<b> Bold Interactive Inc.

Stoney de Geyter at Pole Position Marketing and of E-Marketing Performance fame has tagged me. Seems he wants to know how I measure Social Media Marketing.

I pondered this very topic without solid conclusions on Nov 1st in a post entitled: Social Media: Marketing or Measurement? So now is as good a time as ever to revisit the topic.

First of all, I will answer the question I posed at the beginning of the month: Social Media is both measurement and marketing.

Social Media can be a great way to measure Branding efforts, more so when they are carefully coordinated and monitored with traditional, offline branding campaigns. Results from such campaigns can be measured by tracking “friends” on social networks, “followers” and mentions on Twitter, Google Alerts and Google Blog Search, Technorati, and social bookmarking sites.

Yes, it takes a lot of work. And that’s just for the tracking. When you build and maintain these efforts, you get into the marketing. But social media primarily provides us with new tools that help us to implement tried and true marketing techniques. Sites like MySpace and Digg allow for both push (advertising) and pull (conversations). These two primary types of marketing are nothing new. Social media, however, is the new platform for us to explore them.

When these campaigns are engaged, then it’s time to use very analytics, landing pages, promotional codes - all the good stuff from websites and print marketing.

Analytics allows you to track referrals to your site. I’ve shared some analysis on StumbleUpon, for example, which includes how many visitors, their bounce rates, etc.

Landing pages are not just good for paid search, they can be used for social media as well. Try them with your social networks on Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook.

Or try setting up promotions. For example, use different codes for MySpace and Facebook friends. Yes, it could travel virally. You want it to travel virally. But you’ll know the success of a given campaign based upon the use of those promo codes.

For the most part, the tricks of the trade that work in traditional marketing, and more familiar types of online marketing (SEO, PPC, email marketing) work in Social Media. Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way because the conversation is a much bigger part of the picture - but don’t let that aspect (which is a wonderful one, btw), throw you off your measurement track.

And that’s how I feel about it!

I, in turn, will tag: Lisa McNeill at Ignite Social Media, Sam Harrelson, and Steven Snell.

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

I have to say after going shopping on Black Friday and putting up the Christmas tree on Saturday, it feels weird to be working and having the kids at school. But it’s a good weird. I was feeling a bit consumed by consumerism.

Perhaps that’s why “Cyber-Monday,” in its very short history, has been less than successful in producing a spike in profits. People are back at work, and quite frankly, we need a little break from all the celebratory events.

It didn’t stop me from checking my eBay bids, however. I’ve never bid on anything on eBay until a few days ago. I’ve only always done the “Buy It Now” thing. My husband can attest that it caused quite the frustration when I didn’t understand the whole automatic maximum bid thing.

Then, when I did, it became dangerous. Those of you who’ve used eBay understand. I mean, if you think that being addicted to Social Media tools like StumbleUpon and Twitter is addictive - just add spending money to the mix and you know what I mean.

So, now I’ve bought 2 presents for my husband for Christmas that I wish I hadn’t. He’ll still love them. I know he will. He’s good like that.

On the other hand, I’m currently winning on an iPod mini. I’ve been using my daughter’s Mini for a while now (she wasn’t using it before), but now it’s time to get it back to her.

Anyway, it’s time to regroup, remember what’s important in life (HINT: not material goods such as the typical Christmas present), and get back to work!

What’s new with you?

Last week, I finally “got” Twitter. I was attending the TIMA lunch and Twitter was brought up. The “tracking” feature is what attracted me to invest more time in the Instant-Messaging-Meets-Social-Media-Networking tool.

Using IM or SMS you can track a word and it will send you any “Tweets” (Twitter messages) that Twitter users submit to the Twittersphere.

Let’s pretend you work in-house at a company that sells golfing products. You could set up a Twitter page for my company. Then you could set up to “track golf” on my Google Talk. Anytime I see that someone is talking about golf, you could find that user on “Twitter” and start following them.

Here are 10 Tweets that mentioned “golf” last week.

• (jrnoded): plan for afternoon: Lowes run for new screen, get golf balls, eat mexican food.
• (hollster): I think I’m going thru golf withdrawal…
• (imadridcv): LO 470.000 EUR -Luxury apartment on the golf course and with partial sea views(Mallorca)*foto: A near.. http://tinyurl.com/29×9ar
• (chalko): Lunch with Maria at the golf course.
• (zedomax): New blog post: What every golf widow needs http://tinyurl.com/yqo4oa
• (flowerdust): watching nongolfers try to play golf, and losing their golf balls in her back yard. suckas.
• (cnafrontpage): Golf: Ochoa, Creamer set the pace for LPGA final-round qualifiers: WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - World .. http://tinyurl.com/2gugpc
• (cmail_breaking): Duck cull sparks golf club ire: THE greens at a Sydney golf club have been vandalised over the cul.. http://tinyurl.com/2ba9s9
• (gfwchina): Golf Magazines for Women: Some of the departments that this magazine offers include: equipment, instruct.. http://tinyurl.com/259tf9
• (MrBusinessGolf): @RexDixon I’m sure there are business men and women out playing business golf right now who are making a deal for more than a $1million.

Now, not every one of those is a good prospect. Golf widows probably don’t want to hear from you. But MrBusinessGolf sounds promising. You check his profile. He’s a business golf mentor. This is definitely one to follow.

Anytime you “follow” (which is like becoming a friend on other social networks like MySpace, Facebook, or Digg), it sends a notification to that user. So, MrBusinessGolf might check out your profile because you’re now following him. If he’s interested, he’ll follow you back (for which you’ll receive a notification).

At this point, you can start having conversations with MrBusinessGolf. Start casual. Make acquaintances. Don’t just say “Check out our sale on customized recycled golf balls!” Instead, build a relationship.

But you can establish an expectation with your followers (no, Twitter is not a cult) that you will send out periodic news and specials. Use TinyURL to do this. If you mix this in with general news or pointing to golfing blogs outside your company, you’ll become a resource for people, establishing a valuable reason for golf-lovers to be following you.

You might want to put up a few Tweets before you start following people, so they can see your pattern in order to make the decision on whether to follow you back.

By the way, when you want to send or respond to one particular user, use the @ sign followed by their user name. This is because everyone who’s following you can see your messages. It’s not one-on-one IM. So, if I write something and you want to respond to me, you would write @wrtrgrl - you are the coolest girl in the world. And then I would think how smart you must be to make such a poignant observation.

Clear as mud? Good. It’s easier than it sounds. just get started. If you want to Twitter with me, follow me at Twitter.com/wrtrgrl. Feel free to pick my brain, network, offer me large sums of money, etc.

Have any Twitter tips? Leave a comment and strut your stuff!

Technorati Tags: twitter, social media, conversation marketing

Kate from Cheesy Marketing Ramblings is my hero. On Monday, she stumbled the For My Writer Friends post. Yesterday, that post generated 5,500 unique visits to our site.

Last week I talked about how StumbleUpon traffic refers good traffic for a client.

This week, it’s providing good traffic for us.

Here are yesterday’s stats solely based on SU traffic:

30 new RSS subscribers
1.97 average pages per visit
39% bounce rate
95% new traffic

The content simply included a cartoon that I didn’t even create. So, I can’t even take credit for writing an awesome piece. Oh well. What I do know is that the comic struck a chord with many writers. It related a universal experience. It’s the type of thing that brings people together and builds community.

Being vulnerable and transparent is driving social media and conversation marketing because it creates common ground among people. It should always be a pillar of your new media strategies.

Today, I attend my first luncheon hosted by the Triangle Interactive Marketing Association. Peter Shankman, Sam Harrelson, and Angela Connor were the panelists, and the lunch was sponsored by MySpace. The focus today is Social Media.

Here’s what they had to say:

1. Being good at social networking requires being good at networking in general. Technology is the tool, just like the luncheon is a tool for networking.
2. Twitter’s tracking feature is cool. Good way to meet people and expand your network. (follow wrtrgrl if you want to, and you know you do)
3. Permission-based marketing is essential for successful social media campaigns. Asking a blogger their permission to send a product is more empowering to them than just sending them your product without asking.
4. Don’t force social media. Only Tweet, blog, etc. when you have something to say that’s worthwhile.
5. Carry breath mints in case the food has onions.
6. Don’t attempt to have separate personal and professional lives on the internet. Integrate them. Blend your personal and professional brands. It’s ok to not publish that picture of you with a bong.
7. Speaking of bongs, Peter Shankman does a lot worse things than smoking bongs because he lives in NYC, cuz that’s how they roll.
8. Explore niche sites to find your community.
9. Build relationships with people. Don’t just go into a forum and start selling. This takes some time.
10. B2B social media is difficult and time-consuming, but it can be done.
11. Privacy is a commodity.

If you went, tell us what you learned by leaving a comment!

Matt J MacDonald has got me thinking about what Social Media truly is.

Is it a form of marketing?

Or is it really a measurement of other marketing methods?

One of the biggest problems companies face when making decisions about social media campaigns is the ability to measure it. Yet, for decades companies have engaged in branding campaigns where measurement can get a bit fuzzy.

But let’s say a company develops two TV advertising spots. One spot is very popular and gets talked about on blogs and makes the home page of Digg. The other ad gets noticed, but doesn’t garner quite as much attention. In this scenario, social media becomes a tool for measurement.

Of course, it’s not a hard metric. It’s not like analytics for a paid search campaign or ROI from a direct marketing campaign. Those are definitive numbers. But there is enough measurement in social media to know what worked and what didn’t.

In light of this, can social media still be considered a form of marketing? If so, then how should it be measured?

I’m not ready to answer that question. In fact, I’d really like a solid debate before forming an opinion, so get your comments and trackbacks ready.

But my initial reaction is that, if anything, social media is more akin to public relations than marketing. It’s about who you know and getting “earned” coverage instead of paid coverage. In PR, you have to network with journalists and know how to get them to cover your story. In Social Media, you have to network with bloggers, Diggers, Stumblers, and brand evangelists and know how to get them to spread the word.

Some PR companies measure success by equating coverage with what would have been ad spend on the same space. Is it possible, then to measure Social Media in the same way? Let’s say your piece makes it to the front page of Digg. Well, what does it cost to advertise on the home page of Digg? (Click here to do the math). You’ve essentially earned yourself that much free advertising. Which, of course, you’ll want to measure.

That’s where web analytics comes in. Check out where your referrals are coming from. If you’re getting a bunch of referrals from Propeller, and those people are clicking around on your site, staying around and hanging out, then you know it’s a good place to submit your stuff. In fact, many Digg submissions of mine generate far more referrals than they do actual Digg votes.

Of course, now I’m questioning whether or not Conversation Marketing should really be called marketing (something that’s been bothering me a bit anyway). But I’ll save that for a future post.

What do you think? Is Social Media better as marketing or measurement?

Mark Goren at Transmission Marketing related a story about how little Spirit Airlines cares about its customers. Seems the CEO accidentally replied to all on a customer complaint, which eventually made its way to a blogger:

“Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I’m concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.”

Ouch!

So, how does Spirit Airlines recover? It’s time for them to enter Social Media Rehab, and here are the 12 steps they need to follow:

1. Admit you have a problem
2. Apologize for being an a$$
3. Make up for the inconvenience you caused them… and then some
4. Develop a set of values which incorporate both the needs of customers and the business (including employees!)
5. Start tracking online conversations about your brand
6. Designate employees to speak/write for your brand
7. Provide them with training in conversation marketing
8. Engage in said conversations using said values
9. Create corporate blog
10. Enable comments, even the negative ones
11. Develop social networking site for your brand evangelists
12. Enjoy success!

The irony of it all (besides the company name being Spirit) is that it could have gone very differently. A good customer experience would have yielded positive word of mouth (FREE ADVERTISING!) and increased Spirit’s sales.

Technorati Tags: conversation marketing, social media, blogging

Recently, Digg upgraded its site and let friends send shouts to each other. This is nice because it makes it easier to ask people for a Digg.

However, a couple people have become trigger-happy and send out shout messages all the time. Some MyBlogLog-ers have the same problem with messages.

My message to you overachievers is this: Know your audience. Don’t throw out a wide net to a broad audience hoping some fish will be caught. It’s all about developing relationships more than it is just catching people. It’s give and take not bait and take.

Sure, you might get a ton of traffic from a Bigg Digg, but those peeps don’t stick around. Loyal customers grow your company, not random people who thought it was awesome that an anaconda is getting an ultrasound.

Happy Shouting!

Technorati Tags: digg, shouts, social media, conversation marketing

Just a quick note.

Some people have suggested that kittens and cats are not quality StumbleUpon content.

Speak for yourself. (Ok, I guess you kind of did.)

But I selected “Cats” as one of my favorite categories. And I love Stumbling kittens. Not physically, of course.

So Kitten Stumblers, UNITE!

Don’t make me start a cute cat pictures of the week post, ppl!

Technorati Tags: cats, stumbleupon, social media

I’ve been tagged by my good online buddy, Marty Weintraub. And I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity to pass along some important information:

Next week at SMX Social Media in New York, there will be a party to raise funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I can’t be there, but I’m going to donate $$ and link love anyway. And I’m asking you to do the same.

But I’m going to go one step further and ask you - how is your health? When was the last time you had a physical? Have you been putting off a doctor’s appointment to get a pesky pain or spot checked out? Don’t delay any longer. Sure, it’s SCARY! But early detection is the key to survival.

My family is no stranger to cancer diagnosis. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer on Valentine’s Day, 2003. My brother-in-law had to have a small area of skin cancer removed from his arm. And my dad recently died of brain cancer.

Think it won’t happen to you? I hope not. But just in case. Pick up the phone right now and schedule that physical with your doctor.

My duty is to next pass this along to three more bloggers. Cord, Donna, and Wendy, would you pass along the word to your readers? Hmm, I wonder if Mark Cuban would do the same?

Technorati Tags: charity, smx social media, leukemia, lymphoma