Archive for April, 2008
It is often easy to forget that many of your activities on the internet leave some sort of trail. Whether it be a post on a blog like this, leaving your thoughts on a forum or participating on a social network, most of these leave an imprint that can be found later by others searches on a related subject.
Using as an example, A recent post on Joost de Valks blog regarding alleged exploitation of Dmoz, draw some heated discussion from some high profile comment from many high profile people (such as Rand Fishkin and Fathom) within the SEO industry. There are other similar examples over the last couple of months such as the Fused Nation/Global Media/Bigmouthmedia, which can sometimes deliberately done so in order to trigger discussion or conversation (often referred to as LinkBait).
Another high profile SEO example in the not too recent past has been the SEO/SMO (social media optimisation) is ‘bullshit’ comments by Jason Calacanis. Whilst I obviously do not share Jason’s rather extreme comments, this type of commentary obviously leaves a footprint, that both Jason and participants of these discussions can often be traced back on. It should be noted that many of the larger search organisations (such as Bigmouthmedia, Neutralize and iProspect - and to their credit) are often not drawn into such discussions or often associated with more ’shady’ tactics such as linkbait unless absolutely necessary.
These days, it is also often to see what participants are being involved in your discussions whether passively or actively. Tools such as mybloglog allow you to see who has been visiting your log (for those that have signed into mybloglog). Other avenues such as social networking also allow you to meet other likeminded people - such as LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace.
Recent Forrester research identified what is called social technographics, highlighting at the head of the ladder, a group called ‘creators’. This group are often identified as the most active, and despite being the smallest group of technographics, often cause a disproportionate level of influence. Such people are also often responsible for raising either the profile of discussions or even starting many of the discussions mentioned above.
Therefore one thing should be considered, whatever tactical moves you make online - consider them carefully both in term of what you want to achieve, and probably more importantly what its possible consequences may be.
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April 23rd, 2008
In the second part of the ‘10 ways to get your social media campaign right‘, we will tackle a further five ways of getting your social media campaigns to perform better.
In part 1 we tackled the following
- Know your audience
- Do your homework
- What is being said already
- What do you want to get out of it
- Identify the best channels
Following on from this are:
6) Be Truthful
Effective communication with your audience is key to sustained success with social media. Taking the wrong tone of voice or unethical communication can spell disaster for your campaign.
To highlight this we a high profile example from recent history, namely the Edelman/Wal-mart astroturfing controversy from a couple of years back. In this particular example, Edelman were behind a campaign for two RV travellers who went across America regularly interviewing Wal-mart employees (in their blog Wal-Marting Across America - one may have been suss just reading the blog title - anyhow….). It was exposed in the end that the two travellers were indeed respected writers being handsomely rewarded for their involvement. This obviously caused significant negative publicity to both Edelman and Wal-mart.
Whether you are working with a social network such as Facebook, or utilising blogs as part of a greater social media strategy keeping it focussed and truthful I would suggest is imperative. By not doing this you run the risk of causing more harm than good
7) Know your limits
Many organisations go into a campaign with good intentions however by underestimating the potential workload required in order to manage a social media project, they limit the potential of the campaign as a whole.
Blogs for example are not a short term solution and require dedication in terms of content generation, keyword focus and planning. A one off post is not going to provide you with the SEO enhancements you require, nor the perception within the industry as a thought leader. If you do not have the time to dedicate to your proposed solution, either revise your social media requirements, or source appropriately.
8) Get an expert
A recent survey across North America, France and the U.K has found that agencies typically don’t “get” social media. The problem I would add however is that may clients don’t either. Social Media experts are few and far between however it only takes a look around may of the social media implementations out there, and some of the bad uses of Youtube, to see how a badly implemented campaign can fail.
For this reason alone, if your not comfortable in the social media arena, get someone who is. They are worth their weight in gold.
9) Test, Learn & Refine
As with any other facet of online marketing, it is imperative to take the old analogy ‘Test, Learn, Refine’. There are very few people out there that will get things completely right first time, and ongoing thorough analysis of reaction and perception of your social media campaign will mean you can react to any scenario quickly and effectively
10) Give it Time
There is a saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. If you want your social media campaign to work give it time - spend time planning it, spend time implementing it, and give it time to mature.
At the end of the day social media campaigns are only as social as you allow them to be.
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April 21st, 2008
I have heard more and more offline advertising agencies starting to take note of the unquestionable potential of a well structured and well implemented social media campaign, however there is always a degree of fear and trepedation when I hear people talking of social media, as for every success story there are a very good handful of ‘crash and burners’.
There is such a vast array of social media options out there, however it is probably worth defining exactly what social media is in the first instance. According to Wikipedia
“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning, as people share their stories, and understandings.”
and goes onto say
“Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few. Examples of social media applications are Google Groups (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Last.fm (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Flickr (photo sharing), Twitter (social networking and microblogging) and other microblogs are Jaiku and Pownce. Many of these social media services can be integrated via Social network aggregation platforms like Mybloglog, a Yahoo property, Blogcatalog, and Plaxo.”
So great we now know what Social Media is but how do we go about creating a successful campaign. Well…
1) Know your audience
Personally I would say this is the most important part of your social media strategy, and probably the most logical. There is no point advertising an alcoholic drink on Bebo (I do add I doubt you would be allowed anyhow), however the more mature demographic using Facebook could provide you with a sustained stream of traffic (in the right context). However get this area wrong, and not only could you face a lack of traffic, but also potentially a volatile audience or worth widespread critisism which potentially could affect you in other areas, such as search engine results.
2) Do your homework
Find out what each social media channel can offer you. For example - Facebook allows advertisers to use a variety of different ways to advertise to potential customers including social ads, and facebook groups and pages, MySpace has started selling music and linkedin allows Q&A’s between likeminded business professionals. Each channel has its own ‘behaviour’ so understand how each works and whether this is suitable for your organisation.
3) What is being said already.
One good way of ‘dipping your toe in’ is to see what has already been said about you. This - particularly for larger organisations - can give you a valuable overview of where your organisation currently sits particularly if your proposed campaign is project based, and aimed at raising the profile of your organisation or changing perceptions.
4) What do you want to get out of it
Advertisers have different requirements and expectations from their social media campaigns. Is it purely brand awareness you want out of the campaign, or do you want a source of convertable traffic to your site. Do you want to be seen as innovators in your sector, or is creative tone of voice important to you.
5) Identify the best channels.
Sometimes your social network or social media channel is not the one you want, or potentially your ideal solution doesn’t fit into a pre-defined box. If you have undertaken many of the above steps, this will probably highlight a potential channel or channels as suitable options.
Social Media takes time and above all effort, however there is no doubting its potential effectiveness.
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April 19th, 2008
According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! is now close to sealing a deal with Google after receiving ‘positive results’ from its initial trials held over the last week. Yahoo! announced last week the launch of a two week trial with Google Ad Sense for 3% of its searches, a move that would increase its cash flow by $1bn.
According to analysts, this would strengthen Yahoo’s positioning whilst it continues discussions with both Time Warner/AOL. However moving forward, a potential Google/Yahoo is unlikely given the overlap between the two parties involved and the likely market domination that would ensue.
Watch this space…
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April 17th, 2008
Despite ever increasing sites being developed, I would suggest there still exists a cautious approach to search marketing, something I have to back up with saying is changing quickly. However from a client perspective, there is still a lack of awareness of the associated value a Search Engine Optimisation expert can provide, and instead operate the two independantly and in a linear fashion.
Whilst I would add there is nothing wrong with utilising different service providers for your search marketing and web design, the two should work together in order to develop a cohesive campaign, one where a consideration exists for both values, that is the impact to the browser (ie the design of the website and Presentation of content), and that of the search marketer whose role it is to bring the site to the fore on certain phrases. Segregating these two from the beginning won’t stop your campaign from working, however it will lengthen the optimisation process and at the very least mean your whole online strategy requires a rethink.
The last example sounds a bit extreme - however I have been working with a client with a recently designed site, whose extention is also a localised country domain. This was not raised during the development phase, and this has resulted the visibility of the site significantly affected in UK searches, whilst the country specific searches are fantastic. Unfortunately they only offer their services to clients in the North and North West of England. This is something a Good SEO should bring up, and be able to suggest ways of fixing.
Secondly we have work with a number of clients, both agencies and organisations, and on the whole the sites we work with have scope for on-page development, however I have seen a number of potential sites where the potential on-page optimisation of the site is significantly comprimised by the web designer not considering the role of the SEO on the site during subsequent months. This can significantly affect the amount of time and ultimately the amount of money, you as the client are likely to be paying for SEO services.
SEO isn’t simply optimising a couple of meta tags, and submitting to search engines. 2008 SEO is far more valuable than that and offers advertisers/clients a comprehensive web service that should sit seamlessly with any web project development.
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April 5th, 2008
