It’s official: social media sites have taken over the Web. It’s a vast ant-hill out there, with literally hundreds of millions of posts and profiles, from the army of pre-teens swarming over MySpace and Twitter, to corporate heavy hitters such as Disney who invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to get onto the next front page you visit.
So if you don’t have a hundred grand, how do you get your marketing message out to this bewildering new universe?
In our last issue, we featured YouTube, which Sullivan Creative was using as part of an integrated marketing campaign for the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.
In this issue, we present several other social media snapshots, focusing on a handful that are currently prominent (at least for this month).
Blog: the Workhorse
We wrote about blogs two years ago (Volume 6, #1), and today they’re still a very important marketing tool. You can post a blog for free (www.blogger.com), but you should plan to invest in time, effort and good writing. Potential benefits include sales leads, increased visibility in your marketplace and thought leadership.
Tim Allik at Topaz Partners specializes in marketing blogs, and he advocates a strategic approach. You need to determine:
- your intended audience,
- what you want to accomplish,
- what your message is,
- who will communicate it, and
- how you will measure the results.
You also need to work out some of the mechanics, such as how frequently the blog will appear, who will write it and where the content will come from. The blog can be very brief, with a comment about and link to an article or content on another website. You can establish an effective blog presence anonymously, where the blog is just the voice of your organization; this allows you to sustain a steady stream of short blogs by repurposing existing content.
The blog can also be fronted by a personality, such as your president or marketing director. This requires (ideally) somebody who can write, knows a lot about your marketplace and is willing to put in the time to write blogs and respond to feedback. Of course, this kind of blog can also be ghostwritten; just keep the persona of the ‘writer’ consistent.
The best practice is to moderate the blog, but don’t erase negative content (unless it’s just trash talk) – reply to it with an informative response. Project an image of honesty and integrity.
Allik says a blog works best in tandem with traditional PR. Publicize your blog in news releases and newsletters, and refer to your PR in your blog. Also get out and comment on other blogs, making constructive contributions and avoiding self promotion (while making sure to provide links back to your website and blog).
Marketing Sherpa (9/2/08) lists three key qualities that make a blog a “must-read”:
- Genuine, heartfelt content. “Like sitting next to an expert on a plane, the best blogs provide highly useful information in a brief and informal setting.”
- Regular updates. Don’t let your blog fade away.
- Focus. Each blog posting should focus very carefully on one particular aspect of a topic, rewarding your reader with new insights.
It’s difficult to measure the ROI of a blog, but indicators of success are increased responses to your postings, an increase in hits to your website and improvement in your search engine ranking.
Social Media from 10,000 Feet
Some social media sites (Facebook, MySpace) are known to almost everybody. Not coincidentally, it’s hard to get your message heard there because of the sheer volume of traffic. Others (Squidoo, Flickr) are known to a smaller group and may offer a more select and better-targeted audience.
Then there are hundreds and hundreds of industry forums, online communities, wikis and discussion threads that can give you useful marketing visibility once you spend the time necessary to locate them. Get your list of keywords and warm up your search engines.
Facebook
Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room. Originally conceived as a way students could keep track of what their friends were doing, today Facebook is open to the world and has 100 million users.
You join Facebook on line (for free) and post a photo and bio. You get visibility by making “friends” with other users (they need to accept you as a friend). As your network grows, you can read items they post, and join or start a group. Participation in a group is a good way to cut your readership down to a manageable number with a targeted interest, and get your name out there.
You can also buy a Facebook ad, including a photo, and target it very specifically by location, sex, age, interests, relationship status, etc. Pricing is pay-per-click, and you set a budget, a time frame and a limit. $0.64 per click is recommended, which can add up pretty quickly. You should do a careful cost/benefit analysis before going this route.
Online retailers are also flocking to Facebook; according to DMNews, 59% of the top 100 retailers currently have a page on Facebook, including Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and Wal-Mart. Visitors to these pages can sign up as “fans” of the retailer and join in threaded discussion groups. Again, the model is to accept negative comments and be candid and open in responding to them.
LinkedIn
This is an ongoing online networking event. Again, the model is join, connect with other members, and participate in groups. Participants for the most part seem to be actual professionals in their field, making this a more valuable social media site than many for business purposes.
Flickr
This is a site for displaying photos and connecting with a community of photographers and fans. The quality of the work is generally quite high. If you’re involved in professional photography, this is definitely a site for you.
Digg
The Digg user community submits articles, videos and podcasts on a variety of topics; when a visitor sees one s/he particularly likes, s/he can vote to “digg” it. Enough diggs will catapult the posting to the top of the category or even to the site’s home page. You can submit your own content, but don’t have everyone in the office digg it; Digg robots will catch you and throw you out.
Squidoo
Squidoo users create “lenses.” A “lens” is the site’s idiosyncratic term for “page.” A lens is typically something the creator is enthusiastic about, or has to sell. The most popular lenses, which make it to the top of the site’s rankings, are typically text, link and picture rich. You control the lens – it’s not a wiki – so it’s a good opportunity to market your offering effectively.
To be effective at social media marketing, you have to be social: you need to want to interact with other people and have some aptitude for it. Also, you shouldn’t be in it for the big jackpot. True viral buzz is notoriously tricky and hard to achieve. However, if you participate regularly in the social media sphere, write a good blog and make constructive, useful contributions to groups and other peoples’ blogs, you should, in time, see business benefits coming back to you, learn new things – and even get some pleasant surprises!
A Few Good Blogs
Here is a random listing of a few good blogs, recommended by a range of people.
www.zillowblog.com
Interesting content related to real estate, from an online real estate service
garmin.blogs
Everything you wanted to know about your Garmin device
www.ypnblog.com
Information about different aspects of online publishing, from the Yahoo Publishing Network
www.blogsouthwest.com
Southwest Airline’s blog page mixes blogs on feelgood subjects, YouTube video clips, flickr photos of Southwest planes and locations, Southwest Airlines news, and online customer feedback polls
www.presentationzen.com
Blog on professional presentation design by marketing professor Garr Reynolds
www.gapingvoid.com
Wide-ranging blog on social media marketing by Hugh MacLeod
blogs.sun.com/jonathan/ Strongly felt opinions by Sun Microsystems CEO and President Jonathan Schwartz, along with equally strong talkback by readers
blog.dreamhost.com/
Employees of this web hosting company post hundreds of blogs in a dozen different categories, from TechNews to “funnyish”
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