Do you have an Image strategy?

Pinterest, Instagr.am, and even Facebook have shown us that your IMAGE matters. There’s a pun here. In advertising, we’ve always said this. Campaigns have always been judged on how they look. Brands have always done better if they contribute positively to a consumer’s image. Brands = Image. So it’s no surprise really that marketing online now requires you to consider an image strategy.

“Readers process more information more quickly from images than from text, and thus images drive more audience engagement than text content.” AdAge 

The article asks three questions when developing an image strategy:

1. Audience engagement. How can images increase engagement among my existing audience?

2. Audience acquisition. How can I convert that engagement into sharing?

3. Revenue. How does the strategy help me make more money?

If you’re in marketing, are you managing brands on Pinterest or Instagr.am? How does your brand’s image online fit into your overall strategy?

Content Marketing

Content marketing, one of the latest buzz words in almost every industry (not just marketing/advertising) is not as easy as writing a blog post every now and then or re-Tweeting a link on Twitter. Content marketing takes a lot more discipline. A recent post by Ruth at ProBlogger reminds us all of the pillars we need to keep in mind when marketing content:

1. Plan for regular content creation with an editorial calendar. When you get into a routine with content you give your community something to look forward to AND you lessen the stress on yourself to come up with great, on-the-fly posts.
2. Know your audience. Who is reading your posts? Who engages with you on Twitter around certain topics? Who is coming to your channel and from where? Knowing what matters to your audience will help you populate your editorial calendar.
3. Cultivate relationships. Posting to your blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or whatever channel you have chosen is only half of the work you need to do. As Ruth reminds us, we need to plan time for outreach. When will you engage with other bloggers or Facebookers? It’s this engagement that will drive traffic to your content AND possibly contribute to its buzzworthiness.
4. BIG PICTURE thinking. For brand planners, this is what we’re always doing: keeping the big picture in mind. Where do we want to go with our brand? What does our campaign need to do? Always always keep your goals in mind. Each piece of content that you create should get you closer to achieving your goals.
5. Beginner’s mind. This is a Buddhist philosophy, but it has never been more important than with social media. Talking with a local Likeminder this weekend, I was reminded of this fact: it’s impossible to get ahead of the social media wave. We just need to learn how to ride it. As a social strategist, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the new channels popping up. But if I keep an open and beginner’s mind, I can easily have a conversation about it all with my fellow planners and figure out which one should be plugged in and where.

With that, I say to you keep your objectives in mind and ride the wave.

Plan on~

Strategizing for Google+

With over 40 million users (in 6 months), Google+ is steadily presenting itself as a social network and social marketing rival of Facebook. I, for one, am happy to see this happen. Have I deleted my Facebook account in favor of Google+? No, but I have severely decreased my Facebook usage and am curious what will fill this void next. Maybe it’s Google+.

For those of you in charge of social marketing for brands, Mashable has 6 great steps to point you in the right strategic direction:

1. Drive follower growth (think Twitter follower strategy or Facebook “like” campaign)
2. Segment followers with Circles (psychographic rather than demographic)
3. Understand your G+ audience (data tools to come soon, yay!)
4. Differentiate your G+ content (this is kind of a no-brainer if you understand social media)
5. Take advantage of engagement features: +1 button, Hangouts, Google cross-product integration with YouTube, Picasa, Reader, Docs, and Calendar
6. Analyze and adjust your strategy constantly

I would recommend reading the whole article on Mashable.

G+ game on.

Watch the Northeast…

The movie about Facebook was… about Facebook. Its history, Mark Zuckerberg, the guy, the schools, the competition, Harvard, a social class, profiles, pictures, blah blah blah. The “community” that approximately 800 million people have been commanded, no, influenced to join.

For those of us in social media, we’re always on the search for the newest, the latest, the next big thing, the new Facebook. There will be one. Right? Google has retained its grasp of the search market, so could Facebook be it? Be the one social network we go to for the foreseeable future? Yes. For the rest of ours lives? I’d hate to think so.

Watch the Northeast. That’s where Facebook came from. What are the Harvard kids into? What are they working on? I HATE TO SAY THIS, SINCE I live near San Francisco now. And we like to think that the West Coast IS the Best Coast and great ideas, creatively technology, start-ups, etc. come from here. And just like Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg set up shop just south of here; and damn, the wine is fine!!! But watch: New York, Connecticut, the younger class, [young hip-hopsters like Chris Webby (Connecticut), Mac Miller (Philadelphia)]. They are smarter, better, faster, younger. 

Punto. Blogging about the day-to-day. ~erin

Walmart is officially listening to you now, but…

“Social media, or places where people congregate to share information and mutual understanding, are replacing broadcast media as the primary way many people learn about products and services,” analysts at the research firm Booz and Company said in a report last year.

This is from the latest social media buzz surrounding Walmart purchasing Kosmix, a social media listening service. I hadn’t heard of Kosmix until I saw these headlines, but a quick look at their website tells me that what they pride themselves on most is their ability to categorize their listening efforts. Walmart, with tens of of thousands of products and tens of thousands of locations can no doubt benefit from a filtering engine such as Kosmix. What’s going with women’s makeup in the Northeast region? What kinds of pharmaceutical/health questions ail people in Texas? These are questions I imagine Walmart execs or planners asking Kosmix to answer for them. The answers will be actionable but will Walmart know how to act?

Walmart is officially listening to you now, but will buying a “social media company” give them the tools they need to engage customers? I don’t think so. Knowing where the conversations are, who’s having them, and what they’re about is half the battle. Knowing what to do next to ensure that these people enter your store or buy from you is another story all together. And with one of the largest work forces sitting below the poverty line, creating advocates is going to be a long uphill battle for the brand. And without advocates, the conversation, wherever it is, will be hard to enter and persuade.

The ROI of Social Media

It’s been around for a while, but can anyone (Besides Dell and Best Buy) put a hard number to the efforts they’ve made in social media?

I’d beg to say that they can’t, and that’s why I love the latest article from eMarketer: “What Brand Marketers Expect From Social Media Followers.”

“Research suggests that many are moving on from the search for a hard number.”

The top values for, and dare I say “reasons” for acquiring, fans are far from a pricepoint. Insights, loyalty, advocacy, engagement, and popularity – ALL achieve with a Facebook page = bang for you buck! Sure a Facebook page takes more time to maintain, figuring out what works for your brand and your fans is far from scientifically proven. So you try things out, experiment a little; risk and you shall receive. Isn’t that always been how it is with advertising that makes us say “wow”?

So, if you’re sitting around the office table trying to answer the client’s request to “show me the ROI,” ask yourselves this: do we want a Facebook Page for the right reasons? Because immediate sales has never been social media’s strong suit.

What do you think? What IS the ROI of social media?

Content content content

It has to come from somewhere, so where is it coming from this week? Next week? How about a month from now? How to decide, hmmm.

Let’s take a simple tip from my new blogger friend The Green Guerilla. Make it personal. He eloquently describes what some of the most popular social media platforms are about, and in very simple terms states they’re about networking over shared interests.

So when it comes to brands and planning for them in the social space, let’s keep it real. We’re real people, we have real interests, and most likely we’re going to be connecting with these same types of people in social media on behalf of our clients. So: what interests YOU? What would YOU like to read? Don’t think too hard, they don’t even have to be category specific. The following kinds of content are applicable at any time:

• Informative
• Entertaining
• Useful
• Timely
• Uplifting
• Newsworthy
• Exclusive

So, next time you sit down with your team, instead of plotting brand-centric promotional “updates” into a publishing calendar, think about what YOU would want to receive in your News Feed. Bucket your topics into these areas, do a little bit of research, and put your brand-writing caps on; you’ve got some content.

Why people “like” brands on Facebook

While this data is from 2009, these 5 reasons still seem to hold true and should be buckets into which you categorize the kinds of updates you provide to your fans. Do you agree? If you were to add another reason, what would it be?

what we wish they would say

From the site: Things Real People Don’t Say About Advertising.

Brands – stop while you’re ahead (with SM)

Man, there are SO MANY SOCIAL NETWORKS! Seriously. How can you keep up with them all? And I’m talking about being a user, let alone a brand. Geesh.

The ones most recently on my list are Untappd and GetGlue. Both I got from a recent Mashable article (don’t have it in front of me now, but I remember these two). And yes, I will add them: I love beer and I just got Apple TV (great!) and so now I can check into content.

But the reason I write this article is: as a brand, I’m overwhelmed. Actually, as a brand – I haven’t even heard of these before. Unless my social media “expert” brings them to my attention; otherwise, I’m just trying to get by with good enough tactics and activities on Facebook and Twitter. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, can we stop with the SNS fragmentation?

No. For the simple fact that there are so many different kinds of people and interests in this world. And that’s the reason for social media – to serve the people’s interests.

Brands – stop while you’re ahead. Stick with Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook and work it.