Measuring tools for your Social Presence

Perhaps one the key thing that we can do with any social media platform is to monitor the engagement, interaction, and ultimately feedback from our customers and our audience.  Effectively perusing interaction is a good thing as this might improve your page rank, and help to develop loyalty to your business and brand.

Don’t fall into the trap that many businesses do that it’s only using big brand terms. As much as you want to have your ear to the ground when monitoring comments about your business and your brand, it is essential that you monitor product comments or service experiences as well. Developing a strong brand presence is great but the brands foundations are the products and services that are provided. These have to be monitored as well.

Even a negative comment can be turned into a positive result provided the comment is actioned quickly and convincingly.  This will show that you are prompt and willing to help.

The tools that can be used are as follows:-

A Twitter Search is a great way to get an overview of what people are saying on Twitter. The search can be filtered and tweaked to make sure that the data that is produced is accurate and relevant. The search can also be done based on geographical areas, so there may be places locally that show positive tweets and vice versa.

Another approach is using Google Alerts, this is a content service that updates the user if there is a post online on a news board, blog or a forum. The user is contacted when the post is made based on the search terms that are set on the Google Account.

A new service that can be adopted is called the tweet deck. This deck has the facility to monitor many social media websites. This saves time as you will not have to sign into multiply accounts, particularly as we have mentioned any negative comments will need to be handled immediately. Plus, any offers, business news, photos and links that you want to post will land on all social media sites with tweet deck, instead of posting them on all the sites individually.

What benefits does LinkedIn have?

LinkedIn is a social networking site that connects business professionals together. It has been running for 8 years and has over 100 million registered members. The idea is that the service will generate interaction, engagement and a connecting network with colleagues and counterparts in similar industries. So, it is a social networking site for professionals.

Normally when the words social networking are stated we instantly think along the lines of Facebook or Twitter, but LinkedIn is not at the same level as these 2 larger established sites.

There could also be the discussion that offline networking could be a thing of the past, with more avenues to connect to people over the web. While traditional networking is something that we do automatically and is very positive in building relationships with fellow workers and with people from other organisations, social media/networking is still needed to complement this face to face approach.

If you are on Facebook and Twitter do you need to be on LinkedIn? Well, you could do but there is a danger and you may have to proceed with caution. Before all traditional networking disappears, don’t lose the ability to communicate face to face as that is proven to make a better impression. Also, with other social networking sites there tends to be a massive time requirement that makes it work to your expectations. This again is dangerous and time has to be monitored.

With all social activities – that includes online and offline they occasionally need reeling in. This is the same within LinkedIn. As much as a social network can provide a full brand exposure, it will not make sales for you.

In summary, you should be LinkedIn. However, don’t rely on it just because it’s a more professional networking site. This platform needs to be blended into all the others to get a really good network of your industry and other related organisations.

7 Reasons for Putting SEO Before Social Media

Within all marketing plans/budgets, all aspects have to be considered. However, the debate that has been raging for some time is all relating to SEO and Social Media. Occasionally, reports are published that highlight the fortunes that people have earned via a specific SEO plan and the new market audience that is attainable via Facebook or Twitter.

Most experts believe that social media does have a potential to generate new business. The audience is massive with a very low cost to connect to them; you can create your own brand and investigate new opportunities. However, will the social media improve your website? Or is it better to invest your funds and time in SEO campaigns?

Experts believe that social media is not at the moment, a real enhancement to your website for a number of reasons:-

Targeting traffic is a key part of any marketing plan and unfortunately social media is generally not as good as SEO. With social media there is a very high click away percentage. On the other hand with SEO the target market is very focused and defined so enquiries are relevant and convert better in to business. As much as the internet is on all the time, so are the search engines that will provide lots of traffic with good investment. The equivalent time spent on social media will not produce the same results.

In terms of negativity, SEO won’t work against you, even if your SEO technique is relatively poor. Major social media platforms do leave open the door that bad press can walk through that will leave you either red faced, embarrassed or even low on visitors. Also the social media is prone to attacks and so it can’t be considered as bullet proof. If subjected to an attack – a lot of marketing efforts can be destroyed in seconds.

There is a maintenance issue that also has to be considered in this mix – because there are many social network sites including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, you will have to update all of the websites that you decide that you are going to use because the impressions need to be even. There is a multi post option but you will still need to check that the post is accurate. Any none relevant posts could be damaging and leave you relying on good relationships across many forms that can’t be guaranteed. In contrast there are many good search engines and with a good SEO, rewarding rank will be very easy to develop without external factors being in the way.

Social Media is a developing and dynamic, users do spend a lot of time on these types of sites. However, it can be very volatile as users can change between websites almost instantly and so reducing the relevance of the marketing message that is being displayed. What’s in today is not in the next day. SEO should always provide a site with strength, structure and a bold position to improve rank within the main search engines.

 Let’s not get confused, this is not a social media put down. Social media will develop and be more rewarding but as we have seen it should not replace SEO. They are two separate channels and should be kept this way. It needs to be considered but not prioritised.

Is Social Media worth any amount of marketing spend?

Currently social media websites are receiving more visits than any other website. Recent figures show that Social Media delivers around 3% of its traffic to retail websites.

The 3% highlights that social media has influenced or persuaded a few people to click away from the social media site to the retail site; the main reason for this is because of brand identity. They were on the social media website and click from this, on to brand logo or a marketing message that is of interest – therefore landing on the retail site.

What might retailers take from this? The obvious point being there is positive connection between the social media and your website. However, is there enough of a connection between the two before any marketing investment is added? Do marketing teams feel that this new market of social media is still in its beginning stages and still needs to mature before the marketing budget gains another addition headed Social Media?

So, while this medium is very powerful and has a huge audience, there is still an obstacle when linking the social networking site and the retail website. So far, brand awareness seems to be the best link. This is a clear message that any social media advertising has to be linked in to the existing marketing as the brand name or logo is very receptive to the social media audience.

To involve social media into your Marketing spend – your strategy needs to be integrated with SEO, PPC and any promotional emails. Running a social media campaign in its own will not be fruitful.

Lets not deny that there is a new audience that can be targeted, but there is no real guarantee of clicks and ultimately sales.  While we admit that any good strong online marketing campaign needs to have a blend of SEO, PPC and appropriate positioning, at present social media does need to be considered and have an amount of spend for exposure, but must not be relied upon for conversions or sales.

Google Dismiss Social Network Rumours

Technology blog The Next Web, recently indicated that Google are moving into social networking with the release of Google Circles in May.  The reported also stated that Google Circles will offer video, photo and message sharing.

Google has responded immediately to deny that they are embarking on a new social networking site.  Chris Messina, a developer for Google, said he didn’t know anything about the rumour at the SXSW conference.

Even if the rumour were true, we doubt that Facebook and Twitter will be overly concerned.  Google’s previous social network attempts (Google Buzz & Wave) failed to steal any of the market away from the 2 main social networks.

Due to a lack of take-up Google decided to drop Wave last summer.  Within days of dropping Wave Google announced the acquisition of Slide, a social app company.

Google already operate their Orkut social network which is popular in India and Brazil and has over 100m global users.  However, they have never been able to crack the English speaking countries or Europe.

This follows our article last month in which Google and Facebook were believed to be at war on a buyout of Twitter.

Is your Online Marketing Campaign ASA Compliant?

Should companies that use Facebook and Twitter to advertise have their adverts screened as they already do with traditional media? The advertising that is done offline is monitored by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), but online social media adverts are not. From March/April 2011 both online and offline campaigns will be monitored by the ASA – what impact will that have on a business message or website.

The ASA rules cover all statements on a website that can be interpreted as marketing even if they are not positioned or linked in an advert. Prior to this point, the ASA where only able to check out the content and the intent of paid for ads that were placed online.

Since 2008 the advertising watchdog received in excess of 4,500 reports and queries about appropriate text on websites, but unfortunately they could do nothing about it. The watchdog did notice that the reports and complaints from the online adverts were very similar to the public reports from viewing advertising in TV, National Press and on the Radio. The ASA spokesman stated that this new power will allow them to change and turnover a lot of issues that are put in front of them. The overall rule is that the UK advertising code states that all none paid for statements must not harm, mislead or offend, just like paid for adverts were in the beginning.

The ASA will primarily search for harmful, misleading or offensive details on the .co.uk domains. However, many .com domains will also be reviewed such as Facebook.  The difficultly is that an advert on the internet can be visible for 1 week or 1 minute, cause widespread harm or be misleading (particularly on a sales add), then withdrawn.

User content that is posted such as Facebook is not going to be investigated but the ASA will examine company adverts. If a company ad on a social networking site is in breach of the advertising code, the ASA will incorporate a name and shame process.

However, all intentions so far seem to be in the best possible nature.  The ads have to be clean and appropriate and clear when delivering their message.  However, with Facebook and MySpace growing and companies utilising the massive audience, the enforcement of the code might be difficult. If you are deemed as non compliant the results could be very damaging. There are talks about excluding companies from any advertising medium including search engines and PPC campaigns.

So, ask yourself this, are your marketing messages ASA compliant?

Reaching a new audience via Social Media

The beauty of Social Media is that you can get messages, a link, or even a collection of pictures to a worldwide audience instantly. The budget compared with other online marketing methods is almost nil and you don’t need a recognised brand name. A good eye catching display with appropriate creativity and a good referral/word of mouth campaign will suffice.

The social media activities have to be linked with the company website to generate the enquiries and the sales. The more creative the better, the more customer interaction the better either locally or internationally. No two businesses will be able to generate the same buzz from a social media site.

A key aspect of the social media link is that it can be the link between driving customers to your website but also by catching them if they try to click away. Therefore, the social media link should be filled with an up-to-date blog that highlights key aspects of the business, customer’s positive feedback and activities that are done in house. The blog will increase the creditability and will maintain a strong personal presence.  Filling pages with URLs and promotions does not really work.

Social media sites are designed and geared to be totally interactive and a forum for ideas and innovations. The key multimedia opportunities must be completed and this would include posting images, videos, reviews and almost any positivity that can be found. It’s possible to say that the Social Media Site is an extension of your own website, and when handled as discussed they are a second online presence.

The mobile internet users are very fickle, if the content is not what you want to see or read about, the results will show this. So, the mobile internet must offer what the audience wants. Showing a few special offers and promotions via the mobile internet will not work very well. You will have to engage with the audience, show them what you have got and why, plus why they should want it.

Social media is revolutionised communication on many levels. It is a platform for business and people to share with the world. Ignoring it could be a massive mistake as you may drift away from the digital age and the whole generation of people that are using it. Social media is not a saturated market, there are still opportunities to be had, but the foundations are very strong for it and your

What is Social Media missing when it comes to advertising and revenue?

As popular and engaging as Social Media is there are a number of issues that restrict its development. Let’s be clear, social media has a very strong and sustained future, but the clue is in the title. It’s Social Media not Commercial Media.

To get over the problems preventing its adverting development, it needs to have more connections and friends in the form of advertisers to concrete its place as a good marketing method.

According to research this may change in 2014, advertising spend is expected to grow to over $3.1billion. That is an increase of $716 million. So, surely this is enough investment to grow Social Media Advertising. Well, by the year 2014, 60% of the total online advertising spend will fall into SEO and PPC methods. This percentage is approximately 10 times what the Social Media would receive.

Therefore, the Social Media market may be a limited market hence why it does not receive the same spend as the SEO and PPC campaigns. While $3.1 billion may sound like a lot of money – in respect to the whole picture it is not.

Facebook and MySpace are today’s most prolific social media revenue generators, and these two websites account for the vast majority of social media online spend. The increase of $716 million that is estimated to boost the social media will either land with MySpace or Facebook.

The important key points that we have to make is that if you are looking for a great digital marketing channel that is new and receptive for the next 5 years and unless social media finds a brand new business model that is very streamlined, then your online ad spend will be allocated to either Facebook or MySpace. Unless, we experience a sudden collapse of the online market as we know it.

For today and now, Social Media does host a number of opportunities, potentially more for the local business and not the large commercial enterprises. Despite this, SEO and PPC are still regarded as king in online digital marketing.

Sony Ericsson Fan Base Soars on Facebook

Sony Ericsson had a huge success with social media last year and has no plans to let that slip in the future.  They intend to display product information through rich media using ‘insightful editorial’ to grab customer attention.

Remarkably, Sony Ericsson increased its Facebook fan base from 300,000 to a staggering 3.9 million during 2010, making them the 40^th largest brand.

Ben Padley, VP and global head of online and CRM at Sony Ericsson, said: “Our fan base used to be more male and techie, but now we’re more of a lifestyle brand with universal appeal,” he said. “Our challenge is to engage the superfans at the same time as the new entrants.”

Sony Ericsson plan to profile their fans and match them with specific content and then offer them unique opportunities such as visiting their offices.

Padley went on to say: “Our goal for 2011 is to keep promoting our solid hardware. We’re investigating augmented reality, product tutorials and social media commerce opportunities.”

Facebook Release the Latest Social Chat Feature – Social Eyes

Facebook is currently the largest social networking website, but that does not stop the creative minds at Facebook from adding another feature to the service. This feature is called Social Eyes – and it connects friends together using video chat.

Social Eyes has been released recently and Facebook members can use the Social Eyes feature via Facebook to video chat with their friends that are on their friends list. Plus, also if a friend is not presently online at that time, there is the option to leave a video message.

The social eyes can operate multiple chats, with mute and pause options.  The means you can control conversations that you don’t want people to hear – which might alter your friends list.

There are other suppliers of this type of video chat, including SKYPE, Apple’s Face Time and Google’s Video. Facebook is more geared towards the social element, building a community chat among your friends.

Facebook has seen the interest in face pointing devices such as netbooks and the iPhone 4. So, the social eyes should fit in perfectly. There is a proposal to develop a business version, to capture the business market with a revenue opportunity through advertising.      

The question is, is this service an enhancement to the Facebook social network package or an attempt to take market share away from SKYPE and Apple’s Face time?