tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69045500280042987782024-03-05T19:24:21.849-06:00Web New Point 0Adventures and Insights from the Internet Marketing and Social Media CarnivalNoah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-34412402072571594272015-04-20T09:11:00.000-05:002015-04-20T09:11:09.474-05:00The Be Here Now of Consumer Search<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikj5yxWS3Znu4Xk8OCDAOeoPvDA6kNgCV75ZItKJDjkhhE-4S5AfcAQ1XeHheeQEIJvhB5g5wVrbYMKsxwwUuKD4gN7FjFcWpznWxsIWqVcy6YAkHoAVb5dwb2sVvlKB-Ca3iQuxygCe4/s1600/Be-here-now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikj5yxWS3Znu4Xk8OCDAOeoPvDA6kNgCV75ZItKJDjkhhE-4S5AfcAQ1XeHheeQEIJvhB5g5wVrbYMKsxwwUuKD4gN7FjFcWpznWxsIWqVcy6YAkHoAVb5dwb2sVvlKB-Ca3iQuxygCe4/s1600/Be-here-now.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2398591/-mobilegeddon-is-coming-on-april-21-are-you-ready" target="_blank">Mobilegeddon</a> is a day away, and there's no shortage of predictions around the impact these changes will have in the search result landscape. There’s also no shortage of predictions related to the anticipated blow-back to come from folks sure that Google’s about to hurt itself by imposing an “are you mobile friendly?” filter, thus no longer ranking the “best” sites at the top of search. I’m not here to weigh in on any of that. I’m pondering this from a more abstracted space, and wanted to get my thoughts on paper.</div>
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In the last few days, I've gotten it stuck in my mind that, when it comes to meeting searching consumers where they demands to be met, this next change by Google is no more than a logical step in technology’s natural path of enlightenment, figuring out how to fuse itself even more deeply into our lives. And, for large brands or small SMBs who didn't see it coming, nor made themselves ready in anticipation of the April 21st algorithm change, the annoying wake up call they may face seems most similar to a <a href="http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ZenSlap" target="_blank">Zen Slap</a>, a sharp awakening that grounds a person into the truth hidden in the moment without the veil of thought and preconceived notion to cloud it from the eyes.<br />
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Borrowing from another adage of the enlightenment school, this algorithmic move to mobile aligns the entire evolution of search to simply “Be Here Now,” the mantra taken from the title of the <a href="https://www.ramdass.org/be-here-now/" target="_blank">1971 book</a> of the same name by Ram Dass. Allow me an attempt to crowbar this iconic spiritual message into the Local Search space.<br />
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<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Be</span></b></h2>
For any business to have success reaching its searching customer base, they must exist online. They must have a well tended presence on the web. It needs to be comprehensive and it needs to be truthful, accurately reflecting all the attributes of that business, especially as it pertains to the information a searching customer might want to find quickly. A business must “be” where it can be found.<br />
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<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Here</span></b></h2>
If nothing else, consumer behavior has proven that customers look for and do business within an ever-narrowing physical sphere. When we search for many goods and services - and for sure when we search on a mobile device - we tend to expect and anticipate results that are “close by.” I’m “here.” I’d like my search results to lean toward my “here,” because that is where I tend to do most of my business. As search on mobile devices continues to grow, and shortly (this year?) will <a href="http://searchengineland.com/analyst-mobile-to-overtake-pc-for-local-search-by-2015-119148" target="_blank">eclipse desktop search</a>, this only becomes more critical relative to how and what results appear in search.<br />
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<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Now</span></b></h2>
Faster, with less distraction, and more conveniently consumable; this is how the mobile searcher best engages with content on their little phone screen. They head into a store quickly after consuming search info. They transact business faster after consuming search info. The mobile searcher is a bit of a Holy Grail for marketers. The mobile searcher is so far down the buying funnel, you barely need to place a pillow under them to have them comfortably land as your new paying customer. Get to them in the “now,” when they are looking for you.<br />
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To me, all of this paints Google’s next algorithm shift as completely logical, nothing more than another step in the natural evolution of technology as it strives to become more “one” with we who use it. Am I a little off base? Sure, I may be. But I had a nice quiet weekend to simply “be here now,” and thought I’d share a rarely met moment of clarity in this search space as it flies in every direction, changing every time you look the other way.<br />
<br />Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-85012518355764117762013-01-16T08:51:00.000-06:002013-01-16T08:51:34.845-06:00Loving A Challenge: Facebook's New Graph Search
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I love this industry I work in. There I said it. Cheesy as it sounds, I could
give the Local Search/Social Internet industry a bouquet of flowers this
morning. Facebook unveiled <a href="http://searchengineland.com/facebook-graph-search-arrives-to-challenge-google-145216?utm_source=fbwallhd&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=wall" target="_blank">Graph Search</a>
yesterday, as you probably already heard.
The reason my heart swoons is because of the host of challenges faced by
business owners based solely off of the mere implications of this new search tool. Cheesy
and geeky all at once.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are several implications to consider. But the one that
makes my heart race immediately is discussed a bit in Danny Sullivan’s <a href="http://searchengineland.com/facebook-search-not-google-search-145124" target="_blank">January15th article</a> where he describes the gap between good search results
and Facebook users’ actual habits of revealing every little opinion (like) and
detail about themselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The basic premise is this. A search for “<i>which Irish pubs on Chicago’s North Shore do people who live in
Highland Park like</i>” is dependent on not only Highland Park users (my
friends and their friends) taking the time to “like” Irish pubs on Facebook
(lord knows, I don’t take the time myself), but also on North Shore Irish pubs actually
being on Facebook in the first place – let alone having done anything to
encourage likes to their page as well. And if you're a large national brand with locations scattered across the country... whoa, what a challenge!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Graph Search search results landscape will undoubtedly have
holes; holes that will only be filled by a steady dose of habit building on the
part of end users "liking," and businesses getting on Facebook to attract those likes. And the success of Facebook’s new gizmo depends
on those habits forming. Where local search is concerned, Facebook's Graph Search's success and SMB's ability to leverage the space are fused at the hip.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I love you, Local/Social Search industry. You always keep me on my toes. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-7279596968375561392012-01-22T16:02:00.008-06:002012-01-23T08:51:11.712-06:00Social Search+ & Your Panic Button<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVAI9eSNWYoVPXfzjX8kF7cwJqz1MXfmspg5Ru4JbdA2Xp1Xv1z1MXvSdYxzpy8kkb0TtGfRJSg1kGNPo0w3hzx2mr1GQh14Lc23NOU4s0nBNaYRm_kaMX_UwstEJYhYEUAJfjdAaLKxE/s1600/panicbutton.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVAI9eSNWYoVPXfzjX8kF7cwJqz1MXfmspg5Ru4JbdA2Xp1Xv1z1MXvSdYxzpy8kkb0TtGfRJSg1kGNPo0w3hzx2mr1GQh14Lc23NOU4s0nBNaYRm_kaMX_UwstEJYhYEUAJfjdAaLKxE/s200/panicbutton.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5700580921431965522" /></a>Big changes are sweeping across Google. As you may have noticed, they recently rolled out <a href="http://www.google.com/insidesearch/plus.html">Search Plus Your World</a>, which has turned the industry on its ear. The issue? Google appears to have abandoned the very premise that built their empire, opting to discard “relevance” in favor of showing “social-personal” results.<br /><br />Why? It’s Google’s latest push to win back the eyeballs that Facebook has so successfully stolen over the last several years. The search giant is now doing everything in its power to make Google+ the only social platform we will ever need.<br /><br />As a result, search results are turning inside out, and you may be wondering what on earth this means to your business being found online anymore. You would be right to panic a little bit. Things are that dramatic. But you can still avoid running around like a chicken with its head cut off. First things first, take care of the most important stuff now.<br /><br /><b>Complacency = Bad Move</b><br /><br />As a business owner, this is the sort of shift in the search marketplace that will not be best served by waiting to see how it all plays out. Given that it takes minimal effort, you would be wise to create a Google+ Place listing right away. If this requires your finally giving in and joining Google+, so be it. Google’s recent changes leave you little other option now. Google now favors their own properties in search results, so they now represent critical opportunities for your business. You can't afford to put it off any more.<br /><br />And if you haven’t noticed, that Twitter account and Facebook page you built for your business is now far less likely to be found at the top of Google results. Yes, for the moment Google has made sure of that – all the more reason for you to get your Google+ listing in order.<br /><br />As you go through the exercise of building things out on Google+, take some time to tend to your Google Places listing as well – the one you see showing up on Google’s map results. It will be a good idea to make sure that the business information across all platforms (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc..) is consistent. That can only help you with those elements of the Google algorithm that still factor core business information into results. You might also want to link to your new G+ listing from your own website, and other pages online. This will help connect the dots as well.<br /><br />While building G+ circles and developing a G+ content strategy to grow your audience are also sure to be critical “to do’s” going forward, for now try not to let all of that overwhelm you. Take care of your need to exist in the Google social landscape in the first place. It’s that important to Google, so it sure needs to be that important to you.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-71100102315509486082011-08-25T11:35:00.004-05:002011-08-25T11:50:12.147-05:001 Things Needed For Social Media Business Success<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNg0YRJcuiua_8xQcXKGx3O53nwW0IRaivnHtwT0gvqvsssIYU8amQSCyPTw0aXpTzhONqymY2p3BtYNPUGAj8Uj7W3pj-Rx7STQ9HDpYw1Vwc7SmxxagyA9zJg6zPJXDJyd2iWD8hWI/s1600/Number1Block-1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNg0YRJcuiua_8xQcXKGx3O53nwW0IRaivnHtwT0gvqvsssIYU8amQSCyPTw0aXpTzhONqymY2p3BtYNPUGAj8Uj7W3pj-Rx7STQ9HDpYw1Vwc7SmxxagyA9zJg6zPJXDJyd2iWD8hWI/s200/Number1Block-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644836484268853586" /></a><i>Lists are huge in social media. But there are way too many. With so little time and attention to give, I thought some "one item long" lists might be handy.</i>
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<br />Only have time to learn the one thing you need to rocket your business to the top via social media? Here it is:
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<br /><b>1. Passionate Interest</b>
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<br />That's it. Whether CEO or corporate tweet writing flunky, if you can approach social media with the wide-open-eyed excitement of a child, you will have what it takes to see your marketing plans through to success. It will provide the foundation to carry you through all of the other necessary steps required to get it right.
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<br />Why? Easy - Social media doesn't want to help you make more money for your company. Social media doesn't want to help you drive up the number of people on your email list. Social media doesn't want to pass out coupons for you lunch special. Because of this, the path to business success in social media is going to be a lot like predicting the weather. You're very unlikely to get it exactly right, and there's every opportunity to get it very wrong. With business pursuits, social media becomes a world of chaos; a fractal landscape where the finish line is always scurrying away. There is no silver bullet, so stop looking for one. You are going to need a willingness to persevere.
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<br />With a passionate interest, these facts should intrigue and excite you. With a fascination, you will be lucky not to pin 100% of your business hopes on driving instant profitability in social media. You'll care, but you won't care enough to stop trying after failing a few times. You'll care, but you won't care enough to stop when some slice on a pie chart isn't big enough. You'll care, but you won't forget that what you are attempting to do with social media is almost humorously antithetical to social media itself.
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<br />Your passion will drive you on until you find that one spark your business needs to ride the infinitely thin line between social interaction and flat out pandering for a buck. That passion will drive you to pay serious attention to goals, budgets and resources while always keeping an eye on authenticity and the bigger picture.
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<br />Can you use social media as a business tool without passionate interest? You sure can. It's happening every day and probably to varying degrees of success. But know that most of the businesses that now call social media a failure probably didn't have the self-aware understanding of what they were trying to do. In this sphere, business success comes from the ability to embrace social media rather than tame it. Remember that social media doesn't exist for your business. It exists for you and your friends.
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<br />So, quick gut check time. Are you passionately interested in social media's ever-evolving opportunity and human-techno interaction-ness? Are you ready to use that to fuel some dice rolls with a smile on your face?
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<br />If you're going to land the perfect jump in social media, you're going to need to fall off the ramp several times and smile as you go back up to the top to try again. A truly passionate interest will serve you like a really good pair of knee pads and a tightly fitted helmet. You're gonna need them.
<br />Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-57810053146856776012011-03-18T14:01:00.006-05:002011-03-18T14:09:48.044-05:004 Ways To Build Your Brand In Social Media<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnsI3z9QJXhgL4oe6CAH_KIlnHWn4qK1rVsDbRjwVucZLU5Xpjxpc7omUsY82jKKFc0XOg1WE96wxOuUvdzfmFfZ7STf8a4otBs_exntgVAPt9Y2DcM7K4Rjlh4lRQogo-d9uLfN6Gj8/s1600/Fans.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnsI3z9QJXhgL4oe6CAH_KIlnHWn4qK1rVsDbRjwVucZLU5Xpjxpc7omUsY82jKKFc0XOg1WE96wxOuUvdzfmFfZ7STf8a4otBs_exntgVAPt9Y2DcM7K4Rjlh4lRQogo-d9uLfN6Gj8/s200/Fans.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585499216844314210" /></a>As more brands clamor for the attention of users across the social media landscape it becomes increasingly difficult for any one of them to capture the eye of their intended audience. Every day the din of products and companies is growing in the social universe. They flash across our field of vision competing for the precious scant time we are willing to afford them.<br /><br />If you are going to mount a campaign to capture the attention of your audience in an effort to nurture raving fans who can wave your flag as brand mavens, you had better exercise as many options as possible to get people to connect to your content.<br /><br />Your best bet will be to spend a little quality time researching your audience as it relates to your particular industry. Understanding the relationship between what you do and who you do it for will help you devise the most effective type of social media campaign.<br /><br />In broad strokes, there are essentially four different ways you can leverage social media in an effort to win the attention of your audience. Understanding the various ways your brand can make use of these avenues will aid you in keeping the content flowing over time.<br /><br />Consider these as you develop exactly how you will use social media to your advantage:<br /><br /><b>1. As Communication</b>: The use of online channels such as You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums to build and maintain a communication platform between you and your audience. If you have a lot of content to share on a regular basis, getting it out in as many venues as possible will be instrumental to success.<br /><br /><b>2. As Collaboration</b>: Drawing people together to interact with each other and your brand. Contests, suggestions, giveaways and polls are just a few different ways to inspire your audience to interact and help generate content around your brand.<br /><br /><b>3. As Education</b>: Product presentations, demonstrations and how-to's can be welcome forms of content specific to many different business types. All of these serve to educate customers about your brand. This extends to the sharing of your company values, news items and related industry information that your audience may find useful.<br /><br /><b>4. As Entertainment</b>: Never be boring. Engage your audience by posting content that is interesting, and relevant to the connection they have to your offerings. Don't be afraid to take calculated risks -- sometimes poking silly fun at yourself can trigger a windfall of viral activity.<br /><br />Building a captive audience in social media is no small task, but taking advantage of these four inroads to content development can help you keep the buzz growing.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-63602105895304972352010-11-13T10:56:00.003-06:002010-11-13T11:42:15.257-06:00Sobering Light For Social Media & Small Business<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbRbHwwr8j4YWKcq1Qi0fOzOZIIC4W5k4J4ue8fJu79Fax2d0CuGDtUgHNRje5K-C_2iLUE8IqfO9DpnKMX1x7-49eSCMHEu538n1XZbcVMbTqpovUq2kxK2gbYKFExRuiZpHvhtuKj0/s1600/thinking_man1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539088455231892786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbRbHwwr8j4YWKcq1Qi0fOzOZIIC4W5k4J4ue8fJu79Fax2d0CuGDtUgHNRje5K-C_2iLUE8IqfO9DpnKMX1x7-49eSCMHEu538n1XZbcVMbTqpovUq2kxK2gbYKFExRuiZpHvhtuKj0/s320/thinking_man1.jpg" /></a> Trends are now showing that the honeymoon phase of social media appears to be waning. I, for one, am delighted. The effort to demystify the dreamy potential locked within social media’s nucleus is occasionally met with deaf ears when attempting to help businesses strategically step into the social space. And now as statistics point out many small business owners are coming to terms with the fact that social media might not be quite the <a href="http://www.webnewpoint0.com/2009/10/whats-old-is-new-again.html">shiny object</a> as once imagined, perhaps they can get down to the business of successfully using social media at all.<br /><br />In the recent fourth installment of the Network Solutions Small Business Success Index study, we learn how the down-turned economy is having a predictable effect on the health of small business. Highlighted in a <a href="http://blog.networksolutions.com/2010/4th-wave-of-the-small-business-success-index-results-show-u-s-small-business-reaches-innovation-glass-ceiling/">summary of the study’s data</a> by Susan Wade, are trends showing a more sober view of social media among business owners. Don’t confuse this sober view with a sudden realization that social media isn’t really "all that." Far from the case, it actually seems that while fewer businesses are diving into the social media pool, those that have jumped in are finding a good deal of value. And with fewer small businesses feeling able to tackle social media at all, it is leaving the field more open for those taking the chance.<br /><br />This spells good things for those willing to make the effort. As businesses learn the ropes they are tightening the job description they assign to social media and allowing it to succeed within more realistic expectation on tasks and on time.<br /><br />From the study:<br /><br /><em>65 percent [of businesses surveyed] say they’ve successfully used social media to stay engaged with current customers, up from 46 percent in December.<br /><br />64 percent have developed a greater awareness of their company compared to 52 percent last year... They’re also more optimistic about the prognosis for the next 12 months. More than half (57 percent) predict they’ll make a profit from their efforts during that time.<br /><br /></em>These might look like modest indicators of grand success, but when one considers at this time that many more businesses fly into social media blindly than do so with a solid strategic plan, that numbers continue to trend up is a good sign overall. Seeing social media aid in customer interaction and receive a more realistic evaluation period (12 months) to bring about a profitable return is about the best news this digital darling could hope to see documented.<br /><br />Another set of statistics worth calling out:<br /><br /><em>43 percent feel [social media] takes up more of their time to manage than they expected. And 29 percent say it opens up another can of worms, giving people a chance to criticize the company in a public forum.<br /><br /></em>These are probably the most obvious "necessary evils" related to social media overall. Yet, these will also likely lead to a continued thinning of the pack in the race for customer’s attention and loyalty within the social media universe.<br /><br />If there is any advice to take out of this study it is that small businesses still owe it to themselves to venture into social media wisely, and with a solid and measurable plan. The realistic upsides can improve a business’s position and keep them in front of customers as technology continues to mature.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-22192090569800444602010-10-29T16:27:00.004-05:002010-10-29T16:36:56.429-05:00Being Twitter Safe<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKt4dRDeNXPEPseSKRHtjdwgRffOMOnXWhKZTQw5AWxp_AFeDlJSeA7BZ_vSyJtmD-5GF6HPNdgI5NzC2g5Yqsck-WU7ZGHGw7ZYcgwVlY-VNQ9OVy6gleVMeNLgGJAwPILTfNNWSmahw/s1600/Twitter_Privacy.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 162px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533585017174466018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKt4dRDeNXPEPseSKRHtjdwgRffOMOnXWhKZTQw5AWxp_AFeDlJSeA7BZ_vSyJtmD-5GF6HPNdgI5NzC2g5Yqsck-WU7ZGHGw7ZYcgwVlY-VNQ9OVy6gleVMeNLgGJAwPILTfNNWSmahw/s200/Twitter_Privacy.png" /></a>A common and useful tactic with Twitter technology is streamlining the process of getting tweets out into the social sphere. Hooking your twitter stream to RSS feeds, pulling it into a blog via API, auto publishing it to a myriad of your other social media accounts in other platforms – all of these help us get the most bang for the tweeting buck by amplifying the broadcast range of our conversation without costing more effort and time.<br /><br />While there is every incentive to take advantage of these broadcast tools, be mindful that the advantage taken may go both ways. There are some serious dangers associated with opening your twitter account to third parties, as discussed in a recent Search Engine Watch article by Gary-adam Shannon, “<a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/3641416">Twitter Exploit Warning: How Anyone Can Easily Snatch Your Direct Messages</a>.”<br /><br />The article takes a pretty deep technical dive, but the point is clear: Currently there is no limitation to the level of access being granted (often unknowingly) to a third party app when you hand over your user name and password. In particular, you should be aware that when you hit that big “Allow” button, you are granting access all the way down to your Direct Messages – the Twitter equivalent of your personal email box.<br /><br />How To Protect Yourself?<br /><br />The safest bet, as recommended by Kristine Schachinger in her article, “<a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/3641417">Twitter: Take Better Care of Our Private Information!</a>” is to simply delete your Direct Messages regularly so no one can reach them. It isn’t a perfect solution, but until Twitter improves our ability to protect our private content it’s about the only way one can straddle the line between taking advantage of technology and being taken advantage of at the same time. Tread carefully.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-68674528484764470012010-07-25T11:58:00.005-05:002010-07-25T12:30:12.077-05:00SMS Marketing & Business Owner Adoption<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8auPbKnpup4v40yiRVNCKuCczsivzdrB9seamb9WL4cVHTXGVEOqbFHgiBeHNihU7GOM8wX3SpQB-hZCqEw7u-bb2StOB6HwKlanlSdvsTP3BvFsf2sg6FHTswmvRdLAwb8r7j-kKFwI/s1600/SMS+marketing.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 199px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497895028947751106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8auPbKnpup4v40yiRVNCKuCczsivzdrB9seamb9WL4cVHTXGVEOqbFHgiBeHNihU7GOM8wX3SpQB-hZCqEw7u-bb2StOB6HwKlanlSdvsTP3BvFsf2sg6FHTswmvRdLAwb8r7j-kKFwI/s200/SMS+marketing.jpg" /></a>I’ve been digging deeply into the world of mobile marketing lately. Well documented now, this is one of the fastest emerging marketing channels in the realm of digital advertising today. Text, or Short Message Service marketing (SMS Marketing as it is commonly known) represents an extremely low cost and intimate means of reaching customers with highly targeted offers and ads.<br /><br />A mobile marketing audience is all opt-in, meaning you don’t send messages to people who have not first indicated that they actually want to receive your marketing texts. Think of telling people who walk into your restaurant that by texting “burgers” to 555555 they could join your exclusive “text only” burger club list and receive weekly text coupons featuring your gourmet burger creations. When your patrons send in the text to that number, they are added to your burger club list. They are giving you permission to send them texts about something they are interested in. These people are self-pre-qualified and eager to hear from you.<br /><br />When executed strategically, text marketing can turn upwards of a 20% conversion rate to your desired action (sale, reservation, appointment, etc...). Clearly when technology can put you directly in the pocket of your most valued customer base, the results stand to be excellent. But I’m less worried about the technology than I am about something else.<br /><br />Having lived through the rise of local search engine marketing, heading sales for one of the pioneering companies in that space, I can’t help thinking about the adoption rate of the audience that needs to embrace the technology – businesses themselves.<br /><br />Back in 2003-’04, it made all the sense in the world for small and medium sized businesses to utilize targeted local search marketing, yet getting that point across to the business owners who should do the marketing was as big a challenge as any related to the technology actually taking off. Are we in for the same uphill battle with SMS marketing?<br /><br />We’ve talked about <a href="http://www.webnewpoint0.com/2010/05/future-of-businesses-socializing-online.html">business adoption</a> issues before. Optimistically, we can hope that times have changed. Small and medium sized business owners are more technically savvy now, right? They won’t be scared off of a marketing medium that seems to be more part of the world in which their kids live than themselves, will they? Could it take more than simply stating a few compelling facts about the technology – facts that are instantly making professional Internet markers’ mouths water now – to give business owners all they need to dive right in?<br /><br />Optimism didn’t take us very far with small and medium sized business owners trying to understand local search marketing. In fact, even to this day these “proven” marketing channels often catch business owners off guard.<br /><br />So, SMS marketing technology is here. Is the mass adoption of the audience still two to three years off? Will we have an easier time creating and successfully delivering the buy-in message this time around? I look forward to finding out.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-46345544947711210872010-05-18T10:04:00.003-05:002010-05-18T10:10:31.271-05:00The Future Of Businesses Socializing Online<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3mVRWAM4NgRb256wzUUxPey-eJ5z6NS2_jUGE128LjAkx8oSx8j6aVQfDIycNReBdyhPW1zAprbQRkHriqiyvWiVRvuYrk76pDpkgaOrRtfBKO7YAnlCbIggqxDQI06t67-FSZeZFjFo/s1600/crystal-ball.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 190px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472627512712701746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3mVRWAM4NgRb256wzUUxPey-eJ5z6NS2_jUGE128LjAkx8oSx8j6aVQfDIycNReBdyhPW1zAprbQRkHriqiyvWiVRvuYrk76pDpkgaOrRtfBKO7YAnlCbIggqxDQI06t67-FSZeZFjFo/s200/crystal-ball.jpg" /></a>If it's good enough for all of us, shouldn't it be good enough for businesses too? The explosion of social networking--the connecting, reconnecting, and sharing of our daily thoughts--has quickly incorporated itself into the fabric of our lives. For those doing it, many might say they feel all the better for it. How long until businesses take on this passion for connecting?<br /><br />Forget about advertising for a second. Doesn't it make sense that businesses should be pining for the chance to congregate online in highly (hyper) local communities to share, learn and benefit from each other's experience? If you were a brand new accountant getting started in St. Louis, wouldn't it be great to find a St. Louis accountants group online to join? If this group was moderated with guidance and insight into all things “St. Louis accountants,” it could be an instant networking tool where information and experience was shared among peers for the sake of helping the community.<br /><br />We seem to be close, but it isn't quite here yet. Just as nearly every business sector eventually found itself with a local online directory in which to list business information over the last five years, it must only be a matter of time before businesses are given the opportunity to band together--not so much in spaces to do business advertising, but more in places to do business socializing. I'm picturing a 24/7 online version of an annual three-day national accountants convention, but without the hotel bills or bar tabs. There could be one for every business industry in every major metro area.<br /><br />As is often the case, technology might leap into motion a few years before the small- and medium-sized business audience is ready to adopt it. But maybe that won't be such an issue anymore? Maybe that's the only unclear part of the not too distant future. That businesses should come to find places to socialize and learn together at the local level online seems a crystal clear outcome as we peer into the future's crystal ball.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-17422325717304380672010-04-26T07:49:00.004-05:002010-04-26T08:00:36.832-05:00Did The Small Business Website Really Die?<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30k4XO9tmBqfY7U9pXxJL4T5YDzE8WJZ6WPVvP_NgZbRxWV9xkUQcE0N2ej50XvSD6Ibm6EMO946dijpdGEPjBUCZNK7Ef2JPuYizCDbXC8lsZXbghVRcYj-8x5yjZdhoBw0xduPt0X4/s1600/graveyardb&w.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464428903429847298" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30k4XO9tmBqfY7U9pXxJL4T5YDzE8WJZ6WPVvP_NgZbRxWV9xkUQcE0N2ej50XvSD6Ibm6EMO946dijpdGEPjBUCZNK7Ef2JPuYizCDbXC8lsZXbghVRcYj-8x5yjZdhoBw0xduPt0X4/s200/graveyardb&w.jpg" /></a>Going back at least a couple of years now, folks began speculating that the traditional small-to-medium size business website was going to be extinct any day now. The logic was sound: with so many up and coming platforms and directories doing a better and better job of showcasing business information, who would need to waste their time building a website that often couldn't even approach the value that these sometimes free directories could provide?<br /><br />I talked directly about the importance of businesses making use of these sorts of directories and services in the "<a href="http://www.webnewpoint0.com/2009/07/got-business-get-listed.html">Got Business? Get Listed</a>" article, and I will always maintain that a business must find as many outlets for its own web presence as it possibly can. But does this mean the actual business website is useless? Absolutely not.<br /><br />Potential patrons of any business take it for granted that a business will have its own website on the Internet. It has become much like having a business card. However, unless you have endlessly deep pockets, the days of building a grand and lavish website for a small business are indeed long gone. A business must now be smart enough not to waste money carelessly when building a site.<br /><br />The key today involves making sure that the website you feel obligated to build provides the very best value for three key parties: your prospects, your budget, and your ability to be found online in the search engines.<br /><br />Essentially, you have to make sure each of these critical parties gets what they want out of your website. Take care to create content across diverse forms of media, and provide your visitors the ability to engage with you in the manner they desire. Depending on your business type this could mean anything from a video library to a blog, or simply allowing visitors to view and download a pricelist or menu.<br /><br />Internet users have come to assume a company website represents a critical feature in any business' <a href="http://www.webnewpoint0.com/2009/11/tending-your-social-media-garden.html">web presence garden</a>. Make sure you tend to yours appropriately. </div>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-18806688113779181292010-03-10T15:03:00.005-06:002010-03-10T15:35:55.063-06:00Reputation Management Basics<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1SWuHjxOpn9akRehLl-QKHs5AJhSyLQ9GFdqhyphenhyphenc2nJVnGCImb2AQc9gPqkj31aRlHUXKAUicFzsI6-VltiwEYcE9Ebl4kkB7xK-rPWaaAaFmtbuqt2dRGVC0bRDRQTmKJSrmnBOzyD90/s1600-h/who-are-you.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447122039594386514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1SWuHjxOpn9akRehLl-QKHs5AJhSyLQ9GFdqhyphenhyphenc2nJVnGCImb2AQc9gPqkj31aRlHUXKAUicFzsI6-VltiwEYcE9Ebl4kkB7xK-rPWaaAaFmtbuqt2dRGVC0bRDRQTmKJSrmnBOzyD90/s200/who-are-you.jpg" /></a>Regardless of how aggressively you might be trying to launch yourself or your company into the realm of social media, and even if you are more comfortable hiding in the anonymous shadows of the Internet, everyone should give some attention to managing their online reputation.<br /><br />What does this actually mean? Well, think about first impressions. Sometimes, before you've even had an opportunity to define yourself to a new acquaintance, someone is talking about you beforehand (are your ears burning?). It's important to understand that we all have a mutual acquaintance who is constantly blathering on about us to anyone who will listen. It's our good friend Google.<br /><br />Do a vanity search in Google on your own name. You might want to put it in quotes, or add the city you live/work in to help Google weed out all the other people with your (or your company's) name who aren't you. How do the page one results look? Is Google telling an accurate story about you? Are the web pages that Google lists presenting you in the best possible light?<br /><br />If you have never done this sort of search before, you may be in for a shock. Google is going to do an awfully good job of finding every scrap of content associated to the phrase you searched. Are you finding "the real you" showing up at the top of the results? Perhaps you're seeing some links to comments you placed on a message board five years ago. Or maybe you are seeing a slightly inaccurate version of you, or perhaps someone who isn't you at all but leaves that distinction a bit hard to discern. Whatever you find, this is the first impression you are leaving when anyone (a prospective employer, client, business partner, etc..) does a little digging on you.<br /><br />Let's assume that the results you see leave some room for improvement on Google's first page of results. What can you do? And what if there is something that you really wish would go away? How can you get rid of it?<br /><br />Well, you aren't going to have much luck removing a webpage result from Google's algorithm unless you can reach out to the party responsible for that page and get them to take it down. More likely, your best bet will be to create as many opportunities for Google to see the real you, so the not so "real" stuff sinks from view.<br /><br />Here's what you can do. Begin by creating accurate profiles about you and/or your company on social sites that Google trusts. Once you have created these, Google will likely start presenting them as its top results for searches about you.<br /><br />Here is a short list of places where you should absolutely tell your story, and Google loves each of them:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/"><strong>Facebook</strong></a> – Seriously. Regardless of your opinion on the Facebook fad, if you don't have an account there you may as well create one if for no other reason than to give Google something accurate to place as the number one result for a you-specific search. Google's algorithm likes Facebook profiles that much. And you don't have to start "friending" anyone. Just create your profile and make sure your settings allow the search engines to find your page. You'll easily figure this out in your account settings.<br /><br />You might also want to create a Facebook Fan Page – Google loves these too, and while you might typically think they are intended for businesses, plenty of people have fan pages. They rank very well. You can make one for yourself and it will show up right along with your own profile.<br /><br />Got a blog? Get it listed in <a href="http://www.networkedblogs.com/">Facebook's NetworkedBlogs</a> directory. That Facebook page can rank too.<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a> </strong>– Don't have a Facebook account? Chances are then that your LinkedIn profile is showing up as Google's top result. Don't have a LinkedIn profile? Stop reading this and go get that taken care of right away. This goes for your company as well. Make sure you have built a company profile in LinkedIn and that every employee of the company (all should be in LinkedIn too) is correctly connected to that profile.<br /><br /><strong>Your Website</strong> – If you have a site and can make use of its "About Us" section make sure you have an accurate and robust page about you. Google might not hold your webpage in as high esteem as it does Facebook and LinkedIn (which is why you need to leverage those platforms), but your website is a logical place to feature correct information about yourself.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/profiles"><strong>Google Profile</strong></a> – Google allows you to create a profile connected to your Google account. This is handy on a number of levels, not the least of which is that your Google profile will tend to always be placed as the bottommost entry on the first page of search results in those you-specific searches.<br /><br />There are lots of sites online where you can publish profile content about yourself. To varying degrees these profile pages will also tend to rank well for you in Google. Do a little digging and you're sure to find enough outposts for your personal/professional content that Google will soon be delivering the version of your story that you'd like it to tell. You never know who's out there asking the search engines what they know about you.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo by Fraser Johnson</span>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-6397705383417285662010-02-18T16:04:00.005-06:002010-02-18T16:29:39.203-06:00Don't Waste A Drop Of Your Digital Assets<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidJHebFj_O3MmOJUntkfreK5D2cm59Mrf5ekk9fkEGghC3Nwz6bFr2s9NZXiXv8dN2pWK13DV2iZXry19IsssJPyRVmFlV4GSdhO-BUEaYdUhwGzCXpRVNfL5YyUSgwnARaYwnATmDKiQ/s1600-h/paint-drips.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 146px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439710659399402594" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidJHebFj_O3MmOJUntkfreK5D2cm59Mrf5ekk9fkEGghC3Nwz6bFr2s9NZXiXv8dN2pWK13DV2iZXry19IsssJPyRVmFlV4GSdhO-BUEaYdUhwGzCXpRVNfL5YyUSgwnARaYwnATmDKiQ/s200/paint-drips.jpg" /></a> Making an online name for yourself requires a lot of effort. If you're going to do a good job of it, much of that effort will center around content production. Being able to produce content is no small feat. It intimidates companies looking to launch a bold new web face, and it plagues companies struggling to continue the effort long after an initial site is launched.<br /><br />Don't make it harder on yourself than it has to be. Don't squander the ability you have to leverage and repurpose any and all forms of content you might have on hand. It is quite possible that you have a library of digital assets that are being under-utilized at this very moment. Items such as product photos, videos, whitepapers, sales collateral, and presentation material can all play a strategic role in placing your company in front of an online audience.<br /><br />Here are some easy-to-implement steps that can help you make the best use of all the digital content you have on hand.<br /><br /><strong>Images</strong><br />This is a crucial content type that can boost your ability to reach an audience. Applying good SEO tactics to all of your online images can help them rank and lead people deeper into your site.<br /><br />Make sure search engines can reach the directory level where your images are stored, and be sure to use ALT tags to name your images with descriptive titles (not some numbering system you use to catalog them in a folder).<br /><br />Also, make use of images across your social media profiles. You might want to create a robust gallery of your images in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a> or <a href="http://photobucket.com/">Photobucket</a> (or both). Any way that you can push your visual content out will aid in bringing visitors in.<br /><br /><strong>Video</strong><br />Do you have video content living a sheltered life on your site? Product demos? How-to's? Company profiles? You should give serious consideration to leveraging this content across a myriad of video portals, not the least of which is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a>, currently the world's second largest search engine.<br /><br /><strong>Presentations and other collateral<br /></strong>Do you have a library full of PDFs, Whitepapers, Case Studies, and Sales Presentations? These should reside somewhere on your website as optimized content. Plus you might consider self-syndicating some of your favorites via social platforms like <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">SlideShare</a>. This is a great way to allow your already produced content to achieve a second wind while spreading your reputation even further across the Internet.<br /><br />Not only can your digital assets find a life of their own across niche search engines and social platforms, but now that traditional search engines are all shifting to <a href="http://www.webnewpoint0.com/2009/12/trouble-ahead-with-real-time-search.html">a more universal presentation</a> which includes ranking everything from web pages to videos to social media statuses, you owe it to yourself to make sure you are getting your fingers in as many different communication media as possible – many of which you might already have waiting in the wings to take the stage.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-26796891852390612382010-01-07T10:28:00.003-06:002010-01-07T10:38:36.610-06:00Web Marketing To Company Goals<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZX77TaRrAtcFxLl4eYD9oLYYiYRqxUFIujBxyssnIJOLgDOAfeGTJTIbi3flih8o_0ac3bMuIuBg45kpnM_EY6gbMR1gvU61Gqsw47p18PlPBFI9zdbxA0yQ1gmRlaqIkep9Foshp1g/s1600-h/web-marketing-accountability.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZX77TaRrAtcFxLl4eYD9oLYYiYRqxUFIujBxyssnIJOLgDOAfeGTJTIbi3flih8o_0ac3bMuIuBg45kpnM_EY6gbMR1gvU61Gqsw47p18PlPBFI9zdbxA0yQ1gmRlaqIkep9Foshp1g/s200/web-marketing-accountability.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424037344035920786" /></a>For years now most people would agree that the Internet is here to stay. It’s not a fad. It has legitimately redefined the way people communicate and how companies advertise. Yet many small-to-medium businesses remain completely disconnected from knowing how to effectively approach the web as a marketing vehicle.<br /><br />Even to this day, many businesses view the Internet like a planet in some foreign universe where the laws of physics are completely different from our own. They wrongly impose a distinction between "running their business" and "dealing with the Internet." And it is precisely this assumed separation that stymies so many companies in figuring out their approach at the most basic levels.<br /><br />Almost without question all small-medium businesses now accept the Internet as a necessary challenge. Yet many companies continue to miss the forest for the trees. I’ve said it before, and it keeps ringing true the more I help clients develop their Internet strategies: The devil is most assuredly in the details. All too often, businesses inadvertently leapfrog themselves into the thick of branches, leaves, and bramble, without giving any attention to what tree they are standing under, or where on the map this forest even stands.<br /><br />It’s not that the details aren’t important—we must tend them in order to grow and refine tactics. But a business must always be answering more broad questions when it decides where to forge ahead, when to cut, and what to cultivate. How does the current decision serve the ultimate strategic goal of the company? Tying Internet strategy to the foundational measures of a company itself is often missed completely when approaching the online space.<br /><br />There is, however, a fundamental aspect of Internet marketing that ties the core goals of a business to its online efforts. Use it, and it can clear confusion and guide decisions:<br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Hold Your Internet Strategy Accountable.</span></b><br /><br />It’s not enough to re-build a website on the desire to improve your company’s image. You must develop an approach which will foster the measurement of this goal as it relates to the metrics your company uses to track success overall. How will your online efforts be tied back to serving the company’s bottom line?<br /><br />To figure this out, start with one question: <i>Six to twelve months from now, how are you going to know if your Internet strategy is working?</i> The answer to that question reveals exactly which slivers of data will be meaningful to you, and can guide your content development and user path architecture.<br /><br />Manage your web strategy like you would an employee in your company. Set goals, brainstorm tactics, and don’t be afraid to change direction when needed. Business on the Internet is deeply intertwined with the business most people think stands so separately from it. It follows and responds to the same guideposts. Imposing accountability is a key step in succeeding online, and it can clear the misconception that the Internet is happening on another planet.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-21643596213099993862009-12-17T12:35:00.004-06:002009-12-17T13:16:20.447-06:00Facing Social Media ROI<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnNM4EMMJH8GNVspYiks5oAH88l4N6Swwzfk7fR-hAWGiLihSRN9LM4ka_HtsrSNjUlfivcd7E3RaqIEk1BS8Uvl5NRN2pQ1dc7KIPIiTmu-TDLqc-FQA1AZjiJb0nM9tOXX8Nq4L7U8/s1600-h/social-media-roi.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnNM4EMMJH8GNVspYiks5oAH88l4N6Swwzfk7fR-hAWGiLihSRN9LM4ka_HtsrSNjUlfivcd7E3RaqIEk1BS8Uvl5NRN2pQ1dc7KIPIiTmu-TDLqc-FQA1AZjiJb0nM9tOXX8Nq4L7U8/s200/social-media-roi.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416277557640726626" /></a>Are you struggling to find ways to justify social media marketing? Do you dread having to find a way to respond to business leadership as they demand to see a direct correlation between all this Twitter/Facebook hocus pocus and an actual return on investment? Do you wish that they could just see the inherent value that you know is there--the power of building human relationships with your prospects, the strength in cultivating an audience around your brand, the ability to demonstrate your company's thought leadership to the world? Why don't the bean counters appreciate the wonder and opportunity that social media represents for what it is, and leave it at that? The allure alone shows enough potential in social media to justify entire rooms full of practitioners forging ahead on the frontline of the socialsphere, right?<br /><br />Wrong. In fact, those bean counting business leaders have it absolutely right. That they are concentrating on the bottom line is not an indication that they don't "get" social media. On the contrary, many absolutely see the potential and the need to advance into the space. But they are also rightly looking to hold social media accountable as a sound business practice. You shouldn't need much convincing that if you want to successfully implement social media for a company, you had better get yourself firmly on the side of those business leaders who pay the bills.<br /><br />Even if you do manage to razzle-dazzle them with what they perceive as smoke and mirrors enough to let you get started, you are only digging a hole for yourself when the unavoidable happens. No matter if it's a big or small company, eventually the entire social media effort is going to have to be equated as a line item on someone's P&L (Profit and Loss) sheet. You had better take steps to make sure social media is seen as a legitimate cost center. Your ability to see social media through the eyes of your boss will actually help you tremendously.<br /><br />It becomes your challenge to walk the line between the difficult to measure human components of social media and the financial realities of business. On one side you have the intangible wins that slowly grow over time as you cultivate your web presence. These are the true core building blocks of social media which come from "doing it right." On the other side you have the reality that you are actually doing this entire thing for gains that help your company grow. And in business, growth is going to end up as a trend line on a spreadsheet. Get comfortable with that. It's okay.<br /><br />So now the question is "How?" How can we force the square peg of social media into the very round hole of business ROI? There are countless paths to doing this, but let's look at one that is staring us in the face. Let's appreciate social media for something it undeniably is--a critical Search Engine Optimization element.<br /><br />With universal search now an implicit component in all the major engines, their ability to serve up a broad result set of authoritative content is greatly enhanced. Now the strides you take into the multimedia dimension of content creation (most all of which is social media driven) can increase traffic to your web presence all the more.<br /><br />You probably already track the traffic coming to your site and evaluate the results of that traffic whether by cost per lead or some other conversion metric. This gives you an immediate benchmark over which social media can be layered. At the very least, without having to fashion some entirely new measurement dashboard, you can start tracking social media's impact on generating quality traffic to your site. A strong twitter account could easily increase targeted deep-linked traffic into a site by a significant percentage. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Other content types and platforms can also influence the volume of traffic you already measure. And where traffic is being tied to ROI (how can it not be?), it gives you a legitimate starting point for evaluating social media's impact on your cost of conversion.<br /><br />A twelve month goal to see if social media can increase web traffic while potentially driving down the cost per conversion is a legitimate reality. In your business leader's eyes, this probably fits into a known metric and takes a bit of the mystery out of social media too.<br /><br />There are numerous ways to tie social media into the established measuring sticks at play in any company. SEO is just one of them. The fact is this: there is every reason to see social media marketing from a business perspective. It doesn't change the fact that doing "good" social media marketing still requires authenticity, human dialogue, and genuine interaction. Doing those well represents a whole slew of challenges in and of themselves. The bigger challenge is in knowing how to serve both sides of the measuring stick while never letting the ball drop on either side.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-2499232961277054552009-12-08T12:43:00.007-06:002009-12-08T13:19:21.545-06:00Trouble Ahead With Real-Time Search<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHyYM9_LJRlKqKrSS0GTSqrq4BjDcHhSLN7dIM8kks-KUi9E9rhK1_uyz9P1NU0HbhCP1u_RD4TBcBol-EWdX6BvQeSrdZNEGH60QavXD6pvzYJcCEssuwCPrKYqAS8r4mfwBDMjMvX8/s1600-h/trouble_ahead.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHyYM9_LJRlKqKrSS0GTSqrq4BjDcHhSLN7dIM8kks-KUi9E9rhK1_uyz9P1NU0HbhCP1u_RD4TBcBol-EWdX6BvQeSrdZNEGH60QavXD6pvzYJcCEssuwCPrKYqAS8r4mfwBDMjMvX8/s200/trouble_ahead.jpg" border="0" alt="Google Real-Time Search" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412942298333872658" /></a>Google announced the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/relevance-meets-real-time-web.html">roll out of real-time search results</a> into its algorithm yesterday, solidifying what most anyone should understand by now—real-time content is a commodity and is here to stay. Now that Google has joined the ranks of search engines succumbing to the obvious shift in user intent, the debate is over and we can get down to planning just how we will monetize this new facet of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). How to SEO for it? How to advertise within it? And how to potentially turn everyone off on these results for good.<br /><br />I'm afraid that with real-time results finally making it into the "big leagues," traditional search marketing may steamroll over this authentic user-generated content only to devalue it completely out of authenticity. Authentic user-generated content has turned the search engine world on its ear. Now the engines are combating this by layering these elements into their results. This may be a dangerous day for all parties concerned, and I feel the potential to kick the user experience in the shins is as strong as the excitement surrounding a significantly stellar transformation of the search space.<br /><br />But rather than brooding over the cloudy visions within the crystal ball of search monetization and the potential to crush authenticity, something far more immediate seems to be ringing a warning bell in my ears—the complete disconnect between getting authoritative, trustworthy results from a search engine along side the newest, freshest stream of conscious flowing out of the gigantic mouth of social media.<br /><br />While I am all for real-time search results and their ability to keep me up to date on current events and trends, there seems little means for a search engine to evaluate the good, bad, or indifferent when deciding which particular blip of micro-blog to serve me on its page one results. And I have little interest in simply seeing the most recent real-time "anything" being said on anything I might search. There isn't any metric available to adequately evaluate the "authority" of a micro-blogging twitter user. Don't be fooled. It isn't the number of followers. It isn't the balance of followers to follow-ees. And it isn't even the ratio of user lists you show up on. Real-time search results are pretty much just that—the latest spew out of the cloud of "current" content. I'm less interested in the "most current" stream and more in the "most valuable" current stream. Finding that subset takes some significant self-filtering in the search space.<br /><br />Searchers segment themselves nicely between those doing research, those doing commercial buyer activities, and those looking for the latest news. Unfortunately, when I search "Britney Spears" it isn't really clear to the engine which of those three searchers I am. Is the solution to serve me everything? I see myself needing some massive lever I can flip before doing a search that states my intent to the engine before I hit search. That way I don't have to suffer through those pockets of content for which I have no interest.<br /><br />Yes, it's cool that engines are now going to give me a slice of photos, videos, tweets, products, web pages, and blog posts whenever I go surfing, but is an all-in-one solution SERP really the best SERP I could ask for? I doubt it. I don't discount that this is a major upgrade. Ranking web pages alone is far from a complete user experience picture. The engines' evolution provides confirmation that there is value in diversifying the results page. But might it be becoming too homogenized at the same time?<br /><br />Might real-time search be truly valuable only when I can have it show me results from my circle of trusted content sources? As it stands, while exposure to the very most recent chatter about worldly subjects is useful, I'm not sure it is nearly filtered enough for my page one results on a search engine, at least not all the time. User generated content is too susceptible to being over run with unqualified rambling. It's already impossible to sift through my own twitter network stream. Imagine when search results are showing the entire world's stream on page one all the time. Ugh.<br /><br />2010 is going to be a very interesting year in Search Marketing to be sure.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-66748808090277759972009-12-02T11:44:00.004-06:002009-12-02T11:59:50.596-06:00The ABBs of Social Media - Always Be Branding<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNMpAY2XKlJq5yxpwX1wDo_iwo6bQ6sXSKkEmw0H77PrBIW9V8Om7Mcz_e2XKGkZ01aEgQJiakG8zkbfnWU42fAWdB5Lz53qXOeKhnf8C6-DC19uy2kmQOBKmZ9BC5BZbLyq2y1qsuHE/s1600-h/spotlight-dark.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 152px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNMpAY2XKlJq5yxpwX1wDo_iwo6bQ6sXSKkEmw0H77PrBIW9V8Om7Mcz_e2XKGkZ01aEgQJiakG8zkbfnWU42fAWdB5Lz53qXOeKhnf8C6-DC19uy2kmQOBKmZ9BC5BZbLyq2y1qsuHE/s200/spotlight-dark.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410699206790282498" /></a><div>One of the oldest acronyms in the sales industry is ABC (Always Be Closing). It's an easy mantra-like reminder that everything you do in a sales relationship comes down to closing the deal. For businesses (and individuals too) in the social media space there is a similar acronym to be followed: ABB (Always Be Branding). It's a softer version than the sales-minded mantra, but no less critical. If you forget this one, you could be risking more than losing a single deal. </div><div><br /></div><div>Two things the Internet doesn't do: sleep or forget. If you and your company are to successfully develop a web presence, these are two factors you must contend with regularly. As you develop content, know that what you create is always going to be out there, and will forever make up the foundation of your online reputation. So it is important to always consider what you do, what you say and how you say it. Social media is continually shining something of a spotlight on your professional appearance, like the paparazzi lurking behind every parked car and tree waiting to snap a picture. Your social network is always watching. </div><div><br /></div><div>While authenticity is a key to creating an effective social media voice, there is no denying that what you're doing every day is branding, plain and simple. Through your authenticity you are promoting yourself and your company. However, the social media "sell" is a different beast than that of the traditional sales environment. After all, your win in social media comes from being regarded as a valuable content asset—being someone that others appreciate for the added value you give. </div><div><br /></div><div>The thing to remember is that this is happening whether you're thinking of it or not. So you'll need to take some precautionary measures to prevent missteps. The best way to accomplish this is by first establishing a content strategy. Having a plan will help you stay on course, and it need not take an inordinate amount of effort to create.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are a few things to keep in mind:</div><div><br /></div><div><b>1—Adhere to a short list of goals.</b> As you create any outbound content, make sure it is serving the grand vision of your efforts. This could be to build product awareness, to demonstrate expertise, to improve customer service relations, or any other key driver to your efforts. Before you hit the "publish" button make sure the content is serving your objectives in some way. This ought not get in the way of your producing a conversational rapport with your audience, but rather, ensure that this direct chit-chat doesn't veer off course.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>2—Plan for the future.</b> Without getting bogged down so much that it prevents creativity, take a bit of time to structure your efforts from day to day, or week to week. Based on your goals you should be able to decide on the subject matter of your next half dozen blog posts. You can also let your goals drive your decisions to participate in certain forums or groups.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>3—Limit the cooks in the kitchen.</b> As best you can, try to control your content outlets to as few people as possible. Make sure these people fully grasp the overarching strategy. It is understandably different from organization to organization, but it will be most effective if the strategists are the actual content producers. In the cases where efforts are mounted on a larger scale, it will become critical to produce comprehensive guidelines that communicate the strategy to the team that is producing content and sets measures and check points to ensure that content stays focused.</div><div><br /></div><div>Through it all, keep the ABB mantra running in your head. It will safeguard both your reputation and the authenticity with which you build it.</div>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-67225111912784316352009-11-12T15:08:00.008-06:002009-11-12T15:31:34.527-06:00Tending Your Social Media Garden<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-3m55bXlRO_ljAsbY3sdZDVh7NFiN5kOw9ayL2OTuXK2lN4DsHhpHd4bFSnVrZwJaNgLDHoVeNWp3aIU-xPAPvKEp7VRBiPwN8XISwfIBIaYesI4XzvxkfNK7XqEynL5yi11ZHHb0hc/s200/TendingGardenContent.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 199px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403332218682391682" /><div>What is that deafening silence you hear? It’s probably what looks like the complete lack of results coming from the social media efforts you just launched. If you and your company have recently decided to plow into the world of <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/08/can-we-shift-to-communitising.html">Communitising</a> you may be somewhat concerned by the complete absence of reciprocal energy flowing back your way.<br /><br />There was no doubt a giant flurry of activity and excitement related to your entrance into the social media arena--studying the space, creating accounts, uploading logos, perhaps even revamping a website. Now that you are there, it may be dumbfounding how utterly under-appreciated you and your treasure trove of industry specific wisdom appears. But hang in there. The world of social media mimics the real word in ways that defy what you might commonly expect from any other sort of online media blitz. The thing to remember is that, like many things in life, developing a strong and beneficial social media presence takes time, patience, and continual attention.<br /><br />Think of it like starting a garden. Everything you did up until the moment you started posting, blogging and tweeting was akin to all the prep that goes into planting a garden. You shop for seeds. You turn the soil. You add fertilizer. You plant everything. You put little markers down so you’ll know what springs up where. You water. And you wait. And you wait some more. Not to point out the obvious pun, but creating a potent web presence is very much like watching grass grow.<br /><br />The most trying time comes immediately after you finish all the heavy lifting of starting the garden. You can’t see the seeds under the dirt germinating. You can’t see the little tendrils and sprouts. There is no window into the magic happening within each seed. You stare at the dirt and wonder if it just needs more water. It does. In fact, it needs a lot of water. So you have to keep at it. It will take days (weeks, really), but eventually many of the seeds will produce shoots emerging from the soil and you will gain confirmation that your garden has actually been growing this whole time.<br /><br />There will be plenty to deal with as your social media plants start to mature. Plenty to measure, prune, and harvest. This garden can easily take a year or more to fully appreciate and quantify back into other parts of your business. For now, know that your instincts were dead on when you decided to plant in the first place.<br /><br />Even if you feel like you are socializing in a vacuum, keep at it. Continue producing content related to your passion. Eventually it is this passionate content which will lead the community to you. The first days are the hardest days. </div>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-43055627952596544742009-10-31T09:13:00.002-05:002009-10-31T09:18:30.768-05:00Trusting PageRank<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngpwT7vAhyphenhyphenZKopBidT1jmxCpAKUdPY7YzV0ZvaVwkQHZrvuXV4l9_sICCN1HPYs0xktO9fdBE5P0dDBrFUo0a79i-leUY9svsCDZwzfgKyM2Jycv7myxEMJdwSXknFzUUWKJWcTdaHYY/s1600-h/pagerank.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398767344524655426" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 170px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 170px" alt="Google PageRank" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngpwT7vAhyphenhyphenZKopBidT1jmxCpAKUdPY7YzV0ZvaVwkQHZrvuXV4l9_sICCN1HPYs0xktO9fdBE5P0dDBrFUo0a79i-leUY9svsCDZwzfgKyM2Jycv7myxEMJdwSXknFzUUWKJWcTdaHYY/s320/pagerank.jpg" border="0" /></a>Earlier this week Google removed PageRank from its Webmaster Tools. That’s the 0 to 10 scale you can also see in your Google Toolbar that reflects a page’s “link popularity,” or authority--an indicator Google believes is overvalued by practitioners of optimization.<br /><br />This turn of events has caused a mighty stir in the SEO community and PageRank has received quite a bashing through it all. “Who needs it?” “Only losers rely on it.” “PageRank is for grandmas.” And, all the while folks continue to admit that PageRank is a critical measure in optimization just the same.<br /><br />There’s no denying that PageRank is one of the quintessential book covers by which everyone judges a site. It’s not likely to disappear from the collective conscious any time soon. Why?<br /><br />Whether we call it a critical line in every rank report or reduce it to a kindergarten toy, the PageRank stat is the quickest path of insight into the way Google tries to reflect the real world around us. It attempts to provide an algorithmic representation of how much we can trust the content we encounter on a given web page. It’s the Google algorithm’s goal to be a searcher’s valued guide to the online world. If Google thinks you’re the bees knees, them maybe I’m safe to think so too. The entire concept of Google’s search engine is to play this real life concierge. It has been a key component to the engine’s success in becoming the dominant engine of choice.<br /><br />So, Google can say what they will, and call it PageRank today or something else tomorrow, the concept of ranking pages based on contextual trust and authority will never lose its resonance with the end user, be they regular searchers or SEO gurus. We like it because the concept fits our “real world” view and helps us make sense of what we find online. That successful merging of the online and real world demonstrates how important it is for businesses to succeed in communicating their own physical reputations into an accurate <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/06/you-are-not-your-website.html">web presence</a>. When the two are in sync, they begin to serve each other and benefit any marketing objective.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-82952396098502633932009-10-10T13:05:00.003-05:002009-10-11T11:27:13.192-05:00Social Media & Small Business - Game Over?<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaP5RzKY_fPxDD6K6lUkVdgAle-C_tDFlxuWErP_MnRZdT6wnINqO0PLaPOGXFvwOQN4c52RwfN-iu9qj4ieSdAxyBMfyVIJkvC2W1B4uAIB6a1-ngLLmwTeQ6ya3hyphenhyphenZWzrwetXa01qDI/s1600-h/question+mark+target.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391376353880603314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaP5RzKY_fPxDD6K6lUkVdgAle-C_tDFlxuWErP_MnRZdT6wnINqO0PLaPOGXFvwOQN4c52RwfN-iu9qj4ieSdAxyBMfyVIJkvC2W1B4uAIB6a1-ngLLmwTeQ6ya3hyphenhyphenZWzrwetXa01qDI/s200/question+mark+target.jpg" border="0" /></a>I caught this study in Reuters this week stating “<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/smallBusinessNews/idUSTRE59759L20091008">Small Business, social media not mixing</a>.” A telephone poll was conducted for Citibank Small Business by GFK Roper from August 20-27 of a sample of 500 small businesses which concluded that social media was not catching on, nor being found all that useful in the small business sector.<br /><br />Maria Veltre, executive vice president of Citi's Small Business segment was quoted in the piece:<br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:georgia;">"What this survey indicates to us is small businesses are very, very focused on running their business and on generating sales and managing their cash flow and doing the things that are really important, especially in these economic times," Veltre said. "I don't think quite yet the social media piece of it has proven to be as significant."</span></em><br /><br />Beyond the fact that we could venture to say that these “really important” things are always the drivers for small businesses, I think the sentiment of the article is entirely off the mark. What the low numbers really highlight is nothing more than the natural evolution of small business on its way into another “new” internet marketing arena. Some small businesses *are* currently using social media to profitable ends. However, when it comes to online marketing adoption, the small business segment at large has always ridden the back end of the curve.<br /><br />While spending my own time stoking the fires of Local Internet Marketing between 2003 and 2006 – which was heavily focused on helping small business owners buy into the benefits of smartly executed paid search marketing and local business data optimization – I found that small businesses were not able to “buy in” until a clear and easy path was laid before them – two things which don’t currently exist in the social media landscape at all (we’re not talking about how simple it is to create an account on Twitter here). Small business owners don’t often want to be guinea pigs. With small exception, they don’t have the bandwidth, or the disposable budget to be marketing trail blazers.<br /><br />The industry has a long way to go when it comes to solving the equation of mass small business adoption into social media, and until it gets there we are likely to see a skewed opinion coming out of polls and research. We haven’t even figured out universally consistent tools, measures, ROI, or margins when it comes to all this stuff; this to say nothing of the need to develop a tangible message which resonates with small businesses across the board. All of these things were of critical importance as solution providers stepped in to successfully bring Search Engine Marketing to small businesses in scalable mass.<br /><br />All of this is coming, but it could well be a year or two off before the communal mind of small business appreciates social media as a tangible and fundamental portion of their advertising efforts. </div>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-13260368524154234602009-10-04T11:54:00.002-05:002009-10-04T12:00:49.453-05:00What's Old Is New Again<div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibB-IH6oVc87_Ax4p-CbuKUs3iimM8XFiZY9e5ssbhvA3-nlCgA4vvEiF1zPUgOtwK2nYfSrLBmfEigGiXcnxPHto-Tl_4UcrHAVVPro52iu8-i3cSJp3aRKfOnTrWQwZM8WRmJmiRJto/s1600-h/shiny-objects.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388789769156550626" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibB-IH6oVc87_Ax4p-CbuKUs3iimM8XFiZY9e5ssbhvA3-nlCgA4vvEiF1zPUgOtwK2nYfSrLBmfEigGiXcnxPHto-Tl_4UcrHAVVPro52iu8-i3cSJp3aRKfOnTrWQwZM8WRmJmiRJto/s200/shiny-objects.jpg" border="0" /></a>Over the last two months I’ve had the extreme pleasure of consulting with a leading marketing firm based in the Chicago area, helping them craft, launch, and incorporate a full web strategy layer into their existing business model. The 15-year-old firm is meeting client demand to figure out everything web2.0 and help them take advantage where it can best serve marketing goals. In so doing, they are also taking a “practice what you preach” attitude which includes a full website redesign and social media rollout. Busy days, indeed.<br /><br />Here on the pages of WebNewPoint0 I often make the point that dealing with the “new age” of Internet marketing need not be as overwhelming as it appears. Beyond the undeniable hurdles of being able to create content (gobs and gobs of it), much of doing good social media comes down to understanding where it is and isn’t a challenge. Failing to evaluate the nature of the challenge can leave folks paralyzed in the starting blocks. The more I help people wade in the water, the more I see this element playing a role.<br /><br />Here’s what I find most intriguing through it all: Social media is far less a new thing than anyone might imagine. In the formative days of this medium everyone seems caught in the glow of “shiny object syndrome.” We gotta have it, and all at once we worry about how the heck we’re gonna use it. But beneath all the glow we are apt to soon discover social media’s “something new” impediments aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. There’s less standing in your way than you might think.<br /><br />In reviewing and preparing a host of case studies for this new site it has become clear that the marketing tactics which have historically solved client challenges are the same core tactics everyone is touting as all the rage in social media. As it turns out, social media might not be so revolutionary. Oh, it’s a fabulous new playing field for marketers, to be sure. But the game hasn’t changed all that much.<br /><br />Leveraging a company’s internal wisdom to generate a monthly publication that goes out to a client base hungry to understand the value of complex tools and services? Sounds like the same tactic you’d use to produce a blog today. Re-branding and developing a communication strategy aimed at gaining prominence in a competitive trade show environment? Sounds a lot like the process needed to develop a compelling and consistent web presence across multiple online portals in today’s ever-shifting landscape. The more things change, the more they stay the same.<br /><br />People tend to look at social media and immediately feel left behind – like they have to go back to school and learn things all over again. But my guess is some of the best tacticians in social media have yet to recognize they are already far ahead of the curve, while they are mistakenly worried they will never be able to catch up. </div></div>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-72270052201647510982009-09-18T06:53:00.015-05:002009-09-18T10:20:08.606-05:00The Eternal Web Page Question: Why?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWKP_1Tl23C16Y_3xxHBPwXFGDmHwD7kcvKREAFu7lPjAOng6vv8-tRzgt39GD7lGtTtPzJan4bpCvIEJ94sODAJ6K-M8YS2x-_daXIVH7QNRj19vwlGLNkULgmAZHpTdGVCjJ1mGO308/s1600-h/why2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWKP_1Tl23C16Y_3xxHBPwXFGDmHwD7kcvKREAFu7lPjAOng6vv8-tRzgt39GD7lGtTtPzJan4bpCvIEJ94sODAJ6K-M8YS2x-_daXIVH7QNRj19vwlGLNkULgmAZHpTdGVCjJ1mGO308/s320/why2.jpg" alt="web page content strategy" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382826553112336370" border="0" /></a>When it comes to websites and their pages, nothing saddens me more than to see a well designed web page that completely fails to divulge why it’s there. It could be a sparse yet highly compelling branding message. It could be a robust informative rundown of product features. It could be a pinpointed display of expertise within a niche industry. While handy for a viewer, none of it will matter to the site owner if the page doesn’t drive a desired action.<br /><br />When I look at a web page the first question I am asking is “Why?” No doubt this comes from the fact that I find it difficult to take off my marketing hat when I’m surfing the net. But more often than not, I am asking this question when reviewing a client’s website in an effort to improve content strategy and marketing effectiveness. If I can’t quickly see why a page is up on the web at all, it’s a pretty fair assumption that the visitors to that page are not easily being driven to an action that means something tangible to the website’s business.<br /><br />If you are going to produce a web page, you owe it to yourself to think beyond the page itself and consider what comes next. Why do you want people viewing this page in the first place?<br /><br />While things can quickly become complex, there is much to be learned from even the most basic answers. In all cases, you want to make it easy for people to take the action you desire. Forcing a page to demonstrate why it is there will keep the overall site goals sharply in focus.<br /><br />Some examples:<br /><br /><strong>1 – The Phone Call:</strong> <em>“I want visitors to my site to call me for more information or an appointment.”<br /></em>Great. Is your phone number everywhere? In a prominent spot? Worked into the logo that runs atop ever page? Is it listed at the end of every page’s content a la “Call 800-555-5555 for more information.”? If getting your phone to ring is important, your web pages should make this fact abundantly clear by showing the phone number and never forcing anyone to hunt for that next step. It sounds simple, yet you'd be surprised by how many websites fail to connect this goal to the site's content strategy.<br /><br /><strong>2 – The “Contact Us” Form:</strong> <em>“I need leads. I want visitors to fill out my form.”<br /></em>Gone are the days of the contact us page, my friends. Sure it still exists, but if you want your visitors to fill out your lead form at whatever instance the urge strikes them while surfing your site, don’t make them hunt down a contact us page. Consider putting a simple form on every page. Make it easy to find (upper right?). Ask for as little information as possible (name, e-mail address) realizing that the more info you require, the less likely someone is to fill out your form. People are both lazy and unwilling to give away more info than they have to. Play to those tendencies.<br /><br /><strong>3 – Branding:</strong> <em>“I want people to stay on my site and soak it all in.”<br /></em>This is key to any blog or site that values the need to make it easy for visitors to stick around. Your navigation elements are critical. Be sure to link within your content to other pages of relevance. Create an easy to follow navigation bar, tag cloud, or drop down menu so people don’t have to hunt and peck for more content that interests them. The easier you make it for people to realize you have more interesting content beyond the page they are viewing, the more likely they will be to stay on your site and absorb the experience of everything you have to offer. Never leave someone dangling. If you have tons of information, you never want to let someone leave thinking, “I wish there was some more info here.”<br /><br />These are just three examples. There are countless others, and they almost always play together in some fashion. Whether you are about to launch an entirely new site, or are scratching your head as to why people aren’t doing what you wish they would when you get them to your pages, make sure you always answer the question of why each page exists in the first place – to drive measurable action that helps you build business.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-50531168570138509922009-09-02T12:36:00.003-05:002009-09-02T13:06:20.170-05:00Tips To Avoid Wasting Time In Social Media<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGJQYNc-t0WdmJsz9suN2IyZ5Vc6jELBkl-gv6ubotcemU6-rhUXMNIgWbODUjasM0XnEnblPJc19Yaz-zAZJwMFh1LYoW9yEK3_mLzTcaAkcnu6uxotyo5s_lxfe6b2gKwMOi56sgTI/s1600-h/time+travel+clock.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376931282792155202" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGJQYNc-t0WdmJsz9suN2IyZ5Vc6jELBkl-gv6ubotcemU6-rhUXMNIgWbODUjasM0XnEnblPJc19Yaz-zAZJwMFh1LYoW9yEK3_mLzTcaAkcnu6uxotyo5s_lxfe6b2gKwMOi56sgTI/s200/time+travel+clock.jpg" border="0" /></a>Any time spent forging into the world of social media is best served by following a path. While tramping blindly through the social media forest might at least qualify you as a member of the community, your chances of reaching any sort of qualitative destination are slim. Without a clear plan, or map to refer back to, you run the risk of wasting a lot of effort.<br /><br />Knowing how precious time is for any professional, the thought of squandering any of it makes that potential loss even more painful. In fact, knowing how much time to devote, and how best to spend that time, are primary concerns on the minds of business people I speak with in my consulting practice. No one wants to waste effort on something clearly so important.<br /><br />There is no set prescription regarding a number of minutes per day or week you should spend in the social media space. But, as you do create time for this adventure, here are a few cornerstones on which to build the foundation of your experience.<br /><br /><strong>One Step At A Time</strong> – Don’t try to do everything all at once. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogging, video – all of these can be worthwhile endeavors. But it is a sure-fire path to system overload if you attempt to push yourself into everything all at once. Consider your immediate marketing goals (and perhaps your mid- and long-term goals as well), and choose as few roads in as possible. Even if you decide only to do one thing for now, that’s better than attempting to make a splash into everything.<br /><br /><strong>Leverage Content</strong> – Directly behind finding time to venture into social media, the creation of content (so much content!) is the next burning concern as one makes their way into the web 2.0 world. Consider that you might already have volumes of inspirational and repurpose-able content right at your feet. White papers? Case Studies? Presentation decks? Marketing research? Product and service descriptions? All of these can become the seeds of future blog posts and conversation points in micro-blogging and discussions online.<br /><br />Plus, there’s no foul in referencing (linking back to) something you’ve read online while offering your informed opinion on the subject. Not every scrap of content you produce needs to be the game-changing, paradigm shift-inspiring Holy Grail of information that’s going to change your industry forever. Leveraging the content available to you can ease the pressure of having to fill a lot of empty white virtual paper.<br /><br /><strong>Be Present Where Your Audience Gets Its Information</strong> – “If a tree falls in a forest…” Don’t make the mistake of delivering compelling and useful content in a venue where your audience hasn’t shown up. Blasting your messages across Facebook when your professional client base might be hanging out over on LinkIn is a wasteful mistake. <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/08/stop-look-listen-good-social-media-baby.html">Invest a bit of front end time</a> to explore where your audience is before you pick the platforms you are going to exploit.<br /><br /><strong>Control Message</strong> – In that moment of breath before you plow ahead with your social media “voice,” give some consideration to your messaging strategy. Is it your goal to be informational, instructive, promotional? Without considering the overarching plan to your message, it could become a bit fractured and disjointed. You’ll also find that planning a messaging strategy can help identify the sort of content you will come to produce. It will act as a guiding light.<br /><br /><strong>Stay Open To Dialogue</strong> – At the end of the day, everything you do in social media is about facilitating an interaction with your audience. For business, social media is a two-way street of <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/08/can-we-shift-to-communitising.html">Communitising</a> – marketing through communication. Be ready for people to interact with the content you produce (it’s a great measure of your success in the space), and be sure to respond back.<br /><br />These are a few beacons that can help pave your way into successful social media marketing. Remember some of the core reasons you should be using social media in the first place: to listen, learn, respond, influence, and collaborate. Using these principles to evaluate your next step can insure that you are heading in the right direction.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-31150025899515233912009-08-25T07:23:00.004-05:002009-08-25T07:34:07.497-05:00Guest Article On Getting Up To Speed With Social Media<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5l6JXQh2d2S-ue18fK1Do7GzU3LKhyphenhyphenvu6YhL81l9pA7pRbCNyFzp8qSANh9Clj1bLCEOAtChN549MRt48rpuB5YfTTYMFyy35EUMJbQO5hOIBcf1ZwmlG8O7A42Y-_OHK7FONur_WS4/s1600-h/ReelSEO-2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373877990615132770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 46px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5l6JXQh2d2S-ue18fK1Do7GzU3LKhyphenhyphenvu6YhL81l9pA7pRbCNyFzp8qSANh9Clj1bLCEOAtChN549MRt48rpuB5YfTTYMFyy35EUMJbQO5hOIBcf1ZwmlG8O7A42Y-_OHK7FONur_WS4/s200/ReelSEO-2.JPG" border="0" /></a> I’ve contributed another guest article to ReelSEO.com. “<a href="http://www.reelseo.com/youtube-seriously-social-media">Rounding The Social Media Learning Curve With YouTube</a>” speaks to the way YouTube can help newcomers to Social Media realize they may know more than they think from day one.<br /><br />Please stop over and check it out along with all the other useful content found at <a href="http://www.reelseo.com/">ReelSEO.com</a>.Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-25976351255723330842009-08-17T11:19:00.003-05:002009-08-17T11:45:31.850-05:00Surviving The Social Media Roller Coaster<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwHcN9Ysw21pnY2zTQX6ynFDxMMvOY42eYe4CVoy-3oxa4jx3po9yNImjXW2JeFsh7IbrTtng7YRc3kJXuK4mP8zACTW9MbYxt4kwSPpELLWDzOZfGVtqpKbI9m0_k1WtleWMzAPR6giE/s1600-h/wooden_coaster.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 226px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370973703446244306" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwHcN9Ysw21pnY2zTQX6ynFDxMMvOY42eYe4CVoy-3oxa4jx3po9yNImjXW2JeFsh7IbrTtng7YRc3kJXuK4mP8zACTW9MbYxt4kwSPpELLWDzOZfGVtqpKbI9m0_k1WtleWMzAPR6giE/s320/wooden_coaster.jpg" /></a>Wow. There’s nothing like a Monday morning in the world of Social Media. Firing up various dashboards, checking what’s trending, reading up on some news. It acts like an online manifestation of Attention Deficit Disorder – a million bits of information to absorb all at once as they fly by, all pulling your attention in every direction. Who needs coffee anymore? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Just as quickly as you think you’ve stumbled upon an eye-opening revelation or solved an impending crisis, you come to find that there is no hope of catching it all, and you’re hopelessly behind.<br /><br />This negative impression can actually be your moment of enlightenment. Let it remind you that you aren’t supposed to scramble to take it all in. You are caught in a microcosmic example of one of Social Media’s biggest pitfalls: the thought that it’s about doing every little thing as fast as you can to achieve near-instant online marketing success. This couldn’t be further from the truth.<br /><br />While no one will deny that you can’t reach any destination without taking all the little steps along the path to get there, remind yourself that social media is but one segment of the marketing approach which will help you succeed online. It isn’t where the gold is hiding – it’s just another tool for finding the gold. And as a tool, it only helps you construct your overall marketing machine.<br /><br />Social media will not solve your marketing puzzle overnight, regardless of how much attention this wild new media darling receives. So don’t believe the hype, and don’t strap everything to this horse only to ride it into the ground. If you’re determined to reach a quick conclusion about whether social media can help your business, you’re likely to reach a negative one. You must give it time, and you must force yourself to take a measured approach as you integrate social media into everything else you do.<br /><br />The importance of participating in the social media space <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-your-potential-customers-want-to.html">can’t be understated</a>. But like everything in life, balance is key. Resist the intoxicating draw of social media’s bells and whistles to trap you in a never ending cycle of lever pulling and dial adjustment. Plan a strategy and set your marketing machine down the path. Watch for ways that social media can inform the rest of your marketing initiatives. Use its statistics to inform and advise your overarching marketing agenda. This can be accomplished at many levels, even if <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/08/stop-look-listen-good-social-media-baby.html">simply by listening</a> and taking note of where on the Internet your audience is gathering so you can plan how and where to engage with them.<br /><br />Social media marketing requires time to work its way into your routine. Don’t be in a rush to see it solve the mysteries of the marketing universe. Expect it to open new windows into the way you approach your audience online, and don’t be surprised as it pays dividends that touch <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/07/from-information-to-communication.html">more than your bottom line</a>. </div>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6904550028004298778.post-87299867205788406072009-08-13T08:43:00.006-05:002009-10-31T09:18:53.161-05:00Tired Of Social Media? Look Ahead To Web Presence Management<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6QTVq2hvDczaUxub949Sit7O0p28EToqmwPNDeqaJGdKbeqJ2TdxBqVUEUq4TY5HCkzRlqe-x3nd5aBDHl0hDm1wXxeMflogT98oNCKRw4Z_QvMKbfGuR7huUY3F6eHFJsvKBaZhxDM/s1600-h/galaxies-colliding.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369446830870507618" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6QTVq2hvDczaUxub949Sit7O0p28EToqmwPNDeqaJGdKbeqJ2TdxBqVUEUq4TY5HCkzRlqe-x3nd5aBDHl0hDm1wXxeMflogT98oNCKRw4Z_QvMKbfGuR7huUY3F6eHFJsvKBaZhxDM/s200/galaxies-colliding.jpg" border="0" /></a>Already people are sick of the phrase “Social Media.” Already it is becoming so over-used and over-hyped that its connotations suggest all the flash-in-the-pan uselessness of increasing hits and clicks to a website with no thought given to the quality of visitors the site receives, nor whether those visitors take any valuable action once there. Marketers and business owners alike are already growing weary of the social media craze.<br /><br />But we’d be well advised not to miss the forest for the trees here. It could be useful to look a bit into the future of the Internet so we can begin appreciating social media for what it might be after the dust settles. We would do well to consider it two galaxies in the midst of colliding. Social Media and Search Engine Optimization are in the process of fusing into one singular future state: Web Presence Management.<br /><br />Search engines are changing. The way we use search tools to find the content we seek is changing. While today this content is spread across countless platforms, eventually the Googles, Bings, Facebooks, and Twitters of the world will find a way to appease our wish to consolidate all the content we desire into an easy-to-digest stream. And the ability of businesses to reach their target audiences in this stream will come down to how they best manage all of the diverse platforms in which their content can be found, indexed, and served up in result sets. On our part, it will require Web Presence Management.<br /><br />Web Presence Management is the future state of Search Engine Optimization, and it is where SEO and Social Media become one. We aren’t going to be optimizing for search engines anymore. Regardless of what new dashboard arrives or which new application rules the day we are going to be optimizing for the Internet itself. In the end, the core rules of SEO will continue to prevail as we look to position ourselves everywhere online. You will always need to give the engines (in whatever form they take) the ability to recognize you legitimately as the resource you are. Speak to them in their language, and allow them to reflect the “real world” in their result sets.<br /><br />Today, when we talk about you ranking at the top of Google, the “you” in this statement is your website, or more accurately, your web pages. Tomorrow (and even today to some degree), it will no longer be about your website ranking, it will be your web presence. How you best optimize your presence will dictate how easily you are found.<br /><br />Rather than optimization, I term this the management of web presence because optimization speaks a bit too much to the manipulation of elements which influence the algorithms. Web presence management reflects the more honest intention to make sure you are representing yourself online in a way that reflects the authentic nature of you and your business.<br /><br />Come to see social media as the set of tools and content delivery mechanisms through which you can best articulate your real world value and position in the market (your Presence), and you will be well on the way to avoiding the distaste and distrust of all things "social" today. Begin using these tools as you see them in their future state, and you will start paving the way to reaping their rewards today and tomorrow.<br /><br />Related Posts: <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/06/you-are-not-your-website.html">You Are Not Your Website</a>, <a href="http://webnewpoint0.blogspot.com/2009/07/from-information-to-communication.html">From Information To Communication Highway</a>Noah Weinerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17467271214271519437noreply@blogger.com2