9 UnMarketing Tips For Online Audience Engagement
Yesterday I attended the @MarketingProfs webcast “Top Tools For Engaging Your Audience Online.” with Mr. @Unmarketing himself, Scott Stratten. Scott is the President of his own marketing consulting firm and author of the best-selling book UnMarketing.
I have to say I have been following Scott since I first joined Twitter in 2009. He helped to teach me that social media is truly about having conversations and about engagement. I also love Scott for his famous quote in a former speech that whenever someone asks “what is the ROI of social media?” a unicorn, a kitten and a puppy all die!
Scott taught me a number of other things like the importance of saying “thank you” in social media and also some signs that you might be a social media diva.
So I had to show up to see which gems Scott would present in “Top Tools For Engaging Your Audience Online.”
Brand Journalism, Disclosure and Sponsored Content
In this video, SAP’s CMO Jonathan Becher (@jbecher), discussed “brand journalism, disclosure, and sponsored content” with one of the leading independent analysts in the IT industry, Jon Reed (@JonERP).
I was thrilled that they discussed the launch of our Business Innovation website where I am the chief editor (disclosure: I am a paid SAP employee.)
But I was more excited about the open discussion they had around the importance of full disclosure, about the need for brands to get involved in the conversation, to become like publishers and to reach out to new audiences with quality content.
Here is a summary of the discussion, a link to the video, along with a few tips to keep in mind for your own content marketing initiatives.
6 Steps to Inbound Marketing Success [Infographic]
As promised, here is the second infographic addition to my 8 great marketing infographics to inspire you in 2012.
The first one, 18 Stats on the Mobile Market You Need To Know, was posted earlier this week and hopefully caused you to consider your mobile strategy.
This next one is called “The Inbound Marketing Process Infographic.”
It comes from Impact Brand and Design and includes 6 steps to inbound marketing success.
It is appropriately sub-titled “Start generating more leads from your website today!” This is an excellent companion to my 7 steps to effective inbound marketing.
Read more
18 Stats On The Mobile Market You Need To Know [Infographic]
I am a sucker for a great infographic just as much as the next guy or gal. My best post of 2012 so far (and by far) is 8 great marketing infographics to inspire you in 2012.
With more than 2,400 Retweets, 650 “pins,” 200 LinkedIn shares, 47 “likes” and 45 Google+ shares and 25 comments, I was truly astonished by the amount of support and interest.
So in the next week, I will share 2 additional infographics to help inspire your efforts, to focus on your customers and to drive better results in 2012.
We know that mobile advertising is hot and I have already provided 4 steps to mobile marketing success. But if you’re still not convinced or you haven’t established your mobile strategy, then this post is for you…
Deliver Results With A Search-Driven Marketing Plan
Why should any marketer consider a search-driven marketing plan? Can’t we just take what we did last year, do 80% of that and add some new bits? You know, we’ll add in some social strategery and what not. Create some viral videos. Update our Facebook page…no?
Unfortunately, many marketing plans are built with a few minor modifications to the previous year’s plans and some new buzz words added in. But an analysis of what marketing activities have really worked for many of us in the past will show that something like 80% of what we do is ineffective and does not justify the cost.
So keep the 20% – the best tactics, creative, campaigns and programs – and use the rest of your budget to drive a search-driven marketing plan…
Search, Social and Content – The Keys To Inbound Marketing
If you think SEO is the abbreviation for an airport, then you’re in big trouble. If you think customer-focused marketing is about deciding which segment of customers to SPAM, then you’re in big trouble. If you think you need to get some “more of the twitter,” then you’re in really big trouble!
The simplest definition of Inbound Marketing is to attract new customers. And you can’t do that with boring, promotional content. You can’t do it without engaging with your prospects in the earliest stages of their buying cycle, and on social channels. And you can’t do it without helpful content that isn’t properly placed on the channels your prospects are using.
The keys to inbound marketing success are search, social and great content that allow you to get found, get shared and gain the trust your prospects are looking for in a new business relationship…
The Most Important Words In Social Media
“I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.” ~ William Shakespeare
And so I offer up to you that the most important words in social media are “thank you!”
They may be the most important words in, well, the history of words. But in social media, where we only see avatars and not real expressions on real human faces, they are particularly important.
I recently read Tweet Smarter Not Harder by Rachel Thompson (@RachelintheOC) and I was reminded about how simply saying “thank you” has helped me make amazing connections on the social channels where I interact with people, sometimes and often on a daily basis.
So I will explain my approach to be thankful on social media here in this post.
And whether you use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Tumblr, or any of the social tools available, remember that you are connecting with people, not avatars. And that a little “thank you” goes along way!
Content Strategy Ain’t Just For Large Companies
In a recent podcast on OpenView labs, I discussed how content strategy can drive real results for businesses of all sizes.
I talked about how every business needs a content strategy – it is not just for large companies.
I also answer the question of whether content marketing is just another term for marketing.
Finally, I discuss how can companies get started in content marketing and also how to get past “campaign-brain” and create the mindset that puts customers first.
Here is an overview of my comments but I invite you to check out the audio recording here…
Content Marketing: Get Trained Up [Slides]
We all create content. But let’s face it, most of it is simply awful! How many emails do you get that you struggle to read? How many 5 minute voice mails do you delete? And how many PowerPoint slides contain way too many words?
I mean no one wants to call someone else’s (content) baby ugly…
This is not just about marketing. This is relevant for all business professionals who write emails, create PowerPoint slides and leave voice mails (And that’s all of us).
Inspired by Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing training, Joe Pulizzi’s CMI presentations and my own views, this training seeks to create a world where no babies are ugly – where all our content is interesting…
Focus On Customers and Run Like Never Before
If you read this blog regularly, you know I write mainly about 2 things. The first is that we marketers need to stop talking about ourselves and focus on our customers.
The second is that marketing can be more effective at creating value for our own business when we seek to meet the needs of our customers.
Well, almost as a rule, I try to follow my own advice and don’t use this site as a platform to promote what we are doing at SAP. But I think we have a great example launching today on how to use customers to tell our story. And how to focus on meeting their needs.
So with that request for forgiveness but hope that you find some value in the example, I invite you to read about how we’re trying to put these principles of customer focus and customer storytelling to work in our latest advertising campaign…
