ANA Marketing Maestros

Getting the Most Out of Your Social Media Campaigns

By Irina Skaya

A recent ANA/BtoB Magazine/Mktg survey reported that 66 percent of marketers utilized social media in 2009 compared to 20 percent in 2007.  In order to fund their new media efforts, 55 percent of marketers have already shifted funds from their traditional media budgets. In 2009 Web site ownership, search engine marketing and display advertising are among the new media platforms that received the most funding. And in 2010, blogs, mobile and video are supposed to be at the top of the list.

According to the survey, The top concerns for marketers when considering newer media platforms are the inability to prove ROI (45 percent) and having metrics to properly allocate the mix of traditional and digital media (43 percent).  Social media analytics is young and most marketers do not know where to start.  First thing is first: know what your objective is, what you are trying to measure. Do you want to know what people are saying about your brands? Do you want to see how people are interacting with your brands on specific social networks? Or do you just simply want to know upcoming social media trends or maybe what your competitors are doing in the social media space?

As the social media guru of the ANA, I always look for new measuring and monitoring social media tools. I came up with a social media metrics superlist-my favorite online tools that will help marketers get started with social media analytics.

PS. They are all free!

• Twitalyzer: measures brands' and individuals' impact and success on Twitter by reporting on relative influence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity, clout.
• Keotag: monitors mentions of your brands across dozens of Web sites, including Technorati, Blog Pulse, Google Blog, del.icio.us, Blinklist, Twitter, Bluedot, Newsvine, Digg, Blog Lines, YouTube, and more.
• Trackur: a 14-day free trial allows you to monitor your brands' online reputation and your competitors', and track your campaign's effectiveness.
• Social Networking Media ROI Calculator
• Blog Metrics

The ANA Marketing Insights Center has a great number of resources for marketers who would like to utilize social media to learn more about their customers and engage them directly and involve them in their brands.  In the ANA Today newsletter, "How Social Media Transforms Marketing," and "Skittles: Follow the Rainbow on Twitter" are the top-read articles. The above articles are available for ANA members only. If you are not an ANA member, browse through our 101 library where we have an abundant amount of social media resources, including "Marketing with Twitter."

If you use other social media tracking tools, please feel free to share them with us. We'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment or email me at [email protected].

Social Networks

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Golden Opportunities on Twitter

By Irina Skaya

Not a day goes by without someone asking me, “Why do you use Twitter? It’s so useless. Why do I care what you are up to every second of the day?” Wake up people! You are missing out on engaging with and learning more about your customers.  As Cynthia Ashworth, Vice President of Customer Engagement @Dunkin’ Donuts said, “We don’t have to justify Twitter. It’s free customer-service.” Indeed it is, Cynthia. It’s a free focus group and a cheap option for collaboration.

As I try to keep up with the cutting edge marketing trends, I enrolled in a two-hour course on Twitter Love where I learned how marketers can utilize the microblogging Web site to promote their products and services, research consumer insights, improve customer service, converse with and engage their customers, and group collaboration.  For instance, @JetBlue is using Twitter to help improve customer services and teamwork across business units.  As a customer service tool, Twitter’s benefit is that everything people say about your product/service is public on Twitter and is easy to find via using their built-in search tool. This makes Twitter an instant focus group with over 10 million participants, many of whom are your customers.  Collecting customer feedback via Twitter is easy and effortless, especially when you compare it to the number of responses you get back through email surveys.  Zappos is using Twitter to make personal connections among employees, and between the company and its customers.  For those marketers who want to improve their corporate culture and customer service, Twitter is a great tool.

So just like there was Facebook and then came LinkedIn, a professional social networking Web site, Yammer is like Twitter for business. Yammer offers groups for discussions on a subject between people in the same workgroup. It can connect employees from different departments, so if you work in a 500+ company, you won’t feel like just a number anymore.  Although some may argue that Twitter and Yammer may be distracting and may affect employees’ productivity, it can, if used moderately improve corporate culture by connecting employees to one another and letting them know what the organization is up to, its achievements and pretty much anything.

So for the Twitter rebels, get on it, add ANAmarketers to your list of the following, and most importantly, start talking and listening to your customers.  And here are some Twitter tools to get you started:

TweetLater.com – helps you in following everyone who follows you; includes auto DMs and a tweet scheduler.

Twitter Karma - keeps a follow-to-follower ratio in order for you unfollow those who are not following me, with a few exceptions.

TwitterCounter - see my followers in graph form. It also predicts how many followers you will have in 30, 90 or 365 days.

TweetDeck – as an Adobe Air app, TweetDeck allows you to see your @replies, direct messages, timeline, and a lis of folks you follow whose Tweets you want to make sure you read. You can also use it to update your Twitter and Facebook accounts simultaneously. I use and love this tool!

PS.  Download our most-read 101 on Marketing with Twitter. 

Yahoo's is "Purpling it Up" It's Marketing Efforts

By: Irina Skaya

Marketing buzz is difficult to achieve, and not all products can be the next Harry Potter, or the Volkswagen New Beetle. Yahoo! is redefining the meaning of purple with its new viral marketing campaign, “Start Wearing Purple.” Contrary to the popular belief that purple symbolizes royalty, Yahoo! attributes the color to innovation and imagination.

Startwearingpurple.com includes features such as "Celebrate Purple", "Purple Pranks", "Pioneers of Purple" and "Purple Picks.” “Pioneers of Purple” showcases mini-documentaries of influential personalities who epitomize individuality and innovative spirit of purple, a color that's been core to Yahoo!'s DNA since it began.

From purple bikes with built-in solar power cameras and funny videos to purple sneakers and Ts, the web portal is engaging and has the potential to create buzz, but will this brand awareness campaign drive Internet users from its competitors to the soon-to-be launched new Yahoo! site?

Check out how Yahoo! is 'purpling it up' through their Purple Pedals project.

Search Engine Friendly URLs

By: Irina Skaya

In today’s digital age, the Internet plays a crucial role in the consumers’ lives and changes the way companies advertise.  Every day millions of people use the Internet for research, purchasing products, acquiring information relevant to our hobbies, interests, connecting with family and friends, etc. Based on the number of Internet users, Internet advertising can be used as a valuable tool to improve the growth and profitability of companies.

To increase traffic to the company Websites, it is important to present successful and memorable URLs in ads.  Here is a cool blog that distinguishes good URLs from bad ones. 

Best Practices for Creating Search Engine Friendly URLs:

- DON’TUSEALLCAPSTANGLEDUPTOGETHER.COM
- No hypens/or slashes
- Use words instead of numbers
- Use YourSlogan.com when running an integrated campaign
- Brevity is virtue
- If .com or .net is unavailable, find a new brand name
- No need to include www to indicate that it's a URL

B2B Marketers Can Ride the Magic Carpet of Alibaba

By Kaitlin Villanova                                                                              

Do you hear the buzz? It's called Alibaba, no, not the fictional character from Arabian Nights but China's largest e-commerce company.

Alibaba is "the world's largest marketplace for global trade and the leading provider of online marketing services for importers and exporters. It is the place for buyers and sellers to find trade opportunities and promote their businesses online. Alibaba is not a trading company but rather an online business platform, where you can search or post information to find potential business partners."

It has been noted to be the first company to give Google a scare and maybe even a run for its money. Founded by former English teacher Jack Ma in 1995, Alibaba is selling a 17% stake in the company, in the biggest technology IPO since Google.

Some facts:

• Yahoo! has agreed to buy $100 million worth of shares (they hold a 39% stake in Alibaba Group).
• Alibaba.com is the largest business-to-business e-trading site in China; it reported earnings of 295.2 million Chinese yuan ($39.2 million) in the first six months of 2007.
• The listed company would not include two fast-growing Alibaba Group businesses: its online shopping unit, Taobao.com, and its online payment services provider, Alipay.
• Its shares are slated to begin trading Nov. 6. (Source: Forbes.com)

So what does this mean for marketers? With so many involved in the B2B space this allows for virtual global trade. Scott Tong of American Public Media’s Marketplace refers to Alibaba “as the online dating service for global business.”

With close to 25 million members, with sales and marketing offices in over 30 countries, and more than 4,400 employees, it leaves a big platform from which to do business. If your organization is doing B2B globally, I recommend you take the time to evaluate this search engine.

Technorati tags: Alibaba B2B Global Search Engine

Microsoft and Yahoo?

By Will Waugh

I don't normally rely on the New York Post for much more than Page Six, but they  are announcing Microsoft is talking to Yahoo! about a potential $50 billion bid (thanks Forbes.com) Funny, I was just meeting with Microsoft on Monday and Tuesday and they didn't mention a lick of this to me (I feel slighted). The pressure, the Post says, is coming from Google's continued domination of search and online advertising, particularly with the recent purchase of DoubleClick.

If it is true, why not for Microsoft? I don't see this as a sign of desperation, rather a desire to expand it's capabilities online.

What this would give Microsoft:

• An expanded search reach with Yahoo's #2 position in the field.
• The #1 portal with some of the best brands in online media.
• Expanded e-commerce capabilities in spaces like cars and jobs.
• More content (I love content).

That's just a start. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Technorati tags: microsoft marketing yahoo

Speed to Satisfaction: Snap and iReader

By Kaitlin Villanova

The average search lasts somewhere around 15 minutes, and so does the average attention span.

Snap  is an efficient time-saving search tool whether you are using Yahoo!, Google, MSN, or in my case a Kaitlin search (thanks to pimpmysearch).

Snap offers a solution that is “visual, fast, and interactive” far superior to the text-in text-out search paradigm. When you hold your mouse over the link a window preview of the site pops up allowing you to make a judgment on the site without having to click-through. This will force marketers and designers to make the sites more visually appealing and aesthetically welcoming..

iReader has a similar model to Snap, it is a browser extension for Internet Explorer and Firefox. The difference is, rather than just providing a visual screen shot of the site, it scans the text and puts the information provided in the site into a two or 3 point bullet form.

It is difficult to judge which is  a better model, if you are looking for a visual preview of the site before you visit, then Snap is for you. If you would prefer a snapshot (no pun intended) of the content on the site then iReader may be a better fit…personally I use both.

These esoteric web tools are welcoming to the not-so-techy user for little or no cost. Marketers must prepare their sites to be visually appealing with rich content that will give the user a reason to return.

Technorati tags:Snap marketing iReader

Vertical Search Marketing: Fits Juuuust Right

By Kaitlin Villanova

While Google is allowing the infiltration of blogs to dominate organic search, marketers are searching (no pun intended) for a way to massage their data and present it in a manner that is simple and easy to consume. According to gigaom.com the definition of vertical search is “a specialized search engine that mines data for one narrow niche of the market place.” The idea of vertical search can be compared to Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail (a theory born in a 2004 issue of Wired Magazine) the colloquial name for a long-known feature of statistical distributions. This idea can be seen in business models such as Amazon, Netflix, lala.com and many more. The idea of selling more of less is a challenge to marketers as their consumer transforms in to a content creator. Vertical search will allow for the correct content to connect to the right consumer. This content can reach the appropriate consumer through the most critical component of vertical search, which is trust. It is necessary to trust that the content provided in the aggregated search of your choice has a dedicated contributing community to ensure that the information remains relevant. Steven Baker, CEO of Reed Search agrees “even though there is increasing attention scarcity, more community sites are popping up.” Every brand has an opportunity to find the niche that has the Goldilocks phenomenon…fits juuust right. (I was hoping to coin that term myself but thanks to Wiki search it’s already been done)