech iPhone Stand

I just could not resist.  The chance to use the words low tech and iPhone in the same sentence, not to mention the idea of cutting-up a credit card made this simply too much to pass up. 

I any event, how many times have you been on an airplane or sitting somewhere wishing you could prop-up your iPod, iPhone, or other device?  Crunched-up notebook paper or a folded-up scarf or gloves just don't do the trick (yeah, Winter is gone finally too).

Check out this little DIY arts-and-crafts project for an almost instant stand for your iPhone, etc.!

Such low techhie goodness...a nice break.

Have fun.