Twitter spam – it hasn’t taken long

Did you know that 95% of email is spam, that’s an incredible percentage. I truly hate spam and phishing is even worse.

So when I logged into Twitterfox and looked at my messages I was intrigued to see that I had 2 messages from people who were not following me. The messages were offering information /service or promotions around subject matters that I had twittered about.

It was obvious to me that these people obviously had a Twitter alert of some form on specific key phrases and they were then sending these people messages and offers.

In the world of permission based marketing, I am not sure how I feel about this. The other week I tweeted about looking for a 1:1 yoga teacher in Leeds and some people that I don’t know sent me some great links. As I had asked for the information I was grateful for their recommendations.

One of these spam messages was around promoting their networking group. Personally I really do object to this. Just because I go to networking events and Twitter about where I am, does not mean that people who are not following me can promote their events to me.

How to use Twitter as part of a promotional strategy

Dell has been running an effective campaign to drive sales through Twitter. They have set up a Twitter account called http://twitter.com/DellOutlet and the followers receive messages when discounted products are available the company’s Home Outlet Store.

Using Twitter this way to allows the user to get permission based promotions, rather than getting spam messages promoting the offer / service.

To turn this around the companies should be using Twitter to drive traffic to the site, rather than using a Twitter alert service and sending direct messages to users. I can see that there will be a growth in Twitter spam, and it’s then about how you can manage this.

The question is – when it’s email you can get spam filters to block the junk email that you get – is there an application which will filter the junk Twitter messages.

If I went to a networking event and met someone in the same industry – what would you talk about!?

A while back at a networking event I met someone who was a web company who did SEO and SMM – including blogging and twitter.

We started talking about the approaches to SEO and SMM – and I was amazed that we had such different views.

I take a more holistic approach to search engine optimisation – looking at the technical and content aspects of the site – from CSS layout to query strings to title tags to link titles.

Bolting on a blogging and twitter strategy can boost your SEO campaign & traffic to your site:

Adding a blog is a quick and easy way of adding new content on a frequent basis – which is what Google looks for
Inbound links – commenting on other people’s blogs creates inbound links into your website
Getting your articles reblogged is another great way to get inbound links
Twitter can be a good source of quality traffic to your site – if the campaign is being run effectively

So that was my view……….this chap then continued to say that he pushed the information from his blog to Twitter and LinkedIn account and pushed his tweets to his facebook account. So it was about ensuring the right message and brand values were communicated in which ever social media site people looked at.

That completely missed the point of participating in these sites – as surely it’s about a dialogue and not a monologue. It’s about engaging with others – whether it’s your peers, contemporaries or customers – it’s about engaging with them and having a dialogue. NOT PREACHING your opinions to them.

Needless to say after a short conversation I accepted that we were never going to share the same views on this and moved on to talk to someone who shared the same values and beliefs as me.

Managing a corporate blogging blunder

How many of us have read a blog post that has made our blood boil or really got our backs up? Then started typing a response in anger………….

In those situations it is important to just walk away and calm down before responding.

The recent PR disaster by Ryan Air in response to the blog posting ‘Ryanair no credit card fee + 0.00 flight bug‘ was a great lesson on how not to manage such a situation (start reading the response from comment 10 downwards).

I was appalled that any employee would respond in such an arrogant, impolite and churlish manner. More importantly it highlighted to me that there was a lack of management within Ryan Air, around their online brand credibility and presence that could lead to such a messy situation.

Corporate Blogging Guidelines
What is becoming apparent to me is that companies need to have a blogging policy in place. That is what opinions people can write about in their blogs, and comments on other blogs with respect to the company. Otherwise, situations such as this arise.

With the dissemination of information the employees are usually the eyes and ears for the company in specific forums. So if a company does not have any online brand watching alerts in place, at least the employees should have a channel to escalate information through the correct channels.

Managing your brand online
More importantly, companies need to have monitoring in place so if there are negative comments with respect to your company / product or service there are channels of communication that pick this up. There then needs to be a process that funnels this information to the correct decision maker in the business, so action can be taken

This example shows the need for monitoring and operational processes to manage such situations. In the world of twitter and blogs, stories like this spread like wild fire so quickly. So before you know it, the problem has gone from small to a huge PR explosion in a matter of minutes.

Setting up the right processes
From an experienced online marketeer, I would advise any company to take social media marketing seriously. These conversations are happening with or without you, and it’s your decision on whether you participate or not.

The potential down side of ignoring this and having an online PR disaster on your hands, to me far out weighs the benefits of embracing the new opportunity and listening to what people are saying about your company / product / services…. the question is are you ready to take the leap of faith?

Putting yourself on the Map

With the launch of Google Latitude that is software that allows mobile phone users share their location with friends, it s becoming more obvious that Google is focusing on the more personalised / local search. So for any business it is essential for any SEO and SMM campaigns that the same information is out in the public domain. More importantly it is essential that the SMM and SEO camapigns are interlinked, so the same message about the company can be found in You Tube, blogs, twitter, facebook or linked in.

Using Google Local Business Centre you can enter your companies address and details – here are some instructions if you haven’t done it already!

What you can then do to ensure you are maximising the leverage of this in the social media sites. Ensure the business listing points to your location page.

What you then need to do on the footer or contact us page is to promote the:

link to your company’s Facebook page
link to your company’s blog
link to forums that you consistently post in
link to your company’s Linked In page
link to your company’s Twitter account
link to any You Tube footage
link to any shareslide presentations
link to eventbrite for any events that you are holding

That way your potential customer, partnerships and colleagues can keep track of what you are up to!.

So then all your various online networking efforts will inter-feed each other and hopefully will help promote your website, not just in the search engines either!

It is not about broadcasting the message out there either, as Online PR agencies tend to do, but actually engage with your audience – and have a conversation with them, as that’s what it’s all about is it not?

Twitter – to be or not to be that is the question (surely?)

I was in a meeting the other week with a client. I was giving them an update on online marketing and I suggested that they should seriously start thinking about blogging and building their online brand awareness as a way of driving traffic to their websites.

The client asked ‘if something that’s written about your company that isn’t good – can you get it deleted off the forums or blog or similar’.

Once I had picked myself up and dusted myself down – I tried to explain that would be the worst thing that they could ever do. Why are companies are so frightened of only being custodians of the brand and opening the brand to their community?

If someone has a bad word to say about your company, this should be a prime opportunity to put right a wrong. It also gives you an opportunity to demonstrate to the online community that you are engaging with them and take their opinions seriously. Shunning them can only lead to a back lash.

I remember when I worked as ASDA on their graduate training and they introduced the ‘no quibble guarantee’ at customer service. The customer services team at the specific store were up in arms – worried that all the customers would scam them and ASDA would be out of pocket.

Strangely the reverse happened, for the odd customer that obviously was trying to scam ASDA, there were many more that were genuine customers with a problem or wanted to return a product, no quibble. What happened to the sales – from what I recall they increased, as people were more confident buying items if they new they could bring them back…

My parallel online is that if companies operated a feedback welcome policy online or got involved in twitter or forums, there would find that the feedback they got overall probably would be positive and could only boost the online traffic and brand awareness for the company….if only they would take that leap of faith.

Like it or not twitter had reached tipping point and it is here to stay. Remember the good ol’ days of beta or VHS videos…………companies that are early adopters of twitter will grow their business substantially online. Those who stick there head in the sand will be like the beta videos and will become extinct.

I came across an article on E-Consultancy about All atwit over nothing which states that

‘Right now, given that the loudest conversations on Twitter are still about Twitter, I don’t think most businesses have much to gain by investing lots of time on Twitter. Resources are better allocated elsewhere, be it PPC or SEO, affiliate marketing or offline advertising.’

Personally I don’t agree with the article. I have been in the online marketing industry for over 12 years now. Back at the start when Google was launched – search engine optimisation was prehistoric to where the technology and techniques are currently.

Likewise for twitter as new tools and techniques develop – this will open it up to the general public, not just the early adopters and will become a new form of online marketing. However, those companies that did realise the potential for search marketing, soon enjoyed a new source for generating more business……for those companies which ignore twitter and other social media sites….do so but at your own peril.

Yours, feeling better after a rant
Charlotte

SearchWiki – being tested in Adwords?

Back in November Google launched SearchWiki where Google Account users can modify search listings. I did a blog posting about it in January. Using Search Wiki, users can add, delete, amend or comment on a listing. So what’s big about that?

Google stores this data so you can view other people’s combined results. So ultimately I can see Google integrating this into the search algorithms. So the listings on your website would be influenced by your visitors overall experience of the website / company / customer services etc. Since I read the article in November I have long seen this as a new tool to be integrated.

Google Adwords – is this the test?
Today there are articles on Search Engine Land and E Consultancy both saying that they have seen this being tested on Google Adwords. The question of the moment is that if enough people remove the ad will it effect the Quality Score on the PPC………is this is the software being tested in earnest.

I guess if the testing is successful then it might get rolled out into the search listings.

So what does this mean for Ads and natural optimisation?

Companies can’t be lazy when setting up their PPC campaigns and tailor the content to the ads
People need to take a holistic approach to web design / customer service / operations / usability – as these are the criteria your customers will be judging websites on. Unless customers get an all round good experience, then in one click they can remove you from the search listings
Companies need to engage with their customers online – either through blogs, twitter, getstatisfaction.com……..as this could be a turning point and unless you’re an early adopter you’ve missed the boat.

Brighter Marketing Bible – how refreshing!

Brighter Marketing Bible – £14.97 from Amazon

I have known Joanne and Siobhan at Brighter Marketing for sometime as we set up our businesses at the same time (I set up Pollenation Internet which I have subsequently sold). So when they approached me to give them my feedback, I leapt at the chance. They have supported me through some tough decisions and wanted to give back!

The book is aimed at making marketing simple and easy to understand for small to medium businesses. It is written in bite sizes chapters that are easy to understand with techniques / tasks that are relevant to a small business.

I am believer in life long learning and always have a business book on the go. I have read many marketing books and have always felt overwhelmed by the content and find it hard to put into practice. This book couldn’t be more different – relevant, focused on business and simple ways to implement ideas.

Google Invalid Promotional Code for Free Advertising – has anyone else had this?

I got my copy of the Director magazine this week (as an IoD member you get a free subscription). I have tried using the Google free advertising leaflet which is coming up as ‘invalid code’ when I enter it into Google adwords. I have contacted Google Support who said:

‘Thank you for your email. I understand that you are having trouble entering a promotional code. I have searched for your coupon but i am unable to locate it. To this end, I ask you to please contact the third-party provider with which you signed up for AdWords and they should issue you with a new one.

Google AdWords works with certain third-party providers to offer promotional coupons to new AdWords advertisers. If you signed up for AdWords through one of these third-party providers, you will receive a promotional code to enter in your AdWords account.’

With that in mind I contact the Sales Exec for the Director Magazine. He too contacted Google and got this response:

There was a problem with the Google AdWords voucher codes in the last edition of this publication. Google quickly realised this was an issue and have taken steps to sort it out, but unfortunately not before some people received incorrect codes. They will be issuing an apology, along with an increased £40 voucher offer, in the next issue of Director’

What I find stunning is that the Director magazine goes out to 52,000 IoD members (and others that subscribe independently) so every individual could potentially have an invalid code. Considering the size of Google, I really cannot believe that they could quite manage to make such a blunder. What’s more, is that the IoD members are all on company boards (or equivalent), so it really couldn’t happen to a better bunch of influencers in business.

Anyhow, I have a new code and have applied it to the PPC account and have a happy customer. So I got there in the end 🙂

So my question is this – has anyone else had such a bad experience of Google free promotional vouchers as I have?

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