Social Media Time Savers!

If you are like me, you belong to at least 6 social media sites where you post updates and photos to your profile. It is a very cumbersome process to keep up with all of them and provide updates. Sites that previously did not allow you to add contacts or provide updates are now adding that feature because they understand how engaging connecting with your network can be. They want you to spend more time on their site and adding connections is a way to do it.

Social Media sites are scrambling to ensure users can connect across multiple sites. Hootsuite created a new social media forum where users can provide one update that simultaneously updates other sites. It was originally a twitter update site but has added linked in, facebook and Ping.

Anything that makes my life easier – I’m all for it.

I also love Twitter lists. I have an incredibly wide variety of followers and it can be maddening trying to follow a conversation and topics vary widely.

Hootsuite has a beta test where you can add your twitter list do a key word search, groups and your other social network feeds. Very cool. Again, I’m loving Hootsuite.. It is making twitter more useful and saves me time updated multiple social media sites.

Another awesome feature is the tracking.  Hootsuite’s tool will reduce your need to go to google analytics and makes it very easy to see the activity on each tweet you make!  It also reduces your need to go to tiny url to shrink  a long url – it does it for you right in the posting section.

I’m sure there will be many more sites developed to help social media users save time and money – now how do they make money??

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2009 has been a rough year for most businesses.  Marketing budgets key projects and staff have been cut dramatically.  This makes it much more challenging for marketing teams to deliver.  Every marketing dollar must work harder than ever…

While many predict that 2010 will begin our road to economic recovery, most agree that the process will be slow.  In the interim, marketers must find new solutions to help them meet their marketing objectives.  Increasingly Marketing Directors are beginning to outsource marketing projects to get more done with less.

Top Ten Reasons Why You Must Hire a Marketing Consultant in 2010

1. Boost Marketing ROI!
2. Make Your Job Easier!
3. Free up key staff to focus on mission-critical projects
4. Objective viewpoint
5. Access expertise your team does not have
6. Motivate your team
7. Lead a Pilot Program
8. Stay ahead of your competition
9. Boost Employee Morale
10. Make your boss look good

1. Boost Marketing ROI – Adding experienced talent to your team on a project basis will enable you to complete more projects and be more efficient which in turn increases your overall Marketing ROI.  No salary, benefits, vacation expenses – all this adds to your bottom line and boosts Marketing ROI.
2. Make Your Job Easier! New job requisitions may or may not be in your near future – hiring an outside consultant will add marketing muscle to your team at a fraction of the cost of a new hire.  You can accomplish more with less.
3. Free up key staff to focus on mission-critical projects. Your staff of four marketing managers has twenty-two projects to complete in Q1 2010.  They all must be completed but some are more critical than others.  Adding temporary marketing staff will allows you to complete them all, assign your top staff to the most critical assignments.
4. Objective viewpoint. Bring a new fresh perspective to your business by outsourcing projects.  Hiring a consultant who has extensive experience in your industry can be a tremendous value to your organization over the long term.
5. Access expertise your team does not possess – Your team may lack experience in a specific area – like social networking or e-mail marketing.  Outsourcing allows you to access that expertise on a temporary basis.
6. Motivate your team – Hiring an outside marketing expertise will certainly motivate your team to do better.  Even though they are hired on temporarily, your staff will still view this as competition – there is always the possibility that they could be replaced by this new talent…
7. Lead a Pilot Program – Don’t use existing resources to manage a new unproven marketing concept.  Hire a consultant to lead the launch of the program and allow your team to continue to focus on the proven money making initiatives.
8. Stay ahead of your competition – Using an experienced consultant can help your leap over your competition by completing a research assignment or keeping track of competitive activities – something your team may not have time to do or time to do it well.
9. Boost Employee Morale Employees who have survived layoffs are grateful to have a job but are very stressed out with the large workloads they have been left with.  Marketing departments have been cut to the bone and stressed employees don’t perform as well.  By alleviating their workload on a temporary basis will encourage higher quality work.
10. Make Your Boss Look Good. When you exceed your marketing goals you make your boss look good which in turn is good for you and your staff.

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Key Point Marketing Consultants, is a boutique marketing services firm that helps our clients improve Marketing ROI.  We are Marketing Experts… On Call..  At Key Point, Your Marketing ROI is the Point!  Visit www.GoKeyPoint for more information or call (404) 720-0823 for a free consultation.

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What is the image your social media posts convey about you?  Some folks have gotten so comfortable sharing on social media that they forget that every post can build or detract from their personal brand..

If you were to print out all of your posts to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn what trends emerge?  First, you would probably kill a few trees printing it out so don’t do that, but do consider what your posts say about your personal brand.

When we accept new friends on Facebook we really have very little idea of what kind of “posts” they will share.  If you have a mutual friend, that may provide some insight, but just like a box of chocolates..you really don’t know what you are going to get!

Depending on their level of activity, it won’t take you long to discover their “brand” and whether or not you are feeling it!  This may or may not be their desired brand but the reality is that this is the brand the have created for themselves based on their posts…

Here are a few categories of posts your brand may fall into:

• The Self-Promoter
• The Kid/Spouse Complainer
• Looking for love
• Job Whiner
• The motivator/coach
• The Business Promoter
• The Job seeker
• The Preacher

There are countless other categories and most people are a combination of several.  As you think about this, you may realize that your post brand does not really represent the brand you want.  You may also have different personas across different social media networks.  For example, my linked in comments may be very different from a post on twitter and Facebook.  However, there are many applications that allow you to post on one social media site and update across others – in this case you won’t be able to compartmentalize your brand.

Also, do you comment on other’s posts or do you always start your own?  Social networking is supposed to be social.. think about how you feel when others comment on your post – makes you feel good, right?  Like you are part of a community, right?  How many times to you post a message and no one comments – feel a bit abandoned, right?  Start making it a practice to comment on others’ posts – it will make the interactions much more meaningful..

I did this exercise for myself and realized that I was slanting too much as a Self Promoter and I wanted to be known as someone who had valuable information to share and could help someone else.   I run a marketing consulting business, so self promotion is essential but I also want to be known as a resource and bring real value…

As a result, I have come up with a new social media strategy – where I ask my network HOW I CAN HELP THEM. What projects can I help with?  Who I can connect them with and share great resources I have?  Finding out what their needs are…

Follow my posts and let me know if I have established my new social media branding goals!  www.marketingexpertblog.comSociSoca

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I could not enjoy Twitter until, I discovered Hootsuite – a free tool that allows you to manage your twitter account and decipher meaningful messages. You can also integrate hootsuite with Ping.fm to add other social media as well.

This way you can go to hootsuite to update all of your social media profiles. Here are the steps:

Note: You may already have your tweets being sent to facebook or vice versa – so you need to me mindful of this before you set this up as it will result in double messages…

1. Set up an account at Hootsuite.com and select the twitter profiles you want to connect to – you can add as many as you want. Confirm your account
2. Then to got Ping.fm and set up your account there
3. Go back to hootsuite and under settings select Integrate Ping Profile, add you application key (click the hyperlink to view it) copy it in then save.
4. You are good to go!

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Key Point Marketing Consultants, is a boutique marketing services firm that helps our clients improve Marketing ROI.  At Key Point, Your Marketing ROI is the point!  Visit www.GoKeyPoint.com for more information or call (404) 720-0823 for a free consultation.

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You may remember my post a while back on MSN’s bing and how much I liked it.  While it is very cool and has some great new features, I cannot say that Bing is now my main search engine – Google is still ingrained in my brain.

However, I have recently discovered the Bing mobile App and I LOVE IT!  Personally I’m not big on the useless apps that are out there..but this is different…It was announced back in June as an app for smartphones, but I had not heard much about it.  Iphone users can download it as well.  My mobile provider Verizon – pushed the app to me when I reset my phone.

Here are some of the great features:

• Same cool screen shots on home page optimized for mobile

• It has a “say your search” feature that is incredible!  I can say “Weather in Atlanta” it will then start to think and give me options, you then click on the option and it conducts the search

• It also has audio directions, weather and traffic conditions!

• Its Free!  Click here to enter you mobile phone to download the app.  http://www.discoverbing.com/mobile/

I’ve tried it and it works great!  Gotta say that Bing Mobile will now be my mobile search engine!  Its a start!

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Key Point Marketing Consultants, is a boutique marketing services firm that helps our clients improve Marketing ROI.  At Key Point, Your Marketing ROI is the Point!  Visit www.GoKeyPoint for more information or call (404) 720-0823 for a free consultation.

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Most days my E-mail box is a burden!  I feel compelled to check it a few hundred times a day because I don’t want to miss any important messages.  I have learned to scan E-mails in seconds for the ones that should have my attention.    The other day I noticed that I was getting just a few emails per hour.  For the first few moments I felt a sense of calm that  I was no longer a victim of email obsession/overload.  Then panic set in when I realized something might be wrong and I might be missing important E-mails!   Sure enough, my mailbox was full!  I fixed the issue and sure enough the barrage of E-mails began to flood my inbox. Once again, I had to sort through the clutter to find the most relevant emails.

The phenomenal growth of social media marketing has some saying that E-mail is dead.  But, is it really?  I don’t think so – not at all.  Trust me, I know we all  have a hundreds of E-mails to sort through no time to waste reading messages that are not meaningful.

The holiday season is coming and companies must to find ways to distinguish themselves from the holiday E-mail clutter.

For details, click E-mail Man above to  see my article in the DM News E-Mail Essentials Guide on page 12.  http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=24982

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Key Point Marketing Consultants, is a boutique marketing services firm that helps our clients improve Marketing ROI.  At Key Point, Your Marketing ROI is the point!  Visit www.GoKeyPoint.com for more information or call (404) 720-0823 for a free consultation.

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Social Media can have a tremendous impact on your brand.  Brand Managers, Marketing Managers, CMOs have chief responsibility to ensure the brand is consistently represented everywhere.  But with the inherent transparency of social media, managing your brand becomes much more difficult.  Every employee, former employee, disgruntled customer, competitor can make comments about your brand for the whole world to see.  Those comments can outrank your intended branding message.    Whether that impact is positive or negative will depend greatly on if you have outlined a plan to manage your brand the the social media space.

1. Assess before you Start. Does your company have a culture that will allow social media success?  Will you be able to manage, evaluate and act on suggestions that may arise?  Also, determine the landscape for your industry.  Find out what is currently being communicated about your company, the  industry, products and competitors.  Where are the comments coming from and what are the themes?  Has a rogue blog been established in using your brand?  Before you make your plan, outline the current social media landscape.
2. Determine Your Goals. Social media goals vary from managing customer service issues, communicating good will, education, entertainment, or driving sales.   Some of the big brands tend not to focus on sales, but more entertainment, education and good will that can enhance the brand vs. a direct sales goal.  They go big on flashy interactive strategies that they hope will eventually turn into increased sales.
3. Outline Your Plan. The assessment and goals will drive the messaging strategy.  Your competitors may already be servicing customers via Facebook and appear to be adding value therefore enhancing their brand.  You may decide to get up to speed and do the same.  Whatever your plan, it should include a detailed plan on how to manage an execute
4. Designate Responsibility. Clarity on roles in the social media space is critical to success.  Mayhem can ensure when messages on social media platforms come from different sources within your organization.  Unless you have clearly outlined messaging goals for your employees and have a process for monitoring posts, most companies should centralize the function to ensure consistency for the brand.
5. Listen to Your Customer. It is called “Social” Networking for a reason – it is an open exchange between parties. This space must be monitored and evaluated regularly to understand how customers are responding or not responding to you messaging. 
6. Be flexible. Speed is essential in this space.  The team managing must have the flexibility to quickly respond to competitive landscape.  The approval process must be streamline.  Help your legal team understand how the space works how the importance of speed.
7. Know Your Capabilities. Do not over promise.  Great damage can be done to the brand if customers determine that you cannot provide them what you promised.

Smart marketers know that protection of the brand is just as critical if not more-so as creating the brand itself.

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Key Point Marketing Consultants, is a boutique marketing services firm that helps our clients improve Marketing ROI.  We are Marketing Experts… On Call..  At Key Point, Your Marketing ROI is the Point!  Visit www.GoKeyPoint for more information or call (404) 720-0823 for a free consultation.

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I have some great news to share.  I have been selected as a finalist for the 2009 Super Tuesday Awards scheduled for Tuesday, October 6, from 8:00AM – 4:00 PM at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Avenue.  My category is Home-Based Business Achievement – recognizes the woman who owns and operates a successful business enterprise from a home office.

I have been an active member of the Atlanta Business League since 2007.  The organization’s mission is to support African American owned businesses in the Atlanta area.  I have been invited to speak to the membership about marketing strategies and I have attended many of the organizations conferences and elegant awards ceremonies.   Leona Barr Davenport, President, Erica Qualls and the entire staff have been great supporters of our company since inception.

I have enjoyed volunteering with the organization – the membership, leadership and supporters are an amazing group of people who encourage greatness.  I am so honored to have been selected as a finalist.

Over 1,000 corporations, members and supporters will be at the Super Tuesday luncheon – a flagship event of the Atlanta Business League.  Invitations will go to over 5,000 in the Atlanta Area.  This year’s Silver Anniversary theme is “One Great Day:  Where Opportunity and Reality Meet.”  The ABL will create a professionally produced video segment that talks about Key Point and the owner – me!

The Atlanta Business League was established in 1933 as an affiliate of the National Business League which was founded by Dr. Booker T. Washington. More information is at www.AtlantaBusinessLeague.org.

Send me your good luck wishes!

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Key Point Marketing Consultants, is a boutique marketing services firm that helps our clients improve Marketing ROI.  We are Marketing Experts… On Call.. At Key Point, Your Marketing ROI is the Point!  Visit www.GoKeyPoint for more information or call (404) 720-0823 for a free consultation.

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It appears as if marketers are becoming optimistic that a recovery is coming according to the July 2009 “CMO Survey” by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association.

The recovery time line remains to be revealed – some economists see some encouraging signs.  A CNN Money article stats that July new home sales handily beat expectations.  That report along with several other key indicators may signal that a recovery is coming.

The “CMO Study” is conducted twice a year via internet survey.   Nearly 3,500 top marketers from  Fortune 1000, Forbes Top 200, CMO Club Companies, and AMA members were surveyed to get a read on how they feel about the status of the marketing industry.  79% of the respondents have the title of CMO or higher.

Some of the highlights of the study include:

Overall Marketing Industry:  59%  indicated they are currently more optimistic than they were in the past quarter (February 2009).

Marketers will begin to spend more on Social Media and Brand building.  An overview of the survey can be found here CMO Survey Summary.

Key issues on the minds of respondents was activities that improve Marketing ROI. Measuring the effectiveness of social media is also a key issue for this group.

The study also revealed that the optimism is cautious optimism as marketers realize that a new customer will emerge from this recession.  Consumers will be much more cost conscious and focus on long standing relationships they have built with existing brands.

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Key Point Marketing Consultants, is a boutique marketing services firm that helps our clients improve Marketing ROI.  We are Marketing Experts… On Call.. At Key Point, Your Marketing ROI is the Point!  Visit www.GoKeyPoint for more information or call (404) 720-0823 for a free consultation.

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An economic recovery will come…we just don’t know when.  Some leading economics seem to think it has already started but many are saying that it will be a very slow recovery.  During the recession many organizations cut marketing budgets and staffs to the bone in order to ride out the economy.  Those marketers who have retreated from marketing will find it difficult to recover when the economy improves.  Smart marketers are finding ways to make those dollars work harder.

It is essential that companies to begin to plan now for the recovery.  Here are 6 tips to help you get your marketing ready for the recovery.

1. Improve Marketing ROI. Evaluate all of your marketing efforts and shift dollars to those efforts that deliver the highest return.  Hire a marketing consulting firm on a project basis.  They can help your accelerate your marketing efforts without the expense of hiring, training and benefits.
2. Customer Segmentation. Refine your customer list into more meaningful segments.  Look for trends such as best customers or high potentials and focus on their specific needs.  Targeting customers helps deliver relevant messages.
3. Test, Test, Test! Testing now will go a long way when the recovery comes.  Take the time to learn what messages, offers and delivery methods work best for specific targets.
4. Social Media. Your customers are talking about you and you want to know what they are saying!   Take control of your brand in the interactive forum.  You want to establish your brand in the channel now rather than wait for the recovery.
5. Email Marketing Evaluate all aspects of your email strategy.  Are we offering an incentive to collect email?  Have we segmented our customer base to deliver targeted relevant messages?  Are our vendors able to handle an increase in volume?
6. Content and Creative.  Refresh your marketing messages for the recovery.  Messages that work now may be obsolete.

Don’t wait for the recovery to start to make these improvements.  You want to be ahead of the curve and plan.  Rest assured your competition is already planning for the recovery.

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