Posts filed under 'Social Media'
With the credit crunch biting hard, economic slowdown and falling retail sales it is encouraging to read today that online retail continues to grow, with this years online retail spend expecting to grow by 32% compared to offline retail sales which expect to see a minimal growth of 1.2% according to the European and UK internet consultancy group Verdict Research.
Online retail is currently worth around £20bn, an estimated 7% of overall retail spend and by 2012 Verdict forecast that this figure will rise to 14% or around £45bn.
With shoppers increasingly turning to the internet as an effective means of seeking out bargains and low-priced products, will an online retail presence become the difference between commercial success or failure? And will online apathy lead to a retail sales disaster?
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June 19th, 2008
Online brand reputation is one of the big talking points at present, and in particular the part search marketing plays in the whole process. Google is no longer just a search engine. With the advent of blended search, Google (and the other major search engines) are introducing new channels to search results pages, and with this increase in use of Google as a primary source of research, the need to be perceived positively in the search engines is greater than ever.
More and more recently, I have been involved in campaigns where a primary aspect has been to protect brand perception not only from competitors but more and more often from negative pr, user generated content and other consumer reviews. Sometimes it is possible to respond in person to such issues however sometimes the problem is greater and search marketing can play a major part in reducing the effect of such activity. It should be noted the likelihood of making such ‘noise’ go completely away is nigh on impossible however you can do some things to reduce the effects, using existing online marketing tools at your disposal such as SEO, Online PR and Social Media:
1) Monitor what is being said.
There is a saying ‘knowledge is power’, and this couldn’t be more true within the corporate marketplace. There are a number of tools available online to monitor noise, both paid (Neilsen Buzzmetrics, Meltwater and Market Sentinel) and free (Icerocket, Blogpulse, Technorati and Google Alerts), however the most important aspect is ensuring that wherever you are being talked about, you are able to monitor whats being said and if necessary respond where appropriate to this activity.
Social networks should not be ignored. I have been working on a number of projects recently where political opposition has taken place on social networks such as Facebook, and these social networks should not be ignored during monitoring
2) Identify brand advocates.
This is a conversation I have had a number of times with a Managing Director of Connectpoint PR, Sandra McDowell, and something she passionately believes in. Brand Advocacy online is no different from brand advocacy offline. Identifying and working with brand ambassadors online can be a powerful tool in tackling potentially negative pr and translating this into positive brand perception.
This is something we used to do in the far and distant past whilst i was at Supanet. We used to identify potential ‘hotspots’ and react to them in order to try and ensure that any potential issues were dealt with quickly and early. However as Sandra has said many times to me previously, we need to be tackling issues proactively as well as reactively.
3) Get a website
Probably the most simple way of protecting your brand perception onin, particularly in the likelihood (albeit unlikely), that you don’t already have one. However saying that it is still suprising how many organisations have their brand domains and no website, and with advice regarding SEO friendly domains there are some organisations that do not have a brand-led domain. Introducing such a simple tactic is low hanging fruit and can be scaled further (ie develop more brand related websites in order to populate more real estate on brand searches.
4) Don’t forget about blended search
Blended search (or Universal Search) basically describes the use of images, news, feeds and maps as part of the the main search results. Many of these are integrated into a number of searches these days whether it be localised (generally Google Local results), product specific (use of Google Base Feeds), Cinema or use of video or imagery.
Search results these days provide more than one way of getting into the search engines, and effective use of PR can be one such way of dominating more real estate on the search engines. A well structured SEO-PR / Online PR campaign can pay dividends not just in terms of increased exposure, and increased exposure but also from increased brand exposure and coverage particularly on brand searches, not only from the articles and associated coverage itself, but also potentially in short term gains where Google deems an article newsworthy enough for the index.
5) Network
With the increase in popularity there is no reason you can’t use Social Networks to your benefit. In particular there exist a number of targeted social networks such as LinkedIn where business people can network effectively. Not only is this good for raising your profile but it also has the knock on effect of Google friendly content (only if you dont use limited profile), and a customisable URL all of which can be used to blend in with your brand reputation strategy.
There are also a number of other social networks such as Ecademy & Naymz where like minded business people can network, and facilitate introductions and business deals.
View Peter Young’s LinkedIn profile
Social Networks such as LinkedIn can also be a great way of finding the most relevant people within an organisation. Many of these social networks contain a very advanced search facility which allows you to more accurately define the person or people you are looking for.
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May 19th, 2008
With all the fanfare of a royal wedding (well maybe not that much), Google has launched a new tool which appears to be an API allowing users for “Open Social participants to pull profile information from social networks into third party websites”, following closely on the heels of similar products from Microsoft (Data Availability) and Facebook Connect.
The tool will allow users to:
- Securely send personal data such as friends lists, presence status and the like
- Maintain single friends list
So why you may ask are organisations fighting for what seems such a small prize. The answer is the price is actually a very large one, one worth potentially millions of pounds to the winner. At present it would seem Google’s product does seem limited in some rather major areas such as user profiles (well to the same extent as Facebook and Microsoft (via Hotmail etc), however it would seem if this can be sorted via partnerships with other high profile partners this problem should be somewhat alleviated.
There is already a reasonably amount of noise on the net about this, and it is worth keeping an eye on places such as
Search Engine Roundtable - Google goes social with Friend Connect
Google Friend Connect - Webmasterworld
Google Friend Connect - Search Engine Watch
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May 13th, 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
