The MarTech opening session title is Architecting a Social Web Marketing & P.R. Strategy. For this presentation, I’ve decided to dial down most of my content from the deck so that event-goers focus on my words instead of reading slides.  However, to supplement my session and provide the same content to The Future Buzz community, here’s a brief written summary of what I’m presenting.

The social areas of the web are growing fast. Consider just a few stats:

• 400 million active Facebook users (source)
• 50 million Tweets per day (source)
• 133 million blogs (creating 900,000 blog posts every 24 hours) and around 77% of internet users read blogs (source)

While the above numbers show the scale of the consumer driven web – B2B influence also lives here.  According to a Forrester Research report of business buyers:

• 91% read blogs, watch user generated video, participate in other social media
• 55% of decision-makers are in social networks
• 43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.)

Consumers and prospects are already here.  Marketing dollars care catching up, fast:

• $55 billion - number of dollars marketers will spend on interactive (display, mobile, email, social, search) channels by 2014 -representing a compound annual growth rate of 34% (source).

Media influence, too:

• 89% of reporters use blogs, 65% use social networking sites, and 52% use microblogging sites according to a national study by GW University.

These stats are just the tip of the iceberg, and highlight a clear trend of the last decade.  Despite the doom-and-gloom in the early 2000’s, the web kept moving forward and integrating tighter with business and our personal lives.

But, more subjectively – why is social media so compelling for marketing and PR pros?  A few of main reasons include:

• Authenticity/personality – the world and web crave it
• It scales – popular brands that catch on just get more popular
• Long-term storytelling – build a permission asset
• Leverage – digital PR/marketing is your social proofing
• Intersection with SEO – links are by-product
• PR/Marketing have changed – pull is now more effective

Your opportunity is to approach the web in a strategic manner through the development of a digital marketing/social media roadmap.  This is the approach we take at TopRank Online Marketing to help clients navigate to success.

As with any marketing plan, you need to start by identifying/researching audiences, then defining objectives and developing a strategy.  Only after these first steps should you get into tools and tactics and ultimately move on to metrics/KPI measurement (and at that point, you’ll know what your objective metric is and what other numbers feed it).

So, let’s go through an outline of the basic steps:

1.  Identify audience

Identify who it is you are trying to influence.  Once you’ve defined them, start to gather data about them.  Your potential data sources include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Current website analytics
• Google search trends
• Data aggregation (apps like BlogPulse and Trackur)
• Data analysis (apps like Radian 6 and Techrigy)
• Google blog search/Twitter/Technorati search
• Existing market data/competitive research/industry reports
• Analysis and data uncovered by your R&D department

After you’ve uncovered the data, what exactly do you do with it?

Develop personality archetypes

Start to create personality archetypes of your audience.  Who are they, what are their motivations, what makes up the influencers/connectors?  What makes up the average user? Begin to document this in a way that’s scanable and useful.  Include both objective and subjective insights.  As you move forward into your plan and dig deeper, you can come back and make this section even more robust.

Identify popular content/ideas

What types of content, ideas or imagery resonates with this audience?  Start to track and document what they’re sharing like crazy or always linking to.  This data will help you learn to tap into existing demand and model the already popular archetypes.  It will also help you predict what’s coming next and be the one to capitalize on it.  Also try and make correlations between popular content/ideas and personality types of influencers identified during this process.

Matrix trending data (including competitive intelligence)

Take your audience data and begin to trend it over time in a way that is useful and accessible at a glance, such as popularity of content within Google search trends or Twitter trends.  The past can help you map the future.  You’ll be able to make connections today even if you’re not tracking this data since others are already doing so for you.  By studying it, you’ll gain insight into the ebbs and flows of the niches that matter to your business.

2.  Define objectives

What are your end goals from this audience?  What is it you want from them?  Just a few example objectives I’ve worked with include:

• Increase organic leads
• Build thought leadership
• Inspire publicity
• Increase organic search engine traffic
• Improve recruiting
• Improve customer relationships/retention
• Build a community

Of course, your objectives will vary depending on your business.  Social media marketing application is only limited by your creativity.

3.  Develop strategy

After audience is identified and your objective(s) are fleshed out, you are now ready to define a strategic approach.  This is driven by audience data + objective + industry insight + creativity.  All tactics implemented in the next steps should be driven by the strategy.  Consider common digital strategy development mistakes prior to finalizing this.

4.  Implement tools/tactics

Only at this point should you define tools/tactics.  As Matt Dickman stated previously – if you want better digital strategy, ban these 7 dirty words.  Most marketing and PR pros skip immediately to this step.  And while it makes sense to experiment with different tools/tactics, they should still roll to the strategic approach (which needs to be locked down first).

Potential tools include anything from blogs and microblogging, to social news sites/networks, to content formats such as videos, podcasts and images.

Points to keep in mind when fleshing out tools/tactics

• Social media is more than just Twitter
• Own a niche across web platforms
• Have a destination and draw users back
• Connect with power users/influencers
• Build an organic community of “sneezers”

Ultimately, you want to siphon users out of the horizontal social sites – which have a signal to noise ratio you do not control – to your own social channel (perhaps a blog, as just one example).  Networks can and do fall out of favor and to vest too much time and effort into sites like Twitter or Facebook comes at the opportunity cost of building your own leverage on the web you earn by having your own site.

Activate SEO intersection

All social media activity should be mindful of search engine optimization.  5 basic tips to keep in mind include:

1. Create a social media keyword glossary of popular social terms, cross reference with your search keyword glossary.
2. Title/tag social content appropriately.
3. Conduct digital asset optimization on images, PDFs, and videos.
4. Leverage/repurpose content across channels.
5. Create linkbait/social media friendly content.

Of course feed your content into your social channels, but ultimately realize your community has greater power to do this than you.  Inspire a group to organically raise your brand’s search equity naturally.

5.  Metrics/measurement

Measurement is key with a social web strategy, and defining the KPIs that matter to your brand is vital.

Some potential metrics to measure include:

• Number of subscribers
• Overall unique visitors
• Conversions/conversion sources
• Branded searches/non-branded searches
• Search engine traffic
• Visitor to subscriber conversion ratios
• Followings in “outposts”
• Referral traffic
• Quality and quantity of engagement across platforms

For much more details on measurements/KPIs, check out my post at Online Marketing Blog on web analytics reporting.

Case Studies

After the plan outline, I’ll be taking the audience through several case studies that would each require their own blog post to do justice.  With that said, for readers here, following are a few fleshed out case studies to help you start formulating your own ideas, lock down your plan, and execute next steps:

• Shutterstock Gets Social – Digital PR Case Study
• Dosh Dosh Case Study: Develop A Unique Brand For Your Blog
• Case Study in Building a Blogging Network: The “Daily” Network
• Case Study in Building Buzz in the Blogosphere: Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company
• Case Study – Escapist Magazine: Building Popularity By Teaming Up With An Exceptional Content Creator
• Using an Internet Meme for Fun and Profit: Lolcats and I Can Has Cheezburger (Case Study)
• 20,000 Ducks: Visuals Are A Key Ingredient For Event PR

image credit: Taylor Jackson via Shutterstock

Architecting A Social Web Marketing And PR Strategy is a post from The Future Buzz

Nearly all problems are overcome by taking a fearless approach.  If you consider what’s stopping you from achieving your goals with marketing, business, art, even your personal life, the largest inhibitor to success is most likely fear.

It is fear that stops you from trying something new because you might fail.  And who could possibly get upset at you for following the standard process or “best practices.”  It’s safer.  But what kind of life are you living if you always play it safe?  You might as well not even get out of bed in the morning.  Failure is beautiful and should be embraced.

Fear stops you from considering a new career path, even if you are unhappy with your current.  Most people will suffer silently for long periods before facing their fear.  Of course, this is not a logical course of action – life is short, time is precious and ultimately you live with regrets by not acting.  No one died wishing they lived life more fearful.

Fear even removes you from leaving a great job to pursue a new one which poses different challenges.  You don’t have to be unhappy to leave a job – you could just have a thirst for knowledge and something different, or desire to work with an industry leader.  But fear will take control and make you you come up with excuses which paralyze you from action.

It’s a theme that authors Robert Greene and Seth Godin have been pushing lately and I’ve been rather enjoying it from both of them.  In fact, the title of this post. “fear nothing,” is inscribed on the back of Greene’s latest work, The 50th Law – a worthy follow-up to the 48 laws of power.

In Linchpin, Godin frames fear as an autonomic reaction programmed into our DNA as protection in a pre-civilized society.  Fear served a purpose:  it protected us from very real dangerous in the world.  It temporarily altered our neurochemical balance to provide us the energy necessary for fight-or-flight.  In modern society most of us live with minimal risk of physical dangers, but not without this ingrained reaction to stimulus.  This artifact of evolution isn’t relevant in situations your life isn’t in danger, and you should train yourself to ignore it.  It merely blinds you to reality.

You need to learn to master your autonomic reactions such as fear.  It’s typical to react immediately based on your body’s impulses, and is how most people respond to events.  But  it’s the common reaction, it’s average to react this way.

Instead of being typical, process information and react to events with a measured, logical approach.  Let decisions be driven not by fear or what’s safe, but by your intellect and creativity.  Remember – both of these items are suppressed when you allow fear to rule.

In the past, many designed strategies to inspire fear.  They exploited the masses predictable reactions for profit or control.  However, this strategy only worked in a closed information society.  Even if they were exposed, in most cases it would happen long after objectives had been achieved.  The web is allowing us to disarm this fear at scale in real time.  Inflicting the masses with fear for desired objectives, while still in play today by unscrupulous marketers, media and politicians is fast becoming a relic.  We call things for what they are, and it is almost comical how fast these relics of a previous era are being taken down.

The leaders of our world that make a difference, the artists we’re inspired by, the teachers who refuse to give up – they embody strength, confidence and fearlessness.  They learned long ago that fear was not a relevant or useful reaction, rather one which worked against their goals and dragged them down.  For deciding to leave fear behind them, their work changes the world and leads others in a better direction.

What’s the truth I’ve realized about fear?  It’s something caused internally and fully within your control to ignore or allow.  It’s whether you decide to take this control, or let it control you that defines your character, path of life and success.

Fear Nothing is a post from The Future Buzz

1.  Writing skills are critical

Never before has writing mattered more.  While we were trending to a society dominated by video, the web changed all that and gave rebirth to the written word.  Text reigns king once again.  Also consider:

• Video blogging simply has not taken off.
• Search engines reward sites with text-rich content.
• Companies in the marketing and media industry that matter, blog.  And you need to be able to contribute to your employer’s blog at a high level.

2.  Meaningful insight into analytics/interpretation of data

Good marketers know not just how to record metrics and what KPIs matter, but how to use that data to influence decisions at the strategy table and get buy in for new projects.  This involves both left and right brain thinking, as you can get pretty creative with how you use numbers to tell a story.

3.  Nexus of marketing specializations

Only by understanding PR, Social Media and SEO can you successfully make their natural overlap work for you.  While many today specialize, the marketers of tomorrow will understand them all innately and devise campaigns that encourage multipliers in results.  None of these items happen in a silo.

4. Digital strategy development

Forming effective digital strategies is more than just taking current situation data and applying it to a process or formula.  That may have worked in the past, but in the future there will be too many people that know the obvious paths to digital marketing results for them to be effective.  When everyone is applying the same tactics to acquire limited resources, only those who were first win.  Instead, current situation data fused with creative, unique thinking from an experienced practitioner will be the valuable skill.

5.  Leadership

In a connected society, marketing’s seat at the strategy table only grows in value.  Tomorrow’s marketing professionals must be leaders and be confident in their ability to drive a brand forward.

6.  Not afraid to fail

I recently watched a speech by Adam Savage from Mythbuster’s.  In the speech, he says it succinctly:  failure is always an option.  In fact, go a step further – don’t just be prepared for failure, get organized around it.

7.  Always experimenting

The marketers of tomorrow grew up with digital tools – experimenting with ideas, content and code.  You should experiment if you hope to have a cache of creative ideas on tap.  Only then will you have an array of experience – outside of your normal realms – to draw from.

8.  Understanding of tools/technologies/applications/programming languages

Only by innately understanding your tools will you be able to quickly translate ideas into reality, or even know what ideas are possible to bring to life within a given time frame.  I’m not saying you have to know how to build a rails app – not at all.  But you should know what programming languages are capable of and the right designers/developers to tap for the right project (plus how to manage them).

9.  Fresh thinking with content

Can you slice and dice content ideas in 10 different ways, making each one compelling?  Do you know how to mind map?  Digital marketers of tomorrow will come prepared knowing these things.

10.  An understanding of how to orchestrate buzz

Buzz is a vital element of digital PR, and tomorrow’s marketers will understand the importance of it, how to orchestrate it and measure it accurately.

11.  They’ll be members of the media

Because they will be blogging and creating digital media, tomorrow’s marketers will be active, connected members of the media.  In a world where content is advertising and advertising is content, there is no line between the two.

12.  Content marketing will be second nature

Where we segment the idea of content marketing into it’s own category of marketing today – in the future it will just be known as marketing.

13.  They will champion niche media over mass

Mass media will become less and less relevant as we create a world where reaching everyone is reaching no one.

14.  Understanding of the rules that govern groups

Current marketing classes will need to be fused with sociology to remain relevant in a digital society.

15.  Ability to tap power users and influencers

Marketers of tomorrow (at least the good ones) will be well connected and have their finger on the pulse of the world’s connectors.

Of course, this is just a shortlist.  What other skills do you see composing the marketer of tomorrow?

Tomorrow’s Marketing Skill Set is a post from The Future Buzz

There are many reasons why this is.  Let’s consider them:

Marketing dollars are going social

Social media spending is trending to increase to $3.1 billion in 2014 from $716 million in 2009 (representing a compound annual growth rate of 34%).  And while a majority of dollars are still held by traditional channels, passionate communications professionals want to be in an area that is exciting and in growth mode.  Traditional marketing/PR/advertising agencies are bloated and layoffs/cutbacks are everywhere.  It’s just not as exciting a time for that part of the industry.

Also it’s more than the marketing side of things, it’s media too:  traditional is shrinking while digital is in growth mode.  Again, same issue:  traditional media enjoyed their monopoly long enough to suffer from bloat.  Now with an economy tightening its belt and higher accountability (and excitement) offered from digital channels, it’s a no-brainer where the interest exists.

Media influence lives in social channels

What if all your PR could come to you?  It can, the idea of pull PR is highly effective and is your future public relations strategy.  Not only have I seen this strategy work personally, for my employer and for clients, data backs up why:  89% of reporters use blogs, 65% use social networking sites, and 52% use microblogging sites according to a national study by GW University.  In other words:  you can’t be a modern PR pro without tried and tested digital skills.

Social media is…popular

Social media eclipsed search engine optimization in popularity as a search term and never looked back.  It’s the topic and skill set du jour.  Driven by media, bloggers, books, case studies, companies and conferences naturally interest is a by-product.  Due to this, many try to prey upon those interested with things like social media certification or create digital marketing agencies that are almost totally unqualified.  But that’s going to happen with any hot topic and should be neither a surprise nor a concern.  Ultimately smart professionals and clients will do their research and make the right decisions.  And those so ignorant as to fall victim to this?  Who cares.  You ultimately don’t want to work with people so gullible they get taken in, they don’t make good clients anyway.

Many aren’t interested in traditional PR…at all

18% of respondents of a recent digital readiness report said they have no interest whatsoever in traditional PR.  And, for the vast majority of respondents, knowledge of social networks (80%), blogging, podcasting and RSS (87%), and micro-blogging (72%) is either important or very important when it comes to PR and marking hiring.  To exit college armed with traditional PR skills and to be clueless about digital – you’d be lucky if a firm or business even looked at you.

Content marketing spends are increasing

6 in 10 marketers plan on spending more on content marketing in 2010 according to a study by Junta42 – with social media channels being the most popular.  You could easily make the argument all content is social anyway.  If it’s worth sharing/discussing, people will share it and discuss it whether you want that to happen or not.

An entire generation has grown up using digital communications tools

It is amazing the business digital divide is what it is.  My generation grew up without really considering what we were doing was disruptive, innovative, new, or novel.  We’ve been connecting, discussing, debating, and collaborating on digital tools well before an entire vertical of media was born to report on that activity.  It seemed almost like stepping into the past entering a world where digital proficiency is not the norm upon exiting college, but this was what happened to me.  Because of this, many of us saw opportunities to create businesses or provide consulting from the perspective of having an innate understanding of the social web.

Good social media marketing/PR is permission based

Marketing attracts a very different type of person when it switches from interruption/push models to permission/pull models.  It attracts those sick and tired of the traditional methods that were disrespectful of everyone’s time.  It also attracts marketing professionals interested in nurturing an opt-in group with a genuine passion for the subject at hand.  In other words, it is for people who want to give, not take.  Essentially: smart people.

Social media marketing is creative, fun and strategic with no real rules or best practices

There is no “right” or “wrong” way to use social media for marketing and PR purposes.  I wrote on some ideas of social media optimization previously, but thinking about this again, you don’t even need to follow those if you have true creativity and strategy behind what you’re doing.  There are always things you can do to optimize, sure, but if there are any perceived rules that exist, I say break them in favor of something more interesting to stand out.

Conclusion

There are many drawn to social media, and more than enough reasons to encourage this.  Understanding someone’s rationale is important to qualify if they are the digital marketing talent you should hire, if they are a firm worth providing marketing services or if they are someone credible in the industry.  Don’t just ask the what and how, asking the why or motivation behind it can sometimes reveal the most important insights of all.

Why So Many Are Drawn To Social Media is a post from The Future Buzz

Where overthinking will stop creative work from even happening in the first place, trying too hard merely produces results not worth sharing.  Remember - productivity is not necessarily creativity.

There are an influx of businesses embracing content marketing.  While many are engaging, the truth is most will fail at achieving anything close to the potential results.  It’s not that effective digital strategies are hard to come by or the tactics are misunderstood.  The problem is digital channels are inherently social, and businesses, as they do with most things, try too hard (and on the wrong things).  They make it about revenue over passion, and by doing so will never even have a chance at seeing revenue.

Let’s get into some specific reasons why if you try too hard your results will suffer:

Natural dialogs flow freely and easily – like art

Most force it, versus keeping a dialog with the world.  What exactly is a dialog?  It’s natural and unforced.  It’s art.  And most businesses and executives don’t know the first thing about art.  Even in creative industries like music and movies – many involved wouldn’t know art if it smacked them in the face.

Readers don’t want to interact with content and people who look like they’re trying too hard

It’s painful to read or interact with companies who are “going through the motions” of social media.  When many read the same books/blogs or see popular presenters – they get it into their head that doing something – like creating digital content as part of their digital marketing strategy – should be done in a certain way.  So they’ll bring what they think are best practices into their company and beginning create content.  Yet best practices are the antithesis of social web participation – unless you think there are best practices to human interaction.  Perhaps.  If you’re dealing with robots or you treat people as numbers.

Content as the product of a forced process sounds contrived

Have you read many corporate blogs?  Seriously read them, not just skimmed their posts.  I don’t know if you’re noticing the same things as I am but most businesses can’t create content worth reading (let alone sharing), it’s just painful.  Even when they’re trying to be personal, the words lack style and wreak of approval processes.  It’s like someone went the extra mile to remove any sense of individuality.

Passion is a secret of the social web

And passion spawns flow experiences:

During a true flow experience, creativity is effortless, your work will move forward at amazing speed, and time itself will cease to have meaning. This is the mindset which will produce your most creative, most thought provoking, and potentially most successful results.

Flow experiences only occur if you’re passionate about what you’re doing.  A funny thing happens when you enter a flow experience – while you’re not consciously trying, your results run circles around those who are trying too hard because they have unnatural pressure thrust upon them or were forced to do something.

Your social participation shouldn’t seem, it should be effortless

If you have to try to divert attention or use trickery to appear effortless, people will see through it.  Web users are connected, activated and smart.  They’re not as easy to manipulate as mass markets swayed by obvious attempts at coercion.  You walk a thin line by by seeming one way and in reality being another.  This only succeeds at putting your digital reputation at risk.

Ever seen a movie where the guy who tries too hard actually gets the girl at first?

Exactly.  That’s not what attracts us as humans.  We inherently want we can’t have, not what is begging for attention.  It’s not just in the game of love, in marketing if you’re obviously begging for our attention we’re never going to give you any, at least the forms of it that matter.  You can interrupt us all you want but you’ll never have any real influence, authority or trust.

The rest of us aren’t trying too hard

We’re participating in the web’s remix culture, we’re analyzing news and ideas and we’re getting into debates/discussions about topics that matter to us.  We love what we do and we’re irrationally committed.  But don’t mistake this  for trying too hard – they’re very different things.

I’m friends with many artists and writers and in watching them work over the years, none who have talent ever appeared to have to try very hard.  Their actions are natural, purposeful and measured.  If trying too hard worked, it would be easy for businesses to succeed in a digital society:  they would simply hire the greediest workers only interested in money.  And that’s exactly how not how to achieve digital marketing results that matter.

Are You Trying Too Hard? is a post from The Future Buzz