Although social media enthusiasts would be quick to encourage you to outsource social media as soon as possible, that type of investment doesn’t always fit within your organization’s budget. Like most marketing activities, timing the outsourcing of your social efforts just right will improve your results. Any of the following opportunities are perfect times to explore this outsourcing for your company.

You’re just getting started with a social program.

If your company has barely established a social presence or is just beginning to consider participating with your clients on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, time with a social media consultant can be a valuable investment. Your consultant can help you set objectives for your social efforts. Oftentimes companies will jump into social without a clear plan, benchmarks or strategy. This is a waste of time, waste of money and can be detrimental to a brand.

By outsourcing social media strategy, your company can set goals for each channel with the advice of an expert. An appropriate consultant can also help your team members understand the best practices for each channel. They’ll have clear targets to shoot for, know how to reach them and understand how to measure success.

You’re disappointed with your social results.

Social already has a proven track record for most industries – so if you’re disappointed with your results, it’s time to call in the pros. Social media outsourcing can help you discover exactly why your efforts aren’t paying off. With an expert consultant on your side, you can zero in on the techniques that are wasting your time and your resources.

For example, you may have been putting all of your efforts into Twitter marketing because you’ve read a few white papers and are excited about the medium. However, if your results have been lackluster from Twitter, outsourcing to a social media expert can help you see why you’re getting those results. They will also help your company explore other alternatives that may be a better fit for your goals.

You have a new team member in charge of social implementation.

Outsourcing social media services at this point in time might seem counterintuitive. However, unless you’ve hired a specialist, your team member will benefit from professional assistance. A social media consultant can set your team member on the right path and ensure that your accounts are handled professionally moving forward. This can also help your company smoothly make a transition from one team member to another as the new team member takes over the accounts and the “voice” of your brand.

You’re shifting focus and appealing to a new market.

Different target markets speak languages all their own. If your company is expanding its services or product offerings it’s worth an investment to engage a social media provider who is well versed in that language. You can either find a expert who has experience with the new target market, or you can work with a consultant who can help you formulate a strategy to approach this new market. This can include targeting social media content and reaching out to key influencers.

Outsourcing social media and strategy isn’t likely to be a one time occurance in the life of your business. If you time your outsourcing right by looking for these four times, you’ll get the most out of the process and have more success with your social presence.

Courtney Ramirez  (2 Posts)

Courtney Ramirez is a content marketing consultant and SEO Copywriter. As owner and head copywriter at Six Degrees Content she creates optimized web pages, blog posts and other online content pieces for companies in both B2B and B2C industries.

Mine existing gold in the hills and strengthen PR value propositions for your partners and clients

Many businesses working to become “social” devote resources in virtual isolation, trying to build their presence and figure out how to garner illusive followers, fans and “positive sentiment” conversations.

Presumably the marketing strategy (if it’s actually been explored at the front end) is to augment profile and enhance reputation (“social capital“), with an objective to increase sales of products or services. Or in the case of not-for-profits, raise funds or attract volunteers, etc.

In scenarios where companies have dedicated social media (community) managers, generally I’ve observed a focus on measuring quantitative, “What can social media do for the company?” (the “ROI”), vis-à-vis interacting with existing, potential or past customers and other stakeholders that search out the properties.

This includes garnering feedback and letting the self-identified “community” know what the organization has to offer, including short-term campaigns and promotions—often highlighting how people have taken advantage of the offers or championed the company’s efforts (on Twitter and Facebook or in endorsement blog posts, etc.), resolving one-off customer service concerns and so on. It’s not surprising (or bad) as a marketing strategy, but it’s somewhat limited, mainly relating to B2C commercial social relationships.

It appears the less-rarely-asked public relations-oriented questions and considerations include:

• “What can we do for the social media profiles of our existing partners or clients?”
• “How can we increase our stakeholders’ value proposition through social if we institutionalize practices to recognize them?”

Instituting social media practices and profiles of partners and clients appears to be a “virtually” untapped resource in public relations programs.

There’s tremendous value in a “PR strategy” that works to mine online gold in the hills of existing relationships, particularly in the B2B realm. Yet hardly any companies seem to be doing it! I explored some ideas in my earlier Connections Byte column, but now I’m suggesting more formal and ongoing “institutionalization” of the process.

Where’s the value?

The quality and breadth of products or services sold to end-user companies (and by extension their employees) is complemented when you highlight—through social media—a contracted or ongoing affiliation of B2B.

It’s a newer way of thinking in augmenting relationships, one that both gives and receives more value.

As an example, rather than hand-selecting a few clients or test drivers to write “glowing testimonials” regarding a media monitoring company (traditional or social)—always a bit suspect, as who writes a bad testimonial?—endorsement is implied by an agreed-upon willingness to profile the online accounts of multiple partner affiliations. I was pleased to see my colleague, Bob Geller, highlight a similar concept (from a content marketing perspective) in his recent column; see the section on “Leverage Social and Influencer Equity” (towards the end).

A need to shift practices and widen the focus

Let’s examine the prevailing practice of vendors, service suppliers, associations with corporate members, even subscription-based industry publications. Many organizational relationship builders and content providers (or community managers) are intent on developing reputations as curators of online information (e.g., providing or endorsing relevant blog posts) and/or influencers of opinion, which they share on the company’s social media properties. Generally, it boils down to a newer mode of broadcasting and gated publishing.

Often one person or a few are given organizational authority to make a subjective judgment as to who/what will be invited to write, be profiled or endorse something. And we’re seeing the same handful of people, usually with non-existent or tenuous relationships to organizations (i.e., not regular, paying clients or partners) getting selected for the bulk of the profiles and endorsements, repeatedly.

This results in the sameness to the curation and organizational endorsements in multiple places, often of “Internet famous” social media consultants or principals from boutique agencies. It’s the rare time the representative comes from a large corporation. And too often the connections seem to be a matter of personal liking or fandom from the social media or community manager, rather than a true value proposition for the company or its clients regarding content being highlighted.

This is not an indictment of well-known personalities, who usually are in this position because of being early adopters in social media and producing a consistently good body of work. Rather it relates to the suitability of numerous businesses highlighting the same subject experts, especially when the main driver appears to be their all-purpose (or untargeted) ubiquity.

From whence did this value-proposition concept stem?

Recently I completed research for an NGO group (a unique and laudable blend of the arts, communication skills and at-risk-youth outreach) on relevant social media properties (targeted and local) existing in the sector. My recap report included suggestions for creating a social profile and initial steps for:

• sharing information
• relating the organizational narrative; and
• engaging with stakeholders and known and unknown publics

Rather than starting from scratch in building social relationships, I recommended the principals determine if existing stakeholders and champions had established social media accounts, even if they were personal ones (i.e., made no reference to this organization).

That’s part of the social capital equation: implied organizational endorsement and public relations because of existing connections.

At this stage I recommended the NGO directly inquire and collect account information to share on its website, etc.

I thought my next-step recommendation was common practice, but when inquiring around to a number of colleagues, it did not seem to be the case.

It was to:

• Redesign any existing application forms for the various roles to include a section that allows stakeholders to supply professional or personal social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Or online photo accounts where they’ve shared past [X company] photos, etc.

Are you asking your clients and partners to share this information on the initial contract or application form? If not, consider incorporating it, soon.

When registering for the third annual Social Media Week Toronto, I noted the request to provide my Twitter account. I don’t remember this being on the application form the first two years, so I’m very interested in seeing how this information will be used.

(Side note: the most consistently popular PR Conversations blog since it was published is our joint-author post, Using Twitter for PR events.)

Also influencing this Social Capital Byte…

Around the same time as writing the NGO report, I read and commented on a post by Valeria Maltoni (one of Neal Schaffer’s Top 10 Social Media Blogs to Follow in 2012 and a personal thought leader and influencer for me), Does Sharing Mean Endorsing?

Ongoing sharing of existing or past partners’ social media accounts seems like an authentic, no-brainer endorsement of the relationships. Just be sure to get opt-in permission, so it’s not perceived as unauthorized “scraping” of social capital!

I think often of the response in his PRoust Questionnaire by Italian PR guru and thought leader, Toni Muzi Falconi, to the question, Who do you think has great public relations?

“In most cases successful organizations do not have overt public visibility. Or, when they do have a high profile, they don’t betray their anxiousness or obsessive need to be liked.”

But if it’s the vendor (or other B2B company) that initiates an offer to profile the business, objections aren’t likely to be raised. After all, what is being proposed is cultivating a public relations culture of meritocracy, not mediocrity, by institutionalizing the parity process and offering up some online real estate space to clients.

I believe this would be a tremendous, creative use of social capital for all parties. And the quality of the information (or not) will be reflective of the quality of the partners and client organizations.

Four implementation suggestions for social capital and partner parity

1. For display on your company’s website or blog, institute an (agreed-upon) running feed of affiliated (partner and client) Twitter business accounts. Monitor the feed and RT/endorse the most relevant and useful client tweets and links from your own corporate account.

2. Consider hosting regular Twitter chats focused on your core business areas; directly invite clients each time to participate in the chats. Maybe even invite your star partners—i.e., those who have an existing affiliation—to guest moderate. Alternatively, let your client organizations’ representatives determine (by consensus—maybe an online poll) whom they want to see moderate and/or topics to cover. Build in a formal, institutionalized process for both, including a way to nominate moderators and topics. (For examples of Twitter chats targeted towards business needs, see 50 Best Twitter Chats for Business Students.)

3. Establish a corporate LinkedIn Group and invite your clients and partners to join it. Make it an Open or Public Group, but be proactive in having your existing stakeholders involved at the front end (e.g., I was personally invited by their “owners” into Social Media Strategies for Business, Solo PR Pros and the Art Gallery of Ontario LinkedIn Groups at the launch stage). Also, continuously monitor and remove overtly promotional postings of unrelated content, especially from non-affiliated organizations or consultants.

4. Institute a wiki where partners and clients can voluntarily share best practices (traditional or online), particularly when there is a correlation with the product or service your company provides. So the wiki serves more like a partner intranet and is not spammed by non-affiliated marketers, it’s best to share directly the URL, publishing instructions and suitability guidelines. For the most part, wikis appear to fly under the radar of spammers.

I continue to muse on how the primarily personal use and/or B2C social media platforms such as Facebook (Like us!) could best be used to highlight and endorse partner businesses, instead of merely the hosting company. With its highly developed SEO aspect, Google+ does holds promising possibilities for public relations programs, especially as an “anchor” vehicle in cases where client companies do not have their own blogs–but I haven’t ascertained all ingredients yet for a creative +1 “secret sauce” for consistent public relations to highlight B2B partners.

Do you know of any case studies or have any ideas for extending this concept of two-way B2B public relations in social media properties? If yes, I would appreciate hearing about them in the comments section.

Conclusion

I’m of the opinion that direct public relations in social media with your business partners and clients comprises a relatively unexplored area of creativity, possibilities and opportunities, meaning the success stories are waiting to be written.

I do know that when working in-house, I gained organizational profile, PR reciprocity and goodwill (not to mention enhancing my personal reputation), by turning the thinking around from “What can our partners and stakeholders (or the media) do for us?” into “What can we do for our affiliated partners that they can’t get anywhere else or where they aren’t getting the same opportunities or profile?”

Exploring social capital by ensuring parity in your B2B relationships really is an exciting PR2.0 value proposition.

Judy Gombita  (5 Posts)

This monthly PR column is contributed by Judy Gombita. Judy is a Toronto-based public relations and communication management specialist, with more than 20 years of employment and executive-level volunteer board experience, primarily in the financial and lifelong learning nonprofit sectors. She is the co-editor and Canadian contributor (since 2007) to the international, collaborative blog, PR Conversations.

Judy Gombita  (5 Posts)

This monthly PR column is contributed by Judy Gombita. Judy is a Toronto-based public relations and communication management specialist, with more than 20 years of employment and executive-level volunteer board experience, primarily in the financial and lifelong learning nonprofit sectors. She is the co-editor and Canadian contributor (since 2007) to the international, collaborative blog, PR Conversations.

So you’ve followed the sage advice of savvy social media experts like Neal Schaffer, telling you why you need to have your business on Google+, and you’ve created a business page for your brand.

Now what?

Obviously (I hope it’s obvious!) the worst thing you could do is just let your page sit idle. So let’s set some priorities and get to work making your page effective. The recent announcement by Google that G+ is now heavily integrated into Google search makes it all the more important that you optimize your page and start your involvement on Google+. G+ is still young, but it’s growing rapidly. Early adopters of any new social media outlet gain significant advantages over the competition, and it’s not too late to claim that space in Google+.

Where to Start on Your Page? Set Priorities

Google+ Business Pages offer unprecedented search ranking advantages, so make optimizing your profile for both regular Google search and G+’s internal search your first priority. Next you’ll want to make sure your profile “sells the follow.” Does it capture attention and say, “You’ll want me in your circles!” in those few seconds when someone takes their first look? Once your profile page is in good order, you’ll be ready to start posting great content and engaging to build your following.

Those priorities in mind, let’s get started with the five first things you should do with your Google+ business page:

1. Optimize Your Page for SEO

As I said above, one of the most powerful features of G+ is Google search. You’ll want to take advantage of that to make sure your business page is likely to be found, both in Google+’s internal search and in Google’s regular search engine. Perform the steps below to make your page attractive to Google’s search bots. (Hint: to edit your page, select the profile view and click the “Edit Profile” button, then click in the area you want to edit.)

• Verify your page with Google. Unlike your Twitter handle, there can be any number of pages with the same name as yours. The good news is that Google has provided a way of verifying your page as the “official” page for your brand. Verified pages will get priority in search ranking over non-verified pages, so this is the best way to protect your brand. Follow these instructions to set up page verification.
• Add a carefully crafted subtitle. Unless you’ve set up a local business page, Google+ allows you to place a subtitle or tag line under your brand name. Only the first 10 words you enter are visible in the page header, and only the first 21 characters are shown in the pop up that people see when they roll their mouse over your page name. Make it descriptive and use your most important search keywords (e.g. “Premier Lower Manhattan Luxury Hotel”).
• Write a complete introduction. Not only is your introduction important to sell your brand and Google+ page to visitors, it’s the prime spot on your profile page to build your page’s SEO power. Use keywords that you want to be found for in search, but use them sparingly and naturally. The introduction section has a rich text editor, so include links to your site using good anchor text.
• Add Recommended Links. Use the “Recommended Links” sidebar to link to the major sections of your web site. Also link to your other social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). If you’re a sophisticated analytics user, you might want to tag these links (and those you put in the introduction) so you can accurately track traffic from your page.

For  more tips on optimizing your business page profile, see my “Complete Guide to Optimizing Your Google+ Brand Page.”

2. Upgrade Your Page’s Visual Appeal

90% or more of the “job description” of your brand page falls under “first impressions.” Most people will only come to your page once, to evaluate whether you are worth circling (the Google+ term for “following”). And on average they will only spend a brief time there, so you want to do as much as possible to grab their attention get them to click that “Add to Your Circles” button.

• Make creative use of the top-of-profile “Scrapbook” photos. The most eye-catching examples use the five photos as a single banner. Here are some great examples, and here is a guide to how you can create that effect.
• Take advantage of the rich text editor. When in edit mode on the Introduction section of your page’s profile, you’ll see a bar with several formatting tools. You can format text in bold, italic, and underline, create bullet and numbered lists, and anchor-text links. If your introduction is long, use bold subheadings to break it up. My agency’s Google+ page is a good example of using these formatting tools.

3. Fill Your Post Stream with Quality Content

Even before you get your first follower, I recommend getting at least three or four posts up. By default visitors land on your posts tab first. So your posting stream is the real first impression-maker, seen before your About tab. Seeing “XYZ Brand hasn’t shared any posts yet” isn’t exactly a good “circle us” call to action. Your first posts should be superstars, showing off the kind of great, interesting content people will get if they follow you. This article isn’t about good content creation, but at least do the following in your posts:

• Use Google+’s formatting options. Even though you won’t see the rich text editing bar that appeared when editing your profile’s introduction, you can still do a certain amount of formatting using special codes while creating a post. To bold text, *put asterisks around it.* To italicize, put _underscores around it_. For strikeout, -use dashes around the text.- These are pretty rudimentary, but they are way above anything available on almost any other social media platform. Use them to create posts that look like blog posts.
• Use photos and videos. Try not to post anything without at least a photo. Google+ won kudos from its early adopters (and loyalty from many of the world’s top photographers) for the beautiful way it displays photos. A photo or embedded video appropriate to your posts topic catches the viewer’s eye and makes you post more likely to be read.

4. Begin to Attract Followers

Now that you’ve got your page optimized for search, you’ve made it visually appealing, and you’ve begun to post quality content, you’re ready to open the doors and do business. But as in any social media outlet, there is no “build it and they will come.” You have to attract early adopters of your page and then utilize them to build a following. Getting that snowball rolling takes a little more work on Google+. For one thing, to prevent spam following, Google+ restricts brand pages from adding anyone to their circles until that person either has added the page or link-mentioned it in a post. In addition, unlike Facebook, Google+ doesn’t (yet) have ads that you can use to bring new people to your page. So how can you begin a following?

• Promote your page on your other social media channels. More and more of your followers on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere are trying out Google+. Post in those places to let them know you have an outpost on Google+. Where possible, put links to your G+ page on your other social media profile pages.
• Promote your page on your own website. Put a Google+ badge on your site. Google has provided a tool to create a custom badge linked to your profile.
• Leverage personal profiles to promote your page. If you have willing and able people in your organization, have them create personal profiles on Google+ with which they regularly link to posts from your brand. Notice I said link to posts, not directly to your brand page. It’s not that they should never just post a recommendation link to your page. But the most effective “selling” of your brand page will be making visible the interesting and useful content you’re posting. In order to expand your reach, these personal profiles should take advantage of Google+ search to find and follow people interested in what your brand is about. Unlike brand pages, personal profiles can follow anyone. If your personal profile is properly filled out and your posts stream has good content, many of the people you follow will follow you back, and you’ve begun to build an audience to whom you can market your page. Of course, don’t spam! Be real, vary your posts, don’t make every post about your company and its posts. The goal is for your personal profile to become respected as an authority in your field, so followers will gladly want to follow your company as well.

5. Engage!

Once you’ve got a base following, establish a good cycle of posting and engagement.

• Post new content regularly. On Google+ my experience has been that you almost can’t post too much. The early adoption crowd on this network appears to be very ready to engage and hungry for content. Just make sure you’re adding value.
• Follow back those who circle you. When you add followers to your brand page’s circles, they get a notification that you did so. This is an instant signal that there are real people behind your brand page who will listen and interact. That’s a strong reinforcement to someone who already took the time to follow you.
• Create Engagers & VIP circles. When you notice someone who consistently engages with and promotes your content, put them in a special circle. These are people you want to “stroke” from time to time. Engage and reshare their content, which will encourage them to continue to do the same for yours. Also keep a circle for any “VIP’s” who happen to follow you (celebrities or others who are very influential on G+). You’ll want to cultivate relationships with them.
• Regularly monitor your stream and comment, +1, and reshare follower’s posts. Such engagement seems to be more valued on G+ than on other networks, and will induce your followers to do the same for you.

Just as engagement is key to good EdgeRank on Facebook, so it seems it will be a strong force in the amount of influence your page has in Google and G+ search. Just having a profile and posts centered around good keyword strategies is not enough. If two pages are otherwise equal in a keyword area, Google will give the boost to the one that has more G+ reach and engagement.

Conclusion

Especially with the advent of Google Search plus Your World, G+ business pages offer an exciting opportunity for even small brands who have never had much of a voice on social media. We are still very much on the “ground floor” of this fast-growing network, especially for marketing. Those who build their pages and content carefully and invest now in posting and engagement should reap big rewards down the road.

If your brand already has a Google+ page, share with us what has worked for you.

Mark Traphagen  (1 Posts)

Mark Traphagen is Director of Social Media Marketing for Virante. A former teacher, Mark has worked directly in Internet marketing since 2005, but has been involved in social media and online community formation since the mid 1990s. When not helping Virante clients improve their online presence, Mark participates in competitive storytelling, plays with a Dixieland street band, and (surprise) spends more time on the web.

Mark Traphagen  (1 Posts)

Mark Traphagen is Director of Social Media Marketing for Virante. A former teacher, Mark has worked directly in Internet marketing since 2005, but has been involved in social media and online community formation since the mid 1990s. When not helping Virante clients improve their online presence, Mark participates in competitive storytelling, plays with a Dixieland street band, and (surprise) spends more time on the web.

In the many public engagements that I’ve been invited to present at as a social media speaker, people often ask me to recommend which social media conferences and events they should go to, both for networking and educational purposes. I’ve observed that lately, more and more companies are staging and/or sponsoring social media events, and I attribute this phenomenal growth to the maturity of social media and it’s acceptance by major businesses as well as adoption by industry after industry.

With that in mind, I’m glad to share with you what I believe are the best conferences and events social media practitioners should go to this year, all in the United States (sorry but I don’t know enough about events outside of the United States to be able to offer my international readers any advice). Each event has garnered a lot of praise from its past participants, with sought-after speakers and expert panels in attendance discussing the most relevant social media topics of the day.

Some of these events, like Blog World, have multiple events where they have not announced dates and locations for their conferences later in the year.  Make sure you check back here for updates.  And feel free to add other social media conferences that you recommend in the comments. Thanks!

BlogWell – January 24, 2012, Dallas, Texas; March 27, 2012, San Francisco, California; July 18, 2012, Chicago, Illinois; September 25, 2012, New York City, New York

BlogWell is a unique event where 8 great case studies on the best social media programs at large companies are presented to audiences. Staged by SocialMedia.org, a community of social media leaders where members help each other by sharing ideas, best practices, and solutions. Held in 4 locations in 2012, BlogWell speakers will present case studies from many well known brands, including companies like AMD and Farmer’s Insurance who have been blogged about here before.

iStrategy Conference – January 31 – February 1, 2012, San Francisco, California

iStartegies missions is to spread passion for existing and emerging digital media throughout the world, where each event offers original experiential learning opportunities for participants. It is for senior executives who espouse the belief that the success of their business requires a solid digital strategy. While the concentration is on digital, there is more than enough social media content to keep you satisfied, including an emphasis on “results-oriented social media strategies.” Note that iStrategy also holds international events, with London and Sydney conferences slated for later in 2012.

Social Fresh Conference - (East) February 6 – 7, 2012, Tampa, Florida; (West) August 20 – 21, 2012, San Diego, California

With a distinct focus on social media for business results, the Social Fresh Conference is staged with the end goal of inspiring marketers to create social media strategies that produce tangible results. Social Fresh may not be as well known as other conferences here, but they have a solid track record of delivering successful social media conferences throughout the nation. The keynotes for the Tampa event are from the cream of the crop of social media speakers: Scott Monty of Ford, Jay Baer, and Chris Penn – and these are balanced by case studies presented from corporate social media strategiest from AOL, Nordstrom, and RadioShack.

Online Marketing Summit – February 6 – 9, 2012, San Diego, California

The Online Marketing Summit puts education first. Beyond the usual conference and tradeshow set-up, through lab sessions with experts, thought-leadership presentations and peer-to-peer collaboration, OMS’s focus is providing direct, hands-on training workshops that are personalized and one-on-one. A four-day event traditionally about online marketing, there is a healthy dose of social media marketing content for those in attendance.

The Social Media Strategies Summit 2012 – February 7 – 9, 2012, Las Vegas; April 18 – 19, 2012, Chicago

The Social Media Strategies Summit has been designed in such a way that learning objectives are spread across six tracks, each outlined to focus on a particular industry – yours. So while sessions are focused on specific categories that are tailor-fit, such as case studies, ROI and tools, and legal risks & strategies, participants are free to move between tracks based on their own learning objectives. Note that the Social Media Strategies Summit also has an event in London as well as Miami. The Miami event is not listed above as it is focused on social media in Latin America.

Gravity Summit - February 22, 2012, Los Angeles, California

Held annually, the Gravity Summit event in 2012 is where leaders from the realm of sports and entertainment discuss social media marketing trends, innovations and tools and how these are reshaping the industry and audiences alike. The event is perfect for those involved in broadcasting, entertainment and sports. Created by the co-authors of The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing, Gravity Summit always promises unique and high quality social media content.

Inbound Marketing Summit – February 28 – 29, 2012, New York City, New York; June 12 – 13, 2012, San Francisco, California; October 24 – 25, 2012, Boston, Massachusetts

The Inbound Marketing Summit is one of the leading national conferences for digital and social media marketing professionals. Featuring inspirational speakers coupled with cutting edge content and real-world case studies, IMS is where innovators from media and marketing meet their peers, engage in lively and productive sessions, and broaden their networks – all in two power-packed days. The upcoming Boston event features the following tracks: Inbound Marketing, Mobile Content, Content Automation, and Convergence.

SocialTech 2012 – March 29 – 30, Seattle, Washington

Sponsored by one of the largest online marketing communities, MarketingProfs, SocialTech is the leading social media conference that focuses purely on B2B social media marketing. The first day will feature workshops on Content Marketing and Social Media Measurement while the second day will feature quality speakers on relevant topics such as “Using Gamification to Captivate Your Customers” and “Social Media Guidelines for Highly Regulated Industries.”

BlogWorld & New Media Expo - June 5 – 7, 2012, New York City, New York

BlogWorld is undoubtedly the largest in scale and longest running social media event on this list. Originally for bloggers, BlogWorld now includes enough social media speakers and workshops so that I can say that if there was only one event you could go to in 2012, this would be the one I recommend. With past speakers that include tech guru Guy Kawasaki, you can be assured of high-impact exchanges plus the chance to meet and collaborate with fellow practitioners and innovators. BlogWorld is also held in Los Angeles late in the year.

Content Marketing World 2012 – September 4 – 6, 2012, Columbus, Ohio

Dubbed as the largest gathering of content marketing professionals in the world, CMW is where content marketers converge to tell their stories. Covering topics that include Managing Content Marketing and the ROI of Content Marketing, Content Marketing World is the brainchild of the “Father of Content Marketing,” Joe Pulizzi, and his Content Marketing institute.

Have you been to any of the above events? Which ones are you the biggest fan of?

Neal Schaffer  (344 Posts)

Once you move beyond the generic “add connections” option that LinkedIn has, you might want to specifically search for and increase your connections with people aligned with whatever connection policy you might have.  The challenge is that restrictions exist within LinkedIn that may prevent you from inviting others you don’t personally know.  You are entitled to try to connect with people without knowing their email address, but once five people respond to your invitation to connect by nothing that they don’t know you, your ability to connect will be restricted.

Once you’ve decided to connect with professionals that aren’t part of your network, chances are you will initially find them by doing advanced people searches.  If you are already an experienced user, you’ll likely encounter people you might want to connect with everywhere on LinkedIn.  These people often appear on the “people you may know” widget that is featured prominently in the top right-hand corner of your LinkedIn home page and in group discussions.  So, once you find someone with whom you’d like to connect, follow these guidelines to complete the connection:

Read the contact settings:  There are many people on LinkedIn who aren’t engaged on the platform.  They signed up and forgot about their profiles, or they just simply “checked out” for some reason.  Some may indicate in their contact settings that they are not open to receiving connections, but, if they include their contact details here, or anywhere else on their profile, you have implicit permission to contact them.  If you want to be cautious, first contact them and let them know why you want to connect.  Also mention how you can help them.  Then ask if you can connect on LinkedIn for a mutually beneficial  – and connected – relationship.

“Read” the profile:  A LinkedIn profile says a thousand things about someone’s attitude toward online professional networking, and by thoroughly reading the profile, you can determine how active a particular user is on the website.  In general, the more active people are on LinkedIn, the more they will understand the value of business networking and thus the more willing they will be to connect if you send a personalized invite.

Warm leads are always the best:  As in real life, a “warm” lead, someone your target connection actually knows who can make a personal introduction on your behalf, often leads to the greatest success.  Rather than relying on a cold call or email, get in touch with the person who connects the two of you and ask him or her for a formal introduction.  If your targeted user is a third-degree connection, find someone who could facilitate an introduction between you and a person who is actually connected to your targeted user.  Your eventual goal is to be introduced to your second-degree connection who can then facilitate the introduction with your third-degree connection.

Join the same LinkedIn Group:  A simple tactic you can use to contact someone is to join one of his or her LinkedIn Groups.  Of course, this only works if your desired contact has the default settings on, which allows group members to send messages to each other.  At present, the option to send a message to a group member does not appear as an option when you find a common group member on an advanced people search result; instead, you will be prompted to send an InMail. No worries: Simply navigate to the same Group that you a member of, do a member search, and you will have the option to send a message from that user interface.

Send the “Hail Mary” InMail: InMail is a paid LinkedIn service to contact people who are not first-degree connections, which I consider to be the equivalent of a “Hail Mary” toss in a football game.  LinkedIn promotes the use of InMail as being a very effective way to communicate.  Currently, non-paying members have the option to purchase InMails a’ la carte for $10 apiece.  Though some people might shirk at the idea of paying for such a service, consider it a business investment that may have lucrative potential. Everyone’s experience will be different, so you should at least experiment with the InMail and determine your own ROI.

One final note before reaching out: Don’t forget your manners.  Just as you should continue to foster warm leads in the “real” world, you need to do the same online.  Don’t forget that, behind every online persona, there is a real person.  Whenever you communicate with someone online, you should personalize your communication and give him or her a reason to connect to you. Always remember that manners apply online just as they do offline, and LinkedIn (as well as all social media) is simply an example of  new tools, old rules.

What have your experiences been in reaching out to new people on LinkedIn?

The above is a summary of selected content from my critically acclaimed new LinkedIn for business book “Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing,” available at Amazon, Kindle, Nook, or iTunes.

Neal Schaffer  (344 Posts)

Optimize Story, Wrapper and Delivery Mechanisms to Break Through and Achieve Your Goals

I started the first column in this series with the decidedly uncontroversial statement: Content is King.

The truth is, I don’t really believe these words.

In my opinion, content is no longer king. In fact, it is quickly becoming a commodity. The burgeoning growth of information and media choices is dividing our attention, and challenging marketers’ efforts to rise above the noise.

Please understand that I am not saying that content is unimportant; just that having great content alone is not enough to achieve your goals, whether they be lead generation, thought leadership, brand building, etc.

Amidst an explosion of content choices, I believe that it is now attention (or the ability to capture and keep it) that reigns supreme.

So, how does one win the attention game in content marketing? How do you build better memes, launch communiqué that connect, make an impression, and inspire action? It is your ability to tell a great story, one that is aligned with the interests and needs of your audiences – but also to optimize factors related to the information wrapper and carrier that will determine your success.

140-Characters ADD

The online world presents many challenges to marketers. Where once we had more control over the message, and there was an orderly way for getting it out, today it is the Wild West by comparison. There is much more noise, many more distractions, and anyone can be a publisher or influencer.

Michael Brenner wrote in his post How to Generate ROI (Return on Interesting) with Content Marketing on the Business 2 Community blog:

The last few years has seen a huge change in the underlying economics of marketing. It now effectively costs nothing to get messages out to the market, via web pages, blog posts, Twitter, or Facebook – it’s easier than ever to “make noise”. But because everybody else in the market is making noise, it’s harder than ever to get “listened to”.

Short forms of communications such as Twitter and social networking status updates have added to the din, and conditioned us to think that information is unimportant if it can’t be expressed in 140 characters or less.

These realities have trained people to efficiently filter out potential time wasters. We can easily discern the Tweets and blog posts that can help vs. the ones that just add noise. The latter will do nothing for you; in fact they could tarnish the brand you work so hard to build.

Boosting the Signal to Noise Ratio

To be successful, I believe you have to reverse roles and put yourself in the shoes of the buyer. You need to be where your buyers are and boost what audio engineers call signal to noise ratio.

One way to get attention and boost content “signal” is to be vocal about issues that your customers care about. Your customers need to believe that they can learn, solve problems or improve their experiences by consuming your content.

In the same article mentioned above, Michael Brenner wrote:

… Audience Marketing is the best way to create more interesting content. It’s centered around defining a group of people with common interests…It is generally easier to start with identifying interesting topics which will typically cross common “targeting” labels. And by starting with topics, you will be able to define the types of content people find most interesting.

It is Not Just What You Say, but How You Say It

There simply is no substitute for a good message or story. On the other hand, how you say something – using the right wrapper for your information, and distribution mechanism – can be critical. E.g., calling your content “news” and sending a press release over the wires can have a dramatic impact on how the information is received and where it is featured.

There is no question that optimizing your content for general Web and social media can help get it in front of more people. Technology can greatly amplify reach and distribution – but is anyone listening? True, your information may be in more places, but what is the impact?

Breaking Through

With these thoughts in mind, I offer the following in advice on optimizing content, wrapper and delivery mechanism to get attention for your content.

Tell a Good Story
Indeed, nothing else matters if you can’t do this.

Master Short Forms and Integrated Communications Tactics; Share Info in Layers
While a white paper might scare up some sales leads when distributed via email marketing, it will likely make a very boring and easy-to-ignore blog post.

The beauty of the online world is that we don’t need to raise the white flag and abandon complex ideas or nuance, i.e. information that can’t be easily expressed in 140 characters.

• For success, perfect the art of sharing information in layers; e.g. you can use Twitter to attract attention via a catchy tweet that points, via a link, to additional content on your blog, website, etc.
• Learn and master the art of headline writing (see my post Crafting Headlines that Pop)

Know the Hot Topics and Where Your Audiences Live Online
Where are the eyeballs of your customers today – and how can you get in front of them? How is this changing?

E.g., while Twitter started out as the fun toy of the techies, it is now much more mainstream. Facebook was once just for fun and games. This is obviously no longer true.

New apps and networks are constantly emerging. Quora was very hot a year ago, as was FourSquare. Pinterest and Instagram are now all the rage. Which networks are gaining a head of steam today, but also have legs for the future?

• You need to check assumptions and determine which networks are relevant for your customers.
• Take the time to understand your audiences and the topics that they are interested in (the Business 2 Community post explains more about this).

Stay ahead of the Market
Marketers are constantly tuning their messages and tactics. If you want to break through, it helps to heed what others in your space are doing and adjust your approach accordingly. What content and headlines grab your attention?

Sometimes it pays to “zig” when others “zag”. For example, infographics have been all the rage in online marketing – they help us deal with information overload by communicating complex information in an easily digestible, visual format. Yet these days it is easy to get lost in a sea of infographics, as I wrote in my post: I Hate Retweet Bait. So why not explore new methods instead of competing with the hordes?

Leverage Social and Influencer Equity
Also, having the right intermediary – one who agrees your story has value and is willing to spend time writing about it, talking about it or otherwise advancing it – can make a big difference in your success.

• Whether you call them analysts, bloggers, tweeters, columnists, or all of the above, learn who holds sway in your / your client’s area of specialty, and make sure that you factor them into your campaigns.

Those are some of my top tips for winning the attention game in content marketing; I look forward sharing more details, examples and case studies in future columns.

Bob Geller  (3 Posts)

This monthly Content Marketing and Social Media post is contributed by Bob Geller. Bob is president of Fusion PR, and has a background that combines a solid grounding in technology with a 25 year record of success in sales, marketing, and public relations. Bob joined Fusion in 2000, and has helped build it into a leading independent tech PR agency. He has led client teams that have achieved outstanding results in areas ranging from enterprise tech, to telecom, online, CE, financial and clean tech. Bob also helped launch Social Fluency, a subsidiary of Fusion that develops dynamic social media practices which are integrated with traditional PR efforts. Bob has provided critical commentary to publications such as CMO Magazine, PR Week, PR News, and Bulldog Reporter. He created and manages the influential blog Flack’s Revenge, and has contributed to Cision Navigator, Ragan’s PR Daily, and Handshake 2.0, among others.

Bob Geller  (3 Posts)

This monthly Content Marketing and Social Media post is contributed by Bob Geller. Bob is president of Fusion PR, and has a background that combines a solid grounding in technology with a 25 year record of success in sales, marketing, and public relations. Bob joined Fusion in 2000, and has helped build it into a leading independent tech PR agency. He has led client teams that have achieved outstanding results in areas ranging from enterprise tech, to telecom, online, CE, financial and clean tech. Bob also helped launch Social Fluency, a subsidiary of Fusion that develops dynamic social media practices which are integrated with traditional PR efforts. Bob has provided critical commentary to publications such as CMO Magazine, PR Week, PR News, and Bulldog Reporter. He created and manages the influential blog Flack’s Revenge, and has contributed to Cision Navigator, Ragan’s PR Daily, and Handshake 2.0, among others.

Social media has revolutionized the way businesses are able to interact with consumers – It sets an unprecedented opportunity for brands to raise the bar in providing unique, personal experiences for customers past, present and future. The hospitality industry in particular has an enormous opportunity to market in innovative ways via tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogging, mobile-based initiatives and more.

The definition of hospitality is “the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.” The industry traditionally consists of lodging, restaurants, theme parks, transportation and other entities related to the tourism space.  For a segment distinctly characterized by providing excellent customer service, the incorporation of social media to marketing and branding strategies is a perfect marriage. 

Location-Based Loyalty

Restaurants can utilize geo-location-based mobile platforms like Foursquare to create deals that entice return visits. Once that loyalty is established, a mobile-based loyalty program can be established which rewards those return visits. Stamp cards now longer need to remain stuffed in a wallet; everything can be managed through a cellphone.

Everyone is a Reviewer

Restaurants and hotels alike should monitor review sites, like TripAdvisor and Yelp, where travelers and diners can learn of their peers’ first-hand experiences with specific venues.  Whereas it was previously custom for a restaurant reviewer to attend a restaurant, and wait a bit to post any feedback, everyone is now a reviewer, and one bad experience can be posted publicly, in real time, for the world to see.

Mobile and Video Key for Hotels

For hotels, where the customer is someone that’s clearly on-the-go, it’s extremely important to have a user-friendly mobile site allowing travelers convenient access to anything they may be seeking to make their stay more enjoyable. Mobile sites should be straightforward and easily maneuverable.

Hotels have great opportunity, too, to get creative with video. By creating unique video campaigns, hotels can display personality and subsequently leave fans with a more intimate perception of somewhere they may consider residing in the future. Video contests are also a fun idea in that they stimulate excitement about the property among the entrants.

Airlines and Destinations Embrace Social Marketing

Boasting a potent social presence, airlines are embracing new technology in a variety of ways. One recently took to social networks to address a very public, Words-With-Friends-related debacle. Some have replaced flight manuals with iPads, while others offer free WiFi during flights, and others have developed mobile apps that allow travelers to check the where-abouts of their checked luggage at any time. Virgin Air and All Nippon Airways are two that have used social media for influencer outreach.

Destinations are also using a great job tying in social marketing. Several have created specialized landing pages on city websites, noting the social channels of various major players in that city. Many are using Twitter and Facebook to keep travelers and locals alike in-the-know on local happenings, news and events, along with information specific to various relevant niches such as hotels, dining, arts and shopping.

Social marketing in the hospitality industry evolves as we speak. I look forward to highlighting case studies and the various ways this industry is capitalizing on social media – and how readers can as well.

Debbie Miller  (1 Posts)

This monthly Social Media and the Hospitality Industry post is contributed by Debbie Miller. Debbie is the Founder of Social Hospitality, a blog which outlines the ways businesses in the hospitality industry are using social media. She works for HyperDisk Marketing managing social media accounts, writing website copy and executing SEO strategies for clients. Prior, she was with a destination marketing organization where she maintained the website along with launching and managing their social media presence. She is very active in the social networking community in southern California, has enjoyed watching social media emerge over the past several years and is fascinated by its continuing evolution.

Debbie Miller  (1 Posts)

This monthly Social Media and the Hospitality Industry post is contributed by Debbie Miller. Debbie is the Founder of Social Hospitality, a blog which outlines the ways businesses in the hospitality industry are using social media. She works for HyperDisk Marketing managing social media accounts, writing website copy and executing SEO strategies for clients. Prior, she was with a destination marketing organization where she maintained the website along with launching and managing their social media presence. She is very active in the social networking community in southern California, has enjoyed watching social media emerge over the past several years and is fascinated by its continuing evolution.