 |
|
Archives
|
Overdrive Interactive Wants YOU...To Be an Intern!School’s out. Time to put away textbooks, pack up your laptops, and stash away your flashcards. And although the idea of going to the beach every day is tempting (almost too tempting), we all know it’s important to find that perfect internship instead. So where do you begin? You know you need to find something that will enable you to gain valuable work experience in the marketing industry, while at the same time providing you with the opportunity to expand your skill set and knowledge base...This is where Overdrive Interactive comes in.  Enjoy photo copying large documents? Want to increase your experience in staple removal? If so, this is not the internship for you. An internship at Overdrive could be your foot in the door to a full time position. Our interns are not going on coffee runs and sorting folders. Our interns are getting real-life experience by working on projects and tasks that are integral pieces to our business. As an intern at Overdrive you are viewed as a valuable team member and asset to the business. From the first day on the job you will be given projects that will allow you to show off your leadership, management and creative skills. Beyond the real life experience, our internships train you to become fully equipped with an arsenal of tools that an interactive marketer needs to connect with consumers in the digital age. Who are we looking for? If you’re hard working, motivated and dedicated to learning about interactive marketing and positively impacting a company, apply. We are looking for current undergraduate seniors, graduating seniors or graduate students who demonstrate a passion for online marketing, social media and search marketing technologies. Don’t worry; there is space in the interactive marketing world at Overdrive for your interests. We have internship positions available in the following departments.
We look forward to hearing from you soon! Labels: Overdrive News, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing Overdrive Interactive Releases Social Media Marketing Whitepaper: "Chiclets: The Social Glue of the Web"Agency helps marketers understand how to infuse campaigns and content with the viral marketing power of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and other social properties. Overdrive Interactive, an award-winning digital agency who specializes in search and social media marketing, has released a new whitepaper “Chiclets: The Social Glue of the Web.” The white paper is available for free at http://www.ovrdrv.com/chiclets or by contacting the agency directly. The whitepaper was developed as part of Overdrive Interactive's commitment to educate all marketers on the power and measurability of social media and how to best apply it to their marketing objectives. Harry J. Gold, the agency’s CEO, said about the white paper, “We developed this paper because chiclets are truly the most powerful and most underutilized nuggets of free social media technology out there…they are literally marketing miracles.” He added, “Marketers need to be aware of the content distribution power of these colorful little icons and have a chiclet strategy for all their online marketing activities.”  The whitepaper covers chiclet strategy and tactics by answering a series of questions ranging from what a chiclet is to how they can enhance websites, banners and any online campaign with instant one click viral distribution. Readers will see real examples of exactly how chiclets actually work to easily get content posted in consumer’s Facebook profiles, blogs and Twitter micro-blogs. Ty Velde, Overdrive Interactive’s EVP and Director of Client Services said, “We help companies add social octane to their websites, landing pages, emails, banners, basically everything they do online, with well thought out, measurable social media marketing and chiclet programs.” He went on to say, “Chiclets can turn just a few clicks into thousands of impressions that create lasting links and content placements all over the social web. The results are more traffic, more actions, more leads or revenue and more success for your online marketing programs.” “Chiclets: The Social Glue of The Web,” is just another example of how Overdrive Interactive is demystifying social media and bringing effective, measurable and easy to understand social media marketing strategies and tactics to the marketplace. ### About Overdrive Interactive Overdrive Interactive is a full-service online marketing agency based in Boston that helps clients grow their business with engaging and measurable social media marketing and search engine marketing campaigns and services. The agency specializes in creating genuine consumer connections that help companies build their brands, generate leads and drive revenue. Overdrive Interactive serves organizations that are seeking a high level of accountability from their agencies with proprietary social media tracking and dashboard technologies that allow companies to track actual leads, revenue and ROI from their social programs. For more information, please visit www.OverdriveInteractive.com. Labels: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, social media measurement, social media monitoring, social media tracking Is Chatroulette A Passing Fad or Potential Opportunity For Brands?The big phenomenon currently making waves on the interwebs right now, Chatroulette, is like Skype on steroids. It’s the newest innovation in live video conferencing. With the recent buzz it’s generated on the USA Today and NYTimes , you may already be familiar with how Chatroulette works. For those who are unaware of the crazed, addicting, and somewhat creepy nature of th  e technology, Chatroulette is a one-to-one webcam and chat service that connects you with anyone in the world (word of advice: Go on Chatroulette at home, it's NSFW). When I say anyone, I really mean anyone. A week ago, my roommates and I went on Chatroulette and had a 30 minute conversion with a couple of girls from Canada, and later in the night we talked about our love for crêpe’s with some people from Paris. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher, and The Jonas Brothers have also been seen to be hopping aboard the Chatroulette bandwagon. It's an intriguing concept to say the least.The traffic to Chatroulette.com has exploded in recent weeks. According to AdAge, traffic doubled in one week from 20,000 to 40,000. Copycats of the service such as Redditroulette and Tinychat are also cropping up. What is the obsession for people over this thing? It’s hard to say. However, if marketers can figure out what is driving people to flock to sites like Chatroulette, they may discover how to market to mass audiences through interactive video conferencing. In his article on AdAge, Matthew Szymczyk says that Chatroulette might lay the groundwork for the future of live video conferencing and streaming. Here are some recent stats he presented that shows how the live conferencing site Ustream is benefiting celebrities, artists, and film studios:
It will be interesting to see if interactive video conferencing will ever become a part of a brands social media strategy. There seems to be some opportunity there. Do you think the technology can help brands reach a mass audience like artists and celebrities do on sites like Ustream? Or do you see it a passing fad or an invasion of privacy? Labels: Marketing, Social Media Marketing, web 2.0 Foursquare: Marketers Start to Jump Aboard the Next Social PhenomenonFoursquare – you’ve heard of it, probably even might be a member yourself. The quick-growing location-based social network is beginning to make reputable noise in the social space, and since August, traffic and user growth has soared for the new social noise maker.  According to co-founder Dennis Crowley, the platform is closing in on 500,000 individual users, with about 70% of the user base in the United States, and their international arm growing quickly – especially Tokyo, according to Crowley in an e-mail interview. These users are also checking in at an astonishing rate of 1.5 million check-ins a week. If you are not familiar with Foursquare, the concept is simple – you sign up for an account and then you began the process of checking-in wherever you go; the majority of check-ins that are being done are through GPS-enabled mobile devices.  This social city-guide and game rewards you then for doing interesting things. The motive is to encourage people to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways. The rewards attached to this are tied to pseudo ‘badges’ a user is given for unlocking new places, times you check-in, how often, ultimately working your way to become the “Mayor” or “Deputy” of that locale. In addition, the platform makes it very easy to connect your updates to your Twitter and Facebook profiles – seemingly synching your entire network with each update you post on Foursquare. Something that was not in place last year when Foursquare introduced themselves at the SXSW, but is working it’s way into a much more seamless process in 2010 and allows for a much higher engagement and viral distribution. The concept is quite ingenious and despite it’s evolving stature; it is beginning to make quite the name for itself. Just in the past month, it’s been reported that Foursquare inked several major media partnership deals, including Bravo TV, Zagat, Warner Bros., HBO, the History Channel, ExploreChicago, and more. These “branded” type of channels could be, if used and marketed properly, great engagement tools that focus around brand awareness, content sharing, and goes one step further and creates a physical presence with your brand using local stops where you instruct users to go. With the user taking part in the brand’s “game”, it allows the brand to create custom badges with Foursquare directly to keep user’s engaged and work toward further outreach goals. Zagat @ Foursquare Zagat’s official Foursquare page is calling the partnership “Foodie Love” and there is a custom badge to go along with taking part in the Zagat experience. The page offers people to follow Zagat and then take part and in various venues where Zagat wants users to check-in from, mainly a variety of restaurants throughout the country; check-in there, become a Zagat Foodie, and unlock the Zagat Foodie Badge. And through further engagement – Zagat is going to have a online video series on their website called “Meet the Mayor” where they will feature discussions with prominent Foursquare mayors.  Harvard @ Foursquare The prestigious Harvard University has also partnered with Foursquare to create a channel where they list locations, experiences and ideas for students and visitors to go and check-in – taking part in the Harvard community; soon unlocking a custom Harvard Foursquare badge. Whether that helps with the admission process…I’m going to say doubtful – but hell of an engagement tool!  New York Times @ Foursquare The NYT recently closed a deal with Foursquare and created a branded channel that is celebrating the 2010 Vancouver Olympics by sharing tips on what to see and where to go in Vancouver and Whistler. And if you check-in to two recommended venues you get to unlock the Olympics badge.  Conclusion There is no doubt that Foursquare is growing quickly, with the focus mainly on gaining users, not revenue at the moment, according to Crowley; with now nearly 500,000 users, this number is likely to grow fast! After the Bravo TV deal was inked last month, a number of major brands, as shown above, came knocking at the door to work with Foursqaure, no doubt helping them earn some revenue. And with the ability for locales to offer up free food, drinks, discounts, coupons just for those who might become the “mayor” or “deputy” of their venue; being on Foursquare could soon become like being on Twitter…maybe? In addition, Crowley did confirm that Foursquare is working on creating actual incentives for users who garner specific badges and points in their account - not just pseudo "Mayoral" titles. To that end, Foursquare is working on a set of services and tools, according to AdAge in early February, to begin offering paid services on a three tiers: one for small (local) businesses, one for retail chains, one for large marketers. Begin throwing these offers around, and soon Foursquare will move pass just the “engagement” level that these major brands are seeing above as far as click, follows and check-ins; and offer nailed-down analytics (impressions, clicks, friends, etc…) and deals could be sold against impressions such as web ads, clicks such as search ads, or even what Kunur Patel in AdAge said, “ a completely new model: cost per check-in.” Foursquare TV Commercial Update: A tweet today, February 24, from the Foursquare Twitter account said that there is a rumor that a Foursquare commercial could be running tonight on Bravo alongside the show Sheer Genius from 9 to 10 PM. The rumor quickly went to fact is going to be a 20 second spot that highlights Foursquare’s new partnership with Bravo TV. Watch the ad spot here (something I’m sure will garner a few more users…): Labels: Foursquare, online marketing, Social Media Marketing CMO's here's a new social media metric for you I am still not sure how to react to the latest poll by eMarketer indicating Comparative Estimates: Leading Metric Used by Marketers to Measure Social Media Marketing Success, 2009. Not a single mention of Social Media and tying results to ROI. Stunned by the results of the survey is about all I can muster for a reaction. 76% polled, answered driving site traffic as their number one metric to gauge a successful social media campaign. Ouch! Overdrive Interactive views social media as another channel and significant business unit that should be sharing in the responsibilities of ROI. I laugh too when people ask the ROI or value of putting your pants on, ok point taken. But surely at this stage of social marketing maturity we should be expecting more than just an increase in click through volume. Labels: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, social media roi, social media tracking Google Buzz vs. Everything ElseYesterday, Jeremiah Owyang of Web Strategy published a blog post that weighed in on his opinion of the freshly released "Google Buzz." So what is Google Buzz? Google's answer to social networks like Twitter and Facebook that attempts to incorporate and aggregate the chatter on all existing social networks. Many users have compared the feed that is aggregated and shared on Google Buzz similar to FriendFeed or the Facebook homepage feed. Google Buzz sits upon the email powerhouse of Gmail, not to mention the most popular website in the world, Google. Owyang offers a detailed matrix that compares and contrasts Google Buzz, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Most notably, Owang points out that Google Buzz is late to the party, but has potential to integrate the entire internet, while Facebook has gained traction with Facebook connect. The clearcut competition in social networks seems like it may come down to a faceoff between Facebook and Buzz, since many have predicted Twitter to be a commodity that will be integrated into everything. The real competition will not exist until Buzz gets enough users to sign up and use the service. Facebook, which already has 400 million active users, is starting in the lead. While Buzz was released to a public full of high expectations, users were fast to scrutinize the privacy flaws of the content aggregator. A Fox news article reported that Buzz users were automatically opted in to allow others to see who their email and chat contacts are. Google responded by making the opt out option for sharing contacts more clear, but many are still weary of the system's privacy. The Future of Google Buzz is unclear, however Owywang suggests that Buzz is quick to integrate into Chrome and Search to leverage the information and consumers that Google already possesses. Facebook is urged to become more open and reward users for sharing public information. However, Facebook's so-called "Titan" email project could be a game changer... Labels: Google, Google Buzz, Industry, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, web 2.0 Is Your Brand Resistant to Change?In 2010, the exchange between consumers and brands will in no doubt increase among new media marketing channels. Just in the first couple of months of 2010, I have already seen countless posts outlining CRM models that are stressing the point to consume ROI for Social Media and take action to begin integrating this into your brand campaigns that live within on and offline social media channels. With so much stress to one observation of social media marketing in 2010, it’s important to make light of another key observation in the Future of Social Media blog series: The Resistance to Change Ending. It was Benjamin Franklin who said: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”This quote, although philosophical in reasoning, is quite the pragmatic approach when applied to the idea of social media marketing. There have been countless charts and graphs that apply from reputable marketing research publications, such as eMark  eter.com and 2010 Forrester Reports that point to all directions of brands shifting dollars into interactive marketing, with a focus in new (social) media – however, there is still hesitation among the masses when it comes to the decision of whether this type of marketing is a intelligent investment.This drives me to think how and why a CMO would be hesitant to change their ways, and I believe between now and 2010 – this approach will change for the way brands who don’t consider social media or any type of new media an investment – to turn their eyes away from fear and begin shifting the paradigm. In light of this, I have come up with five reasons why it seems brands are resistant to change (this is an opinion – so I absolutely welcome comments)
Although these reasons are somewhat built around generalities, it’s important to recognize a few practical truths. Brands have taken time to absorb social media marketing into their programs, and that will continue to be the case, however between 2008 and 2009, U.S. Marketers alone using Social Media within their programs nearly doubled in percentages – an increase likely to continue.  Just alone in ad spending within online social networks worldwide, between 2008 and what is expected by 2011; the same type of increase is likely to continue.  Just another hint to where things are headed… In the end, a brand is afraid to change, and will never make this type of jump overnight. The five reasons above, I’m sure, point to a number of individuals you might know, or very well could be at your organization; it’s very likely. The resistance to change is led by a faithful bunch, your typical ‘old style’ leaders who oppose the new digital spectrum, but slowly are adopting to the early styles of interactive marketing, such as email marketing because he/she is forced to. They could also still rely on patchy TV & radio spots, and could be very excited buy out page five inside a dying magazine publication – this exists; it’s hard to think this is an actuality – but it truly is. This AdWeek Media Poll shows that the 45-55+ demographic are much more in tune to purchasing newspaper/magazine ads as opposed to the younger demographic. Is this because of they are cheaper these days? Yes. Is this because they are unfamiliar and afraid to commit to the digital space, definitely YES.  I’m not saying age is the key indicator, but it certainly is a diving off point when making certain predictions that pertain to driving home this thought of resistance to change. In all reality, and I’m not screaming from the weeds here, it’s fear. In a time of economic recovery, such as what we are sifting through at the moment – FEAR; scream it from the top of your building, or as high as you could possibly reach – there is a resistance to change because of a FEAR of what might happen in changing the way your brand is marketed - I can’t be any more forthright. Prediction: By 2012, if your brand has not already begun shifting the marketing channel to a more open, two-way communicative, “social” environment; you could very well be left in the dust, watching the grass grow over you. Labels: Direct Marketing, online marketing, Social Media Marketing What’s Your Social Media Engagement Strategy?Best Practices of Social Media Engagement Many companies are replacing traditional methods of direct marketing with social media. The companies with successful social media campaigns thus far have focused on designing the channels, monitoring the conversation, developing content, and measuring ROI. However, engagement with the audience is one of the most overlooked components of a social media strategy.One key benefit of social media is the two-way conversation brands can have with their audiences. They mistake their “content strategy” as an “engagement strategy.” But developing content without an engagement strategy is like talking to your audience and completely ignoring what they say back to you. What is an engagement strategy?Simply stated an engagement strategy is all about communication and interaction. While a content strategy is based on what you’re going to say, an engagement strategy is based on how you’re going to say it, and how you respond to what your fans say. You company will need to develop a plan for actually interacting with your audience, not just throwing content at them and hoping they catch. This is the most challenging part of developing a social media campaign, and as such many companies of shied away from developing a concrete engagement strategy. Through this article, I will outline the following engagement fundamentals that you can in turn use do develop your own strategy:
ToneMost people will come back to your fan page if they feel a sense of community, so it’s important to be open, friendly, inviting, and personable.Have a conversational tone: Social media is casual by nature. Sites like Facebook and Twitter were developed so that people could connect with their friends. Although companies should maintain a professional presence online, it’s important to exude a personal, conversational tone on these sites. Be open and friendly: Be fun, friendly, and enthusiastic about your product or service without being overly promotional or corporate-sounding. Be unique: Avoid imitating the tone of your fans. Although you want to cater to your target audience, you do not need to force your tone to sound like your community. Be unique, so that your fans are interested enough to follow your presence online. Level of EngagementEncourage fan participation: The role of your company’s updates should be to encourage fan participation. Avoid posting only about what you want to promote, and take an interest in your audience’s opinion. Ask questions at the end of your status updates, or ask fans to upload their own content.Maintain a dialogue: Don’t let your status updates be a monologue of self-promotion. Spark conversation by posing questions to the community and posting content that will encourage participation. Share fan content: Share content that your fans have posted to your social channels by re-Sharing on Facebook or re-tweeting on Twitter; they’ll feel even more connected to your brand. VoiceAs a company, there are several options for what the voice of the brand should be. Remember, on Facebook all updates will be prefaced by the name of the fan page (in the examples below, “The Candy Company”):
Posting FrequencyThere is a correlation between the frequency of posts and the number of fans or followers a brand has. There’s a fine balance though; you don’t want to overwhelm your fans. According to a recent study by Sysomos, 77% of Facebook fan pages have fewer than 1,000 fans, and fan pages tend to be updated only once every 16 days. It’s a good practice to update your fan page at least once every day, at least Monday through Friday. This should yield comments and engagement with your brand each day, which will in turn lead to friends of your fans also discovering your page and becoming fans.What to PostMany brands on the social channels are purely self-promotional, only updating their social sites with updates on their own products, deals, discounts, or news. While it’s important to stay relevant to your brand, mix it up with different types of content. There are several different ways to post content on Facebook, including:
Here are some ideas for what you can post besides self-promotional updates, which can all be tweaked to fit the character limits on the various social channels:
Sharing or retweeting fan’s content is a great strategy to make your page feel like a real community. The Coca-Cola Facebook fan page is an excellent example of this. They often share photos their fans post to their walls using the Share button.  Dealing with NegativityAlthough most people seeking out brands in social media are fans of the brand and are coming to show support, there will be individuals who come to complain. Comcast is a great example of a company who uses their social media presence primarily for customer support. But if this isn’t your company’s goal, how should you deal with the negative feedback? Fan to fan interaction: If fans on your page are having a debate, there’s no reason to get involved unless you feel that someone is arguing over a blatantly inaccurate fact. Then it’s fine to jump in and clarify, then remove the brand from the discussion. Otherwise, it’s best to stay out of it. If fans start posting derogatory messages, you can delete the offensive messages and block fans when necessary. Social Media Gives Your Brand VisibilityCompelling and active social channels should be an integral part of your online marketing campaign. These channels provide an exceptional opportunity for brand visibility, but you need to make sure that your fans will have content to comment on and engage with. The more comments you have, the more viral your campaign will become!In the end, an engagement strategy will make your social media campaign a much more compelling and high-impact aspect of your overall marketing efforts and truly enable you to harness all that it has to offer. When you think about it, social media is all about socializing, and an engagement strategy will ensure that how you socialize with your fan base is not only strategically sound, but effective. Not only will this help you to leverage social media to build stronger customer relations, it will enable your organization to guide and actively participate in the growth of what is only going to be a more important marketing channel for years to come. Labels: Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter Foursquare: The Next Evolution in Social Media? Location-sharing social networks have steadily been gaining traction in the social media world, and Foursquare is currently leading the way in overall popularity and name recognition due to its ease of use and slick integration. Mashable even wrote back in July that FourSquare could be the next Twitter.The premise is quite simple. Install the application on your mobile phone (applications are now available for iPhones, Blackberries, and Android Phones) or browse to their mobile site and “check in” whenever you visit a new venue. Not only do you receive points and badges for checking in and reaching certain milestones (as well as blast a message on Facebook and Twitter alerting your friends and followers as to your whereabouts), but if you visit a particular location often enough, you could be crowned as Mayor. Many bars, restaurants, and cafes have started to offer discounts and free offers to loyal patrons who prove their mayorship, including free appetizers or a drink on the house. This sort of friendly competition, while of course a lot of fun, can also be extremely beneficial for a business’s overall exposure. Foursquare could potentially se  rve as a source of valuable traffic data for your business, as it logs not only how many times customers have visited your venue, but also the frequency of their visits. In addition, customers can leave comments or suggestions when they check in, allowing business owners access to invaluable feedback in much the same way Yelp does.In the future, Foursquare intends on implementing a more detailed dashboard view for participating venues to make it easier to keep track of who’s visiting, how often, where they’re coming from, and where they’re going next. Foursquare and other similar location-sharing services might just be the next evolutionary step for social media, and could completely redefine social media marketing. Labels: Foursquare, Social Media, Social Media Marketing Social Media comes to the Age of Aquarius Hair - "The American Tribal Love Rock Musical" - is going to try a new way of reaching out to its audience. Starting tomorrow, the show's finale number where the cast and audience mix and mingle and dance to "The Age of Aquarius" will be recorded in high definition video and posted to the show's web page. The camera, controlled from the show's light booth, will follow a pre-programmed path to pan across the stage and zoom in on cast and audience members. Anyone visiting the site can then download the video, post it to their Facebook page, or send out a tweet to all their friends. Make no mistake - this is a first for the relatively stodgy Broadway theatre scene. Every new show these days has a web page, and some have videos of scenes or musical numbers from the show but Hair is about the only show where cast and audience actually interact during the show. What's in it for Hair? The best possible publicity for a show heading into its second year on the great white way - favorable word of mouth. Being able to spread the word about the show through social networks will probably give the box office a significant boost and keep the show running (and profitable) for many months. Here's link to a story in today's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/theater/02hair.html?hpw Labels: Advertising, Facebook, online marketing, Online Media, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing, web 2.0 6 Free Social Media Metric Monitoring ToolsEver wonder what your social media presence looks like? Are you trying to
these 6 free services check and collect content from:
Trendrr.com  To get data you can manually configure a Data Set or track sites like Google, Technorati, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc.. The results begin to appear within 24 hours. Out of all the services reviewed here, Trendrr is the least favorite of mine for several reasons. Primarily focused on visualizing trends and not providing a snapshot of the overall social media landscape, there are too many pages of information to dig into and walk away with any solid learning's as a snapshot. That said, Trendrr does have a really cool functionality where you can "drop" any set or combination of graphs and research data points on top of each other for a cumulative view and comparative analysis.  Samepoint, is an interesting Web 2.0 service that allows you to search chats from multiple sources and the comments of blogs and social media sites. Samepoint takes all these messages and organizes them in a layout similar to Google search [both paid and organic]. On the right in a 120x skyscraper are recent conversations, the main results feature a "social tone" bar , time posted, a text snippet and the originating social site source. Very simple to use, comes with an intuitive interface and you can find any topic among millions of conversations by typing any word or site URL. The clearest objective of having a social web presence is to have influence in a subject area under a group of followers to spread your message wherever they go. Social Mention provides some significant feedback on top keywords, sentiment, top users and sources. For a free too the insight is amazing and the speed with which the tool aggregates the data is speedy by other tool comparisons. Live Dash  All I can say about this service is way cool! Tracking TV is something new and unique to the social sphere, that this is all bundled together is really quite amazing, that is if you are on TV or have a presence on TV. How they incorporate TV is via closed caption, they scrape the text and add it to their mix. Great idea and starts to close the gap and wrap the communications platforms together. Stay tuned for Google's new service called Listen. Under Labs right now, the service is able to search audio. Be prepared to have more media platforms and outlets converging. Clean, simple and easy to understand, there are a lot of sites the service checks and allows you to reduce or add social sites. The scoring attributed to any sites in regards to scoring is a little lose for me as is the overall "score" you receive. If there was a benchmark to compare yourself either by industry or other sites I would like the service more. AddictOMatic.com  Very similar to HowSociable but with a black background Addict-o-matic actually gives you details on what was found on any given social outlet. Again, as with HowSociable you have the option of adding or deleting services you want to ping. There is also a hot and trending section that lets you see what everyone is talking about on a given subject broken down by popular topics or news sectors. Social Media and ROI All these sites are great for getting a sense of your Social Presence but they all lack one thing in common. None of these social tools shown have the ability to show you the ROI, relative to your social efforts and definitively guide you towards a better strategy and tactics. Overdrive Interactive is one of the only companies I know of that has closed the loop on Social Media and ROI. The Overdrive Social Media Dashboard is not a free product for public use. As an Enterprise level listening platform ,no less than 40 individual elements are examined and combined in such a way as to immediately give any C level executive, insight into their marketing efforts. Trending events, tabular control of channels and point to point insight of your PR efforts, seamlessly weaves the whole social strategy into a digestible story. Labels: Social Media Marketing, social media measurement, social media mentions, social media monitoring, social media roi, social media tracking What Will Marketers Do To Invest More In Social Media? As marketers continue to traverse into the ever evolving social marketing playground, many of them will begin to allocate their conventional direct marketing dollars to enhance their social media presence. This represents an ongoing evolution of “old school” direct marketing tactics like direct mail and telemarketing, towards the “new school” of direct marketing, which includes social media, pay per click (PPC) advertising, SEO, and blog development. In a report by Brand Republic, Alterian found that that at least 40% of marketers will reduce their DM budgets to make room for social media marketing. A March 2009 report by Forrester complements the research done by Alterian. They asked marketers which traditional marketing budgets they would be most likely to cut to increase funding of interactive marketing. Not surprisingly, 40% said direct mail and 7% answered telemarketing. The approaching death of classic direct marketing may come as a sigh of relief to many consumers, whose mailboxes have long been tormented by junk mail: direct marketing’s “evil” offspring. Receiving unsolicited mail is a sheer annoyance for many consumers, who typically end up placing that flyer or catalog in the trash or shredder. Although direct marketing is widely recognized as a declining medium, brands sometimes find ways to get creative with it. A 2008 DM campaign for Honda supported the brand’s “going green” initiative by mailing out a letter that contained seeds. When planted, the letter would grow into a beautiful flower, reminding you of Honda every time you watered your plants. In 2010, it is likely the world will not see very many creative applications of traditional direct marketing, because frankly, when you have a channel as powerful as social media, why bother? Classic direct marketing, such as direct mail, creates a direct connection between a brand and a consumer, but in a closed space. There is no room for interaction. Through the collective interaction that is inherent in the social media landscape, brands can still create a direct connection with consumers, but in an open space that can also be shared, tracked, measured, and analyzed. A consumer-driven world also partly defines the evolution of direct marketing. Consumers now find the brand themselves, and essentially become a living part of the brand’s essence. With traditional direct marketing, there was never any opportunity for consumers to actively participate with the brand, because the brand tried too hard to find them, often in intrusive and annoying ways. So when you think about it, marketers are not necessarily shifting their DM budgets to make room for social media, they are simply changing their strategies to reflect the changes in how consumers interact with brands directly each and every day. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=full+mailbox&m=text Labels: online marketing, Paid Search, seo, Social Media Marketing Are YOU measuring Social Media ROI?The Alterian Integrated Marketing group recently released their 7th annual survey on social media and marketing adoption. Almost 1100 marketing professionals and executives participated worldwide, and the results paint a very interesting picture. Highlights include:
 With core metrics like unique visits and time spent on the biggest social networks continually ballooning upward, these figures come at no real surprise. But when the medium and large businesses making these big buys into social are consistently downsizing across nearly every industry, it's also easy to see where more than a few executives raise eyebrows over social's 'real' value. Where, how, or how much does social media marketing contribute to the bottom line?The social media Kool-Aid dictates that if you're not in it, you're outside of it. Now, it doesn't take money to register a Facebook page, but it certainly does take time and effort (and ultimately creative, development, and maintenance dollars) to impact the opinions and ideas gathered and exchanged in social media. And it takes alot of effort to do so in a positive, meaningful, and above all, sincere way. Brands are certainly counting how much they're spending on social. Shouldn't they be paying attention to what they're getting out of it? Almost 85% are in the dark.  Would you put a dollar in a vending machine without bothering to see what comes down the chute? Would you spend on an online media or branding campaign and not pay attention to the analytics? There's clearly a disconnect here.Social media spending is on the rise. That's a fact - money is going where the traffic is, makes sense. CMOs want measurable results, also makes sense. But most of them don't know where to start. MarketingProfs reports that 10% of marketing executives can't find measurable success in LinkedIn or Facebook, and 15% believe there is NO ROI associated with Twitter. Guess what, Dell made almost $7M off of Twitter last year. How'd they do it? With defined end goals. What are you end goals? Followers? Leads? Registrations? Links? Sales? Define these goals before you engage. Structure your campaigns and their success metrics around these goals. Listen to the conversation about your brand before you engage. Want to know Dell's other Twitter secret? Tracked clicks. Simple campaigns + measurable assets + a defined end goal = Social Media ROI. Are you measuring? Labels: Brand Awareness, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, social media roi Coupons Transition to the Interactive AgeAs a consumer for the past 20 years, I’ve always associated direct marketing with coupons. Since I was born and raised to save my pennies, I’m pretty much addicted to coupons. If I get a piece of direct mail that doesn't have a coupon, it immediately goes in the trash, but if it does I'm more inclined to pay attention. However, I’ve recently found myself paying less attention to coupons that come in the Sunday newspaper-- which I need to sort through to find the ones I want-- in favor of coupons that find ME. These include coupons that arrive in my email inbox, appear on my Facebook newsfeed, or that I get by playing an interactive game online. I receive these coupons because of brands that target me based on my interests and online activities, and send me coupons relevant to my interests. Valpak's AR campaign is part of a much larger new media initiative for the company, which also includes an iPhone application and social promotion of its coupons, in printable form, which users can share with their friends. Additionally, Valpak has established a partnership with Kudzu.com, which allows consumers who are looking for coupons on Valpak.com to view the coupons alongside customer ratings and reviews. *Image source: redhotfranchises.com Labels: Direct Mail, Direct Marketing, iPhone, Online Coupons, Social Media Marketing The Future of Social Media: A 2010 Blog SeriesAs we now have buried our eyes & minds into a very exciting 2010, the focus on social media marketing will be ever growing. In fact, from this point on, I believe we are going to see a number of changes in marketing strategies, on and offline.  If you think closely, the world’s operating system is morphing. In the past, you have had a number of “closed” model marketing systems that prevented the singular idea that social media describes: collective interaction. In past years, marketing strategies have lived within specific business models and relied on “closed” channels to disseminate the message. For example, a newspaper would advertise a static ad, a direct-mail message would take a matter of days to make even a single impression. Once that message was delivered, the channel relied on a number of “closed” systems to tie into the medium properly, and the need to pause and wait for participation was often days, weeks, even months depending on the type and length of the campaign. In today’s world, the operating system is being revamped, what took days, now takes seconds, and together this process of marketing evolution is pushing today’s marketing programs into an “open” system. This “open” system allows for instant connections with the customer, while the opportunity for response, collaboration, sharing, and growth increase tremendously. Fundamental Shift While this shift in marketing systems is underway, this “closed” to “open” environment is going to expand further beyond business into our everyday lives. Obviously, as marketers, we think of this in relevancy to the delivery of a message, in some manner. But, as time expands and social media begins to consume users’ lives online, the idea of an “open” system will fall into a number of funnels, including media and content, advertising, business solutions, education, legal environments, lifestyle, entertainment, love, religion, sex, etc... And as this shift into an “open” system expands, a number of brands and individuals will be wary of moving so quickly into such an environment. A system like this is cluttered with a number of worries, such as “out of control”, “chaotic”, “risky”, or “feeling of being unsafe”. This inescapable feeling of being in “risk” is common among brands, but learning to trust the system will be the hardest step to overcome starting in 2010 and moving beyond. If relating this change in marketing ethics to social media, the door must be swung open to attain any success. To what level you remain “open”, your business growth will be directly related. Social Media: 5 Years Into the Future 12-18 Months: Social Media is CRM As social media slowly becomes a part of everyone’s daily web interaction, this reality and change in systems means that YOU, your brand, must adjust and focus on agility instead of just optimization when it comes to integrating social media into your marketing programs. And as this becomes more of a reality, Social Media CRM systems are becoming a necessity, rather than option as more users begin to take part in social media and recognize your brand.  In the next 12-18 months, brands will work to close the gap on effectively managing dialogue with the market in terms of:
Social Media monitoring devices such as Radian6, Visible Technologies, Buzzlogic, TNS Cymfony, Trackur, and other social media monitoring tools allow you to keep a finger to the pulse of your brand and see real-time data as social media mentions take place. 12-18 Months: Digital Jet Lag Goes Into Red Alert As information already within social media is becoming clogged, expect a massive increase in the next 12-18 months with the uptick in both users and social media popularity. Because of this, expect filtering and curation to become a huge business. When it comes to finding methods to cull the information being pushed into the social networks and allow users to sort through it more efficiently, a step toward contextualizing and connecting with the ‘right’ information will step into the forefront with a number of new tools, platforms and systems to help control this excessive amount of content. To be continued... This post is part one of a continuous series that will be posted throughout the rest of January and February. Here is a sneak peek to some of the topics that I will be covering: • Resistance to Change Ends? • Privacy will become a MUST for Users • Real-time, Social Mobile: Feedback, Rating, Comments, Tagging • Uprising in Automated Social Agents • Socially Augmented Reality • FREE Access to a Global Network • Social “Books” • Smarter Social Advertising: Mobile, Online • The End of One-Way Communications • Social Advertising Budgets Explode • The Extreme Reputation Economy • The Importance of Social Capital • The Global Social Brain Labels: Brand Awareness, Social Media Marketing Interactive TV Ads: Real-Life ExamplesMy last column, "When TV and the Internet Converge," examined four points that marketers must understand about what's now happening with interactive television. In this column, let's review real-life examples of interactive television ads and explore where advertising will go from there. Interactive Television Ads: Real-Life Examples OK, let's look at some things that have been done that start to combine video and interactive TV with advertising, games, and even e-commerce. Budweiser: Branding Game and Contest  Budweiser ran an interactive TV ad that rewarded "interactors" with a game and chance to win a trip to the World Cup. According to a case study examining this campaign, around 890,000 people interacted with the ad by "pressing red" or select and 90 percent of the interactors played the "Heads Up" game to win World Cup tickets. Interactors reportedly spent an average of just over seven minutes interacting, but 38 percent thought they'd spent 10 minutes or more interacting! See a video of the Budweiser interactive TV ad here on YouTube. Axe Body Spray: Interactive Branding Game  For this interactive TV commercial, Axe created games where viewers controlled bikes and did a stunt using the arrow keys. Other options also brought up a slow-motion version of the stunt and information about Axe body spray. The ad was shown to 60 million homes that have either DirecTV or Dish Network. In just a few weeks, 3.5 million people watched the video and spent an average of five minutes playing with the ad. Charmin: Coupon Distribution  This Charmin toilet paper interactive ad was delivered to TiVo users. When the ad appears, a green thumb appears in the right corner of the screen that reads, "Apply now for a valuable coupon from Charmin." When viewers click the thumb using their remote control, the program they are watching pauses and they are taken to a coupon request screen. Using the remote, they can choose that option and the coupons are sent by mail. The program resumes once the viewer completes the interactive ad. Although this ad was done via TiVo, it could be done with any cable system. Domino's Pizza: Ordering Goods  OK, this was one of the first interactive TV promotions to really get some buzz. As described from the press release dated Nov. 17, 2008: "TiVo subscribers can seamlessly access their Domino's Pizza order from various advertising entry points on the TiVo user interface...by clicking on "Order Your Pizza"...they can log-in with a simple account number...build their pizza order right from the television set by selecting type of crust, toppings, and sauces, and get the pizza delivered by their local Domino's Pizza." This particular promotion was not e-commerce enabled, so you paid for your pizza when it arrived. But how hard would it be to add a pay feature now? Not too hard. Clickable Video: Imagine Where This Can Go Let's start to imagine where this can go. First, take a look at the images and videos below. They're examples of Web-based clickable video. Now, imagine that this Internet technology moves to television and the mouse-like remote control evolved to be a Wii-like remote control mouse where you can move a curser around a screen to play games and click on items in actual TV shows. Now, imagine watching your favorite shows and movies in catalog mode. Product placement will be huge and shows will generate click and commerce revenue from the highest bidders. It will be "The Truman Show" meets Google AdWords meets Amazon! There is no reason why this technology can't be applied to television now that the remote control, the Internet, and television video are fully merged and we can pause shows while people perform transactions. At the very least, we can tell people to click "OK" to see more info on a particular item. Then the DVR can pause the show and a consumer can view a pop-up Web page and make a transaction if she wants to. This could be done in millions of homes right now! To see the below videos live, visit VideoClix, choose a category, and choose a video. When watching these videos, roll your curser over the products and click on them. Vogue, 60 Seconds to Chic This video includes links for consumers to obtain additional information and to make a purchase.  Progresso: Start Cooking This is an example of a brand's informational video that could link to coupons.  Nike: Zappos Clickable Video Catalog I couldn't find this on Zappos, but you can see it on YouTube here. I like this example because it integrates everything and shows where you could end up making a transaction at the end.  Bring It All Together, Mash It Up, Make a Wish List So, here are a bunch of things I can imagine being done -- or are already being done -- with interactive TV. For the real-life examples, the items include links. What can you add to this list knowing what you know now?
In conclusion, the way to think about interactive TV is this: anything you can do on a Web site you will be able to do with interactive TV. Ads will become much more action oriented to encourage viewer/user behavior and shows will have new revenue opportunities with product placement and embedded calls to action (really saving them). Finally, tracking will be extended to television in a whole new way and will really raise the bar on marketing and advertising performance and accountability. So, what is the good news for online professionals? Online marketers already work under this kind of atmosphere! Labels: Advertising, ClickZ, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing A Social Media Scorecard – 2010 US Senate Special Election in MA Click above image to enlarge The recent special election to fill the vacated US Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts was certainly one of the most highly charged and closely followed statewide elections in recent history, both on state and national level. Not only was the Democrats filibuster-proof 60 vote majority at stake, the fact that a Republican was threatening to take the seat, in what many consider the bluest of blue states, made this an election for the ages. Labels: Facebook, POV, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, twitter social media, web 2.0, YouTube Social Media Helps Drive Off Page SEO Blogs, social networks, video sharing platforms, audio, photos, podcasts, wikis, virtual worlds, forums, microblogging, social shopping ... The era of digital marketing is now part of our lives and social media offers an attractive landscape for brands [both b2b and b2c] who have adopted social media as a core objective. The goal, to exploit these connective advantages through the enormous power of the network, or what may be considered the same, the enormous power of the users. Social media is giving way to a new era where the concept of communication begins to be replaced by a dialogue, where before, companies had to create, listen and speak. Now, we see a new paradigm that consumers are not necessarily averse to advertising because they are the ones creating and developing content for the brands, enhancing the social product mentions and social placements. Do not be because they do [Yoda speak] The interesting investment in social media, however, was misinterpreted by many companies. In the beginning they understood that this method was simply to move the social tools that conveyed the same message through traditional media. They did not realize that it was in fact an entire philosophy of work whose mission was to place users as protagonists of their success by reorganizing the message to them and allowing the users to qualify, criticize or even reject their content. Social Media was a new concept of communication which was first kept in the background, enhancing the product development of useful information and providing value to the user. Social Media is not a set of mechanical actions Social Media social action is based on people, not machines or automated methods. The strategy therefore, not based on simply exposing a product to the greatest number of potential sites and social networks, but to define new communication activities where individuals are active partners in spreading the message and its importance. That the message is conveyed by the brand becomes less credible and more credible when transmitted by the users as an intrinsic act of endorsement. Communication but not much dialogue The concept of a traditional advertising campaign where the brand delivers a message to a user is not appropriate in the formula of social media. The role of the user is not meant to only receive information, but to disseminate the concept, culture and actions sought by the campaign. This old belief system fully cancels and lays null and void plans for interaction. Continuous messaging by brands and the need to share value with their audiences is actually how social media works. This is a communication process that requires listening to what the public thinks of you and your product on the network: this is not what you say to people, but what people say, do or how they interact with your product or services . Once we receive feedback from users, data mining is important for working on strategies that allow us to connect with our users the most effective way possible: there is no standard way of doing Social Media, each case can arise from very different circumstances related to the type of product, with its target goal, or the need to expand information about a particular product. What we must not ever forget in this type of communication is to plan long term strategies and move away from seeking immediate ROI. Social Media is about creating communities where you encourage and reward loyalty continuously to its most active users. Social media speaks of a discipline which also applies to both "off page" using third party tools, and "on page" strategies that allows you to use our own site as a forum for dialogue where we can incorporate other disciplines such as creativity, SEO, user experience etc.. The basic tenants of best practice SEO from 5 years ago still apply to today's best practice SEO with very little changing other than the availability of off page influence and search engine spiders ability to crawl a wider variety of files and formats. The Social Media mix now amplifies and extends the inbound traffic and profitability of a site via off page execution of social media strategies and campaigns. Labels: off pgae seo, seo, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, social media roi An Alternative Approach To Social Media Marketing - Your Social Brand“Your Brand is what identifies your business to consumers. If you were to ask most people about ‘branding” as it applies to their business they will most likely respond with an answer rooted in a company’s products and services. Sure, they will speak to the importance of emotionally connecting with their target audience, but at the heart of it all it still boils down to what you do or the products you produce. In short, for your brand to be effective it needs to sell and move product or services.
Social media is definitely changing how we market and connect with consumers. Therefore as marketers, we need to also think differently about how we approach our business and look to connect with consumers. In the end traditional branding models will not always work, because they were not constructed to deal with a high degree of social interaction and input from consumers. Therefore, we need to look at branding as a form of subsets, including how we will and want to socialize with our target. Labels: Advertising, Brand Awareness, Facebook, Integration, POV, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, twitter social media |
Blog Search
Categories
|
| Blog Home | Social Media Map | Schedule a Seminar | eMarketing Blog | Contact Bloggers | © 2002-2010 Overdrive. All Rights Reserved. |