Social Media Marketing Resources

The Fall Open AIR Forum on Interactive Online (Social Media) Marketing concluded last week. Below please find a summary for each of the three sessions. We have posted the PowerPoint slides as well as the corresponding audio files. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on the topics covered.

Part I (September 16, 2008)

“Harness the Power of Social Marketing” - In this session we covered the following topics:

• Engage, Energize and Enable Your Customers
• Understand Social Media Tools and Technologies
• Review Case Studies of Successful Social Media Implementations

Slides from the presentation:

Audio download (27MB MP3 File - Right click and save to hard disk).

Part II (October 14, 2008)

“Successful Strategies of Interactive Online Marketing” - In this session we covered the following topics:

• Understand how your customers are interacting with online marketing
• Determine your abilities (in-house or acquired)
• Evaluate your commitment
• Devise a unique strategy to meet clear marketing and sales objectives

Slides from the presentation:

Audio download (20MB MP3 File - Right click and save to hard disk).

Part III (November 11, 2008)

“Engagement and ROI of Social Media” - In this session we covered the following topics:

• How to acquire the tools to better understand your engagement tactics
• How to refine your strategy as your engagement progresses
• How to develop an ROI model best suited to your industry

Slides from the presentation:

Audio download (10MB MP3 File - Right click and save to hard disk).

Tags: AIR Open Forum, Marketing, presentation, Social Media

A recent survey on consumer attitude toward shopping on Social Networks has uncovered some good news. It appears a considerable segment of consumers are open to shopping on social networking websites. The survey also has some valuable insights on what makes visitors want to purchase on an eCommerce website. Among the survey findings:

• 30% of online consumers say special sales and exclusive products would make them consider shopping on social networks.
• 27% say viewing comments about items for sale would similarly encourage them.
• 48% of online consumers say easy-to-use features are a very important feature for initially attracting them to an online shopping website.
• 92% of say brand is at least somewhat important to initially attracting them to an online shopping website.
• 88% said that appealing web design is a factor in initially attracting them to a website.
• 32% would shop online more if sites were easier to use.
• 24% would shop online more if checkout procedures were easier.
• 50% of said special online-online offers would encourage them to shop online more frequently.

This is a survey from Volusion, conducted by Harris Interactive. The full article is avialable on MarketingCharts.

Tags: Internet Marketing, Online shopping, Social network

This past Tuesday we concluded the final segment of our three-part seminar on interactive online marketing (or social media, as many refer to it). This last presentation focused on engaging customers/prospects, using web analytics to refine strategy, and return on investment (ROI).

The intent of the seminar series was to educate marketing managers and business owners about the value of the new emerging media. At AIR Marketing we are adamant that in today’s economy it is important for key decision makers to realize that social media is not an isolated set of practices. It is essential that marketers set aside the hype and begin delving into the substance of interactive online marketing.

In the first seminar last September, I set out to demonstrate that there are ways to integrate social media with existing sales and marketing efforts to achieve such goals as lead generation, brand awareness, sales conversion and customer support. In this same discussion I presented many case studies involving a range of companies in disparate industries executing successful programs with great success. Some of the examples I used involved H&R Block (tax services) and Stormhoek (a South African winery).

A central component of the second seminar was the question of developing an effective strategy. In order to be successful you need to have a very good understanding of your audience’s social media usage and level of engagement. Once you have a well-rounded understanding of your audience, you lay that against the business objectives to arrive at a winning strategy. It is my opinion that such a rigorous undertaking will provide the groundwork for a successful social media effort. In order to keep the concepts grounded in reality, I presented the example of Wiggly Wigglers, a small UK-based company selling worm compost kits to gardeners and farmers using podcasting and social networking.

Finally, in the third presentation I discussed engagement, refining strategy and ROI. The biggest mistake I see companies making is regarding engagement. They are either too stiff in their approach (treating every situation as a PR opportunity) or they are too aloof (not acknowledging any mistakes and talking down to the customer). In order to avoid this situation, I suggest marketing managers remember what it’s like to be social in a normal offline situation and transfer those same qualities online. A review of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” would be a very valuable exercise at this point.

Basically, when it comes to the question of engagement, companies need to keep it as personable and authentic as possible. You don’t need to compromise your professionalism, but you do need to leave your three-piece suit at home. Engagement also needs to be timely and relevant to the community you’re participating in. Finally, remember: to be successful you need to be consistent and realize that there is no “end date” on this – expect to be engaging for a long time.

With all this information, it is only fitting that the presentation series ends with some answers to the ROI question. It is my belief that you can achieve a measurable ROI on social media. The issue is whether you are setting yourself up so you can measure the ROI. Simply following the GMOOT (get me one of those) philosophy is a sure formula for failure. To quantify ROI you need to first set your metrics by answering some key questions such as: What defines conversion? What are the key steps to conversion? What are your input variables? And, are you quantifying them?

At AIR we do not subscribe to the GMOOT philosophy or its “just do it” cousin. That does not mean we are with the naysayers who claim that social media has no ROI and is akin to voodoo marketing. The truth lies somewhere in between these two extremes. High ROI in social media is achievable, but only if you are deliberate in crafting a proper social media strategy suited for your business. However, a good strategy is only part of the solution, because when it comes to interactive online media, execution is extremely important. For this reason it is imperative that you have a proper understanding of the resources and commitment required to stay the course and achieve your goals.

Tags: interactive, Marketing, online, seminar, Social Media

When most marketing managers think of social media (interactive online marketing), they tend to assign it to the domain of tech-savvy youngsters with ample time on their hands. The conventional wisdom in marketing circles is that new media is overrated and not worth pursuing unless you’re selling video games to 15- to 19- year-old boys. And don’t even mention that pesky ROI question. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, the story of Wiggly Wigglers helps to pretty much destroy this meme once and for all. The story is that of a small UK-based company selling worm composting kits online to farmers and gardeners. Heather Gorringe, the founder of Wiggly Wigglers, has been using blogs, podcasts and other new media technology to grow her business internationally. Her success defies all known prejudices marketing managers hold against interactive online marketing.

For starters, her target market is farmers and gardeners not exactly social media types. Then there is the question of the product: dull, dirty and not quite the topic of conversation around cocktail parties. Finally, her location, in a rural UK village with less than 70 residents, adding shipping and other logistical costs. Despite these challenges her company is growing at a robust 10% per year and is now an international player in the market. All of this has been achieved through effective social media marketing. Flooring The Consumer blog reports that through cross-marketing via Facebook and blogs, 40,000 farmers and gardeners listen to the weekly podcasts. Wiggly Wigglers even has over 500 fans on Facebook.

If a small company based in rural UK can become a multi-million dollar business selling worm composting kits to farmers and gardeners using social media, then it is fair to say the new medium is more than just a passing phase. It certainly is not the domain of the frivolous and young, but with proper understanding and execution this new medium is a powerful tool to drive business internationally!

photo credit: premii

Tags: Facebook, Internet Marketing, New media, Social Media

Hitwise released the Top 10 Travel Destination & Accommodation Websites for September 2008.

Tags: destination, hitwise, travel, websites

American Advertising Federation Metro Phoenix is participating in a charity book drive for kids. AIR Marketing is supporting this effort. So, if you’re interested in donating children books aimed at kids between the ages of 5 and 10, you may do so by November 18. Mail all books to this address:

Books for Kids Foundation
C/O Capital Moving & Storage
97 Burma Road
Jersey City, NJ 07305

Additional information is available on the AAF website.

Tags: book drive, Children's literature, Literature, Phoenix metropolitan area

Image via Wikipedia

The big challenge with online and interactive marketing is that no one knows where to start!  Like a kid in a candy store, companies want to be social-savvy and be perceived as interactive-competent.  They also don’t want to miss out on any opportunities to grow their business in cost effective and meaningful ways.  But where to start?  That is the $64K question.

Something exciting that we are working on is building models that help companies know where to start.  To do that we look at several variables and then build models that show where each online, interactive strategy fits.  That way companies can prioritize based on the amount of resources they have and what kind of results they want.

For example,  one variable may be Impact, i.e, what will the impact on the company be if we do this strategy…and the other variable be Importance.  Is it critical that we have this in place or is this a nice to have strategy?   You can plot this on a two dimensional graph and then put all the choices into place based on these two variables.  If you add a third dimension, that of resources and/or expertise available then you can easily see what to do first and what to expect if you do.

It’s really like a Rubiks Cube.  The good news is that there are people who know how to solve the Rubiks puzzle and can do it in record time.  The rest of us plot our graphs and take a calculated approach to choosing our interactive and online priorities.   No matter what, it’s the results that matter in the long run.  It’s not so much how you get there but that you do get there and what your ROI is when you get there!

Tags: Business, interactive marketing, Social Media