Mitch Levinson - Internet Marketing and Social Media Expert, football fanatic

Social Media Use by Companies

Mitch — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:18:41 +0000

MarketingSherpa is a great resource for information and weekly charts on several marketing topics. I particularly like when the topic is about social media or search engine optimization (SEO). This week’s chart summarizes how companies use social media as part of their marketing program. VERY interesting, but I have a slightly different view about marketing and communication in terms of priorities for companies.

Marketing vs. Communication

Most companies don’t differentiate marketing from communication. Corporate messaging, public relations, marketing, advertising, etc. all fall under the directive of ‘communication’ from a company strategy. Interaction with leads, prospects and customers is more sales, not necessarily communication – but it should be. Social media and the use of social networks enable direct and ‘instant’ communication to all groups and provide a forum (in the chosen medium of the lead, prospect or customer) for the company or stakeholder to interact. In other words, it is pretty easy for a customer and a marketer to interact quickly on Facebook.

Why then isn’t this ’social media’ thing then always corporate communication? It absolutely should be! Companies need to build a strategy surrounding their communication efforts that include goals, tactics and key performance indicators for a successful communication strategy.

Corporate Communication Strategy (i.e. the chart)

The MarketingSherpa chart demonstrates an online social media strategy and the amount of time/effort spent on each area. Social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn, are the top item, Micro-blogs (like Twitter) second and Multimedia (YouTube and Flickr) third…tactics used MOST by companies, not the effectiveness of each, nor the capability impact the others.

When I do a ‘non-scientific’ evaluation of our clients from a traffic-generation, content syndication, reputation management and search engine optimization standpoint, the most effective item on this chart is “blogging on company managed blogs”. Even when not looking at the fact that the blog can feed social networking sites, micro-blogs and email newsletters…can be the repository for online press releases and news stories…and can be the place you send traffic when you ‘tease’ your content on other industry blogs and blogger/wordpress…even when you take ALL these time management and integration components out of your blog, when build right, it still is a top 5 referring site to your main website and appears one the first page of Google and the other search engines for your targeted words (sometimes higher than your website.)

mRELEVANCE builds a LOT of effective blogs. We moderate many of them monthly for our clients to maintain top placements on search engines and track the traffic and effectiveness. If you want to increase your qualified traffic by 50-200% on a monthly basis, contact mRELEVANCE to see how.

Patriotism? I’m just sayin’

Mitch — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:10:00 +0000

Today is the Fourth of July, the birthday of our GREAT nation. The Unites States of America has been through so many things over the past 234 years, so much history – even over the past few decades. A few short weeks ago I had the honor of attending the University of Cincinnati’s Graduation ceremony where Nathaniel Jones gave the commencement speech. His speech hinted on the distance our great nation has come in several areas (slavery, the depression, equality, civil rights, science and travel) but during his speech, I wondered about Patriotism.

During our time in American History, since September 11th, we have called out our patriotic nature and displayed our flag, our colors, and talked about our devotion to our heritage. We are a great nation, in part, due to our diversity and melting pot ethnicity. Although I consider myself very patriotic, there is one thing that I wish to change on this Fourth of July to show off our Patriotism even more.

I remember going to baseball games or other events when I was younger and singing the the Star Spangled Banner. In fact, I remember the announcers introduction of the singer whose task was to “lead us in the singing of our National Anthem.” I still go to events and I still actually sing with the celebrity, but I am in the minority. Today, the Star Spangled Banner and the opening of these kinds of events seems to be more of a show for the talent than a demonstration and respect for our country. Even since 9/11, when it seems “America the Beautiful” was added to the opening ceremonies, the audience still only stands, sometimes removes their hats and puts their hands over their hearts.

So that is what I want to return to this year and forever, the patriotism we show as a group when the National Anthem or other song from our American heritage is sung. Be proud to be an American, living in the best country in the world. Show our troops that we are behind them and want them to return safely and victoriously. Demonstrate your loyalty and respect for our country by doing a very simply thing…sing the Star Spangled Banner whenever you hear it, and if you are lucky enough to be the talent honored to sing in front of everyone, use that stage to lead our nation in our most honored song.

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Effective SEO Objectives

Mitch — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:38:09 +0000

I wrote about this Marketing Sherpa Search Engine Optimization chart on our website in an Effective SEO Objectives post, but I did not want people who follow this blog to miss out on this chart or that article.

The information is very interesting when you consider what B2B and B2C companies are trying to accomplish relative to their SEO strategy. It seems that more and more companies are beginning to blend their SEO, marketing, public relations, internet technology and corporate communications into a cross-functional department. The goals of all these traditional departments and functions seem to overlap, and companies both realize that and are working toward creating an environment where the message and the goals are the same.

From a traditional marketing standpoint, there are still a few great questions that must be considered no matter which company function takes the lead.

Which function will take the lead at determining the company message?
How will that message be delivered/managed through out the company and across which media?
What metrics should we look at to determine success? Actual sales, branding, sentiment, reputation management and online traffic/reach?

Brand awareness, reputation management and public relations are objectives for SEO efforts and it definitely demonstrates a connection between social media and search engine optimization (which is why mRELEVANCE operates at the Intersection of Social and Search).

“Which function in your company takes the lead with regard to these tactics? PR, marketing, Internet technology, corporate communications or social media.” Please comment on this post to let me know how your company handles these objectives.

EPA Webinar

Mitch — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:58:16 +0000

On May 6th, 2010, I was fortunate enough to deliver a social media webinar for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Indoor airPLUS program. The seminar, which can be found on the EPA’s website, discussed both the importance of social media from a marketing standpoint and the significance of creating a strategy and implementing social media in a thoughtful and effective program…after all, internet marketing and social media is still MARKETING – and the key is to remain RELEVANT.

mRELEVANCE, my internet marketing, social media and public relations company, operates at the intersection of social media and search engine optimization. In other words, we specialize in helping companies use social media most effectively from a search engine standpoint so that their website and blog (along with other online profiles) can be found by their prospects easily and in their chose web site.

We run several blogs, some of which you can see on the left side of my web site. So whether you are looking for Chicago Real Estate information, Atlanta Real Estate news or just browsing for a retail store in Evanston and a local printer in Northbrook – we are the web development and social media company for you.

How many other web development companies can prove through search engine result pages that their core competence is search engine optimization and their content development creates effective social media optimization? If you are looking for leading national experts that not only teach these topics but also directly implement these services, give us a call or find us online…the best way is to simply Google my name!

NAHB Social Media for Multifamily Communities

Mitch — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:46:28 +0000

I was the moderator and presenter for a webinar presentation to NAHB’s Multifamily Council a couple of weeks back. It was a great time, I really enjoy giving back and teaching people to use social media and the internet to make their companies more effective.

The audience for this presentation is mutifamily developers – apartment communities, condos and townhomes developers, etc. – but the material will certainly cross into other companies and industries.

Click here to view the replay of the presentation and use the password Social. Let me know if you enjoy the material or if I can help teach you to be more effective.