Don't Put Your Head in the Sand: Measurement is Key

For our sixth installment of the 'Sink or Swim' series, we will discuss the importance of measurement. It is often thought (and spoken aloud) that social media marketers can't always assign ROI or a dollar amount to social media efforts. It is likened to billboards or TV advertisements, wherein the value is implicit.

That is simply not the case.

There are many ways in which your social media efforts can be measured. To begin, let's start with the goals associated with your social strategy. These will help you measure what is important. If your goal is 'brand awareness,' for instance, it is wise to look at metrics like 'People Talking About This,' or the number of people generating stories about your brand (likes, follows, comments, shares, etc.). If your goal is sales-driven, it is wise to look at metrics on your website and referring traffic from social platforms.

Most brands obviously monitor their increase in likes on Facebook, follows on Twitter and all the other minutia that these platforms throw at you to make you feel good. In Hootsuite, you can check your clicks in their 'Quick Analytics' tab using your ow.ly links. But have you thought about appending code to each individual tweet and tracking with Google Analytics or a paid platform like Marin or Omniture? The options for tracking are nearly endless and can go as granular as you like. In fact, there are ways to follow someone around on your site to see their paths. What pages did the user scope out? How long were they there? Think about how valuable this information can be to your social strategy and your new business team.

Here are some examples of conclusions you can draw from taking the time (& money) to measure your social media efforts:

1. How do people engage with your brand on different platforms? Perhaps people are more likely to click on a philanthropic message on Facebook, whereas they're looking for deals on Twitter.

2. What is user behavior like once they reach the brand website? How are your call-to-actions in social messaging affecting (or not affecting) this?

3. How much money is it making your business to be social? And yes, this can be an estimate or concrete dollar amount, depending on the amount of technology you want.

Too many agencies send brands in the direction of social media because it is fun and easy; perhaps even because they think they will be held less accountable for hard ROI numbers. But if you're not measuring your social efforts, why do them at all?

Tip #9: How to Talk On-Camera

How you talk on-camera is different from how you write. It's also different from how you talk to your colleagues at the office. At the office, you have your own internal lingo, right? Let's say you are a web consultant'you and your co-workers throw around acronyms like SEO, ROI, & API like crazy. You talk about A/B testing, acquisition strategy, and click bots.

But if you are going on on-camera, whether as a TV guest or making your own video, you'll need to leave the lingo at the office and translate those phrases into plain English.

I don't mean you need to dumb down your information, just find a conversational way of explaining your topic.

For example, here's a line from a press release:

'Companies that use properly optimized websites with carefully constructed sales funnels dramatically increase their revenue or broaden their exposure to potential customers.'

And here's what you could say on-camera:

'How your website looks and works is key to attracting more visitors and then turning them into customers.'

Read both sentences aloud. No one talks like the first sentence but the second one could actually come out of a human being's mouth. Maybe the second sentence doesn't sound as fancy as the first but it's comprehensible straight away. The jargon is gone. Getting rid of clichés and dense statistics while adding an anecdote are other ways of connecting with an audience quickly through on-camera langauge.

Concise and clean language is especially important for video because viewers consume it differently than text or audio: video viewers are watching AND listening'and probably eating their lunch or checking their calendar all at the same time. If they have to translate your jargon too, they probably aren't going to take in much of what you are saying.

So when you go on-camera, don't worry about impressing your colleagues'just think about connecting with your viewer. If your company is making a lot of video, you may want to take a list of commonly used 'inside phrases' and translate them into 'normal' language. If needed, you can get your legal department to approve the list. Then give that list to any of your colleagues who are being interviewed or making video.

I'm counting down the Top Ten ways to make great video. Check out #10: Video with Value and check back next week for #8.

Author:

Manoush Zomorodi's on-camera expertise comes from years of reporting and producing for BBC News and Reuters Television. For more tips and techniques, check out Manoush's ebook Camera Ready: How to Prepare Your Best Self & Ideas On Air and Online and follow her on Twitter @manoushz.

Marketing Nuggets: Getting Started and Pushing Through

There are two times that suck more than others when working at anything: getting started and pushing through.

I work out almost every day with my wife. We have an intense 30 minute routine that gets incrementally harder as we reach new levels. Most days I do not want work out. She has to push me to get going. Once I'm into it though I get in my groove and experience pretty smooth sailing, until I hit that point. That point in the workout where I have to push through an exercise that has been challenging me. I can either rest or just keep up with it until the exercise is finished. Pushing through at this point makes all the difference in my physical development and whether I hit that next level or not.

Business and marketing are no different.

Often we put off the tasks that, for one reason or another, we do not want to do. We busy ourselves with all types of distractions like 'important projects' that are due much later than what we are putting off. Once circumstance, the muse or the demands of the project itself kick our butts into gear we often wonder what we were putting off in the first place. Then the time to ship the project comes. Again we find reasons it isn't ready yet, reasons we need more time and justifications for wanting to keep it just a little bit longer. This is the point where we have to push through.

Here are some quick tips to getting though the unproductive times:

• 30 Minute Blocks -You would be shocked at what you can get done in 30 minutes. It's just enough time to feel short, but enough time to do complete work. Take your pain in the ass project ('PITAP') and schedule 30 minutes per day on your Google calendar where you are going to block out the world to focus on the PITAP. When the 30 minutes are up you can go back to Google+ or Twitter to engage in the really important work that day. Building a routine will dramatically change the way you work.

• Whiteboards Should be Erased ' Do you have a whiteboard in your office? I live and die by mine (I dream of the day when I can have most of the walls in my office be whiteboards). How often do you erase them?Too often the whiteboard becomes a static picture in our office rather than the ideation and project development tool it is meant to be. Write your PITAP on the whiteboard, outline it's various parts and then take a snapshot for your Evernotes to archive the ideas. By the end of the week, the general outline should be replaced by your outlining and honing in on a single piece of the project. This should help you move through the details.
• Use the Buddy System ' Just like in swimming you should have a buddy when it comes to your PITAP. Even if that someone is just a colleague willing to listen and give feedback, it need not be someone partnering on the PITAP with you. The idea here is to have someone else be your reality check, tell you when you are stalling and spark workable and appropriate insights. You do not want a yes-man for this.

Getting started and pushing through are just like any muscle in our body, except the mechanism is in our brain. We need to practice becoming more effective in these areas, fail better when we don't measure up and learn to accept the challenge as an opportunity to work outside the comfort zone. This is the place where real professional growth happens, businesses catch fire and we reveal great things to our market.

ROI and Event Marketing

BtoB Magazine published a study this week indicating that marketers investing in events like trade shows and conferences are experiencing some difficulty in pinning down the ROI of those investments. According to the study, which surveyed 247 people, 60% reported low to medium success in tying the costly tact of event marketing to noticeable increases in sales. Interestingly, the study also reports that many marketers place the blame for these measurement and sales gaps squarely at the feet of the sales force. The article reports that 'survey respondents cited in particular a lack of sales support and an inadequate supply of data from sales. This situation is made worse by poor sales follow-up.'

BtoB notes that the health of trade shows actually seems to be improving despite the often-voiced sentiment that trade shows aren't what they used to be. The article cites a study from the CEIR (Center for Exhibition Industry Research) Index noting that the trade show industry has experienced its seventh consecutive three-month period of growth. Clearly people are still attending and exhibiting at trade shows. So why is there so much difficulty in tying revenue to the investment in the show?

We have some recommendations that should narrow the event marketing ROI gap.

Have a Plan

While the marketers surveyed pointed their fingers at the sales force, the onus is on the marketing team to create a plan that expands from before the show to a few months after the show. There needs to be a concerted effort to drive qualified leads to the booth, there needs to be an efficient AND effective way to capture those leads, and there needs to be a solid plan in place to follow up with those leads later. We offered a planning guide a couple of years ago that still is relevant today ' we called it the A.P.P.L.E a day plan. It's important to incorporate sales into this planning process. At what point will lead nurturing become a sales initiative? How will the sales department know who the best leads are? All of that should be crystallized well in advance of setting up the booth.

Understand that the Show is Just the Beginning

A lot of time and effort goes into preparing for a trade show, especially if it's one like IMTS, one of the largest manufacturing trade shows in the world, which is coming up in just a couple of months. It's easy to feel like all mountains have been scaled once the show goes off without a hitch. However, Ruth P. Stevens, formerly of CEIR and now president of consultancy at eMarketing Strategy, notes in the BtoB article that 'post-show is where the revenue happens.' The show is where you can attract leads and get attention, but the show is also where you are competing with all other exhibitors. After the show, after everyone has returned to their respective offices, you have a chance to nurture those leads through your sales funnel. Preparing for that process is an often underestimated and overlooked facet of event marketing.

Make the Show About Your Customers

Because of the investment event marketing entails, many companies set up their presence at a trade show with the intent to focus only on themselves and their products. In no marketing channel is this the most effective way to attract customers, however. To entice qualified leads, the event should be about your existing and potential customers. From the pre-show promotion all the way through the post-show nurturing process, the focus should be on how your products and services will help your customers and prospects. A seamless transition from pre-show marketing, on-site marketing, post-show marketing, and lead nurturing will strengthen all efforts.

Use Multiple Platforms To Attract Leads

Events give you an opportunity to meet customers and prospects that you've gathered across all of your marketing efforts. It makes sense, then, to promote your show presence across all of those marketing channels and make sure that your messaging is consistent across the board. A person who knows you through print ads should be as aware of your booth and your products as someone you've encountered via Facebook. Maintaining post-show 'buzz' can also be accomplished across all platforms. Make everyone in your audience feel welcome before, during, and after the event.

Know What You Are Measuring

Before the trade show, benchmark your sales. Make sures you have a clearly defined way to track leads from the show to eventual sales. Make sure that marketing AND sales are aware of what the ultimate goal for the show is. If the goal is to add three new customers or if the goal is to increase sales by 3%, that knowledge should be front-of-mind for everyone in your company. The BtoB article again quotes Ruth Stevens, who says, 'Don't spend one penny on a trade show unless you have a lead-management process in place.' While that may sound like it is overly cautious, if successfully measuring the ROI of event marketing determines whether you'll continue to exhibit at a show, tracking leads must be an integral part of your overall plan.

What are your experiences in tracing sales to your event marketing? Are you experiencing the same kinds of problems those 247 survey recipients are? Instead of pointing fingers, work across your company to put together a cohesive plan bridging pre-show promotion to post-show sales nurturing. And if you need help, just let us know.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkgeoenergy/6812353362 via Creative Commons

The Power of Powerlessness: Let Go and Put the Customer First

I was recently asked to participate in the creation of a collaborative white paper, initiated by Selligent (for the record: one of our customers). It's a similar approach as the B2B Blogging Trends paper Aggregage did in 2011. The topic of this collaborative white paper, however, is direct marketing or should I say dialogue marketing.

Jordie van Rijn, Mario Marlisa, Kenny Van Beeck and several other email and DM experts share their views on the evolutions regarding direct marketing in the paper (if you speak Dutch, you can get it here).

One of the other contributors is Jan Van Aken. Jan ran Ogilvy Belgium before moving to Ogilvy & Mather Global. Today he is a Partner at Futurelab.

Jan's contribution to the paper is called 'The Power of Powerlessness.' With the advent of social media, each consumer became a 'media transmitter', Jan says. Today, we connect around interests, values and ideas. The traditional socio-demographic target group is not enough anymore. On top of that, target groups change faster than ever before since our interests are constantly shifting with the overwhelming realm of possibilities we have at our disposal.

Combine that with the decreasing trust of consumers and there you have it: people build their own, personal value systems. They decide what they like or not. They don't need brands or governments and other social ecosystems and institutions to do so anymore.

When we start from a model that is dominated by quantitative criteria (reach, GRPs, open rates, click rates,') and don't take qualitative elements into account enough (relevance, impact, context,') we, as marketers, cannot respond to these changes, Jan says. That's why we are powerless in regard to consumers who decide whether or not they allow us in their lives.

Sales and marketing have always been about social interaction

The trick is to find power within this factual powerlessness. And the only answer to it is customer-centricity: letting go of what we want alone and focusing on what customers want. Or in other words: accepting the power shifts and evolving accordingly. Facilitating.

Selling (and marketing), Jan says, was always fundamentally a process of social interaction. It's nothing new: in recent decennia, it simply got buried under the obsession about reach and the pressure of quarterly results. Indeed, it's about understanding again that markets are conversations as 'The Cluetrain Manifesto' reminded us.

Social marketing is a process whereby marketers listen and create spheres of interests, needs and expectations, Jan continues. They are the starting points of a good content strategy and an invitation to the connected consumers to step forward and tell us how we can help them, using all possible ways to capture what they say and do ' and, obviously, respond to it.

It allows us to serve the consumer in an increasingly personal way, creating engagement, interactions and ' ultimately ' loyalty. Direct ' and other ' marketers have new data to take into account: motivations, attitudes, value models and interests.

The consumer increasingly calls the shots and the traditional view on direct marketing can and should be broadened.

Turn powerlessness into a new form of power by letting go of the illusion of control. More in the paper (in Dutch).

Creating Content Marketing Goodness With Questions

'What do we write about?'

'A editorial calendar isn't important; we just need to write about our products.'

These are just some of the things I've heard from prospects and clients alike. It's a common theme and many companies still don't understand what topics attract readers to their content marketing efforts.

Many believe just pushing out loads of content about their products or services will suffice, but they soon realize that's not an effective strategy.

What works?

Building Content Marketing Around Questions

There are many ways to figure out what your prospects want, but I'm going to touch on just one in this blog post. It's simple, actually: look at the questions your prospects need answers to.

So for content marketing in the forms of email, blogging, press releases, white papers and other content, look at answering the questions of your clients and prospects.

Where to find these nuggets of inspiration?

1. Analytics ' I've talked about content marketing opportunities through analytics before. For instance, look at the keywords your visitors search to find your content. If your blog gets big hits on specific terms, start creating more content around that area.

For me, I've seen a lot of traffic from visitors around keyphrases, including:

'What are benefits of content marketing'

'How blogging benefits business'

'How content builds relationships'

2. Email metrics ' What if you wrote a newsletter on segmenting your email list? Did the open rate go high? What about the click-throughs? Effective lead generation through email requires you digging some and seeing what topics work for your email marketing content.

3. Social search ' Ever search your social networks on what people want? It's not that hard. For instance, try do a search for 'how content marketing benefits business' in Twitter search and see what you find. Now, take that info and go create some content around it, then share it with those looking for the answers in your search.

Do I smell some great lead generation opportunities? Why yes, I do!

Content Marketing With Questions

It may sound simple; wait, it is! Just look around and start putting together a calendar for your content marketing efforts with the questions you find. Then, start building the content and use it to start generating some leads!

What questions have you found in your content marketing search?

Photo credit: horiavarlan

What Marissa Mayer Really Means For Yahoo

Recently, Yahoo has been in the news in the wake of announcing that they have hired a new CEO ' Marissa Mayer, known as a public face and long-time employee of Google. You may well have forgotten all about Yahoo ' the New York Times reports Yahoo's net income fell 4.2% compared to the second quarter of 2011. Yahoo has had five CEOs in five years and hasn't really made a big splash since it failed to get purchased by Microsoft. SearchEngineLand reported on July 13th that according to the latest comScore report, Google has a market share in search of 66.8%. Bing is second at 15.6% and Yahoo fell from 13.4 to 13% in May.

Despite the clear continued downfall of Yahoo, once one of the darlings of the online world, the hiring of Marissa Mayer has not spawned much speculation on how the 37-year-old will save the company. Instead, the focus has been on the fact that a) she's a woman and b) she's pregnant (she's expecting her first child in October). Here is a small sampling of the articles that appeared last week.

Girl Power/Mommy Track Power with New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer (LA Times)

Marissa Mayer: Yahoo's New CEO Reignites Working Mother Debate (Christian Science Monitor)

What Signal is Marissa Mayer Giving to Yahoo Employees (CNN ' this is mostly about her maternity leave)

If you're interested in the possible future of the struggling company, none of this information is particularly useful. The articles cited above focus almost exclusively on Mayer's gender and impending motherhood. Many articles we read don't even mention what she did during her 13-year tenure at Google.

The Business Scoop

If you sort through the articles dealing with babies, Mayer's extravagant wedding, and whether her maternity leave will be too short, too long, or just right, you are able to find a few interesting tidbits about what Mayer may bring to Yahoo, although Business Week notes she is keeping her specific plans rather quiet for now. We thought this note from the same Business Week article was rather interesting:

One area of opportunity is mobile, which none of the major tech powers has conquered the way Google dominates conventional Internet search ads. Consumers may have flocked to smartphones and tablets; advertisers haven't been won over'yet. That gives Mayer a plausible opening to leverage Yahoo's traditional strengths (e.g., Yahoo! Sports) and revive some of its once-hot properties (its photo-sharing site Flickr comes to mind).

Another business-centric article we found was from USA Today, which notes three primary challenges Mayer will face as Yahoo's CEO. Ultimately, Mayer needs to figure out Yahoo's brand, which is number two on USA Today's list. Yahoo is clearly not in a position to overtake Google's stranglehold on the search industry, and platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus have leapfrogged Yahoo's desire to make search more personal. Bing has already cozied up to Facebook with the 'social search' feature that shows friends' recommendations as you type searches into the search engine. Where does Yahoo fit? If Mayer can answer that question and run with a plan, she could be a real Silicon Valley hero and Yahoo could once again become a company to watch.

The Downside of Mayer's Hiring

Not everything is rosy about Marissa Mayer. In all of the excitement that Yahoo hired a woman 'even though' she was pregnant, it's easy to miss concerns that are being verbalized regarding Mayer's lack of leadership experience. This article from Forbes Magazine cites several sources that question Mayer's leadership experience. Some have lightly insinuated that Mayer got to where she was at Google because she once dated co-founder Larry Page. Then of course others simply point to the fact that Yahoo has failed to keep a CEO for any meaningful length of time for the last five years. Sometimes streaks are hard to break.

We will be watching Yahoo carefully to track how Mayer impacts the company. Very little, if any, of our focus will rest on her baby presents, names for her baby, how many days she takes for maternity leave, how many hours she may work during her maternity leave, or anything else related to her gender or parental status. We're interested in perpetually shifting world of the search engine world. That's enough to keep us busy. How about you?

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdlasica/4036278304/ via Creative Commons