So if Everybody Else Jumps Off the Bridge…

January 3rd, 2012

By Sharon Hill

Remember the days when not everybody had a website.  Yes, we acknowledge there is a small minority of companies that still do not have a website.

Today it appears there is an expectation for all companies to be involved with social media, especially Facebook.

There are all kinds of studies about social media success regarding engagement, persuasion, referrals, etc.  Maybe or maybe not.  It does appear the most successful campaigns have some promotional element such as a coupon, contest or giveaway or a place to play games.  A good promotional element will generally work in almost all type of campaigns.

Another expected result from social media was helping companies in the search rankings.  It is getting better but it truly depends on how information is available in news stories, press releases, Wikipedia pages and sister companies websites.

We randomly chose Lowe’s, Sears, CBS, Audi and Levis.

Facebook showed up in a Google search for Lowe’s and Levis on the first page of results.  Twitter ranked higher than Facebook for Sears and CBS but neither were on the first page of results.  Twitter was on the first page of results for Audi.

Using Bing, Twitter appeared on the second page of results for Levis and Facebook on the fourth page.  Facebook and Twitter did not make the first 4 pages of results for Audi.

Interestingly, Facebook is the #2 result with Bing for CBS.  The result looks like this:

This maybe an Ah Ha moment.  The true Facebook listing for CBS shows on page 3 of Bing.  In checking after NCIS Los Angeles aired, the result was not longer listed in checking back a week later, an alert for Survivor appears being delay  is still present 18 hours later and after the show has aired.

Twitter and YouTube show results for Lowe’s on page 2 and 4 of results respectively.  Facebook does not make into the first five pages of results.

Facebook for Sears showed on page three.

What does this tell us?  If these five large companies are not getting higher results with Facebook and Twitter in the search engines, how will your company?

The key difference between a website and social media is the amount of updating, fresh content and monitoring it takes with social media.

Since the goal with social media is engagement, your company must be engaging first and always.

Look for our upcoming blogs regarding the level and depth of social media activity that is right for your company.

Check us out on Facebook to look for a new product announcement as well.  Another key reason folks return to a Facebook page they have liked, is to find out about new products.

@social_dynamics

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Social Media ROI – Change the Criteria

December 19th, 2011

By Sharon Hill

Much has been written and will probably continue to be written about calculating your Return On Investment (ROI) on your social media campaign.

Why attempt to calculate?  Simple question.

Because you spend money on social media?  You spend money on entertainment of clients, training on employees, company picnics, holiday parties, employee awards and the like.  These are mostly social in nature. Do you attempt to calculate ROI on these investments?

Let’s use a company picnic or holiday party as an example.  Do you figure in the expense of the company picnic including hours spent by employees planning the event, foods, rentals, etc. and the hours lost by employees attending the event?  How much money did your company make or how much money did your company save with the expenditures allocated to this activity?

What is your ROI on your website?  What is the ROI on a printed brochure?  For that matter what is the ROI on your broadcast media campaign?

Some things can be calculated, some can be attributed and some cannot be calculated easily or at all.

To be clear, we are not suggesting that social media campaigns not be evaluated.  Social media campaigns should be even scrutinized.  Let’s just not get too caught up in the ROI calculation.

You can’t  calculate the ROI on employee feelings toward your company.  You can attribute lower turnover, positive attitudes, attracting better talent to the way your treat your employees.  Or maybe you just pay better?

You can have trackback links in Facebook and Twitter.  You can offer coupons, create contests and give away prizes to generate interest and pile up the Likes and Followers.

Social media is about creating “feelings” towards your company and increasing brand loyalty.  Why would anyone expect to be able to definitively calculate the ROI of Likes on Facebook?  Isn’t Like a feeling?

We have a better idea…more to come.

@social_dynamics

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Today’s Marketer Balances Inbound Marketing with Outbound Marketing

November 2nd, 2011

By Social Media Dynamics Team

Social media has completely changed how traditional marketers must approach their customers. Today’s marketer balances inbound marketing with outbound marketing.  The challenge is to embrace the interactivity of social media and incorporate it across their channels, understanding that social media has completely changed how consumers react to advertiser messages. Consumers are vocal. They are resistant to constant one-way sales pitches. They expect more service, more information and reward good content with positive response. They also don’t hesitate to share their displeasure in very public venues.

Marketers embracing social media will reap additional benefits in lower ROI. The cost to run social media and blogs is insignificant in light of all outbound channels.

The neat infographic from the folks at Voltier Digital visually expresses the dichotomy of “Old Marketing” vs “New Marketing.”

Voltier Digital

Thanks to VOLTIER DIGITAL!

@social_dynamics

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Frank Abagnale of “Catch Me If You Can” Fame on Facebook, Debit Cards and Poor White Collar Punishment

October 24th, 2011

By Jan Carroza

“If you make it easy for someone to steal from you, chances are someone will.” Frank Abagnale, advisor to the FBI whose story became famous in Spielberg’s “Catch Me If You Can.”

Abagnale on growing your children’s credit

Speaking recently at the PCI Community meeting in Scottsdale, Abagnale explained why he chooses credit over debit cards: “I have a credit card because I have 0 liability. If you use a debit card, you expose your money. If may take 2-3 months to get it back. With a credit card, you get a new one in 24 hours.” He continued with great advice for parents: “You do nothing for your credit with debit. No points. No rewards.” He got supplemental cards for his children so the kids’ credit score would be established and grow while he paid the bills. Then he let his kids know he’d be monitoring their expenditures for good choices. By the time one of his sons went to buy a home, he had 7 years of good credit. Establishing credit while at school earns credit. Debit cards can’t do that.

Abagnale on fraud and pitiful punishment

Consulting with the FBI, Abagnale continues to advise on white collar crimes while teaching at the FBI Academy and helping on some investigations. “We just arrested 17 police officers in Baltimore. It’s amazing that you can steal a card and get 5 years, but you steal $10 million and you get a slap on the hand and community service.”

39 billion checks/year are processed in the US. 75% of payments between companies are checks. “ People wonder why we still use checks when there is so much fraud. Abagnale says, “When will we be paperless? When the toilet is paperless. No time soon.”

Abagnale’s concerns about Facebook

“Ten million children on Facebook are under ten years old,” said Abagnale. “I was recently testing Pathmark, a new iPhone app that can be used to take pictures of strangers in public, then run through Facebook to make a match. It’s just a couple of more steps to steal an identity.”

Don’t let your children put up their pictures, date of birth or birthplace on Facebook. Watch what your kids post. Teach them to make good choices. When they apply for jobs or college, they may be denied entrance for a thoughtless post made on social media.

Protect your credit. Abagnale offers several tips at his site: http://www.abagnale.com/pdf/27169_final.pdf and recommends getting a security micro cut shredder to make confetti out of records and credit cards you want to destroy. For the same cost as a regular shredder, this kind will make it nearly impossible to recreate documents.

More advice: choose a good credit reporting service by asking two questions:

1)      Do you monitor all 3 services 24/7 and

2)      Will you notify me in realtime?

Abagnale offers booklets on protecting yourself and your business at his site: www.abagnale.com. He says he checks email sent to frank@abagnale.com

Learn how to spot a phony credit card or bill at his site: http://www.fraudtips.net/abagnaletips.htm.

@social_dynamic

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Media performance tracking with QR Codes

September 16th, 2011

By Jan Carroza

If you haven’t tried QR codes yet, what are you waiting for? Creation and tracking is free. This is accountability of your media at its finest. You’ll be able to watch the growth of smart phone interaction with your sites, landing pages, social media, print, television and much, much more.

Why are QR Codes important? 11 out of 50 Fortune companies are leveraging QR Codes in their marketing strategies. The instant gratification of coupons, discounts, product information and so much more is clearly pleasing to consumers.

Are you using QR codes in your marketing yet? The interest is growing. QR Code scanning increased by 4549%.


See the full Infographic by Sujay Haheshwari of Queaar at:

http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/the-rise-of-qr-codes-infographic-051087

How are they being used? Currently the biggest use in the US is by women capturing coupons. Smart phone users are also looking for special promotions, and more product information. Learn more about QR code usage and growth from Heidi Cohen’s blog post of stats: http://heidicohen.com/qr-code-data/.

Want to get better feedback on the performance of your advertising? Use QR codes and track with Google Analytics and/or Bit.ly link shortening. We offer a variety of QR resources in our previous post: QR Codes Kick up Interaction by 15-25%. The QR code to the right is for that blog post (read: another great use to promote your writings in social media, for instance).

Do you have a trade show coming up? Put a QR code with a link to your site in all your print materials and ads. You can even put a QR code on your business cards. To really track every element of your campaign, build different QR codes with different links and create a spreadsheet so you can evaluate results.

Say you had several print ads. Create a code like http://yourdomain.com/PrintAd1_Nov11 for the first ad. Shorten that link at Bit.ly. Then just change the code for each element of your campaign. I customize the shortened links to something like: j.mp/SMDQR2. I have to use 6 characters after j.mp (a Bit.ly option for a shorter link), so I choose 3 identifiable company letters and supplement with a descriptive alpha-numeric finish. (You may want to consider your own shortener: http://j.mp/nK41vp, but that’s a topic for another day.)

Bit.ly will create a QR code for you in your account and you can return to track the traffic to your QR code. You can see the result of my test (below) of the QR code (above right) created for this blog post from our Bit.ly account.


Here’s what it looks like when Bit.ly creates the QR code.

Here is a nicely set-up spreadsheet that you can use as a template for keeping track of your QR codes by media. Then add your click results to evaluate performance by medium and creative.

Find the spreadsheet and more help here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtFk-wwlhvpockZwRkRxMWRqdnI5QngyVXotSzhDRlE&hl=en#gid=0

You can also track your QR codes with your Google Analytics. Here’s a blog post that describes how: http://blog.redclayinteractive.com/how-to-track-qr-codes-in-google-analytics/ with the Google Analytics URL building link here: http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=.

There is no excuse not to begin to track your online clicks from offline activities any more. It’s available and free. Smart phones make it easier than ever to get a grip on the performance of your marketing, advertising and press efforts. As you go create new print and magazine ads, press releases, sales sheets, outdoor billboards and bus-boards and other signs, interact in social media and tv, even business cards, implement QR codes and track the reaction. As you create new blog posts and landing pages, create new QR codes to promote offline.

@social_dynamics

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Product Maturity – Social Media Entering the Next Phase?

September 7th, 2011

By Sharon Hill

Social media is no longer the next new thing.  It is no longer the new thing.  In fact, Facebook is 7 years old. Twitter is now 5+ years old and LinkedIn has turned 8.

Since social media is broadly used and extends beyond traditional marketing and media experienced individuals, product maturity/life cycle theory may not be as well known.

The concept of product maturity or product life cycle analysis has been with marketing types for decades.  Plotting the product or service on a bell curve to determine where the product is regarding continuing growth.

Telecom is probably the most recent and closest in category (i.e. technology) for us to make a comparison.  The expectation by the financial markets that the telecom industry continue its tremendous growth was the start of the telecom industry collapse.  Without the next new thing, people kept their same old phones.  It wasn’t until the iPhone debuted that investors became interested in the telecom industry when a whole new source of revenue was out there for the taking.

So far only LinkedIn has IPO’d.  The stock was 94.25 on May 19 and is currently around 102.00.  Facebook appears to have set the date for May 2012. Twitter has not set a date or quarter.  Twitter is still working on monetizing its value.

We have already read about Facebook’s difficulty in cracking China and pressure from Google+.

So what does this mean for business?  We are past the early-jump-ins and quickly moving to the all-right-alreadies for continued growth.  The early-jump-ins are the folks who used social media the most in the early days, but also quickly become bored.  The second group of joiners can become the most loyal with the all-right-alreadies and last-ins using sporadically. Joiners are generally not initiators.

Business culture is similar to an individual regarding response and involvement with new products and services.  Some business have not embraced social media as of yet and others are into social media marketing in a big way.

If social media is entering the next phase, what does this mean for you and your business?

You need to cultivate your followers and fans now.  You need to work on engagement more than gaining new followers and fans.  You should expect a slowdown of new followers and fans in the coming quarters.  Provide value to your existing followers and fans through listening and be responsive.

There is a wealth of information on product life cycle and product maturity. If you are not familiar with the concept, spend some time educating yourself on these tried and true formulas for growth and eventual slow down of new products and services.

@social_dynamics

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The Best of Social Media Dynamics: Blog Posts in Review Part IV

August 30th, 2011

We have targeted use of social media from local business to communities, non-profits, recruiters and the real estate industry. We’ve collapsed topics together here…

Social Media and Use by Local Businesses

Advice to Small Business on Social Media – Part 1

Advice to Small Business on Social Media – Part 2

Small businesses can take advantage of the exciting interaction that social media can offer while overcoming the concern of time constraints, misconceptions and the sense of overwhelm that causes inertia. Tackle social media in 3 stages with 6 great strategies.

Why Social Media Works for Local Businesses – Referral Marketing – Part 2 of 6

How local businesses can work social media to take word-of-mouth advertising to a whole new level by exploring reviews and continued customer interaction.

Recruiters use social media to find new candidates while job-seekers work the room to network and find new positions

Recruitment – Finding the Passive Candidate

Using social media for your next search will increase your odds of finding that great candidate. And, most importantly, it doesn’t take much money or any at all! If your company has a presence on LinkedIn, it’s easy to add the position in the “what are you working on” section.

Why Social Media Works for Recruiters – Part 5 of 6

Recruiters use social media to get clients and candidates. Here are some things to consider and make sure you set up in your social media planning.

Non-profits can effectively increase donations by working social media

What’s a Non-Profit To Do?

Every non-profit can stretch marketing dollars with social media.

Why Social Media Works for Non-Profits Part 4 of 6

Non-profits take on social media to address an audience where their cost to get a donation is just the time to interact. Here are a variety of choices and considerations for the non-profit getting into social networking.

Realtors and house-hunters take to social media

Real Estate and Social Networking – Part I

For realtors so much of their business is referrals. That is social networking. Interact with buyers and sellers in social media.

Real Estate and Social Media Marketing – Part II

What is the difference between networking and marketing? The difference is in the interaction.

House Hunting Reaches New Level iPhone Real Estate Listings

You are out and about in the neighborhood you are interested in moving AND you have the iPhone app from Realtor.com.

Communities use social media to tap into audience to increase awareness

Why Social Media Works for Communities – Using Facebook – Part 6 of 6

How to address concerns of social media by communities in order to gain the tremendous benefits of sharing and awareness.

We hope you enjoyed our tour down memory lane of past posts. Now we look forward to the next series. We never know what will inspire us. Change is coming at us so amazingly fast and it’s impossible for the best of pros to keep up in all facets equally well. We hope you’ll reach out and suggest what you’d like to learn more about. We’ll continue to share what we learn and give our best guidance.

@social_dynamics

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Social Media Promotions – Searching for a Sustained Success Story

August 11th, 2011

Sustained social media success stories must exist.  In fact, there are probably thousands.  What we hear or read about most are the short-lived, grab attention by giving something away campaigns.

Most companies build loyal customers one at a time and over time.  Someone following you or liking you is not a loyal customer. You first have to attract folks to your social media sites and giveaways can certainly do that.  Are they truly potential customers and will they become loyal customers?

Loyal customers are repeat customers and folks that tout your company to others.  A valued Facebook fan should be similar.  They may find you through a promotion, like you on Facebook and try your product.  Are they recommending you and sharing their experience with others on Facebook?

Do some of your remember signing a log to receive special promotion flyers from a local boutique via postal mail?  Mail flyers and then online registration was simply the way of keeping your customers informed of newly arrived shipments and store sales.

Look at The Home Depot’s Facebook site.  http://www.facebook.com/homedepot The Home Depot has less than 400,000 fans, which does not seem to be that many – yet.

Their Facebook site has a landing page, so go to the Wall.  The engagement with this company and their fans is amazing.  Sharing photos, success stories, offering tips and asking questions elicits numerous postings, comments and Liking the posts.  One of the questions is “If you were marooned on a desert island and could only take 3 tools with you, what would you choose and why?” 309 comments.  What fun.

The Home Depot offers Facebook specials and a Buy Now button or a link to a specific URL address during a seasonal campaign.  This is the newest method of having customers sign up for postal mail flyers and online registration for emails.  Not a one time promotion, but ongoing insider offerings.

The Home Depot is building a loyal fan base using a mixture of fun, informative tips, insider specials, local community activities and non-profit efforts.

None of this is new marketing-wise, just a new platform.

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The Best of Social Media Dynamics: Blog Posts in Review Part II

August 3rd, 2011

As we look back over several years of posts, several resurface that continue to be very relevant today.

LinkedIn is today’s powerful networking center for professionals who can find prospects inside groups, and give and get recommendations while sharing presentations, Twitter and blog feeds.

Building out your LinkedIn profile

If you are looking for a job, job recruiters are using LinkedIn in a big way. Try to use a keyword for the job title you seek in your Current position description. Expand on your Basic Information and build out your Profile.

Building out your Company LinkedIn profile

Build a Company Profile to become a Service Provider in LinkedIn. Ask colleagues and clients to recommend you. Build your reputation by participating in Groups and answering questions.

LinkedIn – Working the Room

LinkedIn has many of the traditional benefits of attending a conference and few unique advantages all to itself. When you attend a conference and you meet someone, you share who you are, what you do, what company you are with and why you are attending the conference. This is your LinkedIn profile. With LinkedIn it is so much easier to send an invitation to get and stay connected.

Have you had your LinkedIn Intervention?

LinkedIn is a place for you to be you, at your best and engaging.

Job Searching through LinkedIn

When recruiters who work either for an individual company or an executive search firm are looking for candidates, one of the first places they will look is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Expert Status

As a LinkedIn expert, be found by prospects, add value to your reputation and visibility to your company. Millions of LinkedIn professionals see your expertise. With a little time, the rewards of enrichment in networking and business opportunities are well worthwhile.

Can Anyone Answer LinkedIn Questions?

You just might be surprised at who you are able to help and who you can meet and isn’t that what LinkedIn is all about? Have you answered any questions on LinkedIn?

Facebook – the social network too big to ignore that has attracted business who have made successes out of Fan Pages

How we keep in touch – Facebook

Like just about every other person I have a Facebook page. I needed to have a Facebook page because I have a business page, but I was never planning on doing anything with my personal page. Then my family found me….

Guest Blog – Advertising on Facebook – Insider tips

The lack of competition for advertising space on Facebook makes Facebook today as ripe for opportunity as Google was 6 or 7 years ago.

Managing Your Facebook Expectations

The other night I had dinner with some friends and social media came up in conversation – specifically Facebook.

Facebook For Business – Ask These 5 Questions

Not so many connections? Maybe you are not doing enough. Facebook is not the same as “Build it and They Will Come.”

Lessons Learned Neighborhood Facebook Site – Connecting

Our neighbors are looking for a way to connect with each other. The neighborhood board has done an excellent job of communicating with the residents, but mostly in a talking at manner.

Lessons Learned Neighborhood Facebook Site – Defining Issues

Not everyone is familiar with Facebook and those that were, did not have much experience beyond personal profiles.

Lessons Learned Neighborhood Facebook Site – Privacy

How neighborhood associations respect the privacy of neighborhood residents balanced against connecting through comments and photos of neighborhood events on a Facebook site.

Lessons Learned Neighborhood Facebook Site – Promoting and Activity

Our Facebook growth will be like many others, one neighbor at a time through one-on-one connections.

Twitter is the social media of the moment

Why Tweetup? What’s In It for Your Business?

A Tweetup is a great way to get like-minded people together for social interaction that may or may not get to a physical location to participate.

Your Twitter Policy: Who Will You Follow?

Make good choices about who you follow back. Build a Twitter and social media policy to guide staff on topics and types of followers to choose and avoid.

Twitter is About Engagement. Enrichment. Expansion of Horizons. What’s Your Following Policy?

You can definitely continue to get more out of Twitter by following more people. Several tools help you manage your Twitter experience so you aren’t overwhelmed.

Hitting the Follow 2000 Twitter Wall

The Twitter rule to not follow more than 10% of those who follow you once you reach 2000 can be a nuisance to maintain. It can certainly be a big surprise when you don’t expect it. Plan ahead to keep your ratios in line for less inconvenience.

Learn How To Set Up and Run a Twitter Account for your Business

Shannon Evan’s The Definitive Guide to Twitter is the perfect how-to, delivering a step-by-step approach for businesses to build and administer Twitter.

Using Twitter for your Job Search

Add Twitter to your job search activities to increase your network, review job listings and expand your knowledge about your desired career.

Corporate Execs who Tweet Can Add Great Value to Their Brand

Executives need to think carefully about what they want to reveal and share on Twitter. Their voice can boost brand image, giving it rich character.

@social_dynamics

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