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Don’t Let Strategy Be An Excuse

cgseo — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:57:38 +0000

Don’t Let Strategy Be An Excuse This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Marketer extraordinaire Lee Odden sent me an email the other day asking my opinion on the question – Does social strategy need to come before tactics? It was an appeal that went out to any number of folks that write about this kind of stuff. I pondered the question for a moment and found myself thinking – well, really this is a trick question, but then I put it aside. Lee’s impressive roster of responses and very tweetable post – Social Media Strategy Before Tactics is a very worthwhile read. Because I didn’t get around to responding I get the benefit of reading what most of the responses contained before crafting my own, but I certainly found myself compelled to write this after a read of the post. (In fact, the rest of this post won’t make much sense without checking our Lee’s post first.) As I guessed would be the case, all but a few of the many responses said about the same thing – strategy must come first, it’s like a destination without a map, building a house with no blueprint, wandering in the dark without a light, blah, blah, blah. Of course you should have a strategy before you employ any tactic, I don’t care what the subject social media or horseshoes, but this same warmed over line being put there by every marketer charged with taking up the social banner isn’t helping anyone. Before you start to assume I’m taking pot shots out of context let me say two things – I’m as guilty as anyone of falling into this trap, I know most of the people in the post and know they are very smart folks who have tons to add to the total body of this work. All I’m saying is that if we keep telling people they need strategy, but can’t tell them how to get one, we may do more harm than good. See, here’s what I’ve discovered over the years of working with small business. Most strategy is guessing and while you need to start there, your strategy isn’t worth much until you get out there and throw some tactics at it, listen to the real world and and then change your strategy to meet reality. If you sit around trying to create reality in your garage you’ll never be right. There is no real linear approach to this stuff except in blog posts and keynote presentation. In my experience there is no way to create a social media strategy that’s more than a guess without tactical experimentation – so, I say get out there and do something. Don’t let strategy, or your lack of a clear one today, stop you from biting off some tactic to throw into the stew. Strategy, the kind that disrupts entire industries, changes brands and informs cultures, is messy, messy stuff to create. Image credit: timlewisnm Related Posts: Strategy Before Tactics Stop Wasting Your Time With Social Media What's So Scary About Marketing Strategy? Need a New Strategy? Ask New Questions. Weekend Favs September Twenty Seven Powered by Contextual Related Posts Like this post? Share it with others

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Don’t Let Strategy Be An Excuse

Twitter, Facebook Leading Social Media Marketing Tools – Marketing Vox News

cgseo — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:24:55 +0000

Gadgetrepublic Twitter, Facebook Leading Social Media Marketing Tools Marketing Vox News For those just getting underway with social media marketing , Facebook is ranked as their number one choice (80%), followed by Twitter (71%) and LinkedIn ... Just being on Facebook isn't social marketing North Bay Business Journal Social Media Tools: Do They Deliver? No Jitter (blog) What to Do With Social Media ClickZ News iMedia Connection

Nation’s Top Marketers to Gather at Second Annual PTTOW! Youth Media Summit – MarketWatch (press release)

cgseo — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:31:34 +0000

Nation's Top Marketers to Gather at Second Annual PTTOW! Youth Media Summit MarketWatch (press release) Youth Media Summit to discuss current trends and review best practices in marketing to the trillion dollar young adult audience. The invite-only event takes ... and more

The Future of Marketing Starts with Publishing Part 1

cgseo — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:37:39 +0000

I recently called for businesses to broaden their perspective of Social Media from an experimental stage of acting and reacting, to one of learning and leading through intelligence, participation, and also publishing. Creating social profiles and broadcasting tweets and status updates is elementary, whereas creating a meaningful presence through the development and dissemination of remarkable content is judicious. What lies ahead is an inflection point in the maturation of social media, publishing, marketing and communications. And, it all begins with the realization and the corresponding actions that businesses must become media in order to earn greater relevance and ultimately thought leadership within their respective markets. Every Company is a Media Company: EC=MC Good friend Tom Foremski is leading a powerful movement to rally companies towards a new media (r)evolution. As he has so astutely observed, every company is a media company or EC=MC : Every company is a media company because every company publishes to its customers, its staff, its neighbors, its communities. It doesn’t matter if a company makes diapers or steel girders, it must also be a media company and know how to use all the media technologies at its disposal. While this has always been true to some extent, it is even more important today, because our media technologies have become so much more powerful. It is no longer a one-way broadcast medium, everyone now has access to an online printing press that can potentially reach tens of millions of people. Indeed, the future of marketing starts with publishing, and as such, brands must contribute to the evolution of social media in order to truly socialize media and galvanize communities to create more informed and active markets. While traditional mass marketing doesn’t vanish, the customary intermediaries whom we relied upon to broadly circulate our messages and intentions are now only part of the media cycle. With the proliferation of social networks and the channels they’ve constructed between people, social graphs are forming dedicated audiences willfully connected through context and interest. Businesses can now weave social graphs of their own through the creation of social presences within the communities where customers, prospects and those who influence them, are actively sharing, consuming, and seeking relevant content and information. While many companies are just now realizing the immediate benefits of social participation and engagement, the rewards are far richer than the accumulation of followers or fans. Time and attention are precious commodities and therefore require thoughtful commentary, involvement, contribution, and programming to spark actions and reactions and concurrently earn two-way alliances that ultimately form the relationships businesses need to cultivate communities and also inspire advocacy. Social Objects are Conversational Catalysts In Web 1.0, it was said that content was king. In social media, one could argue that context is now king, supported by a royal court of content producers and connectors united by a common desire to share information with purpose and utility. In social media, content and context are packaged as social objects and they serve as the catalysts for conversation, intelligence, and sharing, and hopefully, word of mouth. Essentially, social objects are the thoughtful blog posts we publish, the relevant updates we Tweet, the helpful tips we leave for others when they check-in, the useful videos we broadcast, the telling pictures we post, the constructive comments we voice, as well as every other pertinent message we syndicate throughout the statusphere . Newton’s third law of motion states that every action has a reaction equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. With every social object we introduce, we merit an entitled response, which either validates or discredits the strategy and work that introduced and propelled our content online. The cause and effect of our objective and outcome are dictated by our mission and purpose. Social objects represent the voice, personality, and design of brands and also reflect the culture and virtues we hope to embody and convey. As a result, social objects can trigger the creation and proliferation of earned media, user-generated content that fortifies and spreads our story to each respective social network and enlivens interaction among desirable social graphs. The goal is to incite reactions that potentially further the social effect. Social Objects can take the form of a myriad of other conversation catalysts including… Earned media is the result of our owned, paid, and participatory media programs and is reflected in the blog posts, tweets, status updates, comments, and ultimately actions of our consumers, peers, and influencers. Earned media is ideally linked to owned media campaigns as well as proactive initiatives that attempt to incite viral and word of mouth activity. Owned Media – media that is essentially, controlled by the brand. Owned objects are social objects produced by the company and introduced to each network in a variety of formats, text, video, audio, experiences, etc. Paid Media represents the visibility we purchase, such as display ads, paid search, and sponsorships. When paired with owned and earned media programs, paid media serves as a hub for complementing, reinforcing, and polishing brand voice, directives, mission, and stature. While many argue over the future and fate of advertising, what’s clear is that online paid presences can benefit initiatives where action and experiences are defined and promoted through the click path. Participatory Media – Representing an extension of earned and owned media, participatory media takes the shape of a hosted hub where brand representatives and our communities can interact and collaborate. Go-to examples usually include Dell’s IdeaStorm and Starbuck’s “My Idea” network which resemble branded wikis designed to elicit responses, dictate direction, establish community-focused governances, etc. Participatory media equalizes the balance of power, providing a dedicated platform the gives voice to the consumer and a channel for their ideas to trigger transformation or change. Sponsored Media - This new category fuses owned, paid, and earned media. Sponsored media is one that is championed by companies such as Izea , MyLikes , Ad.ly , Twittad , among others and is creating a new medium for packaging messages through trusted voices within highly visible and social channels. Sponsored media can take the form of paid tweets, blog posts, appearances, and featured objects on targeted profiles. And, whether you agree or disagree with the idea, the reality is that they work and they seem to benefit all parties involved, from brand to paid affiliates to their communities Businesses are presented with a unique moment in time through interactive technologies to directly capture the attention of their audiences and ultimately stakeholders, through the creation, propagation, and connection of these social objects. However, access to new, expansive, and dynamic platforms does not guarantee our ability to earn and captivate audiences. Our ability to connect and reconnect is driven by our understanding of the unique needs and requirements of those consumers defining our markets and our mastery of the tools and services that form parallel contextual networks. Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my new book , Engage ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock Article originally posted at HubSpot

What to Do With Social Media – ClickZ News

cgseo — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 02:16:23 +0000

Drop Ship (press release) (blog) What to Do With Social Media ClickZ News So if everyone's using social media for marketing and many of us are accessing Facebook from work, what's the best way to use social media? ... Social Media Marketing & SEO Tips: Article Marketing Benefits Jazzou (blog) Social Media SEO: Maximize Your Facebook Presence Drop Ship (press release) (blog) all 4 news articles

Social Media Marketing & SEO Tips: Article Marketing Benefits – Jazzou (blog)

cgseo — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:26:10 +0000

Entrepreneur (blog) Social Media Marketing & SEO Tips: Article Marketing Benefits Jazzou (blog) Facebook : Facebook allows for a longer headline but it's best to optimize all your articles for all the various Social Media platforms. ... Reasons to use social media marketing for your company Helium Facebook engagement = Word of mouth referrals = Better marketing Local Tech Wire (blog) Social Media Marketing 101 For Real Estate Investors Stock Markets Review Online PR News (press release)

Facebook & Social Media Marketing: You’ll Like its New “Like” Button – Drop Ship (press release) (blog)

cgseo — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:13:07 +0000

Stock Watch Facebook & Social Media Marketing : You'll Like its New “Like” Button Drop Ship (press release) (blog) Facebook has come out with a new feature called the “Like” button which can be of great help with social media marketing ! “The Like button enables users to ... SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DANCE STUDIO QUESTIONS ANSWERED by Jann Davis Dancer Universe (blog) Facebook announces new social website plugins KoMarketing Associates Facebook Announcement: 8 Reasons to Fear Gaea Times (blog) all 70 news articles

Teams turn to social media to build buzz – News & Observer

cgseo — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:27:30 +0000

Globe and Mail Teams turn to social media to build buzz News & Observer But the soaring totals raise the same questions many observers ask when it comes to businesses using Facebook and Twitter as marketing tools. ... Social Media Marketing 101 For Real Estate Investors Stock Markets Review Social Moves Into Search Marketing's Space Mediapost.com Twitter vs. Facebook : Social Media Marketing Mobile Strategy Study Online PR News (press release) MSMDC News (blog)

Barack Obama’s Social Media Lessons For Business – MSMDC News (blog)

cgseo — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 00:04:23 +0000

Globe and Mail Barack Obama's Social Media Lessons For Business MSMDC News (blog) ... a better understanding of Internet marketing . The workbook provides great insight on how to effectively utilize many well known sites such as Facebook , ... Social Media Marketing 101 For Real Estate Investors Stock Markets Review Social Moves Into Search Marketing's Space Mediapost.com Twitter vs. Facebook : Social Media Marketing Mobile Strategy Study Online PR News (press release) Entrepreneur

Search Marketers Poised To Dominate Exploding Growth Of Social Media Advertising – MediaPost Publications

cgseo — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:49:23 +0000

Simply Business knowledge Search Marketers Poised To Dominate Exploding Growth Of Social Media Advertising MediaPost Publications And this is where performance-based players in search marketing are advantaged, and others clearly are not. Out of Facebook's estimated $635 million in ... Social Media Marketing 101 For Real Estate Investors Stock Markets Review Twitter vs. Facebook : Social Media Marketing Mobile Strategy Study Online PR News (press release) Why Social Media Really Is Worth Your Time Inc.com Simply Business knowledge