Marketer Blog

With the blogosphere churning out nearly 1 million posts every 24 hours, an unstoppable river of content flows over the web daily. It’s daunting, especially if you’re new to online publishing.  The good news is it’s still very possible to succeed, even if you’re just starting out today.

Developing affinity with a group of readers who will actually take the time to link, comment and share your material requires a commitment of both resources and creativity - this is common knowledge.

But all other things being equal, you can and should give yourself an extra advantage by developing a unique brand for your blog. This is beyond being organized and having a plan, this is about standing out in a world of infinite choice.

With that in mind, here are 7 ways to help develop a unique brand for that shiny new blog you’ve just built, or give fresh life to your current site. Ideally, you could incorporate all of these:

1. Develop a post archetype

Develop a compelling post archetype that people respond favorably to and continue to feed your content into it. It can be something as simple as using a certain type of image, post heading, graphic, etc. - just something which makes your posts stand out on their own in an RSS reader as content a-la-carte. Your posts looking nice here is a key factor to getting them to spread between RSS users/early adopters who may never visit your actual blog, but are happy to do things like share content in Google Reader. You want everyone using tools like Reader to click the share button with every post, and they’re likely to do so with posts that stand out format-wise, as long as the content tells the same story of quality.

2. Create a simple or unique design

Most bloggers tend to over-complicate their blog designs. Complexity in web design is standard and expected. Simplicity is a thing of beauty. If you’re more daring, develop a unique design that takes a chance and pushes the limits, it’s a good way to get noticed. Breaking expectation with design/presentation of content is a huge strategy in and of itself.

3. Refine your writing quality and style

The single best way to create a blog with a unique brand is to have writing quality and style which is distinctive, emotive or in some way compelling. Writing is the heart of your blog’s brand, and has the power to transcend all other factors - the importance of this can’t be overstated. This is a long-term process of refinement and as you delve deeply into themes, concepts and topics it will become more defined and known. Some bloggers have become so good at this, loyal readers could pick their writing out of a lineup.

4. Find a way to view your topic from a fresh angle or different lens

As long as there is interest in a niche, it can never be too crowded for fresh thinking. Even within the most popular topics, the ways established sites cover ideas is relatively predictable. New sites can use this to their advantage simply by not covering ideas in the same way. A fresh angle or different viewpoint on a familiar topic may prove the most compelling choice of all. Remember, while there are many fans of popular sites, there are also plenty of dissenters just waiting to give voice to something different. Speak to them and they will spread your content more aggressively than even the biggest fans of the established players.

5. Focus on a unique topic, or intersection of topics

There’s really no topic that’s too specific or unique, in fact, the more offbeat, the better. There’s an audience for it, and if not you can make one (bearing you don’t go off the deep end and it’s too esoteric). The key is simply that you can deliver on the thesis consistently and with quality. If you can’t develop a truly unique topic don’t worry, this may not be possible. Another approach is to find a intersection of complementary topics. Music and inspiration, marketing and sociology, personal development and fitness, search and social media - you get the idea. This is compelling because in time it will form a unique community, and the content genres and mixing of audiences will play off each other to make something more interesting than the separate pieces.

6. Create a better signal to noise ratio

It’s common to publish frequently for the sake of publishing - but the real opportunity is to make your site known for signal and kill the noise. Becoming known as a site with a high degree of signal is how you will build up a silent army of users active in the social web who share your content every time. If you deliver on this long enough, the world will become conditioned to anticipate quality from you, and your content will be shared each time you hit publish.

7. Focus on achieving consistency

Quite possibly one of the most difficult hurtles to get over for developing a successful, unique blog is being consistent. Blogs that deliver high quality material on a consistent basis get noticed. Out of more than 133 million blogs created since 2002, only 76,000 of them (less than 1%!) have a Technorati ranking of 50 or higher - something that is a result of consistency. In other words, being consistent is a unique element of your blog’s brand in and of itself as most fail to achieve this basic, yet essential quality.

Conclusion

The popularity of web publishing is something which only continues to increase, and with it the battle for attention of readers daily heats up. Becoming an outlier in some regard is the element that will put you on the path with the best chance at large-scale success. This is actually not just important for those new to web publishing. In crowded marketplaces with many choices, a strong brand is more than a way to gain a following, it’s protection against unpredictable externalities. Finding a way to develop a unique brand for your blog is worth spending as much time on as anything else in your blogging roadmap.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | 7 Ways To Develop A Unique Brand For Your Blog | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

Earlier this week I gave a presentation on the intersection of SEO, online PR and social media to a great mix of people (mostly agencies) at a SEMPO Arizona event. The SEO/PR/Social topic is an interesting mix due to the convergence that’s been happening over the past 2-3 years and of course, because it’s the essence of what we’ve been doing at TopRank.

Forward thinking companies are investing in social media for a variety of reasons, including gaining a competitive advantage through building relationships, creating content and capturing mindshare.  I think it’s safe to say that companies making investments in better connecting with their customers now, will have a distinct advantage over those that are resolved to “wait and see” with this social web thing.

TopRank’s survey of the Top Digital Marketing tactics for 2009 revealed 6 of the top 10 tactics as social media. Marketingsherpa’s 2008 Study of Social Media Marketing & PR reports social media as the top marketing budget line item for increase in 2009.

Why the optimism? Social media offers a variety of benefits:

• Build thought leadership
• Improve customer relationships
• Improve recruiting
• Reduce customer service costs
• Improve search engine rankings
• Increase media coverage
• Influence sales

Despite the optimism, the social web and the practice of better connecting with customers through social technologies is new territory for most companies. Traditionally, communications between companies and customers has focused on marketing, sales and customer service.

Audience at SEMPO AZ Event

According to analysis of Peter Kim’s social media examples wiki, early adopters of social media are focusing on blogging, social networking, microblogging and video in the Retail, Consumer Goods/Services, High Tech, Media/Entertainment, Automotive and Financial Services industries. There are over 900 examples on the wiki.beingpeterkim.com site.

Even with the optimism and efforts at early adoption, social media implementation has been all over the board. Fake blogs, spammy and salesey behavior within social communities and overzealous SEO efforts have represented some of the stumbling blocks and social media fails.

SEO for most companies is tough enough. Add social media to the mix and many are lost. According to Marketingsherpa’s Social Media Marketing & PR survey, adoption of social media is low mostly because of uneducated/in experienced staff along with difficulty in measuring direct ROI. It’s hard to win management buy-in and budget without those resources.

Even when companies do implement social media or SEO tactics, they tend to do so independently or siloed from each other. Core objectives for social media efforts tend to focus on building community. In contrast, company SEO efforts focus mostly on generating leads and sales. The realization that implementing SEO best practices with social media content creation/promotion can actually extend social reach via search as well as compliment an existing SEO program is where the SEO and Social opportunity lies.

A good example of social popularity turning into good search visibility is Blendtec. The video where they “blend” an iPhone has over 6 million views, 6,000 inbound links and ranks top 10 on Google for the search phrase, “blender“.

What parts of social media content should you optimize with keywords? For situations where you are the one creating the content, optimize:

• Titles
• File names
• Descriptions
• Anchor text
• Annotations, show notes, transcriptions

In cases of consumer generated content, you can influence keyword optimization through the content management system and tools used by consumers to publish. Examples include: keyword rich categories built in (and required), suggested keyword rich tags, sorting top content using keyword lists, and many others.

Of course, SEO isn’t much without links and the ability to promote, share and attract links is one of the most significant SEO benefits from social media. The key thing to remember about leveraging social media for link building is to create content worthy of getting a link in the first place.  Then measure content stuctures, formats, media types and sites that work best and refine.

The kicker with creating great content is that no one will know you’ve created that exceptional content unless you tell them. So, promotion is very important as is the development of channels to distribute your content. RSS works well as does building out networks on relevant social media sites ranging from Facebook to StumbleUpon to YouTube.

Working search and social media tactics together can amplify many of the core objectives. The bottom line is that companies who make the effort and investment to figure out how to test, build expertise and mangage though a strategy, will achieve a distinct competitive advantage over companies that wait.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Intersection of Search and Social Media | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

I had nice back and forth with Brian Clark of copyblogger on Twitter last week about direct marketing and social media.  Ultimately it was more an issue of perspective and semantics but there were some great points about the intersection of direct marketing on the social web. I’ve been an advocate for several years as have others in the social media consulting space, that the social web is not a place for direct marketing. In the past I’ve even posted a fairly good comparison of the difference betwwen direct marketing and social media marketing.

Brian’s position via our Twitter discussion was that social media is exactly that, marketing directly to consumers - a great point. My perspective is that social media is no place for direct marketing messages.

Companies that rush into a social network with sales offers is a classic example of an inappropriate use of direct marketing tactics on the social web. People don’t join social networks to be confronted with marketing messages, they join to be social with a likeminded community.

One successful method for brands to engage social communities from a marketing perspective is to make an effort to listen, participate and leverage email as a transition opportunity.  Email works very well in conjunction with social media for direct marketing purposes.

The marriage of social media relationship building and building up an email list is more congruent to direct marketing than most people think. I think what can make direct marketing work best on the social web is to exercise “give to get” in terms of providing value first. Generate attention and interest through interaction, participation and education. Blogs, social networks and other social apps that allow a community to interact with the brand are good examples.  As the brand provides value and trust, interested community members can move from casual social connections to joining an email list with added benefits. The key is transparency about what providing an email address means, in terms of receiving commercial messages and offers.

What do you think?

• Can direct marketing be social?
• Can direct marketing messages succeed on the social web?
• What’s the difference between marketing directly and direct marketing?

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing may be doing a podcast of Brian and I next week on this topic and I’ll be sure to Tweet a link to it if he does.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | How Direct is Social Media Marketing? | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

How agile is your marketing?  Do you have layer upon layer of approval processes, committees, lawyers, and executives who need to sign off on every piece of external communication before it goes out?

If yes, your business is structured for a pre-Internet world, and unfortunately this means you will always be at a disadvantage compared to agile competitors designed to take advantage of a connected society.  An inescapable truth is the web rewards companies (and people) that are nimble.

People interact deepest with thoughts and ideas that have character and personality.  And if there is one thing that removes this, it is the superfluous layers that design by committee creates.  It rips the personality from content piece by piece as it passes though each filter, and is the antithesis of agility and what makes for compelling communications.

With social media topping the most popular digital marketing tactics of 2009, there are many challenges and opportunities for marketers.  Concurrently one of the largest challenges and opportunities is the idea of being agile, a quality that defines brands and individuals who have leveraged the web to become industry leaders.  This runs counter to the past - decades of marketing in a pre-digital world have created unnecessary redundancies, since previous generations of communications tools and processes moved slowly by comparison of what we have today.

As we see businesses and marketing ideas designed to take advantage of new systems permeate our world, the previous models become more dated and disrupted.  This is the natural order of things in a society undergoing changing technology and communications trends at an accelerated pace.

What hasn’t changed is that share of voice matters as much, perhaps more than ever.  Right now, it’s being siphoned from the overly cautious to those able and confident enough to move effortlessly.  Survival for marketing professionals depends on their ability to find a way to work around the artificial barriers that can’t be removed and carve out a path of least resistance for their external messages.  In essence, they need to become more agile.  Companies that attain influence in the social web are defined by this.

Fresh content only happens as a by-product of being agile

As Lee previously noted regarding developing a social media and SEO friendly website, fresh content is an essential element of popular sites:

To play the search and social media game, a web site must be in the content publishing business. Search engines and participants of the social web respond favorably to the signals created from frequent updates.  Participation in off site social channels can be brought into the corporate web site through RSS or widgets providing web site visitors access to additional forms of information and interaction with the company.

Consistency with publishing fresh content - without sacrificing quality - benefits both social media and SEO.  More content simply means more potential entry points from the engines and consistent publishing plays naturally into building a brand and subscriber base in the social web.  You don’t achieve consistency and quality in a timely manner without agility.

Every company is now a media company

As more businesses realize the truth, that every company is now a media company, the number of organizational entities contributing content to the web will continue to increase.  Yet as the supply of content increases, the aggregate amount of attention available remains static, meaning the fight for attention is an aggressive, daily battle across the spectrum of niches.

Media companies, businesses and individuals are all vying for that finite amount of attention, and the most responsive and active (with a purpose, of course) reap the traffic, links and attention of the social web.  Thinking like a new media company - being agile and quick to adapt, is the right mindset for success.

Being agile let’s you jump on opportunities at the intersection of digital PR and SEO

Capturing search traffic from journalists, bloggers and other web influencers by responding and reacting to hot news items in your industry is only possible if you’re able to move your responses quickly from draft to publish status.  You’ll get on the radar of journalists covering a trend story this way before the competition.  According to a recent survey from the Arketi Group:

When asked how journalists use the Internet:

• 95 percent say search (Google, Yahoo!, etc.)
• 92 percent say reading news
• 92 percent say emailing
• 89 percent say finding story ideas
• 87 percent say finding news sources
• 75 percent say reading blogs
• 64 percent say watching webinars or webcasts
• 61 percent say watching YouTube
• 59 percent say social networks

Nearly all journalists use search as a research tool for discovering content related to their story.  The very real result of being an agile web publisher is gaining visibility amongst reporters, which leads to placement as an expert within a story and puts you on the path to develop a relationship with that reporter as a reliable source of information. It’s an area that has been proven time and time again to be true - traditional media, social media and SEO are interconnected in a symbiotic fashion and being weaved together tighter daily.

Hedging negativity

A few companies have been able to prevent a groundswell against their brands by being free to respond directly to consumers and rectify negative situations before they reached that unstoppable tipping point several unfortunate companies have experienced.  So agility doesn’t just help build your brand, it’s also a factor in social media reputation management.

As the Internet shifts into real-time, the advantage of even being slightly more agile goes up

What makes real-time compelling is the immediacy of information, and consumers are being trained to demand content from media, businesses and each other instantaneously.  Agility is the only option here - and if you can become even slightly more agile than competitors, you can position yourself ahead of them with ideas, products and content time and time again.

Conclusion

Agility mixed with the right content marketing strategy and long-term planning is a surefire formula for success, and is the mindset we’re excited to see more and more companies and forward-thinking marketers embrace.  Enabled by the web, individuals have long used the fact that they are able to be more agile than media to level the playing field with traditional gatekeepers.  Now savvy marketers are doing the same thing for their clients and companies.  Embrace agility from the top down and watch your social marketing efforts soar.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Influencing The Social Web: Agility Is A Factor | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

Not many in the Search Engine Optimization game would argue that link building isn’t tactical. The problem is, approaching link building as an end goal and tactically, is very much like a hamster running in it’s cage.  That’s what many mechanical SEO consultants do: Chase links one by one or get creative with link bait to attract an influx of links from blogs that write about the kinds of things other blogs do for link bait. I should know, in the past 12 years of providing SEO services, there have been many opportunities to do just that. It’s not scalable, not sustainable and certainly not strategic.

The best links from one site to another are often a byproduct of something much bigger than standard link building.  They’re evidence, in most cases, that the link destination offers value and that the linker feels will be of value to their readers. Being cited by an online publisher of content that has credibility is meaningful to readers and builds credibility in the same way that being cited by a well respected print publication results in brand influence. Links can drive traffic and search engine bots to your web site.

Building links is a goal, but many companies that do a fantastic job of it see links as a KPI or a proxy measurement to something else. Something more meaningful and bigger picture in a marketing sense. Strategic link building means having an understanding of audience, tactics and measurement as well as how links can be achieved anciallary to other marketing activities. Many of the most successful sites (at link acquisition) don’t ask for links at all. They build up their channels of distribution and focus on providing useful content that recipients link to and pass along to others who might link.

Google’s offers this advice, in it’s special way, on link building:

“The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it.”

That’s fine as a guideline, but there’s a lot left out as far as planning and execution. The web is a competitive place and it’s getting more so. Companies can’t gain a competitive edge by leaving link acquisition totally to the collective wisdom of the web. There needs to be a mix of efforts by internal resources as well as outside expertise. The question is, how to do that.

Our agency’s roots are as a public relations firm and in the course of providing media relations services (pitching journalists to write stories about our clients) the goal of being covered in a relevant industry publication was first and foremost. Often times, those newspapers, magazines and media would publish stories online, as well as in print, and would include a link to the companies being mentioned.

As far back as 2001, we noticed that pure media relations clients (no SEO) would experience increased search engine rankings on important phrases, even though there was no formal effort to optimize content or conduct specific link building tactics.  We would do a certain amount of keyword research for those companies to facilitate searching editorial calendars like Bacon’s (now owned by Cision), MyEdCals or Vocus for potential stories and publications. We’d coach executives during media relations training to use some of those phrases in order to stay on message.  A byproduct of the story being published online was a link. Sometimes those links would use anchor text for the keywords mentioned in the interview. Those links from highly credible editorial sources were recognized by search engines and boosted search rankings.

Were links the goal? No, media coverage was the goal. But additional value and market visibility was achived by focusing on the marketing and not on individual link acquisition.  Long term “meritocratic” link building is strategic and focused on creating and promoting content of value that publishers can decide to link to. The idea is to have an understanding of what structure/syntax/format to flavor content with in order improve the chances of earning such links.

What does this have to do with strategic link building for SEO?  My point is that while it does make sense to do a certain amount of forms, profiles, content syndication and link bait type of link building, the longevity of a linking for SEO effort needs to be tied to broader marketing, communications and PR activities. Companies interact in many ways on the web that produce links, or could produce links.  The key is to take advantage of what’s already being done and uncover the link opportunities as a process.

One of the most productive link building strategies is where companies leverage a SEO consultant’s expertise for the mechanics of content based link building in addition to gaining an understanding of how to leverage what corporate communications, PR, HR, Marketing, Sales and even Investor Relations are already doing that could result in relevant inbound links. A process of creating awareness, building value, training on link building mechanics and mechanisms for feedback on performance within a company can do wonders for link acquisition by leveraging existing content publishing and promotion activities.

Here are a few examples:

• Public Relations: Links can be included in press releases, an online newsroom, within email pitches to journalists and bloggers, pdf documents of case studies, media coverage and one of the best tips:  When a journalist confirms they’re running a story citing your company, ASK FOR A LINK.

• Human Resources: Job listings and open house events are good opportunities for links when promoted on aggregation sites for jobs and events. Optimize the job and event listing titles and always add a link back to an optimized web page for more information. In some cases, paid job listings will include a link, but one that gets redirected by ad tracking software. ASK FOR A LINK that is direct.

• Marketing: Companies partner with other companies, join associations and often produce microsites, buy ads, sponsor events/conferences/causes and many other off-corporate-site communications. All of those present some type of link opportunity.  For example, find email newsletters that are archived to the web and that include good links from the ad (and anchor text if possible) and sponsor them. You get visibility via email distribution and when the HTML version of the newsletter is published online, there’s a link back to your site.  Charitable giving often involves a web site that lists donors. ASK FOR A LINK back.

The bottom line here is that for a productive link building strategy, it makes sense to leverage both company communications and marketing resources as well as those of a SEO consultant that understand the specific mechanics of linking and can train client side departments how to leverage their current activities to earn citations online. The resulting links tend to be more valuable for driving traffic and for providing search engines with a signal with which to better rank your content.

If you work as a client side marketer on SEO, what other ways to leverage existing content publishing and promotions have you found to be useful for link building?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Strategic Link Building for SEO | 5 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

[Note from Lee:] What do you get when you mix two parts “practice what you preach” with a focus on clients and a passion for the digital marketing industry? New clients, renewals and expansion of many client online marketing programs. Working with a great mix of clients is complimented by a fantastic team at TopRank which we’re continuing to grow.

I’m happy to announce that Adam Singer has joined TopRank as an Account Manger.  At Adam’s previous position as a Digital Strategist with a PR firm in FL, he championed many social media, SEO and online PR programs providing client executives with strategic guidance on their digital strategy. Adam is a savvy blogger at FutureBuzz and we’re looking forward to his social media smarts as a welcome addition to the TopRank Online Marketing team. Please read Adam’s first post and welcome him. Watch for his regular contributions to Online Marketing Blog in the weeks and months ahead.

Can a blog motivate you to move 1,770 miles, change your life and pursue a career with a new organization?  Many of you reading this would agree that yes, in fact it can.  There is no better way to get to know a company’s DNA than by reading the thoughts and insights of their team members and leaders daily over the course of several years.

As a longtime fan of TopRank’s blog, client work, and philosophy, I am honored to be joining the team not only to provide high-quality client services, but also contribute digital marketing and PR strategy to the Online Marketing Blog community.

Readers here know Lee and his team have set the bar extraordinarily high through content presented on this blog; tirelessly sharing strategy, insight and advice on digital marketing.  I am inspired by the challenge of contributing here and maintaining the level of excellence you’re used to.

What I can promise you?  My best thinking, and add to the themes and ideas you’re already reading and sharing, viewed through the lens of someone who has dedicated their life - personally and professionally - to helping others succeed online.  From corporations and small businesses, to non-profits and artists, my career goal is to help those with the right motivations activate their ideas on a global scale through creative web marketing.

For those who don’t know me, here’s the short version:  I’m Adam Singer, and I’m a passionate online marketing professional.  My experience includes:

• Social media, SEO and digital marketing/PR strategy, planning and implementation for clients ranging from small startups to national consumer brands
• Web application, linkbait and pull marketing campaigns
• Blog development, community building, permission marketing
• Translation of ideas articulately between clients, project managers, communications professionals, and developers
• Hands-on consulting for C-level executives at national consumer brands
• Successful encouragement for major companies to make their foray into social media
• More than 12 years combined experience as an active participant of the web as a blogger, marketer, PR strategist, digital artist and freelance writer

I plan to contribute posts here supporting all the disciplines of digital marketing - from social web strategy and ideas, to insights on technology trends, to how you can stay ahead of the curve and be successful in your Internet marketing initiatives.  I hope to provide value to you and help you become successful in spreading buzz, increasing sales and achieving your objectives

And if you want to learn more about me - just Google me.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | TopRank Digital Marketing Talent Pool Grows with Adam Singer | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

The digital and interactive marketing space moves fast and as both companies and individuals scramble to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage, it can be a challenge to find resources and likeminded individuals to help make that happen. Associations offer education, networking and in some cases, advocacy for members and sponsoring companies. The question is, where can you find interactive marketing associations are in your area?

We’ve listed regional Interactive Marketing Associations in the past and thought it would be time for an update. This post will be a work in progress, so please share in the comments the name and working URL of other interactive marketing associations that we’ve missed.  We decided not to include groups and meetups that are primarily dedicated to SEO/SEM or social media.  You can find a list of local Social Media Club chapters here and a list of Social Media Breakfast cities here.  You can find abundant internet professional meetups here.

• Association of Internet Marketing and Sales Canada
• Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association - (AIMA)
• Arizona Interactive Marketing Association - AZIMA)
• Refresh Bmore (Baltimore)
• Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization Arizona - (SEMPO AZ)
• Austin Interactive Marketing Association - (Austin IMA)
• Baltimore Chapter of the American Marketing Association - (AMA Baltimore)
• Boston Interactive Media Association - (BIMA)
• Charlotte Interactive Marketing Association - (Charlotte IMA)
• Chicago Interactive Marketing Association (CIMA)
• American Advertising Federation Cleveland (AAF Cleveland)
• Dallas Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association
• Dayton Marketing Community
• Internet Marketers of the Delaware Valley
• Direct Marketing Association (DMA) National
• Internet Marketers of New York - IMNY
• Houston Interactive Marketing Association - (HiMA)
• Las Vegas Interactive Marketing Association - (LVIMA)
• Milwaukee Interactive Marketing Association - (MIMA)
• Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association - (MIMA)
• 212 New York’s Interactive Advertising Club - (212)
• Internet Marketers of New York - (IMNY)
• Triangle Interactive Marketing Association - (TIMA) central North Carolina
• The Web Association - (NE Ohio)
• Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association (PhIMA)
• Gateway Interactive Marketing Association - St. Louis, MO
• San Diego Ad Club
• San Diego iMarketers
• Bay Area Interactive Group
• Northwest Internet Advertising Group - Seattle
• South Florida Interactive Marketing Association
• WebGuild Silicon Valley

What interactive marketing associations and organizations did we miss? Please share in the comments.

Thank you to the following Tweeple for making suggestions:

@DJLitten
@tornow
@davidebowman
@DavidWallace
@Juliesquires
@AussieWebmaster
@cathymccaughan
@kroonoverdrive
@melgallant
@Jlee350
@AaronGoldman
@hifisamurai
@chriswinfield

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | TopRank BIGLIST: Interactive Marketing Associations | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

Development of a content marketing strategy that speaks to the target audience plays a key role in successful execution of an overall online marketing program. Companies that embrace the social web as part of their marketing mix need to consider the content created within social media channels just as much as corporate web site content.

Whether you communicate to your audience via a blog, Twitter or social networking sites like Facebook, the only true way to build relationships with a growing network is to listen, engage and provide content they find valuable.

When developing a social media content strategy, start by asking questions like: “What does my network find valuable?”.

A little listening can go a long way to get to the heart of a community’s needs. By understanding the pain points of those your company wishes to connect with, the better you’ll be able to provide the resources needed to make better decisions and improve their business.

You may have heard Lee Odden reference the need to create a social media roadmap, starting first by gaining a better understanding of the intended audience and identifying objectives. A social media marketing strategy is the bridge between reaching that audience and mutual goals. Gain an understanding of how you are going to speak to the community and what you want them to do.

Think realistically about providing and receiving value. For example, will building a network of 1,000 friends on Facebook have an impact on your business without clear goals around what you want those friends to do? There’s an implied connection between quantity of network and marketing effectiveness, but with social media it’s more about quality, not quantity.

If the objective for your social media efforts is to sell more product, become a resource to help your audience use that product and give insight into what’s in it for them. Make a bigger impact with your community by giving them the knowledge and tools to help them accomplish their goals and in turn, they will see your company as a valuable resource. Follow the ‘give to get’ mentality to build relationships.

How do I create unique content that speaks to my audience?

Provide opportunities for your network to create their own content. Run promotions involving user generate articles, videos, images or other content that can be shared, promoted and recognized.  You can also collect and examine the resources you already have, including case studies, articles, white papers, PPTs or blog posts. Chances are, you have the makings for great unique content or can lay the ground work to repurpose that content.

In this age of Web 2.0, those who are active in social media are essentially publishers. Content creation plays a key role in your social media strategy. One way to ensure you publish consistent, unique content that speaks to your target audience and aligns with your target keyword concepts is to create a content calendar.

As an Account Manager for TopRank Marketing, I work with clients to develop a content marketing calendar that aligns with their strategy and guides development of meaningful information, resources and media to connect with their target audience. Social media publishing platforms like blogs can use content or editorial schedules to serve as a guide and keep messaging within the ballpark of the overall content strategy.

I’m curious as to how many of our readers active in social media have developed a content marketing calendar?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Content Marketing Strategy with a Side of Social | One comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

Photo credit: Susanica

Of those that reach out to our agency at TopRank, most of the companies I talk to are intrigued and even excited about social media. The challenge for organizations is that they’re often not exactly sure where to start or what will happen if they do.

For many companies, kicking off a social media effort is like jumping off a cliff. The question to consider, as asked at last week’s OMS event, is whether your company is jumping as a base jumper or a Lemming?

What I mean by that is a question as to whether your organization is following others blindly into the chasm of social web participation or are planning and preperations being made first? Are the right people being educated and given the proper tools? Is there a plan with a specific objective?

Chasing after the competition into Facebook, Twitter and blogging without a plan is the Lemming approach. You can almost visualize swarms of companies jumping off into the abyss following competitors, self serving social media consultants and momentum created by mainstream media hype, each yelling “weeeee, social meeeeeedeeeeahhhh” and then realizing (maybe too late) with wide open eyes that they’re not prepared (no social media policy, no roadmap). There’s no chute, and the ground is coming up fast.

According to Forrester Research, Using Buyer Social Behavior To Boost B2B Social Media Success, “Starting with social tactics spells disaster”. Why?  because social media puts buyers, not marketers, in control and “Build it, they will come” seldom works. Launching a company social media program by emphasizing specific tools rather than an understanding of the audience you’re trying to reach, goals or strategy, leads to wasted time, inefficiency of effort and in some cases, embarrasment.

Capturing insight about your audience in a social media context can be accomplished through a variety of tactics ranging from social media monitoring to conducting surveys of existing customers to determine their social media usage.

The base jumper is approach is another metaphor that emphasizes having a plan: a goal and the right tools.   A good place to start is developing a clear understanding of what social media is and isn’t.

I think it’s safe to say that social media is a set of technology and platforms that facilitate:

• Conversations
• Connections
• Sharing
• Influence - acquisition and exertion
• Customer Relationships
• Muliti-disciplinary: marketing, PR, sales, customer service, HR, research
• The opportunity to listen, engage & be useful

You could also say that social media is not:

• Just like direct marketing
• A replacement for other marketing
• Controllable
• A campaign with a defined start and stop
• Easy to measure (in the same old ways)
• Another place to publish offline Advertising media

The idea of jumping off a cliff is scary as hell to many and exciting to others. The reality is that becoming an active participant on the social web isn’t like jumping off a cliff at all.  It’s perfectly fine to test programs at the product or departmental level before committing enterprise wide resources. With the right planning, tools, guidance and education, companies can equip themselves for a journey that focuses on meaningful social media efforts online that provide value both to customers and as well as growing the business.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Jumping off the Social Media Cliff | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

At the Online Marketing Summit in Minneapolis this week, I presented on Social Media Strategy and briefly highlighted Blogging and Twitter as tactics. This is the first of several posts that will visit the key concepts offered in that presentation.

Why social media?  It comes down to gaining a competitive advantage. I like the quote from Oliver Young at Forrester Research:  “Marketers who embrace social media will outdistance competition, build community following, and boost loyalty” 

What better time to build better relationships with your customers than during a recession? Budgets are slim and purchasing decisions are often made based on relationships and connections right along with price. Word of mouth is powerful in good economic times and it’s even more impactful when economic pressures drive companies to be more creative and resourceful in purchasing products and services.

TopRank’s informal polls as well as the research of other organizations offer insights that report a growing optimism and interest at the budgetary level for social media investment. This is in contrast to the “instant social media marketing gurus” setting up shop and trying to drum up business by evangelising all things social. 

TopRank’s poll on top Digital Marketing tactics for 2009  earlier this year with over 530 respondents resulted in six out of the top ten digital marketing tactics involving social media: blogging, microblogging, social networking, social media monitoring, blogger relations and social media advertising.

Recently, Forrester & MarketingProfs published the results (eMarketer coverage) of a joint study of B-to-B Marketing in 2009 that ranked changes in marketing budget allocation. Of the top ten tactics, four were social media focused: online video, podcasts or rich media; discussion forums, social networks or communities; other web 2.0 media.

In Marketingsherpa’s 2008 Study of Social Media Marketing & PR, social media ranked #1 as a marketing budget line item for increased funding next to email marketing.

There’s reason for such optimism surrounding the social web. Companies that properly plan and implement social participation, can reap a variety of benefits:

• Build thought leadership
• Improve customer relationships
• Improve recruiting
• Reduce customer service costs
• Improve search engine rankings
• Increase media coverage
• Influence sales

Despite such optimism and benefits, social media is new territory for most companies. One issue is that a discconect continues to exist between how companies are structured to formally  communicate with customers via marketing, sales and customer service touchpoints and customers that increasingly want to have a conversation with the brands they buy from. Microsoft Advertising put out a great video a while ago called “The Break Up” that does a good job illustrating this point.

The notion of engaging with customers socially is a new paradigm and will take a shift in thinking for most organizations to adopt.

In fact, there are a number of barriers to social media adoption. Marketing Sherpa’s Social Media Marketing and PR Benchmark Survey reveals that the most significant challenges for implementing social media within organizations include: lack of knowledge, inability to measure ROI, lack of budget/funding, management resistance, technical complexity and the perception of social media not being relevant to the market.

Clearly there’s an opportunity to boost awareness and knowledge of social media best practices as well as models for strategic planning and adoption. A big part of the problem is that most companies start social media initiatives, ad hoc without any strategy. Building a business case for social media means doing homework on the target audience, setting goals, creating a strategy and making a plan that outlines what tactics and technologies make the most sense. Measuring the effect of such a plan is where confidence will increase regarding value and help answer the ROI question. The key thing to understand is that Social Media is less about ROI and more about influence

While companies are trying to figure out their broader social media strategies, it’s fine to test certain social channels, but there should still be a plan with goals, objectives and defined ways of measuring success. 

There’s been progress in opening lines of communication between brands and customers through brand sponsored forums (like Best Buy below), review sites and social channels such as Twitter, Social Networks and crowdsourcing sites like Dell Ideastorm and My Starbucks Idea.

These efforts in combination with increased buzz about the social web have motivated many companies to launch vairous social media initiatives. In fact, the list over at Peter Kim’s wiki currently lists nearly 950 examples of companies using social media with blogging, social networks, microblogging, online video and widgets attracting the most attention. Retail and consumer goods make up the overwhelming majority of social media participation by vertical, but  Government and several B2B verticals are also represented. Analysis of the social media examples was deftly handled by Eyal Sela.

There are many interesting examples of social media mediocraty, outright failures and successes. Even with numerous examples available, implementation has been all over the board. Starting the corporate journey on the social web as a tactical excercise can be a waste of resources or worse, damaging to the brand.

A program of listening/monitoring combined with testing and participation can provide a company with a  good basis from which to create a Social Media Roadmap that profiles the intended audience and  their behaviors/preferences, sets clear goals, documents the strategy and recommended tactics and clearly identifies how success will be measured.

Researching competitor social media usage as well as success stories and case studies that reflect possibilities for your own company can go a very long way in convincing corporate management that social web engagment makes sense for your company.

The bottom line in making a case for social media is going to involve some homeword towards understanding the channel & tools, setting clear goals, understanding how your customers behave and what their preferences are for media discovery, consumption and sharing. With goals, strategy and tactics in hand, the metrics piece that measures value can be associated with comparable advertising models in order to associate $ amounts. Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li do a good job of explaining this in their book, Groundswell, when describing the ROI of blogging.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Making a Case for Social Media | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com