Public Relations

Social Marketing on a Budget Brings Millions in ROI: Search Engine Strategies San Francisco 2011

Written August 16th, 2011 by

Social media solutions on a budget was the topic today at 11am for the Social Media track at Search Engine Strategies in San Francisco today. The biggest proof of a low cost approach that rocked was presented by Jeffrey Harmon, of OraBrush.

Harmon, the Chief Marketing officer for OraBrush, told his tale and shared several humorous videos about the surprise success of marketing OraBrush on a tiny budget. Invited by a 75 year old man, who had spent several years trying to market it, without success, Harmon believed he could create a social media campaign that would work. It began by the creation of a $500 video that was released to Youtube about the tongue cleaner product.

Prescribe If You Like Tongue

At the time of the launch of the first video, YouTube had offered a promotional program that where the video would be promoted for $30 a day. The hope was to sell $35 worth of the product for each day the video was promoted. In record time, they got 422.153 million views and in 6 weeks sold out of 10,000 units of the OraBrush. Some of his key points:

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10 Ways to Reward Your Audience

Written July 27th, 2011 by

One of the major influences on how solidly, far reaching and influentially you build your social network, whether it’s your own personal network of friends or a business account, is making sure you take the time to stop and reward your audience. Figuring out how to reward them in ways they will appreciate and feel your sincerity is essential. Just saying thank you with a generic coupon won’t get you anywhere. That type of gesture comes off as insincere and pandering.

Rewarding Your Audience Keeps Them Coming Back

Reward Your Audience

Time and time again, when you are being real, transparent and genuine with showing your appreciation, your audience will reward you in kind. You’ll see your recommendations increase, your content being shared and the number of people who want to connect with you because of that genuineness grows.

The problem comes, however, when you continually utilize the same measures over and over again. You have to really understand you audience and what they appreciate to be able to reward them in a manner that’s going to impress them personally. Touching them in a personal manner is what social media engagement is all about. With that in mind, here are 10 different ideas that can help you come up with ways to reward your audience.

Like or Favorite Their Recommendations of You:

When someone recommends you, whether it’s via a “follow Friday” on Twitter, a recommendation via a  Fan Page or posting, make sure to let them know in some way that you like their actions. Give it a thumbs up, favorite the tweet, and of course saying thank you lets the person know you recognize the time they took to do that action.

Include Them in Exclusive Lists:

Groups on Facebook, Lists on Twitter or even a list of “Top XX Influencers” in a blog post is definitely a way to reward your audience members. It lets them know that not only are you listening, but you find them important enough and appreciate them enough to include them in something that singles them out to say, “Hey these people are important to me”.

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Social Media Flowcharts

Written July 22nd, 2011 by

At Blogging Strategies Summit, Charlene Li showed the Air Force Web Posting Response Assessment chart and wondered how many organizations had done something similar, and she only knew of one or two similar charts. I thought it’d be interesting to see how it had been used, and here’s what I found.

The Air Force Web Posting Response Assessment

This is the current Air Force Web Posting Response Assessment, available as public domain in a pdf format. The Air Force also has links to several other resources that could be helpful, including the Army Social Media Handbook. Read the rest of this entry »

20 Ways to Improve Newsletter Subscriptions

Written July 15th, 2011 by

Despite social networking and blogs, newsletters remain popular with your web site customers and fans who want to keep up with you. Some of the best offer a mixture of business and personal information. That extra human connection endears readers to you so they’ll look forward to your next issues each month.

The following are suggestions for how you can increase subscription rates and persuade newcomers that you have a newsletter worth receiving.

    1. Are there too many opportunities for signup?
      Some web sites appear desperate. There may be a text link in the global navigation and footer, plus a box placed on every single web page. Some web sites have two boxes – one above the page fold and a duplicate below the fold. One “call to action” per page is fine.
    2. Did you extend a polite invitation during conversational content somewhere?
      There are many ways to invite signups, such as when introducing yourself or company, in a form return page when you direct visitors back to the homepage or somewhere of interest, or as an item in the About Us content. Link to a page containing information about the newsletter, and make sure this informational page contains a convenient signup form.
    3. Does your invitation contain scan words such as “Free”, “Sales”, Special”? (Ex. “Subscribe to our free newsletter.”) If not, consider adding one of them.
    4. Did you study your target market to learn if there is a need for your type of newsletter? Who are your intended readers?
    5. Be careful. Some forms are confusing, such as when they ask for a mailing address for an EMAIL only newsletter. Why do you want to know where they live? (If you have a good reason, it’s best to clearly state what that is.)
    6. Is the newsletter intended for an International audience? Have you made this clear in your invitation? If there is a reason to ask for personal information, make sure the form is designed for International users to fill out. For example, do not “require” a State field for countries that do not have States.
    7. Link to a privacy policy at or near the top of the sign up form. This explains exactly what will happen to the subscriber’s email address and any other information they’re asked to give. If they don’t trust your motives, they may refuse to sign up.
    8. A simple newsletter sign up box should request a name and and email addressthat will accept the newsletter. Instructions near or inside the box, or in the newsletter information page, explaining they’ll receive a confirmation email verifying their information, will increase user confidence.
    9. Always link to a sample issue. Otherwise, they have no idea what they’re signing up for. Always refer to the title of the publication. I’ve seen signup requests for publications with no name!
    10. Provide free archives. A history of a newsletter indicates if it’s new, or an established publication. The latter hints at authority on the subject matter. If new, note somewhere that archives will be provided. In this way, you offer a second chance to sign up later, once the prospect has an opportunity to see the product.
    11. Don’t tease. Some newsletters ask for content suggestions and ideas, but they don’t have an issue available, or archives online, making it difficult to understand what they cover or what was previously written about.
    12. How often does it arrive? Make sure this is indicated on the informational page. An informational page is a great way to sell your newsletter. It contains many of the items on this checklist and answers their questions. This will encourage more subscriptions because they have a much better idea of what you intend on sending to them.
    13. Is it HTML or text based? Do you offer a choice? Keep in mind that everyone has different needs. It helps to offer a choice. If your newsletter software allows a text version and an HTML version of your document, you can offer subscribers a choice of receiving it depending on how their email client preferences are set. For example, many prefer to read in a “text only” format. By presenting choices, you can make your newsletter offering more attractive.
    14. What are the benefits of subscribing? Does it teach? Offer discounts? Accept advertising?
    15. How good is it? Provide testimonials and reader feedback, with their permission. This is especially helpful in competitive industries. Another advantage is when you ask for feedback; you can follow up on their suggestions. In many cases, improvements are made based on reader feedback.
    16. If your publication is monthly, here’s an idea from magazine publishers. In your information page, list the topics to come in the next year beforehand. This is great for fee-based publications too. Keep the reader interested by what you plan to cover.
    17. Offer referral incentives. This may make more sense for fee-based publications, but be creative. If you’re a consultant, and want to drive up readership, is there something you can offer such as free 15 minutes of your time, or a free gift, or discount on future services?
    18. Announce upcoming issues on your homepage, and the publication itself. Some newsletters come the same day, every week. If for some reason they will NOT be delivered, make sure to warn subscribers in the previous issue. Otherwise, you may be bombarded with “Where’s my newsletter!” emails.
    19. Avoid relying on a simple box signup alone. Place a “View information” text link inside it that invites your visitor to learn more, gain trust, and get excited about your publication. Place a “Tell a friend” box on the information page too, for fast and easy referrals to your newsletter.
    20. Always create confidence and trust by offering an opt-in/opt-out system. A no hassle way to subscribe or unsubscribe is always appreciated.

      21.  

      Your newsletter sign ups can grow even more if you enable readers of the newsletter to share it with friends. Some text like this on the newsletter might lead them to share it with others:

      “If you enjoyed this edition of the [name of newsletter], and you know of someone else who might like it, consider forwarding a copy of it to them.”

      Towards the end of your newsletter, include a link to your newsletter informational page where people can subscribe if they’ve received a forwarded copy from a friend and decided that it’s something they would like to receive too. For example, you can write,

      “If you received this newsletter by way of a referral and wish to receive further issues, you can sign up for free using the link provided.”

      Even if you’ve been publishing a newsletter for years, updates to your procedures or offers provide interesting trackable data that will prove how successful your new enhancements are. The best newsletters have years of loyal readers because they’ve learned to incorporate the points listed above, but more importantly, they truly understand what their readers want.

Do We Need ANOTHER Social Networking Site, Google+?

Written July 1st, 2011 by

Who better to help test and spread the word about the new Google+ social networking website than the marketing and user experience industries? I’ve lost track of how many social gigs I’ve joined. Do I need another one?

Google Opens the Gates to Google+

Faster than the speed of sound, the moment Google opened the gate to play with their new toy, I received invitations, and sighed. Sure, it’s Google. But do I really need or want to join another social networking site? What does Google+ offer that Facebook, Linkedin, BranchedOut, Quora, and others don’t already do?

Who is their target user?

Firstly, if you receive an invite to test Google+, go ahead and take it for a spin. It’s free and from a usability perspective, easy to jump in and start using right away. So many people accepted and shared invitations that for a time, the gates were closed. While frustrating, I understood this to be part of their beta testing. Performance testing covers server stress, traffic volume and the stresses on an application by a surge of users. Google may have needed to stop and make adjustments. I got in last night.

Google+ has something for everybody and it looks like they took bits and pieces from other social sites and found ways to incorporate those ideas into their own property.

They ramped up Google chat by adding video.

Just as Facebook has categories for topics like Gardening, Books, Science, etc., Google+ does the same thing, but calls it “Sparks”.

Like Twitter, they show a row or two of tiny profile photos of who you have connected with in your circles.

 

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Giving Up Control: When PR Companies Don’t Understand Social Media

Written June 22nd, 2011 by

Public RelationsPR (public relations) is all about presenting a client (internal or external) in a positive light to your publics (not just the media but investors, employees, customers are all publics).  Companies who offer these PR services strive to maintain a tight grip on the presentation and image of their clients as well as their brands, services, and products.  Giving up control is not something Public Relations firms can do very easily.  It’s a reason why any company should really take a hard look at traditional PR firms that claim they can “handle” their social media efforts because in social media there’s not a lot of control.

I don’t say this lightly either.  I come from a public relations background and understand the ‘old school’ thinking of the industry.  Watching PR practitioners jump into the world of Social Media as been tough; from using bloggers as another place to push press releases, to building & running fake persona’s, it makes online marketers and PR practitioners who truly understand the medium, annoyed at the negative light they cast upon a legitimate marketing channel.

PR Fiasco’s Serve as Learning Lessons

Duke Nukem Forever LogoBas van den Beld, of State of Search, turned me onto a recent fiasco by a Public Relations firm acting on behalf of their clients in the social media sphere, we discussed the implications on Webmaster Radio.FM on yesterday’s State of Search Show.  In this case, The Redner Group was handling the PR around reviews of the game ‘Duke Nukem Forever‘ created by game publisher called “2k“.  In one tweet the CEO of  The Redner Group destroyed months of work and likely hundreds of strong relationships with a threat.

Why?

Because the reviews coming in on the game were poor and apparently The Redner Group wanted to control the image of the game, which is what traditional PR companies try to do.  This is where traditional public relations professionals don’t really have a grasp on social media.  In social media you have to listen to, and accept, the negative as much as the positive.  The backlash that ensued from that one tweet caused 2k to fire The Redner Group – and rightfully so. Read the rest of this entry »

Social Media Is Everywhere – #SESNY Session Coverage

Written March 31st, 2011 by

On Wednesday at Search Engine Strategies, New York, Li Evans delivered a solo presentation called “Social Media 101″. The foundation of her talk was “Social media is everywhere.” As the author of Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media and CEO of Libeck Integrated Marketing, Evans understands how and why businesses might want to learn more about social marketing.

Liana Evans and her Book

Li Speaking and Showing off her book on Social Media Marketing

Social marketing “gives us a way to talk back”, she stated. The Internet is no longer about one-way communication. People are voicing their opinions more and this provides many marketing opportunities to companies who want to know what you’re listening to, reading, researching and purchasing. Companies know that when something is valuable, it will be shared.

 

Sharing of information is nearly everywhere today and constant. Some examples are instant messaging, social profiles, message boards, forums, blogs, and social sites. “When people share, Google shares.” Be careful when you jump into any Read the rest of this entry »

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