Search Engine Marketing... it's not voodoo

There’s still a lot of confusion out there about what a search engine marketing firm does – and doesn’t do – and I think this confusion is holding businesses back or causing people to waste a lot of money on false expectations.

Put simply, search engine marketing (SEM) is just what it says it is: marketing. It’s not search engine sales, or search engine lead generation, or search engine voodoo…it’s just marketing; bringing your products and services to market.

I can bring your product to someone who is searching for it (that’s the market). I can’t force them buy it, or contact you, or stop them from going to a competitor. We can take measures to influence these decisions, such as improving website usability, but SEM by itself does not do this.

This is why it’s so important to look at your web marketing efforts in a wholistic way: SEM works with site design and usability works with copywriting works with social communication. And it should all work together with your offline marketing efforts, as well.

Still confused? Tell me about it in the comments – I’ll answer any question you might have.

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Photo courtesy of me’nthedogs

Search Engine Marketing Voodoo is a post from: RSA Blog

Lego Ninja is serious about content strategy.

In the late ’90s content management systems (CMS) were rare. Those that did exist were either underdeveloped, by today’s standards, or just slightly customizable template systems (RIP Geocities).

Back then we hand-coded websites, for the most part, and clients had very little access to make updates to those websites. The internet gods looked upon this and saw that it was good. So, of course, they changed it.

Enter the CMS

These days you can’t throw a cat without hitting someone who wants full access to change their websites. It’s now common for clients to ask for a CMS-based website, and I can’t blame them. If you’re making a lot of changes to the site, it’s certainly more economical to do it yourself than pay someone else to.

But is it really as  simple as it sounds? That depends on a few things:

1. Do you know HTML? The CMS of today, though relatively well-developed and easy to use, still requires some level of web code knowledge to keep things together. It’s not drag-and-drop, at least not yet. Yes, you can bold text and change the colors – but creating page layouts or typography any more complex than a basic Word document takes a little more doing – usually in the “source” code of the CMS editor.

2. Do you have the time? Having access to make changes to your website might save you a few bucks, but it’s certainly not going to save you any time. Besides having to think about keeping the information on each page current (planning, researching), you also have to actually go in and make the changes yourself, troubleshoot issues that crop up while doing so, and maybe take care of the thousand other things you were already responsible for.

3. Do you have a plan? Remember Legos? I remember Legos. I played with those things until I was 15. They were awesome. I built all kinds of things: spaceships, battleships, castles, planes, trains, and time machines. I’ll admit it – sometimes I didn’t know what I was going to build when I started. Those masterpieces usually ended up looking like Frankenstein’s monster…but with more blocks.

But the ones I planned…they were *art*. And that’s the lesson here. If you don’t have a solid, ongoing plan for your website’s content, there’s no CMS in the world that’s going to make it work. It’ll be a mess, and a huge waste of time for you.

Here’s the truth: no CMS is going to allow someone with no web knowledge and a million other responsibilities to manage their website effectively. That’s not what it’s for. The CMS allows easier access to the content on a website. This does allow those with little knowledge of the web or code to make changes and updates to a website, but it isn’t – and was never meant to be – a substitute for a good content strategy and web developer.

Does your website have a CMS? How’s it working out?

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Photo courtesy of thrig

Content Management System Confusion is a post from: RSA Blog

As self-professed social media junkies, we have a pretty robust obsession with keeping tabs on what’s happening right now in all facets of the marketing world. We constantly have our eyes peeled for info about emerging technologies, new platforms, and most importantly, innovative campaigns that mix it up in new ways.

Take, for example, some of the inspiring (or at least creative) work we’ve been passing around the office this week:

• Omo detergent: This Brazil-based campaign is taking the marketing + GPS recipe to a whole new level. The company planted GPS tracking devices in 50 boxes of detergent, which activate when the consumer takes them off the shelf. A promotions agency will follow the lucky buyer home, surprising the family with a video camera and a day of “outdoor fun.” A bit on the stalker side, perhaps, but definitely a new way to reach the consumer.
• Levi’s Walk Across America: This two-minute stop motion commercial nixed the aggressive sales pitch and went viral. It’s a visually stunning piece, and we’re partial to the footage of good old Mt. Rushmore. YouTube views hit nearly 2 million in just two weeks.

  Click here to view the embedded video.

• Domino’s: The pizza chain’s rebranding strategy continues with the admission that food commercials may actually (gasp) doctor the product before filming it. The Show Us Your Pizza challenge encourages hungry people to upload their own pictures of Domino’s pizzas for a shot at cold hard cash. Simple concept, but we give it an A+ for engaging the audience.

These campaigns all incorporate a social element: from the Levi’s video that’s been shared and commented on thousands of times to a dedicated website that will feature footage of Omo’s winners and their stories, social media has become an integral part of the marketing mix for both big brands and small businesses alike. Traditional advertising continues to be a major player for most businesses, but combined with social, the results can be especially powerful.

Of course, social media is constantly changing, which is both exciting (for us) and intimidating (for some of our clients). We see a lot of small businesses that are interested in venturing into social, but they’re nervous about getting started. Should they be on Twitter? What about FourSquare, or LinkedIn, or Facebook? Should they start a blog? What crazy stunts do they have to come up with to be competitive? With new tools emerging as “the next big thing” all the time, businesses are overwhelmed and unsure how to spend their time and money.

Our advice? Don’t worry about tackling every social media platform or replicating million dollar detergent stalking campaigns. Start small – focus on your business goals and pick a tool that will best support your initial efforts.  It takes commitment to build a successful social media strategy, but it doesn’t have to be over the top. Provide helpful information, talk with (not at) your audience, and post often. It’s really that simple!

Still confused about the whether social is right for you? Take a look at the answers to some  social media FAQs Kyle posted awhile back.

Social Media Inspiration: Detergent Stalking and Other Stories is a post from: RSA Blog

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), many business owners don’t understand how it works or how to use it – so this week we brought in the big guns to help demystify the process.

The SEO Expert

Woessner, SEO Guru

We had the pleasure of bringing in renowned SEO expert (and one-time RSA intern) Stephen Woessner from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse to host public workshops and meet with our staff.

Stephen kicked off the week with a seminar for small business owners, sponsored by RSA and AAF Black Hills. More than 40 people turned out to learn Stephen’s 15 simple steps to SEO, and we’ve heard some great feedback from attendees who took home a step-by-step plan for optimizing their sites.

For those of you who missed out, you’re probably wondering what big secrets Stephen revealed. We can’t give you all the details, but Stephen’s book is a great resource for business owners who want to take a stab at doing it themselves. Want to try to do SEO yourself? Here’s what you should know.

Learn SEO

You can learn SEO pretty easily, if you take the time and focus on it. Going through a book like Stephen’s will give you a simple step-by-step tutorial that will have you on your way pretty quickly. There are also vast quantities of resources out on the web on the subject, so there’s really no excuse not to learn SEO if you have the time and it needs to be done.

And even if you don’t do SEO yourself, it’s still a valuable subject to understand, especially when it comes to working with someone else to get your website optimized.

Do SEO Yourself

Yes,  it’s possible to  optimize your own website. The question is how long will it take you to learn SEO, and how much time do you actually have to spend on it? If you are a business owner or in-house marketer,  your schedule is probably already packed.

In order to do SEO yourself, Stephen recommends spending about an hour to an hour and a half per page, per month. So if you own or manage a website of 20 pages or more, you’re talking about more than 20 hours per month of work just to keep it optimized.

Is it worth your time?

In order for your site to reach its full potential, it needs to be optimized. But whether you should do SEO yourself or outsource is ultimately dependent on how much time you have to devote to SEO. It’s possible that your time might be better spent focusing on other aspects of your business or marketing, and hiring someone to take care of the SEO work makes sense. Hey, some people change their own oil – and that’s really cool. But there’s nothing wrong with hiring someone else to do it, either!

Snaps to Stephen

In addition to the AAF seminar, Stephen also hosted a similar seminar for the Black Hills Home Builders Association. We were thrilled to see so many local businesses turn up to learn more about SEO, and a big thank you goes out to all who attended.

Stephen also graciously agreed to spend an entire afternoon letting RSA staff pick his brain for new ideas on maximizing SEO and social media for our clients. Needless to say, we learned a few new things too.

For those of you who attended Stephen’s seminars this week, what did you think? Are you ready to do SEO yourself, or would you rather outsource?

You can do SEO yourself is a post from: RSA Blog

In a brilliant and entertaining blend of traditional advertising and social media, Old Spice simply nails it here.  With a traditional TV spot posted on Youtube, they simply monitored comments on the video, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, and then shot and posted video responses to some of them.

Simply amazing. This has got to be the first time in a long time any advertising, by itself, has made me want to purchase a product!

And they’re still doing it. Prepare to waste your afternoon…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Old Spice Does Something New is a post from: RSA Blog

A while ago I wrote about the idea of being “transparent” or “authentic” in the social web. My theory is that full transparency is actually over-disclosure (and therefore undesirable), and authenticity just means don’t be fake (rather than meaning “show yourself without any sort of filter,” as the word might imply).

This theory applies to social business (use of social media for an organization) as well.

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Transparency in Business

No single person is obligated to tell anyone anything (outside the legal sphere), but good communication demands a certain level of honesty.

For business, depending on the type of organization, you may be obligated to share certain information with employees, shareholders, customers, and the government. The relevant question, however, is where and when to do so.

Much of the information you might communicate to shareholders or employees probably isn’t appropriate for social media. But when communicating with customers, potential customers, and the public at large, reasonably honesty goes a long way.

Some advice:

• Own up to your mistakes, and do it quickly
• Be as quick to acknowledge failure as you are to boast success
• Respond to negative feedback in a constructive way, without giving people the runaround
• Let people know who they are talking to – a person is much more attractive than a brand
• If you post or reblog someone else’s idea or content, give them credit

Authenticity in Business

Authenticity is just as important for business as it is for personal, social activity. If you want real relationships with real people in any arena, a certain level of genuine openness is essential. The difference for business is that authenticity is about the brand, not the people.

We all know what it’s like to see or hear ads that just seem fake, or hear people talk in ways that seem inauthentic (by the way, we’ll help you drive granular methodologies leveraging next-generation applications to integrate leading-edge infomediaries). Our reactions may vary, but I would guess most people recognize this kind of artificiality for what it is, and reject it. No one who talks this way is being authentic.

Some advice:

• Your mode of authenticity will depend on the brand you represent. If your brand is about “quality customer service,” well you better not be treating your customers like an inconvenience
• Likewise if you tell a customer you’ll fix a problem, then fix it – don’t give them the runaround
• Neither should you be telling people you do things you don’t really do. If you sell a product of moderate quality in order to keep to a certain price point, don’t tell people you sell a product of the highest quality
• Don’t lie unless you’re a liar and want to be known as such
• Authenticity doesn’t necessarily mean you have to show the negative side of your organization, but when you’re showing ANY side, make it real
• If you’re ashamed to be authentic in this way, you need to change your business

Growth of social media gives us a new opportunity to expose the real “us” – business or personal – to other people. This is a good thing – it builds trust and long-term relationships.

So if you’re going to embark upon any social communication effort, just get rid of the old business persona of detached, callous, robotic nonsense. Be real.

Social Media and Business: Don’t Be Fake is a post from: RSA Blog

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The Black Hills Home Builders Association recently help a seminar for its members and invited RSA to come speak to them about social media for business. It was a great time with a small, intimate group, and we fielded quite a few questions. Here are a few of those questions, including our answers.

What is Twitter?
I’ve written about Twitter here a couple times. In short, it’s a networking tool, a way to engage in conversation with people around the globe. It may be new technology, but it’s still just people talking. Sign up for an account and post, 140 characters at a time, about things that matter to you and the people you wish to interact with, whether they be customers, prospects, colleagues or friends.

Try using Twitter’s search feature to find people talking about topics of interest, and begin to engage them. Keep in mind every “tweet” is an invitation to engage – people want to hear from you!

How much time should I spend on social media?
As much or as little as you want to. And like most things in life, you get out of it what you put into it. Some have called social media a big waste of time, others have thrived in the space and seen tremendous business success. I won’t lie to you – becoming adept at social communication for your business takes a lot of time. What that time is worth, and how much of it you spend on this kind of investment, will be up to you.

I spend most of the workday on Twitter, but it’s actually a passive presence: I let TweetDeck run on my desktop, updating me every so often about new tweets and conversations. I can then choose to ignore them and continue working, take a moment to read them, or take a few minutes to respond (though this last one can turn into hours of sporadic conversation if you want it to).

Which platforms are good to use?
This will differ (perhaps only slightly) for each business. There are literally hundreds of social networking platforms, though many of them are competing “clones” of the same concept. In any case it can be difficult to know which ones to use.

First, keep in mind you’ll never use them all, and if you try, you will spread yourself too thin and become overwhelmed. Second, decide which tools to focus on (this will depend largely on your overall goals, objectives for web, and the strategic approach you’ve developed).

In general I think many businesses could benefit from having a Facebook page, Twitter account, or Youtube channel, though that is not true in all cases. There are also “bookmarking” sites like Digg and StumbleUpon, and review sites like Yelp.

Another are that should get some attention as well is that group of tools created for monitoring the social web for mentions of your business, brand, competitors, or persons or topics of interest. This is a great way to supplement your market research and keep tabs on competitors, customers and prospects. In fact, if you don’t do anything else, do this. Some places to start include Google Alerts, Socialmention, or Trackur.

What kinds of things do you recommend posting?
If you’ve done the proper research and defined your goals and intended audience, this question will be much easier to answer. Though it will be somewhat different for every business, I’m confident that everyone can follow this guiding principle: be helpful, be interesting, or be gone.

If you’re not helping people out or posting something that is actually interesting to them, they are simply not going to care about what you have to say (I should know…)

How do I know what my audience wants?
Try asking them. You can make all kinds of assumptions, but the best way to find out what your audience wants from you is to ask. The next best way is to just dive in and see what engages that audience and what doesn’t.

Should I remove negative comments?
Any social platform worth using offers a way for people to comment on your content. The whole point of the social web is interactivity, and this is why people use it. If you’re removing user content, you are hampering that interaction.

That being said, there may be cases in which it is just better to remove a comment, if possible, and that decision is yours alone. In general, however, it can reflect well on you to let a negative comment stand, or even better, to respond to it in a constructive way.

That covers some of the bigger questions asked, and that we commonly get from clients. Are there other questions you might ask on this topic? Or would you have answered any of these differently? Please leave a comment!

Social Business Questions and Answers is a post from: RSA Blog

We are excited to announce the winners of our first Good Ad, Bad Ad Facebook contest! Congrats to Jackie and Gina, who posted ads deemed the best and worst of the bunch by our esteemed panel of judges (our Search Engine Marketing department, clearly).

Good Ad: Jackie won the prize with the latest commercial in the “Search Overload” campaign from Bing:

Click here to view the embedded video.

We can relate – and now our office is jamming out to Freak Nasty’s “Da Dip.”

Bad Ad: Gina caught our attention with something very, very bad to win the Bad Ad prize:

Okay, it’s not exactly an ad, but close enough. Read more about this British Airways faux pas,  which appeared in an internal staff magazine with an article about mobile boarding. Whether it was a mistake or a prank gone awry, that’s one heck of a PR mess.

Congrats again to our winners, and thanks to everyone for playing. Be on the lookout for more contests in the future!

And the winners are… is a post from: RSA Blog

Toyota, apparently one of the most popular brands in America, and indeed one of the largest car makers in the world, seems to have a little PR problem. KOTA TV recently interviewed our CEO, Robert Sharp, asking him what his opinion on the whole debacle was. Robert has been quite open with all of us here about his view of the saga which has devastated the car maker’s finances, after having to recall millions of its cars and SUVs as well as its luxury brand Lexus which shares the parts bin with its bigger brother.

So what was Robert’s take? Well let’s start with honesty – it’s clear Toyota knew there was a problem early on, and with such a stronghold in the car market they should have reacted far sooner, leaving owners and potential customers in no doubt that their interests would be protected by this giant of manufacturing. Instead, it hesitated, confusing the media with mixed messages, many being perceived as dishonest, misleading and unprofessional. It seems that even those at the top of Toyota were not sure of how to react, and after several deaths, insurance industry investigations and lawsuit filings, they finally (kind of) admitted liability.

Unfortunately for Toyota, this episode in its long and successful history has left a sour taste in the mouths of many – and it’s still not over as we’ve yet to see the results of many claims against the company. Though in the longer term they are likely to recover, senior management of the company must be reeling at their own mishandling of the situation. It’s a lesson that many can learn from, indeed, I am sure many have. Domestic car makers in the US and Europe have no doubt capitalized on these recent events, as well they should.

The lesson here: don’t repeat Toyota’s mistakes – be honest with your customers, adapt quickly, and react in a constructive way. It may be embarrassing, but far less so than being found out and having to admit not only the mistake, but also the deception.

What is this, 3rd grade? Tell the truth, kids. Not only will your customers thank you, but you will also avoid giving your competitors an opening.

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Photo from automoblog

Toyota’s Customer Service and PR Failure is a post from: RSA Blog

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The last time I wrote a blog for RSA I discussed the joys and pitfalls of the customer service experience, and promised to return with an update on the window issue. Well I am pleased to say the glass was finally replaced and they did it on time! Wow – some good news.

Now I have another story that addresses customer service and its huge importance in today’s world.

Customer Service Failure

This customer service story involves Sears. The situation has angered me so much that I was forced to employ measures that I had never used before. Sears – a company with outlets in towns and cities across the US- was responsible for the manufacture of many of the appliances in my home. Unfortunately for me one of those appliances, the Range, has slowly developed a fault.

The root cause of the problem was the oven door hinges – they had warped due to the heat. When I called Sears, they said that my particular unit was not covered. I was furious! I was certain the model was covered but this particular range apparently was not. After asking for a call back from the manager and waiting several days without a returned call, I turned to Facebook. I went to the Sears page and selected “I like” (the old “become a fan” button – why oh why?). Anyway – back to my point – this is what I wrote, word-for-word, on their Facebook wall:

“Sears service is diabolical – I have a range that clearly has a fault. The oven door will not close and the heat is escaping and the light stays on – it seems that the heat has affected the hinges. Online forums tell me that there has been a service flash for this model. When I called Sears and after several attempts to get through – because their phone system is so bad and anti-customer, I was told that my particular model (based on the serial number) is not covered. This is sickening – it is clear that all of the model range is affected and yet I am not covered. This is a FAULT Sears; the item is defective and I am now going to have to pay to fix it. The service I am receiving will make me never to want to buy a product from this company again. Steer clear.”

After a few minutes I received an email from Carla Furca, the Social Media Moderator at Sears Holdings Corp. She told me that she’d pass my complaint to the Sears Cares team to get this problem resolved.

“That’s not how it works at Sears”

It doesn’t stop there though. After I receive a call from Robert, a member of the Sears Cares team, it seems that Sears doesn’t care at all. The nice chap told me that although there was a problem, I would have to foot the bill for parts and labor, and Sears would happily reimburse me for the service charge. Now I am not an unfair person; if this fault had occurred due to wear and tear, I would happily pay both charges.

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But an oven should last more than four years – and parts should not buckle under heat. This is, after all, an oven! Surely its components would have been tested for their suitability in a hot environment?

After arguing for a few minutes, Robert eventually checked the recall notice and determined that my range was indeed covered after all. What? Why, then, did I have to go through this entirely futile process only to be told that I was covered all along? The basic truth of the matter is that Sears will cover you, but only if you shout the loudest – it’s an outrage.

As I write this, I am awaiting the service engineer who said he’d arrive between 8 a.m. and noon. It’s 11:05 and I am still waiting.

Robert, the Sears agent who has been assigned to my case, told me the engineer doesn’t routinely carry any parts and that I will most likely have to wait for the part before they can fix the range at a later date. I argued that surely you know what the problem is, as it is a recall – why not have the part with the engineer? Robert’s response was “that’s not how it works at Sears.” It seems that Sears likes to be inefficient and distrust the word of its customers. Soon after this appointment, a second appointment was arranged and the appliance was suitably fixed.

Social Media Win

So what’s the moral of this story? Well I believe that Sears needs to invest the same amount of money in its service department as it does in its marketing department. It’s all too common these days for companies to scrimp on one of the most important areas of their operation. There are companies out there doing this who are successful – they work: TigerDirect, Virgin, even the IRS (I was overwhelmed to receive a call from them this morning just letting me know that it was processing my tax return and that it had everything it needed – shocking!). If the IRS can get it right, why can’t commercial enterprise?

This story also proves the power of social media – Facebook really can help. Anyone in the services industry should really consider how a social media strategy could not only strengthen their business, but grow it too. I hope Sears improves its basic level of service; I know it’s had difficulties in recent years, but it needs to get it right so that next time I’ll be writing a glowing review.

Share your good or bad customer service story in the comments!

The Importance of Customer Service is a post from: RSA Blog