I went to the IoD Annual Convention on the 29th April. Reid Hoffman, Founder LinkedIn was one of the speakers. He had some really interesting points which I would like to share with you are they were inspiring for me and have made me think about how I use Linked In. (more…)
Category Archives: Social Media
Social Search Optimisation – optimising your online assets
There’s a sea of change in the search engine optimisation world, those that embrace it will survive the change and those which continue to offer the old school search engine optimisation will become extinct.
What am I talking about? Read on and I’ll explain all.
There’s been a rise in the use of social media sites by businesses, but they see to be doing it in a haphazard way – a blog here, a you tube channel there, twitter here, flickr there. To get the optimum out of using these channel you need to ensure that they are linked up and optimised.
Optimising your Blog
Rather than posting to your blog and hoping people find it and read it. Go to Google Keyword tool and look up the niche key phrases around. Then think about what blog posts you can do around those niche search terms. That way your blog articles will rank in the search engines, and hence will drive traffic into your site……BUT integrating your blog into your company website is crucial, as that way they can then navigate into your website and look at your product and services.
Commenting on blogs and participating in forums will generate inbound links into your website. Getting your blog articles re blogged or commented on other peoples blogs would be another step in the right direction.
Gone are the days of getting your website listed in a directory (as anyone can do that!). Getting inbound links from the community you are involved in is not as straight forward and shows that you are involved and committed. Over the next few months, I can see that Google will be putting more emphasis on inbound links from social media sites as compared to directories.
Optimising your You Tube videos
You Tube listings are now appearing in the search engine listings – so when you upload your videos, ensure that you are putting a targeted description and tags on the video.
Optimising your Tweets
Tweets are now appearing in search engine listings, especially around searching for an individual. So make your tweets count – don’t waffle about your dinner or that you are walking the dog. Talk about your passion and what’s important to your business. Don’t just broadcast the information, engage with other people in the same space and start those conversations.
Put your Twitter account on your email signature so your contacts can start following you on twitter as well.
Optimise your Linked In Profile
If people are searching for you by name, make sure your Linked In profile is up to date and as complete as possible – as that also gets indexed by the search engines. Ensure that you have put in your company URL and your twitter account.
Finally…….
Sticking your head in the sand and saying ‘I’m just not doing the social media stuff’ is not an option. I remember when Google was launched and people said ‘who’s going to use a search engine with no advertising on it?’. Weirdly, the search engine has now got the largest market share. But those companies that saw the search engines as another sales channel and started using it effectively, soon got good rankings and driving new sales leads from there site.
The rise of social media resonates so much with how search engine marketing became an established and proved form of marketing.
What historical figure would you like to discuss your business with?
On the blogging course that I’ve been doing were we discussing the different types of blog posts you can do and someone suggested this one which really appealed to me. It really got me thinking who would I like to show around my business.
I would like to show Alexander Graham Bell around my business. He’s the inventor of the first practical telephone in 1876.
Technology has advanced since the beginnings of the early telephone. I think he would be amazed at the sophisticated the telephone is compared to the invents! Not only that as a visionary of technology I think he would embrace the world of the Internet, blogging, twitter, search engines, TV, DVDs, microchips and the list goes on.
Which historical figure would you discuss your business with?
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.
More companies using twitter – but are they monitoring what’s said?
O2 have released the conclusions of a survey of 500 small businesses. 17% are using Twitter for a variety of reasons such as cost savings, recruitment and marketing
With over 1/4 using Twitter to stay in touch with other small businesses which helped boost their confidence.
But are companies monitoring what their employees are saying on Twitter?
I have seen some posts with people saying they have been to pitch to company X or working on a specific client – or even sending their email over Twitter!
Some information is sensitive and should not be shared in a public forum such as Twitter which is why I think companies should have a Twitter policy on what can and cannot be said on Twitter. that way it sets clear boundaries on what is acceptable and what behaviour is not.
I would envisage a company Twitter policy to contain information similar to email policy – but also including:
- Not sharing email addresses -as these can be picked up by spammers
- Not disclosing clients or information pertaining to projects
I am sure there are other things which should be added – anyone else got any good points?
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?
Thinking Digital – Are You?
Liz Cable at Reach Further suggested that I looked at going to Thinking Digital Conference which is in Gateshead on 13 – 15 May 09. This conference is an:
‘annual conference where the world’s greatest thinkers and innovators gather to inspire, to entertain, and to discuss the latest ideas and technologies’
How fantastic to have such a first class event, that is not in London and is hosted in one of the most iconic buildings of the north. These types of events are great as they give you a flavour of new ideas and technologies that you can go away, research and look at how you can take these ideas and implement them.
Staying up to date with current thought leadership and technologies is crucial for surviving in this fast moving world. Those companies and individuals that do not evolve, adapt and grow will become stagnant, old school and more importantly loose their edge.
Working in the digital sector means that you have to work hard at keeping your edge (that of your own and your company’s) as technology and innovation grows and changes so quickly. Having the opportunity to hear some of the greatest thinkers and innovators in technology, media, mobile, leadership & marketing is exhilarating and is boldly marked in my diary. I certainly will be investing and purchasing my ticket!
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
Guerrilla Social Media Marketing – short term win, long term gains
I came across this blog on social media marketing on one of the Linked In groups that I participate in. I have used similar techniques before but never really thought about the terminology for what to call it.
This technique is probably used already by some companies launching a new product or service as a method of promotion. The challenges of using guerrilla social media marketing is to engage with customers for the long term rather than for a short term win. People will see through the initial ‘discount voucher’ or initial effort.
It is about building an online profile on the various different sites. Once other users recognise you as a valuable resource for information you become more powerful in that community. Your bookmarks, articles, submissions etc take on greater value than any anonymous contributions. The ultimate goal is the power of influence. Once you have a voice in the community marketing becomes a soft sell rather than a hard one. Which is why companies need to be in for the long haul on social media marketing than for a quick win!
Halloween Update in Google – those scary inbound links
With the rise in popularity of social media networking (such as twitter, facebook etc) it is no surprise that Google has revisited the importance of inbound links.
Around Halloween there was an update in Google: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/3777991-2-30.htm which looks like it has devalued directory inbound links. Anyone can get a directory inbound link, but actually embeding your website in the community that it serves is far more challenging?
You may ask what I am talking about……..but this change is fundamental to the ongoing success of any search engine optimisation campaign.
You need to start engaging with your customers and start a ‘dialogue’ with them.
It may be that you want them to start leaving reviews on Google or on Kelkoo. Perhaps you have thought of setting up a forum so people can start leaving comments about the products / services – with the aim of boosting customer service.
Writing relevant content is also imperative to the ongoing success of the SEO. Adding new pages means that the website is growing and changing (which is another criteria Google looks at). but if the article is helping and relevant to users / customers the likelhood of them then blogging about the content, posting it in forums, bookmarketing it on de.li.ous or one of the other social media networking sites, is probable……..
So what do you need to do:
- Start looking at your content plan and how you can tailor the articles around current & relevant news
- If you are an e-commerce site manager – look at the ‘thank you’ emails after some one has purchased, and give them an opportunity to write a review or comment on a forum
- Put in a footer to the other social media networking sites – so it’s easy for people to comment on your site
On The Web
Your online credibility is an increasingly important way of showcasing your specialised knowledge and expertise which will build your online credibility. As more people engage with the social web differentiating yourself become imperative
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