<![CDATA[Your Social Media Spring Cleaning Guide Part II – Facebook Makeover]]></h1> <article> <h1>Your Social Media Spring Cleaning Guide Part II – Facebook Makeover</h1> <p>2012-05-14T17:44:51Z</p> <p></p> <p>If you’ve been putting off updating your Facebook page because you’re boycotting Timeline, or if you’re just intimidated by the change, delay no more! The Facebook portion of our Spring Cleaning initiative is heavily focussed on making sure your Timeline is filled in and looking sharp. When all is said and done, you’ll be happy with the new look and feel of your brand page, and you’ll have a higher comfort level with the new functionality that Facebook brand pages have to offer.</p> <h2>Image is Everything</h2> <p>Marketing is all about your brand’s image. That’s why Timeline for brand pages was a step in the right direction for Facebook. Timeline is heavily focused on image and it allows users to make a more visually appealing page to present to their target audience.</p> <h3>Choose a Sharp Cover Photo</h3> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>The most drastic visual change Timeline brings forth is the addition of the cover photo. Choose one that looks good spanning the width of your screen, or have one custom-made by a graphic designer. You can still use your logo as your profile picture, but the cover photo allows you to branch out and be more creative with your look.</p> <h3>Update Your Videos</h3> <p>Make an effort to incorporate videos into your Timeline. If you have a YouTube channel, take the time to embed those videos into your Facebook Timeline. Videos are a very good way to share information and they are shared more readily than most other forms of content. However, the videos you post on your Timeline don’t have to be your own. Find other videos that would be useful to your audience and share them with your Facebook fans.</p> <h3>Fill in Your Milestones</h3> <p>As the name suggests, Timeline arranges your profile like a historical timeline, made up of the status updates you post and the significant events that happen to your business on Facebook. You can emphasize these important events by creating “Milestones” for things like the date your business opened its doors, when you joined Facebook, or moved to a new location.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>Adding a Milestone to your Timeline is as simple as updating your status. In the Status box, click on the button that says, “Event, Milestone.” From there you can select “Milestone” and select the event that you want to add to the Timeline and the date of the event.</p> <p></p> <h3>Highlight What’s Important</h3> <p>Timeline also gives you the ability to showcase the information that is most important to your<br /> audience. Each status update or post can be pinned to the top of your Timeline for as long as you choose. That way, if you have an event happening all week, pin the announcement to the top of your Timeline to make sure it stays front and center until you’re ready to take it down. Each subsequent status update will fall in line behind your pinned post. You can also highlight a post so that it spans the entire width of your Timeline for extra emphasis. The “Pin” and “Highlight” buttons are located in the upper right hand corner of each post.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <h2>Update Your Page Administrators</h2> <p>This is a good time to make sure that your page administrators are all up to date. Especially for larger brand pages with multiple administrators, it’s easy to forget who’s steering the ship. Go through the list of administrators and remove those who no longer contribute to your Facebook page, and add anyone who should be helping.</p> <h2>Who do you Like?</h2> <p>Go through your list of Likes and clean out any pages that are not relevant to your brand. The more irrelevant pages you like, the more white noise you have to cut through to get to the real deal. Once you clear out some of the irrelevant pages, research new pages to Like. Think about the type of companies you want to relate to and associate with and find them on Facebook.</p> <h2>Sharpen Up With Insights</h2> <p>If you haven’t already learned how to read and understand Facebook Insights, now’s the time. It will help you to monitor your progress and fan interaction, and find out what gets your fans attention. There’s nothing terribly complicated about Insights, it’s just a matter of looking at the statistics and drawing conclusions. However, if you’re looking for more guidance, refer to our <a title="A Tutorial on the New Facebook Insights" href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/2011/12/a-tutorial-on-the-new-facebook-insights/" target="_blank">tutorial</a> on Facebook Insights.</p> <p></p> <h2>Fine Tune Your Ad Campaign</h2> <p>Take some time this spring to tweak your ad campaign. Is it still targeted toward the right demographic? Could you have more success with a different image? Is your budget adequate enough to actually generate some results? If you haven’t tried out Facebook ads yet, the changing season is the perfect time to start. Run a spring promotion and advertise it on Facebook with an ad campaign!</p> <h2>Integrate, Integrate, Integrate</h2> <p>There’s no use having a Facebook page if no one knows about it. Take the time to promote your Facebook presence by integrating with other social networks. Post signs throughout your business letting people know you’re on Facebook. Add the Facebook icon to your business card. Embed the “Like Us” button into your website and email signature to make it easy for people to like your page in one click of the mouse.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>You’ve got your hands full with this laundry list of spring cleaning tasks for your Facebook page. Go through each item and give your Facebook Timeline the makeover it deserves. Like anything in business, if you’re going to take the time to do it, you might as well do it right!</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=ZpKUhJB67xg:x3CoTH3I_EQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=ZpKUhJB67xg:x3CoTH3I_EQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=ZpKUhJB67xg:x3CoTH3I_EQ:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=ZpKUhJB67xg:x3CoTH3I_EQ:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=ZpKUhJB67xg:x3CoTH3I_EQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=ZpKUhJB67xg:x3CoTH3I_EQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Social CRM: What Customers Want vs. What You Think They Want</h1> <p>2012-05-12T13:59:58Z</p> <p>Raise your hand if you believe (It would be funny if I could actually get you to raise your hand while reading this newsletter!) that your customers interact with you in social media to join a community, feel connected to the brand, get relevant and useful content from you or because they have an interest in having a relationship beyond the merely transactional. <p>Ok, you can put your hands down. <p>If you raised your hand, congratulations, you’re partially right, but not as right as you might think. Countless social media books, articles and the day-to-day punditry (present company included sometimes) extol the benefits of customers in social media community (and yes, as evidenced by the oft-quoted <a href="http://hbr.org/2010/03/one-cafe-chains-facebook-experiment/ar/1">Desert Gallery study</a>, social media community <a href="http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/news2010-02-18-facebook.shtml">brings value to an organization</a>) but that’s not exactly why most customers choose to engage with you in the social space. <p>In fact, the findings from the <a href="http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/thoughtleadership/ibv-social-crm-whitepaper.html">IBM Institute for Business Value study on Social CRM</a>, where they surveyed more than 1,000 consumers on their social media attitudes, tell a very different story from the one that most brand leaders believe to be true. Despite the overwhelming evidence of their embrace of social media (80 percent of the online consumers surveyed are in social media), consumer willingness to engage with companies should not be assumed or taken for granted. <p><strong>What Consumers Really Want</strong> <p>The chart below offers a quick glimpse into the divergent reality of customer preference vs. brand bias in social media. The most dramatic difference shows up in the perceptions of discounts and purchase behavior in social media. Thankfully, for companies at least, <strong>your customers actually WANT promotional information and a quick path to purchase from social media</strong>. Now, not every company can do this, but <strong>think about how you can quickly lead a fan or follower through the purchase decision journey from each social media location!</strong> <p><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//ibm.study_.chart_1.jpg"></a> <p>With consumers seeking tangible value in their social media relationships, it’s up to you to craft your social media strategy to meet this demand head on. For those companies still taking the “build it and they will come” approach to social media (Yes, we all know that’s a bad idea, but so many companies still it with social media…) research like this should be a firm wake-up call for brands to get smart about social media and to step up their game to convert fans and followers into dollars and cents.</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=TfKVDUsyc-s:a5Jwa_T9tQs:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=TfKVDUsyc-s:a5Jwa_T9tQs:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=TfKVDUsyc-s:a5Jwa_T9tQs:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=TfKVDUsyc-s:a5Jwa_T9tQs:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=TfKVDUsyc-s:a5Jwa_T9tQs:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=TfKVDUsyc-s:a5Jwa_T9tQs:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Your Social Media Spring Cleaning Guide Part I – Getting Started</h1> <p>2012-05-11T13:26:24Z</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>Spring is in the air! You know what that means: Time to clean out the cobwebs and dust off those social media shelves. This 6-part guide starts by taking a good look at your overall social media marketing plan and identifying aspects that need to be updated based on any changes that may have occurred with your company in the past year or so. Then we’ll help you go through each social network individually with a magnifying glass and clean them up one-by-one. Kick off your Social Media Spring Cleaning by running through this checklist for each of your social networks.</p> <h2>Assess the Current State of Your Brand</h2> <p>Companies have a way of evolving naturally to adapt to the ever-changing market. Sometimes these changes happen so naturally that we don’t even realize it until we take a step back and analyze the current state of our brand. Take a good look at your company for changes in product or service offerings, major personnel changes, or changes in your overall marketing message. These are all changes that should be reflected in the “About” sections of each social network your brand belongs to.</p> <h2>Has Your Target Market Shifted?</h2> <p>When is the last time you looked at the makeup of your target market? You can’t always safely assume that your target market will stay the same over the years. Cultural shifts and changes in your product or service offerings can result in a change in the type of person that patronizes your business. Do some research to figure out the demographics that make up your target, and then make sure your marketing message speaks to that demographic on your social networks. You want to make sure you’re sharing information that is relevant to your target market and in a way that rings true to them.</p> <h2>Review Your Editorial Calendar</h2> <p></p> <p>If your response to this is, ‘What editorial calendar?’ start by creating an editorial calendar to put into effect this spring. If you have an editorial calendar that you’ve been following, take a good look at it and see if it needs some tweaking. How frequently are you publishing blog posts, tweeting, and posting on Facebook? Are you getting good feedback on the content you post? Is the type of content you publish still relevant? Answer these questions honestly and realistically, and then proceed to update your content calendar to reflect any changes that you may have observed.</p> <h2>Check Your Image</h2> <p>The image that you use to portray your brand online should be uniform across each social network you belong to. If you use your logo, make sure that your logo is still looking sharp and that it accurately reflects your brand. If you use your headshot to represent your personal brand, make sure that your picture is professional-grade and has been updated within the past year or two.</p> <p>When you get into a routine, it’s easy to just coast through without paying mind to the state of your surroundings. Spring is the perfect time to step back and see what you can tidy up with respect to your social media marketing campaign. As with any spring cleaning project, you’ll be refreshed and pleased when it’s all said and done.</p> <div class="zemanta-pixie" style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" title="Enhanced by Zemanta" href="http://www.zemanta.com/"></a></div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=c4xE0h0HV-0:3oBhEoYOVN8:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=c4xE0h0HV-0:3oBhEoYOVN8:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=c4xE0h0HV-0:3oBhEoYOVN8:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=c4xE0h0HV-0:3oBhEoYOVN8:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=c4xE0h0HV-0:3oBhEoYOVN8:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=c4xE0h0HV-0:3oBhEoYOVN8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>[Webinar] Social Media Spring Cleaning: Your Checklist for a Spotless Social Presence</h1> <p>2012-05-11T06:06:07Z</p> <h3><strong>Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT</strong></h3> <a class='button' href='https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/823184642'>Register for the Webinar</a> <p><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//spring.cleaning_200.jpg"></a></p> <p>Spring is in the air! You know what that means – time to clean out the cobwebs and dust off those proverbial social media shelves. As we become more involved in social media it’s easy to get caught up in the everyday happenings online. When we forget to take care of the basic house-cleaning tasks, our social media houses quickly become disorganized and cluttered with “stuff” or irrelevant information. Don’t let the messy clutter distract your followers from your message and the marketing goals that you’re working so hard to accomplish.</p> <p>Spring cleaning is much more fun when you’ve got company. Kick off your social media spring cleaning with us and you’ll take away a laundry list of ideas for cleaning up your social presence. This webinar begins with a spot-check of all of your social networks. We’ll run down the list of little things that make a big difference on all social networks. Next we’ll go over each of your social networks with a fine-tooth comb, looking at each network individually to figure out where you need to tidy up. Here’s a quick look at the topics we’ll cover during the webinar:</p> <p>* Overall Social Media Spot-Check<br /> * 10-Step Facebook Makeover<br /> * Clean out the Cobwebs on Twitter<br /> * Polish Your LinkedIn Profile<br /> * Tidy up Your YouTube Channel<br /> * Put Some Roots Down on Pinterest</p> <p>You’ll walk away from the webinar energized and ready to tackle even the messiest social media profiles. We’ll also send you on your way with a handout of the cleaning checklist, so that you can have the satisfaction of checking off each task as you complete it!</p> <a class='button' href='https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/823184642'>Register for the Webinar</a> <p> </p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=t4VOTpqppWw:p86v8F3g6kg:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=t4VOTpqppWw:p86v8F3g6kg:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=t4VOTpqppWw:p86v8F3g6kg:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=t4VOTpqppWw:p86v8F3g6kg:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=t4VOTpqppWw:p86v8F3g6kg:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=t4VOTpqppWw:p86v8F3g6kg:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Are Your Tweets Worth Reading? Great Research on What to Tweet!</h1> <p>2012-05-04T13:09:23Z</p> <p>There’s no shortage of articles on how to be a rockstar on Twitter. You can’t through your RSS feeds in the morning without stumbling over some piece of advice on how to get more followers and traffic, but it’s rare that we get some real valid academic research to support our Twitter habits. A recent <a href="http://hbr.org/2012/05/what-makes-a-great-tweet/ar/1">article in the Harvard Business Review</a> by a few smart guys who wrote a wonderful academic paper entitled <em><a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pandre/pubs/whogivesatweet-cscw2012.pdf">Who Gives A Tweet? Evaluating Microblog Content Value</a></em> provides just that sort of worthwhile information.</p> <p>The authors asked respondents to rate the types of tweets as:</p> <ul> <li>Worth Reading</li> <li>Not Worth Reading</li> <li>Just OK</li> </ul> <p>The results are, well, a bit underwhelming across the board. The graph below tells the story.</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 370px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Image via Harvard Business Review</p></div> <p>The overall findings from the study are best summed up by the authors here:</p> <blockquote><p>While microblog readers have a wide variety of reactions to the content they see, studies have tended to focus on extremes such as retweeting and unfollowing. To understand the broad continuum of reactions in-between, which are typically not shared publicly, we designed a website that collected the first large corpus of follower ratings on Twitter updates. Using our dataset of over 43,000 voluntary ratings, we find that nearly 36% of the rated tweets are worth reading, 25% are not, and 39% are middling. These results suggest that users tolerate a large amount of less-desired content in their feeds. We find that users value information sharing and random thoughts above me-oriented or presence updates.</p></blockquote> <p><strong>What Tweets Are Worth Reading?</strong></p> <p>The authors came away with the four best types of tweets that most respondents in the audience considered worth reading.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Random thought</strong> – something interesting and compelling, a useful observation</li> <li><strong>Self-promotion</strong> – bet you thought this wasn’t a good thing to do on Twitter – turns out that people are looking for this sort of thing…done in good taste of course!</li> <li><strong>Questions to followers</strong> – a great dialogue starter, especially if it’s a genuine thought-provoking question</li> <li><strong>Information sharing</strong> – curators rejoice! people do like curated and shared information</li> </ul> <p>Now might be a good time to check your Twitter feed to see how you stack up!</p> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 640px"><a href="http://hbr.org/hbrg-main/resources/images/article_assets/hbr/1205/F1205Z_B_LG.gif"></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Image via Harvard Business Review</p></div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=pKyrWPwf10g:bW3XyPAwdqE:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=pKyrWPwf10g:bW3XyPAwdqE:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=pKyrWPwf10g:bW3XyPAwdqE:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=pKyrWPwf10g:bW3XyPAwdqE:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=pKyrWPwf10g:bW3XyPAwdqE:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=pKyrWPwf10g:bW3XyPAwdqE:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Is Social Media for Doctors Actually Worth It?</h1> <p>2012-05-01T05:45:24Z</p> <p>It’s been a while since I took a flyer on a blog post and issued a lengthy response, but a post that a team member sent me from over at KevinMD on <a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/04/social-media-worth-doctors.html">whether social media was worthwhile for doctors</a> really got me thinking. Now, the post is specific to doctors and their use of social media for revenue generation, but one could look at the post in concert with any industry where we’re challenged with how to allocate scarce time and resources.</p> <p>You can read the post “<a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/04/social-media-worth-doctors.html">Why social media may not be worth it for doctors</a>” by Dike Drummond, MD over at the KevinMD blog if you’re looking for more context, but what I’ve written below (and posted on the KevinMD site as a comment) is my take on social media for Dr’s and social media in healthcare in general. I’m open for debate on this. What am I missing?</p> <hr /> <div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 226px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo by Jerry Bunkers via Flickr</p></div> <p>I feel a bit out of place commenting here, but as one of the “social media gurus” called out in the article, I guess I have, perhaps, a different perspective on this.</p> <p>I noticed in many of Dr. Drummond’s responses below, this mention of 1/3 of doctors suffering from burnout and that’s one of the reasons (perhaps it’s not, but it came up so often that it feels pretty important) for not engaging in social media. On that point alone, I have to wonder what the real root cause is for said burnout (can’t log in to the JAMA site to read the full set of conclusions) but I don’t believe that “marketing one’s practice” is near the top of the list. (perhaps it is, but that seems unlikely).</p> <p>(Speaking of research (referring to the 1/3 burnout study), there are an overwhelming number of studies, by reputable organizations such as McKinsey & Co., Accenture, Forrester, Altimiter Group, and other household names in the marketing industry that point to the strong positive ROI that social media can achieve for a wide variety of business types. Everything from search engine find-ability to new service offerings (derived from social media research) to patient referrals have been attributed to social media in the healthcare space.)</p> <p>This article sounds, at least to me, like the same argument “social media gurus” use on unsuspecting prospects to coax them into social media. They position it as some stand-alone magical thing (it’s not) that will perform miracles for one’s business (or practice, in this case) (it won’t) and divorce it from an overall business and marketing strategy. (it’s but a mere set of channels, from one point of view). Social media, from the perspective of someone concerned with growing their practice or business, is simply a set of tools that one can use to achieve that end and is a function of marketing. More to the point, marketing, as a whole, is something that we see enjoying wide use with very positive results by many Dr’s, hospitals, chiropractors, specialty medical groups and others in the healthcare realm.</p> <p>That said, social business, which is more than simply an elevated form of social media, is having a real impact on how consumers interact with one another online and has already proven it’s ROI for countless businesses of all types, though that doesn’t mean it’s right for every organization. However, as some of the commenters have pointed out, “the patients are in social media” and by extension, providers of the very health care that they’re conversing about could benefit from “being in the conversation” for the purposes of connecting with patients (prospects), market research, awareness and brand building, and so forth. (with full adherence to HIPAA regulations and so forth)</p> <p>Perhaps social media is not right for every Dr. or medical practice. There’s no doubt about that, just as it’s not right for every business. The same can be said for the multiples of marketing channels and tactics available to help build one’s business. Many Dr’s still feel (at least many that we talk to) that TV advertising is simply not for medical professionals (we’ve been told that “only bad doctors resort to TV), yet we see all of the hospital systems in our area, many other healthcare providers and countless specialists and allied health professionalism like dentists advertising on TV with great positive effects. Perhaps that article could have been written about TV? A Dr. shouldn’t have to add shooting numerous takes of a TV commercial to his/her already high stress level.</p> <p>At the end of the day, the decision to use social media should not be predicated on being coaxed into the medium by a social media guru, book or any other source but rather guided by a strategic need to grow one’s practice, brand, better understand patient communities or any one of the many objectives that social media can help achieve. If none of those needs exist (practice is over-booked, doctors are already burned out, etc.) then marketing, and by extension, social media, isn’t something that I, or any self-respecting consultant would recommend. “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it,” so to speak.</p> <p>Finally, when a healthcare client (we have several) calls wanting to engage in social media, we apply the same tests of strategy (and sanity) to their business as we do all others. We work from the level of business strategy, to marketing objectives and finally down to social media execution (if it’s deemed appropriate for the clients’ unique needs) to ensure the best opportunity for success. For what it’s worth, we have yet to hear of any medical practice that we’ve worked with or spoken with where social media was deemed a complete waste of time holding no ROI for the practice and contributing to the burnout of anyone on the staff, let alone the Dr.</p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=u9JSV392icA:PX8P5SnvZWQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=u9JSV392icA:PX8P5SnvZWQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=u9JSV392icA:PX8P5SnvZWQ:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=u9JSV392icA:PX8P5SnvZWQ:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=u9JSV392icA:PX8P5SnvZWQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=u9JSV392icA:PX8P5SnvZWQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>The 9 Lives of a Social Media CXO</h1> <p>2012-04-02T21:22:39Z</p> <div id="attachment_6150" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 394px"><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//dreamstime_s_10235675.jpg"></a><p class="wp-caption-text">9 Lives of the Social Media CXO</p></div> <p>The job of someone managing social media for the average business is not unlike that of the average small business owner. Personally, in my situation, as someone who owns a small business and both manages social media for our business and for our clients’ businesses, both roles boil down to being the “CXO”, wearing many hats and not having the luxury of having a fellow C-level executive to come in and support the whole works. “All in good time,” I keep saying!</p> <p>Even if you’re not the only person running your social media program (lucky you!), you still need to account for the various roles and “CXO’s” of social. Now, we all know that few organizations are in the mode of hiring C-level execs to support a social media post, but the metaphor still holds. You need to fully consider and support each of the discrete roles or ‘lives’ of social media leadership in order to have a robust social media program for your organization. Let’s look at each of the CXO roles, shall we.</p> <p><strong>CSO – Chief Strategy Officer</strong> – The CSO is the linchpin in your social media program. The strategic vision for the program rests here, and the CSO also helps determine which social media channels you’ll participate in and how. Since social media changes so fast, your strategy can never be “set it and forget it” and your CSO will rarely be found sitting down… We all know by now (or, we should) that social media is not supposed to be executed through random acts of social media. Strategy is one of the keys that separate the great social media efforts from the also-ran social media efforts.</p> <p><strong>CCO – Chief Content Officer</strong> – The CCO works every day to create, curate, reimagine, repurpose, source and publish the content engine that runs your social media program. Social media is nothing if not for the content that you use to engage in or start the conversation in your industry. The most important job, after the strategy is set, is the content and it’s too important to be left to chance, to a committee (although this isn’t the worst thing) or to assume that using only your “supply side” content (the stuff in your four walls that you want to talk about) will suffice.</p> <p><strong>CEO – Chief Editorial Officer & Chief Engagement Officer</strong> –If your business is a heavy content producer, your social media staff are a critical link between the content producers and the audience through their editorial lens. More to the point, you need to have someone keeping an eye on the level of engagement that your content and social media presence inspires. The editorial focus is pretty straightforward, but the engagement role needs to be laser-focused on making your social media channels into more than just places where you push out content for content’s sake.</p> <p><strong>CTO – Chief Technology Officer</strong> – As much as we’ve been told not to focus on the technology aspects of social media (remember, it’s all about people and content…), there’s no getting around the fact that social technologies are sometimes challenging for even the savviest users and administrators. The Chief Technology Officer is needed to understand not just the social tools themselves, but also how they integrate with the organization and how they’ll augment the capabilities of the organization to better serve customers. (I.e. how Twitter and Facebook can enhance the customer service experience)</p> <p><strong>CDO – Chief Design Officer</strong> – The CDO is always looking out for how the social media channels change and evolve to ensure that photos, backgrounds and the myriad of visual elements meet the brand standards set by the organization and the visual standards set by the social media platforms themselves. The very visual nature of social media (i.e. we know what photos on Facebook and Pinterest are the most important social objects) requires someone to be focused on the visual and design elements of your brand presence.</p> <p><strong>CRO – Chief Reputation/Relationship Officer</strong> – High performing social media enabled organizations often have forged great relationships with the digital influencer communities in the respective markets they serve. Often times a social media community manager has done a great job of maintaining those connections but regardless of who started the conversation, the CRO role is tasked with maintaining the relationships and upholding the reputation of the brand in social media. This role should also be well integrated with the PR function of the organization.</p> <p><strong>CTO – Chief Training Officer</strong> – The CTO (training, not technology) is responsible for maintaining the most current knowledge of where social media is headed and keeping a library of best practices to ensure that the brand stewards within the organization are doing the right things right. This person takes in social media education from a variety of sources and dispenses it throughout the organization is varying forms.</p> <p><strong>CRO – Chief Revenue Officer</strong> – The dot-com era ushered in the idea of CROs for every organization that wanted to generate streams of revenue from all of their channels and platforms. Social media should have someone with a similar focus on revenue and ROI to ensure that the effort expended is done so in the right direction with the right checks & balances to move the program forward with the executive team.</p> <div id="attachment_6143" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 586px"><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//9-Lives-of-the-Social-Media-CXO.pdf"></a><p class="wp-caption-text">9 Lives of the Social Media CXO MindMap</p></div> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=B-MwQpSJpvk:TvQRLWQBOiM:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=B-MwQpSJpvk:TvQRLWQBOiM:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=B-MwQpSJpvk:TvQRLWQBOiM:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=B-MwQpSJpvk:TvQRLWQBOiM:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=B-MwQpSJpvk:TvQRLWQBOiM:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=B-MwQpSJpvk:TvQRLWQBOiM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Countdown to Facebook Timeline–Roundup of the Best Resources</h1> <p>2012-03-29T23:02:38Z</p> <p>Of course, you’d have to be living under the proverbial rock to not know that 3/30 is the big day for Facebook’s timeline transition on Pages. Many of you are ready, but we’ve visited countless pages in the past few days that are, well, no where near ready. Whether you’re caught unaware, scrambling to transition, or just looking to pick up a few extra bits because you’re relaxed, prepared and already moved over to Facebook Timeline, we’ve put together a few of the resources that the MarketingSavant team has been using the past few weeks with our clients.</p> <p>Even if you’ve already transitioned, optimizing Timeline and getting the most from all of it’s features may take brands some time. Pay special attention to the PDF guides that we reference below. There are several gems there with some great ideas that you might not have seen yet!</p> <p>Enjoy.</p> <p><strong>Blog Posts & Articles</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://socialmediatoday.com/pammoore/476234/15-must-know-tips-rock-your-new-facebook-timeline-business-page?utm_source=smt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter">15 Must Know Tips to Rock Your New Facebook Timeline Business Page</a> [Social Media Today] This is a great primer that also includes a nice <a href="http://www.pammarketingnut.com/about/resources/free-facebook-timeline-cover-image-adobe-photoshop-template/">Timeline Cover Image Template</a> that you can download in Photoshop and Illustrator formats. Very cool.</li> <li><a href="http://www.techjournal.org/2012/03/facebook-timeline-fan-page-tutorial-infographic/">Facebook Timeline Tutorial Infographic</a> [TechJournal] One of several obligatory infographics on Facebook Timeline. You can find <a href="http://www.business2community.com/facebook/the-guide-to-facebook-timeline-for-businesses-infographic-0152219">more</a> <a href="http://www.edelmandigital.com/2012/03/19/facebook-timeline-overview-infographic/">Facebook</a> <a href="http://www.jonloomer.com/2012/03/07/dimensions-for-facebook-timeline-for-pages-infographic/">Timeline</a> <a href="http://blog.tabsite.com/post/568/Facebook-Timeline-for-Pages-Image-Dimensions-Infographic">Infographics</a> <a href="http://www.pamorama.net/2012/03/20/using-facebooks-timeline-for-business-infographic/">here</a>. (Each of the previous 4 words links to a different Infographic…they’re everywhere!)</li> <li><a href="http://socialmediatoday.com/george-guildford/460521/facebook-timeline-brands-10-things-get-right">Facebook Timeline for Brands: 10 Things to Get Right</a> [Social Media Today] Another post from SMT on the things you need to really pay attention to in order to really make Timeline sing for your company.</li> <li><a href="http://www.envano.com/blog/2012/03/top-ten-changes-for-brands-on-facebook-timeline/">Top Ten Changes for Brands on Facebook Timeline</a> [Envano] Our friends at Envano (local to Green Bay) put together a nice concise post with screen shots that walks you though the finer points of Timeline.</li> <li><a href="http://www.v3im.com/2012/03/facebook-commerce-success-stories-and-the-impact-of-timeline/#axzz1pxODeP11">Facebook Commerce Success Stories and The Impact of Timeline</a> [V3] This post talks about how Facebook Timeline will impact F-Commerce (Facebook Commerce)</li> <li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline">Introducing Timeline from Facebook</a>. The original page about Timeline when it was introduced for Personal Profiles.</li> <li><a href="http://www.antseyeview.com/blog/an-ants-eye-point-of-view-tips-for-brands-on-facebook-timeline/">An Ant’s Eye Point-of-View: Tips for Brands on Facebook Timeline</a> [Ant's Eye View] AEV did an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smQc7d6nxjk&feature=youtu.be">executive briefing webinar</a> on Timeline and came up with a few solid recommendations. Check em out.</li> <li><a href="http://www.ressacmedia.com/en/news/2012-03-01/facebook-timeline-5-strategies-for-business-success">Facebook Timeline – 5 Strategies for Business Success</a> [Ressac] This is a quick post but it has a few ideas that go beyond the technical and tactical of how to “cope” with Timeline and gives some ideas on how to really leverage it to tell your brand story. I like the idea of “getting your brand history” in order like the way the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nytimes">New York Times has done</a> when the put a post on their timeline stating they were founded in 1851. Very cool!</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//milestone.jpg"></a></p> <p><strong>E-Books, PDFs, Downloads [PDF or registration links below]</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://info.hearsaysocial.com/rs/hearsaysocial/images/0212_Timeline.pdf">The New Facebook® Pages Brand Timeline: Everything You Need to Know</a> [Hearsay Social] A well designed, well thought out and very informative guide. This is something that we’ve used in FB classes since it came out. A great resource and a ‘must download’ item.</li> <li><a href="http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Pages_Product_Guide_022812.pdf">Facebook Pages Mission Control Overview/Product Guide</a> [Facebook] Right from the horse’s mouth. This is Facebook’s 8-page guide on everything they think you should know about timeline. Also a must-print resource to have on hand when working with Timeline.</li> <li><a href="http://www.icrossing.com/sites/default/files/The-CMOs-Guide-to-the-New-Facebook-iCrossing.pdf">The CMO’s Guide to the New Facebook</a> [iCrossing] These guys put together a nice executive level resource on Timeline and how it can be best used by large brands. Complete with a few great examples of how large brands are using the new Timeline features to the fullest.</li> <li><a href="http://www.socialmedia-forum.com/europe/images/stories/presentations/fb-timeline-guide.pdf">Facebook Timeline for Brands: A Marketer’s Guide</a> [Virtrue] Virtrue put together a great 13 page deck on the technical aspects as well as some of the more innovative ideas that marketers can employ to leverage Timeline.</li> <li><a href="http://www.mower.com/downloads/pdfs/FB_timeline_tip_sheet.pdf">Facebook Timeline Tip Sheet</a> [Eric Mower + Associates] We always like the EMA work and like the tidy tip sheet they put together on Timeline. Good stuff and simple.</li> <li><a href="http://www.hubspot.com/guide-to-new-facebook-business-page-timelines/?source=hspd-duct-tape-new-facebook-business-page-timeline-20122712">Step-by-Step Guide to New Facebook Business Page Timelines</a> [HubSpot] Of course, HubSpot has a great guide on Timeline. It’s the granddaddy guide of them all with 31 pages (some of it’s HubSpot propaganda) of insights, ideas and tips you won’t see anywhere else.</li> </ul> <p><a href="http://www.hubspot.com/guide-to-new-facebook-business-page-timelines/?source=hspd-duct-tape-new-facebook-business-page-timeline-20122712"></a></p> <p><strong>Templates & Guidelines</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.dreamgrow.com/facebook-cheat-sheet-sizes-and-dimensions/">Facebook Cheat Sheet: Sizes and Dimensions</a> [DreamGrow Digital/Social Media] I love these guys! They did this nice ‘wireframe’ blueprint for the last time Facebook changed up dimensions and they’ve updated their <a href="http://www.dreamgrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/facebook-cheat-sheet-sizes-and-dimensions.pdf">handy PDF of Facebook Timeline image dimensions</a> for this most recent change. Send this to your designers who work on your Facebook imagery.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Bonus</strong></p> <ul> <li>Here’s a quick <a href="http://pinterest.com/dvandenheuvel/facebook-timeline-infographics/">Facebook Timeline Pinterest Board</a> that we put together on my Pinterest page that links to some of the better infographics, guides and resources that we’ve found for Timeline.</li> </ul> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=9SUAB9FZf1A:U96zqMZ2lD0:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=9SUAB9FZf1A:U96zqMZ2lD0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=9SUAB9FZf1A:U96zqMZ2lD0:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=9SUAB9FZf1A:U96zqMZ2lD0:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=9SUAB9FZf1A:U96zqMZ2lD0:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=9SUAB9FZf1A:U96zqMZ2lD0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Your Email Needs a Purpose…Beyond Attracting More Subscribers!</h1> <p>2012-03-29T20:19:51Z</p> <p>I don’t know if it’s the lure of power that email provides, considering the US Direct Marketing Association forecasts that in 2012, every $1.00 invested in email marketing will provide $39.40 in sales, or the sheer ease of sending email that keeps all but 20% of marketers from having a clear purpose and conversion goals, but it’s alarming that marketers spend as much time as they do putting together email marketing campaigns without better defining the purpose for the overall email initiative.</p> <p><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//image18.png"></a></p> <p>More to the point, at least according to <a href="http://ftp.marketingsherpa.com/Marketing%20Files/PDF's/Executive%20Summary/2011EmailBMR_ExecSummary_Final_101110.pdf">MarketingSherpa’s 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Survey</a>, we send emails without purpose and LATE! I know that I’ve been guilty of that as well, but if we’re striving for success in email marketing, we all need to up our game a bit here.</p> <p>There are two points that I want to make here about improving your email marketing purpose and timeliness.</p> <p>First, marketers need to determine expectations for each email and determine them in advance of the send. We’ve found that companies without a dedicated email marketing person (that’s most of us) end up shoe-horning email into someone else’s role and positioning as a very minor part of the role at best. The first thing that we need to do is establish a purpose for each email well in advance of the send. According to an <a href="http://www.sbamidlands.org/media/resource/Email%20Marketing_CC_2-15-2012.pdf">email marketing presentation from Constant Contact</a>, the most popular goals that marketers have for the email campaigns are to Promote, Inform or Relate. Those goals might break down like this:</p> <p><strong>Promote</strong></p> <ul> <li>Motivate purchases</li> <li>Increase event attendance</li> </ul> <p><strong>Inform</strong></p> <ul> <li>Inform potential customers</li> <li>Differentiate my business</li> <li>Help them make the right buying decision</li> </ul> <p><strong>Relate</strong></p> <ul> <li>Increase loyalty</li> <li>Encourage more referrals</li> <li>Thank Your Customers</li> </ul> <p>The second point that will help to influence your email marketing to make it more “on purpose” and timely is to draft and adhere to an email marketing editorial calendar. Using tools like Chase’s Calendar of Events to come up with holidays and special occasions to align with is another great tactic, but the best email marketers work from a fairly robust calendar to keep their programs on track.</p> <p><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//image19.png"></a></p> <p>While we’re on the subject of purpose, there’s one last thing that I want to touch on from MarketingSherpa’s 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Survey and that’s the subject of ‘process priorities’ for email marketers. Now, these may not reflect the overall goals that email marketers have for their programs, but at the end of the day, the overarching focus on list building is not a bad thing, but it’s funny how email, like social media (and every other direct tactic from the past) still comes back to “building bigger lists.” Just don’t lose sight of your purpose while you’re building that huge list…</p> <p><a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/wp-content/uploads//image20.png"></a></p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=Ct6ooZqgRx4:7qRC44ynX3U:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=Ct6ooZqgRx4:7qRC44ynX3U:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=Ct6ooZqgRx4:7qRC44ynX3U:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=Ct6ooZqgRx4:7qRC44ynX3U:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=Ct6ooZqgRx4:7qRC44ynX3U:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=Ct6ooZqgRx4:7qRC44ynX3U:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Countdown to Email Marketing Boot Camp–14 Email Marketing Tips for 2012</h1> <p>2012-03-29T20:24:37Z</p> <p><a href="http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2012%20BC%20Email%20Marketing%20Pittsburgh.aspx"></a></p> <p>We’re about 2 weeks out from the <a href="http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2012%20BC%20Email%20Marketing%20Pittsburgh.aspx">AMA’s Email Marketing Boot Camp</a> that I’m teaching in Pittsburgh this coming April, and during the weeks leading up to the event, I want to share some of the tips, ideas and concepts that we’ll be covering at the Email Marketing Boot Camp. Even if you can’t join us (or, you still can by registering here), I hope that these 14 tips on email marketing for 2012 will help you up your email marketing game just a bit!</p> <p>If you’re looking for one of the best <a href="http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2012%20BC%20Email%20Marketing%20Pittsburgh.aspx">email marketing courses</a> for beginner to intermediate email marketers, the 1.5 day AMA Email Marketing Boot Camp is a solid event that’s chock full of insights, actionable ideas and strategic insights that will help you boost your email ROI. Here are just a few of the things that we cover in the class.</p> <ol> <li>The current state and future growth of email marketing <li>How to grow a responsive house email list <li>How to develop effective email strategies and campaigns <li>How to create subject lines and copy to maximize response <li>How to stay in compliance and avoid SPAM filters <li>How to increase email conversion rates through testing <li>How to create triggered, drop and auto responder email campaigns <li>How to design emails that are compatible with today’s email reader clients <li>How to measure and report on email effectiveness to improve results <li>How to segment email lists and grow your understanding of subscribers <li>The criteria to use when selecting an email sending solution <li>Case studies of successful email campaigns and tactics to improve your email</li> </ol> <p>The first tip of 14 that we’re going to cover is a big one on the advanced use of customer data. In fact, using customer data and market intelligence in your email marketing efforts to segment your campaigns and deliver more relevant content to your subscribers is one of the most important things that you can do to make a major impact on the success of your email marketing efforts.</p> <p>Read the first post – <a href="http://www.marketingsavant.com/2012/03/your-email-needs-a-purposebeyond-attracting-more-subscribers/">Tip 1 of 14 – Your Email Needs a Purpose…Beyond Attracting More Subscribers!</a></p> <div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=HwgbZVTG53A:qUeOqTPPGr8:yIl2AUoC8zA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=HwgbZVTG53A:qUeOqTPPGr8:F7zBnMyn0Lo"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=HwgbZVTG53A:qUeOqTPPGr8:7Q72WNTAKBA"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=HwgbZVTG53A:qUeOqTPPGr8:qj6IDK7rITs"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=HwgbZVTG53A:qUeOqTPPGr8:V_sGLiPBpWU"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketingsavant?a=HwgbZVTG53A:qUeOqTPPGr8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"></img></a> </div> </article> </main></body></html>