Proving Our Worth in Emerging Media Dollars

Image provided by Geek and Poke

Your boss sends you an email. They are going over budgets, and the recent economic downturn means that management is going to be inspecting the quality of your social media campaigns with a fine tooth comb. Are you ready to prove emerging media technology really does impact the bottom line? If you’re using social media to boost organizational effectiveness, what have these digital communities done for the company?

All hard questions, and unfortunately, there is no set answer. Share with me some of the difficulties you have with proving ROI, whether it’s social media or something completely unrelated to the topic or even marketing communications.

Proving the return on investment of integrated marketing communications programs has always been a challenge simply because the success of many of our campaigns are behavioral and as a result, may take a longer time to prove its worth. This is also assuming that you have a solid baseline to go off on and have been tracking quantitative and qualitative progression every step of the way.

Here are some ways you can prove your emerging media marketing technology is or is not working:

1. Create a presentation that clearly defines the goals and objectives of your emerging media campaign.

2. Be sure to scope out exactly what your campaign is proposing to accomplish and what it is not

3. Present the following data with a story on what each criteria means for the overall brand equity of the organization:
a. Activity and Traffic including click-through (See the videos below for some
free reporting tools you could utilize)
b. Duration (WebTrends and Omniture are just two out of a long list of
companies that can allow you to see where they are clicking and for how
long. You Tube also now has their own analytic platform)
c. Engagement (Are your readers participating? What are they writing
about? How often? AideRSS even ranks your engagement level every week)
d. Voice of Customer (What types of feedback are you getting from your
customers? Is your company headed in the right direction? What is the tone
of most user-generated content? Has that improved over time?)

AideRSS

Google Analytics

Feedburner

How Good Looks Like: The Power of the “Unofficial Company Blog”

Unlike official company blogs, unofficial third-party discussion over the Web offers another level of authenticity and transparency for the company that is being blogged about. Those seeking to post comments, topics and questions can do so on virtually any topic without the fear/disappointment that their blog posts will be filtered and/or altered by the company.

This doesn’t mean, however, that every unofficial blog will be a successful one. The success of InsideFacebook (the unofficial company blog for Facebook), for example, has just as much to do with the site’s full time contributor staff and buzz-building strategy.

So, how does a good blog look like? WebWorker Daily tells us that “a good company blog lets us know about new features, gives u tutorials, tips, and present us with useful information related to their product or service. It gives us a glimpse into what they do and why they do it.”

That being said, the following are some key considerations on how to ensure the success of any official/unofficial company blog:
- Content must be timely, relevant, investigative and exploratory.
- Is the blog telling readers anything new or is it simply outdated/regurgitated
content?
- Is the blog about a topic/issue that readers will care about or does it go off
topic?
- Is the blog thought-provoking? Does the content make others want to start
their own blog?
- Is the blog forward-thinking? Does it address the issues and implications for
future development and growth for the organization/industry?

Clearly, creating a successful blog is no easy feat. As a first time blogger myself, I am still researching and learning the ropes on how to best communicate, engage and interact with the only community using emerging media technology.

Is Your Company Leader a “Social Media Slacker”?

Image provided by www.willblogforfood.typepad.com

Despite the proliferation of emerging media outlets such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, most are still under-utilized by heads of corporations. Are you or your VP/CEO a social media slacker? Check out this presentation on what your company leader may be missing out on.

Fortune 100 CEOs are Social Media Slackers (ppt)

Now that you’ve watched just how much these social media tools are being under utilized by corporate executives, what are some of your thoughts and past experiences on why leaders may be slow or resistant to adopt emerging media technology?

One blogger attributes it to the following:

1. Businesses think starting a blog or podcast is harder than it really is. Without real understanding of the technology, no decision maker ever wants to take on integration or implementation of a new technology.

2. Executives don’t have time to learn the technology. If they don’t understand it, they won’t advocate it.

3. No one knows whose role it is to implement a blog or podcast. Is it the IT manager’s job?Marketing? Secretary?

4. The benefits aren’t apparent. If it doesn’t net new sales right now, many businesses can’t see the big picture.

5. They fear the company-wide learning curve. Afraid that training everyone to utilize the new marketing tool, decision makers often elect to remain stagnant rather than take the time to get everyone trained (including themselves) on the new technology.

What are you doing to help debunk these social media myths? Clearly, people are talking. Why, then, shouldn’t our leaders take this opportunity to write their own story instead of having others write it for them? Let’s dispel the myth and let technology work for us, not against us.

What? A Boy with Girl Parts? Using Emerging Media to Amplify Your Viral Marketing Campaign

Procter and Gamble’s Zack Johnson viral marketing campaign is genius! Okay, so it’s a little creepy and a bit odd, but what an innovative way to get youths talking, blogging and engaging in the conversation of this non-traditional short film. Is it ethical? Absolutely. In fact, I actually think that Proctor and Gamble’s subdued attempt to outwardly promote its Tampax line of products was smart since a well branded logo often takes away from the message of several marketing campaigns. How many times have you seen the McDonald’s golden arches and automatically dismissed it’s core messaging by thinking, “Oh it’s just an Ad”? This short film is not an advertisement. It symbolizes the confusing state of the teenage mind and brings to light several feelings teenage girls may be having as they enter into womanhood. The fact that the character being portrayed here is a boy instead of a girl is just another way to engage the audience, as well as make the issue light-hearted and fictionally imaginative. Here’s the video. Let me know what you think!

According to the Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing, viral marketing is “any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence.” The Zack Johnson short film series does exactly that, and the marketers at Procter and Gamble have been able to follow through on this campaign by elevating the discussion surrounding the short film to other emerging media outlets such as blogs and Twitter.

The effects of an emerging media strategy such as the Zack Johnson video presents us marketers with some new possibilities for engagement and conversation. Surely, this one will gain traction with the younger crowds, which is probably an effective way for Tampax to garner consumer brand loyalty at a younger age. Our teenage youths are no stranger to YouTube, social media and emerging technology. Gone are the days when companies can solely rely on TV commercials and traditional media outlets to garner brand loyalty and generate buzz.

Author of the Long Tail, Chris Anderson, notes that “This is the world of scarcity. Now, with online distribution and retail, we are entering a world of abundance. And the differences are profound.” For more on Chris Anderson’s “Long Tail” concept of emerging technology, view this highly informative video:

The Zack Johnson short film series is just the continuation of a changing era where marketers are using emerging media technology to generate the buzz necessary to pull-in competitive promotional content over the web.

In what ways have you or your company amplified viral marketing efforts through emerging media technology outlets?

Are You Being Duped by “Search”? How Search Engines Earn Cash

Are search engines such as Alta Vista, Yahoo! and Google making money off of search results? Well, of course they are! But did you know that a majority of search engines actually skew search results to reflect paid for and often unmarked/poorly labeled search ads and sponsored links?
Regardless of whether or not you feel paid search advertising is unethical or simply a necessary evil, other search engines should look to market leader, Google. Google has been leading the way with easy to identify paid placement and paid inclusion search results.

Image Provided Courtesy of Vertex Marketing

They do this by developing a unique and classified search algorithm, which is a testament to the company’s commitment to the end-user. As shown in the image above, Google also clearly labels sponsored advertisements and paid for links to Web sites by placing them in a different section of the search page and/or using a lightly shaded color to highlight the links as a separate part of the site.

To learn more about how Google PigeonRanks® its pages, click on the image below.

Image Provided Courtesy of Google

But what about Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing? Will it eventually replace Google as the #1 search engine in the world? I think not, but then again, that might just be the brand loyal in me talking.

Check it out for yourself at http://bing.com and let me know what you think by completing this poll:

Are Wikis Making Us Dumb?

Reliable. Credible. Trustworthy. Are these the words you think of when you think Wikipedia? Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia appears at the top of most Google search queries, and is therefore, hard to ignore. It is a plethora of information and a web of ideas on every topic created and maintained by the online community. Does that mean we’re all subject matter experts? How do we differentiate fact from fiction? And how do we protect the integrity of corporations from online vandalism if any information can be altered or deleted by anyone?

Wikipedia is not perfect and like any pass along media, should be taken with a grain of salt and not be accepted blindly. Here are some careful considerations one should take in evaluating wikis from Dummies.com:

• Look for a slant. Some articles are fair and balanced, but others look more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. If an article has only one source, beware.
• Consider the source. Even if an article cites external sources, check out those sources to see whether they are being cited fairly and accurately — and do, in fact, reinforce the article’s points.
• Look who’s talking. If you research the contributors themselves and find that they are experts in their fields, you can be more confident in the entry.
• Start here, but keep going. Wikipedia should be a starting point for research but not your primary source for research material.

The idea behind Wikis is dynamic collaboration of resources, ideas and knowledge. But what are we really promoting? Many argue that the ability for Wikis to quickly edit Wiki pages makes it a highly volatile marketing communications pass along medium. Multiple collaboration also means that no one source is able to verify and/or own the information posted.

Not familiar with Wikis? View this video to learn more about this free collaborative online encyclopedia.

What Does Your Website Say About You?

Visual appeal or Web aesthetics is no longer being accomplished at the expense of usability and functional performance. That being said, the ability for users to set up a Web site that reflects positively on their commitment to customer experience is a testament to increasingly competitive online marketplace. Does your Web site reflect your personality? Or is it just an archive of outdated, needless content? Which sections are interactive? And are you even tracking site traffic?

Web aesthetics driven by a robust content strategy is a sure fire way to establish credibility with consumers and other stakeholders. Sites that lack organization, functionality, visual prowess, and a sense of community/interactivity says just as much about the Web site as it does about the company’s commitment to the customer.
Fresh Thinking Business offers us some basic tips on how to maintain a professionally-looking Web site:

• Maintaining a pleasing visual design
• Keeping your layout clean and readable
• Avoiding unnecessary clutter
• Use of proper spelling and grammar
• Use of a common, easy-to-read font such as Arial

For more tips on how to design for effectiveness, read this Alist article on “Taking the Guessswork Out of Design”, in which the author outlines the need for goals, organization, layout, personality, fit and finish.

From an IMC perspective, web design is an important part of brand recognition, brand awareness and ultimately brand loyalty. It reflects the tone of our core messaging, brand style and personality. More importantly, it speaks volumes about the perceived safety of the content Web sites are asking customers to retain, share and download.

Are you Facebook Friends with Your Boss?

Those in their mid-twenties can remember a time when Facebook was only offered to a select few schools. First ivy-league institutions, next larger universities such as Rutgers, then high school students, and now to anyone with an email account. Between Facebook “pokes”, tagged photos, friend requests, and constant wall posts from other friends on “FB”, it was very much an extension and expression of ourselves, not to mention a haven in between studying for exams. It was ours to “tag”, recount last night’s festivities, and create groups of other communities. It was, in fact, our digital yearbook. Times have certainly changed, haven’t they? Read this 2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics report:

2009 Facebook Demographics

Who are among your Facebook buddies? My list includes anyone from long-lost childhood friends and sorority sisters, to cousins in Toronto, Philippines and Hong Kong. I have added co-workers, previous managers, professors, and maybe even a connection with a celebrity or two to my whopping list of 594 friends. It’s challenged the way I approach transparency and inclusion with family members with whom I usually kept at bay with my personal happenings. Admittedly so, I have tried to keep my professional life separate from the Facebook community, with the exception of a trusted few. But with social media technology on the rise even in the workplace, why not blur that divide? Given recent data from Newsweek that more than half of Facebook’s 35 million active users are not college students, adding your boss and mother-in-law is not such a far-fetched idea after all.

Read this CNN article, which explains just how fast digital immigrants are grabbing hold of emerging technology to connect, share, explore and keep up with the hype.

Are Baby Boomers addicted to Facebook or are they struggling to fit in a world that ultimately belongs to Facebook’s original demographic? And are they carrying with them their digital accents every step of the way? If you’re a Millennial or a Cusper like myself, you probably have a Facebook application on your BlackBerry or iPhone, respond to every email notification that comes through on your email account, and use Facebook chat more than you would actually pick up a phone to call — that and did I mention you expect your company not to stand in the way of your social media access?

Garrison Wynn explains the generational tug of war in this short but comical keynote address.