Atomic Ideas - Helping You Sell More Stuff!

The 2011 CMO's Guide To The Social Media Landscape.

With social becoming more and more important in the marketing mix, we thought this chart from cmo.com and 97th Floor presents a great way to quickly review the pros and cons of the top platforms dotting the landscape. You can download the PDF at cmo.com.

It's a tool that could be useful in developing an actual strategy for social media engagement... something we find is still strangely lacking in many companies efforts. Agree? Disagree? Let us know.

 

 

 

Want Gen X and Y to find Your Website? New Forrester Report.

For many companies, succesfully marketing to and engaging with Generations X and Y is essential to future business growth and success. Let's face it, someday all the seniors and Boomers (sadly, me included) will be gone. So it's important to stay on top of trends and research that helps us understand how the Xers and Yers will find us (and,of course, how we can find them).

A new report from Forrester Research provides some insight and statistics. The survey says that although natural search engine results and then referrals are still driving the most traffic, younger folks (not surprisingly) are increasingly using social chanels to find websites. 

Here are some stats and a nice chart from an article on the report at the fabulously informative MarketingProfs website. Read the full monty here.

      •  Some 16% of online adults are referred to websites via social channels.

      •  Among Gen-Y adults, nearly 30% find websites via social networking sites, while 25% do so via
         email from friends and family.

      •  Gen-Y adults are twice as likely to use blog posts and Twitter as referral sources:

      •  14% of Gen-Y adults are referred to sites via blog posts, compared with 7% of all adults.

      •  10% of Gen-Y adults are referred to sites via Twitter, compared with 5% of all adults.

 

20 Essential Twitter Tools For Business.

I subscribe to an essential tool for marketers. It's called marketingprofs. For a nominal fee you gain access to a phenomenal information resource and other goodies. For instance, today I was able to download a marketingprofs white paper on Twitter which includes 11 case studies of businesses using the platform and the extremely useful list below... $49.95 for the complete study to non-subscribers, FREE to me. Outstanding!

In the the spirit of the holidays I'm sharing. But if you want the rest of the info, I highly recommend you sign up at marketingprofs.com. You won't regret it.

Twitter Account Management

• TweetDeck: This popular desktop widget offers great functionality for posting business tweets, including the ability to sort tweets into direct messages, topics and keywords. For instance, you can set up a specific column for mentions of your company or industry, and another for those of your competitor. TweetDeck has a sleek Adobe Air interface that looks like a cockpit on your desktop. Plus, it integrates with Facebook.

• HootSuite: A fast-growing free Web service, HootSuite is perfect for businesses needing multiple Twitter profiles and multiple users. It allows you to easily schedule tweets and switch back and forth between accounts. The service also includes a URL-shortening service called “ow.ly” that lets you see how many times your links are clicked. HootSuite counts Google Enterprise, Steve Case and Threadless as users.

• CoTweet: Multiple people from the same company can communicate through a single Twitter account, thanks to CoTweet. Each person maintains his or her own profile and activity record. CoTweet boasts such customers as Macworld, Ford and Whole Foods. CoTweet is accepting private beta registration.

Contact Management & Directories

• FriendOrFollow.com: This is a powerful tool for seeing 1) which of the people you follow are following you back and 2) which people are following you, but you have yet to reciprocate.

• Twitoria: You may have a lot of followers, but how many of those are active? This simple application allows you to see which of your followers are active on Twitter over the last week, two weeks, month, two months, etc.

• WeFollow.com: It is a user-powered Twitter directory. Simply enter the tags you want to be known for (e.g. #socialmedia, #marketing, #measurement, etc.) and you’re finished.

• Twellow: This tool bills itself as the Twitter Yellow Pages. You can search for users by a wide range of categories. You can also add yourself to a group so people can find you.

• Just Tweet It: Another directory service that notifies you of new additions to people in your particular industry.

Tracking & Metrics

• TwitterCounter: This sleek tool lets you chart the number of followers over time, from last week to last month.

• Bit.ly: This incredibly useful tool not only shortens your URL but enables you to track metrics on how many people click on your links. This provides insight into what types of links resonate with your client base. Retailers, such as Dell, use bit.ly to track click-through rates.

• Twitalyzer: A new tool from the folks at Web Analytics Demystified, Twitalyzer goes beyond basic metrics to show the influence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity and a whole host of other metrics related to your Twitter account. Take one trip through Twitalyzer, and you’ll have a clear idea of where you need to focus to make your Twitter use more effective.

• Google Analytics: To measure the number of people visiting your website from the Twitter.com domain, try Google Analytics.

• Omniture: This enterprise Web analytics package recently added Twitter integration, enabling clients to view brand comments over time, influencers vs. detractors, and a host of other metrics.

Monitoring & Alert Services

• Search.Twitter.com: Though there are several options for monitoring what people are saying about your brand on Twitter, this one might be the easiest. And it’s free. Use this service to set up RSS feeds related to the words you care about. (Please note: It does have limitations, such as how far back in time you can go.)

• TweetBeep.com: This service is like Google Alerts for Twitter. Enter your keywords
(e.g. company name, product, competitors, etc.) and receive regular updates whenever someone mentions those words in social media.

• Monitter: This new service provides a live streaming view of what people in your location are saying about your company or employees.

• Radian6 and Techrigy: These two enterprise-class monitoring tools help a company listen to conversations happening throughout the social media universe, not just Twitter. The tools are loaded with additional powerful functionality for managing your brand.

Marketing Tools

• TwtQpon: Use TwtQpon to create exclusive deals for your products or services, and share them with your followers.

• TwitterHawk: A novel marketing application, TwitterHawk connects you with people actively talking about your product or service within your area. For example, if you own a sandwich shop and someone in town tweets about getting a sandwich, you can automatically send them a customized response. The service costs five cent per tweet.

• TwitBacks.com and TwitterGallery.com: Want more than the design options that Twitter provides? Use either of these services to improve the look and feel of your Twitter page. TwitBacks.com allows you to provide additional business contact information, and a photo or logo as well.

So there you have it, so have at it. And don't forget to thank marketingprofs by signing up and getting access to all the great stuff available on their site. And by the way, I'm just a big fan - they're not endorsing my admiration.

Tweet us @atomicideas

Happy holidays!

Black n' Blue Friday

Seems just about every retailer  has a "Black Friday" sale.  "Black Friday" sales are definately the "hot" marketing tactic. 

In fact, I even saw a TV commercial for Maaco for their "Black Friday" sale. Seems you can save big on every paint service they offer until Saturday at noon. The problem is, I saw the commercial at 11:12 pm Saturday night. 

Not only have they wasted their money by not utilizing this "hot" tactic correctly, but now I actually have a lower opinion of them. If they can't get their advertising right, what else will they mess up? My paint job?

It's the same with marketers and the "hot" tactic of social marketing. Done incorrectly, companies at best lose their window of opportunity for influencing consumers at the proper point in the buying cycle, and at worst, they risk converting a neutral attitude to their product or service, into a negative one. 

Your Company's Other CEO

I was at a Tweetup last week, listening in on a conversation where a person from an internet company was explaining to another person about the supreme importance of 'SEO' - Search Engine Optimization - for companies. The real listener (not me the eavesdropper) was nodding up and down as the internet guy nodded up and down. They were both extremely agreeing with each other on the importance of SEO.

Well....yeah.

And yes, there still are companies that haven't done proper Search Engine Fundamentals, or the fancier term, 'Optimization'. Wikipedia definition: "Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines".

Translation - SEO helps people find your site.

Getting ranked high on search engines and increasing traffic to your site is a good thing.

Then what?

When the search engine fundamentals are addressed, the other, more challenging half of the equation kicks in, what we at Atomic Ideas call  'CEO' - Customer Experience Optimization. CEO is the experience a visitor has when they visit your site or your store, or calls your company.

CEO addresses how it feels to be on your site, from a visitor's perspective, how it feels to be in your store. How the layout is on your site/in your store, the writing tone on your site/clarity of signage in your store, the ease of navigation on your site/through your store.

How easy is it to engage with you at whatever buying step I'm at - whether gathering information, or ready to buy. Amazon is a terrific example of top-notch Customer Experience Optimization.

SEO focuses on dealing with the search engines. CEO focuses on taking care of conversing with your customers. That's what top-notch marketing agencies help clients excel at.

If you have good SEO, you're in the game. But you need great CEO, or you're dead in the water. Without great CEO customers click to your site - click off your site. Walk into your store - u-turn out of your store.

Customer Experience Optimization applies to both your customer's online and offline buying experience, since we search online, but we live offline.

How's your other CEO? The one every customer meets?

Photo: mmetcalfe

I got nothing

 What do bloggers do when they get writer's block? They surf the web, they check out you-tube. Anything to get an idea to spout about. I like the good old days when something important happened or there was a burning issue that needed to be ranted about first -- then it got an article written about it. But many bloggers, myself included, feel compelled to write a blog on a regular basis -- important issue or not.  Something to do with rankings in the blogosphere, people counting on it, etc.

I, for instance, have just completed a big assignment, there is no big issue weighing on my mind, and I have just had a big meal and am feeling quite content. The last thing I want to do is rant. So here I am blogging just to keep a tenuous rank in the blogoshphere. Does anyone else feel the same way? (Because of course, getting people to comment on a blog or answer a question is another way to boost the rating).

Well, that's all I have to say on the subject. Which isn't much. But you pretty much knew that from the title.

Website Technical Optimization - Basic Stuff, High Rewards

Guest Blogger Doug Menzer, offers up some basic advice that is definitely worth considering.

When I sit with clients, prospects and colleagues, I try to spend the time both teaching and learning.  In particular, when I coach many of the smart people that I am thankful to work with, on a variety of digital marketing and social media business strategies, I have a tendency to often lose them.  This is most likely because of the speed that I explain things.

I have a bad habit of assuming that people know what I am talking about because I get very passionate about sharing my experiences and knowledge.  Ask my wife and she will not only agree but laugh that I am stating this fact.

The critical focal point in the first sentence above, however, is learning.  I have found that as I am teaching others, I can actually learn more than I am teaching in many cases.  For example, (take a social assessment and strategy development for a B2B company) – I’ve consulted with some very intelligent and savvy business people in the B2B arena on social assessment projects – but I’ve learned to become a better listener.  Which, ( …BTW) -  allows me to be a better learner and ultimately a better teacher.

Outside of an extremely detailed assessment ( among other deliverables) – including “listening” to the social landscape of:

• Brand mentions

• Competitors

• Customers, across several industries

• Service offerings/products

Prior to developing a strategy – the recommendation to begin improving their web sites is sometimes needed first and foremost.   As my colleague Shauna Nicholson states, “It’s like dressing up before you go out to a business event.”  However, what if your client really likes their current site?  (Even if it has not been updated since 2001) Feeling that there is nothing needed for improvement.  In fact, they feel that:

• The creative is great. (In reality: It looks like 1998 is calling!)

• It has functionality and conversions are great.  (In reality:  They don't know the potential that they are missing.)

• It must be optimized correctly, right?  Just leave it and let’s move forward with Twitter and Facebook, right?

How do we explain this most basic step?  Putting your clothes on before you go out… a small (but very important) part of the overall strategy, without irritating or losing a client? Here are some slivers of the website technical optimization pie that can hit a cord with a President of a large B2B organization.

Let’s say that Google, Yahoo and Bing are the hosts of a major trade show in your industry.  Anybody that you ever dreamed of getting in front of is your audience – and they are at this trade show, which gives you many opportunities to tell them all who you are and what you do.  You go outside of your booth passing out some really great items to draw them to your booth (as well as having the opportunity for your hosts to draw traffic to your booth…) But, what happens when they get there?

Let’s look at what you are telling your hosts first:

• Page Title - Does your page title (or tradeshow banner) effectively tell Google (or your trade show host) who they should recommend visiting your booth?

(Is it relevant and descriptive to the industry you serve?

• Meta Description  - Does your meta description effectively tell Yahoo what you do?

(Does it match the visible text?)

• Meta Keywords – Are your keyword effective and relevant?

(Are they consistent with the content page by page? (Each page individually optimized?))

Then... there is your audience (what if they come):

They're Heeere!  Once your users show up, is your website clear, consistent and easy to navigate?  Or is it cold, gloomy and/or hard to understand?  I’ve personally spent more time at trade show booths that have occupied my attention (without overwhelming me) and offered great information.    The same goes for websites.  So, you have a 24-7 (365 days a year) trade show going on and your okay with a dingy booth with incomplete messages and no one hanging around, eh? 

Driving traffic to a site can be the easy part – in some cases, outside of the fact that we want to get relevant traffic – we want to look the part.  Do we have a nice outfit on, have our hair combed, teeth brushed and flossed with a smile on ready to do some business?

What an Odd Feeling

I was talking to a business friend this morning about an international company that's been in business for over thirty years. We were questioning if they offered a certain service, so I googled their company name to go to their web site..

They didn't come up.

I was stunned. Google search has conditioned us to expect instant connection toward whatever we search for.

When it doesn't happen, it feels odd. So I blinked twice, added a few more search terms, and finally found them. They really should have come up in the first search.

Search engine optimization has become a de facto process in our consulting with customers. Before we get into strategizing how a company can sell more stuff, we always check out their SEO. Sometimes a client is surprised by what we find (and don't find).

Imagine a retail store without a sign on its building. Before talking about a 'marketing for sales' strategy, we'd first recommend they get a sign...