The words “social media expert/guru/strategist” are practically insults these days. And you’d have to say with fairly good reason. The web is awash with “social media experts” making bold claims of how it will change  business  and marketing as we know it. And to a certain extent they’re right. It has made businesses more accountable for their actions. It has changed the way people make purchase decisions (ratings & reviews). And it has opened a new range of corporate communication channels. But… like any marketing channel it has its strengths and weaknesses. And it seems that amongst the hype, the weaknesses are often glossed over. This post aims address some of those shortcomings via a real life case study.

The inspiration for the post came to me as I read one of the most interesting articles I’d seen for a while. It was by Julian Cole and it analysed a social media campaign that didn’t meet the defined objectives. Imagine that! It’s exactly the type of post you never see from the self-proclaimed “social media experts”. They’re generally more busy talking in these terms (hilarious vid, but comes with a language warning):

So kudos must go to Julian for having the courage to publish his case study. And following in the spirit of honest and open analysis of social media campaigns, I’m bringing my own to the table which also fell short of fulfilling some of the campaign objectives.

The Case Study – Social Media Master Class

Back in September I was involved with Social Media Master Class with US author David Meerman Scott, which was organised by the wonderful Jennifer Frahm. Next Digital (my employer) were the major sponsors of the conference, and as a result I took on the role of marketing the event. My first task in developing the marketing plan was to identify the target audience for the event. Two distinct audiences were identified:

1. Social media professionals and enthusiasts
2. Senior marketing and business managers looking to understand social media

The core objectives of the marketing plan were pretty straightforward:

1. Create awareness and interest in the event amongst the target audiences
2. Convert that interest into ticket sales

Given the vastly different media consumption habits of the two audiences, a marketing plan was devised for each:

The Marketing Plan for Social Media Enthusiasts

It didn’t take Einstein to determine that the ideal place to reach the social media professionals and enthusiasts was within social media itself, particularly given the subject matter of the conference. A range of different channels were established to reach this audience:

• An event blog was created to serve as the hub for all event information
• A Twitter account was also created and used in a number of ways to (a) link to relevant content, (b) disperse event info and (c) host event related promotions (book & ticket giveaways)
• An outreach campaign saw prominent industry bloggers sent a copy of David’s new book and invited to an ‘invitation only’ event to meet David
• A 20 minute podcast with David was created by Trevor Young (who managed PR for the event)
• A partnership with Sydney’s Social Media Club (SMCSYD) was established, which culminated in a speaking appearance for David at a SMCSYD event. A discount offer was also created for all SMCSYD members.
• A Facebook page was created, although rarely used

The Marketing Plan for Senior Managers

While social media was ideal for reaching enthusiasts, it was quickly recognised that it would be ineffective in penetrating the senior manager market. Subsequently, a more traditional (yet still primarily digital) marketing plan was devised:

• Display advertising space was co-ordinated throughout Marketing Mag’s web site (an event sponsor)
• Promotional banners were purchased within the email newsletters of key industry publications including Marketing Mag, Mumbrella, Anthill and B&T
• A search marketing campaign was implemented to target people searching for keywords related to social media
• Display advertisements were placed within Google’s content network
• Dedicated email campaigns were executed to a range of marketing and public relations industry bodies

The Results

If you had told me the numbers we would achieve at the start of the campaign, I would have expected the event to be a resounding success. At the height of the marketing activity, the blog was receiving between 100-150 unique visitors a day, which is considerable for a niche event. The Twitter account also gained traction quickly with over 600 followers generated in around 6 weeks. Indeed, by the end of the campaign, Twitter had sent more traffic to the event blog than any paid media source. Cool. So far, so good.

But… did that hive of activity help us achieve our objective…? Did it actually sell any tickets?

Yes. But not a whole lot. In fact, the Sydney event had to be cancelled due to a lack of demand. Of course, there were a range of external factors that influenced our ability to convert awareness into sales:

• Awareness of David’s work isn’t as high in Australia as it is internationally
• At around $900 a pop, the tickets weren’t exactly cheap and that pesky Global Financial Crisis didn’t help
• A limited marketing budget restricted our paid marketing options

The fact that we were still able to host a full Melbourne event was evidence that we did something right (and the feedback from all attendees was resoundingly positive).  Indeed, a competing event hosted by Marketing Now with speakers of the calibre of Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse & David Armano seemed to succumb to similar pressures, eventually giving their tickets away for free. So the campaign certainly achieved an element of success in a difficult environment.

But the exercise made it abundantly clear to me that social media’s strength is not in direct response (a belief I’ve stated a number of times on this blog). Some companies such as Dell have made it work for their business, yet most organisations that approach social media with an advertising or promotional approach walk away disappointed. Social media is not an advertising tool. It is a communications tool. It is best suited to objectives related to customer awareness, customer engagement and customer retention, rather than pure acquisition/conversion.

The star performer of the marketing campaign was email. Yes… good old-fashioned email (although I should clarify that dedicated emails outperformed paid banners in third party newsletters by a significant margin). It was by far the most effective direct response channel. Despite the hype around sexy new mediums such as social media and augmented reality, it should never be forgotten that email consistently delivers a superior ROI than any other marketing channel. Time after time. Don’t forget it.

The biggest lesson of the campaign

In hindsight, the marketing plan had an overreliance on web marketing tactics. While effective in reaching the social media enthusiasts, it failed in delivering the message to our second audience of senior managers. Online activity alone (let alone just social activity) simply wasn’t enough to fulfill the marketing objectives. Proclaiming the death of rival media sources is a favourite hobby of many “social media gurus”. Yet all that proves is that the “guru” has never actually executed a serious marketing campaign.

Social media should now be a valid part of the marketing mix for many companies, but it compliments rather than replaces other elements (and it’s not necessary for everyone). A good social media approach aligns activity with objectives from a broader marketing strategy. Indeed, the social media strategy itself is simply a subsidiary of the marketing strategy. It will rarely succeed in isolation or without support from other media channels.

So in summary… there’s no question social media is emerging as an important marketing channel. But let’s not all get lost in the hype.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post entitled 10 social media projects worth talking about, highlighting the great work a number of charities were doing online. Today I have another project to add to the list. It’s a project I’ve had a personal involvement with – Manweek. Manweek was a concept created by The Inspire Foundation to raise awareness of depression and suicide amongst young males (young men are three times more likely to commit suicide than their female counterparts). The week-long campaign aimed at getting males talking openly about the emotions and challenges associated with life’s journey’s. The ultimate goal was encourage young males to discuss their problems, rather than bottling them inside. Today, the original Manweek concept has culminated into the launch of a book, entitled ‘The Perfect Gift for a Man‘, with all proceeds going to The Inspire Foundation.

The book is written by men, for men and tells 30 (often difficult) stories of respect, fragility, love, life and loss. They are stories we believe should be told and shared with men throughout the world in the spirit of acknowledging emotional frailties. The specific contents of the book can be viewed here.

My personal contribution to the book was a tale of love, ethnic tension & loss. I called it ‘Romeo & Juliet, circa 2009‘ and it recalls my experience of losing a soul mate due to parental influence and an irrepressible cultural divide. The issue of “breaking up” was one I believed had a strong relevance to young males, and it’s my hope that the eventual happy ending can give hope to those faced with similar heart ache.

While I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid any level of personal depression, I’ve seen first hand the brutal effects it can have in tearing apart the lives of close mates. Which is why I’m supporting the cause. And you can too by buying a copy of the book. The ebook  costs only $14.95 and contains some of the most personal and intimate short stories you’ll ever read. I guarantee it. Alternatively, the soft cover book can be purchased for $44.95. Here’s just a small sample of what you can expect from the book (as written by Scott Drummond):

“If I’ve learned anything through all this it is that there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules for how to be a man in this crazy and unpredictable emotional tornado we call life. The only thing we can really be assured of is that life will continue to change for us all, regardless of how much we wish it wouldn’t. All I know is that how you grow and evolve as a man to meet the challenges that life will inevitably throw at you is what really counts. I’ve learned that no matter how alone or broken you feel there are men and women who care enough to be there for you, to help you feel less broken and alone.”

A special thanks need to go to Gavin Heaton and Mark Pollard for embracing the Manweek concept and orchestrating the publication of the book. It’s also worth recognising Blurb, who offer a simple publication platform that provided the engine room for the book to be published.

Do the males in your life a favour, and buy a copy of the book today.

SEO and social have been interrelated disciplines for years. Good social media execution drives positive SEO results. In fact, I read recently that 28% of search results are social sites. Yet they’re still two distinct arts. One aims to satisfy robots (SEO). The other aims to satisfy/engage humans (social). Many comtemporary SEOs have picked up social media like a duck to water. Yet some fumble around, unwilling or unable to adopt the techniques required for successful social media implementation. With the two fields increasingly merging, I ask the question in my new guest post at SEO Scoop – is social now a compulsory SEO skill

I recently had the pleasure of doing an interview with Tim Reid & Luke Moulton from Small Business Big Marketing. The boys were nice enough (or silly enough) to ask me to be a guest on their show, which was a lot of fun. Tim & Luke’s excellent podcast series focus on practical tips that small business owners can implement to improve the marketing of their business. Previous podcasts have included illustrious guests such as Iggy Pintado, Michael Klim & Martyn Thomas. And then there’s me… In the podcast we discuss the critical online channels every small business should be leveraging including search engines, email & social media.

Check out the podcast at Small Business Big Marketing, and if you like it, why not subscribe?

With the whole Vegemite/iSnack 2.0 saga now (hopefully) behind us , it’s time for Australia to move on and focus on things that really matter. Because despite the national outrage, let’s try to remember it was little more than a campaign to change a brand name. Kraft weren’t changing the world. But lots of people are on a daily basis. And like Karalee, I think it’s time the torch was shone on those people who are in fact changing the world – the charities and non profits. And not just because they’re worthy causes, but because they are executing some of the best and most innovative social media marketing initiatives seen in Australia…

Charities and non-profits are perhaps the perfect environment for social media projects to evolve for a number of different reasons:

• Charities and non-profits attract Gen X & Gen Y staff to their cause, who are more active in social media
• Charities are typically uninhibited by multiple layers of beaurocracy and are more nimble in executing new tactics
• Charities have limited budgets and need to find creative methods to continue to spread their message

The proof is in the adoption rate of social media as a marketing channel by charities, which is almost a staple for non-profits by now. Results are primarily what has driven the widespread adoption rate, with the spread of social causes becoming common place within social networks. To illustrate, let’s shine the spotlight on 10 worthy Australian charities that are strongly leveraging social media to spread their particular message (with differing levels of success):

1. Greenpeace – Send a Whale

The Greenpeace Send a Whale campaign is one of the most successful viral campaigns to resonate from Australia, with  over 130,000 participants taking part so far. The campaign saw each participant create a virtual origami whale as part of an online petition to protest Japanese whaling practices. The campaign was recognised globally with a coveted Webby award.

2. Action Aid – Project Toto

Project Toto is perhaps my favourite charity project as it delivers a true tangible outcome, as opposed to the traditional lobby/petition. In July, Project Toto saw prominent Australian blogger/journalist Stilgherrian travel to Tanzania to train locals on the use of social media. The lofty goal of the campaign was to give underprivledged communities a voice to fight against human rights issues via social media . Project Toto is an ongoing initiative with the selection process underway to choose the next Action Aid blogger.

3. Mission Australia – Anti-poverty petition

Mission Australia are an organisation committed to supporting disadvantaged members of the community. Their current campaign is targeted towards poverty, and aims to get everyday Australians to speak out on behalf of those sufferring from poverty. The core element of the campaign is a video based petition, which asks contributors to create a video on how they would tackle the problem. The winner gets the chance to meet government officials during a trip to Canberra. However, with a little over 100 views on the campaign video, it seems as if the concept is struggling to gain traction.

4. Movember

With November just around the corner, it would be negligent of me not to mention every blokes favourite charity. That is every bloke except me, because I still can’t grow one at 31. Anyway… the folks at Movember have integrated social networking features into their web site, and called it Mo Space. Each participant is granted a profile after registration, which they can use to upload photos of their sexy mo’. The profile allow participants to connect with friends via email, Facebook & Twitter to raise cash. Friends can leave messages of support and rate their friends mo’. Nice!

5. Twestival

While not a charity in its’ own right, Twestival is perhaps the most recognised social media fundraising project on the planet. Twestival is essentially a global tweet-up with over 200 chapters spread throughout the world. Each tweet-up serves as a fundraiser to the larger cause, with US$250,000 being raised for the chosen cause – charity:water. Within Australia, Twestival has chapters in Sydney and Brisbane.

6. Red Cross – Make a Statement

The Make a Statement campaign, supported by Red Cross, invites Australians to “support humanity”. Support can be shown in a number of ways, including the contribution of a photo to the campaign micro site. An online collage of supporters has been created, with a little under 2,000 people contributing a photo to the collage. The campaign is also supported by other popular social networks including Twitter, Facebook & MySpace.

7. World Vision – Youth Decide

The Youth Decide campaign is another initiative aiming to empower and unite Australia’s youth behind a social issue. World Vision’s campaign focused on climate change and carbon emission targets in particular. A recently concluded poll run via the site attracted an impressive 37,000+ votes on the issue. The campaign was supported by a blog, Facebook presence and Twitter account. The Facebook page in particular resonated with the audience, attracting over 15,000 fans.

8. Salvation Army – 32,000 to go

32,000 to go is a campaign by the Salvation Army to raise awareness of youth homelessness. The hub of the campaign is a blog that hosts campaign updates and success stories from reformed homeless people such as Ashley. The campaign utilises Facebook & Twitter in particular to facilitate the spread of its’ message with all the obligatory elements (fan pages, status updates, avatar takeovers etc). The campaign has achieved a fair degree of success with almost 4,000 instances of sharing via the various sharing mechanisms.

9. Amnesty International – Justice Campaign

The Amnesty International campaign concuded recently, but is worth mentioning with over 18,000 participants contributing to the cause. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of the plight of women condemned to sexual slavery during the World War era. In order to commemorate the victims, participants were asked to create a virtual symbol of hope – a butterfly. The butterflys could then be used as avatars within social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

10. National Breast Cancer Foundation – Choose Pink

In conjunction with the NBCF, Mount Franklin launched the Choose Pink campaign to generate awareness and discussion of breast cancer. The campaign utilises Twitter as the core communications medium through which to spread the “Choose Pink” message. Participants are asked to share a Tweet with the designated hash tag (#CHOOSEPINK) or alternatively change the background of their Twitter avatar to a shade of pink. To this point the campaign seems to have had limited success however, with less than 100 Tweets sent.

Who’d I miss?

If you know of any other Australian charities using social media in an innovative manner, feel free to shout out via comments!

By now most Aussies will have caught wind of Vegemite’s new product launch, which coincided with the AFL Grand Final over the weekend. The product name, which was handpicked from over 40,000 crowdsourced entries, was infamously announced as “iSnack 2.0″. Strange, and perhaps even a little lame, but cause for a groundswell of mass brand trolling and hysteria? I wouldn’t have thought so. But universal condemnation is indeed what eventuated with the emergence of Twitter hashtags, forum threads and a blog dedicated to messages of brand vitriol. Ignoring general consumer sentiment (which can’t be held to account), what disappointed me about the affair was the conduct of many within the marketing industry, who actively fuelled the public slander. Don’t they realise they’re shitting in their own woods…?!?

Image Source – Purpleslog

If you asked 100 marketers working within social media what their biggest challenge was, it’s likely that most would list overcoming management fear in their top three. Quite simply, most marketers are scared stiff of the type of reaction that Kraft and the Vegemite brand has been exposed to over the past couple of days. So they choose to maintain the status quo because it’s the safer option. After all, it’s highly unlikely they’ll get fired for dabbling in social media. But if something went wrong…

As social media marketers we constantly bemoan this attitude. We complain about ‘archaic’ corporate adoption rates, particularly in Australia where we tend to lag a few years behind the rest of the world. We criticise the continued reliance on ‘heritage’ media when consumers are clearly shifting their attention online. Yet we then go and load a double barrel shotgun and aim it at squarely at our foot by aggressively promoting the vegefail meme.

Image Source – fireflythegreat

The Vegemite saga has played out on the most public of stages. Aside from mainstream media coverage, the story has also hit marketing media staples Mumbrella, AdNews and B&T. The question is – just how many more marketing professionals will now bury their head in the sand as a result? After all, if this is how they treat one of Australia’s favourite brands, how can we expect them to treat everyone else?

My Twitter stream is almost exclusively the domain of marketers. And for the past two days there has been one constant – vegefail. Indeed, it seemed as if many were rejoicing in the brand’s perceived failure. And for what? The sake of a cheap laugh. Or the feeling of some level of artificial superiority. “Look everyone. Look how dumb Kraft are… idiots. Anyone got a stone?”

Let’s be clear. There is absolutely nothing intelligent about basking is someone else’s perceived failure. It’s rarely even funny. I guess I’ve probably passed on a fail meme at some point, and I’ve certainly criticised the odd brand, but it’s never been a sport. Which is what the vegefail saga represented by the end. And front and centre of the lynch mob were the very marketers who constantly criticise brands for social media inaction.

Here’s something to ponder – next time you’re having problems convincing a client that social media IS in fact a smart idea, consider whether it was worth contributing to a brand demolition that became national news. You may well have helped hundreds of marketing managers justify their conservative views towards social media.

My monthly post over at SEO Scoop has just been published, in which I pose the question of whether Twitter is causing the death of the inbound link. It follows on from a post Darren Rowse published recently that pondered whether inbound links were in fact becoming an endangered species. My theory on the matter is simple. It’s Twitter. Linking behaviour has simply transferred across to a more convenient medium (ie. Twitter). As an aside, I also consider the SEO implications given that Google ignores links from Twitter?

Check out ‘Has Twitter killed the inbound link?‘

“On the web, you are what you publish” is one of my favourite quotes from David Meerman Scott (or anyone else for that matter). He describes it as his “money quote” and I tend to agree. Because it perfectly describes the new approach to marketing in the digital era. The web has radically changed consumer behaviour over the past fifteen years. It has changed how people research products and information. It has changed the competitive environment. And it has dramatically changed the decision making process. Information is no longer scarce. Indeed, it is in abundance if not over-supply. And it is expected. Yet despite the changing landscape, many businesses continue to cling to outdated marketing techniques. Techniques that ignore consumers’ thirst for information. Some even deliberately withhold information from customers. Like the real estate industry…

I bought my first house a little under two years ago. So I’m a relatively recent customer considering the length of the customer life cycle. I also have considerable insight into the inner workings of the industry based on work I did with a property developer in the last 12 months. That project saw me work with them for 3 months to deliver an online strategy for their business. Naturally, I had lengthy and detailed discussions with the CEO, General Manager & Sales team as part of the project. As a result, I have real insight into the marketing techniques applied within the industry. And I think it’s fair to say it is an industry that just doesn’t understand how to market on the web.

Clinging to the past

The real estate industry is driven (perhaps even obsessed) with the face-to-face encounter. It’s in this environment that a sale is closed. A property will never be sold on the web. Subsequently, many real estate agents deliberately withhold information from the web in an attempt to facilitate some form of personal contact via the telephone or face-to-face. Fail. The most obvious example is price. A quick scan of properties in my area revealed that just 3 out of 10 listed a price range. A pretty important detail one would have thought when making a purchase (especially a big ticket one). And the justification…

“We don’t give them that information because we want them to call us. If they’re interested, they’ll pick up the phone”.

No. They won’t. While a sale won’t ever be made over the web, a lead can most certainly be lost on the web. And failing to publish critical information is perhaps the fastest way to burn a prospective customer. Because your competitor is just a mouse click away!

A personal tale in property acquisition

At this point I think it’s worth recounting my own experiences in buying a property. I’m generally a busy person. And buying a property is an all-consuming process. Weeknights are spent searching for appropriate properties to view. Most of the weekend is spent driving around town and looking at those properties. It’s draining. And quite simply, the last thing I want to do is f#ck around with real estate agents who aren’t respecting my needs. I never chased a price if it wasn’t listed on a property. No price = no visit. Simple. Lead lost.

Now… I’m not silly enough to believe my behaviours are truly representative of your average consumer. Until I spoke to the property developer’s rental property manager. She had devised a simple strategy that consistently delivered more people to her property viewings than any of her competitors. A real competitive advantage. She listed the price. Always. That’s it. She gave the customer’s the information they needed to make a decision. Radical…

You ARE what you publish

The real estate example perhaps trivialises the issue, because few other industries will have a fix as simple as listing prices online. But the lesson is clear. Understand what your customers want, and publish content that answers those needs.

Sales tactics that withhold information from customers are based on pre-Internet consumer behaviour. But we’re not living in the 1980’s any more… Anyone can be a publisher/competitor. So if you don’t give the customer the information they need, someone else will. And they’ll close the sale.

The onus is now on an organisation to prove their worth. A world (wide web) of competition has shifted the balance of power towards the consumer. Are you giving prospective customers the best quality information in the market? If not, you may be losing them.

Ok. This one has been bugging me for a while (yes… grumpy James is back). Putting existing marketing content (aka television commercials) into social networks such as YouTube is not social media marketing/viral marketing. It’s recycling. ANZ is the latest to tout their ‘viral’ campaign via Creative mag (hat tip to @nextbrett from Digital Oz for alerting me to it). Check it out below:

A fine production I must say, although I shudder to think of the budget that went into it. But a viral campaign… no. It’s a TV spot that’s been thrown on to YouTube. One of the core messages that resonated with me from reading ‘World Wide Rave‘ recently is that real viral marketing occurs when consumers organically share something of real value to them. Commercials don’t create real value. Branded messages don’t create real value. When they are shared it’s generally because they’re funny, or in this particular case, because of the production quality. But what next…?

Do consumers absorb the message? Perhaps. Do they buy the branded message? Not if you’re a bank. Check out some of the comments on YouTube and the Creative post:

• It’s a great commercial, well executed, but unfortunately, it’s a whole lot of spin. I am a small business owner and my dealings with the ANZ do not reflect what the ad is saying.
• That’s a lot of time (and money) spent showing us what ANZ are not. It intrigued me enough to want to watch it to the end but not send it on.
• It made me feel interested cause my bank manager is VERY HARD to get a hold of. I mean, really hard.
• Very entertaining, I can tell it is not cheap, a good idea but it didn’t end well, I believe the fact that ANZ is not a very ‘likeable’ bank it makes the story hard to believe.
• I’ve been with ANZ? for years. They used to be an awesome bank…. the best, really…. but lately, they really suck
• I love the ad but I hate all banks and that will never change.

Commercials don’t alter consumer perceptions. Actions do. If ANZ was intent on changing perceptions about how they service small business, why not create a resource that’s actually worth sharing. Like a free podcast with tips for small business management. Or… as a novel thought… why not use some of the massive advertising budget to simply employ more people dedicated to servicing the market?

Isn’t it better to show people you’re actually dedicated to servicing small business rather than trying to convince them of it…?

As some of you would already know, I’ve been actively involved in the upcoming Social Media Master Class event with US author & marketing strategist David Meerman Scott. It’s now less than two weeks until the event and I for one am looking forward to it immensely. David sits comfortably amongst the best marketing minds on the planet, regularly speaking with fellow luminaries Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki & Chris Brogan. In a world of self-professed gurus and wannabe’s, David stands as a pioneer in developing techniques to leverage social tools & technologies (in a human manner).

While most other marketing professionals hadn’t even heard of social media in 2006-2007, David was busy writing one of the first “bibles” on the topic. That book – “The New Rules of Marketing & PR” went on to become a Business Week bestseller and has since been translated into 22 different languages. His latest work – “World Wide Rave” looks in more depth at viral marketing and has already become an Amazon #1 bestseller.

Master Class presents a unique opportunity to pick the brains of one of the world’s most progressive marketing thinkers in an intimate environment. And as an added bonus, I’ll be participating in an industry panel at the end of the day for some open Q&A along with other local industry punters. So if you’re heading along, make sure you say g’day.