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Twitter Monitoring For Lead Generation and Sales – The Twitter Leads

December 8, 2008 By 2 Comments

One the best referrals I get from Google is my post on Google as a Lead Generator. I get many leads as a result of people simply searching on Google for the services I offer. I recently found others that are using online tools as a lead generator as well. Twitter.   leads.jpg

I am speaking at an event in Miami this week with Rick Calvert of Blog World Expo and Chris Brogan. We are doing a panel on using social media to help promote your convention or trade show. The event is IAEE which is the trade show or convention for the trade show and convention industry. I am looking forward to being in Miami while the snow falls here in Denver. I sent out a Tweet on Twitter about heading out to the city.

Anyone want to organize a Tweetup in the Miami area Wednesday night?

logo_twitter2.jpg

Immediately upon sending out that Twitter I noticed that three new twitter followers were now following me. As is my norm I checked out these new followers and wanted to see their bio, where they were from and who they were following and speaking to on Twitter. Did i have anything in common with them, Should I be interested in following them on twitter as well? What I found was interesting. 3 out of the three new followers I had gained were from the hotel or travel industry in the Miami area. This is interesting because one of the followers had a pitch right in their bio. Coming to Miami? Check out our stuff. I am paraphrasing of course but this is a very interesting use of Twitter. They can quickly follow a user that sends out a tweet that contains a keyword they are interest in for instance “Travel Miami”. They set up a twitter search for that phrase and can quickly drill down and get a quick lead follow up to the person sending that Twitter. If I had been looking for perhaps their service, they are there and showing me what they have to offer. Chances are I might but their product or book travel through them or whatever the case might be.

I remember Robert Scoble talking about this when Marayam was pregnant with their child. He continued to ask why companies were not there looking for ways to sell him a stroller or to get him to sign up for their gods in a registry etc. This is doing exactly that. Using Twitter to generate a possible sale. I think this is an innovative way to do business. If they get a few sales or leads for sales using this method it makes sense. It is an inexpensive use of a social media tool.

[Pic via Glengarry Glen Ross]

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Tips, Findability, Marketing, Media, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Budgeting Social Media Management

December 4, 2008 By 1 Comment

Reading Marketing Profs Paul Dunay’s post regarding the company budget for social media I found it interesting specifically about the idea behind content creation. Paul states:

Ok but the real cost (again unlike the traditional media stuff) is in Content Creation to fill up those social media / new media channels – here is where the cost can get large. I happen to think I am very fortunate since I work at a consulting firm where many people are thought leaders – so we have no shortage of opinions ;-)

He does not get into the costs specifically as he does with pricing the actual tools of social media. The tools he itemizes are:

A Blog;

A Podcast;

A Video;

A Wiki; and

A Community.

I refer to these things as tools as I also believe that applications can be used in a social media planned budget as well. The applications are mostly free to very inexpensive. I did notice he did not budget for the activities surrounding the likes of Twitter or other which enhance the above tools. Basically, they are free. He is correct however when he states:

So unlike traditional media – Print, TV and Radio – which can cost big money. Social media’s upfront costs very little…

You have to read through his original post regarding the overall budgets to get an idea of the numbers, but I wanted to wrap my mind around the budget ideas first and foremost. The low cost of social media is right now making it a hot and much sought after way of accomplishing a company’s advertising, marketing and public relations strategy.

The real cost is the people that can manage this strategy, someone that can understand the uses of each tool and application and how to make it work for its intended use. This is where the budget has to be difficult to nail down. The person that is responsible for this doesn’t even have a job title or description these days. Is it the marketing person, the advertising person or the public relations person that handles this? What department do we charge for the implementation of this new way of handling our media? These are some difficult questions to answer. I am personally seeing many more job openings on job boards, and seeing recruiters provide the answers to the question of who to place in the position. The real question I have for Paul is the budget for the wage for this person. How much does your company expert in the leadership of social media get paid? Do you have a budget line item for a social media manager?

Filed Under: Blog Metrics, Blog Revenue, Blog Tools, Bloggers For Hire, Blogonomics, Corporate Blogs, Marketing, Media, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Twitter Is The Epitome of Social Media

November 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

twitterlogo I have been busily working out my Twitter thoughts here in the last few days as it has become apparent that I have a slight addiction that needs to be fed now and then as it relates to how I use the service.  I have, at this writing, just under 3000 people or organizations I am following and have begun to turn up my drinking from that fire hose of information a little.  I continue to feel a connection with this application, and I am drawn to it much like I was to blogging when I first caught on with it nearly five years ago.  To me Twitter is the epitome of social media.

I joined Twitter about the time Robert Scoble said he had found this new application in late 2006.  I didn’t really get it at first, but I continued to monitor things.  I have joined and downloaded many apps and tools, but this one seemed a little different.  Then I went to SXSW and suddenly I was caught up in the Twitter plague like most of my friends and colleagues.  For whatever reason, the application had gone viral.

I am now at more than 7000 messages or “Tweets” and not looking back.  It’s funny how some applications just seem to catch on with the people that use them.  I think there are a few components that make an application like this work, and it has to do with need obviously, ego which is the driving force for many of us, and lastly it connects us as groups.  This is why I think Twitter is successful.  Looking over my Tweetstats, I see that I am talking to the same friends in my Twitter life as I do in my real life.  This makes it a little simpler to speak to them and I think that is a hook as well.

I was reading Kara Swisher this morning about the possibility of a merger between two giants, Facebook and Twitter, and I don’t see that happening until the two can at least figure out a way to make money.  Twitter is valued at $98 Million and Facebook is exponentially more.

Neville Hobson showed us what we might expect to see as it relates to Twitter putting advertisements on its pages.  Frankly, if they don’t launch something soon, a third party (i.e. Magpie) may be in the works to do it for them. Of course, this may be their thought or plan to have someone else find and fund the way to making money for the company.  I continue to joke about the fact that people like Guy Kawasaki, and I will admit even myself would pay a monthly fee if they wanted to charge for the service.

This post started out being much more in depth but I kept biloing it down to 140 characters or less.  To say the least, it is a beneficial tool for anyone looking to be a part of their network and communicating with that network.  As I sit here hoping that as I type this post my computer does not crash again, I find that many of my Twitter followers are helping me decide what desktop to buy, what third party Twitter client to use to monitor my Tweets.  I also have a good understanding of what all of my friends are doing.  I guess it all starts with that single questions we see as an empty box on that Twitter screen…”What are you doing?”

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Platforms, Blog Tips, Business Blogging, Marketing, Media, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Reputation Management: It’s A Big Ass Internet

November 20, 2008 By 5 Comments

iStock_000005662949XSmall The other night I had a special and impromptu radio show talking about social media and what has become known as the  the Motrin video debacle.

During the discussion and roundtable of experts,  we talked about the idea that Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Motrin, and more specifically, McNeil Consumer Healthcare the company that is heading up anymotrin campaigns, was not listening and did not respond to the situation in a quick manner.  That perhaps they had an opportunity to jump on this before it got to the heights it did and they could have done something more.  The response, and apology and the aftermath is a different post altogether.

In that discussion one of my guests, Jessica Gottlieb, mentioned that the company is big enough to have a team dedicated to listening to what is being said about them online.  I debated that this was not the reality of the situation. Even the largest of companies have no idea what is being said on a regular basis and they in fact have nothing in place to help them with this idea.  This also made me think of a scene from one of my favorite movies:

President: We didn’t see this thing coming?

 
Dan: Well, our object collision budget’s a million dollars. That allows us to track about 3% of the sky, and beg’n your pardon sir, but it’s a big-ass sky. ~ Armageddon (1998/I)

The line in the movie refers to the fact that a big asteroid the size of Texas was about to hit the earth.  The President of the United States wanted to know why we were surprised by this fact.

I thought about the Motrin incident with the Mommy Bloggers and the Internet in the same fashion.  Turns out the YouTube Video referred to was released to the website in September and didn’t really get known until a month later.  They were completely caught unaware.  The video went viral over a weekend, and I am sure that the folks that are in charge of the campaign were all home for their weekend off and had no idea what was coming.  The Internet doesn’t take weekends off. Monday morning, I can picture the CEO standing in a boardroom with the same conversation as above.  The department head responding the same way, “we are sorry but we don’t spend much time or money on this kind of thing.”

ups I recently attended,  as a representative of the IBNMA,  the Blogwell event put on by the Blog Council in San Jose a few weeks ago and I was introduced to this very idea by Debbie Curtis-Magley, at United Parcel Service.  Debbie is the whole department for their social media campaign as it relates to their online management or brand reputation management and quipped about having difficulty tracking the entire Internet, and knowing that their are quite a few people writing online about “sit-ups” and “chin-ups.”  She has her work cut out for her because like above, “it’s a big ass Internet”.

There are quite a few companies out their that do help companies with their online brand and reputation management and they have proprietary applications that they use to accomplish their task.  They specialize in making sure you are alerted to what is being said about you, your company, or about that crazy YouTube video you put up on your website that set off a wildfire response in the blogosphere.  They can also be there when something good happens.  Normally however, and most unfortunately, the good stuff does not get quite the play as the bad stuff.  What is being said about you and your company?  Are you listening?  It is after all a very big ass Internet.

I would challenge the people I mentioned above to leave a comment if you are monitoring the Internet.  Did you read this post or see it come across your screen?  Debbie, did you pick it up?  Jessica, can you leave a comment here in more than a day or two? How about my own folks at the IBNMA?

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Mining, Blog Tools, Blogs and PR, Business Blogging, Findability, Marketing, Media, Mediasphere Radio, Services, Social Media

Winning The Web Traffic Lottery

November 19, 2008 By 2 Comments

Lucky Numbers I continue to explain to people that this social media thing is not the quick fix, not the get rich quick and not the answered prayer or the be all and end all of business revival medicines.  Every time a story hits the Internet that gets a viral following, or a YouTube Video goes crazy, or something happens that causes a server somewhere to crash from the load of traffic to a company blog or website, I know I’ll be getting an email or a call.  The question first out the mouth of the caller or the subject line of that  urgent email:

“How can we get a viral component planned for our company?”

My response is something less than jovial, and sometimes it is met with sarcastic responses like “I wish I could bottle that”, or something along the lines of “Better yet let’s go buy that winning Powerball lottery ticket!” 

I recently read a post from a blogger that talked about those social media people that you need to run away from.  He hit the nail on the head when he said to run away from a consultant that says:

“We will implement a viral marketing strategy.”
Uh, no you won’t. Viral is the effect, not the cause. If someone says, “I can make a viral video,” please show him the door.

Yes, I completely agree.  Not only show them the door but make sure to report them to the social media police.

I tend to cringe when I see things like the company that somehow “positions” itself on page one of various networking sites.  The stars aligned well for them and they got a bump or large spike in traffic. Then I see them as they are bragging to all of their friends how their servers crashed under the weight of traffic that came to see their product.  Yes, it is pretty cool to watch and I have seen it happen first hand.

After that traffic spike honeymoon is over however, they don’t talk about the return to normalcy as they continue to struggle to get those much needed conversions.  In fact, they soon find that their conversion and other numbers have been skewed by the strange anomaly that occurred.  At this point, all we can really do as consultants is to tell you where and how to buy your chance at the golden lottery ticket, but I cannot tell you which one of those tickets will crash your server.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Consulting, Blog Metrics, Blog Tips, Blog Tools, Marketing, Services, Social Media

Effective Social Media: Shouting or Listening?

November 14, 2008 By 2 Comments

One of the things I struggle with at times with clients or potential clients is explaining the idea of effective social media versus that social media called “spam” to everyone else.  There is always a fine line between what some consider spam, sort of the “black hat social media”, and what others consider effective marketing, advertising and PR. 

iStock_000006243858XSmall Many times clients will sign on for a social media campaign that we have discussed.  We helped them come up with a good, workable strategy. When things kick off on Monday, I get that dreaded email on Friday asking why their bank account is not bulging with money and their account managers are not going crazy with orders. Social Media is not a get rich quick scheme.  Those that tell you to expect immediate results are not going to be there at the end of the month when the check clears.

Social Media is not a get rich quick scheme.

Many have asked that I begin right away shouting at their customers.  They along with everyone else in their genre are on their soapbox shouting at the top of their lungs asking everyone to find them and to buy from them. I liken this to what it must be like on the floor at Wall Street when everyone is screaming “sell!”  Or it could just be what it is like at the dinner table at my house when I ask about what everyone wants for dessert.  Meanwhile, the customer is having a nice conversation with a friend somewhere over a cup of coffee.  None of the customers are in that forest hearing that tree fall.  The irony is, the customer is talking to that person at the table over coffee about what they want. Your product or service.  Who are they talking to?  I could be your competition–doing it the right way. The competition that is taking a moment to listen to what they, your customers, have to say. iStock_000004322282XSmall

Listening is always one of the best ways to get involved with a group or to make friends or to get information about what people want to talk about.  When I head to a networking event or when I participate at a cocktail party, after I have taken a moment to introduce myself, I take a moment and listen to what the conversation is and find a way to contribute.  I hate using this cliche, but it is still very relevant today as it relates to the use of social media and how you as a business use it for marketing, advertising and PR.

The social media we practice here at One By One Media is about participation.  Not immediate, in your face, car salesman social media, but the participation after invitation.  We don’t want to be the person that nobody invites to the party because they are overbearing and they cannot two sentences without talking about themselves.  We want to be that person that is on every “must have attend” list.  The way to get invited is to be a listener.

It takes a while to be one of the cool kids.  I know, I am still trying to be part of the cool kids at the party, and I helped design the INVITATIONS!  If you are one that thinks social media is about screaming your message until someone finally hears, I have some kids here you can play with, but if you are across the table ordering another cup of coffee, welcome to the party, how can we help you?

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Tips, Business Blogging, Marketing, Media, Professional Blogging, Services, Social Media

Can You Be Found? Social Media Helps You Get Noticed

November 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment

missing I was just reading a recent research article on the idea that nearly 80% of adults have purchased something online [pdf of report] in the last 6 months.  I at first questioned the idea that I was in the group of people they refer to, no not because I am not adult, although that has been questioned on occasion, but because I actually rarely purchase anything that is not right at my fingertips at the local grocery or superstore.  Yes, I am that Walmart, Costco or other stores’ dream.  Then I thought of a recent purchase I made online for a product that I actually went out did some research and finally found.  I too am in that 80% of online consumers.

How did I go about researching and buying the product?  I went to the same place every consumer goes, I went to Google.  Like I have been saying from the beginning and telling all of our clients, “We live in a Google World.”  We don’t research a purchase, find our way across town, or order Chinese food without first consulting Google.

Where are you in the Google world?  If I wanted to find you, are your services or products findable?  If not your business is doomed.  Your company will be on the side of that milk carton and the world will not know where you are.  You will be one of a million other businesses online but nowhere to be found.

Social Media and the use of those tools can make you findable.  It can allow the search engines like Google to seek you out and make you available to their customers, the people typing their queries into that little box hoping to find the perfect widget your company sells or wanting to research and find the company that can provide them with the service that can solve their problem.  My bloggers understand the importance of this concept and if you own a business you should be on top of the notion that unless you are findable, your business is dead.

The product I searched for and purchased?  An on-the-counter stainless steel compost container, with charcoal filters. A $40 purchase.

[Photo via Striatic]

[Research Paper via Nielsen-Online]

Filed Under: Advertising, Bloggers For Hire, Business Blogging, Findability, Marketing, Professional Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, Services, Social Media

Live From Las Vegas

September 23, 2008 By 1 Comment

btr_logo_black.jpgIt’s not exactly “Live From Las Vegas”, okay it is actually recorded from Las Vegas, but you can get a listen in on an interview that was done of me while I was out at Blog World and New Media Expo in Las Vegas last weekend. I intend to post some other thoughts on the experience, but wanted to give props to the folks at Blog Talk Radio and especially Mr. Daily who did the interview.

Listen to the show.

Feel free to get over to Blog Talk Radio and listen to some of the pre-show interviews I have done with Rick Calvert as well. We will be doing post show interviews of some of the sponsors, speakers and exhibitors as well so stay tuned and we will be providing a lineup of people we intend to talk to and interview about their experience in Las Vegas.

Filed Under: Blog Consulting, Bloggers For Hire, Client Sites, Conferences/Trade Shows, Marketing, Media, Mediasphere Radio, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Going Home

August 10, 2008 By 1 Comment

I was talking to one of my bloggers recently about getting back to my roots and getting back to what made me the blogger I am today. I talked about rediscovering the talents that I developed long ago when I was a Daddy blogger talking about the little things in life that as I discovered recently are actually the big things. He said something remarkable that immediately caused me to think of this post, he said “It’s like going home.”goinghome.jpg

I have had that in my mind and can’t get the thought out of my head. I like the sound of “going home.” The thought of going home has many emotions and memories, even smells and other senses and thoughts of better days. I think of all of the times I actually went home when it brought with it the safety of youth and the feeling of protection and notion of being where I belonged.

What does this have to do with social media consulting or anything business related? I believe we all need to sometimes take a moment to stop and go home. We need to get an idea of what brought us to where we are and what started us on the journey to begin with and to see if we are still on that path. Many times we have changed paths without ever knowing and we need to refocus our efforts to get back on the proper path.

For me, getting back to what the true nature of blogging is and was for me is essential to being able to teach and mentor others. It allows me to explain to companies needing my services with the passion I first had for blogging and how it changed my life and the can change their company. As a business owner can you remember where your home is? Perhaps you are working for a company and can think of the time when you first decided that you believed in your company and its message or mission. If not perhaps a short trip back home is in order.

[photo courtesy of sanjoyg]

Filed Under: Blog Consulting, BTW, Business Blogging, Companies Needing Blogs, Marketing, Professional Blogging, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Black Friday–Are We Seeing The Demise of Blogging Networks?

July 30, 2008 By 2 Comments

I have been watching the recent demise of one of my favorite blogging networks called Know More Media. A business blogging network with its focus on the business world. I have been reading Easton Ellsworth’s blog since it’s inception at Business Blog Wire. As I understand it they intend to discontinue paying their bloggers as of this Friday on August 1, 2008. An open letter from Jeremy Wright, CEO at b5Media to the leadership at Know More Media was my first alert to this happening. dead.jpg

I have also been following the rumors, innuendo and some of the people involved with the blogging network at Weblogs, Inc., a blog network company that was purchased by AOL, and the idea that they too may be stopping the payment to their bloggers for the content that they are providing. They are supposed to also learn their fate on August 1, 2008. I would say that this Friday could be referred to as Black Friday as it relates to the blog networking agencies.

What is the cause of this demise? I believe there are two components to this dilemma and it starts with the economy and the ad spends we are seeing in the online marketing realm. I too have felt the economic crunch with companies that were early adopters to enter into the social media arena. Experimental marketing such as the kind I provide, is usually the first to suffer the cuts of companies tightening their belts to prepare for the new downturn. Companies using blogs to market their products and services are still seeing the advertising as experimental not being able to yet show a return on their investment. Measurement of social media marketing is still in it’s infancy and companies are falling back on what they believed was working before they began to experiment and then experience tougher times. The economy has taken its toll. Advertisers are repositioning their budgets to go to something more stable and more quantifiable.

Another problem I see is the way blogging networks are managing their properties. Some of the companies that are in trouble with their networks are those companies that are not flexible and have the ability to move with the market. The leadership of these companies are beginning to see what happens when you rest upon your laurels and get too comfortable with a business plan that really must grow with its market and adapt to market changes. Leadership continues to take profit and not go back to those leaner times. In addition, since the sale of Weblogs, Inc., we have seen the emergence of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace and the explosive emergence of microblogging sites such as Twitter and other applications. These blogging networks must also evolve to adapt these tools to make them a part of their own properties. They may have some components in place, but for the most part relying on their bloggers to keep them profitable is a tough chore for those bloggers and it will not last forever.

What do I see for the future of the likes of blogging Networks? I see smaller niche networks fracturing off to make single networks and written by perhaps multiple bloggers. We are seeing the emergence now of social sites such as in the food realm, the sports realm, and the automobile industry and other hobby type sites. The mommy blogs have embraced the idea of community and are some of the best in the business at making a social group made of many bloggers. The only problem we are seeing is the bloggers themselves are not making money from these groups. It’s an advertising property for the owners. Groups that are joining as a member/friend/follower of the group as a whole are becoming their own target market. They are generating content for the group and it all ends up in one place. They have built in forums for discussion, they have feeds that are brought in from each member of their own member blogs, and they have a Facebook look with each community member owning a certain part of the real estate. We see it now with FriendFeed Groups and other places.

Some of the players like b5 and others are still able to show profits because they have positioned themselves to give the best product. I believe even b5 has adjustments that they make on a regular basis to bring in new properties and cutting off the parts of the network that are bringing their number down. A type of survival of the fittest as it relates to their participating core. The problems we face have to do with metrics and what those with money see as the value. I have heard tell that those that have a target audience with the most impressions are the most valuable and are riding that wave. It seems Jeremy Wright is able to continue to surf that wave.

What do you think. What is the new thing to replace networks? Do you think networks are here to stay? As we all become our own citizen journalists, how can we monetize that content, or is their a different way of thinking for advertisers. These are questions I get and wrestle with on a regular basis. Any ideas?

[photo via Benny Bloomfield]

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog Metrics, Blog Revenue, Blogonomics, Marketing, Media, Professional Blogging, Services, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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