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7 Considerations for Tracking Social Media Success

by LeeOdden on 10/07/2009 12:51   1 comment , 1907 views
Categories: Strategy, Best Practices
Tags: social media monitoring, social media tracking

mima-summit-network

With more and more marketers jumping onto the social media bandwagon, a lot of questions come up. Is it possible to track metrics and ROI? What are other companies doing? Why isn’t it working? Being prepared to answer  questions like these can make a difference in how a company interacts with social media and if they can succeed.

How can we track social media?
Unfortunately, there is no one “most effective” social media tracking system. Marketers across the web are still working to figure out how to measure social media, how to attach ROI, and how to sell the benefits of participationon the social web  to those that don’t “get it”.

Social media marketing isn’t like an email campaign where you can track the number of emails sent out, the number that were opened, the number of clicks, visits, leads and conversions all in one process. Much of what happens in the social media world happens behind a login and the old ways of tracking web visitor analytics just doesn’t work in that scenario.

Just like any kind of marketing, each company has their own set of objectives and reasons for reaching them via social media channels. That means different methods and ... read more >>

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Are you a trust agent? Do you need to be?

by Drew McLellan on 09/16/2009 05:35   0 comments , 857 views
Categories: Strategy, Tutorials, Best Practices, Marketing

Trustagent Chris Brogan (one of social media's Godfathers) and Julien Smith, a trend analyst and expert on building communities have released a new book, Trust Agents. 

The subtitle pretty much tells you what to expect....using the web to build influence, improve reputation and earn trust.  And that's exactly what the book focuses on. Sort of.

The book defines 6 characteristics of trust agents:

  • Make your own game:  Breaking with established ways and standing out from the crowd.
  • One of us: Being immersed in your community and truly belonging.
  • The Archimedes effect: Focusing your unique abilities to enhance your efforts -- finding leverage.
  • Agent zero: Using your network/building relationships so that you have access.
  • Human artist: Strong relationship builder -- recognizing that by genuinely helping others you can also help yourself.
  • Build an army: You can't do it alone.  Align with others, collaborate and create an avalanche. 

The book is a quick read -- lots of good stories and examples.  Both Chris and Julien make their money by being their own version of an online superstar.  They use themselves as examples throughout the book and ... read more >>

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Using Twitter to harvest ideas: MyIdea4CA.com

by Matt Rhodes on 09/08/2009 14:27   0 comments , 779 views
Categories: Strategy, Social Media & Politics, Tutorials, SEO, Best Practices, Twitter, Media 2.0, Communities
Tags: myidea4ca.com, schwarzenegger+twitter, government communications best practices
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

One powerful use of online communities is to help get new ideas into a business; taking advantage of the fact that many (if not most) of the best ideas for your business are likely to come from outside, from people who don’t work for you. There are some well know examples of businesses working with consumers on co-creation in this way: MyStarbucksIdea and Dell’s Ideastorm being among the most well known.

Most of these sites use a similar process: people can join the community and then suggest their own idea, comment on existing ideas or vote for the ideas that they think are best. The best, most commented on or most voted for ideas are then responded to by the brand. They are an effective way for businesses to get ideas into their business and, more importantly perhaps, of showing customers some of their internal decision making and letting people who buy the product understand more about, and even influence, the processes by which it is made.

Like any good online community, such ideas sites work best when they work with other social networks – interacting with people on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, in forums and blogs. Going to where ... read more >>

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5 Tools for Your Digital PR Toolbox

by LeeOdden on 08/25/2009 05:52   0 comments , 933 views
Categories: Strategy, Social Media, Best Practices, Public Relations
Tags: pr toolbox, online pr best practices

News SEO ToolsThe transition from old to new technology creates both challenges and opportunities for communications professions.  The field of public relations is directly tied to the publishing industry which of course, is directly connected to business and consumer information discovery and consumption.  The migration from offline to online has left these industries in a state of flux and traditional PR becoming increasingly digital is no exception.

There are tactical challenges as well as strategic. For example, the shift towards digital communications means a new set of tools must be learned in order to accomplish today’s PR goals.  Now more than ever, public relations professionals need to familiarize themselves with a new arsenal of tools to adjust and thrive in a digital world.

Which tools and tactics are most effective for online PR? What are the best practices and guidelines for using each tool appropriately? Here are five tools every digital PR practitioner should have in their online PR toolbox.

Search Engine Optimization –  Search is the top method for finding information online. Keyword optimizing news content is a key device for digital PR professionals. ... read more >>

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Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy, Part 7 - Find Quality Followers to Engage, Don’t Worry About Numbers

by Thomas Shaw on 08/19/2009 13:31   0 comments , 617 views
Categories: Strategy
Tags: social media strategy
We all want thousands of followers on Twitter, but the number is not as important as the quality of your network. If half of your Twitter followers are there simply to boost your numbers, you will not be reaching the right people with your message. Providing quality content and engaging in discussion is more beneficial.

Promotion is key to building your social media network. Make sure you share your Twitter handle, Facebook page or LinkedIn profile with your business contacts to help build your network. Add it to company promotions, include it in your email signature, list it on your website to let the audience you want to attract know where to find you.

Many social media platforms have created their own methods to promote valuable contributors. Twitter’s #followfriday, a designated day to recommend influential or interesting people to follow on Twitter, is a great way to get quality followers and establish your network.

Don't be fooled by the "get hundreds of followers" scams - they do not work. You actually act as a mule to recruit others to these scams.

Once you begin using Twitter, Facebook and other platforms regularly you will build a network that will help you meet your goals. ... read more >>
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5 reasons to use email marketing plus its 2nd highest sharing tool

by Chad Richards on 08/10/2009 09:18   0 comments , 381 views
Categories: Strategy, Public Relations, Marketing
Tags: email marketing+best practices

AddtoAny study shows Email is leading sharing toolNeil Behrman, President of Delivra, says there are lots of reasons to use email as part of your marketing mix. 5 to be precise.

They're instant, affordable, dynamic, measurable, and best of all, its easy! I started thinking more about this the other day when I saw this on chart of the day:According to AddToAny, a company that provides Web publishers tools to let their users share content, more people use Facebook to share links than any other service -- including, to our surprise, email.Now, if you read the original article closely:Interestingly, if you combine all of Yahoo’s properties – Delicious, Yahoo Bookmarks, Yahoo Buzz, and Yahoo Messenger – it accounts for 14.4 percent of sharing, making it second on the list. Less surprising, MySpace has fallen well down the ranks with just 5 percent of shares. Other notables include Digg at 4.4 percent, Bebo at 3.1 percent, and LinkedIn at a mere 0.4 percent.Either way, the way I look at it - email is still accounting for 11% of the way that content/information is being shared. This raises an important question for some of you that insist that social is king. Isn't email the original . ... read more >>

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