Blogs and Social Media: Moving From Monitoring to Networking
In recent years, blogs and social media monitoring have become a fundamental part of the press office operation and many PR agencies’ bread and butter services.
As social networking has matured, companies need to engage proactively to ensure their brands are effectively supported.
Traditional media such as magazines, newspapers and TV channels have increasing numbers of journalist-written blogs as part of their online presence, meaning a top tier of blogs are seen as being just as influential in the media landscape as their e-zines and print media counterparts. There has also been an increase in the number of business-led social networks, business users of blogs and micro-blogging tools such as Twitter and Google-owned Jaiku, and multimedia social sites like Flickr.
However, a huge portion of the blogosphere and social media landscape is not professionally produced and individually these sites do not have huge audiences. Collectively though, these smaller outlets comprise as much as 99 per cent of the social media landscape and together form a powerful force that the PR industry is looking to harness. As the majority of blogs and social media sites contain personal content written in the first person, viral issues and stories can spread quickly. The sites connect people and when issues spread virally across social networks, they become big news for organisations that they affect. This is why tracking blog buzz across the whole of the web is critical for reporting on brand image, online coverage, and building a picture of customer perceptions.
An example of how effective a viral campaign can be, was when an online grass-roots campaign was formed on the social network Facebook. Protesting against an overdraft charge that the bank HSBC was imposing on recent graduate accounts, thousands of students joined forces online through a viral Facebook group which generated massive media attention, and forced a u-turn at HSBC. Within just a few weeks of the group launching, the bank scrapped the overdraft charges.
Over the last year, the fact that blogs impact a company’s brand image online has become more established. Marketing, PR and communications departments are increasingly exposed to the impact blogs have on a brand’s reputation, whether that’s negative coverage of a product or an online petition or a campaign across social networks. As this issue has gathered momentum, companies have realised that blogs and social media need to be actively managed not just monitored.
Some progressive brands are already doing this successfully. US retail bank Wells Fargo for example has a team dedicated to responding online to bloggers’ issues and complaints in order to increase positive sentiment around the brand online and reduce the amount of negativity that might emerge.
What caused the need to move from monitoring to engagement? Early adopters have led the charge. And the masses have followed. We are seeing social media’s evolution in the business ecosystem move from early adopter to mass market status and web tactics are rapidly becoming better understood tactically and strategically as part of the PR mix. The challenge is to turn the opportunity into action.
Content Marketing Kick-start
Content marketing is a simple alternative to traditional marketing methods. Content marketing is based on using useful, informative or entertaining content in any format to attract and retain customers. It works because it positions you and your business as a trusted resource and encourages prospects to search you out as opposed to you doing all the chasing.
Perhaps equally as important is that it rewards your customers for responding to your marketing. Instead of getting the same old sales pitch they get useful, informative or simply entertaining content.
It’s precisely because it rewards people for their attention that it works so well when combined with other marketing strategies – and smart businesses can use that fact to kick-start their existing efforts. Let’s try an example:
Suppose you run a nice upmarket caf?Your traditional marketing might include things like your ads in the paper or the leaflets you hand out. In terms of content, it’s pretty much a sales pitch along the lines of, “here we are, this is what we offer and isn’t it great.”
None of that really does anything for your prospective customer though. On the other hand, as a content-led business you can make a few small changes to those leaflets or ads that actually gives your prospects something of value – and increases the response rate accordingly.
Start by looking at your ideal customers, what do they want? Could they be interested in healthier alternatives? Saving money? Trying new things? In this case we’ll assume that healthy eating is important to your customers, they want to know how to prepare wholesome meals with minimum fuss.
On that basis you could start by putting together a number of attractive recipes and suggestions for healthy eating. That kind of information is useful in itself and so will appeal to your market much more than a standard sales pitch.
With a strong content idea in place the next step is to incorporate it into those advertisements or flyers. Your ads can be recipes in themselves, designed to be cut out and kept (or at the very least say ‘check out our website for healthy recipes options’). Instead of using traditional flyers or printed menus, you could opt for branded recipe cards – something that people will be more inclined to hang on to.
Done well, your great content makes you the place to go for healthy eating when your prospects couldn’t be bothered to try those recipes themselves. And if they do put your recipes into practice you’ll likely benefit from additional word-of-mouth – provided they taste as good as they look.
In short, if you start with a focus on creating valuable content to attract and keep customers, then bringing that content into your existing strategies is the prefect way to give flagging advertising and marketing campaigns a real kick-start.
Brand Marketers Embrace Social Media
If you perform a Google search on any big company’s name with the word Facebook at the end, chances are the top result will be the company’s own official Facebook page. The same goes for Twitter and YouTube. CocaCola and Pepsi, Apple and Microsoft, Target and Walmart—they all have a presence on some social media platform.
Last week we reported on the recent statistics highlighting the social media revolution. The Internet was buzzing about the future of social media, media marketing, and how businesses can use social media to their advantage. This week, the results from a survey were released, detailing even further just how much social media has affected business and brand marketing. Within the next year, an astonishing 82 percent of brand marketers will be using social media to promote their brand, said Equation Research’s 2009 Marketing Industry Trends Report.
Now more than ever, it is essential to have a handle on social media. Not every platform needs to be explored, however. It’s about efficiently using your time while creating the most impact. Currently, many brands struggle with engaging users once the space is established. While the Equation report listed some great stats about social media, it also said that 37 percent of brands don’t know enough about social media to know where to begin.
Social media connects businesses to customers and clients in a unique way, engages them in meaningful conversation, and opens doors to options that couldn’t have been explored just a few years ago. One of the biggest doors social media has opened is the ability for businesses to promote social causes and missions, and the emerging trend of social entrepreneurship. Uniting users through a cause built around your brand is incredibly valuable–as it engages them on a high, meaningful level. Through this, the communication can make an impact and also send a message to customers that the company is interested in more than just making a profit.
Here are just a few examples of how social media is leading the way for social good:
Target: For years, the company allocated a certain percent of their profits to charities chosen by the company. This past year, Target announced that they were handing the power of giving to the people. For two weeks, Target opened a poll on its Facebook fan page allowing users to vote for the charity of their choice. At the end of the voting period, the company split up…
To read more about brands and social media, go to Sparxoo, a digital marketing, branding and business development blog.
Eat out for less
If you’re like me, you will love to eat out. Coming home from work and having to cook my own tea can be a real drag – so eating out is always really tempting.
But the problem is, I like eating out at least twice a week – and that can really add up. Just last month I spent so much on eating out, that I didn’t actually have enough money left to buy food in from the local store.
So, I did a bit of research and found a few ways I could eat out for less, and I’m going to share them here.
Look for special ‘weeknight’ offers
Some of your local restaurants may offer special ‘weeknight’ promotions – for example 2-4-1, or two meals for a set price.
These can sometimes be hard to find, but it is worth searching for them. Remember, restaurants want your business, so there will always be an offer on somewhere.
When you find a restaurant that has an offer on a particular weeknight, you may decide to go there each week – providing the food/service is satisfactory.
Save coupons/discount vouchers
One of the best ways to save money on your meal is to use coupons or discount vouchers. Some restaurants will hand these out to you once you have eaten your meal, meaning you get to use them next time. However, other restaurants may either publish their coupons online, or put them in the local newspapers – so keep your eyes peeled.
You might find that some places actually put discount vouchers on the back of receipts.
Eat at a cheaper restaurant
This is an obvious way to eat out for less, but it works. If you find that you are spending too much on your restaurant bills, then look for a cheaper restaurant – there will always be one (providing you haven’t already found the very cheapest!).
Some cheaper restaurants are actually better than the more expensive ones. This may be because expensive ones are known to set their standards very high (hence the high prices), but some of them cannot reach the standards needed to justify paying a high price for a meal – whereas cheaper restaurants may try harder to compete with the more expensive ones by offering more choice on their menu, or giving you larger portions, or better service, for example.
Split the cost of the bill
Finally, when you receive your bill, why not split it with the person you’re eating with? This is only really possible if you are eating out with a friend/partner – rather than eating out with your kids.
Piecing Together The Media Buying And Planning Puzzle
Media buying is more complex than a lot of people think at first; which is why a lot of people fail to hit the nail on the head with their media planning efforts. Effective media planning consists of several elements: finding the right media to advertise in, positioning yourself within that advertising media to reach your target market, strong negotiation skills and the ability to monitor and track results and analyze them to fine-tune your campaign.
Does media buying still sound easy? Honestly, it’s not – which is why most businesses don’t try to go it alone with their media planning efforts and go to the professionals. There are advertising agencies and consultants who provide media buying services; people who know advertising media inside and out and can get your company the placements it needs to reach the right audience at the best possible rates.
You could do ahead and try to do this all yourself, but it’s going to take up quite a bit of your time – time which could be much better spent elsewhere. It’s usually a much better idea to leave the media buying to an advertising agency that has a track record of getting results for their clientele. Choose your advertising agency wisely. An agency which does a great job with media buying and other services is a valuable partner to have. Meet with agencies and look through their portfolios until you find an agency that offers the expertise and the services your company needs.
Whether you’re trying to plan a campaign of newspaper advertising, radio advertising, online advertising or all of the above, assess the reach of each type of advertising media has in your target market. The next step in your media planning is to tailor your advertisements to the media used in the campaign. Remember, we warned you it wasn’t necessarily easy!
Advertising costs vary depending on the media you choose. Internet advertising is relatively inexpensive compared to other media, though the total cost depends on whether you’re using banner ads or pay per click (PPC)advertising and how many impressions or clicks your campaign includes and/or how often you want your ads to appear. PPC is easy to monitor, track and fine tune (and you can set the budget to ensure you don’t overspend), making it one of the easier media buying tasks, relatively speaking.
National newspaper advertising and magazine advertisements, among other consumer focused print media are more costly. Magazine and newspaper advertising are great for consumer awareness and as a branding or corporate identity vehicle and as such should be considered in your media planning.
Outdoor advertising, including billboard advertising and mobile billboards can make a big impact, but in terms of media buying is a little more challenging. In depth, longer-term demographic information will be required to get the best results out of your outdoor advertising placements.
The most challenging part of your media buying strategy is broadcast advertising. Radio advertising and television advertising are among the most expensive advertisements to produce and purchase placements for. Radio, however is becoming a more cost effective medium with local stations especially often providing very reasonable rates for packages including the costs of production and planning.
Media buying can be a puzzle; but it doesn’t have to be a conundrum for your business. Media buying is one of the things advertising agencies specialize in. Some things really are best left to the professionals – and placing media buying and planning into the hands of experts ensures more effective campaigns and lets you get back to running your business.
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Make Your Business Stand out with Excellent Media Relations
Every entrepreneur dreams to make it big in the corporate world. All business owners would definitely do everything in their power just to be known globally. Who would not want to be number one in sales and conversion? Of course, the goal of every business is to capitalize on the investment. Did you know that writing world class and first rate releases about your company would absolutely build your media relation which is the heart of advertising?
According to successful companies who were able to top the world trade industry, press releases are actually helpful in strengthening media relations. Increasing your product awareness and building your credibility through strong mediums will be the strength of your company which you can use against your competitors. This is the reason why it is important to revolutionize your media relations program by coming up with significant corporate press releases. How are you going to do this? Besides the conventional approach in writing releases, you should be strategic. You may formulate your own model or follow these guidelines first:
You are not alone in the marketing world. Whatever it is you are offering; there are about a hundred other companies who have the same product. This is the reason why you need to stand out and make the public know that you are the best among all the other companies. You can do this by writing about feature leads for your products and that it can give your customers. Your readers will definitely appreciate your feature leads and would probably be interested in your products if you will be able to present the advantages of purchasing or availing your goods. You would need to explain how the product can benefit them so it is imperative to point out what specific need is being addressed by your company’s offer so that you could build a better media relations. Providing the benefits is not the only way to entice your customers into buying your goods. You have to be creative in presenting the offer explanation why it is important as well as its added features. Make everything sound extreme and quantifiable so that they will find it very interesting and appealing. Start with a good headline or title. It is vital to get the attention of your reader and prospective customer right away with the title of your press releases. If you would just have a generic or lame title, they will not read through your writing. Also, it is important to keep the momentum. Your customers must keep reading until you are finally able to impart your message to them and you can only do this if your article is not lifeless.
Definitely, a company would undergo a lot of challenges and competition and it is up to the entrepreneur to handle the pressure. He could get out of it successfully but he has to work really hard. If you are having problems with your business as well, particularly with media relations, it would be best to come up with a new campaign. Be innovative and use your resources wisely. There are strong advertising mediums that you can take advantage in order to get to the top. Go and grab those opportunities now!
Calendars and Notebooks as Promotional Items
It really can’t be stressed enough; people want promotional items that they will really use. Trying to figure out what these may be will be a bit of an exercise, but there are a few of them that will continuously be effective for the companies that are willing to use them. The pen won’t ever go out of style, and although it may not be nearly as effective as during their hay day, there are still a lot of people who are currently buying thousands of pens to pass out to people that they hope will be customers one day. A lot of companies are looking for something a little more than just a pen, and that’s fine, especially considering all of the other options that they may have available to them. For instance, a calendar can be perfect for promotional use, as it is both practical and allows for a lot of advertising.
Some companies think that they have problems, specifically with the calendars, they’ll find that they really don’t have to think very hard. For instance, there’s a good chance that there’s a budding photographer on staff, and that’s something that can be of use. If not, it’s not too hard to obtain some images that will be on the calendar. While some of the selections may be a little costly, it can really be worth the efforts of the company, as it can really do wonders for the bottom line, of course depending on how they are utilized. If a business is going this route, they will definitely want to contract the services of one that specializes in custom manufactured promotional products, as some companies may not be able to handle the request to the fullest extent, and that’s exactly what you’ll need.
How Social Media Marketing Can Build Your Business
In conversation with other marketers, I am often asked how Social Media Marketing is useful to a website. I realize that not everyone understands how social media marketing (SMM) can affect a websites page rank, traffic, sales (the list could go on).
Content is an extremely valuable resource to all web users. By putting it to work for your website you can find yourself as the “Reliable Content Provider” also known as an “Authority” on that topic. You can use social media to give you that authority.
Recently, I implemented just a few of the social media techniques taught my Social Media Rockstars and promoted my website to top ten Google rankings – making it an authority site for a keyword related to my business. Here is my example of how social media marketing affects the natural search listing.
1. First, I had a business website that needed more traffic (what website couldn’t use more traffic). This is already a successful website for a few other keywords, but I wanted to spread the valuable content provided with this website.
2. I then researched a high traffic, low competition keyword that was related to my business website. You only want traffic that is looking or searching for what you can provide them. I do not want to falsely advertise with irrelevant content otherwise all my efforts with social media marketing would be a waste.
3. Next, I researched my market to find out what they were looking for and how I could best provide valuable content to the web searchers looking up that keyword.
4. Then I created multiple forms of content – content is information provided to a website searcher; this can be text, video, or audio. *Remember that relevant content is what you want to create.*
The content was broken down into one short video and 12 articles. 3 of the articles were 1000 words, and the remaining nine articles ranged from 300-500 words. Note: be sure that this content is in someway relating back to the main site that you wanted to increase traffic, sales, or reputation. Whatever your purpose, be sure that this content is helping.
5. Now you need to spread the content across the different social media sites. I added the larger articles to the more popular social media sites.
Of course the video went to you tube. And for the social media sites that allowed me to share a video along with my content I added the video to it.
These 12 articles and one video spread across 13 sites drove traffic back to my businesses website. The key here is to post your content on a site that has a high page rank. This will tell the search engines that the content is coming from a reliable and valuable source. In return, those high ranking sites give your site higher rankings (or a more trusted reputation) because it’s being promoted by a high ranking website. (Sort of like the popular high school student introducing the new kid – you start off on a higher social status).
Don’t stop there! With social media marketing you need to share the content. You can so this by using social bookmarking sites, posting the information to a blog and sharing the article links in a forum. People are always looking for free information. Share your free information with everyone you can. If it’s valuable and relevant to the web users you shared it with they will also bookmark it on social bookmark sites creating viral traffic.
Now if, you remember form the beginning my main purpose was to increase traffic to an already published website. I now have 12 articles, loads of social bookmarks, and a video linking back to my website. If I did my social media marketing correctly this will definitely increase the traffic coming to my business website.
But that’s not my only result: because I have all of these popular authority sites sending traffic my way, the search engines now see that I am providing valuable content. In return for providing this content and sharing it through social media marketing tactics I have boosted the listing placement of my original website. Now in the search results for my targeted keyword I have dominated the top 5 pages with articles, social bookmarks, videos, and more importantly my main business website.
With my recent efforts in social media marketing (with in the last month), I moved my business website from the 21st position in Google to the 8th. On top of that, I hold 14 other positions in the top 30 search results for my targeted keyword. All this and I didn’t use half of the resources available with social media marketing.
How Social Media Is Helping the Hyundai Motor Company
Building Better Cars and Better Customer Relations.
Hyundai has been getting a lot of attention these days as a company that cares about its customers and part of this success can be credited to social media marketing. By integrating a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy with social media along with their traditional marketing, Hyundai has branded itself as an altruistic company that really does care about its’ customers. In fact – Hyundai has jumped ahead of every other car manufacturer in the critical customer satisfaction index (CSI) category. Here are a few examples how Hyundai is applying their social media marketing strategy in key parts of their business and how it is paying off.
Promotion
Hyundai’s Assurance Program began in early 2009 when the economy was at its worst and unemployment was rising rapidly. The Hyundai Assurance Program promised that if you got laid off from your job, you could return your car and not even have to worry about honoring the rest of the note payable. The promotion was innovative but coming from a major car corporation was it believable? The attention the campaign received from the press and from many blogs and websites was skeptical.
Hyundai began promoting the idea on Facebook and Twitter. They asked everyone to buzz and tweet about it and people responded with enthusiasm. The idea of social networking for business exposure is not new but the strategy was extraordinary because it laid the groundwork for the campaign and gave it credibility. It was a brilliant way to market a promotion that really did work. Sharing this information on Facebook and Twitter turned out to be a big plus for the car company’s marketing campaign.
Hyundai sales are up 6.2 percent through November 2009. This marks the eleventh consecutive month of year-over-year gains in retail market share by Hyundai. The Hyundai Assurance Program is without doubt one of the reasons their sales have increased this year while other car manufacturers have floundered.
Corporate Responsibility
Zafar Brooks, Director of Government Relations and Diversity Outreach at Hyundai, has a refreshing perspective on the value of social media when combined with corporate outreach programs. The Hyundai “Hope on Wheels” program fights pediatric cancer by funding cancer research programs across the country. Brooks understands the importance of authenticity and relevance in social media outreach, particularly on behalf of corporate charitable programs.
He said: “Consumers are more sophisticated now — corporate social responsibility programs are no longer something that is ‘nice’ to do, but it’s expected of the company,” noted Brooks. “Simultaneously, consumers will smell-out what is not authentic — Hope on Wheels isn’t advertised, but is part of the news we share with our brand loyalists,” he said. “It is a part of our story because it is a part of who we are and what we are about. Social media should be authentic and organic.”
Mr. Brooks added, “Brand leaders must align themselves with a cause that is consistent with corporate values so they can illustrate their relevancy. Leadership has to establish the priorities around which we stand and make it part of our messaging point.”
Brooks concluded: “All social media should link together with a common objective to develop a program based on who we want to talk to about what we want to accomplish. Social media outreach must be part of a cohesive approach. Consumers will smell-out what is not authentic!”
Aftermarket
Hyundai Aftermarket recently announced the launch of a new social media campaign. The goal was to give Hyundai owners a new way of finding content on the internet about modifying their vehicles. The interactive social media campaign involves additional features being built into the Hyundai forum that owners can use effectively to get the word out about what they are doing to make their cars stand out from the rest. Twitter accounts and Facebook “Fan Pages” have been built so that owners can follow live updated news feeds about Hyundai Aftermarket as well.
“Finding important and relevant information is not easy when you are unfamiliar with how to perform certain modifications,” said a Hyundai spokesperson. “Having a forum and website where answers to important questions are laid out for you, would help with modifying your Hyundai to its highest potential.”
While the site has been branded as the “web’s most premier Hyundai forum” and currently is the oldest Hyundai forum on the internet, it has been designed for both the amateur and professional car enthusiast in mind. The site is built on the principle of being very easy going and helpful to anyone who may or may not know a lot about Hyundai’s. Users register for free and can partake in discussions about Hyundai Accents, Tiburons, Elantra’s, Sonata’s, Santa Fe’s and the all new Hyundai Genesis.
In addition to providing great technical content, hyundai after market provides great off topic discussions ranging in everything from technology to music & movies to even food and health/nutrition.