Though one of the worst designed infographics in the world, yet there's some very interesting food for thought here from Focus in regard to:
Budgeting and planning resources for running social media marketing, it does of course cost! Interestingly no cost of content on here, which I find very odd as what's fueling social media marketing otherwise?
Finding ways to understand the value and deliver ROI from that investment - the idea that a Facebook fan or Twitter follower is worth more is fascinating to go quantify in your business
Be clear on the benefits, I am not surprised at all as to the order of perceived benefits and how low down lead generation is
Make sure that you click to enlarge it!
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6 ways to use social media marketing to support your marketing activities
Getting social media marketing right is THE most common challenge mentioned by marketers I speak to today. But what are the biggest strategy challenges within social media marketing? At a strategic level, we all know social media marketing is about much more than getting more Likes, Follows and Shares...
So which activities, which need to be managed as part of social media marketing strategy, are the most important challenges (or you can look at them as opportunities)?
Looking across different types of organisation, there seem to be some common issues everyone is grappling with to try to work out how social media can be applied. I think every organisation has to decide how to best manage these 6 core activities as part of social media marketing strategy.
So I asked how you rated these challenges - thanks to everyone who completed the survey
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I came across this post by Jeremiah Owyang. His comments resonated with me regarding what I too have noticed is the mis-use of micro-blog media - namely Twitter. Whereas Jeremiah sees it as over-using Twitter, becoming reliant on it, I wonder if it's a symptomatic content issue with sales promotion thinking being a big example. In that case Twitter is but the most recent channel to suffer mis-use.
Are you short serving your audience?
Jermiah comments "I’m seeing an unbalance in how individuals are trying to get the word out, and an excess focus on micro tools, resulting in some bad behaviours". It's a serious point because if so you only hurt your own brand as your audience will refuse your messages and content and go elsewhere.
What's causing this problem?
Jeremiah calls it shish kebab in his analogy, essentially serving…
To complete our look at trends to review to include within your Internet marketing strategy in 2011, here are my suggestions on key issues to consider when considering your social media strategy in 2011.
1. Content
Social media is nothing without content, your content, partners content and of course customers content. As marketers incorporate social media more to engage visitors in their brand or business, they will wonder how they can make use of the several profiles that have been set-up. It's my belief is that the realisation will be that the answer lies squarely with content. As social guru Chris Brogan commented about a year ago, "it's the firewood around which social campfires form". 2011 will see marketers see the results of content investment (ebooks, video, PowerPoint presentations) and test the waters en masse.
Though great content is born from the unique intersection between your brand and the needs of the…
Considered, clever and committed - Cisco share their insight
Since experimenting with a blog back in 2005 Cisco's clever use of social media now plays a serious part in the company's worldwide presence, writes Meryl K. Evans in a post at the B2B Social Media Digest - Cisco staff update content regularly and engage with audiences, it's part of the company culture and their pride in being the 'human network'.
As background and context for colleagues on the journey to social media you may want to check:
The Timeline of The Journey to Social Media at Cisco
The company's vision to inform it's social media strategy is considered and simple - the company's director of social media, John Earnhardt says Cisco "€œchanging the way we work, live, play and learn" We believe it's something that networking technology inherently does. We connect. We make the world a smaller place through video and…
Dan Zarella - the social media scientist - suggests that as social media marketers, there are lessons that we can learn from hypnosis and suggestion - though personally I'd be more likely to take this as a bit of light entertainment and genuinely fascinate our "subjects", over trying to hypnotise them :-) There are one or two good (ethical) points - share your ideas on hypnotising in marketing, in the comments!
1. Suggestibility
This is a measure of how inclined a person is to act a suggestion of another person. Research indicates shown that there's a connections between how hypnotizeable a person is and how easily they react to suggestions.
Zarella suggest that in social media, once we understand the level of engagement - the people who respond to joining email lists, who ReTweet links, or respond with social…
7 Steps To Help Guide Social Media Planning
Value: [rating=4]
Our commentary: Lee Odden, of Top Rank blog fame, has pulled together a pretty detailed list covering his key areas to check when creating or refining a social media marketing plan - I thought it would be useful to our followers so here's a short summary plus a link to the full post:
Organisation: Who is the senior sponsor that is going to give you support at board level, is there appetite in the organisation? Think through the human resources necessary, who are the key staff who'll benefit and how will the wider team be involved?
Listening: Open your ears (via software) to general brand mentions, customers referencing you, what are prospects talking about in your market - and what's the competitor behaviour, are they being mentioned too.
Goal Setting: This is going to be key when getting senior management buy in. How are you going…
Here's a useful post from Josh Peters on Mashable. Referencing the old and still highly relevant "AIDA" funnel - it may appeal as a starting point to those of you more familiar with that framework.
It works because each section of AIDA represents a section of your sales and marketing process and can help you set your KPI's, decide what to monitor, and visualize the relationships between each part. Also -…
Mashable highlight 5 growing social media trends
Value: [rating=4]
Our commentary: A new breed of Q&A services are changing the way we search. Barcode scanning applications are making products social, and deal-of-the-day sites are giving us ways to save by recruiting our friends to the party. With so many studies highlighting ever-accelerating social media usage rates, the conclusion is obvious "€” social media is everywhere. This Mashable post introduces 5 big trends to consider, if you're not doing so already.
Marketing implications: Think smartphones initially - 'Social scanning' where users are able to scan barcodes for price comparison or use QR codes to enter into social experiences around current location. Building on that there's 'Mobile loyalty', where smartphones are the digital repository for loyalty data but now integrate location based services as well. My favourites are 'web-based Q&A services' for intelligent information discovery like Quora, Aardvark and Facebook Questions - and also…
The advantage of building open-source based communities
Value: [rating=3]
Our commentary: Open source - some marketers cringe, others will cheer. What's the best option for your web strategy? According to Marketing Prof's open source not only offers the collective creativity of a large, vibrant community but also promises a new level of customer engagement, brand equity, and a competitive edge for today's marketers - faster. However, determining how and where open source fits into your marketing mix may be more challenging. According to Lynne Capozzi, the biggest advantages are around social media.
Marketing implications: Using open source technologies in the social media space has huge advantages, not least speed, cost and minimising the need for "IT". There's an even bigger argument that the products are better, more up to date and empowering - but then you'll be the judge of that.
Recommended link: Open-Source Social Publishing Opens Doors for Marketers…
