Macali Communications Blog

Five New PR & Social Media Measurements

2009-11-06T09:00:00-06:00

PR and social media accountability is more important than ever, and new measurement ideas are valuable.

Metricsman Don Bartholomew recommends five new ideas including: 1. the total value of PR 2. an updated model 3. three zones of measurement 4. new metrics and 5. impact/value and ROI.

I appreciate the updated model and new metrics ideas that seem easier to understand and more comprehensive and more integrated than traditional measurements.

Specifically, they measure exposure, engagement, influence and action. All can be important in determining a campaign's ROI, and Metricsman descrbes these measurements:

1. Exposure -- to what degree have we created exposure to content and message?

2. Engagement -- who, how and where are people interacting and engaging with our content?

3. Influence -- the degree to which exposure and engagement have influenced perceptions and attitudes?

4. Action -- as a result of the PR/social media effort, what actions if any has the target taken?

This table shows the tangible measurements within each of these categories:

The new measurements have great value for golf brands, especially as they plan multiple on and offline campaigns for 2010.

Callaway YouTube Video Keeps Growing; 10 Tips To Improve Video

2009-11-04T10:00:00-06:00

As promised, I have been tracking the YouTube popularity of the Callaway Golf Amazing video.

Two weeks ago, it had 777 views, and now 63,069 views as of this post. That's not huge numbers but that's a 8100% increase. Tell me a mainstream media ad can compete with that.

This video works because of humor, relevancy, simple message and subtle but transparent brand identification. Want to improve your viewership?

Here are 10 tips on improving your YouTube video content, thanks to Michael Miller, author of YouTube for Business:

1. Be entertaining enough to keep viewers watching the entire video.

2. Be informative which can mean combining education and information into edutainment. People come for entertainment but stay for the information.

3. Go for the funny. People recall the funny videos. When people laugh they make a connection to a brand, so don't take yourself so seriously.

4. Keep it short. Miller recommends 2 to 3 minutes of video.Those longer don't get big viewership. Need more time for your message, edit your video into shorter segments.

5. Keep it simple. Don't look overproduced. Sometimes, a single person talking directly to the camera is all you need.

6. Stay focused. Focus on a single message and hone in on a single product or service.

7. Communicate a clear message. ask friends for comments on a video. If they can't summarize it in a single sentence, you have a problem.

8. Avoid the hard sell.You don't have to hit the viewers over the head with your message. Show product in use vs. straight product demos.

9. Keep it fresh. Today's video is soon forgotten, so update your video library continually.

10. Design for remixing. The Web and YouTube encourage interactivity, so you might design a video that viewers can edit to encourage interactivity.

Wonder if Callaway and other golf marketers consider these tips when creating YouTube videos. I would.

Ford Gets It. Golf Brands Pay Attention!

2009-10-28T10:00:00-05:00

Plain and simple, Ford gets social media. Golf marketers can learn a lot from Ford.

Through its social media hub The Ford Story, the brand combines brand-generated and customer-generated content into a vibrant, compelling and interactive platform.

The brand also uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr to humanize, connect to all its constituents (retirees, buyers, dealer, suppliers, etc.).

Here's why I like Ford's efforts:

1. There's a strategy to integrate its brand messages and consumer needs and interests.

2. It's a central source for the brand's comprehensive social media efforts from Twitter to Facebook to YouTube.

3. The hub is an open, transparent platform for all important constituencies.

4. It's interactive, soliciting opinions, stories and inviting entries in contests like this Fusion41 relay race contests.

5. The Ford Story is really engaging and fun. I could see many of its fans spending time and having fun doing so.

Numbers demonstrate fans' interest and engagement as the site had 72.5K unique visitors last month with almost 131K visiting in April.

I know Callaway, Titleist and TaylorMade and other prominent golf marketers could attract many fans with a similar social media hub.

Five Ways to Better Leverage Social Tribes

2009-10-22T10:00:00-05:00

Brands and organizations are struggling with how to fully harness social media's full potential.

They are developing their social media marketing by paying closer attention to "lurkers" and by pursuing important business objectives.

Those are two important findings of the Deloitte 2009 Tribalization of Business Study of 400 companies including Fortune 100 organizations.

Active users and their community participation were considered top measures of success, Now, brands are paying close attention to "lurkers" -- people who observe the community, but don't participate in the discussion. The study also found:

o 32% of respondents capture data on how lurkers derive value from the community

o 20% have set up formal "ambassador" programs, which give outsiders preferential treatment in return for being more active in the community

o 39% indicated more full-time people are being deployed to manage the communities

A majority of respondents continue to have these top business objectives for online communities:

o Increase word of mouth (38%)

o Increase customer loyalty (34)

o Increase brand awareness (30)

o Improve idea generation (29)

o Improve quality of customer service (23)

How can brands and organization can more leverage from social communities:

1. You will benefit from understanding that social media impact is more than participation, and that a broader group valued customers and important influencers can be following and adding to or subtracting from your brand.

2. You can realize brand values including buzz, customer engagement, new ideas and customer service from social media.

3. A dedicated team member with customer engagement and social media skills could allow brands to more fully leverage relative communities for an enterprise.

4. A brand's social media engagement will benefit from thinking first about a community's goal and how it can match that with relevant brand contact and connection.

5. Marketing might will benefit from the PR, customer service and even market research mindset to understand, interpret and connect with communities. Participants and lurkers can be cultivated as valued brand advocates not just customers.

So, I can appreciate the ongoing social media struggle and am encouraged to see brands maneuver in valuable ways to fully leverage it. This is an excellent study with exceptional insights.

Amazing Performances Callaway Golf & Five YouTube Tips

2009-10-20T11:00:00-05:00

I have received this Callaway Golf video from five different people who copied at least ten people. On YouTube, this video has been viewed 777 times as of this posting (it was 450 last night).

Talk about viral. I'm going to follow this on YouTube this week, and keep you updated on views and email distribution.

Here's some tips for getting more exposure for your YouTube video as suggested by Tamar Weinberg:

1. Forget about the advertising mindset as people will fast forward through them like they do on TV. This Callaway video is being shared because it was simply fun and relevant to the target.

2. Send a link to your network of friends and colleagues (like folks did here).

3. If you have a YouTube network established, be sure to share it with them.

4. Leverage social bookmarking and social news sites and send them your video.

5. Reach out to bloggers who write on subjects relevant to your video content.

Here's to great performance by Callaway and You Tube.

Three Brand Benefits Coming From Enhanced Product Reviews

2009-10-15T10:00:00-05:00

Product and service reviews, both positive and negative, can increase business and help brands quickly identify problems.

Amazon.com has demonstrated this since 1995, and now the Journal reports that other brands and sites are using innovative review and ratings strategies and technology for these brand benefits:

1. Boosting reviews and credibility as Drugstore.com has done with an email campaign that encourages customer reviews post purchase. Since its launch, the site has see a 300% increase in reviews.

2. Encouraging reviews and comments before they buy, allowing auto supply company Whitney Automotive Group JCWhitney.com to pose questions about products before a purchase, and empowering brands to address opportunities or problems in real time.

3. Identifying a buyer's specific profile and then matching customer reviews to similar customers for Diapers.com (e.g. parents of twins, first-time parent, etc.)

These strategies reinforce brand connections, verify buyers and build a broader online audience for product news, insights and ideas.

Software and services such as Power Reviews and Bazaarvoice are powering up major brands' review capacity and innovations.

Six Triggers Driving Compliance And Purchases

2009-10-13T10:00:00-05:00

We all face information overload from e-mails, web ads, mainstream and social media news stories, reviews and recommendations, ETC.

This situation is creating a new decision process in which we take short cuts to comply, agree, or buy based on a single piece of information or triggers, according to the critically acclaimed Influence, Science and Practice by accomplished social psychologist Robert Cialdini.

In a very comprehensive, compelling practical and scientific presentation, Cialdini reports that the most reliable and the most popular triggers for our decision making include these six principles.

1. Reciprocity – we are obligated to the future repayment of favors. This is best exemplified by Amway who offers prospects a product sample bag for a week trial to affect purchases.

2. Commitment and consistency -- when a person commits, he or she will be consistent to that commitment. “Get it in writing” shows this principle which auto dealers use to successfully sell cars.

3. Social proof -- the greater the number of people who find any idea correct, the more a given individual will perceive the idea to be correct. This is reflected in the claims of the “nation’s leading or top-selling product or service.”

4. Liking – people buy from friends and someone they like. Tupperware parties are all about this principle.

5. Authority -- we follow a leader, especially one with a genuine or perceived expertise. Every diet treatment or exercise plan uses this principle in its infomercials.

6. Scarcity -- people assign more value to opportunities when they are less available. Think Ipod or products available on a limited time offer and scarce baseball cards.

So, what can you do with this information? Are these strategies for your plans? Not alone, but they can help guide your tactics and execution, and they can do so individually or together.

When you read Influence, you will be impressed and inspired by these triggers in action and how using them will help grow your business.