Social Media Marketing to Increase by 48%

Thanks to Chris Baggott at Compendium Blogware for pushing this data at me. I have seen the graph before but not the updated version. Chris’ post talks about the merit of SEO and email marketing being at the forefront of the increases in online marketing budgets over the next year… I wanted to focus on the third one..

Social media marketing.

It is encouraging to see social media marketing and SEO sliding into the top three spots in the online marketing budgets of companies all over the world. It shows that businesses owners from all over the world are taking a closer look at sites like Twitter and organic search engine optimization in the form of blogging (guessing there).

What does this mean to the business owner?

In my opinion, you should follow the trend or get left in the dust.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Optimizing Your Blog for Search and Social Media (mcbuzz.wordpress.com)
• Small Business Discovers Social Media (revenews.com)
• Business Blog Content: Telling Beats Selling (buildabetterblog.com)
• Is it time for social networks to all start working together … (jonggunlee.tistory.com)

The Lie of Correct Grammar in Blogging

I have been in countless conversations with industry professionals about the importance of grammar when writing a blog or participating in social media. Many people place massive amounts of importance on using correct grammar and punctuation.

To be honest, I have been mystified by the “utmost importance” of using correct grammar when writing a blog. Let me state for the record that you cannot sound like a complete idiot. You need to be able to complete sentences and write in some form of rational thought… but that is not what is of importance.

The truth is not in grammar but in the content of your blog. I can read a blog that is perfect in every aspect of the English language. The spelling is perfect. There are NO run on sentences. Commas and parentheses are placed in the exact form that would make any English professor smile. And yet… the content is absolutely horrid.

Give me terrible grammar and great content any day of the week.

When you are writing a blog whether it is for thought leadership or news and information.. it is important to focus on the content before anything else. You do need to be conscious of spelling because it is easy (Spell check anyone?).

Now..there are cases where I can admit grammar plays a role. If you are writing a public relations blog or a English/grammar content… it is important to focus on correct grammar.

There are times when focusing toooooo intently on correct grammar can kill your content. Just make sure you are focusing on the right thing.

Related articles by Zemanta

• In defense of spell-checking (languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu)
• Why should I capitalize my i’s? (And what to do about it) (coolcatteacher.blogspot.com)
• Doing more harm than good (blindscientist.genedrift.org)
• Ten Great Links to Help With “Pesky” Grammatical Stuff. (dancurtis.ca)
• Why you shouldn’t use spell checkers (languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu)

What Business Blogging is Missing

I was reading a post by Megan Glover over at the wonderful company Compendium (check them out) called 5 Blogging Goals Every Marketer Should Consider. Her post is excellent but there was one thing missing: the human touch.

Here are the top 5 Blogging Goals Every Marketer Should Consider:

1. Increase organic search traffic.

2. Boost referral traffic to my website.

3. Generate more inbound leads.

4. Increase email and catalog subscriptions.

5. Sell more product.

Now before you go all haywire on me and send hate mail… I do think this list is excellent but there is a part of me that still holds onto the communication goals of every marketer and PR firm:

1. Communication: You should email all commenters and give them a “Thank You” for posting on your blog.

2. Talk About What YOU Do: Your personality needs to shine through no matter what you are selling. Tell stories about helping clients and clients helping each other.

It is really dependent on your strategy and the product you sell but there is always the chance that you will focus TOO much on selling your product or service and alienate the people that could become TRUE evangelists.

If you want to become a thought leader in you industry you need to talk more about What You Do not about your product.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Michael Arrington Gets Spat On In Munich And Draws The Line (killerblog.com)
• Problems at Techcrunch (yesbutnobutyes.com)
• How do you start with paid search? (mikemoran.com)
• Is Blogging for Search ruining Innovative Thought? (kylelacy.com)

One of My Favorite People in Social Media

There comes a time when you start to get tired of reading the same things over and over and over again.

…2302 Steps to Twitter Amazement…
…Social Media at its Finest…
…Will Google Take over the world?…
…Wait? Where is Friendfeed?…

We have all reached that point and if you haven’t.. kudos. What is so interesting is that right when you start to drag through your rss reader you come across a post that changes everything.

I have been following Katie Paine for a couple of months now. Her insight into social media and public relations measurement could never be rivaled… anywhere. She is a genius when breaking down the concepts of social media and communication on the Internet.

But that aside…

She had a post recently entitled Back To My Origins. Simple put, she talks about her life and the memories she has had through Central Park and living in New York. 

Katie has exhibited what it means to become transparent in a world of technology. She may have hundreds and thousands of posts surrounding PR measurement but the simple posts about life… reasonate farther than anyone can imagine. 

If you want to take anything from the post today it is this.. 

We are all striving for something in life. Most of us work and play in the same realm and yet we have no idea where we come from… When you are writing content and pushing a message it is important to remember this simple rule..

Something that Katie does so well..

Be real. Be human. Be transparent. 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Great Ideas: PR Measurement (michsineath.com)
• Social media services – the farm team league for Facebook ideas (inquisitr.com)
• Mikes state of social media (techwag.com)

Is Your Goal Growth? Empower your Employees with Social Media.

I mentioned in a previous post that I have been reading Seth Godin‘s book Free Prize Inside for a… I think… fourth time.  In the beginning of the book is a quote that I have underlined another four times: 

“If your goal is growth, marketing is all that matters–and everything you do is now part of marketing… Every product and every service can be made remarkable. And anyone in your organization can make it happen!” (pg.

This excerpt from the book hit me pretty hard when it comes to online marketing and using social media. The concept of EVERYTHING you possibly do in your company (both large and small) being connected to marketing is still an idea that is buried. I still have conversations with corporate employees or owners who are mistified that the PR side of a company doesn’t discuss anything with the marketing side or vice versa. Every service you create. Every phone call you take. Every PR release and marketing campaign you run. It is all connected to growing a brand… to growing your company.  If you want your employees to talk about it. If you want every piece of your business to be a marketing vehicle… doesn’t social media make sense as a communication platform? Zappos has perfected the use of Twitter as an employee communication model.. Why can’t you? It is time to stop being afraid of the massive force of online communication. It is time to stop putting firewalls up because your afraid your employees are not being productive. They are not being productive for a reason… and it’s not Facebook. If they love what they do… maybe it is time to allow them to communicate that fact.. and if they don’t.. You probably have more problems than communication. 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Use Your Highlight Reel to Build Your Story (kylelacy.com)
• The New Social Engagement: A Visit to Zappos (mashable.com)
• Measuring Service (knowist.com)
• Social Media Marketing is about Emotion not Automation (kylelacy.com)

90% of Your Business Will Be Digital or WOM

A fellow employee at Brandswag, Colin Clark, wrote  a blog post about the 5 Ways to Prepare for the year 2011. Now this is an interesting post title in itself. What is the deal with the year 2011? I finally had the chance to read Colin’s post which is centered around a comment by Seth Godin. Seth has predicted that the majority (90%) of your sales will come from either digital marketing or word-of-mouth.

Talk about a crazy prediction… or is it?

Is it so hard to believe that the majority of small-to-mid size business leads will be driven by customer referrals and communication online? We are experiencing a complete 180 in terms of communication. Brands are being controlled not by the owner of the product or service but by the users.

Customer experience has always had a small hold on brands but with the Internet and social communities… the definition of YOUR product and service is no longer… under your control.

Where do you go from here?

Learn. Read. Jump in.

And when I say read… I mean go read Colin’s blog about the 5 Ways to Prepare for the Year 2011. The year of communication.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Taking a Gamble is the Way to Work! (kylelacy.com)
• Customer Service Is Defined By Customers (staygolinks.com)
• How to Be More Interesting (ducttapemarketing.com)
• All Shapes and Sizes (kylelacy.com)
• Just Call It Marketing (seohack.site88.net)

61 Million Blogs about Professional Experience

I was forwarded an e-newsletter from Harvard Business Publish by my business party in Brandswag.. Brandon Coon. They have a section of the newsletter called Daily Stat. In the Daily Stat it stated that Technorati has indexed an upwards of 133 Million blogs and that 46% (61 Million) of those blogs are about industry and profession. Wow!

Let me preface this by saying that we are not quite sure how active the 61 million blogs are in content but this is still a staggering number. The Daily Stat also stated that 79% blog about personal interests. What does this mean to the business community?

People are talking about you. Services and products are a part of our daily lives. There is bound to be a writer in the mass of the 79% that writes about YOUR product or service. Are you listening?

The stat went onto say that only 12% of those Technorati blogs catered to corporate blogging. This shows huge market potential for coporate blogging in the following months. The trend is growing and individuals are starting to listen… both in the small business market and the corporate market.

61 Million blogs about professions. Did anyone say B2B Marketing potential? I think so.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Stake Your Claim? Technorati Opens Goldrush-Inspired Tag Directory (techcrunch.com)
• Is Twitter destroying the link economy? (sociallyminded.co.uk)
• The Social Media Starter Kit: Blogging (altitudebranding.com)
• 10 Tips For Building A Corporate Blog Brand (streamxy.com)

Guest Post: Twit-O-Rama – Social Media Bug Bites Kathy Ireland, and Me

Today’s Guest Post is by Jeff Timpanaro is the president of Oberata Consulting, a 2009 Certified Total Integration firm, based in Kingwood, TX. Oberata is a consulting firm founded on the principles of strategy, process, and transformation, and utilizes the Total IntegrationTM system of business consulting. This system has helped business owners and professionals in the Fortune 100 with definitive, measurable operating strategies that produce unprecedented growth and profitability.

———–

(from the Honda Auto Repair Shop waiting room)

As I write this, supermodel and supermom (self-nominated I presume) Kathy Ireland is busy touting Twitter on the Today Show. “I just love my TwitterBuddies!” she beams, with annoying enthusiasm.

Interviewer Ann Curry is mindlessly heaping sugar onto an already hyper-happy conversation. “IT-WAS-SO-GREAT-TO-TALK-TO-YOU-KATHY!” she spews. “THANKS, ANN, replies Kathy, exceeding Ann’s volume. “IT’S BEEN SO GREAT TO TALK TO YOU . . A REAL MOM . . THIS MORNING!”

Kathy’s amped up about her new book (forget the name) – but it’s something about real solutions for real moms.

Kathy’s spunky energy aside, what was more noteworthy about the interview was the continued talk of Twitter in everyday parlance. You can’t throw a pebble these days without hitting Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Plaxo, or the glut of other social media out there.

Even though many consumers – and business owners – are still wondering what all the fuss is all about, Kathy has apparently guzzled the social media Kool-Aid, and is banking on a successful campaign for her new book.

SOCIAL MEDIA and YOUR BUSINESS

Why is this bikini-hottie-turned-entrepreneur so excited about Twitter? Is she looking for meaningful relationships? Insert LOL. Her comment about “loving her TwitterBuddies” is pretty disingenuous, because the simple reason for her excitement is that zillions of solution-hungry moms are spending a zillion hours on Twitter today. Do you think that might impact her book sales?

Kathy’s message – and bubbliness – have become viral through Twitter (viral is good, folks – it means the thing you’re promoting is spreading like wildfire). To date, Kathy has 4,481 followers – moderate by Twitter standards – but numbers will certainly spike after her Today interview (and Twitter mention).

Mrs. Ireland’s celebrity, relationships, and ample budget notwithstanding, social media is part of her master marketing plan. I don’t have her sales projections, but I bet they would be paltry compared to pre-social media forecasts.

PART OF YOUR REINVENTION

If you’re not at least curious about Twitter and other social media as it relates to promoting your business, you are “ostriching” (a Kathy Ireland word I just learned).  Yes, that’s burying your head in the sand.  Historically, other breakout inventions that the experts “ostriched” about include the computer, the automobile, and the drive-thru window.

“In a world of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” – J.P. Kelley

I am not saying Twitter is a silver bullet or a marketing savior for you.  I am also not saying that you should engage social media.  I am saying that if you keep yourself in the dark, you may be missing a huge swath of prospects that you serve best . . . who until now haven’t been able to find you.

I’m doing a 12-month trial to see what the use of social media holds for my own business.  It’s too early to tell, but my website traffic has tripled since January.  I’m working on a better net (or conversion strategy), but for the short term, I’m excited about the hike in traffic to me.

Oh dear I’m starting to sound like Kathy Ireland.

5 Steps to Deleting Your 3,000 Connections on Twitter

We talk a ton about quality over quantity. I need to take my own medicine.

I’m starting to see a shift in my own use of Twitter. I have been talking a lot about quality over quantity and the value of one-on-one relationships. I have realized I need to take advantage of my own advice.

It is time to purge the Twitter account. I need to start focusing more on the quality of the conversations I am experiencing on Twitter. What do you think about the quality over quantity approach?

5 Steps to Deleting Your STUPID Twitter Connections

1. I am going to unfollow all automatic feeds into Twitter. It doesn’t make sense… they do not talk back.

2. Keep following the people RT and respond to your posts. They are who matter! They are experiencing the value of communication and collaboration.

3. Pick 10 to 20 thought-leaders to follow. It doesn’t matter if they follow you back. They are there for education and sometimes “communication.” We cannot evolve unless we learn.

4. You can start to purge your connections by unfollowing people who do not follow you. Now, this does not mean you should be “upset” with people who do not follow you back. If they share great information… you should keep following them (See #3).

5. Do they have a logo as a picture. Eh? I would un-follow.

So remember the quality over quantity concept and start the process!

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Twitting Point (tsurch.com)
• 4.5 things Twitter teaches us (hyperorg.com)
• Selling What isn’t Nailed Down (queercents.com)
• Stikky Tweets: The Best Social Application Online (ableparris.com)
• Why Rob Diana is right: Twitter gets the hype while Facebook will get the gold (scobleizer.com)

Never Settle For Good Content. Go Great.

Sometimes I take on an envious quality that I am not overly proud of… Sometimes I wish I was someone else… That someone is usually.. Seth Godin. Yesterday was just another one of the envy days.

Seth had an April Fools post that didn’t have much content. He went on to describe the reasons for not posting his April Fool’s post. He had it written and decided.. ehhh.. it’s not that great. Because of the quasi-good content, Seth decided to post nothing.

The funny thing about this is…despite the fact he “thinks” he posted nothing.. there was a TON of value in the post. The valuable nugget of information? When you are writing your blog, tweet, or anything having to do with communicating online make you add as much quality as possible to your content.

If you are not secure with a post… don’t post it. If you are not proud of the content… write something else. Don’t stress out completely, just try again in a couple of hours.

Great content is a quantum leap over “good” content. Always.

Related articles by Zemanta

• It’s just one day (onemanblogs.co.uk)
• seth godin robert scoble chris brogan | Jim’s Marketing Blog (tsurch.com)
• YouTube – Seth Godin explains why we need a tribe (tsurch.com)
• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (strivepr.com)